Dornenkrönung Christi

Bartolomeo Manfredi's Crowning with Thorns is a prime example of the Caravaggesque treatment of the Passion cycle that became fashionable in Rome in the second decade of the seventeenth century. Manfredi was among the most technically accomplished of Caravaggio's followers, and his treatment of this subject — soldiers brutally pressing a crown of thorns onto Christ's head — gave full scope to his skill at rendering brutal physical action through concentrated light. The work was widely admired by northern European painters in Rome.

Multiple figures press around Christ in a tight cluster, their faces and hands emerging from Manfredi's characteristic deep shadow. The crown of thorns and Christ's expression of patient suffering are the emotional focal point. The warm amber tonality of the lit areas against near-black shadow is characteristic of Manfredi's palette.