Carved in relief and originally polychromed.

Missing are the flagellators’ rods, the index finger of the right hand of the flagellator on the right, and a section of the scroll of the left-hand Pharisee. The right forearm of the left-hand flagellator and Christ’s right forearm have both been replaced, as has the left fisted hand of the right-hand flagellator. The polychromy has been removed with a caustic.

…; from the dealer Maarten Schretlen, Amsterdam, fl. 4,000, to the museum, 1945

Object number: BK-15608

Christ is depicted here with his arms tied to the flagellation pillar. Flanking him in the foreground are two Pharisees. The far-left figure holds a scroll in his right hand and gazes upward in the direction of the flagellator on the step behind him, encouraging him to whip Christ more furiously. The Pharisee opposite leans with his arms crossed on the balustrade on the right side of the stairs, while looking out at the viewer with an expression of contempt. The flagellator on the step behind him mockingly holds his right fist to his chin. With its elongated figures, exaggerated poses and the caricatural faces, especially of the flagellators, the style of this retable group falls perfectly in line with the late-gothic, mannerist style of Antwerp production of circa 1530-40. At the same time, however, the accurately depicted anatomy of Christ’s body and his slightly bent-over torso reflects the influence of the Renaissance. Contrary to most of the Antwerp-built altarpiece groups destined to be sold on the open market, significant attention has been given to the carving. As far as can be ascertained, the scene’s composition, comprising two sets of stairs on which the flagellators stand, has never been observed elsewhere. This work therefore presumably comes from a custom-made altarpiece tailored to the wishes of its patron.

In many Antwerp Passion altarpieces dating from the early decades of the sixteenth century, the Flagellation appears on a small scale in the concave figural frame around Christ Carrying the Cross. Given its considerable dimensions, however, this specific group is certain to have belonged to one of the main scenes. Like a number of Passion retables from the final phase of Antwerp production (c. 1530-55), including that of Oplinter,¹¹Brussels, Art and History Museum, inv. no. 3196, see KIK-IRPA, object no. 20008844 and A. Huysmans et al., Beeldhouwkunst van de Zuidelijke Nederlanden en het Prinsbisdom Luik, coll. cat. Brussels (Royal Museums for Art and History) 1999, fig. 5. Roskilde,²²J. Leeuwenberg, ‘De laatste retabels uit de Scheldestad en enig aanverwant beeldhouwwerk’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Oudheidkunde en Kunstgeschiedenis 26 (1957), fig. 8. Opitter³³Opitter-Bree, Sint-Trudokerk, see KIK-IRPA, object no. 91065 and H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, no. 15. and Bouvignes-sur-Meuse,⁴⁴H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, nos. 15 and 17 respectively. the iconographic programme would have comprised the following scenes (from left to right): in the lower register, the Flagellation, Ecce Homo and the Crowning with Thorns; in the upper register, Christ Carrying the Cross, the Calvary and the Lamentation.

Noteworthy is the group’s base, adorned with mouldings and having double inward curves. A more or less comparable base is present on the Antwerp retable group Jesse and a Prophet, fragment from a Tree of Jesse (c. 1515-20) in the Louvre.⁵⁵S. Guillot de Suduiraut, Sculptures brabançonnes du Musée du Louvre: Bruxelles, Malines, Anvers, XVe-XVIe siècles, coll. cat. Paris (Musée du Louvre) 2001, no. 18. The other groups in the altarpieces from which these reliefs derived likely also had the same kind of curved, integrated base.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

M.J. Schretlen, Tentoonstelling van middeleeuwsche beeldhouwkunst van de 13e tot het begin der 16e eeuw: Afkomstig uit het bezit van den Kunsthandel van M.J. Schretlen te Amsterdam, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Rotterdamsche Kunstkring) 1951-52, no. 21; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 157, with earlier literature

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, The Flagellation, Antwerp, c. 1530 - c. 1540', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20015014