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Italy has purchased Antonello da Messina’s Ecce Homo<\/em>, which Sotheby’s had offered to the highest bidder last week, the Italian culture ministry confirmed on Monday.<\/p>\n The work, a double-sided panel featuring an Ecce Homo<\/em> on the front and a Penitent Saint Jerome<\/em> on the back, was acquired for $14.9 million through a private negotiation with Sotheby\u2019s.<\/p>\n Antonello da Messina (c. 1430\u20131479) was a Sicilian painter of the Early Italian Renaissance, renowned for pioneering the use of oil paint in Italy and blending Flemish, Netherlandish realism with Italian, Venetian structure.<\/p>\n Auction swoop<\/strong><\/p>\n The painting had originally been scheduled to go under the hammer last Thursday, during the ‘Master Paintings & Works of Art’ sale at Sotheby\u2019s in New York.<\/p>\n However, the lot was withdrawn just hours before the auction began.<\/p>\n Italian authorities, led by culture minister Alessandro Giuli, had been working behind the scenes for weeks to secure the piece.<\/p>\n By moving into a private treaty before the auction, the Italian state avoided a bidding war with international billionaires and private museums, saving the work from disappearing into a private collection once again.<\/p>\n Unique example<\/strong><\/p>\n Works by Antonello da Messina are extremely rare: only about of his 40 paintings have survived, and this example, painted around 1460 after his return to his native Messina, was likely the last one in private hands.<\/p>\n Un capolavoro del Quattrocento entra nel patrimonio pubblico. Lo Stato italiano ha acquisito l\u2019\u201cEcce Homo\u201d di Antonello da Messina, un\u2019opera di eccezionale rarit\u00e0 e valore storico-artistico. Hailing it as “a transaction of the highest cultural importance”, Giuli said in a statement: “We waited a few days before announcing it out of respect for the authorities responsible for registering the purchase contract.”<\/p>\n “The work represents a unique example of Italian 15th-century art”, Giuli stated, describing it as a “key element in the strategy of expanding and enhancing our cultural heritage, making it available to Italian citizens and visitors from around the world.”<\/p>\n A double-sided wonder<\/strong><\/p>\n This specific Ecce Homo is considered one of the most important private acquisitions in Italy’s recent history for several reasons.<\/p>\n It is a small opisthograph panel (painted on both sides). The front shows a hauntingly human Christ crowned with thorns, while the back reveals Saint Jerome in a rugged, rocky landscape.<\/p>\n Measuring only about 20 x 15 cm, its small size suggests it was a portable object for private prayer, possibly carried in a leather pouch by its 15th-century owner.<\/p>\n The work also showcases the artist\u2019s ability to blend the minute detail of Flemish oil painting with the psychological depth of the Italian Renaissance.<\/p>\n Where will it be housed?<\/strong><\/p>\n The purchase of the painting has sparked speculation in Italy about where it will be displayed.<\/p>\n While a final decision is still being finalised, the ministry has hinted that the masterpiece will be placed in a state collection that highlights the artist’s pivotal role in Mediterranean art history.<\/p>\n Current frontrunners for its permanent home include the Galleria Nazionale della Sicilia in Palermo, returning the work to the artist’s homeland; Museo di Capodimonte in Naples where the painter trained under Colantonio; and the Uffizi in Florence which is home to several works by the artist.<\/p>\n
Scopri di pi\u00f9: https:\/\/t.co\/YpQOSTYJzp@museitaliani<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/2KW6fdqZQ1<\/a>\u2014 Ministero della Cultura (@MiC_Italia) February 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n