TheItalian Renaissance inLombardy, in theDuchy of Milan in the mid-15th century, started in theInternational Lombard Gothic period and gave way toLombard humanism with the passage of power between theVisconti andSforza families.[1] In the second half of the 15th century the Lombard artistic scene developed without disruption, with influences gradually linked to Florentine, Ferrarese, and Paduan styles. With the arrival ofBramante (1479) andLeonardo da Vinci (1482), Milan reached absolute artistic heights in the Italian and European panorama, while still demonstrating the possibilities of coexistence between the artistic avant-garde and the Gothic substratum.
In the first half of the 15th century, Lombardy was the Italian region where theInternational Gothic style had the greatest following, so much so that in Europe the expressionouvrage de Lombardie was synonymous with an object of precious workmanship, referring especially to theminiatures and jewelry that were an expression of an elitist, courtly taste.
After the marriage ofGaleazzo II Visconti toBianca of Savoy, sister ofAmadeus VI of Savoy, French and English chivalric culture spread in Lombardy. The marriage of their children to members of the English and French royal families left a mark on the ideology and culture of the court. The greatVisconti Castle, built by Galeazzo II inPavia, was furnished in the style of a French castle, despite being an imposing fortified building.Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who succeeded him, built the greatCarthusian monastery in Pavia that was to contain his mausoleum. The court spirit also prevails in the monks' cells converted into small houses of "courtiers" withloggias.[2]
However, contacts with theTuscan andFlanders artistic avant-gardes were quite frequent, due to the particularly well-articulated network of commercial and dynastic relations. French, Burgundian, German, and Italian craftsmen worked on the construction site ofMilan Cathedral, which began in 1386, developing an international style, especially in the school of sculpture, which was indispensable for the realization of the cathedral's impressive decorative set.[1] As early as around 1435Masolino was working inCastiglione Olona, nearVarese, showing innovations in the use of perspective, attenuated, however, by an attention to local figurative culture that made the new style more comprehensible and assimilable.
After the utopian attempt to revive the communal institutions on the death ofFilippo Maria Visconti with theAmbrosian Republic (1447–1450), the transfer of power to theSforzas, withFrancesco, husband ofBianca Maria Visconti, had almost the appearance of a legitimate succession, with no clear ruptures from the past.[3]
In the field of art as well, Francesco's taste, and to a large extent that of his descendants, was aligned with the sumptuous, ornate and pompously celebratory taste of the Visconti: many "Visconti" artists were commissioned, such asBonifacio Bembo.[3] Nevertheless, the alliance withFlorence and repeated contacts withPadua andFerrara favored a penetration of the Renaissance style, especially through the exchange of miniaturists.
To consolidate his power, Francesco immediately began the reconstruction of thecastle of Porta Giovia, the Visconti's Milanese residence. In architecture, however, the most significant undertaking remained theCathedral, while the Solari's buildings still looked towards the Gothic or evenLombard Romanesque tradition.[3]
In addition, to emphasize his legitimacy and piety, Francesco Sforza had a new cloister built in theCertosa di Pavia and confirmed all the privileges granted by his predecessors to the monastery, thus exploiting the Certosa as a link between the old Visconti dynasty and the Sforza lineage.[4]
The stay ofFilarete, beginning in 1451, was the first significant Renaissance presence in Milan. The artist, recommended byPiero de' Medici, was given important commissions, due to his hybrid style that won over the Sforza court. He was a proponent of sharp lines, but he did not dislike a certain decorative richness, nor did he applyBrunelleschi's "grammar of orders" with extreme rigor. He was entrusted with the construction of theCastle Tower,Bergamo Cathedral, and theOspedale Maggiore.[5]
