Flagellation of ChristFlagellation of Christ

The Flagellation of Christ (383.5cm x 300.5cm) is a mannerist work by the Florentine artist Stefano Pieri painted in 1572. It is not known whether Pieri, who worked with Giorgio Vasari, visited the island and executed the work here or if it came to the island as a complete work.  The painting hangs above the altar of the sacristy in St John’s Co-Cathedral, it was however painted prior to the building of the church and is recorded to have initially been hanging in the chapel of the Langue of England in the last years of the 16th Century before being transferred to the Sacristy.

In 2006 donations by Sir James Hackett of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and funds raised by Le Méridien Phoenicia as well as individual donations placed in collection boxes, made it possible to restore the painting which had blackened to such a state that it became unidentifiablee. The leading Maltese restorers ReCoop began the restoration on the painting in October 2006. During the restoration process the signature of the artist was also rediscovered after centuries of being masked beneath layers of thick, darkened varnish which has now been expertly restored. The restoration was completed in May 2007.