For baroque in Milan we mean the dominant artistic style between the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century in the city. In fact, thanks to the work of the cardinals Borromeo and its importance in Italian, first Spanish and then Austrian dominions, Milan experienced a lively artistic season in which it assumed the role of the driving force of Lombard Baroque.
General features
The Milanese baroque experience can be divided into three parts: the first seventeenth century, the second seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first seventeenth century begins with the appointment as bishop of Milan of Federico Borromeo in 1595 in continuity with the work of his cousin Carlo: in this first phase the main exponents of the Milanese painting are three, Giovan Battista Crespi, called the Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called the Morazzone. In this first phase the evolution of the new baroque style follows with continuity the late mannerist art spread in Milan at the time of Carlo Borromeo; the formation of the three painters took place in fact on the models of the late Tuscan and Roman Mannerism for Cerano and Morazzone, while the Procaccini was formed on Emilian models. From an architectural point of view, the religious commissions dominate the scene, since the Spanish domination took more care of works of military utility than non-civil; many pre-existing churches were completely rebuilt and decorated in baroque style, and as many built from new: if the baroque style was introduced in Milan by Lorenzo Binago, two others are the main architects who at the time divided the scene, that is Fabio Mangone, from the most classic lines and for this reason often chosen for the commissions by Federico Borromeo, and Francesco Maria Richini simply called the Richini, from the lines more inspired by the early Roman Baroque. Having overcome this dualism, Richini certainly represents the greatest figure of architect of the seventeenth-century Milan, and to find such a prestigious figure in Milanese architecture we will have to wait until the advent of Giuseppe Piermarini.
The second phase of the baroque, which begins approximately after the early thirties of the seventeenth century, starts after a brief intermezzo full of significant events: first the main interpreters of the movement disappeared between 1625 (Giulio Cesare Procaccini) and 1632 (the Cerano ), to which was added the death of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, one of the greatest figures of the seventeenth century Lombard, and especially the great Manzoni plague, which cut the city’s population by half, affecting the young Milanese promising Daniele Crespi among the thousands of victims, which among other things will lead to the closure of the Ambrosian Academy, founded in 1621from Federico Borromeo to train young artists for the Milanese school, where he assumed the major interpreters of the early Baroque, on all the Cerano and Fabio Mangone, as teachers.
The painting in the second seventeenth century was then completely renewed in its interpreters, seeing the work of the brothers Giuseppe and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, Francesco Cairo, Giovan Battista Discepoli and others; in this case played a fundamental role is the now closed Accademia Ambrosiana, which first gave a certain continuity in style and then re-open a few years, both the work in some construction sites of artists from the rest of Italy of Emilia school, Genoese and Veneto. The architecture, with the disappearance of Fabio Magone, sees the work of Francesco Richini, who remained almost unrivaled in his Milanese production, flanked by minor performers such as Gerolamo Quadrio and Carlo Buzzi. Thanks to this last fact, the achievements of this period broke completely with the Mannerist influences, to approach a markedly Baroque experience, with influences from the Emilian, Genoese and Roman schools. The last quarter of a century saw the opening of the second Ambrosian Academy reopened in 1669 under the direction of Antonio Busca, a pupil of Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, and Dionigi Bussola, who together with the new Milanese Academy of San Luca, linked to the homonymous Roman academy, contributed to the return of a currentclassicist linked to the Bolognese and Roman school.
The first seventeenth century
The first part of the seventeenth century represents the transition period between Mannerism and the early phases of the Baroque, although there are already mature examples of Baroque language at the time. For the particular period, in which the legacy of Charles Borromeo was still strong and in which the interests of the Spanish government focused on more military and strategic aspects, religious art and architecture guide the transition to the new baroque taste.
