Mocking at Christ

The Mocking of Christ, painted around 1640, addresses the Passion subject that Caravaggio himself had treated with revolutionary intensity at the beginning of the century. Stom, working in Sicily where Caravaggio had painted in 1608-1609, was continuing a tradition that had deep local roots, and his treatment of Christ's suffering amid brutish tormentors maintains the unflinching naturalism of the original Caravaggist revolution. Stom's biblical subjects demonstrate the enduring vitality of the Caravaggist tradition in Sicily long after it had faded elsewhere in Europe.

The tormentors' coarse features and Christ's patient suffering are rendered with equal naturalistic directness, the strong artificial light creating a theatrical stage for the drama. The tight, compressed composition forces the viewer into uncomfortable proximity with the violence.