After Guido Reni, 'Head of Christ Crowned with Thorns', 1640-1749

A crown of thorns was placed on Christ’s head in the lead up to his crucifixion, while Roman soldiers mockingly declared him ‘King of the Jews’ (Matthew 27: 29). This detailed portrayal of Christ’s face convincingly conveys his anguish in the aftermath of this torment. Barbs pierce his forehead and blood dribbles down his cheek, and he looks heavenward with an expression of pain and desperation.

Guido Reni and his studio produced numerous versions of this composition, though this work may have been painted by a later follower of the artist, perhaps as late as the early eighteenth century. The early provenance of the work is unknown, though a painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini shows it on display in Cardinal Valenti Gonzaga’s picture gallery in Rome in 1749 (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford).

The Head of Christ or Ecce Homo is one of the most frequently represented subjects in seventeenth-century painting. Portrayals of Christ’s suffering became increasingly popular after the Counter-Reformation, as such images provoked empathy and devotion in viewers. One of the functions of seventeenth-century art was to instil an understanding of human experience, and Reni’s expressive, close-up images of the suffering Christ did just that. In keeping with Counter-Reformation ideals, Reni’s inclusion of Christ’s blood in many of his representations of the subject may allude to transubstantiation in the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist (that is, the conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at consecration).