Lot 29

Ambrosius Francken I. (1544 - 1618) THE FLOGGING OF CHRIST

Flemish painter Ambrosius Francken I was primarily known known for his allegoric religious scenes painted in a late Mannerist style. He depicts male bodies as muscular figures, making ample use of staffage and draping. The tortured expression on Christ’s face in The Flogging of Christ is the principal element in Francken’s  interpretation. In contrast, his rather ambivalent Roman soldiers stand in the background, and a curious onlooker observes the scene from above from an almost imperceptible window.