The Flagellation; (reverse) The Madonna of Mercy 1535 - 1545

Girolamo Romanino painted ‘The Flagellation’ around 1519-20, with oil on canvas. The composition, dominated by a central column and the figure of Christ, is immediately striking. The artist’s somber palette accentuates the brutality of the scene and elicits an emotional response. The interplay of light and shadow, typical of the Renaissance, invites us to reflect on the themes of suffering and human cruelty. Romanino’s use of perspective and spatial arrangement is more than a means of representation; it's a semiotic system. The figures surrounding Christ are rendered with a naturalism that borders on the grotesque. They seem trapped in a moral and physical space. The column in the middle and the figures around Christ are visual signifiers contributing to a discourse about power, justice, and the human condition. Consider how the formal elements serve to destabilize any fixed reading of religious narrative. The painting invites a continuous process of interpretation.