The Ambrosiana
Federico Borromeo was one of the main promoters of Lombard culture and art in the years of his cardinal: much influenced in this sense the Roman formation of the cardinal, during which he was able to come into contact with the best artists of the time, becoming great passionate about art and collector. From this interest was born the idea of creating a cultural center for the city for the training of artists and writers according to the canons of the Counter-Reformation, to which pictures and texts, as well as teachers, would be made available in order to promote art and culture within the city.
The works for the complex began in 1603: after having bought and demolished a block of flats in the area of Piazza San Sepolcro, the projects of the Ambrosiana palace were assigned to the architect Lelio Buzzi, who started the works directly the same year; the works, which continued through various changes up to 1630, changed hands to Alessandro Tesauro and finally to Fabio Mangone. The façade was completed in 1609: the entrance to the center consists of a vestibule with three bays of Doric pillars ending on thearchitrave, in which the inscription BIBLIOTHECA AMBROGIANA is engraved; the emblem of the Borromeo is carved on a triangular tympanum that crowns the vestibule. Many of Borromeo’s contemporaries commented positively on the classical solution of the structure, which was even called “a time of the muses” by the theologian Luigi Rossi, praised for the “Roman vestibule” and the “peristyle architraved to the old” by Ambrogio Mazenta or still compared to the architectures of imperial Rome for “solidity and majesty” by Girolamo Borsieri.
The first structure was the library in 1609; at the time of the opening it contained fifteen thousand manuscripts and thirty thousand printed works, many of which previously belonged to the vast private collection of Cardinal Borromeo, which included pieces from Europe and Asia: it was one of the first public libraries in Europe and the activity of the library was joined by a printing house and a school for the study of classical languages and oriental languages; this was the first step towards the creation of the vast cultural and museum complex of the Ambrosiana.
The second structure to make its appearance was the Museo Ambrosiano, precursor of the current Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, in 1618, created from the private collection of paintings, prints, sculptures and various designs by Cardinal Borromeo: the initial collection it included 172 works, of which almost half had histories of Christian tradition or devotional themes as their subject. This fact should not be astonishing as it was in agreement with the Tridentine doctrine of Borromeo, which attributed to art a fundamental role in the spread of the Catholic religion: more curious was the cardinal’s passion for natural paintings such as still lifes and landscapes, for most of foreign artists, in whose category we can include just under 30% of the works. Currently belonging to the picture gallery, of the period treated, we can mention the vast collection of seventeenth-century Lombard painting, which includes paintings by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Giuseppe Vermiglio, Morazzone and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, and the Flemish painting section with works by Paul Brill and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
The third and last institution to make its appearance was the Ambrosian Academy in 1620, a school of Fine Arts for the formation of young artists: although last, it was the three most important, in fact the library and the gallery had been made to be usable in particular to its students. The role of the academy was immediately clear; so in fact wrote Federico Borromeo in his statute: “For no other reason was founded this Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture if not to help artists to create works for divine worship, better than those that are currently”: his objective was the creation of a school of sacred art, especially painting, which would have taught the faithful and promoted the doctrines of theReformed Catholic Church, in particular described in the De pictura sacra of the same Borromeo.
The late foundation of the academy is due to the fact that in the early seventeenth century the Academy of the Aurora by the painter Giovanni Battista Galliani was already active in Milan, but closed in 1611 due to a scandal to which the painter was linked; to which Cardinal Borromeo, after having acquired the necessary space to expand the Ambrosiana palace, began to apply for the creation of the new academy, studying the regulations and programs of the best schools of fine art of the time, including the Accademia dei Carracci in Bologna, the Accademia del Disegno in Florence and the Roman Academy of San Luca. After the foundation, the students’ usual program was to reproduce, supervised by the masters, parts of works of various subjects starting from original paintings, drawings and sculptures with different types of techniques and materials: the finished works would then be discussed collectively, and the best reward. If this method was widespread in most of the academies, the importance given to the study of the original works of the Academy Gallery made available to the students in a much greater number, and often of better quality, compared to the contemporary schools, where it was use copies, prints or works created by the students themselves. Among the masters of the three disciplines, Cerano stand out for painting,Gian Andrea Biffi for sculpture and Fabio Mangone for architecture, while there were collaborations with Camillo Procaccini and with Morazzone; instead, among the students we remember Melchiorre Gherardini, Francesco Morone, Ercole Procaccini the Younger and Daniele Crespi, probably the most gifted among the students of the academy.
