Accession Number
1953/1.45

Title
'La Grande passion.' (Ecce Homo--Christ Shown to the People) La Presentation au

Artist(s)
Jacques Callot

Artist Nationality
French (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1625

Medium & Support
etching and engraving on paper

Dimensions
4 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (11.1 x 21.3 cm);14 x 19 1/16 in. (35.5 x 48.3 cm);4 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. (11.6 x 21.8 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Spring 2013
Jacques Callot
France, 1592–1635
La Grande Passion: La Presentation au peuple (The Large Passion: Ecce Homo—Christ Shown to the People)
1625
Etching and engraving
Museum purchase, 1953/1.45
Rather than showing multiple events in discrete spaces, Jacques Callot’s engraving represents a large number of figures within a monumental space. The engraving depicts an episode from the Passion of Christ. At the center of the composition Christ is shown with his head bowed and his arms crossed before him. He is flanked by soldiers who lift his cloak to reveal him to the crowd, creating an image that alludes to the Crucifixion. The large buildings in the background of the composition form a backdrop to the event—a kind of stage-set before which the drama unfolds. This engraving, along with six others, belongs to Callot’s Grande Passion, which he designed in Florence while working for Cosimo II de’ Medici (1590–1621), the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and engraved in Lorraine towards the later part of his life. Thirteen preparatory drawings for the series survive, but this is one of only seven finished engravings.

Subject matter
Callot employs a very long horizontal format for his "Christ Presented to the People". The focus of the print is on the crowd in the foreground all gesturing towards the figure of Christ and Pilate shown in the doorway at center.

Physical Description
A large crowd in the foreground gesture towards a group of figures seen in the doorway of a building in the distance at center. The figures in the distance, many holding lances, look at a standing semi-nude man framed in the doorway. Other figures look out of windows onto this open courtyard where the figures have congregated. The crowd in the foreground include a figure at the left holding a tall cross and another figures at the right, standing in shadow with a raised hand.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
black and white print

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
agricultural buildings
audience spaces