The Flagellation (Piero della Francesca)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
| The Flagellation |
| Piero della Francesca, probably 1455–1460 |
| Oil and tempera on panel |
| 58.4 × 81.5 cm |
| Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino |
The Flagellation (probably 1455–1460) is a painting by Piero della Francesca in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, Italy.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The theme of the picture is the flagellation of Jesus Christ by the Romans during his Passion. The biblical event takes place in an open gallery in the near distance, while three figures in the foreground on the right-hand side apparently pay no attention to the event unfolding behind them. The panel is much admired for its use of linear perspective and the air of stillness that pervades the work, and it has been given the epithet 'the Greatest Small Painting in the World'.
[edit] Significance
Particularly admired in The Flagellation is the mathematical unity of the composition and Piero's ability to depict the distance between the actual flagellation scene and the three characters in the foreground realistically due to his experimentation with perspective.
Much of the mystery surrounding the work concerns the identities of the three men in the foreground. The portrait of the bearded man on the left is considered particularly intensive for Piero's time. It has been suggested that they were contemporary figures somehow involved in the crusade projects of Pope Pius II, making the painting an allegory of the suffering of the Church after the fall of the Byzantine empire. Others have suggested that the men are the Duke of Urbino, Piero's patron, and two advisors (who later allegedly murdered the Duke). The seated man on the far left watching the flagellation is not Pontius Pilate but the Byzantine emperor Ioannis VIII[1], as identified by his clothing, particularly the unusual red hat with upturned brims.
A most convincing explanation of the painting is offered by Marilyn Aronberg Lavin in Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation, (Viking Press, 1972)[2].
She accepts the interior scene with Pontius Pilate, showing Herod with his back turned, because the scene closely resembles numerous other depictions of the flagellation that Piero would have known. It has also been suggested that there can be multiple identities for each man depending on how it is read. The interior scene is illuminated from the right while the "modern" outdoor scene is illuminated from the left. Originally the painting had a frame on which the phrase "Convenerunt in Unum" (They came together) was printed. It is from Psalm ii 2 in the old Testament. Ms. Lavin has identified the figure on the right as Ludovico Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, and the figure on the left as his close friend, the astrologer Ottavio Ubaldini della Carda, who lived in the Ducal Palace at Urbino, where the painting still is housed. Ottavio is dressed in the traditional garb of an astrologer, even to the split beard. At the time the painting is thought to have been made, both Ottavio and Ludovico had recently lost beloved sons, represented by the youthful figure between them. Note that the youth's head is framed by a laurel tree, representing glory. Ms. Lavin suggests that the painting is intended to compare the suffering of Christ with the grief of the two fathers. She suggests that the painting was commissioned by Ottavio for his private chapel, Cappella de Perdono, which is in the Ducal Palace at Urbino and which has an altar whose facade is the exact size of the painting. If the painting was on the altar, the perspective in the painting would have appeared correct only to someone kneeling before it.
The painting is signed under the seated emperor OPVS PETRI DE BVRGO S[AN]C[T]I SEPVLCRI – "the work of Piero of Borgo Santo Sepolcro", another name by which Piero is known.
In a recent article on Nature [3] a new interpretation developed by David King, director of the Institute for the History of Science in Frankfurt, Germany, is presented (http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb13/ign/Code.htm)
[edit] Influence
The painting's restraint and formal purity strongly appealed when Piero was first "discovered," especially to admirers of cubist and abstract art. It has been held in especially high regard by art historians, with Frederick Hartt describing it as Piero's "most nearly perfect achievement and the ultimate realisation of the ideals of the second Renaissance period". Sir Kenneth Clark was also an admirer and placed The Flagellation in his personal list of top ten paintings in the world. He was the one who gave it the epithet 'The Greatest Small Painting in the World'.
The painting is referred to in Len Deighton's 1978 novel, SS-GB.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Carlo Ginzburg, The Enigma of Piero, London, 1985 (revised edition, 2000), ISBN 0-86091-904-8.
- ^ Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, Piero della Francesca: the Flagellation, University of Chicago Press, 1973}}
- ^ Marchant J., Science and art: A leap of faith. Nature. 2007 Mar 29;446(7135):488-92