In the latter work in particular, linked to a desire of the new prince to promote his own image, one can see the inequalities between the rigor of the basic design, set to a functional division of space and a regular plan, and the lack of integration with the surrounding building fabric, due to the oversized building. The Hospital'sfloor plan is rectangular, a central courtyard dividing it into two zones each traversed by two inner orthogonal arms that form eight vastcourtyards. The same plan would later be taken up in the same years by similar buildings in Lombardy, such as the San Matteo Hospital inPavia. The rhythmic purity of the succession of round arches of the courtyards, derived from Brunelleschi's teachings, is counterbalanced by an exuberance of the terracotta decorations (although they were largely due to Lombard successors).[5]
The arrival of more mature Renaissance formulations in the city is linked to commissions from Pigello Portinari, theMedici's agent for their banking branch in Milan. In addition to the construction of an office of theBanco Mediceo, now lost, Pigello had a family funeral chapel built inSant'Eustorgio that bears his name, thePortinari Chapel, where the relic of the head ofSt. Peter Martyr was also located.[5]
The structure is inspired byBrunelleschi'sSagrestia Vecchia inSan Lorenzo inFlorence, with a square room equipped with ascarsella and covered by a dome with sixteen ribbed segments. Some details in the decoration are also inspired by the Florentine model, such as thefrieze ofcherubs or the roundels in the spandrels of the dome, but others depart from it, marking a Lombard origin. These are thetiburium protecting the dome, the terracotta decoration, the presence of pointedbiforas, and the general decorative exuberance.[5] The interior in particular departs from the Florentine model in the vibrant richness of its decorations, such as the rich imbrication of the dome in sloping hues, the frieze with angels on thedrum, and the numerous frescoes byVincenzo Foppa in the upper part of the walls.[5]
Research in town planning under Francesco Sforza did not result in major concrete interventions, but it nevertheless produced a singular project of anideal city,Sforzinda, the first to be fully theorized. The city was described byFilarete in theTreatise on Architecture and is characterized by an intellectual abstraction that prescinds from the earlier scattered indications of a more practical and empirical approach described byLeon Battista Alberti and other architects, especially in the context of theUrbino Renaissance. The city had a stellar plan, linked to cosmic symbols, and included aggregated buildings without organicity or internal logic, so much so that they were not even linked by a road network, which was instead set to a perfectly radial pattern.[5]
One of the most remarkable pictorial undertakings of Francesco Sforza's lordship is precisely related to thePortinari Chapel, frescoed in the upper parts of the walls byVincenzo Foppa between 1464 and 1468. The decoration, which is in an excellent state of preservation, includes four roundels withDoctors of the Church in the pendentives, eightBusts of Saints in the oculi at the base of the dome, fourStories of St. Peter Martyr in the side walls, and two large frescoes in the triumphal arch and the arch of the counterfacade, respectively anAnnunciation and anAssumption of the Virgin.[6]
The painter particularly cared for the relationship with the architecture, seeking an illusive integration between real and painted space. The four scenes of stories of the saint have a common vanishing point, placed outside the scenes (in the center of the wall, on the central mullion of thebifora) on a horizon that falls at the eye level of the characters (according toLeon Battista Alberti's indications).[6] It departs, however, from classical geometric perspective for its original atmospheric sensibility, which softens contours and geometric rigidity: it is the light that makes the scene humanly real. Moreover, a predilection for a simple but effective and comprehensible narrative prevails, set in realistic places with characters resembling everyday types, in line with theDominicans' preference for didactic narrative.[7]
In his later works Foppa also used the medium of perspective in a flexible manner that was in any case secondary to other elements. An example of this is thePala Bottigella (1480–1484), with a spatial layout derived fromBramante, but saturated with figures, where the accents are placed on the human representation of the various types and on the refraction of light on the various materials. This attention to optical truth, devoid of intellectualism, was one of the most typical features of later Lombard painting, also studied byLeonardo da Vinci.
