Ecce homo

Along with his brothers Hieronymus (1553–1619)

and Antonius II (c. 1555/59–1604), Johannes

Wierix (1549–1620) was one of the most productive

Antwerp engravers of the late sixteenth century. He

was also active as a draftsman, drawing portraits,

history pictures, and religious subjects. The penwerk

(penwork) technique of Wierix’s sheets in this

catalogue is pen and ink drawn on parchment such

that the ink sits atop the smooth surface. Wierix’s

extremely fine marks vary between long but very

thin lines, short flicks, and dots, all optically

coalescing into shapes and shadows from a close

distance (fig. 1). This method of dots and flicks likely

allowed Wierix to work slowly and deliberately in

the fluid medium, starting with light yet relatively

short lines to sketch out the figures, followed by

another round of marks with a wetter pen to fill in

contours and create tonal areas. In this way, the

artist could minimize errors that might result from

longer, wetter contour lines in a medium in which

erasure was nearly impossible. Wierix’s penwerk

drawings reflect some knowledge of manuscript

techniques, but in their status as finished works of

art, they were novel in concept when he began to

make them in the 1570s.1

Five penwerk Passion series by Wierix are known.

The circular Albertina drawings form part of a

series of ten that can be traced to the collection

of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614–1662) and

thereafter to Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen

(1738–1822).2 The sheets in the set begin with the

Last Supper and end with the Crucifixion.3 Christ

before Pilate [40] takes place in an interior space in

which the bound Christ stands before the Roman

governor. Seated on a dais, Pilate and other officials

gesture expressively with their hands, and a group

of unruly soldiers flaunt their weapons behind

and beside Christ. In the foreground, a child and

dog frame a block in which Wierix has identified

himself as inventor and maker of the series in 1599.

Christ before the High Priest [41] is staged in a similar

manner, while Pilate Washing His Hands [43], later

in the sequence, features the same room turned on

its axis to face outward toward the viewer. In Ecce

Homo [42], the protagonists appear outside in public

space for Christ’s ultimate condemnation by the

crowd. Wierix’s composition follows the tradition

of Netherlandish and German prints in which

the scene is closely cropped, while Christ’s body,

undraped by his captors, is presented frontally.

Van de Velde describes three versions of series

depicting the Creation and Early History of Man.4

Cleveland’s drawing formed part of what is the

earliest of the known cycles, executed around 1606.

The original group likely consisted of twenty-one

drawings illustrating God creating the heavens

through the Tower of Babel.5 In the dramatic

Expulsion from Paradise [44], a vengeful angel casts

Adam and Eve out of Eden for their transgressions.

Eden is a microcosm populated with an array of

peaceful predators and prey whose tranquility is in

the midst of being undone by human actions. While

the touchstone for the biblical Creation story in the

sixteenth century was Italian fresco painting, such

as works by Masaccio (1401–1428) and Michelangelo

(1475–1564), Northern print series by designers

Maerten de Vos (1532–1603) and Chrispijn van den

Broeck (1530–1590/91) were some of Wierix’s inspiration

here. But the artist’s careful signature on this

and other sheets asserts his independent invention.

Wierix’s penwerk ushered in an increasing

appreciation for drawing among urban audiences.

Evidence suggests that penwerk drawings on parchment

were appreciated by collectors, who prized

them as miniature paintings. One contemporary

inventory of an Antwerp art collection describes a

Wierix penwerk as a “painting done with the pen,”

and another values Wierix’s penwerk Diana and

Actaeon the same as an oil painting by the still-life

and landscape artist Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–

1625).6 Wierix’s drawings were meant to be viewed

at close range. They were most likely placed in

small art cabinets or domestic spaces in the homes

of the urban middle class and nobility alike. The

inventory of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm indicates

that the Passion series was once framed; two of the

original frames are retained in Vienna.7

 

1. Nearly ten years his junior, Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617)

saw Wierix’s works before embarking on his own version of

penwerk, which first appeared in the 1580s (see also [88]);

see Leeflang H. and Luijten 2003, 238.

2. These were in the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm by

the time of the 1659 inventory of the collection, and that of

Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen by around 1820; see Berger

1883, 164.

3. The intermediary scenes are: Christ on the Mount of Olives;

The Arrest of Christ; Christ before the High Priest; Christ before

Pilate; The Flagellation; Pilate Washing His Hands; Ecce Homo;

The Carrying of the Cross; The Crucifixion. It is possible

that interceding scenes such as The Mocking of Christ or

The Crowning with Thorns have been lost.

4. Van de Velde 1990.

5. Nine drawings from the series were sold by Katrin Bellinger

in 1993–94 and further dispersed. Another sheet from the

series is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996.49.

The related series are in the British Museum, London, and were

on the art market with Richard Feigen in 1990.

6. See, for example, Johannes Wierix, Diana and Actaeon,

1599, pen and brown ink, on vellum, 28.7 x 36.7 cm, British

Museum, London, 1946,0713.190. Van Ruyven-Zeman 2004, 237.

See De Schot in Duverger 1984, 7:309.

7. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, KK5256, KK5331;

the scenes are The Flagellation and The Betrayal;

see Berger 1883, 160.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 40-43