Page 98 - The mystery of faith

her Ecce Homo in Cordoba, and in the Cristo del Perdón del Padre (Medina Sidonia, Church of Santa
María Coronada), both included in the exhibition Roldana (Seville 2007),4 or the Cristo de la Caridad
made by Roldán for the Hospital of the Santa Caridad.

Pedro de Mena made a series of sculptures of the same subject in which the red mantle partially covers
Christ’s torso (Zamora, Convent of the Concepcionistas - Fig. 2; Valladolid, Cathedral Museum; and
Valladolid, Museo Nacional de Escultura; Fig. 1); another, such as the present sculpture, where the
mantle is worn on both shoulders and tied at the centre of the chest (Granada, Church of Santa María
de la Alhambra; Fig. 3; Mexico, Church of San Felipe Neri, former Casa Profesa de la Compañía de
Jesús; Fig. 4; and another formerly belonging to the Convent of the Mothers of Mercy of Don Juan de
Alarcón in Malaga).5 The sculpture in Granada depicts Christ standing, rigidly and in a static pose,
with the arms crossed in front, and draped in a red mantle that covers the shoulders and falls to mid-
length.6 In composition, it is similar to the present work, albeit full-length, rather than the half-length
type, truncated at the hip, which follows the royal commission type conserved at the Descalzas Reales
Monastery. The two sculptures depict the same moment of Christ’s presentation to the crowds thronged
around Pilate’s palace, the popular iconography of the so-called ‘Jesus at the balcony’ type, so in
keeping with the overall iconographic clarity of the Granada School. The other sculptures of this
subject do not include the mantle, but do include those elements that indicate the efforts to humiliate
Christ as ‘King of the Jews’, for example the crown and cane. In some cases, the sculpture would be
draped in a textile mantle, in an act of veneration.

The head of the Granada Ecce Homo (Fig. 3) is held rigidly, the face as impassive as an icon, and bears
several of the stylistic traits of Pedro de Mena; however, later additions to the polychrome and the
inadequate replacement of the crown undermines our appreciation of the work. Conversely, the present

Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4

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