Ecce Homo. France, Louis XIV, ca. 1700

Ecce Homo. France, Louis XIV, ca. 1700.
Illuminated intaglio print and cardboard.
Measurements: 19 x 24.5 cm; 30.5 x 35.5 x 2 cm (frame).

The composition in bidding is distinguished by the virtuoso play of vegetal filigree that surrounds the central medallion of the Ecce Homo. The latter, made in intaglio print, shows the face of Christ in the foreground, following the characteristic typology of this episode. The absence of narrative details deepens the expressive power and pathos, designed to move the spirit of the faithful who pray before the image, within a tremendist sense very typical of the baroque in Catholic countries. The theme of Ecce Homo belongs to the cycle of the Passion, and precedes the episode of the Crucifixion. Following this iconography, Jesus is presented at the moment when the soldiers mock him, after crowning him with thorns, dressing him in a purple tunic and placing a reed in his hand, kneeling and exclaiming "Hail, King of the Jews!". The words "Ecce Homo" are those pronounced by Pilate when presenting Christ before the crowd; their translation is "behold the man", a phrase by which he mocks Jesus and implies that the power of Christ was not such in front of that of the leaders who were judging him there. Formally this work is dominated by the light treatment, very contrasted and dramatic, based on a spotlight that falls directly on the figure of Christ.