St Michael the Archangel Triumphant

This large lunette originally adorned the Chapel of San Michele in the Dominican Church of San Giovanni Pedemonte. The chapel was the burial place of the wealthy Gallio family, which from the late 16th century, thanks to the Roman career of Cardinal Tolomeo, had reached levels of magnificence unparalleled in the Como area. The decoration of the family chapel was also part of a policy aimed at affirming the family line. It is no coincidence that the choice of painter for the second lunette was not for a local artist, but for one of the emerging painters on the Milan scene, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone. He was the son of an artist, and started painting by assimilating the teachings of his father Panfilo and combining these with an interest in the more innovative styles of Giulio Cesare Procaccini and Cerano. The lunette for the Gallio family is at the beginning of this path and reveals a coexistence of elements from late Mannerism and the early signs of the future developments. The composition and the taste for the swirls and full folds in the angels’ robes are rather traditional. More innovative accents, in the wake of the influence of Giulio Cesare Procaccini, emerge in the softening of the paint and the lightening of the palette, accompanied by the search for a more affable and reassuring emotional rendering.(P. Vanoli)