Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (commonly known as il Morazzone; 1573–1626) was an Italian painter and draughtsman who was active in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, but his outstanding achievements are large decorative frescoes for the

Sacro Monte di Varese The Sacro Monte di Varese (literally ‘Sacred Mount of Varese’) is one of the nine sacri monti in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Piedmont which were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2003. It has an altitude of 807 m ...

and the

Sacro Monte di Varallo Giovanni d' Enrico, ''Ecce Homo ''(detail of the crowd calling for crucifixion), 1608-9. The Sacred Mountain of Varallo ( it, Sacro Monte di Varallo) is a '' Sacro Monte'' ("sacred mountain", a type of mountainside Christian devotional comple ...

Life

He was born in

Morazzone Morazzone is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 4,000 inhabitants in the province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about south of Varese. It is served by Gazzada-Schianno-Morazzone railway station. ...

, near

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, the son of a mason, who soon after his birth moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. There he was influenced by

Ventura Salimbeni Ventura di Archangelo Salimbeni (also later called Bevilacqua; 20 January 1568 – 1613) was an Italian Counter-Maniera painter and printmaker highly influenced by the ''vaghezza'' and sensual reform of Federico Barocci. Biography Salimb ...

and

Cavalier D'Arpino Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patroniz ...

and began to work in a

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

style. In Rome, he painted some canvases and also his first frescoes (''Adoration by the Magi'' and a ''Visitation'') in

San Silvestro in Capite The Basilica of Saint Sylvester the First, also known as ( it, San Silvestro in Capite, la, Sancti Silvestri in Capite), is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in Rome dedicated to Pope Sylvester I (d. AD 335). It is located on t ...

(1596). His style also shows exposure to another pupil of D'Arpino,

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

. His depictions of martyrdom and ecstasy are imbued with the morbid religiosity characteristic of Lombardy in his age. Adorazione dei Magi - Morazzone (Ambrosiana)

Adorazione dei Magi - Morazzone (Ambrosiana)

He relocated to Milan in 1597. In Lombardy, he painted frescoes for the Cappella del Rosario in ''San Vittore'' in

(1599), and worked in some of the

Sacri Monti The (plural of , Italian for "Sacred Mountain") of Piedmont and Lombardy are a series of nine calvaries or groups of chapels and other architectural features created in northern Italy during the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century ...

of the Alps. This activity began with the ''Ascent to Calvary'' (1602–1606) chapel in the

Sacro Monte of Varallo Giovanni d' Enrico, ''Ecce Homo ''(detail of the crowd calling for crucifixion), 1608-9. The Sacred Mountain of Varallo ( it, Sacro Monte di Varallo) is a '' Sacro Monte'' ("sacred mountain", a type of mountainside Christian devotional comple ...

where he was influenced by

Gaudenzio Ferrari Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1471 – 11 January 1546) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance. Biography Gaudenzio was born to Franchino Ferrari at Valduggia in the Valsesia in the Duchy of Milan. Valduggia is now in the Province of V ...

and developed a more dramatic style. In 1608-1609 he completed the ''Flagellation'' chapel in the Sacro Monte of

then returned to Varallo for the ''Ecce Homo'' chapel (1610–13). The last of this series is the ''Porziuncola'' chapel (1616–20) in the

Sacro Monte di Orta The Sacro Monte di Orta (literally: "Sacred Mountain of Orta") is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Orta San Giulio (Piedmont, northern Italy) on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, which faces the western shore of Lake ...

. His other frescoes include the ''Cappella della Buona Morte'' in San Gaudenzio in

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

, the altarpiece with the ''Virgin of the Rosary'' in the

Certosa di Pavia The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, north of Pavia. Built in 1396–1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting ...

and the depiction of some of the ''Prophets'' frescoed for the nave of the

Piacenza Cathedral Piacenza Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Piacenza), fully the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta e Santa Giustina, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Piacenza, Italy. The current structure was built between 1122 and 1233 and is one of the most valuable examp ...

, completed after his death by the Bolognese painter

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vig ...

. He also painted altarpieces for many churches in Northern Italy and canvases for private collectors. He collaborated with

Giovanni Battista Crespi Giovanni Battista Crespi (23 December 1573 – 23 October 1632), called Il Cerano, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect. Biography He was born in Romagnano Sesia, the son of a painter, Raffaele Crespi, and moved to Cerano with his ...

(Il Cerano) and

Giulio Cesare Procaccini Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574–1625) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the early Baroque era in Milan. Biography Born in Bologna he was son of the Mannerist painter Ercole Procaccini the Elder and brother of Camillo Procaccini and Car ...

in the painting of the Quadroni of San Carlo Borromeo for the

Duomo of Milan Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...

. Among the pupils and followers of ''il Morazzone'' were

Francesco Cairo Francesco Cairo (26 September 1607 – 27 July 1665), also known as Francesco del Cairo, was an Italian Baroque painter active in Lombardy and Piedmont. Biography He was born and died in Milan. It is not known where he obtained his early trai ...

Stefano Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ac ...

& Gioseffo Danedi, Isidoro Bianchi, Giovanni Paolo & Giovanni Battista Recchi, Paolo Caccianiga, Tommaso Formenti, Giambatista Pozzi, and Cristoforo Martinolli della Rocca.Le glorie dell'arte lombarda
by Luigi Malvezzi, 1882, page 248.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzucchelli (Morazzone), Francesco 1573 births People from the Province of Varese 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Painters from Milan Italian Baroque painters 1626 deaths Italian Mannerist painters Catholic painters