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The Gathered Together Project

The Painting

The Painting

The Flagellation of Christ
by Piero Della Francesca

The Flagellation of Christ

This work has probably received more interpretations than any other painting in Western art, and yet its meaning continues to remain a mystery.

Sir Kenneth Clark regarded ‘The Flagellation of Christ’ as "the greatest small painting in the world". Quite an  accolade for a small panel measuring only 58.4 cm × 81.5 cm.

Art historians have proposed theories, but these have tended only to pose yet more questions. Whilst some have acknowledged the painting’s ‘sense of otherness', none have addressed its true message in any depth. 

In 1992, the 500th Anniversary of Piero’s death was commemorated with a feature length BBC program ‘The Piero Trail’, which included many informed interviews, and examined in detail the perspectival exactitude of the painting with a specially commissioned model.

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