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The trilogy of paintings - Christ Before Pilate, Golgotha and Ecce Homo - completed between 1881 and 1896 were brought together at the Déri Museum at the end of 2002 and remained there for the next five years. Ecce Homo is owned by the museum itself. Golgotha was lent to the museum by the Hungarian-American businessman Imre Pákh for ten years starting in 2006. But Christ Before Pilate was given as a gift to Canada's Hamilton Gallery in exchange for a tax benefit by the businessman Joseph Tannenbaum.
Debrecen mayor Lajos Kósa and Hajdú-Bihar County general assembly president Róbert Rácz recently travelled to Canada to negotiate the return of the painting. As a result, Christ Before Pilate is likely to be lent to the Déri Museum for five years, until the moratorium on its sale ends. After that, the Debrecen Municipal Council hopes its offer of CAD 50,000 will win the work.