Galeazzo Maria Sforza was undoubtedly attracted to Gothic-style sumptuousness, and his commissions seemed driven by a desire to do a lot and do it quickly, so his interests did not include encouraging original and up-to-date figurative production, finding it easier to draw from the past. To meet the many demands of the court, large and heterogeneous groups of artists were often formed, such as those who decorated the ducal chapel in theCastello Sforzesco, led byBonifacio Bembo.[3] In those frescoes, datable to 1473, despite some sober hints at figurative novelties (as in the spatiality of theAnnunciation or the plastic setting of the saints), an archaic gildedpastiglia background still remains.[3] This feature is also present in the cycle of frescoes commissioned byGaleazzo Maria Sforza, again to the same group of artists led byBonifacio Bembo, for theVisconti Castle, and in particular in the Blue Room, where the decoration consists of panels with raised frames in gilded pastiglia.[8]
The artists who worked for Galeazzo Maria Sforza were never "interlocutors" with the patron, but rather docile executors of his wishes.[9]
The most significant works of the period developed the trend toward covering Renaissance architecture with exuberant decoration, as had already happened in part at theOspedale Maggiore, with a crescendo that had a first culmination in theColleoni Chapel inBergamo (1470–1476) and a second in the façade of theCertosa di Pavia (from 1491), both byGiovanni Antonio Amadeo along with others.[10]
The Colleoni Chapel was built as a mausoleum for thecondottieroBartolomeo Colleoni, with a layout that again echoedBrunelleschi'sSacrestia Vecchia. The plan is square, surmounted by a segmented dome with octagonaldrum andscarsella with the altar, also covered by a small dome. However, the structural clarity was enriched with pictorial motifs, especially on the facade, with the use of a white/pink/purple trichromy and the lozenge motif.[10]
The Certosa di Pavia, started in 1396 byGian Galeazzo Visconti, was resumed only in the mid-15th century, following in a sense the fortunes of the Milanese ducal family, with long periods of stagnation and abrupt accelerations, welcoming the gradually more modern ideas of the artistic scene. It was mainly taken care of byGuiniforte andGiovanni Solari, who kept the original design (Latin cross plan with three naves and simple brick masonry), enriching only theapse part with a trefoil closure that is also repeated in the arms of thetransepts. The twocloisters with round arches, decorated with exuberant terracottaferrules, hark back to theOspedale Maggiore, while the interior cites theMilan Cathedral.[10]
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In sculpture, the most significant building site of the period was theCertosa di Pavia. The numerous sculptors engaged in the decoration of the facade, not all of whom have been identified, were subject to obviousFerrara and Bramante influences. For example, in the relief of theExpulsion of the progenitors (c. 1475) attributed toCristoforo Mantegazza, there is a graphic sign, sharp angles, unnatural and unbalanced deviations of the figures, and violent chiaroscuro, with results of great expressiveness and originality.[11] InGiovanni Antonio Amadeo'sResurrection of Lazarus (c. 1474), on the other hand, the setting emphasizes more the depth of architecture inperspective, with more composed figures albeit etched by abrupt contours.[11]
At the time ofLudovico il Moro, in the last two decades of the 15th century, artistic production in the Milanese duchy progressed between continuity and innovation.[9] The tendency toward pomp and ostentation reached its peak, especially at special court celebrations.[9]
With the arrival of the two great mastersDonato Bramante (from 1477) andLeonardo da Vinci (from 1482), coming fromUrbino andFlorence, respectively, Lombard culture underwent a sharp turn in the Renaissance direction, albeit without conspicuous ruptures, due to a terrain that was by then ready to absorb novelties as a result of the innovations of the previous period. The two thus managed to integrate perfectly into the Lombard court and, at the same time, to renew the relationship between artist and patron, now based on lively and fruitful exchanges.[9]
Art in the duchy during this period recorded the mutual influences between Lombard artists and the two foreign innovators, often working in parallel or at cross paths.[9]
Compared to his predecessor, Ludovico was concerned about reviving the great architectural worksites, partly due to the new awareness of their political significance linked to the fame of the city and, by extension, of its prince.[9] Among the most important works, in which the fruitful exchanges between masters were consummated, were essentially thePavia Cathedral (of which a wooden model dating from 1497 is still preserved), thecastle and square ofVigevano, and thetiburium of theMilan Cathedral.[9] Studies on centrally planned buildings enlivenedBramante's research and fascinatedLeonardo, filling pages of hiscodices with solutions of increasing complexity.[9]
Sometimes a more traditional style continued to be practiced, made up of a decorative exuberance set on Renaissance lines.[10] The main work of this style was the facade of theCertosa di Pavia, which was executed starting in 1491 byGiovanni Antonio Amadeo, who made it to the first cornice, and was completed byBenedetto Briosco. The rather rigid layout, with two overlapping quadrangular bands, is enlivened by vertical pilasters, openings of various shapes, smallloggias and, above all, a multitude of reliefs and polychrome marble motifs.[10] Not much differently, Amadeo made for Palazzo Bottigella, where the space between the terracotta architectural lines is (literally) filled with paintings depicting coats of arms, plant motifs, candelabras, fantastic figures and animals.
