Pair of paintings

Angels with a scroll / Angels with a book

Oils on canvas

50 x 60 cm.
Framed: 68 x 82 cm.

Reference bibliography: ‘Il Moncalvo e la sua bottega’, Linelab Edizioni, 2025.

As part of the flourishing painting career of Guglielmo Caccia, known as ‘il Moncalvo’ (1568–1625), which unfolded mainly between Piedmont and Lombardy, his cherubs—depicted in a wide variety of poses—enjoyed great success, giving rise to an extremely popular theme, of which the pair of paintings presented here offer a truly significant example.

Drawings featuring little angels and cherubs are, in fact, a typical feature of Moncalvo’s work, which is hardly surprising given their frequent and numerous appearances in his paintings. Almost always, his large altarpieces are a festive riot of chubby putti with rosy cheeks and soft blond curls, who soar through the sky and enliven even the most composed scenes in the paintings with their playful, childlike demeanour.

In this instance, we see two pairs of small winged cherubs: the first pair seated on a flight of steps, completely absorbed in reading an open book they hold in their hands; the second pair seated on a finely damasked cushion, intent on holding up and consulting a long scroll resembling a musical score.

The works highlight the unmistakable stylistic characteristics, as well as the quality of execution, typical of Moncalvo’s output; having trained within the Vercelli school, he was able to reinterpret Renaissance and Mannerist models with great mastery in accordance with the tastes of the Piedmontese and Lombard Counter-Reformation.

Among his key influences, we might mention, for example, Perino del Vaga (Florence, 1501 – Rome, 1547), a leading figure of Mannerism and a pupil of Raphael, who was also active in Genoa: indeed, we know that the influence of his pictorial style reached Moncalvo both through the circulation of prints and drawings and via contacts between the Ligurian art scene and the Mannerist painters of neighbouring Lombardy. Moncalvo must necessarily have seen his ‘Enthroned Madonna with Child and Saints’ in the church of St George in Genoa, from which he drew inspiration and reworked the two cherubs positioned at the base of the scene (Fig. 1, detail of preparatory drawing).

We can then review, by way of comparison, a number of works by Moncalvo (and his close circle) in which choirs or figures of cherubs feature prominently: these include the ‘St Michael the Archangel Surrounded by Angels’ in the Pinacoteca dell’Accademia Albertina in Turin (Fig. 3) and the altarpiece depicting the Immaculate Madonna and Angels in Villanova d’Asti (Fig. 4). We may also add *Mary Magdalene with Angels* (Fig. 5), *The Annunciation* (Fig. 6) and *Angels as Musicians* (Fig. 7), all from the State Collection in Milan.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Good condition with period frames.

The works are sold complete with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.

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