The new owner of Caravaggio’s ‘Ecce Homo’ – a work declared Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) in 2021, which prevented its departure from Spain – will transfer the masterpiece on a temporary loan for nine months to the National Prado Museum, where it can be see from May 28.
As reported by the Prado Museum this Monday, the canvas will be exhibited in a special individual installation until next October.
The work, whose owner is unknown, has been transferred to the Spanish art gallery through the Colnaghi art gallery, which has guarded it since the Prado alerted the Ministry of Culture in April 2021 that it was going to be auctioned at the house. Ansorena an important painting that, at that time, was attributed to a student of José de Ribera.
Since its appearance at this auction three years ago, the ‘Ecce Homo’ has represented “one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art,” the Prado reported, “achieving an unprecedented consensus regarding its authentication.” .
After a “deep diagnostic investigation” carried out by nuclear engineer Claudio Falcucci, the restoration has been carried out in a “rigorous manner”, and each decision has been supported by an exhaustive evaluation of the materials of the work and the conservation history of the painting, “reaffirming the initial attribution to the Italian master.”
Specifically, this work, which was owned by the Pérez de Castro family, was sold to a buyer who remains anonymous, according to Prado sources, in an auction or private purchase.
And this new owner has hired the services of Colnhagi, one of the oldest antiques firms in the world and which was already responsible for selling – for more than one hundred million euros – another Caravaggio found in 2016 in an attic in Toulouse.
When the painting first appeared to the public in 2021 at the Ansorena auction house, it was presented as ‘The Crowning with Thorns’ and was attributed to the Círculo de José de Ribera (18th century). Its starting price was 1,500 euros, well below even for that rating, according to all experts.
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 in terms of the conception process: a skillful composition that presents a totally innovative three-dimensional and dynamic scene within the limits of a deep-rooted iconographic tradition,” they have clarified from the Spanish art gallery.
The presentation of Ecce Homo and the announcement of its loan – “in an act of generosity on the part of its new owner”, according to the Prado – also entailed the publication of a publication that brings together experts in the field, with essays by Christiansen, Papi , Porzio and Terzaghi, testimonies of 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.
