Description
The Mocking of Christ is one of the most extraordinary surviving works by Cimabue and one of the clearest demonstrations of the transformation taking place in Italian painting during the thirteenth century. The scene represents an episode from the Passion in which Christ is humiliated, struck and mocked by the men surrounding him.
Despite its very small size, the panel contains a dense crowd and develops a narrative of remarkable dramatic intensity. Christ occupies the centre of the composition, dressed in a broad blue garment and surrounded by men who push, seize, threaten and strike him. Cimabue moves away from the rigid and ceremonial organization characteristic of much earlier imagery and creates a scene in which the figures appear genuinely to react to one another.
