The Crown of Thorns

Humble Gods and Humiliated Kings
Faith C. Tibble shows how a simple mistranslation of the New Testament led to a gory tradition in medieval art.

Jesus’ Crown of Thorns has become one of the most ubiquitous features of Christian religious art, but was the crown of history anything like the crown of popular medieval art and piety? The image that springs to mind is that of a bloodied, beaten Jesus, wearing a cruelly fashioned, woven crown made of sharp thorns. But this image is deeply misleading, based on a fundamental misunderstanding (and mistranslation) of the Gospels.

Faith C. Tibble rectifies this misunderstanding, showing how The Crown of Thorns underwent a yet unrecognized artistic evolution. Tibble tracks the artistic progression of the Crown of Thorns from when it is was first depicted in the 4th century, until the 11th century, when it begins to exhibit the artistic trends that are still recognizable today, even in modern depictions in art and cinema. Through doing so, Tibble adds new perspective to our understanding of the ideologies associated with medieval Christianity - victory, humility, perseverance - and how those ideologies are exemplified in depictions of the Crown of Thorns. Tibble demonstrates how a simple mistranslation led to a different understanding of the Gospels, and an unexpected trajectory for European art - with profound and unintended consequences.

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