(Bassano 1549–1592 Venice)
The Mocking of Christ,
oil on canvas, 110 x 80 cm, framed

Label with old inventory number on the reverse: 59

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for suggesting the attribution of the present painting after the examination in the original.

The present Mocking of Christ can be dated to Francesco Bassano’s mature period. In a dark interior supported by columns, under a heavy curtain, the figure of Christ is illuminated by a boy with a candle. He is surrounded by the soldiers guarding him. The representation exudes a certain calm and mysticism. The chiaroscuro and the stage-like presentation give the composition an almost Caravaggesque atmosphere.

The lower left foreground depicts a boy trying to start a fire in a bowl and this relates to the altarpiece Saint Apollonius baptising Saint Afra in Brescia, painted around the same time. The two sources of light in the present painting can be interpreted as a juxtaposition of heavenly and earthly light. This symbolism is further reinforced by the household goods in the right foreground, as well as by the depiction of the dog as an example of fidelity and faith and as a link between the two pictorial levels.

Francesco Bassano was apprenticed in his father’s studio in Bassano del Grappa during the 1560s. His pictorial style developed alongside that established by Jacopo, especially the compositions of rural subjects and market scenes, as well as in the execution of biblical themes, in which the sacred is steeped in everyday life. In 1579 Francesco left for Venice where he fulfilled the prestigious commission for ceiling paintings for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Palazzo Ducale. After 1580 Francesco Bassano developed paintings of nocturnal scenes producing works such as the Christ in the Garden now in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, which relate to certain late pictures by Titian and are also reminiscent of the works of Luca Cambiaso and Antonio Campi.