The Mocking of Christ

Artist Gustave Doré (French, 1832-1883)

Unknown Role René Gimpel

Dateabout 1872-1883

DimensionsH: 48 3/4 in. (123.8 cm); W: 38 5/8 in. (98.1 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of René Gimpel

Object number

1926.146

Not on View

Label TextA haunting image of humility and suffering, The Mocking of Christ depicts Jesus half-submerged in shadows as he sits with head bowed, quietly enduring the taunts and abuses of his three captors on the eve of his crucifixion. Doré heightens the drama and tension by contrasting the calm, unresisting stillness of Christ at the center of the composition with the animated and aggressive jailers. A crown of thorns (a mockery of the claim that Jesus was “King of the Jews”) rests on Christ’s head, causing blood to trickle down his temple. Doré was known as the “Preacher Painter” for the series of dramatic paintings of the life of Jesus he created in the 1870s, of which The Mocking of Christ is a compelling example.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 56, pl. 264.

Strasbourg, Musée d'Art Moderne, Gustave Doré, 1983, in no. 218.

Lehni, Nadine, in Gustave Dore 1832-1883, Strasbourg, 1983, p. 197.

Mühlberger, Richard, The Bible in Art: the New Testament, New York, 1990, p. 123, repr. p. 124 (col.).

Stebbing, Barry, "Comparative Studies in Art History: 'The Mocking of Christ,'" The Old Schoolhouse, Fall, 2003, p. 102, repr. (col.) p. 101.

Zafran, Eric, Fantasy and Faith: the Art of Gustave Doré, New York, Dahesh Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 83, 169, 202, no. 133, fig. 102, p. 83.