Perpetrator and Victim

Perpetrator and Victim Commentary by Qu Yi Cite Share Show Bible Passage Read by Ben Quash See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. (Isaiah 52:13 NRSV) Ecce Homo is one of Lovis Corinth’s final works, created in the last year of his life. Its title is a phrase ascribed to Pontius Pilate, when he presented the gathered crowd with Jesus Christ wearing a purple robe and a crown of thorns after ordering the soldiers to scourge him. The brief biblical episode from the Gospel of John, related in a single verse (19:5), has been a common subject in Christian art. Were it not for the title in the upper left corner of the composition, it might not be easy to recognize its theme. Instead of depicting a grand historical scene in a way that would have been typical of many earlier artistic treatments, Corinth presents us with just three figures—two of them decidedly contemporary in appearance. An unbalanced composition, long and short strokes of varying thickness, and vague contours all work together to create a sense of movement. The man in the red robe is covered in blood, with his lips tightly closed and his brows slightly furrowed. To look into his deep, shadowed eyes is akin to falling into an abyss. They could suggest a range of emotions. We may see doubt, sadness, resistance, and perhaps even final obedience. Whatever we discern, our attention is held by this man at the composition’s centre, and in particular by his bound and crossed wrists, as the hand of the white-coated man next to him points to the ties, and the other end of the rope is held grimly by a balding and heavily-built soldier in uniform. Bound and bloody, the central figure embodies the paradox of the figure whom Isaiah describes: one who is marred beyond recognition yet who has authority, is completely righteous, and will be exalted. ‘Behold the human!’ We may also read this painting as like a mirror, reflecting the two potential sides of every person in this world so full of insidiousness and cunning, blood and violence, betrayal and disappointment, pain and anxiety. We see both the victimhood and vulnerability of the human who is insulted and harmed, and the malice and cruelty of those who humiliate and trample on others.