The Mocking of Christ

The Mocking of Christ is painted on the wall in Cell seven of the Convent of San Marco in Florence. It is believed to have been painted between 1441 and 1442 when Angelico and the fellow Dominica Flairs started decorating the convent with fresco paintings.

The painting shows an image of Christ sitting on a throne. He is wearing a thorn crown, and a thin material blindfolds his eyes. However, you can make out the eyes and the nose through the thin material. A cruciform halo surrounds the head. He holds a segmented staff on the right and an orb on the left hand instead of a spectre. The painting depicts a king who is suffering. Other images of the Mocking show the crown of thorns. Unlike prior images, Angelico did not include full bodies of his tormentors. Instead, he shows the parts that the tormentors are using to abuse Christ. These include four disembodied hands, two on each side. All of the hands are right hands.

One of the hands on the right is raised in a way that it seems prepared to slap him. The other one has a rod ready to strike him. On the left, one hand reaches his beard to pull it while a palm prepares to slap him. Apart from these hands, there is a disembodied head and raised hand. The head spits on his face while the hand is just raised as if part of the mocking. At the foreground sits Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her identity becomes certain after looking at several frescos by the painter. She is seated on the floor with the left hand supporting the check as she faces the audience. On her left is St. Dominic, who is reading a book. He, too, is touching his check with a hand.

Angelico separated the central image of Christ with the subjects on the foreground by a small flight of stairs, making Jesus look like he is seated in front of a podium. The gestures that Dominic and Mary make reveal that they are engrossed in their thoughts.

The Mocking of Christ depicts the intense meditation of the Passion. In essence, he invites others to take part in meditating about the suffering of Christ. The touching of the check with hands is part of Lectio Divina, a meditation practice. Therefore, the image of Christ is a mental image from the subjects in the front. They remember the humiliation of Christ and its meaning to mankind. This image makes the audience think of the terror Christ was facing without seeing the actual violence in the image. It is brilliant yet presented simply.