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Lot Essay
The attribution of this enigmatic Christ at the Column, along with that of a slightly smaller variant (91 x 78 cm.; with Pierre Rosenberg, Paris), has long been the subject of scholarly discourse. Both pictures relate closely to three anonymous Caravaggesque Flagellations (Pinacoteca Comunale, Macerata; Museo Civico di Castello Ursino, Catania; Camuccini collection, Cantalupo Savino in Rieti) believed by Roberto Longhi to be modelled after a lost Caravaggio (R. Longhi, ‘Un originale del Caravaggio a Rouen e il problema delle copie caravaggesche’, Paragone, CXXI, 1960, p. 31). The positioning of the head and torso is almost identical in all five works. In the present composition, however, the tormentors are absent, and the form of the column, derived from the ancient examples in the Chapel of San Zeno in the Basilica di San Prassitele, Rome, is almost nonexistent, limiting the scene to the lone, three-quarter-length figure of Christ.
The earliest recorded provenance places the present painting in Innsbruck, where it bore an attribution to the founder of Neapolitan Caravaggism, Giovanni Battista Caracciolo. The Paris variant was subsequently described in 1974 by Carlo Volpe and Roberto Longhi as similar in style to the works of David de Haen and Dirck van Baburen, respectively (C. Volpe, 'I Caravaggeschi francei alla mostra di Roma', Paragone, XXV, no. 287, January 1974, p. 31). Parallels between both paintings and Northern works of this period are evident in the warm shadows and brawny modelling of the musculature. In the same year, the Paris canvas was included in the exhibition of French Caravaggisti in Rome as by an anonymous Caravaggesque artist, presumed to be of either French or Flemish origin. However, in the catalogue entry, Benedict Nicholson is quoted as advancing a cautious attribution to the young Orazio Riminaldi, circa 1620, during a period in which he was in contact with Orazio Gentileschi (“una attribuzione alla giovinezza del Riminaldi, nella seconda decade del secolo, in un momento in cui era in contatto con il Gentileschi”; I Caravaggeschi Francesi, exhibition catalogue, Rome, 1973, p. 234, no. 72). In later publications, Nicholson tempered his opinion, referring to the painting as close to both Gentileschi and Riminaldi, and possibly by the same hand as the Saint Sebastian in the Musée Fabregat, Béziers (B. Nicholson, The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of pictures by Caravaggio and His followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650, Oxford and New York, 1979, p. 154; B. Nicholson, Caravaggism in Europe, second edition revised and enlarged by L. Vertova, Turin, 1990, I, p. 116).
In 1992, Gianni Papi tentatively proposed the authorship of Riminaldi for both works (G. Papi, ‘Orazio Riminaldi’, in R.P. Ciardi, R. Contini, G. Papi, Pittura a Pisa fra Manierismo e Barocco, Milano, 1992, p. 264, fig. 279) but later discounted his earlier attribution (written communication with the department, 2018). Pierluigi Carofano and Franco Paliaga also rejected Rimaldi’s for either picture in their catalogue raisonné on the artist, suggesting instead that Volpe’s attribution to de Haen should be reconsidered for at least the Paris canvas. Most recently, Andrea G. De Marchi and Nicola Spinosa independently supported an attribution to Orazio Gentileschi when the present painting was with Salander-O’Reilly in 2005, citing its emphatic use of white and refined handling of chiaroscuro as evidence of the master’s hand (written communication with the former owner, 2005). As Spinosa noted, the present painting demonstrates distinct chromatic and pictorial parallels with Gentileschi’s Saint Jerome in Meditation, circa 1610/11 (Turin, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica) and his Christ Crowned with Thorns, circa 1613/15 (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig).
The earliest recorded provenance places the present painting in Innsbruck, where it bore an attribution to the founder of Neapolitan Caravaggism, Giovanni Battista Caracciolo. The Paris variant was subsequently described in 1974 by Carlo Volpe and Roberto Longhi as similar in style to the works of David de Haen and Dirck van Baburen, respectively (C. Volpe, 'I Caravaggeschi francei alla mostra di Roma', Paragone, XXV, no. 287, January 1974, p. 31). Parallels between both paintings and Northern works of this period are evident in the warm shadows and brawny modelling of the musculature. In the same year, the Paris canvas was included in the exhibition of French Caravaggisti in Rome as by an anonymous Caravaggesque artist, presumed to be of either French or Flemish origin. However, in the catalogue entry, Benedict Nicholson is quoted as advancing a cautious attribution to the young Orazio Riminaldi, circa 1620, during a period in which he was in contact with Orazio Gentileschi (“una attribuzione alla giovinezza del Riminaldi, nella seconda decade del secolo, in un momento in cui era in contatto con il Gentileschi”; I Caravaggeschi Francesi, exhibition catalogue, Rome, 1973, p. 234, no. 72). In later publications, Nicholson tempered his opinion, referring to the painting as close to both Gentileschi and Riminaldi, and possibly by the same hand as the Saint Sebastian in the Musée Fabregat, Béziers (B. Nicholson, The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of pictures by Caravaggio and His followers throughout Europe from 1590 to 1650, Oxford and New York, 1979, p. 154; B. Nicholson, Caravaggism in Europe, second edition revised and enlarged by L. Vertova, Turin, 1990, I, p. 116).
In 1992, Gianni Papi tentatively proposed the authorship of Riminaldi for both works (G. Papi, ‘Orazio Riminaldi’, in R.P. Ciardi, R. Contini, G. Papi, Pittura a Pisa fra Manierismo e Barocco, Milano, 1992, p. 264, fig. 279) but later discounted his earlier attribution (written communication with the department, 2018). Pierluigi Carofano and Franco Paliaga also rejected Rimaldi’s for either picture in their catalogue raisonné on the artist, suggesting instead that Volpe’s attribution to de Haen should be reconsidered for at least the Paris canvas. Most recently, Andrea G. De Marchi and Nicola Spinosa independently supported an attribution to Orazio Gentileschi when the present painting was with Salander-O’Reilly in 2005, citing its emphatic use of white and refined handling of chiaroscuro as evidence of the master’s hand (written communication with the former owner, 2005). As Spinosa noted, the present painting demonstrates distinct chromatic and pictorial parallels with Gentileschi’s Saint Jerome in Meditation, circa 1610/11 (Turin, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica) and his Christ Crowned with Thorns, circa 1613/15 (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig).