Italy has purchased Antonello da Messina's "Ecce Homo" painting for $14,9 million, securing a rare work by the 15th-century Renaissance master just ahead of an auction in New York, the Italian culture ministry said.
The ministry stated that it is a small painting made with tempera, which it describes as a unique work in Renaissance art and a significant reinforcement of the strategy of spreading and promoting Italian cultural heritage.
The double-sided panel depicts the striking "Ecce Homo" - Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns - on one side, while the other side depicts the penitent Saint Jerome in a rocky landscape.
To date, about 40 works by Antonello da Messina have survived, with almost half in Italian collections, Reuters reports.
Experts believe that Messina painted four versions of "Ecce Homo." One is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the other two are in Italy - in the Palazzo Spinola in Genoa and the Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza.
The first documented mention of this fourth version dates back to the early 20th century, when it belonged to a private collection in Spain. It was later purchased by a gallery in New York.
Italy's Ministry of Culture has not announced where it plans to exhibit the latest acquisition.
The painting was expected to be sold at auction at Sotheby's in New York, with an estimated price of $10 million to $15 million.
In notes about the work, Sotheby's said the painting "offers a deeply personal encounter with one of the most psychologically powerful representations of Christ in Renaissance art - startlingly human, vulnerable and present."
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