Guido Cagnacci

With Charles Nicholls & Sons (according to a label on the reverse of the stretcher).

P.G. Pasini et al., Seicento Inquieto: Arte e Cultura a Rimini, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2004, p. 85, cat. no. 62, reproduced. 

The catalogue illustration is too bright. There is a fairly old stable relining and the paint surface is in good overall condition. The paint is a little thin around the ear at the right and there are a few small retouchings on the end of the nose, on the top lip and in the crown of thorns. Offered in an elaborate carved and gilt wood Emilian 17th century frame, in good condition. AF*
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Prof. Pier Giorgio Pasini believes that this work dates from the 1630s or '40s due to its stylistic affinity with Cagnacci's Saint Agatha, currently in a private collection, and the Penitent Magdalene in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena delle Benedettine in Urbania.¹  Both Agatha and the Magdalene have their heads tilted heavenward in a similar manner to the figure of Christ in the present painting. Pasini suggests that this Ecce homo was painted during Cagnacci's final Bolognese period, during which time he was influenced by the sentimentality of Guido Reni.

1.  See D. Benati and M. B. Castellotti, Guido Cagnacci, Milan 1993, p. 97, cat. no. 14, and p. 101, cat. no. 15.