Flagellation of Christ

Christ is depicted from behind, bound to a central stone column as two executioners in Renaissance attire raise birch bundles to strike him. A dense crowd of observers in various styles of dress watches from the shadows of a large arched hall, illuminated by a torch on the right. This engraving is a 1619 version by Boëtius à Bolswert after the 'Passion' series originally designed by Hendrick Goltzius.

Goltzius and his circle were associated with the 'Family of Love' (Huis der Liefde), a mystical spiritualist sect that interpreted the Passion of Christ as an internal, allegorical process of the soul's purification. The technical virtuosity of the Haarlem Mannerists was often viewed as a form of artistic alchemy, transmuting the physical medium into a sophisticated spiritual narrative.