# Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers

**Édouard Manet** (French, 1832–1883)  
1865  
Oil on canvas  
190.8 × 148.3 cm (74 7/8 × 58 3/8 in.); Framed: 240.1 × 196.9 cm (94 1/2 × 77 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.703. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16499).

## 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._

Édouard Manet painted this in 1865, aged 33. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### 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](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/edouard-manet)

French, 1832–1883; born in Paris; 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._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France
- The artist was 33
- Real size: about 75 × 58 in (190 × 148 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 30 × 40 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Christian subjects, weapons, soldiers, religious figures, Jesus, Christianity, emotions, religious scenes
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/57.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/57/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/jesus-mocked-by-the-soldiers-aic-16499).