1586 Ecce Homo

1586 Ecce Homo
LUIS DE MORALES "EL DIVINO"
Badajoz h. 1510 - 1586

Ecce Homo
Oil on panel
Measures 58.5 x 45 cm


The appearance of this work represents an important contribution to the pictorial corpus of Luis de Morales, better known as "el Divino" for his consummate dedication to religious-themed paintings that enjoyed great popularity among the clientele of the time. His fame was such that he must have been required by Felipe II himself to paint some devotional works that he later gave to his closest circle of friends.
The work that concerns us bears an enormous resemblance to the Ecce Homo that is preserved in the cathedral of Seville. In this last replica, almost exact, a larger area of ​​the torso and the right arm can be seen.
Very similar, but with some difference in the placement of the hands and in the movement of the body, is the Ecce Homo from the Conde de Albox collection in Madrid and, to a lesser extent, the one from the Vicente Castañeda collection.
As the researcher Isabel Mateo, a great connoisseur of the work of Luis de Morales, has recently stated, we are faced with an autograph work of excellent quality, without the intervention of the workshop. The careful precision of the drawing, together with the prodigious thoroughness with which the painter has described such summary details as the bleeding wounds on the forehead or the hair, corroborate this.

An extensive study carried out by Doña Isabel Mateo (January 2022) is attached.