Object data
oil on panel
sight size: height 52.7 cm × width 38.6 cm
support: height 60 cm × width 45 cm
anonymous
Ecce homo
Brabant, Low Countries, c. 1520
Technical notes
The original support consisted of two vertically grained planks (19.5 and 22.1 cm). In 1980 the original support was thinned to approx. 0.1 cm and mounted with beeswax onto a 2 cm thick multiplex board which was further stabilised on the reverse with canvas and beeswax. It was impossible to date the original support with dendrochronology. The white ground was applied in the original frame. There is an unprimed and unpainted border of approx. 3 cm on all sides (painted surface: 52.2 x 38.7 cm). Holes made for the dowels of the original frame are present on the border. Underdrawing is not visible to the naked eye. The paint layer was built up smoothly, using reserves, in a simple and direct manner.
Scientific examination and reports
- condition report: M. van de Laar / J.P. Filedt Kok [2], RMA, 29 August 2007
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 6 June 2000
Condition
Poor. The paint layer is abraded and there are many discoloured retouchings. The varnish is slightly discoloured and matte at the retouchings.
Conservation
- conservator unknown, 1980: transferred to a multiplex board
Provenance
…; ? the Brigittine convent Mariënwater, Koudewater, near ’s-Hertogenbosch, before 1713;1 transferred to the Brigittine convent Maria Refugie, Uden, 1713;2 from which institution, fl. 2,000, as Anonymous, early 16th century, with other objects, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. 1220), 1875; transferred to the museum, c. 1912; on loan to the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst, Uden, since December 1973
Object number: SK-A-4650
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Anonymous, Brabant
Entry
Like ‘The Mass of St Gregory’ (SK-A-2800), this painting probably had a devotional function in one of the nuns’ cells in the Briggitine Mariënwater Convent in Koudewater, from which both works are thought to come. It has the same composition as the ‘Ecce homo’ (SK-A-4252), a copy after Jheronimus Bosch with the same provenance, but with the addition of the flagellation and the crowning with thorns in the background. Kneeling humbly before Christ is a Brigittine nun, identified by the headband around her hood, for whom the panel was probably made. Although the original frame has been removed, it can be deduced from the broad unpainted edges around the painted surface that it must have looked like the one still around ‘The Mass of St Gregory’ (SK-A-2800). This painting, too, must have been made by a local artist, who may have been associated with the convent. The manner of painting, though, is less archaic than that of ‘The Mass of St Gregory’. There is not the same lavish gilding, the figures are slenderer and look more modern (with a tendency towards caricature), so a date around 1520 seems likely.
JPFK
Literature
Liebergen in Uden 1986, p. 120, no. 93; Koldeweij in ’s-Hertogenbosch 1990, pp. 160-61, no. 93
Collection catalogues
1976, p. 647, no. A 4650; 1992, p. 98, no. A 4650
Citation
J.P. Filedt Kok, 2010, 'anonymous, Ecce homo, Brabant, c. 1520', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.10534
(accessed 19 September 2024 00:19:46).