National Post (National Edition)
Prado confirms rediscovery of lost Caravaggio, painting will be unveiled May 27
• A painting whose auction in Spain was halted in 2021 on suspicion that it might be a Caravaggio has been confirmed as a work by the Italian Baroque master, Spain's Prado Museum announced Monday.
The painting, once considered to have been lost, will be unveiled to the public for the first time in the museum later this month.
The Prado said in a statement the work titled Ecce Homo (Latin for Behold The Man) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio will go on display from May 27 until October as a special one-piece exhibition following an agreement with its new owner, who has not been identified.
After October, the work will be moved to the Prado's permanent collection for a further four months. “Since its reappearance at an auction three years ago, Ecce Homo has represented one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art,” the museum said.
“Painted by the great Italian artist around 1605-09 and believed to have once been part of the private collection of Phillip IV of Spain, the painting is one of around only 60 known works by Caravaggio in existence, and thus one of the most valuable old master artworks in the world,” the Prado added.
In April 2021, Spanish authorities halted an auction of the work, which was attributed to a disciple of a 17th-century Spanish painter, Jose de Ribera. They also put an export ban on it after the museum alerted the government.
The painting was due to be auctioned with a starting price tag of 1,500 euros ($2,200). An authentic Caravaggio would stretch into tens of millions of euros, if not more.
Prado Museum director Miguel Falomir said that since then the owners carried out studies and the painting's restoration, which led to the discovery “it is, in fact, a work by Caravaggio and a work that arrived in Spain in the 17th century.”
The painting is not allowed to leave Spain without government permission.
Falomir said it had been in the hands of a family in Madrid since the 19th century. The family was allowed to sell it privately earlier this year following an agreement with the Madrid regional government. The new owner wanted the public presentation of the piece to take place in the Prado Museum.
The oil-on-canvas depicts the Biblical passage of the Ecce Homo, in which Jesus Christ is presented to the crowds before being crucified. The work measures 111 by 86 centimetres.