"Christ Crowned with Thorns" (from Sketchbook)
Medium
Graphite, pen, ink, and watercolor on paper
Dimensions
Dimensions unavailable
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gift of William Gedney Bunce, by exchange, 1979
Accession Number
1979.581.23
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled within John William Casilear's sketchbook, *Christ Crowned with Thorns* offers an intimate glimpse into the artist's creative process. This poignant depiction of the biblical scene—where Christ endures mockery and suffering—employs a delicate mix of graphite, pen, ink, and watercolor on paper. These mixed-media techniques allow for subtle layering: graphite for fine shading, ink for precise lines, and watercolor for soft tonal washes, evoking empathy and quiet drama typical of devotional sketches. Casilear, a 19th-century American artist best known for his luminous Hudson River School...
About the Artist
John William Casilear · 1811–1893
John William Casilear, born on June 25, 1811, in New York City, began his artistic career as an engraver, apprenticed under the prominent Peter Maverick in 1826. He later studied painting under Asher B. Durand in 1831, forming a close friendship that profoundly shaped his path. Durand, influenced by Thomas Cole, introduced Casilear to landscape painting by the mid-1830s, transitioning him from ban...