Jacopo Tintoretto
The Crowning with Thorns

Circa 1592
Oil on canvas
Musei Capitolini, Rome

The episode closely follows Matthew 27:27-29. Having mockingly put a reed "scepter" of authority in Jesus' hand, the soldier in red is about to press a "crown" of thorns onto his head. The portrayal of the other two soldiers is an ironic commentary. In the text they are "kneeling before him," but in the painting they are symbolically fallen down, clutching mock scepters of their own. The burst of light in the upper left corner may be a reference to the supreme authority of God in Heaven.

Some sources on the internet refer to this painting as "The Flagellation," something that is mentioned in Matthew 27:26. But that verse does not ascribe the whipping to the soldiers of the following verses. Rather, the mockery and the crowning with thorns are said to occur after the flagellation (tunc milites praesidis suscipientes Iesum in praetorium congregaverunt ad eum universam cohortem).

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Photographed at the Musei Capitolini by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.