SACRED ART IN 100 WORDS -The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ-William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1880 – Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Rochelle

The painting depicts the compelling agony and brutal pain of Christ being flayed by a whip. His feet are limp. Notice how they give way and droop to the ground. In all vulnerability, Christ submits to His suffering.On either side stand two torturers with their hands and their whipping ropes in mid-swing, ready to strike. The third sits in the foreground, fastening birch branches to fashion yet another instrument of torture. The bystanders include indignant perpetrators, curious spectators, fearful children, and indifferent executioners. Amidst them hangs the radiant Lamb, bound and led to slaughter. AsChrist raises his eyes to His Father, He offers Himself as a ransom for the world, perhaps praying‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’

– Archdiocesan Heritage Museum