The Arrest and Flagellation of Christ

The Arrest and Flagellation of Christ

The arrest and flagellation of Christ

I have assigned myself the Arrest and Flagellation of Christ as the topic for all of the work I have done for this course’s research project. The particular image that was provided for me is a combined image of both the arrest and flagellation scenes, and comes from the Winchester Psalter, which was made for use at the Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England and dates back to the 12th century. There are many interesting features to this particular composition, but for this final project of the semester I have decided to focus both on uncovering who the mysterious background figures are, and what the tradition is behind devil image that appears on Pilate’s shoulder.
Before I get into exactly what secrets I have uncovered through my research, I would like to first start off by going through and describing the images content, and highlight what I find to be the keys to what makes this image unique. I will begin with the upper portion of the image which deals solely with the scene showing the betrayal and arrest of Christ. Beginning first with the figures of Jesus and Judas in the center of that portion of the composition. First off the figures of both men are for the most part shown in profile, even though the face of Christ is face toward the viewer both of their bodies are fairly clearly facing toward the right. The interesting thing about these particular figures in this work lies in the Christ is already bound and appears to have already started being led away by the guard while Judas comes up from behind to kiss him. This is noteworthy because in both the text of the bible, and most iconographic traditions covering this scene clearly indicate Judas kissing Christ before he is ever bound. In fact according to the biblical passages it is the kiss that shows the guards who it is they need to arrest. However, with The face of Jesus looking back calmly at Judas the image does rejoin a common iconography for the subject...

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