Torture of Marcus Atilius Regulus

Coming from a front of a wedding chest or from a backrest, this panel is accompanied by another panel and both depict episodes from the story of Attilio Regolo, a Roman general defeated and captured during the attempt to conquer Carthage in 255 BC, sent by the Carthaginians to Rome to negotiate the ransom of prisoners and peace with the promise that he would return in case of failure of the negotiations, and finally executed for dissuading his fellow citizens from making an agreement with the enemy. Probably the story was complemented by other missing panels. The two paintings have always been considered of uncertain attribution and still today the definition of their author remains problematic due to the mediocre conservation conditions in which they are. Based on the iconography and the original pictorial values that are still appreciable, it seems possible to refer the two panels to Girolamo Mocetto.