Among the first works in whichBramante ventured for Ludovico il Moro was the reconstruction of thechurch of Santa Maria presso San Satiro (c. 1479–1482), in which the problem of centralized space was already emerging. A longitudinal body with three naves was designed, with equal width between the nave andtransept arms, both covered by mightybarrel vaults with paintedcoffers that evokedAlberti's model ofSant'Andrea. The intersection of the arms features a dome, an ever-present Bramantean motif, but the harmony of the whole was jeopardized by the insufficient breadth of the apex, which, in the impossibility of extending it, was illusionistically "lengthened" by constructing a mockstucco vanishing point in a space less than a meter deep, complete with an illusory coffered vault.[9]
The other major project to which Bramante devoted himself was the reconstruction of the tribune ofSanta Maria delle Grazie, which was transformed despite the fact that work on the complex conducted byGuiniforte Solari had been completed just ten years before: Il Moro wished to give a more monumental appearance to the Dominican basilica, to make it the burial place of his own family.[12] The naves built by Solari, immersed in half-light, were illuminated by the monumental tribune at the intersection of the arms, covered by a hemispherical dome. Bramante also added two large sideapses and a third, beyond the choir, in axis with the naves. The orderly arrangement of spaces is also reflected on the exterior in an interlocking pattern of volumes that culminates in thetiburium that covers the dome, with aloggia that harkens back to the motifs ofearly Christian andLombard Romanesque architecture.[12]
Concordantly attributed to Bramante is the planimetric design of the imposingPavia Cathedral (of which the wooden model from 1497 is also preserved), based on the grafting of an octagonal domed core with a longitudinal body with three naves, as in thecathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence or in theSanctuary of the Holy House ofLoreto, then under construction and with which Bramante was probably familiar. The crypt (finished in 1492) and the basement part of the apse area of the building are attributed to Bramante's design, in addition to the general plan scheme.[13]
On the occasion of his wedding toBeatrice d'Este, Ludovico had theSala della Balla in theCastello Sforzesco decorated, calling upon all the Lombard masters available on the square. Alongside masters such asBernardino Butinone andBernardo Zenale thus arrived in Milan a crowd of masters of medium and small caliber, almost entirely unknown to art-historical studies, who were required to work side by side to quickly set up a lavish apparatus, rich in political significance, but with wide qualitative fluctuations that seemed the least of the patron's concerns.[9]
Between 1488 and 1495 the Lombard painterBergognone was involved in the decoration of theCertosa di Pavia. His production was inspired byVincenzo Foppa, but also shows strong Flemish accents, probably filtered through Ligurian contacts. This feature was particularly evident in the small-format panels intended for the devotion of the monks in the cells, such as the so-calledMadonna del certosino (1488–1490), where luminous values prevail in a quiet and somewhat dull color scheme.[14] Later the artist abandoned nacreous tones, accentuatingchiaroscuro passages and adhering to the innovations introduced byLeonardo andBramante. In theMystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (c. 1490) the scenic construction is linked to a skillful use of perspective with a lowered point of view, but there remain echoes of courtly elegance in the undulating contours of the figures, although purified and simplified.[11]
Lombard workshops of the period were generally organized according to collective work practices and were gradually affected by the most modern innovations, which were translated into hybrids with local traditions. An excellent example is that of the association betweenBernardino Butinone andBernardo Zenale ofTreviglio, who cooperated respectively as master and pupil (but perhaps also simply as associated artists) in works on important commissions. ThePolyptych of St. Martin (1481–1485), for the church of San Martino in Treviglio, shows an equal division of labor, with a homogenization of personal styles toward a harmonious result. The perspective layout, inspired byVincenzo Foppa, is also affected by the illusionism between frame and painted architecture derived fromMantegna'sSan Zeno Altarpiece (1457–1459), with the fauxportico where figures are neatly staggered. Perspective, however, is linked to optical gimmicks rather than strict geometric construction, with convergence toward a single vanishing point (placed in the center of the central panel of san Martino), but without exact proportionality of the glimpses into depth. Elements such as garlands or railings enhance the foreground and the figures behind, while its use of gilded decorations is linked to acourtly Gothic heritage.[15]
