Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli

He was born in Morazzone, near Varese, Lombardy, the son of a mason, who soon after his birth moved to Rome. Borsieri (1619) claimed that he was taught there principally by the Sienese painter Ventura Salimbeni, whereas Baglione (1642) stated that he frequented the various academies of Rome. It is likely that he also gained experience in the workshop of the Cavalier D'Arpino. In Rome, Morazzone worked in several important churches, including Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite, the courtyard of Saint John Lateran and the sacristy of St. Peter’s. The only such works to have survived are two frescoes in the church of San Silvestro in Capite, a Visitation and an Adoration of the Magi. These works draw on a variety of stylistic sources and suggest a response to the art of Taddeo Zuccari and of Sienese followers of Federico Barocci such as Salimbeni. His style also shows exposure to another pupil of D'Arpino, Caravaggio. His depictions of martyrdom and ecstasy are imbued with the morbid religiosity characteristic of Lombardy in his age.

Around 1597, for reasons that are not clear, Morazzone left Rome, and by 1598 he was in Varese. His first documented works there are vault frescoes of Musician Angels and the Coronation of the Virgin in the chapel of the Rosary in San Vittore. He soon established himself in Lombardy and in Piedmont. In 1602 he worked in Milan Cathedral, with Paolo Camillo Landriani (‘il Duchino’, 1560–1618) on the Meeting of St. Charles Borromeo with Duke Emanuel-Philibert of Savoy, and alone on St. Charles Borromeo Refusing Ecclesiastical Benefices, parts of a cycle of paintings illustrating the saint’s life. His frescoes in the chapel of San Giorgio in the Santuario at Rho, showing scenes from the Life of St. George (probably commissioned prior to 1603), indicate that at this point he was moving away from Roman Mannerism and developing a more typically Lombard style, strongly influenced by the early 16th-century art of Gaudenzio Ferrari. There followed frescoes of scenes from the Life of a Martyred Soldier (1603–6) in the church of the Crocefisso at Tradate. Here, stylistic differences between the central and lateral scenes have led some to consider the fresco on the altar wall as the work of another artist. In 1605–6 Morazzone worked for the first time on the Sacro Monte di Varallo, frescoing the chapel of the Ascent to Calvary (1602–1606). The contract for this work, which had been drawn up in 1602, stipulated that he model his work on Ferrari’s frescoes (c. 1509) for the chapel of the Crucifixion. This influence shows in the realism of the soldiers riding through a broad landscape, which serves as a backdrop to sculpted figures by Jean de Wespin. In 1608, Morazzone was commissioned to paint 12 small scenes from the Life of St. Abbondio to be set into the embroidery of the standard of the Compagnia del Santissimo Sacramento of Como (Como Cathedral). He received payments in 1609 and 1610, which suggests that his work on these paintings alternated with work on frescoes of the Passion (completed May 1609) in the chapel of the Flagellation on another Sacro Monte, that at Varese. The putti in the frescoes at Varese reveal the lingering influence of the Cavaliere d’Arpino’s method of composition. On 25 July 1609, Morazzone was commissioned to execute the frescoes in the chapel of the Ecce Homo on the Sacro Monte of Varallo. Here he worked (1610) with the sculptor Giovanni d’Enrico to create a tour de force of illusionism: d