Attributed to CARLO FRANCESCO NUVOLONE (Milan, 1609-1662). "Madonna before Calvary". Oil on canvas. It preserves the original canvas.

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Oct 20, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-10-20 07:30:00 2021-10-20 07:30:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : OLD MASTERS https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/old-masters-7700
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• Lot Description
  Attributed to CARLO FRANCESCO NUVOLONE (Milan, 1609-1662). "Madonna before Calvary". Oil on canvas. It preserves the original canvas. Presents new frame, with extensions of fabric on the sides. Frame of the late seventeenth century in carved and gilded wood adapted. Measures: 129,5 x 94 cm; 151,5 x 117,5 cm (frame). With great expressiveness and devotional passion, the author presents us a work in which the figure of the Virgin stars in a scene filled with an impulse of rotundity and mystical impetus, where Mary is positioned as an imperturbable symbol of the Christian Faith. Represented in the center of the composition, adopting a posture of great dramatism, the Virgin directs one of her hands towards her chest, while she extends the other, opening her arm to the faithful. Her face, which is raised towards the sky, shows the pains suffered by the Virgin who, with her mouth half-open, reflects her suffering as the mother of the savior. Due to the composition, already mentioned, and the type of rapid brushstroke, in some areas undone, it is possible to deduce that this work was part of a larger ensemble, as an altar piece, together with the Calvary of Christ. The technical characteristics of this work, such as the composition, the unpainted and stark glaze, the transparent veil that covers part of the face, the gesture and the posture of the Virgin, invite to make a direct relationship with some of the works made by the painter Carlo Francesco Nuvolone. An example of this is the Saint Ursula that was auctioned at Sothebys on July 29, 2020. Both pieces present a female figure conceived with a similar posture, holding her right hand to her chest and raising her face in a pious attitude. Another piece that bears great similarity is "The Education of the Virgin" (1645-1650), belonging to the collection of the Brecia Musei Foundation. In both cases the posture is very similar, and the treatment of the canvases, the veil and the capture of the forms through the wide and light glazes, are common features in the two paintings mentioned. Carlo Francesco Nuvolone together with his younger brother Giuseppe Nuvolone, was a reference of the artistic development that took place in the area of Lombardy during the XVII century. Carlo Franceso began his training under the guidance of his father Panfilo Nuovolone, although he later continued under the orders of Battista Crespi. Since the Gothic period, the Ambrosian school had a great artistic tradition, financed mostly by the Visconti family, this led to the interest of the area as an artistic residence, receiving the visit of Leonardo himself. However, despite all the tradition of the area, it was in the seventeenth century, when the painting of Lombardy received a great boost that led to a whole aesthetic renewal. Milanese painting was revived thanks to local collaboration, linked to the late Lombard Renaissance, with artists coming from other localities, especially from Cremona, where Carlo Francesco Nuvolone's father was from. The activity of the Accademia Ambrosiana consolidated a particular and idiosyncratic style. The interest in mannerism was abandoned in favor of a baroque art with a great interest in capturing dynamism, which in many cases advocated narrativity. Francesco Nuvolone's first known work is the Miracle of Santa Marta, preserved in the archiepiscopal seminary of Venegono Inferiore. He also intervened in some of the chapels of the collegiate church of San Lorenzo in Chiavenna, in addition to works of non-religious themes such as Susanna and the old men, and the wife of Giuseppe and Putifarre.
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