MORETTO da Brescia
(b. ca. 1498, Brescia, d. 1554, Brescia)

Ecce Homo

1550-54
Oil on canvas, 215 x 0125 cm
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia

In this altarpiece, commissioned by the Confraternity of the Holy Cross for their chapel in Brescia Cathedral, Moretto placed the Cross and the pathetic figure of Christ accusingly before the worshipper, the weeping angel in the background demonstrating an appropriately repentant and grieving response. Very limited in its palette and chilled by a gray, sepulchral light, the altarpiece was probably inspired by contemporary devotional books.