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拍品专文
This painting illustrates one of the most poignant moments in the Passion narrative, when Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect, places Jesus’ fate in the hands of the people, as described in the Gospel of John (18:38-40). Stylistically and compositionally, it relates to the work of the great Netherlandish painter, Hieronymus Bosch, in particular his Ecce Homo of the 1480s (Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main; fig. 1) and more directly the central panel of the Ecce Homo triptych, which was produced by Bosch’s workshop around 1496-1500 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; fig. 2). The Boston triptych dates to around 1496-1500, and was commissioned by Peter van Os (d. 1542) and Hendrixke van Langel (d. 1500) of 's-Hertogenbosch, who appear on its wings. Its central panel, showing the Ecce Homo, is generally thought to have been painted a few years earlier, possibly as an autonomous panel (see M. Ilsink, op. cit., pp. 402-415, no. 24). Painted sometime in the second half of the sixteenth century, the present panel is a faithful early copy of the Boston panel.
In the prime Frankfurt Ecce Homo, Christ appears in front of the courthouse at left, shown in three-quarters profile, hunched over and covered in blood as he looks down at the people. Here, as with the version in Boston, the composition has been modified so that Christ stands upright and facing the viewer, his hands bound and his eyes lowered in resignation. As with the Boston panel, fewer signs of the Flagellation are visible: scattered drops of blood are seen on his shoulders and right thigh. Christ wears a loincloth along with the luxurious blue robe and crown of thorns given to him by soldiers who tauntingly hailed him as King of the Jews. To his left, dressed in red and with a conical, fur-lined hat on his head and a jeweled sword in his belt, stands Pilate, who, following John 19:4, points to Christ – the words `Ecce homo’ (`Behold the man’) are actually inscribed on the Frankfurt panel – presenting him to the unruly crowd below. Composed of soldiers and Jewish priests with reddened, often grotesque faces, they demand Christ's condemnation with gestures and expressions conveying a wide range of emotions including rage, distress, determination and excitement.
The workshop artist responsible for the Boston Ecce Homo faithfully reproduced most of the foreground figures from the right side of the Frankfurt panel, with minor variations to the weapons and the colors of their clothing. The throng gathered at left, however, was apparently a complete invention, added to replace the kneeling donor family that originally appeared in the prime version. In the distance, the view into a city courtyard is nearly identical in both the Frankfurt and Boston panels, and accordingly in the present work. In the Boston painting as here, however, the view is separated by a stone wall, and the bridge with figures looking into the river has been eliminated. Instead, the workshop artist included a vignette of Christ carrying the Cross on the path to Golgotha, a scene that is ultimately taken from the reverse of Bosch’s circa 1490-95 Saint John on Patmos panel (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, no. 1647A). Notably, the bridge appears in the underdrawing of the Boston panel, providing further evidence of the Frankfurt Ecce Homo’s primacy (ibid., p. 406).
A precise painted copy of the Frankfurt Ecce Homo is in the Mariënwater monastery (Koudewater) near 's-Hertogenbosch. Dendrochronology indicates that the Mariënwater painting could not have been created before 1524, several years after Bosch’s death (ibid., p. 228). Likewise, dendrochronological analysis of the present work, undertaken by Christine Loatelli and Didier Pousset (28-29 April 2019), determined the panel to be composed of two distinct oak boards that were felled after 1547 and most likely around 1560, suggesting that it was painted in the second half of the sixteenth century. Together, both works stand as testaments to the enduring allure of Bosch’s extraordinary imagery.
In the prime Frankfurt Ecce Homo, Christ appears in front of the courthouse at left, shown in three-quarters profile, hunched over and covered in blood as he looks down at the people. Here, as with the version in Boston, the composition has been modified so that Christ stands upright and facing the viewer, his hands bound and his eyes lowered in resignation. As with the Boston panel, fewer signs of the Flagellation are visible: scattered drops of blood are seen on his shoulders and right thigh. Christ wears a loincloth along with the luxurious blue robe and crown of thorns given to him by soldiers who tauntingly hailed him as King of the Jews. To his left, dressed in red and with a conical, fur-lined hat on his head and a jeweled sword in his belt, stands Pilate, who, following John 19:4, points to Christ – the words `Ecce homo’ (`Behold the man’) are actually inscribed on the Frankfurt panel – presenting him to the unruly crowd below. Composed of soldiers and Jewish priests with reddened, often grotesque faces, they demand Christ's condemnation with gestures and expressions conveying a wide range of emotions including rage, distress, determination and excitement.
The workshop artist responsible for the Boston Ecce Homo faithfully reproduced most of the foreground figures from the right side of the Frankfurt panel, with minor variations to the weapons and the colors of their clothing. The throng gathered at left, however, was apparently a complete invention, added to replace the kneeling donor family that originally appeared in the prime version. In the distance, the view into a city courtyard is nearly identical in both the Frankfurt and Boston panels, and accordingly in the present work. In the Boston painting as here, however, the view is separated by a stone wall, and the bridge with figures looking into the river has been eliminated. Instead, the workshop artist included a vignette of Christ carrying the Cross on the path to Golgotha, a scene that is ultimately taken from the reverse of Bosch’s circa 1490-95 Saint John on Patmos panel (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, no. 1647A). Notably, the bridge appears in the underdrawing of the Boston panel, providing further evidence of the Frankfurt Ecce Homo’s primacy (ibid., p. 406).
A precise painted copy of the Frankfurt Ecce Homo is in the Mariënwater monastery (Koudewater) near 's-Hertogenbosch. Dendrochronology indicates that the Mariënwater painting could not have been created before 1524, several years after Bosch’s death (ibid., p. 228). Likewise, dendrochronological analysis of the present work, undertaken by Christine Loatelli and Didier Pousset (28-29 April 2019), determined the panel to be composed of two distinct oak boards that were felled after 1547 and most likely around 1560, suggesting that it was painted in the second half of the sixteenth century. Together, both works stand as testaments to the enduring allure of Bosch’s extraordinary imagery.