Mocking of Christ
Anthony van Dyck
402 likes32 comments
The Story
Trained in the Dutch Republic before making his career in London, Pieter van Roestraeten specialized in compositions populated with luxury goods crafted from rare, imported materials like those seen here. On the right stands a lidded agate cup with detailed silver mounts, counterbalanced to the left of the grouping by another cup, which has been overturned to reveal its mother-of-pearl lining. A piece of valuable and versatile coral, sourced from the coasts of Italy and France, dangles over the front edge of the table.
The central item in this still life, the ostrich egg cup, is in the collection of the Art Institute. Known as the Whitfield Cup, it was created in 1590 by the royal jeweler John Spilman.
The physical object — Oil on canvas, 65.4 × 75.6 cm (25 3/4 × 29 3/4 in.); Framed: 77.2 × 88.3 × 4.5 cm (30 3/8 × 34 3/4 × 1 3/4 in.) — carries its own history of handling and restoration. Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten's brushwork here moves between exacting description and looser, more suggestive passages, a balance typical of Baroque studio practice.
Look closely and the painting opens up. Objects you might pass over — a folded letter, a half-drawn curtain, the angle of a glance — were placed to be read. Crowns, columns, and heraldry quietly insist on legitimacy — this is a painting working hard on behalf of a patron.
Today the painting is held by Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, where it remains a touchstone for understanding Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten's contribution to Western art. It has been studied, copied, restored, and argued over for centuries — proof that great paintings keep generating new readings long after their creators have gone.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
