Christ at the Column

Antonello pushes the suffering Christ hard against the picture plane: crown of thorns, a rope at his throat, tears tracking his cheeks, his face lifted in open-mouthed appeal. There is no narrative here, only the column at his shoulder to name the Flagellation; this is a devotional image, made to be prayed before, drawing the worshipper into Christ's pain. The Netherlandish exactness Antonello had mastered - each hair, each glassy tear, each bead of blood - serves raw feeling rather than display. Few painters of the century could make oil paint carry anguish as directly as this.