Art lovers see rescued masterpiece worth $40m in Madrid

'Ecce Homo' – Behold the Man.‌ The words of Pontius Pilate when he presented Christ on his balcony to his accusers.

‌Italian artist Caravaggio produced a painting that depicts that moment. It once belonged to Spain's King Felipe IV.  But it almost vanished. 

‌The painting hung in a private family home for 200 years. It was set to be auctioned in 2021, but the sellers thought it was the work of a student of Spanish painter, Jose de Ribera. They expected to pocket around $1,600 and be on their way. Little did they know, they were holding a masterpiece.  

'It had something magical'

Staff at Madrid's El Prado Museum saw the piece in an auction catalog. They knew it was no ordinary painting the moment they caught sight of it. 

"We didn't know it was a Caravaggio, but it had something magical, something different about it," says Carlos Chaguaceda, the museum's head of communications. 

Chaguaceda says there were plenty of whispers about the piece before the auction. Rumor had it that an Italian buyer was coming to Spain with more than $25 million.

"We spoke with the Ministry of Culture and said, 'Please, this painting cannot leave Spain'. Of course, that caused some controversy. But the auction was stopped, the painting was studied for three years, and eventually the conclusion was reached that it was a Caravaggio."

A man on the run

Ecce Homo did eventually go on sale. A private buyer - believed to be a British national in Spain - paid around $40 million for the painting.‌ The owner has loaned it to El Prado Museum for nine months, allowing the public to get a glimpse of some Caravaggio magic. 

‌The piece has its own room with black walls and bright lights - the type of dramatic setting that befits a Caravaggio. Thousands of visitors come each day to view it. They see Christ on the canvas, but in a sense, Caravaggio's own story is on full display. 

He painted it while he was on the run as a fugitive accused of murder during the early 1600s. Caravaggio was waiting to learn how he would be judged. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that he painted Jesus at the moment he faced judgment. 

'The soul of a tormented man'

Visitors to the museum say his works are deeply personal, in their own way. "I love him for the reality and sometimes the cruelty of his paintings," says Italian tourist, Lidia Rosa. "There are darks and shadows but he shows the suffering of the main characters of his painting. They show the soul of a tormented man who has had a short but very intense and impassioned life."

‌Michael Cunningham traveled from the United States to see Caravaggio's piece for himself. "The depth of his color, and the slightly unsettling nature of the content - the matching of those two characteristics is very special," says Cunningham.

‌"If you spend some time looking you see the way he composes. He leads you more gently than you would imagine into the ferocity of his image-making."

The story behind Ecce Homo is almost as dramatic as the work itself. A masterpiece belonging to royalty. A case of mistaken identity. And a twist of fate full of intrigue and mystery. 

It's an incredible plot. But perhaps the ending is the best part, because finally, art lovers can 'behold the man'. 

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