oxodo (thorn in the flesh) of 2 Cor. xii. 7, being properly an impaling-stake.
Both the crowning with thorns and the flagellation are favor- ite subjects in Christian art. Some of the earliest representa- tions of the latter depict the figure of the Lord as fully draped, and standing unbound at the column, thus illustrating the vol- untariness of His sacrifice. Ina MS. of the fourteenth century, in the British Museum, He stands, wholly clothed, holding a book in one hand, and blessing with the other. The more de- vout feeling which predominated in such representations was gradually overpowered by the sense of physical suffering. The earlier paintings represented the back turned toward the spec- tator, and the face, turned in a forced attitude, exhibited in profile. Later, the face and figure are turned full to the front, and the strokes fall upon the chest. Hence Jerome, in his com- mentary on Matthew, says that the capacious chest of God (!) was torn with strokes. The standing position is the accepted one, but instances occur in which the Saviour is on the ground attached to the column by one hand. Such is the revolting pict- ure by L. Caracci in the Bologna gallery, in which the soldier clutches Jesus by the hair as he plies the bundle of twigs. In a Psalter of the fifteenth century the Saviour stands in front of the column, covering His face with His hands.
According to the later type, the moment chosen is when the execution of the sentence is just beginning. One man is bind- ing the hands to the pillar, another is binding together a bundle of loose switches. The German representations are coarser than the Italian, but with more incident. They lack the spiritual feeling which appears in the best Italian specimens.
A field for a higher feeling and for more subtile treatment is opened in the moments succeeding the scourging. One of the very finest examples of this is the picture of Velasquez, “Christ at the Column,” in the National Gallery of London. The real grandeur and pathos of the conception assert themselves above certain prosaic and realistic details. The Saviour sits upon the ground, His arms extended, and leaning backward to the full stretch of the cord which binds His crossed hands. The face is turned over the left shoulder full upon the spectator. Rods,