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Tanzio da Varallo
An extraordinary and
elegant exhibition on “Tanzio da Varallo” is taking place in Milan,
at Palazzo Reale, Piazza del Duomo, until the 2nd of July.
It is a unique occasion
to rediscover the greatness of Tanzio as the protagonist of Caravaggio
season in Northern Italy. The exhibition, whose subtitle is “Realism,
enthusiasm and contemplation in a Seicento painter”, was promoted by
Comune di Milano and Regione Lombardia. The editor is an art expert
of good renown like Marco Bona Castellotti. It should not be forgotten
that this artist was “discovered” already some years ago by the great
critic Giovanni Testori, who showed the spectacular work of our artist
at first through a monographic exhibition set up at Palazzo Reale in
Turin, between 1959 and 1960, and then with an exhibition on the Lombard
Seicento that took place at Palazzo Reale, Milan, in 1973.
This prestigious show
gathers forty works on canvas coming from several Italian regions like
Abruzzo, Campania, Piedmont and Lombardy, and also from the USA, as
well as twenty drawings from various European collections and a polychrome
sculpture with life-size figures made in terracotta by Tanzio's brother,
Giovanni d'Enrico, and painted by Tanzio; this work comes from the museum
of Varallo Sesia in Piedmont, the mountain resort where d'Enrico brothers
were mainly active around 1620 and where they left their lasting imprint
in the chapels of Sacro Monte. This show will also offer people the
occasion to rediscover the frescoes left by Tanzio in some Milan churches
like Santa Maria della Pace and Sant'Antonio church, which also houses
other extraordinary frescoes. In short, Tanzio is an artist to rediscover.
At this point it is
necessary to tell something about his life. The life of Antonio d'Enrico
called Tanzio da Varallo had a turning point after his trip to Rome
in 1600, on which occasion he was charmed by Caravaggio painting at
the height of his creative splendour. Our artist left from Varallo in
Piedmont to reach Rome, where the jubilee was then celebrated. Tanzio
learnt at once the lesson of realism, the harsh reality combined with
intense spirituality Caravaggio showed in his painting, which left everybody
thrilled. He was also active in Campania and Abruzzo, at Pescocostanzo,
Colledimezzo and Fara San Martino, then he got back to Northern Italy,
where he continued to spread the lesson he had learned in Rome and inaugurated
a season of frescoes and paintings for altars.
In his works the touching
truth of his portraits catches our attention at first sight, being characterized
by a typical Italian spiritual vein and realism.
Thanks to his perfectionism
this painter, who was born in Alagna in 1580 and died in Varallo in
1635, was a true protagonist of Italian Seicento. He conveys his religiousness
in bodies, in the frenzy and force of his paintings, which express the
sever Counter-Reformation atmosphere of cardinal Borromeo. All that
can be found in the many works scattered in the remote churches of the
ancient State of Milan, which show hollow faces, hands similar to hooks,
open sores and emphatic gestures, together with a desperate research
of harmony and beauty in the angels of death and the young heroes full
of melancholy and characterized by an androgynous aspect that contrasts
with a certain stylistic hardness.
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