Bramante was also a painter, the author in Milan of a series of humanistic-themedfrescoes on theIllustrious Men, the so-calledMen-at-Arms of the House of Visconti-Panigarola, as well as a famous panel withChrist at the Column (c. 1480–1490). In the latter, references toUrbino culture are evident, with the figure of the suffering Redeemer thrust into the foreground, almost in direct contact with the viewer, with a classical modeling in the nude torso and with clear Flemish reminiscences, both in the landscape and in the meticulous rendering of details and their luminous reflections, especially in the red and blue glows of the hair and beard.[12]
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LikeBramante,Leonardo da Vinci was also attracted toLombardy by the job opportunities offered by the policy of energetic expansion promoted by theSforza family. In a famous self-presentation letter of 1482, the artist enumerated his skills in ten points, ranging from military and civil engineering, hydraulics to music and art (mentioned last, to be exercised "in time of peace").[16]
At first, however, Leonardo found no response to his overtures to the Duke, devoting himself to the cultivation of his own scientific interests (numerouscodices date from this fruitful period) and receiving a first major commission from a confraternity, which in 1483 asked him and his brothersGiovanni Ambrogio andCristoforo de Predis, who were his hosts, for atriptych to be displayed on their altar in the destroyed church of San Francesco Grande. Leonardo painted the central panel with theVirgin of the Rocks, a work of great originality in which the figures are set in a pyramid shape, with a strong monumentality, and with a circular movement of gazes and gestures. The scene is set in a shadowy cave, with light filtering through openings in the rocks in subtle variations ofchiaroscuro planes, amid reflections and colored shadows, capable of generating a sense of atmospheric binding that eliminates the effect of plastic isolation of the figures.[16]
Having finally entered the Sforza circle, Leonardo was long engaged in the creation of anequestrian colossus, which never saw the light of day. In 1494Ludovico il Moro assigned him the decoration of one of the minor walls of the refectory ofSanta Maria delle Grazie, where Leonardo madeThe Last Supper, by 1498. As in theAdoration of the Magi painted in Florence, the artist investigated the deeper meaning of the Gospel episode, studying the reactions and "motions of the soul" to Christ's announcement of betrayal by one of the apostles. Emotions spread violently among the apostles, from one end of the scene to the other, overwhelming the traditional symmetrical alignments of the figures and grouping them three by three, with Christ isolated in the center (a loneliness both physical and psychological), due in part to the framing of the luminous openings in the background and the perspective box.[17] Real space and painted space indeed appear illusionistically linked, due in part to the use of light analogous to the real light in the room, extraordinarily involving the viewer, in a procedure similar to what Bramante was experimenting with in architecture in those years.[17]
A similar principle, of nullifying the walls, was also applied in the decoration of theSala delle Asse in theCastello Sforzesco, covered with an interweaving of arboreal motifs.[18]
Also commissioned by the Milanese court are a series of portraits, the most famous of which is theLady with an Ermine (1488–1490). This is Moro's mistressCecilia Gallerani, whose image, struck by a direct light, emerges from the dark background making a spiral motion with her bust and head that enhances the woman's grace and definitively breaks with the rigid setting of fifteenth-century "humanistic" portraits.[18] Another of his mistresses was perhaps portrayed inLa Belle Ferronnière, now in theLouvre.
