Since the Prado Museum alerted the Spanish Ministry of Culture in April 2021 of the relevance of the painting after its reappearance at the Ansorena auction house, when it was attributed to a student of José de Ribera, the work has been in the custody of the Colnaghi art gallery, in collaboration with Filippo Benappi (Benappi Fine Art) and Andrea Lullo (Lullo Pampoulides) and has been restored by the specialist Andrea Cipriani and his team under the supervision of experts from the Community of Madrid. The results of this meticulous process are collected in an exhaustive publication that will be available after the presentation of the work.
Since its appearance at auction three years ago, Ecce Homo has represented one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art, achieving an unprecedented consensus regarding its authentication. After an in-depth diagnostic investigation carried out by Claudio Falcucci – a nuclear engineer specialized in the application of scientific techniques to the study and conservation of cultural heritage -, the restoration has been carried out in a rigorous and rigorous manner, and each decision has been supported by an evaluation exhaustive of the materials of the work and the conservation history of the painting, reaffirming the initial attribution to the Italian master.
The study of the work has been carried out by Maria Cristina Terzaghi (professor of History of Modern Art at the Roma Tre University and member of the scientific committee of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples), Gianni Papi (art historian and writer), Giuseppe Porzio (professor of Art History at the University of Naples) and Keith Christiansen (curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and each of them has offered different perspectives. Specifically, the circumstances of its discovery, the provenance, the stylistic, technical and iconographic aspects of the work, its critical fortune and the master’s legacy in Naples. The four experts on Caravaggio and baroque painting share the same certainty: that Ecce Homo is a masterpiece of the Italian artist.
The oil painting represents the historical motif of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate presenting Christ to the people with the words “Ecce homo” (“Behold the man”), one of the most dramatic moments of the Passion, recorded in the Gospel of John (19 :5). The work is a powerful example of Caravaggio’s mastery of the conception process: a skillful composition that presents a completely innovative three-dimensional and dynamic scene within the limits of a deep-rooted iconographic tradition.
The presentation of Ecce Homo and the announcement of its loan – in an act of generosity on the part of its new owner – also entailed the publication of a publication that brings together leading experts in the field with seminal essays by Christiansen, Papi, Porzio and Terzaghi, testimony to the monumental importance of the work. Under the title Caravaggio: The Ecce Homo Revealed, the publication offers an essential starting point to understand this new addition to the catalog of Caravaggio’s works.
The publication includes the specialized interpretation of the painting carried out by Maria Cristina Terzaghi (professor of History of Modern Art at the Roma Tre University and member of the scientific committee of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples), Gianni Papi (art historian and writer ), Giuseppe Porzio (professor of Art History at the University of Naples) and Keith Christiansen (curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), each of whom analyze different aspects. Specifically: the circumstances of its discovery, the provenance, the stylistic, technical and iconographic aspects of the work, its critical fortune and the legacy left by the master in Naples. Four of the most authoritative experts on Caravaggio and Baroque painting share the same passionate certainty: that Ecce Homo is a masterpiece by the Italian artist.
