03 — ARTWORK
Ecce Homo!
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas, 403 x 650 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 900 × 582 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
The second episode in the chonology of the Bible was painted as the third picture of Munkácsy's trilogy. The other two pictures had been in Philadelphia for years when Munkácsy was persuaded by Gábor Kádár, a Hungarian graphic artist and printer, to make the trilogy complete. (In fact, it was Kádár who arranged for the pictures to be taken on tour to exhibit them.) Munkácsy's choice of subject matter was probably influenced by "The Governor of Judaea", a short story by Anatole France and by Munkácsy's impaired health and mental status. All this urged him to paint the second and painful meeting of Christ and Pilate instead of Christ's glorious resurrection or ascension.
The portraitThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). of the Saviour reflects Munkácsy's state of mind. Pilate introduces him to his people by saying, "Ecce HomoThe words of Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of St. John (19, 5) when he presents Jesus to the crowds. Hence, in art, a depiction of Jesus, bound and flogged, wearing a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe.!". Christ is not guilty according to the laws of Rome, Pilate says to the people who respondLong narrow column or engaged column, mainly in Gothic architecture, which supports the arches and ribs of groin vaults or the profiles of arcade arches. to Pilate's words with gestures. The gestures of men are rude and indicate attack, while those of women are gentle and protective. Munkácsy's contemporaries identified Mary, John, the Evangelist, the penitent Magdalene, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arithea and Judas in the picture. Munkácsy's picture is rather descriptive. The last work of the tired master was taken to the Millenary Exhibition in Budapest by Munkácsy himself.
Later, the picture was exhibited in Vienna, Bruxelles, England and Ireland. James Joyce, a young man at the time, saw it in Dublin in 1899. Although "Ecce Homo" was taken to America, too, it never met the other two pictures of the trilogy there because first they were in the country residence of Wanamaker and later, in 1907-11, they were restored. In 1911, a Munkácsy Room was opened in Wanamaker's department store, yet the two journalists who described it never even mentioned "Ecce Homo". They went to Philadelphia in order to find out if Wanamaker was willing to give the picture to Hungary as "Ecce Homo" had been exhibited in Venice and Budapest in 1914. It was suggested that Munkácsy's Trilogy should be placed side by side in a roman catholic cathedralThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed. to be built. John Wanamaker was ready to sell the pictures but even the sum of 120,000 crowns required for "Ecce Homo" by the English - American consortium could never be raised. In the meantime, World War I broke out and nobody cared about culture. Frigyes Déri, a trade counseller who had been living in Vienna, appeared in the right moment to solve the hopeless problem: he bought "Ecce Homo" for 76,000 gold crowns. In his last will, he left the picture together with his art collection to Debrecen. A galleryan upper story, similar to a tribune, running along the side of a building and open on one side to the interior; in a church (basilica) above the side aisles, over the ambulatory (central-plan building) and also over the west end. The gallery was used to keep certain groups of worshippers apart (women, noblemen). was built for it with skylights where the picture has been on show since 1930. In 1993 "Golgota" and in 1995 "Christ in Front of Pilate" were placed on both sides of "Ecce Homo". Thus, efforts to unite the three pictures proved to be successful, although the exhibition of the trilogy is only a temporary one.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-rd2f093f8088efd,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Ecce Homo! by MUNKÁCSY, Mihály},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/munkcsy-mihly-r9a9ad7461a6c03/ecce-homo-rd2f093f8088efd},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
