The Crown of Thorns and the Mocking of Christ,

Valentin de Boulogne lived in Rome and modelled his works on Caravaggio. This painting is his response to a representation of the Italian artist’s ‘Flagellation of Christ’. Valentin presents the viewer with Christ’s suffering in a particularly moving way through the sensitive rendition of Christ’s facial features and his vulnerable body at the mercy of his torturers. X-rays of the painting have revealed a portrait of a cardinal that was later painted over and who might have commissioned the picture.