The center of the painting has a scene depicting the crucifixion of Christ that led to his death on the cross. The Roman soldiers were mocking Jesus after the crucifixion on the cross and they crowned him with thrones. The mocking of Christ central structure was painted by Simon de Vos. The beautifully presented flowers have spikes which symbolizes an unambiguous relationship between the subjects in the painting.
The crucifix painting shows how the artist creatively picked different form and meaning of the painting during the earliest images. Historic context to the painting is based on the Biblical story where Jesus Christ was sentenced to be crucified as he was a threat to the government of that period. The mocking soldiers are enjoying their mockery since they had had that Christ delivered the sick and also healed people with diverse diseases. His position on the crucifix was viewed to be unbelievable as the soldier compared the kind of miracles he performed and wanted to prove that he was the Messiah.
Composition
The flowers are rendered with botanical accuracy and are sensitive to the individual’s nature (Ziolkowski Pg.37). The bloom protrudes towards the source of light with intertwined tendrils outside the garland geometry. They show the purest aspect symbolic to fervent prayer. Through the period of 1630 to the mid-1640’s twenty flower garland painting by Daniel Segher (1590-1661) was executed in a painting for the St. Charles Church (Merriam Pg.22)
Scale
The size of the painting measures 51.5 x 42 inches on an oil canvas in the year 1643.
Style
The style of the art uses the garland of flowers where the main subject of the painting is at the center. Some of the type of art that used the same technique include; the virgin and the child, Madonna and child among other paintings which incorporate the trompe l'oeil techniques of use of garland of flowers around the piece of art.
Subject matter
The art subject matter is the mocking of Christ by the soldiers who are depicted around him pulling his clothes off. The painting is an oil painting canvas and there is the incorporation of the ribbon of flowers to create a sharp focal point of the artwork.
Trompe l’oeil technique
There is the use of shadows beside the garland of flowers with bright colors of the flower to mirror other forms of hidden boundaries. The frame inside the garland of flower runs parallel to each other creating impression of more space. The two-dimensional painting reflects a three dimension of the painting tricking the view scene beyond the two frames.
Materials
Materials used for the painting is oil paint combined with its pigments, round brush, color pigments and palette knife used to create a different surface in a painting.
Period of painting in the 1600s
The period of the existed in the Baroque period of art and music where art was considered to be unpredictable and beautiful with bizarre of Classicism with arts such as Truth Unveiled by Time, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Bust of the Savior and The rape of Persephone among others (Braider Pg. 12). The style of Baroque art is subjective to the emotional aspect rather than a rational perspective. Baroque art expresses physical images and not the imaginary type of art form. The two elements of the Baroque paintings were based on a sense of grandeur and overt emotional contents. The Baroque painting had some characteristic which included; naturalism or realism nature of the painting, the painters used mural skills, the paintings had strong emotional content and had sensuality in the artwork example like religion among others.
Texture, style and architectural elements
The architectural elements that shaped the interiors spaces in the art period of the seventeenth century include doors, windows, fireplaces cornices, and chimneys. The chimney served as one of the most important places in a room. Popular exterior scenes considered as fragments represented a section of wreath suspended ribbons and hooks (O'Reilly et al 1274). Segher show pieces of roses, morning glories and other forms of flowers to form a resembling swag. The fragments were used as ornaments in homes where they were hanged on the doors and windows. Technically independent fragments of garland paintings represented an image or an object. Pictures produce a special aspect of devotional images. Garland painting are the type of paintings that are finely executed and where displayed in certain occasions. The crucifix picture incorporated aspects of forms and early images in reference to devotion. The crucifix pictures use flowers and fruits to deceit and show a clear reference to the Christian narrative.
Subject and the theme
The painting was depicting the crucifix of Christ in the Golgotha together with other two thieves as a form of punishment for their crimes. The reason of choice of the crucifix spot according to the Romans was to signify that the city did not condone any criminality where there was the use of capital punishment for different kinds of crimes (Rutledge Pg.108). The crucifix served as a warning to both the locals and the foreigners who visited the city. The background representation of the art was due to the Roman rule on the oppression of the innocent who posed to be a threat to the ruling government. The main reason for the crucifix of Christ was because he gained a lot of popularity in the Roman Empire and the people referred to him as the Messiah meaning the chosen one.
Space and depth
The painting is centered inside a ribbon of flowers and emphasizes the focal point of the art to be the subject of the mockery of Christ. The ribbon is used to create a shape focal point in showing the relevant point of the painting.
Color
The color used is a mixture of dark and bright colors where the black color is the dominating aspect of the painting. The bright colors of the flowers show the aspect of purity surrounding the subject at the focal point of the painting.
Light
The aspect of light on the painting is minimal as the dominant color used signifies darkness on the subjects. The subjects of the paintings seem to be in a room and the angle of the artwork may symbolize that the viewing of the painting is from a window perspective.
Work cited
Braider, Christopher. Baroque self-invention and historical truth: Hercules at the crossroads. Routledge, 2017.
Merriam, Susan. Seventeenth-century Flemish garland paintings: Still life, vision, and the devotional image. Routledge, 2017.
O'Reilly, Terence, and Jeremy Robbins. "Sacred Images and Their Contexts." Bulletin of Spanish Studies 93.7-8 (2016): 1271-1300.
Rutledge, Fleming. The crucifixion: understanding the death of Jesus Christ. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2015.
Ziolkowski, Theodore. The classicism of the Twenties: Art, Music, and Literature. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
