Pedro de Campaña Circle

Circle of PEDRO DE CAMPAÑA (Brussels, 1503- 1587); second third of the XVII century.
"Ecce homo".
Oil on panel.
Work reproduced in: Castilian painting. Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Barcelona collections. Sala Parés, Edimar, Barcelona, 1948.
It presents restorations, faults in the pictorial surface and in the assembly.
Measurements: 167 x 84 cm.
In this devotional canvas, probably painted for an altar or private chapel, the theme of Ecce Homo is represented, very common in this type of paintings. Of simple and clear composition, with the body of Christ in the foreground, the absence of narrative details, except for the presence of Pilate, deepens the expressive power and pathos, designed to move the soul of the faithful who pray before the image, within a tremendist sense very typical in Catholic countries. Pilate, in the background, holds Jesus with one of his hands, while with the other he points to the front, showing him the judgment of the spectator, which Christ's face tries to avoid. The vulnerability of Jesus is evident through the snowy body, with the hands tied on the chest, the crown of thorns and the elongation of the anatomical canon. 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 have crowned him with thorns, besides dressing him in purple tunic (here red, symbolic color of the Passion) and placing a reed in his hand (which in this one is not appreciated in the composition), 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 Christ's power was not such in front of that of the leaders who were judging him.
Aesthetically the work belongs to the circle of the artist Pedro Campaña, a Flemish painter of the Renaissance, active mainly in Italy and Spain. He trained with Bernard Van Orley, although his work reveals a great influence of Raphael. Between 1537 and 1562 he associated with Luis de Vargas and the Italian sculptor Torregiano to found a school of painting in Seville, which eventually became the local academy; among the students educated there was Morales. He painted for the monastery of Santa María de Gracia, church of Santa Cruz, in the city. Campaña combined the style of the school of Raphael with his early Dutch training; from the latter he acquired a freer conception of form and composition, from the latter he retained diligent execution and solid coloring. He did not, however, achieve either a completely free and sophisticated design or a deeper understanding of the general attitude.