Enea Salmeggia, called The Talpino, Ecce Homo

Enea Salmeggia known as Talpino (Bergamo, 1565 – 1626), second decade of the XNUMXth century

Ecce Homo

Oil on canvas, 84 x 61 cm

With frame, 103 x 77 cm

The work presented here depicts the scene of Ecce homo, which can be literally translated as "Behold the man"; the famous phrase was pronounced by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus to the crowd, scourged and crowned with thorns, and represents one of the most touching moments of the Passion. The strong impact of this image, so full of dramatic pathos, was masterfully interpreted by the painter Enea Salmeggia, known as Talpino, born in Val Seriana, precisely in the small hamlet of Salmezza, around 1570 and died in Bergamo in 1626. Having moved to Bergamo early on, Salmeggia established himself first in the province, then in the capital of Bergamo and finally reached the great metropolis of Milan, where he left important testimonies in some of the most important places of worship in the city: in the Cathedral, in the Certosa di Garegnano, in San Maria della Passione, in San Simpliciano and also in the chapel of Palazzo Carmagnola. The prestige of these places, considering the strong competition from his contemporary colleagues, from Procaccini to Cerano, passing through his fellow countrymen Cavagna and Lolmo, fully demonstrates the level reached by Salmeggia, capable of making his art appreciated even outside the local borders. In fact, his training was strongly rooted in the pictorial culture of Bergamo, among which the figure of Giovan Battista Moroni (Albino, 1520/1524 – 1578/1579) stands out, which would remain throughout his career with, however, some innovations learned during travels, works and experiences. The presumed trip to Rome in 1597 will introduce stylistic features that will earn him the title of “Raphael from Bergamo”, the altarpiece of the Annunciation for the Certosa will allow him to work in close contact with Simone Peterzano, considered by many to be his master, while at the construction site of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo he will meet Camillo Procaccini. All these influences will be well blended by the artist, capable of adding different elements in a harmonious way, thus renewing his own language without distorting it; in this case we are in front of a work belonging to the second half of the seventeenth century: the ashen tones of Christ's skin, the strong pathos of the face, the threatening expressions of the executioners and the dark setting, exploited to the best for the light contrasts, testify to the final phase of his activity. It must be said, in fact, that Salmeggia was not insensitive to the innovations brought about by the group of painters that Giovanni Testori wittily defined as the Pestanti. Hence an increasingly continuous use of nocturnal settings, as in the canvases created for Santa Maria della Passione, and a consequent play of light contrasts; furthermore, the macabre taste that characterizes the painting of these artists, who lived between two epochal plagues, also reverberates in the scenes of martyrdom or Passion that Salmeggia will create in these last years: the Flagellation in Santa Maria della Passione, the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha in Bergamo or the cycle of canvases of Saint Alexander. The executioners, the martyrs or the soldiers express a more intense emotion than in previous years, sought not in an impulsive manner but following a long path of studies and preparatory drawings, still preserved today, which direct their attention towards the Leonardesque artists of the first half of the sixteenth century; here the painter finds the source of inspiration to go beyond that placid atmosphere of the first sacred altarpieces, in which the references went towards artists such as Lorenzo Lotto or Correggio. We are therefore in a phase subsequent to that which had characterised the first Milanese works: the Marriage of the Virgin for the Cathedral in 1601, the Madonna in glory with Child and Saints Ambrose and Charles Borromeo of 1603 for the Broletto Novissimo or the Deposition alla Peterzano of 1602, now preserved in Brera. The teachings learned in his youth remain alive and are added to the Raphaelesque and Lottesque instances but the general tone of the work changes, outlining a style close to that of the Pestanti although not identical. Salmeggia's talents and quality earned him the praise of Girolamo Borsieri, a poet and treatise writer from Como, in the letter sent to the collector Scipione Toso: «There is Salmetia, who on the other hand, content to imitate the delicacy and simplicity with which he used his brushes at the beginning of the last century, moves one to devoutly admire each of his images, even to the point of becoming enemies of devotion itself.» From the letter, in which Borsieri encourages his friend to take the path of collecting, the artists considered valuable and already present in his collections are cited.

The object is in good condition