Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie’s, 23 July 1982, lot 34 (as Roman School, circa 1620–25);
Private collection, Bologna;
Anonymous sale, Dorotheum, 18 October 2016, lot 60 (as Emilian School, 17th century);
Where acquired by the present owner.

M. Pirondini, G. Manni and E. Negro, Arte emiliana: ale raccolte storiche al nuovo collezionismo, Modena 1989, pp. 182–85 (as Milani Aureliano).

The canvas has been recently relined, restretched, cleaned and restored, and the painting is in good overall condition. The relining is quite heavy and has slightly flattened the paint surface. There are no major damages visible to the naked eye. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a series of restored areas of old flaking or loss in the upper left quadrant of the painting, including two areas of 15 x 12 cm. and 15 x 5 cm. in the background, and a large number of scattered retouchings to old flakes in the flesh of the soldier below. There are a few other smaller, scattered losses beneath this, and in the lower right-hand corner. There is an old, diagonal repaired tear, 11 cm. long, just above the helmet of the central soldier. The remainder of the paint surface appears to be in very good order, with only minor interventions in the margins and strengthening of some outlines, as well as some distended craquelure in the thigh of the soldier on the left. Offered in a parcel gilt Italian wood frame in good condition, with some minor chips and losses.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The authorship of this dramatic Mocking of Christ is at present a mystery. What is certain is that whoever the artist is, he or she was an admirer of the works of the Bolognese master Ludovico Carracci. Ludovico’s own treatment of the Mocking of Christ hung in the Chiesa di San Girolamo della Certosa in the western edge of the city of Bologna, and is now preserved in the Pinacoteca, Bologna along with its pendant, a Flagellation.¹ Carracci’s painting is dated to after 1598, and bears close compositional similarities with this painting: the jailer with the bare torso, his right knee on a stone ledge and right arm outstretched to exert a palpable force as he tightens the Crown of Thorns upon Christ’s head. The figure of a second jailer at the bottom right of the composition is also derived from Ludovico – with his tense bent arm and bare muscular shoulder acting as a type of repoussoir forcing our eye into the centre of the painting where Christ doubles up with the pain inflicted by his persecutors. The downward force exerted by the figure in glinting armour at the top of the composition as he rams the Crown onto Christ’s head with the butt of a stick, and the looming presence of the governor and his attendant officials are, however, the independent creation of the author of the present canvas. Prof. Daniele Benati, to whom we are grateful for his comments on this painting, has proposed an attribution of the present work to the young Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole (Bologna 1654–1719). Benati, by way of demonstrating this clear influence of Ludovico on Dal Sole, references in particular Dal Sole’s fresco of 1688 depicting Aeneas' Flight from Troy in the Palazzo Mansi in Lucca. In 1739 G.P. Zanotti records two canvases by Dal Sole hanging in the Choir of the Chiesa degli Scalzi, Bologna, depicting The Crowing with Thorns and The Flagellation.² Both paintings are now thought lost; Benati poses the possibility that this canvas is that same picture to which Zanotti was referring, and notes that the size and format of this canvas make the placement in the choir of the Scalzi plausible. Ludovico’s aforementioned canvasses were hanging nearby in the Chiesa di San Girolamo della Certosa, and given Dal Sole’s Scalzi paintings depict the same subject matter, it is reasonable to imagine that they both would have been executed in this distinctly Ludovican spirit. As Benati notes, however, it is probable that we will only be able to be sure of Dal Sole’s authorship and this proposed placement when the pendant canvas depicting The Flagellation surfaces.

Two sketches for this composition exist: the first in a private collection in Milan, the second in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, catalogued as the work of Lorenzo Garbieri.³

1 A. Emiliani, La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna 1967, p. 299, cat. nos 196 and 197, reproduced.
2 G.P. Zanotti, History of the Accademia Clementina, Bologna 1739, vol. I, p. 293.
3 Oil on canvas, 53 x 37 cm., inv. no. 2012.84.2.