The life of the academy was short, and at the beginning of the thirties of the seventeenth century the experience could be said ended, due to the plague, which led to the disappearance of many pupils and teachers, and especially for the death of Cardinal Borromeo, although the academy did not officially close. The results of the academy are controversial: if it is undoubted that it contributed to the formation of many young artists, some of great thickness as the Crespi, and above all to spread the canons of the counter-reformed art; many believe that the declaredly religious orientation of the academy represented the main limitation of this. The activity of the academy saw a brief phase in the second half of the seventeenth century,1776.
Religious architectures
Church of San Giuseppe
The church of San Giuseppe is considered one of the most representative buildings of the early Lombard Baroque, as well as one of Richini’s masterpieces: the church represents the point of departure with Mannerist architecture, and was also used as a prototype for the baroque churches in the use of the longitudinal plant, especially in northern Italy and sometimes in central Europe. The project was entrusted after several passages to Richini in 1607, which for the first time presented itself as the sole designer of an important building: the motive for innovation of the project is the use of spaces, ie an evolution of the solution used in the church of Sant’Alessandro in Zebedia by Lorenzo Binago, his teacher. The longitudinal plan is formed by the fusion of two spaces with a central plan: the first of an octagonal shape, obtained as a square to which the corners are rounded, on these corners there are two columns of giant order that support small balconies; the second space, which houses the presbytery, is slightly smaller and is square in shape, with two side chapels; the two spaces are joined by an arch that spatially belongs to both environments, creating a sort of union between the two. For the solution of the giant columns on the corners, the Richini was inspired by the church of San Fedele diPellegrino Tibaldi: the evolution consists in the use of a dome instead of a sail covering which aligns with the new trends of the Roman Baroque, although moving in continuity with the Lombard tradition, for which the architect chose an octagonal lantern.
Other religious architectures
One of the first Milanese churches in the Baroque style was the church of Sant’Alessandro in Zebedia, whose projects by Lorenzo Binago were approved in 1601: the construction sites finally ended in 1710 with the construction of the left bell tower. In spite of the lengthy construction of the works, it is believed that in 1611 the works should be in an advanced stage, in fact in that year the feast of St. Charles was celebrated in the building: one of the reasons for the delays in the construction were signs of subsidence of the dome at work completed in 1627, which was then demolished and rebuilt. The church has a central and longitudinal combined plan, that is, the main body takes on a rectangular shape, while the interior has a Greek cross structure, with the remaining spaces organized in four chapels surmounted by as many cupolas and the main dome above the center of the Greek cross plan; the regularity of the rectangular plan is broken by the apse at the bottom of the church.
The façade was built in two different periods: the lower order concluded in 1623 organized into three portals interspersed with pilasters, of which the largest in the center, introduced by two Corinthian columnsthat hold a fake arch, in which there is the relief of Sant’Alessandro which indicates the drawing of the church of Stefano Sampietri; always on the lower order there are the niches containing the statues of San Pietro and San Paolo always del Sampietri. The upper order was concluded in the eighteenth century on a project by Marcello Zucca, and is composed of a mystical cross, on which statues of putti are arranged.
