ARTE LOMBARDA - 2020 - 2 - 3

this study presents a precious illuminated bible dating back to the second half of the 12th century, currently kept in the abbey of Ganagobie in France (Provence) but created for the choral office of the ancient basilica of San Vittore in Varese. the contribution shows how this manuscript, significant for the art of the territory, is close to the illuminated bibles of Milan, representing a concrete example of an original creative process based on the geographical mobility of models and interactions between patrons and artists. In this direction it is necessary to explore the relationship between iconographic and decorative sources illuminated with pictorial and plastic translations, in the perspective of a unitary approach to works of art.

The Porta romana of Milan of the communal age, dating back to 1171, was decorated with four high-relief scenes depicting: the Diplomatic mission to Constantinople, by an anonymous author, now lost, the Return of the soldiers of the Lombard League led by frater Jacobus, of Anselmus, the Return of the Milanese people led by a cleric, by Girardus, the Expulsion of the Arians by Ambrose, by  an anonymous author. the surviving high-reliefs are preserved in the Museo d’Arte Antica del castello sforzesco. In this article, many of the characters in the Girardus relief have been identified and  an alternative hypothesis has been put forward about the setting of the scene, which could take place at the columns of san Lorenzo and the nearby Porta ticinese. A will of 1166, in which Anselmus and Girardus appear as witnesses, also documents the presence of at least Anselmus at the Milanese building yard of sant’Ambrogio and would allow, albeit doubtfully, to attribute to this sculptor  the relief with the so-called Last Supper or Agape of the pulpit of the basilica, which would also have stylistic analogies with the frieze with the Return of the soldiers. the author also puts forward  the hypothesis that the relief of the pulpit actually represents the Prandium in festivitate sancti Satyri, offered by the abbot to the canons of the basilica and other religiouses of the city. this relief  was inserted in the pulpit during a possible reworking of 1174, wanted by archbishop Galdino della sala, in celebration of the re-established control over all the Milanese clergy. According to the  author finally, perhaps Anselmus is also the author of the capital with the Childhood of Christ (Pinacoteca civica di como), and Girardus may have sculpted some capitals of the monastery of santa radegonda (castello sforzesco in Milan).

Stefano «plebanus» di Sant’Agnese has been ignored by the art critics for a very long time, starting with the Venetian scholars of the beginning of the 19th century, who were the first to be interested and to get involved in the historical reconstruction of the Venetian lagoon painting tradition. A major role for the non-recognition of Stefano was played also by the wrong interpretation of the adjective «plebanus», which made many art historians and art lovers believe that he had been a clergyman. Only since the 1930s art critics have given to Stefano a significant role among the  pupils of the two main Venetian masters of the 14th century, Paolo and Lorenzo Veneziano. In more recent years some paintings by Stefano have been on show in exhibitions both in Italy and abroad, thanks to careful curatorial choices that recognised the importance of his artistic personality. the autor retraces the steps of Stefano’s pictorial production, which forms the basis to  reconstruct his artistic personality, in the substantial absence of archival documents that could certainly test his activity. In the last years distinguished scholars wrote some in-depth contributions  about specific subjects of the medieval Venetian art, but it’s still unavailable a monographic paper about Stefano di Sant’Agnese, that could shed a focused light on the different stages of his activity. So the aim of this contribution is to better include him in the large group of Venetian artists of the second half of the 14th century, who had exchanges and often very strong contacts with the Gothic painting tradition of terraferma, well represented by artists such as Guariento in Padua and tommaso da Modena in treviso.

The conversion of the governor of Marseilles and his wife, thanks to the intervention of the Magdalene – known as the Miracle of Marseilles – along with their subsequent pilgrimage and baptism, is a narrative rarely depicted in renaissance art. However, in 1530-1532, the subject was treated in a strikingly prominent and unconventional fashion by Gaudenzio Ferrari in his murals in the church of San Cristoforo in Vercelli. This article seeks to provide a new interpretation of this mural within the context of the patronage of the local aristocratic Corradi di Lignana family and their relationships  with the Humiliati order administering the church. The theme of the Baptism of the governor’s couple deviates strongly from the medieval iconographic tradition as it manifested itself in Italy and the Alpine regions. It seems to refer to specific circumstances – namely, the appointment of a member of the Corradi family as the new provost of San Cristoforo in 1529 – and, more generally, to the familial self-image that the Corradi di Lignana, justified or not, were determined to propagate. the unusual choice and presentation of subject matter also explain the highly striking inclusion of two “paintings within a painting” in Ferrari’s murals.

