The Arrival at Calvary

A version en grisaille – perhaps intended for reproduction - of the most famous of the artist’s works. He had been living in Rome since 1876, the city in which he signed, and would henceforth always sign, his name in the abbreviated form of “Echena”. It was there precisely that he painted The arrival at Calvary, which earned him the second medal in the 1844 Madrid National Fine Arts Exhibition. It has often been said that the picture was purchased by the Edinburgh Gallery1, which widely distributed it through engravings published by the firm Hugh Paton & Sons of the same city.

This work has a carefully executed technique, a polished style and is solidly academic. A perfect formal realism is placed at the service of historic painting – in this case a large-format religious painting.