The interior of the church, defined as a “museum of the figurative arts of the seventeenth-century Lombard”, presents a nave completely frescoed by various artists according to the theme of some biblical episodes; The fresco in the dome represents the Glory of All Saints (1696) and was created by Filippo Abbiati and Federico Bianchi, as well as the apse and the chancel, painted-themed episodes of Saint Alexander of life. All four chapels are thickly painted and decorated, among which are the paintings of the ‘ Assumption of Mary and shovel Navita ofCamillo Procaccini, and the frescoes of the Angels of Fiammenghini, the Adoration of the Magi by Moncalvo and finally the Decollation of the Baptist on canvas by Daniele Crespi. On the subject of applied arts, note the confessionals and the pulpit in wood or inlaid marble.
Still in the historical center, although the church of Sant’Antonio Abate has undergone the complete reconstruction of the façade in the neoclassical period, the interiors are nevertheless among the best decorative examples of Lombard Baroque. The construction of the church was decided in 1582 and entrusted to Dionigi Campazzo, the plan is a Latin cross, the nave and the counter-façade are frescoed with the cycle of Stories of the True Cross by Giovanni Carlone, then concluded by his brother Giovanni Battista to death by plague of John. On the sides of the nave there are the chapels: the chapel of S. Andrea Avellino houses thealtarpiece of the Surrence of the Blessed Andrea Avellino by Francesco Cairo and frescoed by Ercole Procaccini the Younger and Filippo Abbiati; always on the right, the chapel of the Virgin of Suffrage created by Carlo Buzzi houses the sculptural group of the Dead Christ by Giuseppe Rusnati. On the transept one can see the paintings of Morazzone, Annibale and Ludovico Carracci, while the vault is frescoed by Tanzio da Varallo. On the left side, the third chapel is adorned with three paintings by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, while the second, based on a project by Gerolamo Quadrio, contains another sculptural cycle by Rusnati, and the Estasi by San Gaetano on canvas by Cerano.
Painting
The protagonists of the first Milanese baroque painting are, as already specified, the Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini and the Morazzone. These three characters were the main authors of the cycles of the Quadroni of San Carlo, counted among the major pictorial cycles of the early Milanese baroque.
The Quadroni di san Carlo consist of two pictorial cycles that narrate episodes of the life of St. Charles Borromeo, one of the main characters of the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation: these cycles were commissioned in close relation to the proposal for canonization of Cardinal Borromeo: they had to show the exemplary life of Carlo Borromeo through an iconographic journey. The first cycle, made between 1602 and 1604, it included twenty tarpaulins, to which some were subsequently added, ranging from the description of the cardinal’s public activity, such as the diffusion of the doctrines of the Counter-Reformation and visits to the plague victims, to private life, as episodes of charity and penance; the paintings see the work of the aforementioned Cerano and Morazzone, to which are added Paolo Camillo Landriani, known as Il Duchino, Giovanni Battista della Rovere, known as Fiammenghino, and others as Carlo Antonio Procaccini, cousin of the most famous Giulio Cesare, and Domenico Pellegrini. The second cycle of the broad bricks dates back to 1610, to canonization occurred and has as its theme the miracles of the saint: it is composed of twenty-four tempera paintings; the Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini and the Duchino, realized six each, while the others were made by minor masters, such as Giorgio Noyes and Carlo Buzzi: some additional paintings will be commissioned towards the end of the seventeenth century.
If the Quadroni di San Carlo in the complex are one of the most representative pictorial cycles of the first Milanese Baroque art, critics often share the uniformity of the quality of the works: if the works of Cerano are praised by the critics for their excellent result, Duchino and Fiammenghino can not obtain the same consent, and then move on to the work of Carlo Antonio Procaccini and Domenico Pellegrini, whose evidence is rarely considered to be the same quality as the previous artists.
