(Catagnola di Lugano 1590–1654 Milan)
The Holy Family,
oil on canvas, 119 x 84 cm, framed

We are grateful to Filippo Ferro for confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph and for his help in cataloguing the present painting.

Ferro dates the present work to a little after 1635, influenced by the innovations of the Nuvolone family; Panfilio and Carlo Francesco as well as the clear and compact compositions of Camillo Procaccini and the elegant calligraphic forms of Morazzone. In particular, the Virgin’s robes outline areas of brilliant colour that have evidently been studied for their complimentary hues of rose, orange and dark blue-green. The atmosphere is similar to that found in other followers of Morazzone from the Como region, such as Recchi and Torriani. But Discepoli reveals that he is already committed to the languid beauty coined by the Nuvolone family, which in a few years, around 1642, would make him one of the protagonists of Lombard baroque painting, alongside Francesco Cairo, Giovanni Stefano Montalto and Johann Christoph Storer. The present painting can be compared to the Holy Family of 1647-48, painted for the organ doors of the Milanese church of S. Anna (see: F. Cavalieri, Pittori lombardi della collezione Koelliker, Milan 2006, pp. 110-113 cat. 34, illustrated). As compared to his master Camillo Procaccini, here Discepoli has renounced mannerist torsions in favour of occupying the scene more naturally (see F. Cavalieri, ibid. 2006, p. 110).