Ecce Homo

Minniti, a Sicilian, was among the few artists who befriended Caravaggio and met with him repeatedly until the last phase of his life. This painting is probably modelled on Caravaggio’s now lost versions of the Passion executed in 1605 or 1609. The iconography of the many-figured scene of Christ before Pontius Pilate has been reduced to a half-figure devotional painting, with the dramatic play of light and shadow enhancing the highly effective staging.