The masterpiece of seventeenth-century Lombard painting is the Martyrdom of the saints Rufina and Seconda, better known as the Quadro delle tre mani, as realized in a collaboration between the Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini and Morazzone, or the major painters era. The painting represents the martyrdom of two young sisters in the age of imperial Rome and can be ideally divided into the three parts in which the painters worked: at the center is the executioner of Morazzone with a sword in his hand, his assistants and the little angel with the palm of martyrdom, Procaccini took care of Santa Rufina on the rightand of the angel that brings her comfort, to the Cerano one owes the left side with the knight, the second saint beheaded and the angel who holds a dog, intent on throwing himself on the head of the saint. Analyzing the careers and style of the individual artists, it can be stated how the client, Scipione Toso, entrusted each of the parts of the painting according to the themes and styles most congenial to the painters: if the Cerano was particularly adept at creating a dramatic tone At work, the Procaccini was able to adequately represent Christian hope, while Morazzone distinguished himself for a more energetic and dynamic character of his representation.
Finally, the aforementioned artists took part in the restricted current of portraiture: the most famous collection of the era is that of the benefactors of the major hospital, in which stand out Daniele Crespi and Tanzio da Varallo with portraits of Pozzobonelli and Francesco Pagano.
Civil architectures
In the early seventeenth century, religious commissions far outweighed those civilians: in a decidedly less number of religious buildings and sacred art, civil buildings were also built, often still linked to religious commissions.
The major example of civil architecture of the time is the Palazzo del Senato, commissioned in 1608 by Federico Borromeo to house the Collegio Elvetico: the project was originally assigned to Fabio Mangone, resumed twenty years later by Richini. Particularity of the building is the central part of the concave façade, designed by Richini, which detaches from the more sober Milanese style, approaching a more decorated Roman Baroque, inside there are two courtyards with the most classicist forms of Mangone, defined from a double order of architrave loggias.
The second seventeenth century
Religious Architecture
Compared to the early seventeenth century, religious building sites no longer had the same vivacity of the period of Federico Borromeo, even though they still represented the major commissions of the period; however, interior decoration of existing churches was more privileged rather than the construction of new buildings.
The construction of the church of Santa Maria della Passione was begun in the sixteenth century, decreasing over the years of intensity, to resume liveliness in the seventeenth century, the church is therefore a mixture of baroque and Lombard Renaissance art. The façade of the church, which dates back to 1692 on a project by Giuseppe Rusnati, is marked by four pilasters: on the far sides there are two typically Baroque niches, while the other three spaces marked by the pilasters are decorated with reliefs depicting the Flagellation, the Crowning of Thorns and the Deposition; note the similarity with the church of Sant’Alessandro in Zebedia in the putti on the sides of the façade. The decorations inside date back to the early seventeenth century.
In the central nave at the base of the dome the cycle of the Stories of the Passion by Daniele Crespi; in the right aisle the third chapel houses the painting of Julius Caesar Procaccini depicting Christ at the column, while the fifth chapel presents the paintings of Ester and Assuero and Madonna del Rosario between Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena by Giuseppe Nuvolone. In the left aisle houses the paintings by Camillo Procaccini, dated 1610, with Saint Francis receiving the stigmata and Christ in the garden of the olive trees, as well as the work always on canvas by Giuseppe Vermiglio Funerale by Thomas Beckett (1625); in the fourth chapel there are the Madonna and the saints of Duchino, and the Flagellation and Christ of the Olive Garden this time by Enea Salmeggia known as the Talpino; finally in the first chapel is the famous painting of the Fast of St. Charlesby Daniele Crespi who, carefully respecting the artistic dictates indicated by Carlo Borromeo himself, wants to represent in its essentiality the moral and religious highness of the saint.
