Flagellation of Christ

[1][2] The column to which Christ is normally shown to be tied, and the rope, scourge, whip or birch are elements in the Arma Christi.

[3] The Basilica di Santa Prassede in Rome is one of the churches claiming to possess the original column or parts of it.

In art, the subject was first depicted as one of a series of Passion scenes, but from the 15th century onwards it was also painted in individual works.

The most-discussed single work is the enigmatic Flagellation of Christ on a small panel in Urbino by Piero della Francesca (1455–1460), the precise meaning of which has eluded generations of art historians.

This was most popular in Baroque sculpture, and also related to the subject, not found in the canonical Gospels, of Christ in the Dungeon.

Initially found in illuminated manuscripts and small ivories, there are surviving monumental wall-paintings of the subject from around 1000 in Italy.

Pontius Pilate is sometimes shown watching the scene, and his wife's servant may approach him with her message, and in the later Middle Ages, probably under the influence of Passion plays, the number of men beating Christ may be three or four, increasingly caricatured in the North as grotesque figures in the dress of contemporary mercenaries.