Christ Presented to the People

In this representation of the Ecce Homo, the figure of Christ is relegated to the midground of the scene, where he is presented by Pontius Pilate (John 19:5). Emphasis is placed on the angry crowd in the foreground calling for Christ's condemnation to death on the Cross. The contemporary interpretation of the biblical text is conveyed by the setting, modeled after the town square in Leiden, and by figures in sixteenth-century attire.

The painting is based on Lucas van Leyden's 1510 engraving of the same subject, an impression of which is found in The Met's collection (27.54.4). By the mid-sixteenth century, Giorgio Vasari had already praised the Ecce Homo as one of Lucas's three most important prints, along with The Crucifixion and The Conversion of Saul. These are the artist's largest sheets and, according to Vasari, the ones that brought him international fame.

The dimensions of the two works are nearly identical and the painting closely follows the print in every detail. The design was quite likely traced from a print with the use of an interleafing carbon-coated sheet. Technical examination of the painting with infrared reflectography (see fig. 1 above) revealed the somewhat rigid underdrawing typical of compositions transferred from one support to another, which results in the close correspondence in design evident between the print and the painting.

[2013; adapted from Ainsworth in Ainsworth and Waterman 2013]

The panel support is made of two boards of linden, with the grain oriented horizontally, and displays a mild convex vertical warp. Before entering the museum’s collection, the panel was thinned (circumventing one of two red wax stamps on the verso) and trimmed. Beneath the second wax seal is a rectangle of a coarse plain-weave fabric that is adhered to the planed-down surface.


The panel is prepared with a very thin gray priming, a preparation technique that is atypical of the early sixteenth century.


Infrared reflectography (see fig. 1 above) confirmed the presence of a detailed underdrawing, completed in a dry medium. The underdrawing is visible to the naked eye throughout the surface along contours and details of the final image. The near-perfect replication of the design of the engraving and the exacting care with which the underdrawing was rendered indicate that the engraving was available to the artist who made the painting.


The shoulder clasp on the figure walking in front of the steps and holding a child’s hand is fabricated with gold leaf adhered directly onto the priming, while the garment held by the clasp is made with silver leaf, modified with a warm glaze. Christ’s red robe uses silver leaf enhanced with red lake paint, his radiating halo gold leaf.


Overall the paint layers are in fair condition, with many small losses throughout. The painting was executed with a remarkable economy of means, relying heavily on the gray ground to serve as the midtone throughout.


[2013; adapted from German Paintings catalogue]

Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti (until d. 1776); his son, Louis François Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Conti (1776–91; sold to Carondelet); Francisco Luis Hector, baron de Carondelet, New Orleans (from 1791); Armand Hawkins, New Orleans (by 1888; sold to Marquand); Henry G. Marquand, New York (1889)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Exhibition of 1888–89," 1888–89, no. 26.

University of California at Los Angeles. March 15–April 30, 1955, no catalogue?

Catalogue of the Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1905, p. 105, no. 250.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 61.

Maryan W. Ainsworth. Memo to Katharine Baetjer. January 19, 1993, observes that the painting is the same size as the print by Lucas van Leyden on which it is based and an impression of the latter was probably employed in transferring the design to the panel; adds that the picture is painted on linden wood rather than oak, perhaps suggesting a German rather than a Netherlandish origin, and that the grey ground is not generally considered to have been in use until the end of the 16th century.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 272, ill.

From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, p. 408, ill.

Maryan W. Ainsworth in Maryan W. Ainsworth and Joshua P. Waterman. German Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1350–1600. New Haven, 2013, pp. 270–72, 323–24, no. 63, ill. (color).