The other major achievement of the era was the church of Santa Maria alla Porta, completely rebuilt on the old church dating back to the twelfth century: the project was initially drawn up by Francesco Maria Richini starting from 1652, and then passed to the architect’s death in 1658 to Francesco Borromini who finished the project, to which we owe in particular the major portal. The façade, rather slender, is divided into two orders, respectively Ionic and Corinthian, joined by scrolls and ending with a tympanum on which are placed the statues of the Virginand of two Angels; on the sides there are niches, while the central part is more decorated, with the main architraved portal surmounted by a relief by Carlo Simonetta of the Incoronazione della Vergine of 1670; the upper order is then decorated with a late baroque window. The interior consists of a single nave with side chapels introduced by serliane, which ends with the presbytery that holds a dome with a lantern attributed to Gerolamo Quadrio; on the drum there are niches with sculptures of Angelsby Giuseppe Vismara and Carlo Simonetta dating back to 1662. Among the four chapels we note the first on the right side, designed by Giuseppe Quadrio, with the works Gloria and Angeli always of Simonetta: it is one of the best examples of sculpture of the second seventeenth century Lombard.
Civil architectures
Although the second half of the seventeenth century Milan sees a growing interest in civil architecture compared to the first half of the century, the predominance of religious art did not fail, especially considering that many buildings still had a religious commission.
A religious commission can be found in the Archbishop’s Seminary, in particular the entrance, a perfect example of Baroque portal, was designed by Richini in 1652: consisting of a smooth ashlar and crowned with a trapezoidal lintel on the sides presents two caryatids representing Hope and Charity. For the purposes of the schools Barnabiti was instead built the College of Sant’Alessandro, built on a design by Lorenzo Binago was made between1663 and 1684; the late Baroque façade, sometimes attributed to Borromini, is divided into two orders: on the ground floor there is an immediate impact the portal with curvilinear architrave decorated with two curled cartouches on the sides, while on the upper floor the windows show the mixtilinear pediments medallions depicting allegories related to culture. Minor modifications were made in the Archbishop’s palace by Andrea Biffi, who finished his modifications in the internal courtyard in 1680.
A few minutes walk from Palazzo Arcivescovile stands Palazzo Durini: commissioned in 1645 by the merchant-banker Giovan Battista Durini, the project was assigned to Richini; the palace is one of the greatest examples of seventeenth-century buildings in the city. The façade, as was tradition established in the city, is rather sober and linear compared to the baroque styles of the other cities of Italy is centered on a monumental doorway in ashlar that supports an equally monumental balcony. of the main floor, where the large windows decorated with triangular tympani and alternating curvilinear are decorated with supports at the base in the shape ofmask, this decoration is taken in the frame. The interiors are definitely worthy of note: going up from the grand staircase decorated in red marble on the main floor, you enter the trompe-l’œil decorated antirian, while passing through a series of passage rooms decorated with painted medallions you get to the hall of honor frescoed by the Triumph of Eros of the Lombard school; always on the main floor you can admire the carved wooden ceilings coming from the demolished Palazzo Arnaboldi.
Completed in the fourth decade of the seventeenth century, Palazzo Annoni was once again built on a project by Filippo Maria Richini; the façade, adorned on the ground floor with an embossed base, is centered on the entrance door inserted between two ionic jutting columns that support the balcony of the main floor; on the upper level the windows with alternating triangular or curvaceous pediments present balustrades [ 109], the façade is finally bordered by rusticated pilasters. At the internal courtyard, built by repeating the external decoration, one arrives passing through the gate inoriginal wrought iron of the time. The palace in the eighteenth century was home to a rich library and the private art gallery of the Annoni, which included among other paintings by Rubens, Gaudenzio Ferrari and Antoon van Dyck, confiscated by the Austrians in 1848.
Facing Palazzo Annoni is Palazzo Acerbi, dating back to the early seventeenth century, but heavily renovated during the years of the great plague: the façade, rather thin compared to the front, was enriched in the eighteenth century by curvilinear balconies and ornamental masks with figures of lion near the entrance portal, while inside, after the first sober landscaped courtyard, we can mention the second rococo courtyard. Curiously thanks to the position opposite the two buildings, towards the second half of the seventeenth century there was a battle with strokes of “grandeur” between the Annoni family and Acerbi: the first affected by the wealth of the Acerbi refurbishment, did not want to be less; so it was that a long duel of renovations and works of the palaces began to define which of the two families was richer and more powerful.
