NARRATOR:
The crowning with thorns is among the final episodes in the Passion of Christ, the events leading up to his death on the cross. According to the apostle Mark:
MARK [ACTOR]:
“The soldiers took him inside the courtyard and called together the whole company. They dressed him and having plaited a crown of thorns, placed it on his head. They began to salute him with, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!” They beat him with a cane and spat upon him, and paid mock homage to him.”
NARRATOR:
In this painting by the celebrated Dutchman Matthias Stom, Christ is surrounded by his tormentors, sharply illuminated by the flickering light of a single candle. Their harsh taunting has turned to questioning, conveying a quiet, almost contemplative mood. Stom radically simplifies both setting and composition to allow the story to unfold without distraction. He depicts the biblical figures in contemporary costume to make the event more accessible to his viewers.
In the 17th century, the Catholic church saw art as a powerful tool against the Protestant movement, which had divided Christianity. Counter-reformation teachings encouraged artists to make devotional paintings as moral examples for the faithful, prescribing directness and realism as the most effective approach to religious subjects. Active in Italy, Stom was among the second generation of Dutch artists to be influenced by the revolutionary Italian painter Caravaggio. Here, his focused composition and dramatic lighting intensify the emotion of the scene, inviting our empathy and compassion.
To hear more about Caravaggio’s seminal influence in Holland, press 1591.
Christ Crowned with Thorns
c. 1633-39
Matthias Stom (Dutch, c.1600-after 1651)
On View
Dutch by birth, Matthias Stom traveled to Rome where he belonged to an important group of Caravaggisti (followers of Caravaggio) active there in the early seventeenth century. Like Caravaggio, they ranked naturalism and drama high in their pictorial subjects. "Christ Crowned with Thorns" describes a nighttime scene of torment, illuminated by a single candle. Such a device, favored by the Caravaggisti, created the strong effects of light and dark seen here. The immediacy of Christ's suffering and the cruelty of the soldiers results from the arrangement of all hands and faces directed toward the center.
Details
- Artist Name: Matthias Stom (Dutch, c.1600-after 1651)
- Title: Christ Crowned with Thorns
- Date: c. 1633-39
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 43-5/8 x 63-3/8 in. (110.8 x 161 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1977.25.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Possibly (Alexandre-Louis Roëttiers de Montaleau et al. sale, Paris, Paillet, 19-29 July 1802, lot 54, sold to);
Commarieux.
(Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 20 March 1950, lot 64, as Honthorst).
Private Collection , France, 1953.
[Chicago Art Market, 1970].
[Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, sold 1977 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
Commarieux.
(Anonymous sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 20 March 1950, lot 64, as Honthorst).
Private Collection , France, 1953.
[Chicago Art Market, 1970].
[Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, sold 1977 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[on loan]
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1978-02-22 to 1979-01-08
[on loan]
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1980-12-11 to 1981-07-21
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
Encountering the Dutch Likeness: Portraiture in 17th Century Holland
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1996
- Nicolson, Benedict, The Burlington Magazine, fig. 3 pp. 238, 243
- Pauwels, H., Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis, 1953, pp. 151-152, 187
- Nicolson, Benedict, The International Caravaggesque Movement. Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and his Followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650., 1979, fig. 3 p. 94
- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 58
- Sutton, Peter C., A Guide to Dutch Art in America, 1986, p. 219
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 51
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1460 p. 409
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