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.

[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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