'Ecce Homo' by Mateo Cerezo

Odysseus himself is a prototype of the Christ figure for the way he suffers the whims of the gods. Ecce Homo means "behold the man," the Latin words used ironically by Pontius Pilate when he presents Jesus to a hostile crowd shortly before the crucifixion.  Ecce Homo was a popular religious theme for 16th and 17th century artists. This version is by Mateo Cerezo the Younger of the late Madrid school; he died young at age 29. I selected this painting because it reminds me of the MAGA "White Jesus" crowd and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ; perhaps the filmmakers were influenced by it.

Another Ecce Homo became a cause célèbre in recent years when a painting from circa 1890, by Elías García Martínez in Borja, Zaragoza province, was restored - and most say destroyed - by an 81-year-old woman, Cecilia Giménez, who was not trained in art restoration. The result, even if temporary at the time, 2012, was this:

The good news is that tourism to Borja has skyrocketed because of this art restoration failure... The fresco itself likely will never be restored to its original state, but the story fascinates people because it's truly a new original.

The Crown of Thorns on Christ's head echoes the laurel wreath worn by Greek gods, like Apollo, and Roman emperors and generals. The relic itself (shown below) made a media appearance in 2024 with the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, where the "official" Crown has been stored since the 13th century, after many centuries in Constantinople. Over the years, the thorns in the Crown have proliferated across many churches in Europe.

For a late 19th century Russian interpretation, here.