Antonio d'Enrico, called Tanzio da Varallo, or simply il Tanzio (c. 1575/1580 – c. 1632/1633) was an Italian painter of the late-
Mannerist
Mannerism 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, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...
or early
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
period.
Biography
He was born in Giacomolo hamlet, in
Alagna Valsesia
Alagna Valsesia ( Walser German: ''Im Land'', Piedmontese: ''Alagna'', Valsesiano: ''Lagna'') is a ''comune'' and small village high in the Valsesia alpine valley in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy, a UNESCO World heritage si ...
, and was active mainly in
Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
and
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
, including the
Sacro Monte at
Varallo Sesia
Varallo Sesia (Piedmontese: ''Varal''), pronunciation (Vhuh-rahl-loh) commonly known as Varallo, is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is situated in Valsesia, at above sea level and some north- ...
, where he worked contemporaneously with
Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (il Morazzone). He painted a ''Circumcision'' for ''Fara San Martino'', and a ''Virgin with saints'' for the Collegiate at
Pescocostanzo
Pescocostanzo is a ''comune'' and town of 1038 inhabitants in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is a tourist destination, attracting people from all over Italy due to its landscape and environment. It is part of the Maiell ...
. Some of his paintings acquire the influence of
Tenebrist
Tenebrism, from Italian ('dark, gloomy, mysterious'), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness become ...
styles and morbid thematic characteristic of the followers of
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...
and also of many
Lombard painters, including his somewhat gruesome ''David with Goliath'' (1620). His animated and crowded ''Battle of Sennacherib'' (1627–28) for the
Basilica of San Gaudenzio
The Basilica of San Gaudenzio is a church in Novara, Italy. It is the highest point in the city. It is dedicated to Gaudentius of Novara, first Christian bishop of the city.
History
The first church dedicated to the saint existed near the curre ...
reflects the influence of his work in the
Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy
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 centu ...
, painting scenographic diorama scenes.
His brother Melchiorre was also a painter, studied in Milan, and painted a last judgement for the parish of Riva.
Le glorie dell'arte lombarda
by Luigi Malvezzi, 1882, page 255.
Works
*''Madonna col Bambino, San Francesco e donatore'', oil on canvas, c. 1610, Colledimezzo (CH), parish church of San Giovanni Evangelista.
*''Circumcision'', oil on canvas, c. 1610, Fara San Martino
Fara San Martino (locally ''La Fàrë'') is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. ...
(CH), church of San Remigio.
*''Pentecost'' (5 fragments), oil on canvas, Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, previously in church of Santa Restituta, now in the Museo di Capodimonte
Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with se ...
.
*''Madonna dell'incendio sedato'', oil on canvas, 1614, Pescocostanzo
Pescocostanzo is a ''comune'' and town of 1038 inhabitants in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is a tourist destination, attracting people from all over Italy due to its landscape and environment. It is part of the Maiell ...
(AQ), collegiate church of Santa Maria in Colle.
*''San Carlo attends those afflicted with plague'', oil on canvas, 1615–16, Domodossola
Domodossola (; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossola (due to it ...
(VB), collegiate church of Santi Gervasio e Protasio.
*''Sant'Antonio da Padova'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia
Varallo Sesia (Piedmontese: ''Varal''), pronunciation (Vhuh-rahl-loh) commonly known as Varallo, is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is situated in Valsesia, at above sea level and some north- ...
, Pinacoteca Civica.
*''San Sebastiano curato da Sant'Irene e un angelo'', oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
, Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
, Samuel H. Kress Collection.
*''Christ taken to court of Pilate for first time'', fresco, 1617–18, Varallo Sesia, Sacro Monte, Cappella XXVII.
*''Pilate washes his hands'', fresco, 1619–20, Varallo Sesia, Sacro Monte, Cappella XXXIV.
*''San Giovanni Evangelista, Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, San Teodoro e Santa Apollonia'', oil on canvas, 1618, Verbania – Pallanza, Museo del Paesaggio.
*''Davide con la testa di Golia'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia, Pinacoteca Civica.
*''Gentiluomo'', oil on canvas, Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, Pinacoteca di Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...
.
*''Gentildonna'', oil on canvas, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera.
*''Testa di gentiluomo'', oil on copper, Gallarate
Gallarate (; Lombard language, Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people.
It is the junction ...
, Museo Gallaratese di Studi Patri.
*''San Gerolamo'', oil on canvas, Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
*''Adorazione dei pastori'', 1605–1610, Palais des beaux-arts de Lille
The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (''Lille Palace of Fine Arts'') is a municipal museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities located in Lille. It is one of the largest art museums in France.
It was one of the first museums built i ...
.
