CERESA, Carlo

In the 1640s, the Lombard tradition of the unadorned rendering of painstakingly observed facts was kept alive in Bergamo rather than Milan. These qualities are apparentin Carlo Ceresa’s portraits, painted in an austere ‘Spanish taste.’

In a bare interior, a friar wearing a Capuchin habit is seated on a large armchair seen in three-quarter view. His right arm rests on the arm of the chair, while his left grasps a crumpled letter. A small table bears an inkpot, quill pen, and tall crucifix, symbols of the friar’s intellectual and devotional life. The painting is linked with Moroni’s portraiture not only by the uninhibited and humble pose but also by the dry and almost brutally naturalistic style.

The sobriety of both composition and description of surroundings in this expressive image, and the lack of artifice in the sitter’s pose, stand in contrast with the exquisite, decorative character of his dress. The gentleman - his left hand on the pommel of his sword and the other, fist closed, on his hip - is shown standing within an undefined space, although the ample red drape and heavy tassel on the left suggest this is his residence. The figure’s expression is firm and hardly affable, and this is finely rendered by the painter, without a trace of empathy.

Sitting in an imposing armchair seen in three-quarter view is a gentleman of about seventy, who appears to have just been interrupted in reading the tiny book in his hand. The modest nature of the presentation, the firmness of the figure blocked in against the neutral background by a beam of light, and the austere palette of uniform, subdued tonalities reveal formal analogies with prototypes by Daniele Crespi and Tanzio da Varallo (and through these, with the more severe Spanish portraiture).

The religious scene is depicted with a portrait of the donor beside his horse.

The painting represents the mystical apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Felix of Cantalice, a humble Capuchin friar who died in Rome in 1587 and was beatified in 1625, and who had been venerated as a saint even before his death. The painting was commissioned by the nobleman Giuseppe Raspa, whose striking likeness at the age of eight-two is visible at lower right, next to the family crest. The patron’s wrinkled face and long beard appear so truthful and alive that they project a shadow onto the parapet in the foreground that separates the divine space from the earthbound. The artist’s realism is evident not only in the portrait of the donor but also in the face of the Virgin, based on that of Ceresa’s wife, and of the sullen cherub on the right, for which their seven-year-old son was probably the model.