DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48462#0045
The early Iconography of the Crowning with Thorns
41
Even the inscription is practically the same: Christus ducitur ad crucifigendum28. There can, however,
he no doubt about the identification of this scene as the Crowning with Thorns. Christ not only wears
the Crown of Thorns, here in the form of a thin Laurel Wreath, but He also wears the other attributes
mentioned in the Gospels, i. e. the reed and the robe.
Thus, there existed in Early Christian art two prototypes for the representation of Christ crowned with
Thorns. The one, represented by the Lateran sarcophagus, shows the actual crowning with a soldier
holding the Crown above the head of Christ, the other represented by the St. Augustine Gospels, shows
Christ wearing the Crown as He is being led by the hand by one soldier and followed by two others.
It is the second prototype which has been followed in the only preserved Carolingian representation of
the motif, on an ivory relief in the British Museum29. Christ is here wearing all the attributes of the event,
the Crown in the form of a big Laurel Wreath, the reed and the robe, but the content and the composition
has been changed. Instead of following the soldier who holds His hand, Christ has turned to the left,
and of the soldiers who normally follow Hirn, but here preceding Hirn, the one to the left has become
Pilate, and the whole scene has more taken on the meaning of Ecce Homo.
A connection between the Crowning with Thorns and the Ecce Homo can also be found in an Echternach
manuscript from the eleventh Century, the Book of Pericopes in Bremen (fol. 53 v; fig. 19). Here we
see Christ crowned with Thorns twice in the same miniature, first in connection with the Ecce Homo and
the second time in connection with the Way to Calvary.
The first scene shows a man, Pilate, leading Christ by the hand, and behind Christ a man putting the
Crown on His head, while in the front of them is a group of men with the two in the foreground kneeling.
The second scene shows Christ to the left wearing the Crown of Thorns and being led by the hand by
one soldier while two others follow behind putting their hands on His shoulders, and to the right Simon
carrying the Cross.
Most of the miniatures in the Bremensis are copied from Codex Egberti, a Reichenau manuscript from
the end of the tenth Century30. Also these two scenes are copied from the Codex Egberti, but with im-
portant additions.
In the Codex Egberti the first scene (fol. 82; fig. 20) shows Pilate, identified by inscriptions, leading Christ
toward a group of kneeling and standing men, identified by inscriptions as Milites and Pontifices, but
there is no soldier behind Christ, and no Crown of Thorns, though Christ is wearing the robe. The second
scene is exactly the same in the Egbert Codex (fol. 83 v; fig. 21), even with the soldiers putting their
hands on His shoulders, only the Crown of Thorns is missing.
In his discussion of the iconography of the first scene Schnitzler31 points out that in the Egbert Codex,
where the miniatures are interspersed throughout the text, the scene is placed between the first and
second verse of John 19, where the Flagellation and the Crowning with Thorns are described, and not
between the fifth and sixth where the Ecce Homo is described. Thus the copy where the Crowning with
Thorns is shown, is more in accordance with the text which the original is illustrating than the original
itself. This led Schnitzler to believe that the Echternacher artist not only copied the Egbert Codex, but
also had access to its prototype, where probably the Crowning with Thorns was represented32.
If we now look again at the two scenes in the Bremensis we will find that if we take away Pilate and the
group of soldiers and Jews in the first scene, we are left with nearly exactly the same composition as on
the Lateran sarcophagus with a soldier holding the Crown above the head of Christ, and that the second
scene, except for Simon carrying the Cross, is very similar to the scene in the St. Augustine Gospels.
Even the gesture of the soldiers who are putting their hands on His shoulders must have been derived
from the Acclamatio-gesture of the soldiers following Christ on the Ciborium-column in San Marco.
If Schnitzler is correct in assuming that the artist of the Bremensis also copied directly from the Early
Christian prototype of the Egbert Codex, it is reasonable to suppose that this manuscript had separate
28 Probably also these inscriptions are later additions. Venturi, op. cit., p. 444.
29 Venturi, op. cit., II, fig. 161; A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen, I, Berlin 1914, no. 133a.
30 A. Boeckler, Das goldene Evangelienbuch Heinrichs III., Berlin 1933, p. 44.
31 Schnitzler, Fulda oder Reichenau, Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch, XIX, 1957, p. 87f.
32 Where we would expect to find the Ecce Homo scene in the Egbert Codex is another scene, showing only Christ and Pilate,
Christ still wearing the robe (F. X. Kraus, Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti, Freiburg 1884, pl. XLVIII). Also this scene must
be wrongly placed, as it must illustrate Pilate’s second interrogation of Christ, mentioned in verses 9-13.
