LOT 0380

Large Veneto-Cretan Icon of 'Ecce Homo' in Gilt Wooden Frame

17TH CENTURY A.D.

31 x 23 in. (7.75 kg, 79 x 58.5 cm).

With the portrait of Christ in tempera and gold on wood panel, with mounting slots to reverse; gessoed board with gilt surface, reserved portrait bust in three-quarters view on a textured field with tendrils, scrolls and other ornament within the nimbus; Christ shown with shoulder-length auburn hair and short beard wearing a scarlet cloak fastened at the centre of the neck and crown of thorns on his head; facial expression of suffering and pain, with drops of blood on his forehead; the icon set in a carved gilded wooden frame with a beaded edge, flanked by two small pillars with rich vegetal decoration and angel heads in the upper part.

Acquired on the European art market.
Private collection, London, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13061-249291.

Cf. Weizmann, K. et al., The Icon, New York, 1982; Psilakis, N., Byzantine Churches and Monasteries of Crete, Heraklion, 1998; Popescu, G.A., Cristiani d'Oriente, spiritualità, arte e potere nell'Europa Post-Bizantina, Milano, 1999; also see the famous Ecce Homo of El Greco, in the Pathmos Monastery, in Chatzidakis, M., Icons of Patmos. Questions of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Painting, Athens, 1985, as prototype.

This splendid specimen represents Christ as ‘Ecce Homo’, when Pilate, in the desperate attempt to save Jesus from Crucifixion, presented him to the people of Jerusalem dressed in a red cloak and wearing the crown of thorns (John, XIX,5).