Le Christ devant le grand prêtre

Honthorst painted this in Rome around 1617, where the Italians had given him a nickname, Gherardo delle Notti, Gerard of the nights, for pictures like this one. A single candle sits on the table between two men, and it is the only light in the room. Everything is built around that flame. It catches the face of Christ, hands bound, saying nothing, and the face of the priest across from him, probably Caiaphas, leaning in and raising a finger as he presses his questions. The rest of the crowd falls away into darkness. Honthorst had studied Caravaggio closely and was competing with him on his own ground, and here he strips the scene down to two men and a light. A book lies open under the candle, the law the priest keeps pointing back to.