Getty Museum

Christ Before Pilate

Date

about 1640–1650

Medium

Brush and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white gouache,, on light brown paper

Culture

Dutch

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

An angry crowd of onlookers gathers to observe Pontius Pilate's sentencing of Jesus. Having questioned Christ and found him innocent, Pilate wanted to release him, but he gave in to the bloodthirsty mob clamoring for crucifixion. To emphasize his lack of responsibility for the decision, Pilate washed his hands in public. This scene occurs on the raised platform outside the courthouse, while soldiers hold back the crowds at the foot of the steps. Nikolaus Knüpfer created a stage-like setting for the drama of the trial. The darkened foreground figures lead the eye upward to the platform where the dramatic forms of Christ and his tormentors stand silhouetted against the sky. The brilliant illumination of Christ's face and torso points to his focal role. While suggesting the teeming mob of onlookers with some sketchily drawn faces at the right, Knüpfer mainly concentrated on a few foreground figures. Other characters, such as the carefree boy on the left playing with his top and the weeping woman outside the prison gates, add interest to the scene.

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