Diego Velázquez, 'Christ contemplated by the Christian Soul', probably 1628-9
About the work
Overview
Tied to a column, Christ has collapsed to the floor. His limp body, tilted head and pained expression show his exhaustion and suffering. Velázquez shows the moment after the Flagellation, when Christ was flogged by Roman soldiers – we can see the sticks and whip they used lying in the foreground. The brutality of this assault is implied by trickles and spots of blood on Christ’s body and the column.
Kneeling beside Christ is a young boy representing the Christian Soul and its Guardian Angel. The angel gently directs the boy to consider the suffering of Christ, and a ray of light radiates from Christ’s head towards the boy’s heart.
In the seventeenth century worshippers were encouraged to meditate on Christ’s Passion (his torture and crucifixion) and to imagine that they were present at the events leading up to the Crucifixion.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ after the Flagellation contemplated by the Christian Soul
- Artist
- Diego Velázquez
- Artist dates
- 1599 - 1660
- Date made
- probably 1628-9
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 165.1 × 206.4 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by John Savile Lumley (later Baron Savile), 1883
- Inventory number
- NG1148
- Location
- Room 30
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 17th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Bought in Madrid in 1858 by John Savile Lumley (later Sir John Savile Lumley and Baron Savile); lent by him to the British Institution, 1860 (no. 81), and the Société Néerlandaise de Bienfaisance exhibition, Brussels, 1873 (no. 174), and presented by him (when Sir John Savile Lumley) to the Gallery in 1883. Arts Council Spanish Paintings Exhibition, 1947 (no. 27). Exhibited, Madrid, Velázquez y lo velazqueño, 1961 (no. 89).
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised by Allan Braham, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School’, London 1988; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2009The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600–1700The National Gallery (London)21 October 2009 - 24 January 2010National Gallery of Art (Washington DC)28 February 2010 - 31 May 2010Museo Nacional de Escultura28 June 2010 - 17 October 2010
Bibliography
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1867London, National Gallery Archive, NG17/4 Annual Reports 1855-1873: The National Gallery Report for The Year 1866, 1867
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1898A. de Beruete y Moret, Velázquez, Paris 1898
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1905F. Schneider, 'Mathias Grünewald et la mystique du Moyen Âge', Revue de l'art chrétien, XLVIII/1, 1905, pp. 157-8
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1936A. Mayer, Velazquez, London 1936
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1952Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, London 1952
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1970N. MacLaren and A. Braham, The Spanish School, 2nd edn, London 1970
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1979G. McKim-Smith, 'On Velázquez's Working Method', Art Bulletin, LXI/4, 1979, pp. 589-603
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1985E. Valdivieso and J.M. Serrera, Historia de la pintura española: Escuela sevillana del primer tercio del siglo XVII, Madrid 1985
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1985D.R. Smith, 'Towards a Protestant Aesthetics: Rembrandt's 1655 Sacrifice of Isaac', Art History, VIII/3, 1985, pp. 290-302
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1988Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
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1988G. McKim-Smith, Examining Velázquez, New Haven 1988
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1989N. Glendinning, 'Nineteenth-Century British Envoys in Spain and the Taste for Spanish Art in England', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXI/1031, 1989, pp. 117-26
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1991A. Rodríguez G. de Ceballos, 'Fuentes iconográficas y literarias del cuadro de Velázquez: "Cristo y el alma cristiana"', Cuadernos de arte e iconografía Actas de los II Coloquios de Iconografía, IV/8, 1991, pp. 82-90
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1992J.F. Moffitt, 'The Meaning of "Christ after the Flagellation" in Siglo de Oro Sevillian Painting', Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, LIII, 1992, pp. 139-54
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1993O. Delenda, Velázquez peintre religieux, Geneva 1993
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1996J. López-Rey, Velázquez: Catalogue Raisonné, Cologne 1996
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1998B.N. Prieto, La pintura andaluza del siglo XVII y sus fuentes grabadas, Madrid 1998
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1999J. Baticle et al., Velázquez, Dossier de l'art 63, Dijon 1999
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2000J.M. Pita Andrade and Á. Aterido (eds), Corpus Velazqueño: Documentos y textos, Madrid 2000
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2000G. Finaldi, The Image of Christ, London 2000
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2001J. Montoro, Velázquez: El pintor de la luz, Alcobendas 2001
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2001M. Morán Turina, 'Velázquez, la pintura y el teatro del Siglo de Oro', Boletín del Museo del Prado, XIX/37, 2001, pp. 47-71
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2002O. Delenda, 'Pacheco, Velázquez et les Jésuites', in G. Barbé-Coquelin de Lisle (ed.), Velázquez aujourd'hui: Actes du colloque scientifique international. 400e anniversaire de la naissance de l'artiste, Anglet 2002, pp. 45-67
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2003O. Delenda, 'Nadal, Ribadeneira et Pacheco: L'influence des premiers jésuites sur l'art espagnol', in A. Tapié (ed.), Baroque: Vision Jesuite: Du Tintoret à Rubens, Caen 2003, pp. 233-47
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2006D. Carr (ed.), Velázquez (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 18 October 2006 - 21 January 2007), London 2006
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2007J. Portús, Velázquez's Fables: Mythology and Sacred History in the Golden Age (exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, 20 November 2007 - 24 February 2008), Madrid 2007
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2008F. Checa, Velázquez: The Complete Paintings, Antwerp 2008
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2008M.A. Franco Mata, 'Algunas fuentes medievales del Arte Renacentista y Barroco', Anales de Historia del Arte. Firmissima convelli non posse: Homenaje al profesor Julián Gallego, 1, 2008, pp. 73-87
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2009X. Bray et al., The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1700 (exh. cat., The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington), London 2009
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2010P. McEvansoneya, 'John Savile Lumley and Velázquez's "Christ after the Flagellation Contemplated by the Christian Soul"', The Burlington Magazine, CLII/1291, 2010, pp. 660-4
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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