For the wedding betweenGian Galeazzo Maria Sforza andIsabella of Aragon, he staged the so-calledFesta del Paradiso.
Thedeath of Beatrice d'Este and thefall of Ludovico il Moro caused an abrupt interruption of all artistic commissions and a diaspora of artists.[19] Nevertheless, the recovery was relatively quick, and the atmosphere in Milan and related territories remained lively. A key episode is the return ofLeonardo da Vinci in 1507, until 1513.[20]
Entirely alien to the Lombard tradition and style were the interventions, carried out byGaleazzo Sanseverino between 1515 and 1521, insideMirabello Castle, seat of the Captain of theVisconti Park. The Sforza-era structure was reworked by inserting, a unicum inLombardy, elements of French style, such as rectangular, stone-profiled windows and large late Gothic stone fireplaces. The interiors were also re-frescoed (most of the frescoes are still hidden under several layers of plaster).[21] Until theBattle of Pavia in 1525, the political situation in the territory of theDuchy of Milan remained uncertain, with numerous armed clashes, after which Spanish dominance was established.
The French governor ofMilan,Charles d'Amboise, urged as early as 1506 that Leonardo enter the service ofLouis XII. The following year the king requested Leonardo, who agreed to return to Milan from July 1508. His second stay in Milan was an intense period:[22] he paintedThe Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, completed, in collaboration withDe Predis, the second version of theVirgin of the Rocks, and worked on geological, hydrographical and urban problems.[23] Among other things, he studied a project for an equestrian statue in honor ofGian Giacomo Trivulzio as the architect of the French conquest of the city.[23]
The illustrious examples produced by Leonardo were picked up and replicated by a conspicuous number of pupils (direct and indirect), the so-called "leonardeschi":Boltraffio,Andrea Solario,Cesare da Sesto, andBernardino Luini among the main ones. Thus, at the beginning of the century, there was a uniformity of style in the Duchy linked to Leonardo's style.
The limitation of these artists, however gifted they were, was that they stuck to the style of the master, never coming to equal or propose an overcoming of his style.[20] The most important merit of these painters was that, through their travels, they spread Leonardo's innovative style even to areas alien to his passage, such asGiovanni Agostino da Lodi in Venice orCesare da Sesto in southern Italy and Rome.[24]
The best known of the group wasBernardino Luini, who, however, adhered to Leonardo's influence in only a few works, particularly those on wood panels: exemplary in this respect is theSacred Family in thePinacoteca Ambrosiana, modeled on Leonardo'sVirgin and Child with Saint Anne. In the third decade of the century, contact with Venetian works and personal maturation led him to achieve significant results in fresco cycles with a pleasing narrative vein, as in thechurch of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore in Milan, the sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli inSaronno, and the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli inLugano. Also interesting is the humanistic cycle formerly inVilla Rabia alla Pelucca nearMonza (now in thePinacoteca di Brera).[24]
The only notable exception to the dominant Leonardesque style was the activity of Bartolomeo Suardi, known as theBramantino because he was formed at the school ofBramante. His works are monumental and of great austerity, with a geometric simplification of forms, cold colors, graphic sign and pathetic intonation of sentiments.[20]
In the early part of the century his works demonstrated a firm perspective approach, eventually turning to more explicitly devotional themes, such as theChristus Dolens in theThyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Favored by MarshalGian Giacomo Trivulzio, governor of Milan, he reached the height of fame in 1508, when he was called byJulius II to decorate theRaphael Rooms, although his works were soon destroyed to make room forRaphael.[24]
