27 - Maestro del San Sebastiano MONTI (active in the 17th century), probably

Maestro del San Sebastiano MONTI (active in the 17th century), probably Giovanni BELLANDI (active c. 1608–1626) The Ecstasy of Saint Charles Borromeo Oil on canvas H_89.5 x W_65.5 cm On its original canvas, mounted on stretcher bars Bibliography: - Francesco Frangi, Daniele Crespi. *La giovinezza ritrovata*, Milan, 2012, pp. 72–85 - Giovanni Stefano and Giuseppe Montalto, Two Painters from Treviglio in Baroque Lombardy, conference proceedings, Treviglio, Auditorium Centro Civico Culturale, April 12, 2014, edited by Odette D’Albo, Milan, 2015, pp. 64–65 Our painting depicts The Ecstasy of Saint Charles Borromeo (1538–1584), Archbishop of Milan, who was canonized in 1610. His cult experienced considerable growth in Lombard painting during the early 17th century, particularly in the context of the Counter-Reformation.Our composition bears a resemblance to another *Ecstasy of Saint Charles Borromeo*, attributed to the Maestro del San Sebastiano Monti, which was sold at Christie’s in Milan in November 2011. The painter was part of the Milanese artistic circle of the first half of the 17th century. His work shows the influence of Cerano, Giulio Cesare Procaccini, and, most notably, Daniele Crespi. The cataloging of his body of work is relatively recent and owes much to the research of Francesco Frangi, particularly his 2012 monograph on Daniele Crespi. His conventional name derives from a painting depicting Saint Sebastian accompanied by two angels, formerly in the Monti collection and now housed at the Archdiocese of Milan. More recently, art historian Giulio Bora proposed identifying this anonymous master as the painter and sculptor Giovanni Bellandi (active c. 1608–1626), a hypothesis developed during the symposium on April 12, 2014, and published in 2015 under the editorship of Odette d’Albo. This connection is based in particular on the stylistic similarity between Bellandi’s sculptures and the paintings of the Maestro del San Sebastiano Monti, which, in Bora’s words, share “the sophisticated language of Giulio Cesare Procaccini, combined with evident typological and expressive characteristics inherited from Cerano, all interpreted in a deeply personal manner.” The painting we present here sheds new light on the body of work by this still relatively little-known painter. The existence of two versions of the same composition, of comparable quality of execution—although our example appears to display a more accomplished style—is particularly interesting. This repetition may attest to the composition’s success and its popularity among a clientele likely connected to Milan’s religious institutions, which were particularly devoted to the cult of Saint Charles Borromeo, whose canonization was still very recent.