The Story
The Flagellation; (reverse) The Madonna of Mercy by Girolamo Romanino. Purchase, Anonymous Bequest, by exchange, 1989
Created in 1545 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Girolamo Romanino worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Distemper and oil(?) on canvas, measuring 70 7/8 x 47 1/2 in. (180 x 120.7 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Girolamo Romanino builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
