A Favorite Painting 29

Fra Angelica, "Mocking of Christ with the Virgin and St. Dominic" 1439-1443

In the monastery of San Marco in Florence, which sits across the square from the Art Institute where Michaelangelo's David is housed, each of the individual cells (that is, the approximately 8x8 rooms in which the individual monks dwelled) is adorned with a fresco by Fra Angelica. This one is from Cell 7. All of the frescoes consist of a single incident from the life of Jesus and were obviously intended to prompt somber reflection on the part of the monks in their daily prayers (you can find other examples of teh cell frescoes here). But the "Mocking of Christ" really stands out for the frankly weird display of diembodied head and hands abusing the blindfolded Jesus, as Mary and Dominic appear completely oblivious before him. I can't help but wonder what kind of ideas this suggested to the poor monk who inhabited that room; what kind of dreams must have plagued his sleep? Even allowing for the mystical nature of so much Christian theology, this image truly borders on the surreal, foreshadowing the kind of artistic license that would only become common almost 500 years later. It was kind of jarring coming upon this particular painting while strolling through the monastery, filled as it is with so much more traditional artworks from that period. Given what I've written in other posts about the role of art to provoke, I can't say I expected to find such a great example of such provocation in such a place, but then if I did expect it, it would not have had the same impact, would it?