Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 19 April 1996, lot 241, where acquired for £100,000.

G. Viroli in A. Paolucci et al. (eds), Marco Palmezzano, il Rinascimento nelle Romagne, exh. cat., Milan 2005, p. 326 under cat. no. 52.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Marco Palmezzano. Christ Carrying the Cross. Signed in small Cartellino on the Cross: Marchus palmezzanus pictor forlivieensis faciebat. This painting is on a thick panel, probably of poplar, in one piece without a joint. This has a slight long established curve, and quite widespread, mild old worm damage. The original priming behind has flaked extensively, showing a fairly brief crack from the centre of the base, which has been treated with wax. A slight crack near the centre of the top edge appears likely to have been in fact the base of a hook or pin, with two other small holes behind on either side at the top. There has been a narrow strip added down the left edge (seen from the front). There has been some slight cleaning fairly recently, presumably connected with a sale a decade or two ago, but a rather more serious restoration seems to date further back into the last century, as can be seen under ultra violet light. Much of the attention then was clearly concentrated on the sky, as so often; with fairly widespread little surface retouchings. There is also a band of retouching from that period all down the left edge – perhaps an inch wide - far wider than the narrow added strip. A slanting crack, about 4 inches long, has also been retouched in the sky, scarcely apparently visible from the back. As also another crack with older retouching to be seen under UV in the dark upper right background, with a little cluster of slightly raised flakes also retouched in the same period in the upper part of the cross. The lower part of the painting has had far less intervention, apart from the band of retouching continuing down the outer left edge. A curving crack retouched in the hair of Christ appears to follow a slight natural pattern in the grain of the wood. Another small crack near the left base and one near the centre base have had small recent retouchings, and occasional little other recent minor touches can be seen under UV in the drapery. However this red drapery of Christ is remarkably finely preserved, including the deepest glazing in the richest shadows. Even the shadows in the heads remain beautifully intact, with the subtlety of the Leonardesque modelling in Christ's head undisturbed. Even the extreme discretion of the golden halo is unworn, and the strength of the protestor's head is magnificently complete and powerful. This report was not done under laboratory conditions
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Overshadowed by its Venetian and Tuscan neighbours, the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy nevertheless produced some wonderful artists such as Palmezzano who, arguably, have not received enough attention. Marco was one of the most successful painters of his time in his native Forlì, focusing on large altarpieces and images for more personal devotion, such as the present work. He did not fall under the spell of Raphael and his followers but instead, after training with Melozzo da Forlì, continued to adhere to the idiom of late-quattrocento Venice, and in particular the work of Cima da Conegliano and Giovanni Bellini, whose influence markedly informs the present Christ. The image of Christ carrying the Cross was one which the artist returned to several times in his career.¹ Probably the earliest, without the tormentor and against a plain background, is signed and dated 1503 and is today in Berlin. Variants of the Berlin type, each signed, include those in the Vatican, in the Monastero del Corpus Domini, Forli (dated 1521) and at the Temple Newsam, Leeds (dated 1535). A much wider type, of horizontal format, in the Pinacoteca in Forlì, includes three figures to the left of Christ, and is also signed and dated 1535. Two of the additional figures, however, are not tormentors but devotees of Christ, perhaps Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Of this type numerous variants are known, of which perhaps the earliest is the signed and dated panel in the Museo Correr in Venice.

The third type includes the signed panel in the Cassa di Risparmio in Forlì, as well as the present work, which probably dates from the 1510s. The latter should pre-date, on the basis of style, a signed variant recently with Carlo Virgilio, which introduces a second tormentor and switches the extended landscape to the right-hand side.

1 For a full discussion of the different types and their locations, see Viroli, under Literature.