Andalusian School; XVII century.

Andalusian School; XVII century.
"Ecce homo".
Oil on canvas.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 117 x 160 cm.
The work represents the evangelical episode of the Ecce Homo, culminating moment of the popular trial in which Christ is presented by Pilate to the people after the flagellation. The composition is articulated by means of a strong spatial and symbolic contrast: on the right, elevated on a sober architecture, Christ appears half-naked, crowned with thorns and wrapped in a red cloak; on the left, a dense and agitated crowd occupies the urban space, creating a dynamic and narrative counterpoint that reinforces the dramatic tension of the episode.
The work is fully inscribed in the postulates of Spanish baroque naturalism. The treatment of the figures reveals an interest in physical and psychological verisimilitude: the faces of the people present individualized features, gestures of expectation, doubt or restrained violence, while the figure of Christ is characterized by a restrained serenity and an expression of transcendent resignation, a common resource in Andalusian devotional painting of the seventeenth century. The anatomy of Christ, of proportionate canon and soft modeling, shows a solid knowledge of drawing and chiaroscuro, with volumes constructed by tonal gradations rather than by line.
The iconography of Christ in Ecce Homo responds to a model deeply rooted in Counter-Reformation spirituality: a humiliated but majestic Christ, victim of human judgment and supreme judge at the same time. This duality is central to seventeenth-century Andalusian painting and is manifested here through the opposition between the earthly multitude and the isolated, almost timeless figure of the Redeemer.
The Andalusian school of the 17th century, one of the fundamental nuclei of Spanish Baroque painting, was characterized by the synthesis between naturalism, emotional intensity and iconographic clarity, in close relation to the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. Artists such as Zurbarán, Murillo and Valdés Leal established visual models of enormous impact that influenced both great masters and numerous anonymous painters and workshops.