(Modena 1578–1615 Parma)
Ecce Homo,
oil on canvas, 63.5 x 49 cm, framed

Provenance:
European Private Collection

Literature:
E. Negro, in: I bari a confronto. Il giovane Caravaggio nella casa del cardinale Francesco Maria del Monte, ed. by P. Carofano, Exhibition Catalogue, San Casciano Val di Pesa 2012, p. 58, no. 11;
N. Roio, Bartolomeo Schedoni e Leonello Spada: alcune opere sconosciute di due “caravaggisti” padani, in: Valori Tattili, No. 1, 2013, pp. 49–66, p. 50, fig. 1

Exhibited:
Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, Palazzo Museo Bourbon del Monte, I bari a confronto. Il giovane Caravaggio nella casa del cardinale Francesco Maria del Monte, 29 September - 7 October 2012, no. 11

The present painting can be compared to another larger Ecce Homo by Schedoni painted on a different support of panel (76 x 62 cm) conserved at the Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples. The compostion is almost identical but when compared there are certain significant differences: the two soldiers present in the background of the Neapolitan work are absent in the present picture; and the ledge which is only superficially visible in the latter work is in the present Ecce Homo more substantial; the hand of the soldier on the right is also here depicted in greater detail. The young man on the left replicates a model that Schedoni used in other paintings from his early period in Modena (for example, the Portrait of a youth embracing a young woman from the Galleria Estense in Modena, the figure of Saint Lawrence in the altarpiece depicting the Holy Family in Glory with Four Saints in the Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples, or in the panel associated with this painting, also in the Galleria Estense in Modena (see E. Negro, N. Roio, Bartolomeo Schedoni 1578–1615, Modena 2000, nos. 11, 21, 22)).

Apart from the variations of the composition (the fly on the sleeve of the shirt of the man is a small naturalistic detail of great effect that we find in both versions), a comparison of the two similar paintings would seem to highlight Schedoni’s ‘lighter’ manner in the present version, suggesting, according to Roio (see literature) that this work dates from Schedoni´s early years in Modena,circa 1607. Subsequently the image was replicated on panel in Parma. In fact the Neapolitan version entered the collection of Ranuccio Farnese in late 1609, by when Bartolomeo Schedoni had already been in the service of the Duke of Parma for more than a year.

Bartolomeo Schedoni was an artist from a family of artisans and sculptors from Modena who were prevalently makers and purveyors of masks destined for celebrations and ceremonies, working for the local aristocracy as well as for the Farnese family. He died in Parma in1615 having gained notable success as a painter. His works were strongly influenced by Correggio as well as Caravaggio. His principal patron was Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma and Schedoni worked almost exclusively for his court at Parma.