Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers1865
Jesus sits half-naked and bound while three soldiers crowd around him in the dark. More about this work
About this work
Jesus sits half-naked and bound while three soldiers crowd around him in the dark. Manet showed this large canvas at the Paris Salon of 1865, alongside his notorious Olympia, and critics attacked both. What disturbed them here was its bluntness: Manet painted the figures from models, without idealisation, so that the sacred subject becomes a scene of ordinary physical suffering and rough indifference. The sombre palette and direct handling show his admiration for Spanish painters such as Velázquez.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
Large, dark painting of Jesus sitting with three standing soldiers.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Édouard Manet
French, 1832–1883 · Born and died in Paris.
Manet came from a prosperous Parisian family, trained under Thomas Couture and studied the old masters, Velázquez above all. In the 1860s he provoked critics with Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia, modern subjects painted in flat, frank colour with little modelling. Though he never showed with the Impressionists, younger painters looked to him as a leader, and in his last years he painted Parisian café life and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1925.703
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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