Ecce Homo

Mailly Simon de called Simon de Chalons

(Chalons sur Marne, notizie dal 1532 - c. Avignone 1562)

First documented as forming part of the Borghese Collection in the 17th century, this painting was executed in 1543 by the French painter Symon de Châlons, whose signature is still legible on the back of its pendant, which depicts Our Lady of Sorrows (inv. no. 280). Probably purchased by or donated to Cardinal Scipione Borghese during his legation in Avignon, the panel shows Christ with the crown of thorns while he holds the stick with which he was beaten. His melancholic expression is emphasised by the close-up perspective and the dark background, lending the image even greater force; the work is indeed intended to involve the observer emotionally and stimulate profound reflection in him/her.

Object details

Catalogue entry

The panel, together with its pendant depicting the Mater Dolorosa (inv. 280), is listed in the Borghese collection from 1693 onwards, where it is described as “a small painting, approximately one palm high, with a Saviour, that is, an Ecce Homo.” Previously attributed to Federico Zuccari, to the school of Leonardo (Venturi 1900), and to Raphael (Jahn Rusconi 1906), the work was correctly reassigned in 1877 (Lafenestre, Richtenberger 1877; Frizzoni 1899) to its true author, the French painter Simon de Mailly. The attribution was confirmed when his signature was discovered on the reverse of the Mater Dolorosa during the transfer of paintings from the palace to the villa in preparation for their sale (Piancastelli 1891).

Camille Larraz (2022) has extensively discussed that the diptych in question is not an entirely original invention by the artist, but rather derives from earlier, more established models. The Christ panel is based on a now-lost prototype (Larraz 2021), variously identified with an Ecce Homo in Leipzig (T. Borenius, in Crowe and Cavalcaselle ed. 1912) or a painting formerly held in Paris (Lafenestre, Richtenberger 1905). The Virgin, meanwhile, has been linked to a work by Andrea Solario (Della Pergola 1959; Cogliati 1965; Larraz 2022), painted between 1507 and 1509 in France, during the period when Simon de Châlons was in the service of the legate of Avignon, Georges d'Amboise. It was in this context that de Mailly had the opportunity to make a copy of the composition (Béguin 1985, p. 46).

It is noteworthy that in 1543, the date inscribed on the reverse of the Mater Dolorosa, the painter is documented in the Provençal city, where he signed the Holy Kinship (Sacra Parentela), wich is now housed at the Musée Calvet in Avignon (inv. D 907.4; Larraz 2022, p. 179, no. I.4), thus earning the designation of fabricant de tableaux pieux (“maker of devotional paintings”; Zarner 1996). In considerations of this and drawing on a suggestion put forward by Adolfo Venturi (1893), it can be hypothesised that the two panels, which remained in Avignon, later entered the prestigious collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese during his legation in the Provençal city.

Antonio Iommelli