Christ among the disciples, Mauro Picenardi (1735 – 1809), attr.

Mauro Picenardi (Crema, 1735 – Bergamo, 1809), attr.

Christ among the disciples

Oil on canvas, 62 x 37 cm – with frame, 73 x 46 cm

The painting depicts Christ at the center of a lively assembly of apostles, captured in the act of blessing and bidding them farewell in a moment that iconographic tradition traces to the Ascension. Dressed in a pink tunic and a flowing blue-green cloak, the Savior raises his right hand in a solemn gesture while holding the hem of his robe with his left, a movement that imbues the figure with a certain dynamism. Around him, the apostles react with a variety of theatrical gestures: some raise their hands to their chests in amazement, some throw themselves to the ground and kiss the ground, some raise their gaze upward, composing a chorus of emotions that animates the entire lower section of the canvas. In the upper section, within a glory of golden clouds, the celestial vision unfolds: the dove of the Holy Spirit radiates beams of light, while cherub heads, a group of cherubs, and two angels complete the supernatural apparatus with a warm, vaporous palette.

The work fits naturally into the oeuvre of Mauro Picenardi, a painter from Crema whose life and artistic career unfolded on the geographic margins of the Serenissima, yet in constant dialogue with it. Born in Crema on January 15, 1735, son of the Cremonese painter Tomaso Picenardi, Mauro received an early, archaic training in his father's workshop, but soon distanced himself, growing impatient with the cultural narrowness of his native city. It was precisely his experience in Verona, developed at the Academy of Painting under the influence of Giambettino Cignaroli and Balestra, that decisively shaped his style: not the revolutionary influence of Giambattista Tiepolo, but the more moderate yet stimulating influence of the Veronese environment, which nevertheless opened him to the breadth of Venetian painting.

This canvas clearly demonstrates the traits of his artistic maturity: the figures are not defined by sharp outlines, but constructed directly through color, applied with free, loose brushstrokes that break up the profiles in a vaporous, almost luminous rendering, particularly evident in the celestial glory at the top. At the same time, a solid compositional structure remains, borrowed from Veronese discipline, which organizes the agitation of the earthly figures into a clear and legible pyramidal structure, reminiscent of his altarpieces created for churches in Verona, Bergamo, and the Crema area. This balance between formal rigor and pictorial freedom, between drawing and color, is the hallmark of Picenardi's entire sacred production, from the Veronese commissions of his youth to the works of his full maturity in Bergamo, created under the patronage of Giacomo Carrara and Paolina Secco Suardi Gismondi, who earned him numerous commissions for churches in the city and province until his death in Bergamo in 1809.

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