Ecce Homo

Baglione Giovanni

(Rome 1566 - 1644)

This painting is probably the ‘Ecce Homo by Cavalier Giovanni Baglioni’ described by Marino in 1620 (La Galeria), although it is not clear whether it already formed part of the Borghese Collection at that date. The first certain mention of the work is found in the 1693 inventory.

The recent discovery of the inscription ‘IOHANNES BALIONI/E.R.F. 1606’ on the grey pedestal under Christ’s hands resolves the question of the date of the execution of the work, which previously Longhi had set at roughly 1610. At the same time, critics have proposed a new interpretation of the subject, which in the past had generally been read as an Ecce Homo. Today scholars rather believe it to be a very rare representation of Christ in Meditation on the Passion. The similarity between the figure of Christ here and that of Saint John the Baptist in the canvas by Caravaggio in our Collection, which has been dated to 1610, has given rise to the suggestion that the two artists used the same model, perhaps a sculpture, for their respective works.

Object details

Commentary

The earliest mention of this painting is probably that contained in Giovan Battista Marino’s collection of poems La Galeria (1620, p. 59), which describes a ‘Ecce Homo by Cavalier Giovanni Baglioni’. This reference suggests that the work may have already formed part of the family collection at that date (Della Pergola 1959, pp. 66-67); nonetheless, the first document which unambiguously establishes its connection with the Galleria Borghese is the inventory of 1693, which lists ‘a painting on imperial canvas of a full-length Ecce Homo, holding a reed in his hand, with someone raising the cloth from his head, in a gilded frame with eagles and dragons on the corners [...] by Cavalier Baglione’.

Subsequently, the work was noted in the guidebook by Domenico Montelatici (1700, p. 223), who ascribed it to ‘one of Tintoretto’s sons’. The next two inventories – those of 1793 and 1833 – both listed the canvas as a work by Valentin de Boulogne, a name accepted by Piancastelli and Venturi. It was Longhi (1914, p. 10, note 4, and 1928, p. 207) who corrected the error, justly reviving the original attribution to Giovanni Baglione. Longhi dated it to roughly 1610, that is, between the Judith, also present in the Borghese Collection (1608, inv. no. 15) and the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina in Santa Maria Maggiore (1611-1612).

Over the years, scholars indeed attempted to narrow the possible chronological range for the execution of the work through a comparison with other paintings by Baglione (Macioce 2002, pp. XXIII, and 2010, pp. 302-303; Nicolaci 2011, p. 211). The question was only definitively resolved with the recent discovery of the inscription ‘IOHANNES BALIONI/E.R.F. 1606’ on the pedestal below Christ’s hands (Nicolaci 2011(2012), pp. 496-497). The abbreviation E.F.R. has been read as ‘EQUES ROMANUS FECIT’, a reference to the fact that the artist belonged to the Supreme Order of Christ. Baglione received the investiture in September 1606, a detail which allows us to further pinpoint the execution of the work to the final months of that year.

According to an interpretation put forth by Michele Nicolaci (2011(2012), pp. 506-507) – the scholar who discovered the inscription – the subject of the work is commonly misread as an Ecce Homo, when in fact it is a very rare example of a Christ in Meditation on the Passion. This kind of representation of the Saviour makes use of a sparse setting as well as the typical motifs appearing at the moment subsequent to the flagellation and derision. The presence of elements which allude to Christ’s final agony – the nails and pincers, the crucifix itself, and the open sarcophagus – refer symbolically to the resurrection and the salvation of humanity through the atonement of sin. The representation is thus placed beyond a precise time: according to a broader metaphorical reading, it alludes to the revelation of the world of Christ the King, who is ‘unveiled’ by the executioner as he raises the cape from his head.

Although it is not known who commissioned the canvas, Baglione’s decision to include the rank of Eques in his signature may have been a tribute to Cardinal Sfondrati, his protector and the officiant at the investiture ceremony. Sfondrati may have subsequently sold the painting either to the Borghese or to Pope Paul V himself, the figure who had the effective power to grant the nomination (Nicolaci 2011(2012), p. 508).

The shift of the date of the painting’s execution to an earlier period with respect to what critics had previously believed resulted in abandoning the theory that it was influenced by Caravaggio’s Saint John the Baptist, which dates to 1610 and entered the Borghese Collection the following year (inv. no. 267). The twisting of the body of Baglione’s Christ mirrors that of Caravaggio’s John the Baptist (note the folds of the skin at the level of the umbilicus), while the arms of the two figures are positioned in the same way, folded at the height of the wrists (Nicolaci 2011). Because the earlier date rules out the possibility the Baglione followed the example of Caravaggio and given the unlikelihood that the latter was inspired by the former – in light of their traditional rivalry – the hypothesis gains credence that both artists drew upon the same source, perhaps a sculpture, to realise their respective works (Vodret 2011, p. 27; Nicolaci 2012, p. 144).

Nonetheless, Baglione’s debt to Caravaggio is evident in the dark background, the anatomical rendering of the executioner and the material texture of the instruments of torture. At the same time, the painter here reveals his ability to eclectically blend several stylistic models, including ones deriving from the school of Guido Reni, visible in the figure of Christ. The protagonist of the work is seated in a slightly diagonal position – a frequent motif in Baglione’s oeuvre. Christ’s body is given emphasis by his illuminated garments, which stand out against the background: the result is to symbolically highlight his role as Saviour by means of tonal and chiaroscuro contrasts (Macioce 2002, 2010; Nicolaci 2011).

Pier Ludovico Puddu