Here is a Man (Ecce Homo)

This painting by Hieronymus Bosch Ecce Homo scene between 1475 and 1485, depicting the moment Pontius Pilate presents the scourged Christ to the hostile crowd. The oil-on-oak panel measures 71.4 by 61 centimeters and contains Gothic inscriptions functioning like speech balloons in a comic strip. Pilate's cry of "Ecce Homo" (Behold the Man) is answered by the mob's demand: "Crucifige Eum" (Crucify Him).

Typical of Bosch, the scene is filled with symbolic imagery. An owl perches above Pilate, and a giant toad rests on a soldier's shield. Both animals were considered emblems of evil in Christian iconography. The upper right shows a Gothic cityscape representing Jerusalem, rendered in the style of a Late Gothic Netherlandish town.

The painting underwent significant conservation work. Christ had been painted over with a floor-length garment, and X-ray examination in 1983 revealed a donor family once occupied the foreground before being covered up. The Städel Museum in Frankfurt purchased the work at a 1917 auction and restored it to reveal Bosch's original vision, including Christ's simple loincloth.