TANZIO DA VARALLO

The young biblical hero is portrayed in this painting just after beheading the giant Goliath, as with his right hand he brandishes the sword and forcefully clutches his rival’s head by the hair. Dressed in the humble clothing and fur of a shepherd, he has tied the weapons of his duel around his waist: a net containing rock and a rope slingshot.

This painting shows the painter’s ability to combine Caravaggesque naturalism and the expressive intensity of painters in Milan.

This painting was executed in the mid 1620’s, the moment at which Tanzio emerges from the dominating influence of Caravaggio. During this mature period Tanzio looked more the early Baroque style. This emotive Ecce Homo was probably inspired by Gaudenzio Ferrari’s polychrome wood figure of Christ of 1510 in the church of Sacro Monte, near Varallo.

This is the only known landscape drawing by Tanzio da Varallo. It may be securely attributed to him on the basis of technique and style.

The attribution to Tanzio da Varallo is debated. The painting is attributed by some critics to Daniele Crespi.

This painting shares many characteristics with the artist’s other paintings: the meticulous treatment of the details in the elegant suit - particularly, the exquisite rendering of the lace in the collar and cuffs, the hilt of the sword, the scabbard, and the leather belt - the glossy, compact application of colour, and the darting highlights alternating with dense shadows to give a firm cast to the solid face and splendid hands of the young man. The influence of Caravaggesque painting is evident in the realistic depiction of the face.

The pendant of this painting, representing St John the Baptist, is in a private collection in England. These paintings bear striking witness to the painter’s long sojourn in central-southern Italy, and ability to assimilate what he saw there. Tanzio’s Jerome seems to evoke the realism of the Neapolitan school as seen in Ribera and Battistello. The Vanitas still-life in the foreground is a masterpiece of Spanish-Neapolitan intensity: the beautifully silken light strikes golden reflections onto the book, resting wide open on the round skull in an almost caressing position, protecting it with its cast shadow. The saint’s hand exhibits the bony leanness of a hermit, and the motif of the dirty fingernails evokes Caravaggio.

The subject of the childhood, or rather the adolescence, of St John the Baptist was treated several times by the artist. The very iconography of the ascetic adolescent preaching penitence in the desert of Judea is particularly well adapted to the style of the artist, both tense and impassioned. Here, St John the Baptist is actually represented in his mission as a harbinger. He points towards the lamb, and gazes heavenwards. With his right hand, he holds the cross, symbol of his sacrifice. The opening onto the landscape on the right is also characteristic of this artist.

The great expressive force of this painting, with its concern for a more immediate realism would seem to approach it to the St Jerome in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

This painting is a fine example of Tanzio’s accomplishment in the genre of private devotional images. It is among the artist’s last paintings.

Tanzio da Varallo’s graphic oeuvre is homogeneous: most of his drawings are figure studies executed in red chalk on pink prepared paper, and almost every sheet is connected with a painting by the artist. This characteristic sheet is a study for the angel holding a sceptre and lilies to the right of the figure of Christ in Glory in the Chapel of the Ascension in Sant’Antonio Abbate, Milan.