Resumen de Titian's "Ecce Homo" on Slate: Stone, Oil, and the Transubstantiation of Painting
Titian's "Ecce Homo" (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) stands out for many reasons. First, the painting was a gift, so it reflects Titian's volition rather than the will of a patron. Second, the material that Titian elected to use demands attention: "Ecce Homo" is painted on slate. It is the only painting that Titian ever painted on slate, yet modern scholarship has largely ignored Titian's unique artistic material. The painter heightened the affective immediacy of Christian devotion by underlining the associations between the spiritual content of his image and the physical characteristics of its material substrate.