The palace of the Palatine Schools, which was built on the site of a palace that was burnt, was of public use: the works started 1644 on a project by Carlo Buzzi, who resumed the structure of the Giureconsulti palace ]. Of the original building only the façade remains, set on several orders: on the ground floor there is a loggia punctuated by twin columns, while on the upper floor there are windows decorated with a niche in the center containing the statue of Sant’Agostino di Giovan Pietro Lasagna, while further to the right, on the pedimentwhich leads to a covered passage, there is also the statue of Ausonius always by the same author.
Painting
The second seventeenth century, disappeared the main interpreters of the “pestanti” painters of the early seventeenth century Lombard, collects the legacy of the latter, definitively overcoming the links with the mannerisms that could be found in some of the works of the Federician artists: much of the artists of this period were in fact students at the Ambrosian Academy or were trained in the workshops of the masters of the early seventeenth century Lombard.
To mark the breaking point is Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, the eldest of the two brothers and pupil of Cerano, who shows in his style the dynamism typical of Baroque art, of which we remember the frescoes in the church of Sant’Angelo di Milano; while Francesco Cairo shows a constant evolution of style, which is influenced by his many journeys between Turin and Rome, where he has the opportunity to deal with exponents of the Emilian and Genoese schools. These two painters, together with Giuseppe Nuvolone were in constant confrontation, arising from numerous collaborations in various construction sites, on all those of the Sacred Mountainslombardi, which will lead to an evolution of the sacred painting of the early seventeenth century, abandoning its exclusively dramatic language in favor of a greater narrative variety. To complete the evolution of Milanese painting is Giovan Battista Discepoli, trained at Camillo Procaccini, his painting is more influenced by the influence of Morazzone: he too shows a strong evolution of style; among his works are the paintings in the church of San Vittore al Corpo and the Adoration of the Magi once located in the demolished church of San Marcellino.
Deaths Carlo Francesco Nuvolone or Cairo, and thanks to the influence of the newly elected Pope Clement IX and his relations with the archbishop Alfonso Litta, Lombard art sees an approach with the Roman towards a more markedly baroque taste, this helps to bring Milan, Roman artists such as Salvator Rosa and Pier Francesco Mola, while the journeys of young artists to Rome are again favored, including those of Giovanni Ghisolfi and Antonio Busca, from which a new update of the Milanese artistic environment arises; it was not by chance that the professorship of the Ambrosian Academy was subsequently assigned to Antonio Busca. With this last two currents destined to survive also in the eighteenth century, a more classicist stream of the Busca, contrasted with a more exuberant and imaginative style of the maturation of Giuseppe Nuvolone, transporting in the Ambrosian city that same controversy between the two styles of Roman environment.
Many years after the pounding painters there is a small revival of the pictorial tradition of the Borromeo; in particular, the work of Giorgio Bonola and Andrea Lanzani, who prefer a more classicist orientation, and Filippo Abbiati, with a declared Baroque style, are added to the already vast work of the Quadroni di San Carlo, to which the works of Giacomo Parravicini are added later: Abbiati and Lanzani will continue this duality between classicism and baroque even in the early eighteenth century. It is noteworthy that many of the artists just mentioned were already in contact for the commission of the life cycle of San Rocco for theChurch of San Rocco in Miasino, where they worked Bonola, Abbiati, Lanzani and Giuseppe Nuvolone. In the last few years of the seventeenth century we observe the first work of Stefano Legnani, called the Legnanino and Sebastiano Ricci: the work of these is however made to coincide and put in continuity with the eighteenth century Lombard.
As in the first part of the century, the gallery of the benefactors of the major hospital collects the best testimonies of the Milanese portraiture of the second part of the seventeenth century; thanks to the picture we can see the evolution towards a more mature Baroque style: the best evidence is attributed to Giuseppe Nuvolone.
Source from Wikipedia