Lost Caravaggio that almost sold for €1,500 to go on show at Prado in Madrid

Ecce Homo will be museum’s second Caravaggio, after being spotted on sale in Spanish capital in 2021

A lost Caravaggio painting of the scourged and thorn-crowned Christ that was misattributed and almost sold for just €1,500 is to go on show at the Prado museum in Madrid three years after its discovery shocked the art world and made headlines across the globe.

The Ecce Homo, which measures 111cm by 86cm, had been attributed to the circle of the 17th-century Spanish artist José de Ribera when it was offered for sale at a Madrid auction house in April 2021. But something about the painting and its luminous qualities led experts in Spain and Italy to re-examine the work.