Juan de Valdés Leal (Seville 1622-1690)

This expressive and powerful treatment of Ecce Homo by Valdés Leal was painted along with a pendant of La Virgen Dolorosa. The latter, although published by Valdivieso and Kinkead (op. cit.) as its whereabouts unknown, has recently resurfaced in a private collection, Madrid. Second versions of both works exist, although clearly of lesser quality and are listed by Valdiviseo and Kinkead as in the collection of Vicente Tortajada (op. cit., p. 129, nos. 59 and 61, figs. 66 and 67).

The last two digits on the date of the present work are indistinct, but it seems likely that it was executed towards the end of the 1650s, at around the same time as The Sacrifice of Isaac (sold, Sotheby's, London, 9 December 2004, lot 339). Valdiviseo dates both paintings to circa 1657-9 soon after the artist's return to Seville from Madrid, where he was strongly influenced by the work of Titian, Tintoretto and Rubens. Indeed, the present work echoes Titian's famous treatments of the subject, two of which were in the Spanish Royal Collection at the time.