MADRID, May 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Museo Nacional del
Prado presents the lost Caravaggio: Ecce Homo, a masterpiece
by the Italian painter. Thanks to the generosity of its new owner,
Ecce Homo by Caravaggio will be on display at the Museo
Nacional del Prado, in a special one-piece exhibition, in room 8 A
from 28 May until 13 October
2024.
Painted by the great Italian artist around 1605-09 and believed
to have once been part of the private collection of Phillip IV of
Spain, the painting is one of
around only 60 known works by Caravaggio in existence, and thus one
of the most valuable old master artworks in the world. This
painting enriches the permanent collection of the Museo Nacional
del Prado, which holds one of the few works by the master in a
Spanish collection, David and Goliath, a painting that has
recovered its colours and original contrasts after its
restoration.
Since the Prado Museum alerted Spain's Ministry of Culture of the relevance
of the painting when it reemerged at Ansorena auction house in
April 2021 attributed to a pupil of
José de Ribera, the work has been under the custodianship of the
art gallery Colnaghi, in collaboration with Filippo Benappi
(Benappi Fine Art) and Andrea Lullo
(Lullo Pampoulides). The painting was restored by specialist
Andrea Cipriani and his team under
the supervision of experts from the Comunidad de Madrid regional government.
Since its reappearance at auction three years ago, Ecce
Homo has represented one of the greatest discoveries in the
history of art, inspiring an unprecedented speed of consensus
around its authentication. Following an in-depth diagnostic
investigation by Claudio Falcucci –
a nuclear engineer specialising in applying scientific techniques
to the study and conservation of cultural heritage – restoration
has been carried out in an informed and rigorous manner, allowing
each decision to be based on an exhaustive assessment of the work's
constituent materials, their specific alteration processes, and the
painting's conservation history, reaffirming this initial
attribution to the Italian master.
The unveiling of the Ecce Homo and the announcement of
this loan is accompanied by a collaborative publication bringing
together leading experts in the field with seminal essays by
Keith Christiansen, Gianni Papi, Giuseppe
Porzio and Maria Cristina
Terzaghi, bearing testament to the work's monumental
importance. Titled Caravaggio: The Ecce Homo Unveiled, it
offers an essential starting point for the understanding of this
new addition to Caravaggio's oeuvre.
PRESS CONTACT: Emma Gilhooly
emma@pelhamcommunications.com, +44 (0) 20 8969 3959
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