Title
Ecce Homo
Cerezo Delgado, Mateo (Burgos, ca. 1637 - Madrid, ca. 1666)
Generic classification
PaintingObject
PaintingDate
ca. 1660-1666Century
Third quarter of the 17th c.Cultural context / style
BaroqueMaterial
CanvasTechnique
Oil PaintingIconography / Theme
Ecce HomoProvenance
Possible origin from Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Spain)Current location
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (Hungary)Inventory Number in Current Collection
769Object history
Although Mateo Cerezo the Younger developed much of his career in Madrid, he continued to undertake commissions for various locations in what is now Castilla y León, particularly Burgos and Valladolid. The provenance of this painting remains unknown; however, if we follow Nyerges’ hypothesis (2008), it may have been conceived for Burgos Cathedral. When Antonio Ponz (1783) described the artworks in Burgos Cathedral, he mentioned several paintings from the later period of Cerezo’s career, including an Ecce Homo: “In the chapels of this Holy Church, there is much that pertains to our purpose and is worthy of observation. The first chapel on the right, upon entering through the main door, is dedicated to Our Lady of Remedies, under whose invocation a most beautiful Crucifix, a painting by Mateo Cerezo, is venerated. There is also another good painting of Christ deceased, accompanied by the Maries, and opposite, an Ecce Homo, a figure of considerable merit.”
It is difficult to ascertain whether the Ecce Homo held at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts is the same one that Ponz observed in Burgos Cathedral, as Cerezo created several paintings on this theme. Nevertheless, Urrea and Valdivieso (1973) assert that the face of the Ecce Homo bears a strong resemblance to that of Saint John the Baptist, preserved in the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel (Kassel, Germany). According to these scholars, the latter can be dated to 1665–1666, the period when Cerezo was painting for Burgos Cathedral.
The Danish diplomat Edmond Burke acquired the painting during his tenure as ambassador to Spain, and in 1819, Nicholas Esterházy purchased it from him. In 1870, the Esterházy family faced financial difficulties and decided to sell their entire collection to the Hungarian state (Garás, Genthon, and Takács, 1966). After intense negotiations, the state acquired the paintings and initially housed them in the National Gallery, later transferring them to the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
Description
The painting depicts the moment when Pontius Pilate presents Christ to the people of Jerusalem. He is dressed in a red robe, crowned with thorns and holding a reed sceptre. The colours used by Cerezo in the composition are reminiscent of the Venetian masters, particularly Titian.
Locations
ca. 1660 - ca. 1801
ca. 1801 - ca. 1818
private collection
Edmond Bourke, Madrid (Spain) *
ca. 1819 - ca. 1871
private collection
Esterházy Collection, Eisenstadt (Austria) *
ca. 1870 - ca. 1906
ca. 1906 - present
Bibliography
- GARAS, Klára, GENTHON, István y TAKÁCS, Marianna Haraszti (1966): Museo de Bellas Artes de Budapest, Aguilar, Madrid, p. 27; 203.
- GUTIÉRREZ PASTOR, Ismael y PAYO HERNANZ, René Jesús (2020): Mateo Cerezo El Joven (1637-1666): materia y espíritu, Fundación VIII Centenario de la Catedral, Burgos.
- NYERGES, Éva (2008): "Spanish Paintings", en The Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, pp. 144-145.
- PONZ, Antonio (1783): Viage de España: en que se da noticia de las cosas mas apreciables, y dignas de saberse, que hay en ella, vol. XII, Joachin Ibarra, Madrid, pp. 29-30.
- RESTELLINI, Marc y RADVÁNYI, Orsolya (2011): La naissance du musée les Esterházy. Princes collectionneurs, Pinacothèque de Paris, París, pp. 156-157.
- ROGELIO BUENDÍA, José (1966): "Mateo Cerezo, en su tercer centenario (1626-1660)", nº 71, Goya.
- URREA FERNÁNDEZ, Jesús y VALDIVIESO GONZÁLEZ, Enrique (1973): "Nuevas obras del pintor Mateo Cerezo", nº 39, Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA.
- URREA FERNÁNDEZ, Jesús y VALDIVIESO GONZÁLEZ, Enrique (1972): "Datos inéditos sobre Mateo Cerezo", nº 38, Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA.
- URREA FERNÁNDEZ, Jesús y VALDIVIESO GONZÁLEZ, Enrique (1971): "Precisiones sobre Mateo Cerezo", nº 37, Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Ecce Homo" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/52
