It has been a long time since we had news of Caravaggio’s ‘Ecce Homo’. The last we knew about the famous painting – in April 2021 it was going to go up for auction at the Ansorena room of Madrid as a ‘Coronation of Thorns’, from the Círculo de Ribera, … with a starting price of 1,500 euros– is that its restoration had already been completed. As ABC announced, it was carried out in Madrid by the Italian specialist Andrea Cipriani and his team under the supervision of experts from the Community of Madrid. At the Tefaf fair in Maastricht in 2023, Jorge Coll, general director of Colnaghi, warned that “in April or May there will be news and it will be very good.” But in July there were general elections in Spain and the news of Caravaggio was left for less turbulent times.
And so until today, when we have learned from a statement from the Prado Museum that the canvas has new owner (the previous ones were the Pérez de Castro brothersinto whose hands it came through his ancestor, Evaristo Perez de Castro) and which will be exhibited for nine months in the art gallery. As ABC has been able to confirm, the new owner is a British citizen resident in Spain (as it was declared BIC by the Community of Madrid on December 22, 2021, the work cannot leave Spain, except exceptionally temporarily) and its price has been 36 million euros.
Due to the fact that it is an Asset of Cultural Interest, both the Spanish State (through the Ministry of Culture) and the Community of Madrid had the option of having exercised their preferential right of first refusal (if he matches the offer he keeps the work), but none of them exercised it. Apparently, the proposed price was 34.4 million. Does the Spanish State not have formulas to have managed to obtain the painting? Extraordinary credits, agreements with Ibex companies and with patrons, dation in payment? It is not every day it is possible to acquire a Caravaggio. There is only 60 known works of the great Italian painter. Until now, the highest price paid by the State for a work of art was the 4,000 million pesetas (about 24 millionof euros) paid for ‘The Countess of Chinchón’, by Goya, for the Prado Museum. And the Government gave the green light to rent the Carmen Thyssen collection for 6.5 million annually for 15 years: that is, it will disburse a total of 97.5 million euros and in the end the State will not be the owner of the collection.
The new owner of ‘Ecce Homo’ will transfer it to temporary loan to Prado for nine months. It will be exhibited in a special individual installation from next May 28 until October 2024. Afterwards, it will be hung in the context of the permanent exhibition until the deadline is met.«The Prado played an important role in the recovery of this work by alerting the Ministry of Culture of its importance, which prevented its departure from Spain. Thanks to the generosity of its current owner, the Prado now makes available to the public and the scientific community an exceptional work by one of the greatest painters in history,” he says. Miguel Falomir, director of the Pradoin a note from the art gallery.
Everything indicated that the work would end up at the Prado (or even the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, where it came from), but not as a temporary loan. It did surprise everyone that the painting was not restored in the Prado workshop, as expected. In fact, it was the Prado that alerted the Ministry of Culture of the relevance of the work. Jorge Coll himself, in an interview with ABC in 2021, said: “The Prado is a good option, but we have to look at the interests of the owners.”
The painting has been in the custody of the Colnaghi galleryIn collaboration with Filippo Benappi (Benappi Fine Art) and Andrea Lullo (Lullo Pampoulides). Since its appearance at auction three years ago, ‘Ecce Homo’ has represented one of the greatest discoveries in art history, achieving consensus in its authentication. After a thorough diagnostic investigation carried out by Claudio Falcucci -nuclear engineer specialized in the application of scientific techniques to the study and conservation of cultural heritage-, a study of the work was carried out, which was carried out by Maria Cristina Terzaghi (adjunct professor of History of Modern Art at the University of Rome Tre 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). All of them have addressed 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: ‘Ecce Homo’ is a masterpiece by 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 presentation of the painting and the announcement of its loan to the Prado also included the edition of a publication with essays by Christiansen, Papi, Porzio and Terzaghi. 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 ‘Ecce Homo’ of Caravaggio (1605-1609) is possibly mentioned for the first time in an engagement written in Rome between the artist and the aristocrat Massimo Massimisigned on June 25, 1605. Later, in 1631, the work became part of the collection of Juan de Lezcano (secretary of Pedro Fernández de Castro, ambassador of Spain in Rome until 1616 and later viceroy of the court of Palermo, brother of Francisco de Castro, viceroy of Naples). The work is later mentioned in the inventory prepared on the occasion of the departure to Madrid of the wife of García de Avellaneda y Haro Delgadillo. Delgadillo was the second count of Castrillo (1588-1670) and viceroy of Naples (1653-1659). Later, Ecce Homo became part of the private collection of Philip IV from Spain in 1664, and it is mentioned that it was exhibited in the home of his son Charles II between 1701 and 1702.
In 1789, the work appears as exhibited in the Royal House of the Buen Retiro Palaceuntil in 1816 it is documented in the Buenavista Palace of Madrid as part of the Manuel Godoy collection (1767-1851), Secretary of State of Charles IV and famous art collector. Upon Godoy’s death, the painting was transferred to the Royal Academy of San Fernando. In 1821, Evaristo Pérez de Castro Méndez (1769-1849), Spanish diplomat and honorary member of the Academy of San Fernando, received the Caravaggio in exchange for other paintings donated to the Academy of Fine Arts. The work remained in the family until it changed ownership this year. Two years of intense research and restoration followed its rediscovery.
Jorge Coll, CEO of Colnaghi, explains: «In the last hundred years, no artist like Caravaggio, with his adventurous biography and his unmistakable style, has fascinated so many people of all ages and attracted so many experts from around the world. This work therefore constitutes one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art, and its sale marks the culmination of two years of collaborative work with many leaders in their respective fields. “I feel honored to have been part of this process and to have supported the incredible research and restoration process, which has confirmed and reinforced our first suspicion that the work is truly a masterpiece of its time, and also ours.”
