Works

In 1849, Daumier was contracted by the French State to paint a religious painting for a church in the provinces. The work in Essen, an unfinished sketch done in grisaille (tones in tones) is related to this contract and was doubtless made between 1849 and 1852. ›Ecce Homo‹ shows the scene from Christian iconography in which Jesus suffers the insults of the crowd gathered in front of the palace of Pontius Pilate, who demand his execution. In its formal structure and its coloring, Daumier’s ›Ecce Homo‹ is one of the most unusual works in the Folkwang collection. With an anonymous masses pushing towards the judgment block, a bold foreshortening of the figures of the demagogue and the accused, from whom emanates holy light, the work recalls Goya’s or Rembrant’s compositions. Daumier doubtless identified with the figure of Christ: Isolated is he who goes against the opinions of the masses and the rulers – a theme which speaks of the place of artists in society, especially in the 19th century. ‘Ecce Homo’ is the largest canvas of an artist best known for his satirical and political drawings in the magazines ›Caricature‹ (1831-1835) and ›Charivari‹ (from 1832). It was only in 1878 that Daumier presented himself to the public as a painter, with a wide range of works in an exhibition organized by Paul Durand-Ruel. His employers rejected Daumier's proposition, accepting in 1863, instead of the religious theme, a secular subject of a ›Drunken Silen‹, (today is in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Calais).