Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE B: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title:
Flagellation of Christ
Image View:
Detail, three unidentified contemporary figures at the right
Creator:
Piero della Francesca (Italian painter, ca. 1415-1492)
Location:
repository: Galleria Nazionale delle Marche (Urbino, Marches, Italy)
Location Note:
Palazzo Ducale di Urbino Piazza Rinascimento 13
GPS:
43.723333 12.637778
Date:
ca. 1455 (creation)
Cultural Context:
Italian
Style Period:
Fifteenth century; Renaissance
Work Type 1:
panel painting
Classification:
Paintings
Material:
tempera and oil paint on wood panel
Technique:
painting and painting techniques
Measurements:
59 cm (height) x 82 cm (width)
Subjects:
architecture; New Testament; Federico, da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, 1422-1482; Jesus Christ; Passion of Christ; linear perspective
Description:
The signed Flagellation is in a sense a summation of Piero’s artistic interests: a rigorous construction based on modular measurements, a conception of composition and istoria worthy of Alberti and the use of Classical figures and architecture, all depicted with his precise and extraordinary command of light. The figure of the man in Turkish dress, whose turban is described with the aid of minuscule pouncing and whose Classical drapery is lit by separate sources of light (the underside of his left hand catches the natural light in a manner reminiscent of Jan van Eyck), represents the summit of Piero’s art. From the 18th century, when the Flagellation was recorded in the sacristy of Urbino Cathedral, descriptions of this enigmatic panel have focused on the identity of the three figures on the right. These were once thought to portray members of the Montefeltro family or to allude to the assassination in 1444 of Oddantonio da Montefeltro by his half-brother Federigo da Montefeltro, later Duke of Urbino and an important patron of Piero. Uncertainty about the date of this picture (probably mid-1450s) and its destination has led to many interpretations. (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordart online.com/)
Collection:
Adjunct Module B: Italian Art
Identifier:
7A1-PIERO-GNM-FC-A07
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Flagellation of Christ