Bound and surrounded by soldiers, Christ stands before the high priest Caiaphas at the opening of the Passion. The elevated throne establishes Caiaphas’s authority, yet Christ’s luminous face and calm bearing command the composition. Brilliant colour, elaborate costume and a richly patterned carpet transform the crowded tribunal into a distinctly Andean pictorial setting.

Luis Eduardo Wuffarden relates the composition to an engraving by Hieronymus Wierix and proposes an attribution to Marcos Zapata, one of the leading painters of eighteenth-century Cusco. The study examines how the European print was reinterpreted through local decorative preferences and the expressive vocabulary associated with Zapata and his workshop.

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