Saint Charles Borromeo

the sacred
Vai all'opera successiva
sul tema sacroSt. Charles Borromeo is depicted in a three-quarter portrait with his hands in prayer, he is wearing a white chasuble with silver iridescent details and a crosier leaning on his right shoulder. His gaze turned upwards, is completely absorbed in prayer, while the figure stands out on a dark background, illuminated only above his head. The emblem depicting a ram surmounted by three stars is located in the left bottom part.
The work is a copy of the sketch made by Cerano, depicting St. Charles, kept at the Musée d’Art et d’Historie in Geneva, which differs only in the absence of the crosier, which is instead present in the central figure of the paliotto, made in honour of the Saint according to the design by Cerano.
The two pieces of art created by Cerano perfectly meet the guidelines received from Rome, especially as far as the ecstatic attitude of St Charles is concerned, describing the image of the greater banner for the canonization in Rome. His sketch had such a huge fame at the time that further copies followed.
The painting was donated to Collegio della Guastalla in 1851 by Notburga Meda of Guastalla, daughter of Giovanni Battista Meda and Maria Notburga de Boul Meda.

Curiosity
Although this donation is considerably posthumous to the time of the Saint, it offers Collegio della Guastalla the effigy of a bishop who assiduously attended it in his life.