MARCELLO VENUSTI

MARCELLO VENUSTI Mazzo di Valtellina h. 1515 - Rome 1579 Christ crucified with the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene and angels Oil on panel Measurements 24 x 16 cm This work constitutes an important example in the pictorial production of Marcello Venusti during the second half of the 16th century. Born in Lombardy, his artistic relevance stands out for the transposition of Michelangelo Buonarroti's compositional models from drawing to painting. After his apprenticeship in Mantua he moved to Rome under the protection of Cardinal Alexander Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III. At these early dates he worked on the pictorial decoration of the Castel Sant'Angelo and the New Church of San Pedro. Among Venusti's Roman works, a small-format copy of the Universal Judgment (Museo Nazionale di Campodimonte, Naples) stands out, a unique testimony of the close artistic relationship and friendship between the old master and the young Lombard painter. Venusti's job consisted of painting the drawings that Buonarroti left him. In this way Venusti quickly gained the acceptance of numerous nobles and high ecclesiastical dignitaries who commissioned small devotional paintings from him. The work in question is the result of the union of three important drawings made by Michelangelo during the last years of his life, when he came into contact with "gli spirituali" of Viterbo: The Living Christ on the Cross (British Museum, London) made for the Marchioness of Pescara, Vittoria Colonna, and two more coppers with The Virgin and Saint John Mourning at the Feet of the Cross (Louvre Museum, Paris). Starting from the Michelangelo prototype, Venusti made certain variants of the Crucifixion theme, adding and subtracting according to his own criteria. The most outstanding testimonies are preserved in the Museo di Casa Buonarroti in Florence and in the Jesuit College of Campion Hall in Oxford. This work differs from the other examples already mentioned by the figure of Mary Magdalene. Among Michelangelo's studies there is a piece in the royal collections of Windsor Castle (inv. 12761) where Mary Magdalene appears blurred, but an arm can still be seen around the cross and her body kneeling on the ground, in front of St. John the Evangelist. Probably other drawings by Buonarroti also featured the figure of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross, but unfortunately they have not survived to this day, so the only testimony is that transposition in Venusti's painting. The silhouette of the Magdalene is of great theatricality and dynamism; His arms open towards the sky as he points to the ignominious Cross, as do the Virgin and one of the angels. I could tell you that the presence of Magdalena is not a forced addition by Venusti, but is the result of the study of a drawing by Michelangelo, in which the woman is presented in harmony with the other characters. In the cathedral of Santa María de la Redonda in Logroño there is a panel attributed in the past to Michelangelo, recently attributed to a Flemish artist. The Logroño version still presents the Virgin frontally and not in profile as in the previous copy. The news provided by biographers Giorgio Vasari and Giovanni Baglione about Venusti's fame said that he had specialized in painting "small things" and that he sent them to Spain. This testimony is related to the devotional commissions of illustrious figures: "Macello made many works for various princes, and for other people, and particularly to send to Spain, because his way of painting was very devout, diligent and lazy" (Baglione 1642) . Furthermore, the delicate chromatic range perfectly reflects the artist's style, a characteristic already praised by his colleagues, as demonstrated by the written words of the Spanish ambassador Don Juan de Zuñiga in the famous letter sent in 1578 to King Philip II, where his admiration is expressed. "to give colors" in Marcello's works. We thank Dr. Francesca Parrilla, a great expert in Venusti's work, for her help in cataloging this work (a recent study of the painting is attached).