Artibus et Historiae no. 56 (XXVIII)
2007, ISSN 0391-9064Up
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Buy article pdf
FILIPPO PEDROCCO - Titian's Ecce Homo Reconsidered
The article examines a panel painting showing Ecce Homo, recently recognised as a work by Titian for the Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere which (based on archival sources) was sent to Urbino by the Duke's envoy in Venice, Giovanni Francesco Agatone, in January 1566. The work was discovered fairly recently in the Poor Clares convent of Casteldurante (Urbania), a town which used to belong to the Duchy of Urbino, and to which the last of the dukes, Francesco Maria II (the heir of Guidobaldo II) withdrew for the last years of his life. Francesco Maria seems to have been particularly fond of the convent, so the donation of the painting to the Poor Clares, as a token of his profound devotion, appears a natural one. The panel, well known in literature, has recently undergone meticulous restoration by Ottorino Nonfarmale. The old varnish, repainting and the remains of a badly executed previous conservation have been removed, revealing a technique fully compatible with that, characteristic of confirmed works by Titian, and thus confirming that the painting is an autograph work by the master of Pieve di Cadore.
