The Flagellation of Christ

Hans Leonhard Schäufelein, a pupil of Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg, painted this Flagellation of Christ around 1506 for the Gemäldegalerie Berlin. Schäufelein assisted Dürer on several major projects before establishing his own practice in Nördlingen, bringing the master's graphic precision and compositional power to his independent works. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel shows Schäufelein's debt to Dürer in the muscular figure types and dramatic spatial construction, combined with vivid color and expressive gesture that characterize his contribution to Swabian Renaissance painting.