The Ducal Palace in Milan had a long series of alterations during the 16th century: already residence for the duchess Isabella of Aragon, it did not host the kings under the French and Spanish domination, during their journeys in Milan, but the ducal governors and it received attention above all by Alfonso of Avalos and Ferrante Gonzaga, mainly in the occasions of visits by Charles V in 1541 and Philip II of Habsburg in 1548. During the following decades and the succeeding of the governors, the residence – in which the Senate and the other administration offices were located too – was periodically interested by works and decorative campaigns, like those realised for the arrival in 1598 of Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, so that it became the most important city site decorated with secular painting subjects, now unfortunately lost. Pellegrino tibaldi’s involvement in those changes, at first as a painter and then as a ingegnere camerale, is documented in five different moments: (I) in 1574-1575 as a painter and with the role of supervisor for the paintings and stained glasses by Valerio Profondavalle; (II) between 1583 and 1586 in the same role; (III) in 1579 for the restoration of the church of San Gottardo in Corte; (IV) in 1584 for the design for building and decorating a new ducal chapel in the palace; (V) for a general design to modify the main façade and the external courtyard of the palace, for which it is unknown the date, but it is documented by a drawing now preserved in the Raccolta Bianconi, I, f. 2 at the Archivio Storico Civico di Milano and biblioteca trivulziana.

Two panel paintings executed by Marco d’Oggiono (Milan, 1470 circa - 1524) after 1517, conserved at the Pinacoteca di brera in Milan, have been the subjects of a recent restoration (Centro Conservazione e restauro La Venaria reale). the two paintings depict St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua, each presenting a devotee and they were originally part of a large polyptych,  consisting of ten tables, made for the Franciscan convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Maleo (Lodi) and therefore called Maleo Polyptych; today these works of art are two of the five still known  compartments of the altarpiece. this occurrence allowed the in-depth study of the circumstances of commissioning and realization of the works and represented an opportunity for a detailed and  interdisciplinary investigation: in fact, the outcome of the research between the historical-artistic field and the scientific one, with particular reference to the genealogical study and that relating to  the history of costume, the direct observation of the works and the contribution of diagnostic investigations, led to hypothesize and propose a new identification of the two devotees depicted. the  hypothesis is that the two female subjects identified by 20th century studies as bona bevilacqua trivulzio and Giulia trivulzio were initially Antonia Pallavicini and Lucia bevilacqua respectively; the  iconographic updating is supported by non-invasive preliminary analyses, in particular the MA-XrF, that suggested the presence of ancient repainting layers that partially changed the dress of the  first devotee and modified the arrangement of the hair of the second one.

The purpose of this article is to deepen the figure of Pietro rosa, little studied so far, contextualizing it in the artistic scene of his time, in order to have a clearer idea about his artistic career and to  complete a catalogue of his paintings. Pietro was Cristoforo rosa’s son, the famous quadrature painter, and he attended titian’s workshop in Venice, in 1563. the biography and the activity of this  artist are confused, because of the lack of documents, so the research had to be based on ancient sources, such as city guides, essential in order to identify his artistic production. Moreover,  German sources were taken into account as they are the only documents that mention Pietro’s journey to Innsbruck, where he probably worked between 1570 and 1571 at the decoration of Ambras Castle, commissioned by the Archduke Ferdinand II. Lastly, thanks to the research, some paintings which cannot be attributed to Pietro, because of stylistic and chronological reasons, were identified.

A visit to oratory of San Matteo in Selvanesco leads us to the discovery of few spoilt shreds of paintings; but these traces are the only survivors of the 1588 complete decoration of the church, a  beautiful project demanded by father Matteo rivolta. It is essential to investigate the many carthusians possessions between Milan and Pavia to comprehend the sheer idea behind Selvanesco  paintings: there we will find evidences of a wide reorganization of the grange, with the help of architects and artists, in the last quarter of 16th century. Giovan battista Della rovere and tolomeo  rinaldi, the authors of the frescoes in San Matteo, are well known personalities in Milan, even if rinaldi is universally famous as an architect only. the peculiar and hidden context of Selvanesco offers some original hints to shine a light on the careers of the two artists, and to study again the circumstances of the debut in Milan of a contemporary Counter-reformation classicism.

