The flagellation of Christ, attributed to the "Knight of Arpino" Giuseppe Cesari, Italian school of the late 16th ...

The flagellation of Christ, attributed to the "Knight of Arpino" Giuseppe Cesari, Italian school of the late 16th century - early 17th century
Oil on copper, measurements: 21 x 16 cm without frame, measurements with frame: 31 x 26 cm. Provenance: important private collection, Madrid. Giuseppe Cesari (Rome, ca. 1568 – July 3, 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter known as Il Giuseppino or the Knight of Arpino (il Cavaliere d'Arpino), because he was invested as a Knight of Christ (Cavaliere di Cristo) by Pope Clement VIII who, along with Sixtus V, was one of its protectors. Although Cesari's father was originally from Arpino, Giuseppe was born in Rome, where he was apprenticed to Niccolò Circignani. In 1585 he entered the Academy of Saint Luke. In 1607 he was briefly imprisoned by the papal administration. He died in Rome in 1640. His brother Bernardino Cesari collaborated with him on many of his works. Among his students were his sons Muzio (1619-1676) and Bernardino (died 1703) and, apparently, Pier Francesco Mola (1612-66), Francesco Allegrini da Gubbio, Guido Ubaldo Abatini, Vincenzo Manenti and Bernardino Parasol. His most notable student was Caravaggio, who entered Cesari's workshop around 1593-94 as a painter of flowers and fruits. Historians consider that he was a man of irascible character, who went from penury to opulence. Bibliography: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (1985). The Age of Caravaggio (in English). Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870993800. Accessed May 22, 2017.