Baroque Analysis: Caravaggio's Ecce Homo
In the Gospel of John, 19:5, Pontius Pilate displays Christ to the crowd with the words "Ecce homo!", meaning "behold the man". In this scene taken from the New Testament, Christ is shown wearing a crown of thorns, and is being mockingly robed like a king by his tormentors. Caravaggio's depiction of the scene was commissioned by Cardinal Massimo Massimi as part of an unannounced contest between three artists. The contract for the commission of Ecce Homo was signed June 25, 1605 and was intended to have been delivered by August of the same year, but it is still undetermined if the painting was delivered on time to the Cardinal, as Caravaggio would find himself in some legal trouble towards the end of the summer he had been commissioned. Painted in oil on canvas, as were most of his work, Caravaggio is credited with having heavily influence on the Baroque style with his extremely naturalistic depictions of biblical stories. Today, the piece is housed in the P