Flaminio Torri - Ecce homo

The iconographic subject of Christ's face has ancient origins and is connected to the legend of Veronica. The episode in which Christ's true features were imprinted on a cloth used by a woman to wipe his face is also recounted in the Gospels. This woman was identified as Veronica, likely due to the similarity with the Latin words "Vera Icon." Since the early Christian era, the face of Christ has been the object of particular veneration. Its depiction has pervaded the entire history of Western art. From the first iconic representations of the early Christian and early Middle Ages, we have gradually evolved to increasingly naturalistic (starting from the Renaissance) or realistic descriptions (typical of Flemish art). The subject of this work, in particular, follows the iconographic model of the "Ecce Homo," referencing the episode of the Passion in which Christ, after his trial, was crowned with thorns, dressed in a red cloak, and a reed placed in his hand. These attributes referred to the fact that the Messiah was called "King of the Jews" by his followers, so the centurions dressed him in such "royal vestments" to expose him to insult and ridicule. For these reasons, the subject of the Ecce Homo became, especially from the 17th century onwards, an emblematic and significant image of Christ's redemptive sacrifice. The work has been attributed by various experts to Flaminio Torri or his circle, also based on other works that present the same "Ecce Homo" typology and which, in reference to the Bolognese milieu of 17th-century painting, have as their main model the one developed by Guido Reni in several paintings (most notably the version preserved at the Louvre in Paris).

The work, not only in its iconography but also in its form, presents itself as a typical product of the 17th-century Bolognese pictorial scene, with its lively dialogue between balanced classicism and Baroque experimentation. This was the path pioneered by the Carracci Academy and followed by the most important painters of that area (Guido Reni, Lanfranco, Domenichino). The work of Flaminio Torri, to whom the work is attributed, also found itself within this dialectic. In this work, given the solitary subject and the model taken from Guido Reni, classicism prevails. We are therefore faced with a pictorial style born of the great 17th-century naturalism which, aiming to correct the supposed errors committed by Mannerism, was directly linked to the great masters of the late Renaissance, Raphael in particular. Hence the monumentality of the figure and a total naturalistic rendering that also recalls Titian. In this sense, it is emblematic how the pictorial layering, in the typical Venetian tonal manner, focuses heavily on the expressive qualities of color, and how the use of light is highly advanced, almost provoking the disintegration of forms that is the most recognizable hallmark of contemporary Baroque aesthetics. This work, however, does not overdo its atmospherics, remaining within the classicist balance that saw Guido Reni as its primary point of reference. Rather, we can still discern some Mannerist remnants in Christ's slightly elongated form, in the tension of his (though entirely natural) torsion, and in a certain affectation and languor of his gaze. But even this last element is perfectly in line with the classicist aesthetic of the seventeenth century, that is, with the Counter-Reformation desire to express a new religiosity, grounded in a more intimate and pietistic sentiment. The artist's palette also speaks to us of the seventeenth century, with its predominance of dark tones and the figure emerging from the background precisely thanks to the action of light.

The work has been attributed, by various experts, to Flaminio Torri or his circle. Born in Bologna in 1620 and died in Modena in 1661, Torri was a pupil of Giacomo Cavedoni and then of Simone Cantarini. Upon the latter's death, he inherited his workshop together with Lorenzo Pasinelli. He worked in Bologna in his early years, creating the "Adoration of the Magi" in the Museum of San Giuseppe and the "Deposition by Night Light" in the Pinacoteca Nazionale. Among his most significant public works is the altarpiece "Saint Anthony and the Child Jesus" in the Church of the Osservanza in Imola. Among his private commissions, for which he painted numerous holy families and half-length figures of various subjects, are several versions of "Saint Francis in Ecstasy," the "Holy Family" in Dresden, a "Madonna and Child" in the Amata Collection, and a series of canvases now in the Pallavicini Gallery. The painter later moved to Modena to serve Alfonso IV d'Este, where he served as superintendent of the collections.

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