41
Even the inscription is practically the same: Christus ducitur ad crucifigendum28. There can, however,
he no doubt about the identification of this scene as the Crowning with Thorns. Christ not only wears
the Crown of Thorns, here in the form of a thin Laurel Wreath, but He also wears the other attributes
mentioned in the Gospels, i. e. the reed and the robe.
Thus, there existed in Early Christian art two prototypes for the representation of Christ crowned with
Thorns. The one, represented by the Lateran sarcophagus, shows the actual crowning with a soldier
holding the Crown above the head of Christ, the other represented by the St. Augustine Gospels, shows
Christ wearing the Crown as He is being led by the hand by one soldier and followed by two others.
It is the second prototype which has been followed in the only preserved Carolingian representation of
the motif, on an ivory relief in the British Museum29. Christ is here wearing all the attributes of the event,
the Crown in the form of a big Laurel Wreath, the reed and the robe, but the content and the composition
has been changed. Instead of following the soldier who holds His hand, Christ has turned to the left,
and of the soldiers who normally follow Hirn, but here preceding Hirn, the one to the left has become
Pilate, and the whole scene has more taken on the meaning of Ecce Homo.
A connection between the Crowning with Thorns and the Ecce Homo can also be found in an Echternach
manuscript from the eleventh Century, the Book of Pericopes in Bremen (fol. 53 v; fig. 19). Here we
see Christ crowned with Thorns twice in the same miniature, first in connection with the Ecce Homo and
the second time in connection with the Way to Calvary.
The first scene shows a man, Pilate, leading Christ by the hand, and behind Christ a man putting the
Crown on His head, while in the front of them is a group of men with the two in the foreground kneeling.
The second scene shows Christ to the left wearing the Crown of Thorns and being led by the hand by
one soldier while two others follow behind putting their hands on His shoulders, and to the right Simon
carrying the Cross.
Most of the miniatures in the Bremensis are copied from Codex Egberti, a Reichenau manuscript from
the end of the tenth Century30. Also these two scenes are copied from the Codex Egberti, but with im-
portant additions.
In the Codex Egberti the first scene (fol. 82; fig. 20) shows Pilate, identified by inscriptions, leading Christ
toward a group of kneeling and standing men, identified by inscriptions as Milites and Pontifices, but
there is no soldier behind Christ, and no Crown of Thorns, though Christ is wearing the robe. The second
scene is exactly the same in the Egbert Codex (fol. 83 v; fig. 21), even with the soldiers putting their
hands on His shoulders, only the Crown of Thorns is missing.
In his discussion of the iconography of the first scene Schnitzler31 points out that in the Egbert Codex,
where the miniatures are interspersed throughout the text, the scene is placed between the first and
second verse of John 19, where the Flagellation and the Crowning with Thorns are described, and not
between the fifth and sixth where the Ecce Homo is described. Thus the copy where the Crowning with
Thorns is shown, is more in accordance with the text which the original is illustrating than the original
itself. This led Schnitzler to believe that the Echternacher artist not only copied the Egbert Codex, but
also had access to its prototype, where probably the Crowning with Thorns was represented32.
If we now look again at the two scenes in the Bremensis we will find that if we take away Pilate and the
group of soldiers and Jews in the first scene, we are left with nearly exactly the same composition as on
the Lateran sarcophagus with a soldier holding the Crown above the head of Christ, and that the second
scene, except for Simon carrying the Cross, is very similar to the scene in the St. Augustine Gospels.
Even the gesture of the soldiers who are putting their hands on His shoulders must have been derived
from the Acclamatio-gesture of the soldiers following Christ on the Ciborium-column in San Marco.
If Schnitzler is correct in assuming that the artist of the Bremensis also copied directly from the Early
Christian prototype of the Egbert Codex, it is reasonable to suppose that this manuscript had separate
28 Probably also these inscriptions are later additions. Venturi, op. cit., p. 444.
29 Venturi, op. cit., II, fig. 161; A. Goldschmidt, Die Elfenbeinskulpturen, I, Berlin 1914, no. 133a.
30 A. Boeckler, Das goldene Evangelienbuch Heinrichs III., Berlin 1933, p. 44.
31 Schnitzler, Fulda oder Reichenau, Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch, XIX, 1957, p. 87f.
32 Where we would expect to find the Ecce Homo scene in the Egbert Codex is another scene, showing only Christ and Pilate,
Christ still wearing the robe (F. X. Kraus, Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti, Freiburg 1884, pl. XLVIII). Also this scene must
be wrongly placed, as it must illustrate Pilate’s second interrogation of Christ, mentioned in verses 9-13.