The Spanish institution is exhibiting a restored work by the Italian master which had been attributed to a little-known painter and almost went to auction for 1,500 euros.
Wrongly attributed to a little-known painter, it was almost put at auction for 1,500 euros. Finally authenticated, the table Ecce Homo by Caravaggio will be unveiled on Monday in Madrid, where it will be exhibited for a few months at the Prado.
A canvas of a “extraordinary value” marked by an extraordinary history: this is how the famous Madrid museum describes this 400-year-old painting, which it plans to show to the general public until October. An exhibition made possible by the “generosity” of its new owner, who agreed to lend the work temporarily, explained the museum, without revealing the identity of this person.
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Painted between 1605 and 1609, this Ecce Homo (“Here is the man” in Latin) represents Christ, his hands tied and his head surrounded by a crown of thorns, during his presentation to the crowd by the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, shortly before his crucifixion. It is one of sixty paintings in the world attributed to the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known as Caravaggio (1571-1610), a specialist in chiaroscuro and a leading figure in Baroque painting.
“Documented evidence”
According to experts, this small oil on canvas was part of the private collection of King Philip IV of Spain, before being exhibited in the apartments of his son Charles II. Bequeathed to the Real Academia de San Fernando, in Madrid, it was allegedly recovered in 1823 by the Spanish statesman and diplomat Evaristo Pérez de Castro in exchange for another painting, before being passed on to his descendants. It was finally in 2021 that the painting came out of oblivion. Mistaking it for the work of a disciple of José de Ribera, a Spanish painter from the beginning of the 17th century and a great admirer of Caravaggio, a Madrid auction house had put a price on it for 1,500 euros.
Alerted by experts, the Prado had sounded the alarm, invoking “sufficient documented and stylistic evidence” to consider that the work is by Caravaggio. In the process, the Spanish Ministry of Culture blocked the operation. An intervention in extremis today welcomed by the community of art historians: after a careful analysis, specialists have in fact established that this Ecce Homo was indeed a work by the Italian artist, explains the Prado.
Fully restored
Among the experts who participated in the authentication of this painting depicting one of the best-known scenes from the Passion of Christ, is Maria Cristina Terzaghi, professor of art history at the Italian University of Roma Tre. In an interview given to AFP in 2021, this Caravaggio specialist confided having “understood immediately that it could be a very important painting”, after seeing an image of the painting sent by antique dealer friends. Discovering it in Madrid, “I no longer had any doubts”assured the academic, who has since explained that she based her diagnosis on the colors of the canvas, the composition of the painting or even on the expressiveness of the faces.
Before being shown at the Prado, which planned a “special individual installation” to better highlight it, the painting has been completely restored, under the guidance of specialist Andrea Cipriani. According to Spanish media, the painting was bought for 36 million euros by its new owner, a British citizen residing in Spain, and could remain on display to the general public after its visit to the Prado.
The work “will not end up at the buyer’s home” because the latter wants him to join “public collections, for the moment, in the form of loan”explained, daily El País, Jorge Coll, manager of the gallery which was responsible for its sale. The opportunity for Caravaggio fans to immerse themselves in the work of this painter with a tumultuous life, himself forgotten for three centuries before his genius was recognized again from the 1950s.
