The Passion: The Flagellation

Hendrick Goltzius

Cleveland Museum of Art

The image depicts a black and white scene of a man being whipped by several other men. The central figure, shirtless and wearing a cloth wrapped around his waist, stands with his right hand on a column. His long hair falls around his face and shoulders. To his right, a man in a cloth cap and loose clothing kneels on one knee on a platform. The kneeling man holds a bundle of rods or whips in his right hand. On the left, a man holds a sword and a bundle of rods. He wears a hat with a cross on it and a long robe. Other men surround the central figure. One man, on the right, holds a bundle of rods in his right hand, raised above his head. The background shows a cityscape with buildings and an archway. The sky appears cloudy.