'Ecce Homo' by M. L. Herschel after Guido Reni. Signed by artist and dated.

This drawing was done by Louisa Herschel when she was 15 years old. Ecce Homo (behold the man) is what Pontius Pilate is reported to have said when presenting Jesus to the crowd demanding his crucifixion. The words have since come to signify a particular type of devotional image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, going to his death.

Versions of the painting by Guido Reni (1575-1642) hang in galleries around Europe (including the National Gallery, London). A copy of the painting would have been provided by the Herschels' art tutor for his students to copy as part of their education. Paintings, plaster casts of statues and parts of statues would have been the standard tools of such a tutor.

Louisa, as she was known to the family, was John and Margaret's fourth child (third daughter) and was considered by the rest of the family to be their most accomplished artist. This is one of a series of drawings she, alongside her brothers and sisters, would have done as part of her artistic education.

The Herschel daughters, and the sons before they went away to school, recieved a very intensive education at home with lessons from their mother, their father, a series of governesses and a number of specialist external tutors.

While we do not have records for every year of their childhood, there does exist (in a private collection) Louisa's diary for the year 1844 and from this we can see that in 1844 those children still at home had lessons in drawing with a tutor named Mr de la Cours who came to the house every Monday.