Mantua, three 16th-century paintings donated to the Ducal Palace. One is unpublished

The collections of the Ducal Palace in Mantua have received a gift of three 16th-century paintings, small in format and with a sacred subject, in memory of Mantuan collector Ippolito Cazzaniga Donesmondi. Two of the works are attributed to Lorenzo Costa the Younger and Teodoro Ghisi, and are known thanks to the research of the late art historian Chiara Perina, while the third is unpublished.

Chiara Perina had already analyzed two of the donated works in her 1966 article published in Civiltà mantovana, laying the groundwork for the study of Mantuan painting of the height of Mannerism, which was little known at the time. The first painting, a Christ before Pilate, features a figure dressed in red, interpreted by the scholar as a tribute to Giulio Romano’s teaching and attributed to Lorenzo Costa the Younger (1535-1583), based on a 19th-century inventory. The second painting, Jesus and Magdalene, on the other hand, is attributed to Teodoro Ghisi (1536-1601), a painter of international prominence who was active in Italy and abroad.

The third work, depicting theOration in the Garden, was unknown to scholars and is new to experts. The three paintings, from the private collection of Ippolito Cazzaniga Donesmondi and his wife Lidia Gallico, came to the museum through the mediation of the Mossini Gallery. The works will undergo restoration, with the work entrusted to Mantuan restorer Emanuela Scaravelli and supervised by Palazzo Ducale’s restoration officer Sara Scatragli, before being displayed to the public.

“These canvases are a precious gift to the museum,” says Mantua’s Ducal Palace director Stefano L’Occaso, “and they complement our knowledge of Mantuan painting of the second half of the 16th century, a period that has proved to be of great interest and quality and that deserves to be consecrated with an exhibition. The Christ before Pilate is probably also, as Renato Berzaghi had already guessed, by the hand of Teodoro Ghisi; moreover, the teletta seems to be in some relation to Ghisi’s altarpiece, of the same subject, which I found in Sant’Agostino in Como and which is probably the one that the Mantuan artist painted for the Certosa in Pavia. As for the Christ in the Garden of Olives, which is slightly different in size from the other two works, it may indeed belong to Lorenzo Costa the Younger, but it is still too early to express an opinion. I hope, finally, that this gesture can be an example for other collectors: donating to the Ducal Palace can be a civic act, a way to remember a loved one, to participate in the growth of the Ducal Palace, the cultural reality of Mantua that is everyone’s heritage.”

Mantua, three 16th-century paintings donated to the Ducal Palace. One is unpublished

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