Artwork
The Flagellation
The Flagellation is an oil painting by the Sienese School artist Luca di Tommè. It dates from 1365 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a work of religious art, the painting focuses on this specific moment of suffering, presenting the main subject of Jesus Christ undergoing the punishment.
Luca di Tommè's The Flagellation, created in 1365 in Siena, depicts the Flagellation of Christ, a central event in the Passion narrative where Jesus is scourged prior to his crucifixion. As a work of religious art, the painting focuses on this specific moment of suffering, presenting the main subject of Jesus Christ undergoing the punishment. The composition serves as a devotional object intended to evoke the physical and spiritual torment endured by the figure, adhering to the iconographic traditions of the Sienese school during the mid-14th century.
Technique & Style
The Flagellation by Luca di Tommè is executed in tempera on panel, a standard technique for Sienese panel painting of the mid-Trecento. According to the Wikidata record, the work also involves oil paint as a listed material, though tempera remains the primary medium recorded in the corpus entry. The panel measures 39 cm in height by 30 cm in width, giving it a modest, vertically oriented format suited to private devotional use.
Stylistically, the work belongs to the Sienese religious tradition of 1365, treating the Flagellation of Christ as its main subject. The small scale and panel support are consistent with the portable devotional images produced in Siena during this period.
History & Provenance
The panel is dated 1365 and attributed to Luca di Tommè by both the internal record and Wikidata.
It entered the Netherlands in modern times, passing through Otto Lanz and then his daughter Anna Theresia Elisabeth Lanz-Willi before being acquired by the Dutch state’s Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit and deposited in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The Flagellation by Luca di Tommè is currently held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it is displayed in hall 0.2. The work has a complex institutional history, having been part of the collections of the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit and the Führermuseum. Prior to its acquisition by the Rijksmuseum, the painting was owned by Otto Lanz and Anna Theresia Elisabeth Lanz-Willi. The piece, created in Siena in 1365, was executed on panel using tempera and oil paint.
Context
The Flagellation, painted by Luca di Tommè in 1365, exemplifies Sienese religious art of the mid-14th century and is housed in the Rijksmuseum and Führermuseum. Its depiction of Christ's flagellation reflects contemporary devotional practices, while its formal qualities have been analyzed for compositional balance and symbolic detail. Scholarship situates the work within the broader context of Italian panel painting, emphasizing its role in the development of narrative techniques in religious imagery.
Overview
Created in 1365 by the Sienese painter Luca di Tommè, this tempera on wood panel portrays the biblical episode of Christ’s flagellation. Executed within the decorative tradition of the Siena school, the work now belongs to the Rijksmuseum’s collection.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Luca di Tommè (or Luca Thome) (c. 1330–1389) was an Italian painter active between 1356 and 1389 in Siena. He worked in the style established by earlier Sienese painters Duccio, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and…
