Behold The Futureproof Man

A rediscovered Caravaggio painting Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), is valued at over fifty million dollars. When I say rediscovered, the painting was always known to exist, but it was considered to be from a school of Spanish painters who liked to knock off the Caravaggio style rather than by the great one himself.

But its authentication as a genuine Caravaggio bumped its price and its interest through the ceiling. It was placed on public display in Madrid’s Museo del Prado in May 2024.

Which means of course. that will Easter will be its first public Passion season.

And of course the painting is of the first public Easter. The first Passion. There is Christ at the centre of the work, crown of thorns and robe ready to go. There is a soldier – dull of face and mind with brutality in his heart, hovering above. While the Pilate figure below is somewhat different to the usual depiction of the governor that we see in popular imagery, all shaven and Roman-esque.

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