Flagellation of Christ

Christ stands at the center of a vaulted hall, his muscular back turned toward the viewer as men in contemporary and Roman-style dress raise bundles of switches to strike him. A thick plume of smoke from a torch on the right billows across the ceiling, while a diverse crowd of onlookers in turbans and caps watches from the shadows. The engraving displays the characteristic sinuous line-work and anatomical exaggeration of the Haarlem Mannerist style.

Hendrick Goltzius was a key figure in the circle of the spiritualist philosopher Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, whose ideas on the inner path to perfection influenced the moral and philosophical depth of Haarlem art. This series, known as the 'Masterpiece' Passion, represents an intentional emulation of historical masters like Dürer, reflecting the Renaissance interest in the transmission of ancient wisdom through artistic lineage.