The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist

The attribution to Giovanni Stefano Doneda called Il Montalto, documented in early guides of Milan, has not been questioned by scholars. However, the work was inadvertently assigned by Enrico Cattaneo to a Spanish goldsmith named Antonio Perez de Montalto, with other scholars following suit. Commissioned by Giovanni Battista Giussani, a Milanese physician who probably died in 1665, this altarpiece was executed in the years prior to 1666. Thus, the wish expressed in Giussani’s will, as inscribed on the tombstone dated 1666 that his son Giovanni placed next to the altar, opposite Flight into Egypt by Andrea Lanzani, was fulfilled. In the space of a decade, the decoration of the church was completed by the works for the two side chapels adjacent to the presbytery. This was made possible by private benefactors rather than institutional ones – as was also the case with the paintings by Pocaccini and the Cerano-Gherardini pair, obtained on the initiative of the Council of the Luogo Pio. As emphasised by Simonetta Coppa, this painting belongs to the period in which Montalto wholeheartedly embraced the poetics of the Baroque, as can be seen, for instance, in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes in Monza Cathedral, where we find a similar compositional scheme in which the wood forms the backdrop to and delimits the scene. Executed during the artist’s maturity, the work under examination is characterised by a marked dramatic quality and a luminosity reminiscent of Neo-Veneto models. In actual fact, it was made at a time when Montalto was still extremely active and reflects the sweeping style of the large-scale frescoes he had created a short time previously in Villa Borromeo Arese at Cesano Maderno, in the Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli at Cantù and in the Sala dei Senatori in the Royal Palace, Milan, once again commissioned by Bartolomeo Arese. The lesson of Morazzone is clearly visible in the various contrasting elements of the episode depicted, as is the case in other canvases datable to the same period, such as the Holy Virgin with Saint Rose in S. Maria delle Grazie, and Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi in S. Maria del Carmine, both in Milan.