Crowning with Thorns

Giovanni Battista Paggi, a dynamic and avant-garde figure for his century, was born in Genoa in 1554 to a noble family. Son of a merchant "an art not unbecoming to Genoese Nobility... in his childhood, applied by his Father to the study of letters, he gave in them the first signs of his rare talent... and by his beautiful genius he also felt drawn to the exercise of the Arts of design..." [Soprani/Ratti, p.113] His father wanted his son to attend to marking, so the young man devoted himself to the study of Arithmetic, obtaining at least permission to play musical instruments; but passion is passion and so "Genuensis, ergo mercator" Genoese therefore merchant "passed to the speculation of Art" [Soprani/Ratti, p.114]. In 1581 he killed a fellow merchant (Cristoforo Fronte) and was sentenced to perpetual exile; taking refuge first in Aulla in the Centurione’s fief in Lunigiana “waiting for the favor of calm” [Soprani/Ratti, p.120] then he passed to Pisa to arrive in Florence in 1582. Numerous are the works produced for Florentine patrons, an indication of a growing success that will culminate in enrollment in the Academy of Design. "How much Paggi was loved and desired by foreign nations, so much was he badly seen in his homeland by those who, not for glory, but for vile gain, practiced Painting." [Soprani/Ratti, p.124] but never having interrupted working relationships with Genoese clients, having obtained grace, he made his return definitively to his homeland. Upon his father's death, he devoted himself definitively to the ancient desire of Painting, stimulated by Cambiaso, his mentor, and by that environment of more famous Painters and Sculptors whom he had welcomed, studied, and hosted in the rooms of his atelier. His house/studio, a point of reference for young artists such as Sinibaldo Scorza, his student, to name one, had become a point of reference for pictorial and cultural activity in an effervescent Genoese environment at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the numerous works cited in his inventory bear witness to this. The Crowning with Thorns, the subject depicted in this canvas, is an episode reported in the Gospels that is part of the narration of the "Passion of Christ," that is, the description of the events and suffering suffered by Jesus Christ up to his crucifixion and death. After the torment of flagellation, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, sits with his hands tied, is wrapped in a cloak, derided and humiliated by soldiers who place a crown of thorns on his head, which is stuck into his flesh with the aid of sticks to avoid pricking themselves. The stylistic analysis of the painting, the comparison with the painter's autograph works, allows us to place the work in the period of Genoese activity before his exile. Dimensions: canvas 110 x 95.5 cm - frame 125 x 111.5 cm