Restored in 2003 with funding from the Timken Museum of Art.

This Ecce Homo is based on a famous composition by Titian, painted in 1547 for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, which is now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Titian also made a replica for his friend Pietro Aretino that so pleased the poet that he inspired other collectors to order copies of the work. The now-lost version for Aretino differed from the Prado picture in that Christ’s left hand rested over his right, and he clasped a reed staff. The painting in the Correr preserves the composition of Aretino’s canvas exactly, and is thus of great historical importance as evidence of a once-celebrated masterpiece. The excellent quality of this Ecce Homo suggests that it is a product of Titian’s workshop, painted close to the time Titian executed the original for Charles V and the replica for Aretino.

This work is part of the Correr Museum painting repository, and is one of a series of works that were brought out of storage for restoration at the suggestion of Save Venice board member Prof. W. R. Rearick in the hope that conservation efforts would encourage renewed study.

The work was restored by conservator Maria Chiara Ceriotti of the ARKE restoration firm, with the guidance of project director Attilia Dorigato of the Correr Museum.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Workshop of Titian
Ecce Homo
c. late 1540s, oil on canvas
79 x 66 cm

Museo Correr: Homepage

Attilia Dorigato, “Correr Museum Paintings Restored in Honor of Professor W. R. Rearick” (2004)

Rosand, David. Titian. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1978.

—. Painting in Sixteenth-Century Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto (1982), revised edition. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.