Lot 303: FOLLOWER OF PIER FRANCESCO MAZZUCCHELLI, IL MORAZZONE

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST
inscribed lower right on the plinth DILIGITE ALTERVTRVM / HL+ (in compendium)

72 3/4 by 45 1/2 in.; 184.7 by 115.6 cm.

oil on canvas

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, June 08, 2007, lot 235;
Whereby acquired by the present owner.

Jacopo Stoppa has suggested the possibility that the present work reflects one of the figures of the four Evangelists, or "prophets," known to have been painted in a fresco by Morazzone 1603 - 1604 in the Collegiata di Santa Maria Vergine, Arona. First mentioned in 1656 and more specifically in 1823, these frescoes were destroyed along with the choir in a reconstruction of the Collegiata, 1855-1858. (1) Each of these four figures also included differing inscriptions, and the inscription on the present painting, Diligite Alterutrum, or, "Love Each other."

1. See, J. Stoppa, Il Morazzone, Milan 2005, p. 182; and I. Rejna, Memorie intorno al Sagro Monte e Colosso di San Carlo sopra Arona, Novara 1823, p. 42.