FRANCESCO MARIA BIANCHI, attr. a

FRANCESCO MARIA BIANCHI, attributed to SAINT CHRISTOPHER BEFORE THE KING OF LYCIA FRANCESCO MARIA BIANCHI Velate 1689 – 1757 Velate Pen and brown ink on laid paper 32 × 40.5 cm / 12.6 × 15.9 inches Frame: 46 × 54.5 cm / 18.1 × 21.5 inches Gilded modern frame PROVENANCE Private collection, Northern Italy ABOUT THE DRAWING This refined pen-and-ink drawing is attributed to Francesco Maria Bianchi (1689–1757), an important fresco painter of the late Lombard Baroque, active in various regions of Northern Italy and Switzerland. Son of the painter Salvatore Bianchi and collaborator of the famous quadraturists Giacomo Antonio and Antonio Francesco Giovannini, Bianchi was the author of some of the most ambitious ecclesiastical decorations of the early eighteenth century. The composition depicts the rare episode of Saint Christopher before the pagan king of Lycia, rendered with clarity, rhythm, and expressive force. The precision of the linear stroke and the theatrical arrangement of the figures are characteristic of Bianchi's graphic language and closely mirror his frescoes in the Church of San Cristoforo in Vercelli—where he painted the famous Glory of Saint Christopher on the vault, along with the allegorical Virtues in the spandrels. The sheet under consideration may have been conceived as a preparatory model for that large decorative cycle or for a similar commission. THE ICONOGRAPHY The subject of Saint Christopher before the King of Lycia is among the rarest in Christian iconography. The only comparable known depiction is found on a Spanish panel (ca. 1480–85) by Martín de Soria, now housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Both works refer to the Golden Legend by Jacopo da Varazze, the medieval bestseller that shaped the European hagiographic imagination for centuries. According to the Golden Legend, Christopher—then called Reprebo—was the son of a pagan king and sought to serve only the most powerful sovereign. After having left a Christian king who feared the devil and having abandoned Satan himself (who feared the sign of the Cross), Christopher met a hermit who introduced him to the Christian faith. After his miraculous conversion in Lycia, he presented himself to the pagan king, refusing to renounce his new faith. This is the dramatic moment depicted in our drawing. SAINT CHRISTOPHER: ICON AND PROTECTOR Although more often depicted carrying the Child Jesus across a river, the legend of Saint Christopher includes themes of spiritual quest, moral strength, and unwavering faith. Patron saint of travelers, sailors, and soldiers, Christopher was a symbol of steadfastness in uncertain times—a quality particularly appreciated in the turbulent political-religious climate of late seventeenth-century Italy. A RARE TESTIMONY The present drawing is a rare visual testimony to this little-known episode in the life of Saint Christopher and a rare work on paper by Francesco Maria Bianchi. The confidence of the stroke, the spatial clarity, and the rhythm of the figures make it a significant document of Lombard graphic art and a valuable key to reconstructing the lost narrative cycles of Italian Baroque decoration.