Ecce Homo
ca. 1520–25
Medium
Wool, silk, silver-gilt thread (17-18 warps per inch, 7-8 per cm.)
Dimensions
53 × 40 in. (134.6 × 101.6 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Tapestries
Culture
Netherlandish, Brussels
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jacques Seligmann, 1906
Accession Number
06.301
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the poignant "Ecce Homo," a masterful Netherlandish tapestry designed by Quentin Metsys around 1520–25 and woven in Brussels, the unrivaled center of European tapestry production during the Renaissance. This work depicts the biblical moment when Pontius Pilate presents the crowned Jesus Christ to the crowd, saying "Ecce Homo" ("Behold the Man"). Metsys, a leading Antwerp painter of the Northern Renaissance known for his meticulous realism and religious themes, likely created the detailed cartoon (design) that weavers brought to life. Adorned with symbolic grapes—evoking the Eucharist an...