Unknown artist, Ecce Homo, 1600s. Oil paint on canvas surrounded by a period gold estofado technique frame; 21 × 19⅜ in. Gift of the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art, made possible by the Renchard family, 1990.349.

height: 21 in, 53.3400 cm; width: 19.375 in, 49.2125 cm; frame height: 35 in, 88.9000 cm; frame width: 32.5 in, 82.5500 cm

Taped to back: Loan to the [?], property S.R.S.

Mayer Center, Latin American Art

Latin American Art

This object is currently on view

This arresting painting depicts a scourged Christ after the flagellation and crowning with thorns. The painting highlights the physical suffering of Christ’s torture, which is brought even closer to the viewer through details like the single thorn piercing the subject’s brow. The violence and immediacy that characterize this depiction had become prevalent in Spanish painting of the late sixteenth century as a direct result of the Counter-Reformation emphasis on the humanity of Christ. This tradition of depicting Christ's human suffering crossed the Atlantic and became prevalent in religious art in the Spanish colonies.
     The frame of the painting, which appears to be original, is a prime example of the estofado technique, in which the gilt frame is polychromed and then incised to reveal the gold beneath. The elaborate style and rich, saturated colors of the frame are hallmarks of workshops in the area of Popayán, Colombia.
-- Michael A. Brown and Julie Wilson Frick, 2013

Gifted 26 December 1990 to the Denver Art Museum by the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art, made possible by the Renchard Family. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.