(Bologna 1577–1668)
Christ carrying the Cross,
oil on copper, 18.5 x 24 cm, framed

Provenance:
European Private Collection

Literature:
A. Crispo, Qualche considerazione su una nuova monografia dedicata ad Alessandro Tiarini e sull’ambiente artistico parmense del primo Seicento, in: Parma per l’arte, VIII, 2002, p. 151, fig. 2;
M. Pulini, Altri viatici alla mostra, in: D. Mahon, M. Pulini, V. Sgarbi (ed.), Guercino. Poesia e sentimento nella pittura del ‘600, Novara 2003, p. 85 illustrated;
M. Gallo, La Santa Cecilia riceve l’annuncio del martirio; il Cristo portacroce angariato dal manigoldo; il sermone di san Domenico sul rosario, in: Valori Tattili, 5/6, 2015, p. 254, fig. 2

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

The copper panel shows rapid and incisive brushstrokes and this artistic approach can be compared to Tiarini’s Finding of Moses (1641) conserved in the Kunsthalle, Bremen. The face of Christ is similar to that in the Resurrection of Lazarus in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ekaterinburg and it can also be compared to the facial type of Saint Joseph in Saint Joseph in glory in the church of Santi Giuseppe e Ignazio in Bologna. For this reason, the present work can be dated around 1640.

Alessandro Tiarini was the godson of the painter Lavinia Fontana. He received his first training in Bologna under her father, Prospero Fontana. In 1597, Tiarini studied with Bartolomeo Cesi before being forced to leave Bologna because of a lawsuit. Tiarini then went to Florence, where he worked on the fresco decoration of the cloister of Sant´Antonio in the monastery of San Marco in 1602.