Everything about Ecce Homo, Antonello da Messina’s masterpiece acquired by the state – Arte.it

It was probably the last work of Antonello da Messina remained in private hands the ‘rare and exceptional masterpiece’ that the Italian state acquired in recent days for 14.9 million dollars (approximately 12.6 million euros), shortly before it was offered for sale at the Master Paintings Auction by Sotheby’s in New York. Now many are wondering what the destination of theSee the man: there are people who are convinced that they will be exposed to the Capodimonte Museum and those asking for the painting to be returned to Sicily, where it was most likely made. In the meantime, the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum has already requested it on loan for the major exhibition on Antonello da Messina scheduled for 2028 in Madrid. While waiting for the solution to the enigma, it is worthwhile to deepen our knowledge of this precious panel painted on both sides, unique in Antonello’s production, to which approximately 40 works are certainly attributed. It’s about the primo See the man performed by the master Messina, who would go on to create countless versions of the subject that are now spread all over the world, from the Metropolitan Museum in New York to the National Gallery in London, from the Louvre to Palazzo Spinola in Genoa and the Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza. In these paintings the Sicilian master transforms the old Byzantine iconographyman of sorrow in a modern image full of humanity of the Suffering Christ, destined to become a remarkable success among artists and audiences.

Like other “sister” works, including the first See the man he spent a lot of time outside Italy. While it was part of a Spanish private collection at the beginning of the twentieth century, the period in which the first documented mention of the work dates from, in 1967 it was acquired by the Wildenstein & Co gallery. in New York and then sold through private negotiations by Sotheby’s to gallery owner Fabrizio Moretti, who in turn sold it to the last owner, probably a Chilean collector. On February 1 last year, the painting would have been auctioned had the MiC not shown that ‘strong interest’ that prompted Sotheby’s to withdraw it from sale – where it had sold. estimated at $10 to $15 million – and to start a negotiation.

Antonello da Messina, San Girolamo Penitent (back of the Ecce Homo), circa 1460-1465. Oil on panel I Courtesy of the National Directorate of Italian Museums

The work was made between 1460 and 1465 painted on both sides. On the obverse an intense and realistic portrait of the scourged Christ at the moment when Pilate presents him to the crowd, as told in the Gospel of John. With his face crowned with thorns, his young body contorted in pain, his eyes swollen and red, Jesus looks directly at the viewercreating an effect of strong emotional involvement. The scene emphasizes the influence of Flemish paintingto which Antonello combines exceptional expressiveness for his time. Saint Jerome on the back he kneels before an open book and an inkwell, reminiscent of his translation of the Bible into Latin. The landscape of rocks and bodies of watersubtly illuminated, reveals a pronounced capacity for miniaturization and realism, another point of contact with the new style originating from Flanders. Born in Messina, trained in Naples and then active in Venice, the fifteenth-century master actually played a crucial role in introducing the innovations of Flemish painting to Italy, in addition to groundbreaking use of oil technologywhich allowed him to obtain unusual tonal and color shades. In Laguna, Antonello’s language is said to have had a profound influence on the Venetian master Giovanni Bellini: in particular, references to this table are found in Bellini’s representations of Saint Jerome reads in a landscapekept in the National Gallery in London, and from Saint Francis in the deserton display at the Frick Collection in New York.

“Antonello is an almost legendary artist, and his paintings are exceptionally rare.See the man we find a beautiful subtlety: not an idealized portrait, but a real, young, vulnerable and deeply human person,” he noted in recent days. Christopher Apostel, International Head of the Old Masters Department at Sotheby’srecalling that the appearance of the painting on the market was a truly rare event: it is only the second time in the last generation that such an important work by the Sicilian painter has been offered for sale.

L’See the man it is a very small sign of only 19.5 by 14.3 centimeters. The reason for this lies in its function as a devotional painting, made for private use and which also included the possibility of taking it with you on trips without ever detaching it. It was Federico Zeri in 1985 to attribute it for the first time to Antonello da Messina, curiously comparing the grimace of the suffering Christ to the expression of a mafioso. “It is a youthful work still unknown in artistic literature,” wrote the art historian at the time, famous for his ability to recognize the author of a painting at a glance. It is always Zeri who explains why the statue of San Girolamo is badly worn: the small panel was in fact transported for a long time in a leather bag and repeatedly kissed and caressed by its first owners.