Mocking of Christ

In his last years Titian painted a series of paintings dedicated to the Passion of Christ. These include: Crowning with Thorns (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), Mocking of Christ (Art Museum, St. Louis), Ecce Homo (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg) and two versions of Christ Carrying the Cross (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg and Museo del Prado, Madrid). In these works, pervaded with immense dramatic power, the brushstrokes gradually dissolve into rapidly applied dabs of pigment. The aim is no longer to reproduce nature but to directly convey the raw emotion of the painter, who is participating fully in the tragic subject of the picture.