
Ecce Homo (Titian)
1548 · El Prado, Madrid
Behold the man, said Pilate. Titian strips out the crowd and leaves the scourged Christ half-length, close enough to pray to.
★ 6.1

Behold the man, said Pilate. Titian strips out the crowd and leaves the scourged Christ half-length, close enough to pray to.

Three figures in a shallow dark box, and Caravaggio puts you where the crowd stood, having to decide what to do with him.

Christ stands with his eyes lowered while the faces around him are twisted into snarls. Matsys made ugliness do the moral work.

We are standing behind Pilate, looking out over his shoulder at the crowd, which puts us among the officials rather than the mob.