Lot Essay
A study for the putto on the right, holding the Papal Keys, in a lunette in Saint Abbondio in Cremona, L. Brandera, A. Foglia, L. Roncai, Sant'Abbondio in Cremona, la Chiesa, il Chiostro, la Santa Casa, Piacenza, 1990, fig. 68. The main differences between the fresco and the drawing are the disappearance of the bishop's hat and placement of the cross to the left side of the composition.
Orazio Samacchini began to paint the nave of the church, the pendentives and lunettes over the windows around 1575 at the same time as he worked in the Duomo of Parma. In 1577, before the work was finished, Samacchini died and part of the nave was corrected by Malosso. The commission is unfortunately undocumented, though on 12 July 1575 Saint Carlo Borromeo visited the church and asked the Commendatorio to restore it in 'nella grandezza ch'era prima' and to build 'la capella grande in volta', G. Bora in I Campi, Milan, 1985, p. 310. An important number of related drawings for this commission are extant, though none that could be connected to any of the lunettes (listed in G. Bora, op. cit., p. 310).
Orazio Samacchini began to paint the nave of the church, the pendentives and lunettes over the windows around 1575 at the same time as he worked in the Duomo of Parma. In 1577, before the work was finished, Samacchini died and part of the nave was corrected by Malosso. The commission is unfortunately undocumented, though on 12 July 1575 Saint Carlo Borromeo visited the church and asked the Commendatorio to restore it in 'nella grandezza ch'era prima' and to build 'la capella grande in volta', G. Bora in I Campi, Milan, 1985, p. 310. An important number of related drawings for this commission are extant, though none that could be connected to any of the lunettes (listed in G. Bora, op. cit., p. 310).