In Rome he developed a taste for scenes framed by architecture, as seen in works after his return such as theCrucifixion inBrera or theMadonna of the Towers in thePinacoteca Ambrosiana. He then gained great prestige from creating the cartoons for the cycle of the Trivulzio tapestries, commissioned by the Trivulzio and executed between 1504 and 1509 by theVigevano manufactory, the first example of a cycle of tapestries produced in Italy without the use of Flemish craftsmen. In the early 1520s his style underwent further development from his contact withGaudenzio Ferrari, which led him to accentuate realism, as seen in the landscape of theFlight into Egypt at thesanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso inOrselina, nearLocarno (1520–1522).[24]
Gaudenzio Ferrari, a probable companion of Bramantino in Rome, was the other major player on the Lombard scene in the early 16th century. His training was based on the example of the Lombard masters of the late fifteenth century (Foppa,Zenale,Bramante, and especiallyLeonardo), but he also updated himself to the styles ofPerugino,Raphael (from the period of theStanza della Segnatura), andDürer, whom he met through engravings.[25]
All these stimuli are combined in grand works such as the frescoes of theStories of Christ in the great cross-wall of thechurch of Santa Maria delle Grazie inVarallo (1513), the success of which later secured his engagement as painter and sculptor in the nascentSacro Monte complex, where he worked industriously from about 1517 to 1528.[25]
Later, during the 1530s, he worked inVercelli (Stories of the Virgin andStories of Magdalene in the church of San Cristoforo) andSaronno (Glory of Musician Angels in the dome of the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of Miracles. His career then ended in Milan.[25]
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, the border citiesBergamo andBrescia benefited from a remarkable artistic development, first under the impulse of foreign painters, especially from Venice, then of prominent local masters. The last outpost of the territories of theSerenissima and a territory subject in alternating phases to Milan and Venice, the two cities are united not only by their proximity but also by certain characteristics in the artistic field.
The Renaissance in these areas arrived in the middle of the second decade of the 16th century, initially with the sojourn of artists such asVincenzo Foppa, who voluntarily moved away from the dominant Leonardism of Milan. A quantum leap occurred in Bergamo whenGaudenzio Ferrari and, especially,Lorenzo Lotto (from 1513) settled there. The latter, supported by a cultured and wealthy patronage, was able to develop his own dimension untethered from the language dominant in the more important centers of the peninsula, characterizing his works with a very bright palette, a sometimes unprejudiced compositional freedom and a tense psychological characterization of the characters. In addition to grandiose altarpieces such as theMartinengo Altarpiece or theSan Bernardino Altarpiece and to cycles of frescoes rich in iconographic novelties, such as that of theSuardi Chapel inTrescore, it was above all the ambitious project of theinlays of the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore that kept him busy, until his departure in 1526.[26]
In Brescia, the arrival ofTitian'sAveroldi Polyptych in 1522 gave rise to a group of local painters, almost of the same age, who, fusing their Lombard and Venetian cultural roots, developed results of great originality in the peninsula's artistic panorama:Romanino,Moretto andSavoldo.[27]
The second half of the century is dominated by the figure ofCharles Borromeo and theCounter-Reformation. In 1564 the archbishop gave the "instructions" on architecture and art and found the best interpreter of his guidelines inPellegrino Tibaldi.[20]
A leading figure in late 16th-century Lombardy wasGiovan Paolo Lomazzo, first a painter and then, following his blindness, an essayist. His work, extolling the local tradition, appears as a response toVasari's "Tuscan-centrism," and elicited attention to unusual expressions of art and subjects.[20]
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