Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"Ecce homo".
Oil on copper.
It presents faults and restorations.
Measurements: 16 x 12 cm; 24,5 x 21 cm (frame).
In this devotional copper, painted for a particular altar or chapel, the theme of Ecce Homo is represented, very common in this type of paintings. Both the dimensions and the support of the work indicate the private devotional purpose for which this painting was conceived. With a simple and clear composition, with the face of Christ in the foreground, 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 (here red, symbolic color of the Passion) 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 as that of the leaders who were judging him there.