The Flagellation of Christ

Author: Klazina Botke

In 2020 Aidan Weston-Lewis attributed this study to Romanino, one of the leading artists in Northern Italy during the first half of the sixteenth century. He was known first and foremost for his fresco paintings and altarpieces with expressive figures.^[1] Weston-Lewis saw a strong likeness to Romanino’s processional banner of around 1540, now in New York.^[2] The flagellation of Christ is painted on one side of this banner; the Virgin as the Madonna of Mercy appears on the reverse. Although the composition of the flagellation scene obviously differs from the drawing, there are similarities in the figures’ positions and expressions. That Romanino’s studies did not always correspond with the painted finished result is typical of this artist, and thus does not immediately rule out an attribution to him.^[3] He also often experimented with the effects of light and shade on bodies to heighten the drama of an event. This, too, is clear in the Rotterdam drawing. The banner and study reveal Romanino’s familiarity with the German prints that were available in Northern Italy: the compressed composition with two executioners is undoubtedly derived from the famous engraving (1512) by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528).^[4] According to Weston-Lewis, the drawing also has superficial similarities to the fresco The Flagellation of Christ (1519) in Cremona Cathedral and the organ shutters decorated by Romanino (1540) in the Church of San Giorgio in Braida in Verona.^[5] Other figures in the windows are reminiscent of the image of St George on the inside of the left organ shutter.

The material used could also cast some doubt on this attribution: Romanino used various media, but drawing with blue ink alone appears for the time being to be unique in his oeuvre. Not only are the outlines put in with a brush, so too is the hatching that gives the figures volume and structure and strengthens the three-dimensional effect of the architecture. This was further reinforced by applying the ink in different shades. Regrettably, the drawing has suffered unsightly damage from damp over the years.