Christ Crowned with Thorns

Around 1500 close-up heads of the suffering Christ were popular in the Netherlands, and the painter Dirk Bouts produced many versions. Cima's small panel, from about 1510, looks like a Venetian taking up that northern idea. The head fills the frame against a black ground, lit from one side so that nothing is hidden. Thorns are driven into the forehead, blood runs down the face, and the eyes are rimmed with red. A single tear slips down one cheek. The panel is less than 37 centimetres high, made to be seen from close by, by someone praying at home, and inventories show that families of modest means owned pictures like this as well as the rich. By 1856 it was in the Perkins collection at Chipstead, and the National Gallery bought it at the Perkins sale in 1890.