Ecce Homo (after Alessandro Varotari)
- Artist: David Teniers II
- Date: 1650-56
- Medium: oil on panel
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the “Ecce Homo (after Alessandro Varotari)” by David Teniers II, an oil on panel painted around 1650‑56. Teniers created a small, detailed copy of Varotari’s work while working for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the governor of the Southern Netherlands who amassed a collection of more than 1,300 paintings during the 1640s. In 1660, the Flemish artist published *Theatrum Pictorium*, the first printed and illustrated catalogue of a major collection. The book features 243 of the Archduke’s paintings, mostly Italian Renaissance works, and Teniers supplied the illustrations by painting copies directly from the originals on tiny wooden panels.
He sent these miniature reproductions to specialist engravers, who turned them into prints for the publication. The Courtauld Gallery holds 14 of these panels—the largest number in any public collection—making them an invaluable record of works that have since been altered or lost. The precision of Teniers’s brushwork shows his remarkable skill and underscores the 17th‑century surge of interest in the art of the past. This small canvas is a perfect example of how a single artist could bridge the gap between the original masterpieces and a wider audience through meticulous copying and publication.
See it in person
Ecce Homo (after Alessandro Varotari) hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
