The Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio was created in around 1603. The painting is in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien. The size of the work is 127 x 166,5 cm and is made as an oil on canvas.
After interrogation by Pontius Pilate, Christ is made to wear a crown of thorns by the soldiers. He is thus mocked as King of the Jews. While previously regarded as a Roman or Neapolitan variation of a lost Caravaggio, this picture has now been confirmed as an original by the discovery of certain documents. Other arguments for its authenticity previously put forward included technical idiosyncrasies of the painter, such as the contour lines engraved with the stem of the brush to be found on Christ’s head, and on the shoulders, chest and hands of both henchmen. (Read more in Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien)
About the Artist: Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in Milan. During the final four years of his life he moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily until his death. His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio employed close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro that came to be known as tenebrism… Read more
