This large, striking canvas is characteristic of the output of Domenico Tintoretto, the son of Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-1594). It illustrates a Revelation of Saint Bridget of Sweden, a mystic saint who encountered countless visions of Christ’s suffering throughout her lifetime. Her visions, which were translated into Latin and published, became increasingly popular during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. As indicated by the inscription on the column in the upper right corner of this painting, the scene here records part of her vision of the Passion of Christ, as described in Chapter XVI of her Revelations:

When the time of my Son’s Passion arrived, his enemies seized him, striking him on his cheek and neck; and spitting upon him, they mocked him.  Then, led to the pillar, he stripped himself, and himself stretched his hands to the pillar, which his enemies pitiless bound.  Now, while tied there he had no clothing, but stood as he was born, and suffered the shame of nakedness.  Then his enemies rose up, for they stood on all sides, his friends having fled, and they scourged his body, pure from all spot or sin.  At the first blow, I, who stood nearest, fell as if dead, and on recovering my senses, I beheld his body bruised and beaten to the very ribs…^[1]

This painting can be closely compared to two other paintings illustrating moments from Christ’s Passion by Domenico Tintoretto. Both of these are today in the Pinacoteca Capitolina in Rome: a Flagellation (fig. 1) and a Christ Crowned with Thorns (fig. 2). Although the present canvas closely parallels the composition and the inscription in the Flagellation, stylistically, it comes closer to the Christ Crowned with Thorns.  Both share a similarly loose brushwork and the drapery of both is defined by distinctly bright highlights.

In the present work, Domenico lends a degree of immediacy and drama to the scene by contrasting the stable figure that anchors the composition with the dynamism of the surrounding figures. A tranquil and brightly illuminated Christ anchors the composition, his movement restricted by the thin ropes that tie him to a marble column. His downward gaze mirrors that of the soldier who grips his muscular arm with one hand and raises a sword with another. Both look towards an energetic pile of figures holding whips and scourges in the foreground who seem to have tumbled over one another in a manner that recalls a moment in Saint Bridget’s vision. Further energy is added to the composition with the various figures gathered in the shadows of the background.

^[1] Revelations of St. Bridget, on the Life and Passion of Our Lord, and the Life of His Blessed Mother, New York 1862, pp. 57-64