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Workshop of Dirk Bouts, 'Christ Crowned with Thorns', probably about 1470-5

About the work

This small picture once made up a diptych (a folding painting in two parts) with another in our collection, the Mater Dolorosa. It was probably intended for private devotion: Christ’s pain was meant to inspire empathy in the viewer, who was encouraged to meditate upon his suffering as a means of personal salvation. This painting might have been made in Bouts’s workshop towards the end of his life.

Key facts

Full title
Christ Crowned with Thorns
Artist
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
Artist dates
1400? - 1475
Part of the series
Diptych: Christ and the Virgin
Date made
probably about 1470-5
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
36.8 × 27.8 cm
Acquisition credit
Presented by Queen Victoria at the Prince Consort's wish, 1863
Inventory number
NG712
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

About the series: Diptych: Christ and the Virgin

Workshop of Dirk Bouts, 'Mater Dolorosa', probably about 1470-5

These two panels were once a diptych (a painting in two parts) showing Christ crowned with thorns and his mother, the Virgin, grieving (known as the Mater Dolorosa). Both the Virgin and Christ are shown close up, almost like portraits. Both are red-eyed and weeping, drawing them together emotionally. The frames (now lost) and figures both seem to cast shadows on the gold backgrounds.

Numerous versions of these paintings survive, most of rather poor quality. A more or less identical diptych (Louvre, Paris) was apparently painted in the same workshop, from tracings of the same pattern drawings.

Mater Dolorosa
Mater Dolorosa
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
This small painting of the sorrowing Virgin once went with another painting in our collection, Christ Crowned with Thorns. They originally made up a diptych, a folding painting in two parts. It was probably intended for private prayer: the Virgin’s grief was intended to inspire empathy in the vie...
Not on display
Christ Crowned with Thorns
Christ Crowned with Thorns
Workshop of Dirk Bouts
This small picture once made up a diptych (a folding painting in two parts) with another in our collection, the Mater Dolorosa. It was probably intended for private devotion: Christ’s pain was meant to inspire empathy in the viewer, who was encouraged to meditate upon his suffering as a means of...
Not on display

Related works

Christ Crowned with Thorns
Christ Crowned with Thorns
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Christ wears the rich cloak and the crown of thorns in which, according to the Gospels, he was dressed before he was crucified. But the wounds of the Passion (his torture and crucifixion) indicate that he has already died and been resurrected.Bouts brings Jesus’s torments vividly to life, showing...
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Portrait of a Man (Jan van Winckele?)
Portrait of a Man (Jan van Winckele?)
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A fair-haired man stands in an interior, gazing past us. Through the window behind him we can see a landscape with a church in the distance. The date on the back wall makes this the earliest datable – and in fact the only dated painting – by Bouts, and the earliest dated portrait to include an op...
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The Entombment
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The Virgin and Child
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The Virgin and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Paul
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