Christ Crowned With Thorns Analysis

Christ Crowned with Thorns, is oil on canvas painting by Matthias Stom. It is currently located at Norton Simon Museum. It was painted between approximately 1633 and 1639; it is 110.8 cm in height and 161 cm width (The Norton Simon Museum website). Christ Crowned with Thorns is an example of Baroque artwork, which can be seen in the subject matter, context, and artistic style of the artwork.
Firstly, the subject matter of the painting Christ Crowned with Thorns makes this artwork an example of Baroque artwork. The painting Christ Crowned with Thorns represents religious scene that was taking from the Bible. The main characters of this painting are Jesus and Roman soldiers. In this painting Jesus Christ was sitting in the middle of Roman soldiers …show more content…
The Baroque artworks were famous for their dramatic lighting (Baroque and Rococo Art lecture notes). This was one of the strongest evidences that makes Christ Crowned with Thorns an example of Baroque artwork. The painting, Christ Crowned with Thorns has a strong contrast of light and dark throughout the whole painting. The only source of light in this painting was a candle that was held by one of the Roman soldier. The candle was in the middle of all the painting, and all the characters in the painting were surrounding the source of light. Therefore, all the facial expressions of the soldiers and Jesus Christ were strongly illuminated and clear. However, the background of the painting is very dark. The facial expressions of the characters in the painting help the viewer to "create an intense emotional response" (Baroque and Rococo Art lecture notes). This is also one of the Baroque artwork elements. Moreover, all the characters of the painting Christ Crowned with Thorns are realistic. The features of their faces and their bodies look real. It also used lighting and shadowing techniques which created more depth to the painting, and give it a three dimensional appearance. All these techniques, used by Matthias Stom in drawing the painting Christ Crowned with Thorns, are techniques that were used in the most of the Baroque artwork. Therefore, Christ Crowned …show more content…
The painting, Christ Crowned with Thorns represented a scene that was taking directly from the bible, and this is the style that many of Baroque artist adopted in their painting. Moreover, the painting, Christ Crowned with Thorns, took place during the Thirty Years’ War when the the Catholic Church was the main patron of arts during this time. This was one of the elements of Baroque artwork. Finally, the style of the painting follow the same element that Baroque artwork follow. To sum up, Christ Crowned with Thorns has a clear element that prove that this painting is an example of Baroque