The painting is a demonstration of the artist's maturity; he has assimilated and expressed the teachings on Venetian and Flemish art.
The theme of the face of Christ, so loved by the artist, expresses a new image of devotion which spread in the second half of the 15th century.
The artist manifested a very high standard when expressing the truthfulness and the drama of the scene: sweated hair, the hairs of the beard which could be counted, the partly shut mouth, the first blood drops marking the face, the spitting and the tears. He who is represented is truly the man of sorrow!

"I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I didn't hide my face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50,6)