Main content

The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio

Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces, using your phone, tablet or computer. This episode - Caravaggio's The Flagellation of Christ.

Cathy FitzGerald invites you to discover new details in old masterpieces.

Each episode of Moving Pictures is devoted to a single artwork - and you're invited to look as well as listen, by following a link to a high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture. Zoom in and you can see the pores of the canvas, the sweep of individual brushstrokes, the shimmer of pointillist dots.

In this episode, we explore The Flagellation of Christ, now held in the collection of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples.

Out of the darkness - Christ tied to a black marble column, surrounded by three men, who prepare to whip him. It's a violent, intense, yet deeply intimate scene, carefully choreographed by the great artist, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, to stop us looking away.

To see the super high-resolution image of the work made by Google Arts & Culture, visit www.bbc.co.uk/movingpictures. Scroll down and follow the link to explore the high-resolution image of The Flagellation of Christ.

Interviewees: Caroline Paganussi, Sylvain Bellenger, Ben Quash, Jennifer Sliwka and Letizia Treves.

Producer and Presenter: Cathy FitzGerald

Executive Producer: Sarah Cuddon
Mix Engineer: Mike Woolley
Art History Consultant: Leah Kharibian

A White Stiletto production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

Picture credit: Caravaggio, Flagellation of Christ,1607. 漏 Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples. On long-term loan from the Church of San Domenico Maggiore, property of the Fund for Ecclesiastical Buildings, 1972.

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 8 Nov 2022 11:30
  • Tue 5 Sep 2023 16:00

The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio. Explore the high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture

From the collection of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy.