Zenone Veronese (Verona 1484 - Salò 1542 c.)

Zenone Veronese (or Zeno da Verona) (Verona, 1484 - Salò (Bs) post 1542-ante 1554) Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher Oils on arched canvases, cm 173 x 55 Published on About Art Online https://www.aboutartonline.com/nuove-proposte-per-zenone-veronese-un-singolare-maestro-del-500-venet... The present pendant of works has been declared of particularly important historical and artistic interest by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, Superintendence of Verona (decree of January 22, 2022). FULL DETAILS OF THE WORKS AT THE FOLLOWING LINK In the in-depth historical-artistic report drawn up by the Ministry, following careful material and stylistic analysis carried out and further specific investigations, the two proposed paintings, depicting Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher, are assigned to Zenone Veronese (Verona, 1484 - Salò di Brescia, post 1542/ante1554). The two paintings in question, depicting Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher, are painted on twill canvas, a textile support peculiar to Venetian painting. The arched shape makes it possible to hypothesize with certainty the location in a religious building and that they were originally the side panels of a polyptych, probably a wooden frame (lost), which bore in the center the effigy of a saint or the Madonna that could be painted or sculpted. A later and updated variant of the Cavriana triptych (1512) and chronologically very close to the one, commissioned by the Franciscan order, depicting The Eternal Father between two angels with Saints Joseph and Francis of Assisi (Salò, S. Bernardino, formerly in the oratory of S. Anna alle Rive) (Amaturo, Marelli, Ventura 1994, pp. 55-57, 108-102, nn. 1, 21). In fact, to date, only these two polyptychs made by Zenone Veronese are known within the scope of his artistic production. Considering the posture of the bodies, the landscape, the play of light and the orientation of the glances, Saint Sebastian was placed on the left and Saint Christopher, who turns towards the outside of the canvas, on the right, in the typical act of involving the devout bystander to join and participate in the sacred scene. The stylistic analysis and comparison with works of secure dating makes it possible to hypothesize that the two paintings are attributable to the artist's maturity and datable between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth decade. The anatomical rendering of the nude of Saint Sebastian is similar to that of the figures in the Descent to Limbo (Salò, Duomo) of 1537, while the face of Saint Christopher seems traced on that of Saint Rocco (Barghe, S. Rocco) of which also echoes the majestic figure dressed in a short tunic and a wide cloak. The Saints are both immersed in a natural landscape, the arboreal backdrops and the mountainous reliefs that in the distance become blue under the sky furrowed by long bright streaks: it is a compositional structure adopted by Zenone also in the two large altarpieces of the Duomo of Desenzano (1541) and the affinity is even more evident thanks to the comparison with the canvas depicting The Madonna with Child and Saints Christopher, Zeno, Anthony Abbot and Sebastian of Padenghe (1542). Despite the absence of documents relating to the provenance of the two paintings in question, it should be remembered that Simeoni in 1878 reported in the new parish church of Bardolino, on the Veronese shore of Lake Garda, "two good paintings by Zanon di Verona" (Simeoni 1878, p. 146). The scholar erroneously indicated the dedication of the church, of which the facade had yet to be built, to S. Sebastiano, but it is certainly the new parish church dedicated to SS. Nicolò and Severo built on the site of the old church dedicated to S. Nicolò. The two canvases in question could be recognized, hypothetically, in those mentioned by Simoni, probably from the ancient pre-existing building. Premise that, it is believed that for the two paintings depicting Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher, of good executive quality, testimony of a dismembered and lost polyptych by Zenone Veronese and for the reasons expressed above, are of exceptional cultural interest pursuant to art. 10, paragraph 3, letter e) of Legislative Decree 42/2004 and subsequent amendments. In general good condition. Present scattered retouching. The canvases are relined.