*''La Vergine col Bambino adorata dai santi Domenico e Francesco'', oil on canvas, Lumellogno
Lumellogno is a settlement of some 1,500 peopleAt the end of 2006 the population of the quarter was tallied at 1521, source: to the south-west of the city of Novara in the Italian province Piedmont. Administratively it is a quarter (''quartiere'' ...
(NO), church of Santi Ippolito e Cassiano.
*''Due angeli che reggono la corona della Vergine'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia, Pinacoteca.
*''Jacob and Rachel'', oil on canvas, Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Galleria Sabauda
The Savoy Gallery () is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86.
The museum, whose first directors were Robe ...
.
*''Visitation'', oil on canvas, Vagna, frazione
A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...
of Domodossola, church of San Brizio.
*''Gentiluomo'', oil on canvas, c.1625, Cleveland (Ohio), The Cleveland Museum of Art.
*''Adoration of shepherds with San Carlo Borromeo'', oil on canvas, Turin, Museo Civico di Arte Antica.
*''Adoration dei pastori con San Francesco e San Carlo Borromeo'', oil on canvas, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art.
*''La fuga in Egitto'', oil on canvas, Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, The Museum of Fine Arts, Samuel H. Kress Collection.
*''San Giovanni Battista nel deserto'', oil on canvas, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
, Philbrook Museum of Art
Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his ...
.
*''Gesù davanti ad Erode'', fresco, 1628, Varallo Sesia, Sacro Monte, 1628, Cappella XXVIII.
*''San Carlo porta in processione il Sacro Chiodo'', oil on canvas, c. 1629, Cellio (VC), parish church of San Lorenzo.
*''Santi in adorazione della Trinità'', Fontaneto d’Agogna (NO), oil on canvas, parish church of Beata Vergine Assunta.
*''I Santi Pietro e Marco'', oil on canvas, Turin, Galleria Sabauda.
*''Crucifixion'', oil on canvas, Gerenzano, parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo.
*''Decorazione della cappella dell'Angelo Custode'', fresco, and ''Sennacherib sconfitto dall'Angelo'', oil on canvas, 1617–19, Novara, Basilica di San Gaudenzio.
*''Sennacherib sconfitto dall'Angelo'', oil on canvas, c. 1618, Novara, Museo Civico.
*''Annuncio dei pastori'', ''Adorazione dei pastori'', ''Gloria angelica'', 1631–32, fresco, Milan, Santa Maria della Pace.
*''Il Redentore in gloria'', ''I profeti Daniele e Isaia'', ''Angeli musicanti'', fresco, 1631–32, Milan, church of Sant’Antonio Abate.
*''St Roch'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia, Pinacoteca (previously in the parish church of Camasco, frazione of Varallo Sesia).
*''La Madonna col Bambino e i santi Carlo e Francesco'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia, Pinacoteca.
*''Martyrdom of Franciscans in Nagasaki'', oil on canvas, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera.
*''Beato Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano'', oil on canvas, Varallo Sesia, Pinacoteca.
*''Decorazione a fresco della cappella Gibellini'', Borgosesia
Borgosesia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about north of Vercelli.
The largest town in Valsesia
Valsesia (; Walser German: ''Tseschrutol'') i ...
(VC), collegiate church of Santi Pietro e Paolo.
Sources
*
Artnet biography from Grove Encyclopedia of Art.
*''Parts of this article were derived from its counterpart in the Italian Wikipedia
The Italian Wikipedia () is the Italian language, Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on 10 May 2001, and first edited on 11 June 2001. As of , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is the -largest W ...
, specifically fro
this version
which provides the following bibliography:''
**Giovanni Testori, ''Il manierismo piemontese e lombardo del Seicento'', 1955, catalogo della Mostra, Torino-Ivrea;
**Giovanni Testori, ''Tanzio da Varallo'', catalogo della mostra, Torino, 1959 (ora in G. Testori, ''La realtà della Pittura'', Longanesi, Milano, 1995);
**Marco Bona Castellotti, ''Introduzione alla mostra'', in "Tanzio da Varallo. Realismo, fervore e contemplazione in un pittore del Seicento", Milano, Federico Motta Editore, 2000, (Catalogo della mostra su Tanzio tenuta a Milano, Palazzo Reale);
**Filippo Maria Ferro, ''Tanzio e l’Angelo'', ibidem;
**Elena De Filippis, ''Tanzio al Sacro Monte'', ibidem;
Footnotes
External links
Painters of reality: the legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Varallo (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varallo, Tanzio da
16th-century births
1630s deaths
People from the Province of Vercelli
16th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
17th-century Italian painters
Painters from Milan
Italian Mannerist painters
Alagna Valsesia