The Flagellation of Christ
Framed: 17 3/4 × 21 3/4 × 3/4 inches (45.09 × 55.25 × 1.91 cm)
Drawings from 1500 to 1875, Allen R. Hite Art Institute of the University of Louisville, KY, February 5-March 3, 1951.
Drawings Collection of Milton McGreevy, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 7-April 4, 1965, no. 10, as Flagellation of Christ.
Old Master Drawings Selected from the Collection of Milton McGreevy: Gifts and Bequest to Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1982, no. 3, as The Flagellation of Christ.
The Bible describes how Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, ordered his soldiers to flog Jesus before leading him to his death. Luca Cambiaso portrays this event in a palatial setting. Jesus occupies a privileged position at the center of the composition between two colonnades. These rows of columns decrease in size at regular intervals to create a convincing illusion of spatial recession. Additional details, such as Jesus’s upturned gaze, communicate his vulnerability and quiet acceptance of his fate.
With Durlacher Brothers, New York, stock no. AH 29, on joint account with Tomás Harris, October 11, 1948-November 6, 1951 [1];
Purchased from Durlacher Brothers by Milton McGreevy (1903-1980), Shawnee Mission, KS, November 6, 1951-1980;
His bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1981.
NOTES:
[1] Getty Research Library, Los Angeles, Durlacher Brothers Records, Box 14, Ledger 1937-1966, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Durlacher and Harris each held a half share.
