I'm pretty sure Virgil arranged his own beating up, it certainly looked that way. The scene before he says something like 'I want to lure her out of the house some way'
Not sure, overthinking it makes me realize that both him and them arranging it doesn't add up all together.
**Spoilers**
No, it was part of the whole plot. Robert tells him not to worry about coaxing her out of the house, as a situation will present itself. Later, when Virgil is taking the auction catalogues out of his car's boot, he discovers a tracking device like the one Robert made for one of his customers to keep an eye on her aunt.
The beating was a final convincer for Virgil that Clare's love was not a forgery, because she was able to leave the house to help him.