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| Fra Angelico and workshop The Mocking of Christ ca. 1440-42 fresco Museo Nazionale di San Marco, Florence |
The Choice of a Cell
The Dominican monastery of San Marco in Florence was ornamented with frescoes by Fra Angelico and his workshop at the command of Cosimo de' Medici. The scheme involved the entire complex, both common areas and the cells of individual monks. Viewing the subjects treated, one tries to imagine the challenges of the selection process faced by the prior who would have directed the execution of the commission.
In the seventh cell Christ is depicted in isolation against a hanging drape. Perhaps his image is to be seen as painted on the drape, which is perhaps to be seen as painted on the wall – being the same wall on which the entire image is in fact painted.
The Mockeries
Below, two isolated figures are seated on a step which appears to extend back beneath the platform which is overspread by the folds of the Lord's garment. On the left, the Virgin's attitude expresses sorrowful meditation; on the right, St. Dominic, wearing the habit of his Order, and with a halo surmounted by a star, pores over a volume which one may assume is the Holy Scriptures – he is perhaps absorbed in one of the passages describing the mockeries Christ suffered. Such a passage exists in each of the Gospels.
Matthew: "And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him . . ."
Mark: "And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him . . ."
Luke: "And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him."
John: "And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put him in a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands."
The four Evangelists agree about the red/purple color of the robe put on Christ. In the painting, the robe is white, like that of the Dominicans. Christ the King traditionally bears a sceptre in the right hand, a terrestrial globe in the left. Here, the sceptre is replaced by a rod, the weapon of those who lack weapons (which is to say, the common people) and moreover a rod made from a reed – therefore especially light and fragile. The globe is replaced by an apple. The four Gospel accounts agree on the details: blindfold, spitting, slaps and blows.
Men without Bodies and without Hearts
Those who insult Christ are not men, but body parts, fragments. A face in profile spits at Christ, with a peasant's hat lifted in a scornful salute. A hand wields the rod, driving down the crown of thorns. Two other hands – one open, one closed – evoke the slaps and abuse. These acts deprive the mockers of their humanity, they have ceased to possess human hearts. On them descends the black sky visible above the hanging drape. But the light of the three haloes will bring them forgiveness and grant them a glorious body.
– translated and adapted from Le Musée imaginaire de Michel Butor: 105 œuvres décisives de la peinture occidentale (Paris: Flammarion, 2019)