Great Paintings OF All Time

Ecce Homo (Daumier)

Ecce Homo is an unfinished painting produced in 1850 by the French painter and caricaturist Honoré Daumier which is in the collection of the Museum Fo...

Ecce Homo is an unfinished painting produced in 1850 by the French painter and caricaturist Honoré Daumier which is in the collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. The painting, executed in undertones of various shades of brown, depicts a scene in the Good Friday trial of Jesus when Christ is presented to the mob as a figure of ridicule by Pontius Pilate with the words "Ecce Homo", translated in the Bible as "Behold the Man", but more appropriately as an accusatory "Look at this man". The viewer is situated in the crowd in a position where he can observe Christ standing still and resolute, silhouetted against a sacred light, and asked to decide whether to sympathize with Him or with his tormentors.

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The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (French: Les licteurs rapportent à Brutus les corps de ses fils) is a work in oils by the French ar...

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (French: Les licteurs rapportent à Brutus les corps de ses fils) is a work in oils by the French artist Jacques-Louis David. On a canvas of 146 square feet, this painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1789. The subject is the Roman leader Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic, contemplating the fate of his sons. They had conspired to overthrow the republic and restore the monarchy, and Brutus himself was compelled to order their deaths. In doing so, Brutus became the heroic defender of the republic, at the cost of his own family. The painting was a bold allegory of civic virtue with immense resonance for the growing cause of republicanism. Its themes of virtue, sacrifice, and devotion to the nation sparked much controversy when it was unveiled in the politically charged era of the French Revolution.

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