The Crown of Thorns
Gustave Doré, 1866 · John 19:2
The passage
And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
John 19:2
About this plate
Christ seated at the centre, hands bound in his lap, head bent under the pressure. Two soldiers lean in from behind with staves, pressing the crown down onto his head. A third stands at the right with a scourge. In the foreground a man is on his knees with his back to us, bowed low, and a stick lies on the stone beside him.
The staves are the detail that turns the stomach. They are not using their hands. Doré has them working the crown down with poles, at arm's length, in the posture of men doing an awkward practical job.
John's verse is flat and procedural: And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. Platted — woven, plaited. Somebody sat with thorn branches and made the thing.
Everybody in this plate is busy except the man in the middle, who is doing nothing at all, and Doré makes the stillness the brightest area on the block.
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