A Female Martyr Saint

Carlo Francesco Nuvolone is one of the most prominent Milanese painters of the mid-seventeenth century. A member of a dynasty of artists, he was close to painters such as Daniele Crespi, Giulio Cesare Procaccini, and Francesco Cairo. He is a typical exponent of the Lombard style of painting, characterized by the strong chiaroscuro and a distinctive sweetness in his figures. His art has often been linked to that of the Spanish artist Murillo, even though there are no known links between the two painters. The Italian art historian Roberto Longhi considered Nuvolone a herald for nineteenth-century Romantic painting in Lombardy.

This picture was first seen by Roberto Longhi (1965) in a private collection in Basel, Switzerland, and was subsequently with Frederick Mont in New York.

The female saint represented in the painting is unidentified. The palm she holds in her right hand classifies her as a martyr. Stylistically the painting is very close to other works by Nuvolone from the mid-seventeenth century. In particular, the head of the saint is almost identical to that of Esther in the Scene from the Life of Esther in the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, to another Esther in a private collection in Milan, and to the Woman in the Museo Cerralbo in Madrid (Ferro 2003, p. 209, nos. cf 144–46). Nuvolone probably based all four paintings on a drawing after the same model.

Xavier F. Salomon 2011

private collection, Basel (in 1965); Frederick Mont, New York (until d. 1994); his widow, Anna S. Mont, New York (1994–d. 2010)

Roberto Longhi. "Due esempi di Carlo Francesco Nuvolone." Paragone 16 (July 1965), p. 46, pl. 54, as in a private collection, Basel.

A. M. Inversetti. "Il pittore Carlo Francesco Nuvolone." Master's thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 1977–78, p. 295 [see Ref. Ferro 2003].

P. Barbieri. "L'opera pittorica di Carlo Francesco Nuvolone." Master's thesis, Università di Pavia, 1978–79, p. 93 n. 2 [see Ref. Ferro 2003].

M. E. Santa Lucia. "Carlo Francesco Nuvolone dit le Panfilo." Master's thesis, Université de Paris IV–La Sorbonne, 1995–96, p. 191 n. 97 [see Ref. Ferro 2003].

Filippo Maria Ferro. Nuvolone: una famiglia di pittori nella Milano del '600. Soncino, 2003, p. 209, no. cf 147, fig. 46, as in the collection of F. Mont, New York; relates it to the head of Esther in "Scene from the Life of Esther (Musée des Augustins, Toulouse), to another painting of Esther (private collection, Milan), and to a bust of a woman (Museo Cerralbo, Madrid).

Gonzalo Redín Michaus. De Bronzino a Giaquinto: Pintura italiana en el Museo Cerralbo. Exh. cat., Museo Cerralbo. [Madrid], 2009, p. 98, fig. 40, as Sibyl.