17th century Spanish school "Ecce homo". Oil on copper. With painting on the back, with floral border and initials. Measurements: 7 x 6 cm; 15 x 15 cm. In this devotional canvas, painted for an altar or private chapel, the theme of Ecce Homo is represented, very common in this type of paintings. The composition is simple and clear, with Christ s face in the foreground, and the absence of narrative details enhances the expressive power and pathos, designed to move the soul of the faithful who pray before the image, in a tremendist sense very typical of the Baroque period in Catholic countries. The theme of Ecce Homo belongs to the Passion cycle and precedes the episode of the Crucifixion. Following this iconography, Jesus is presented at the moment when the soldiers mock him, after crowning him with thorns, dressing him in a purple tunic (here red, the symbolic colour of the Passion) and placing a reed in his hand, kneeling down and exclaiming "Hail, King of the Jews". The words "Ecce Homo" are those pronounced by Pilate when presenting Christ to the crowd; their translation is "behold the man", a phrase by which he mocks Jesus and implies that Christ s power was not equal to that of the rulers who were judging him.