The Dominican church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan houses an important fresco cycle in the Marliani family chapel, which was previously ascribed to artists such as Ottavio Semino, Aurelio  Luini and Francesco Nappi. Now that a set of newly rediscovered mural paintings in Selvanesco have been attributed to Giovanni Battista Della Rovere, called Fiammenghino (1561-1627), it is  possible to recognize the same hand in the Santa Maria delle Grazie frescoes. Parallels may also be drawn with some documented works of the artist in Monza and in Sant’Angelo church in Milan.  The essay also explores the complexity of the iconographic meaning of the cycle, which seems to recall the prophetic visions of the Apocalypsis Nova, published by the circle of Amedeo Mendes de  Silva in the early 15th century.

The body of St. Carlo borromeo has been resting in the scurolo of the Duomo since 1638 in a silver and crystal casket, a gift from the Spanish kings Philip III and Philip IV. Although very well known, the casket has not been studied so far, and the few known documents concerning it have not received due attention. the author traces what is already known and, thanks to many new  documents, reconstructs the process with which, since 1611, the silver and crystal casket was designed, built, paid and finally donated. the study also examines other artifacts and works of art somehow related to the St. Carlo casket: the main altar of the church of San Gottardo in Corte and the tronetto for the display of the Holy Sacrament in Duomo.

Camillo Gavasetti (Modena 1595 - reggio Emilia 1630) even though he has not collected much attention so far, has accomplished fresco cycles in some notable churches: San Sigismondo in Cremona, Santa Maria di Campagna in Piacenza, Santi Pietro and Prospero and basilica della Ghiara in reggio Emilia. Furthermore he realised artworks for the Farnese, Campori, and Coccapani families. the retrieval of new documents and a careful review of the already known sources have made possible to accurately retrace the artist’s biographic journey. In addition, new attributions of  paintings have been carried out. A comprehensive valuation of his artworks has led, on certain occasions, to redefine the chronology of the paintings and, as in the case of the cycle of San  Sigismondo, to ascribe to the artist the whole decoration of the chapel. the finding of the first drawing attributable to the artist, referable to the Fiumalbo altarpiece, could be a starting point for  further researches in this field.

The Moroni Palace is one of the most important and best preserved aristocratic buildings in bergamo. Among the wide collection of archive documents still preserved in the Palace, this paper takes  into consideration the precious construction site account book (1646-1666): its data, together with the ones contained in the 1680 inventory and in the land purchase documents, allow to follow in  detail the progress of the construction, both structural and decorative. thanks to the analysis of these documents and of the architecture, it is now possible to rigorously describe the realisation  phases of the building between 1646 and 1655 and at the same time to cast light on the site workers. In the Moroni Palace emerges a complex sequence of architectural stratifications, including the incorporation and reuse of some earlier buildings. Furthermore, the documents help to clarify the development of the first floor decoration, with the frescoes made by two of the protagonists of the  Lombard baroque, Gian Giacomo barbelli and Domenico Ghislandi. this research has identified a wider original extension of the cycle than the present, putting again into discussion and clarifying  both the chronologies and the attributions of these spectacular frescos.

The essay integrates the information on the Filippo Abbiati and Pietro Maggi frescoes, formerly realized in the dome of the church of san Nazaro in brolo in Milan, lost in the first decades of the 19th  century on occasion of the renovation of the church. From the booklet titled La gloria del Crocifisso, written by the Father barnabite Demetrio Supensi, edited in 1707, it is possible to know the  subject of those paintings, never mentioned in the Milanese guides and conceived by Supensi himself. the decoration was placed around at a Crucifix presumably made of wood, with the  representation of the Father, the Madonna, St. John the Evangelist and the Magdalen, and in the circle of the dome Martyr Saints and Archbishops.

The handwritten guidebook, 1739 Raccolta delle pitture de’ celebri maestri antiche, e d’autori moderni preserved at the biblioteca Ambrosiana (M 65 suss.), has been known so far in an 19th  century transcription kept at the biblioteca Capitolare in Milan, probably commissioned by Aristide Sala. During the 19th century the volume was first owned by Michele Caffi and then by Luca  beltrami who donated it to the Ambrosiana in 1906. the booklet lists and collects the paintings that were in churches and in some public and private palaces in that period in Milan; by comparing the coeval guidebooks made by the Santagostino brothers, by torre, biffi and Latuada remarkable elements have appeared: the importance given to architectural quadratures, decorations and to  17th and 18th centuries minor artists, mostly Lombard; inspection visits of both the convents and church sacristies; a very peculiar focus on the series of paintings dedicated and to lives of saints  and on the restorations; the presence of several works, most of which today untraceable. the article finally presents two works attributed to Camillo Procaccini and  to Agostino Santagostino. the  anonymous author of the guidebook is himself a painter and a restorer, perhaps a clergyman who basically integrated the documents Santagostino and Latuada had written.