Ecce Homo, Flemish school of the 16th century

16th-century Flemish master
Circle of Quentin Metsys (Leuven, 1466 - Antwerp, 1530)

Ecce Homo

oil on panel

cm. 34 x 23
with frame 47 x 37 (not contemporary)

An important painting on panel, depicting the intense face of the suffering Christ crowned with thorns, in the more traditional iconography of Ecce Homo, one of the most representative Christian depictions in Old Master painting, which Flemish painters have emerged from for intensity and dramatic realism.

The painting in fact reveals typological and formal characteristics derived from the 16th century North European tradition, showing particular affinities with the works of the Flemish Quentin Massys (or Metsijs), founder of the Antwerp School and one of the greatest Flemish interpreters of this subject;

We can mention among many works his Ecce Homo dating from 1516 and currently housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque (see details)
* https://collections.musees-dunkerque.eu/fr/notice/ba-p-190-le-christ-cb75e188-ada2-41df-b588-77a0ed8...
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dunkerque



Compared to this model, this work exhibits more robust workmanship and denser impastoes of colour, which in our opinion point towards a rather late 16th century date.

Christ, whose figure emerges against a dark background, is depicted with his head framed by a luminous reflection, on which is placed the crown of intertwined thorns. His gaze is dull with his eyes half-closed, flushed, in a resigned attitude disfigured by pain, furrowed by tears and drops of blood.

Important in this painting is the study of Christ's expression and gaze, with his eyes turned downwards, in sign of pain, dense with a phatos capable of conveying to the viewer the suffering of this episode of the Passion.

Ecce Homo is the Gospel episode during which Jesus, awaiting his condemnation after the scourging, is presented to the people by Pontius Pilate, then the Roman governor of Judea. The expression literally means ‘Behold the Man’, and was the phrase uttered by Pilate to designate the suffering of Jesus scourged and crowned with thorns.

The face suggests that the author undoubtedly carefully studied the works of other artists for physiognomy, i.e. the discipline that sought to study the character of people based on their physical appearance, and whether there was any relationship between appearance and character.