WelCom June/July 2024
Spain’s Prado Museum has unveiled a work by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio that was considered lost for centuries.
The work, Ecce Homo (Behold The Man) went on display at the end of May as a special one-piece exhibition following an agreement with its new owner, who has not been identified.
The oil-on-canvas work depicts the Biblical passage of the Ecce Homo, in which Jesus Christ is presented to the crowds before being crucified.
‘Since its reappearance at an auction three years ago, Ecce Homo has represented one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art,’ the museum said. The artwork is believed to have been painted around 1605–1609 and was part of the private collection of Phillip IV of Spain.
‘The painting is one of about 60 known works by Caravaggio in existence, and thus one of the most valuable old master artworks in the world,’ the Prado added.
In April 2022, Spanish authorities halted an auction of the work, which was then attributed to a disciple of a 17th-century Spanish painter, José de Ribera.
Prado Museum Director Miguel Falomir said that since then the owners carried out studies and proceeded with the painting’s restoration, which led to the discovery that it is, in fact, a work by Caravaggio and a work that arrived in Spain in the 17th century.
Source: ABC News
