Ecce Homo

Ecce homo, behold the man, are the words the Gospel of John gives to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, when he showed the beaten Christ to the crowd. Around 1530 the painter we call the Brunswick Monogrammist moved that scene into a town of his own time. Christ and Pilate appear on the steps of the governor's palace, above a crowd in the clothes of the Low Countries.

Much of the panel is given over to other business. On the left is a market, with stalls, wagons and street sellers. In the distance rise the masts of ships and a city gate. And right in front of the palace a column is still going up, with workmen busy on the wooden scaffolding around it. The Rijksmuseum bought the panel in 1893.