Chapter 22. Lombardy, Piedmont and the Ticino
A direct Emilian influence on the development of scagliola in northern Italy came from the Leoni brothers, Ludovico and Giovanni. Natives of Carpi, they had both trained under Annibale Griffoni. Early in their careers their father, found guilty of murder, was stripped of his possessions and sentenced to death. He fled the Duchy of Modena and settled in Cremona in Lombardy, taking his family with him. Exactly when this happened is not recorded, and little is known of the brothers’ lives. Giovanni, the younger of the two, was the more accomplished scagliolist.
Ludovico Leoni (Carpi 1637- Cremona 1727)
Before moving to Lombardy, Ludovico had made altar fronts for the church of St. Augustine in Modena (subsequently destroyed in the Napoleonic occupation) and his parents’ family chapel in Carpi (also lost). Having settled in Cremona, he remained there for the rest of a long and active life, producing altar pieces and tabletops.
In his early work, rich displays of flowers and foliage surround a central religious symbol or a coat of arms, with an outer border formed from geometrically shaped tiles of imitation marble, a distinctive feature that reappears in both the brothers’ later work.*
The colours are predominantly yellows, oranges and reds on a black background. Several altar pieces in this style have been attributed to Ludovico in the churches of Fidenza, Salsomaggiore and Busseto, as well as Cremona itself.
Altar front in the church of Christo Salvatore in Salsominore (Parma) signed with the name of the donor – R. Paulo Pisseud – and dated 1686. Manni attributes it to Ludovico Leoni on grounds of similarity and proximity to other confirmed work.
* Whether this was the brothers’ own innovation or something they encountered locally and copied is unknown; the use of decorative imitation marble tiles and gemstones recalls the work of Blasius and Wilhelm Fistulator, but more importantly, of inlaid marble work in general. It was popular in Ancient Roman times, where it served a decorative purpose; and in the Christian era, when it relates symbolically to the arrangement of the precious stones that went to make up the Temple of the New Jerusalem, as described in the Apocalypse of St. John.
Ludovico Leoni is also credited with a distinctive series of early eighteenth century altar fronts.[i] Tripartite in design, they feature geometrically shaped panels of different shapes and sizes which contain images of religious figures expressed in an off-white imitation ivory colour, with line drawing and some cross-hatched shading in black. The quality of the shading is not comparable with that of Carpi, and the reliance on line drawing, also used in places to depict swirling ‘ivoried’ foliage, gives these paliotti a less refined appearance than their Emilian counterparts. There are several of these works in the church of San Sepolcro in Piacenza [Photo 15].
[i] Ibid…None of these are signed or documented, and Ludovico Leoni’s authorship, which has been asserted on the basis of anecdote and style – similar colouring and the use of imitation marble panels and tiles – is not formally confirmed.
Paliotto in the Chiesa della Madonna del’Olivo, Maciano di Pennabili, showing red tulips around the image of San Pasquale Baylón (attr. ‘Maestro dei Francescani’, dated 1753)
References: For Flowers, Birds and Insects, I am indebted to Silvia Angelini who made available her graduation thesis: Diffusione dei paliotti in scagliola nella Valmarecchia. Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Facoltà di lettere e filosofia: 2004-5. Pp 33-40
For Objects and Colours see: Floriana Spalla, Imitazione e Belleza – Opere e tecniche dell’arredo sacro in scagliola, 2003 Ente di Gestione della Riserva Naturale Speciale del Sacro Monte della SS. Trinità di Ghiffa.
Also: Graziano Manni I Maestri della Scagliola in Emilia Romagna e Marche, Modena 1997.
Chapter 22: Lombardy, Piedmont and the Ticino
A direct Emilian influence on the development of scagliola in northern Italy came from the Leoni brothers, Ludovico and Giovanni. Natives of Carpi, they had both trained under Annibale Griffoni. Early in their careers their father, found guilty of murder, was stripped of his possessions and sentenced to death. He fled the Duchy of Modena and settled in Cremona in Lombardy, taking his family with him. Exactly when this happened is not recorded, and little is known of the brothers’ lives. Giovanni, the younger of the two, was the more accomplished scagliolist.
Ludovico Leoni (Carpi 1637- Cremona 1727).
Before moving to Lombardy, Ludovico had made altar fronts for the church of St. Augustine in Modena (subsequently destroyed in the Napoleonic occupation) and his parents’ family chapel in Carpi (also lost). Having settled in Cremona, he remained there for the rest of a long and active life, producing altar pieces and tabletops.
In his early work, rich displays of flowers and foliage surround a central religious symbol or a coat of arms, with an outer border formed from geometrically shaped tiles of imitation marble, a distinctive feature that reappears in both the brothers’ later work.*
The colours are predominantly oranges and reds on a black background. Several altar pieces in this style have been attributed to Ludovico in the churches of Fidenza, Salsomaggiore and Busseto, as well as Cremona itself.
Altar front in the church of Christo Salvatore in Salsominore (Parma) signed with the name of the donor – R. Paulo Pisseud – and dated 1686. Manni attributes it to Ludovico Leoni on grounds of similarity and proximity to other confirmed work.
* Whether this was the brothers’ own innovation or something they encountered locally and copied is unknown; the use of decorative imitation marble tiles and gemstones recalls the work of Blasius and Wilhelm Fistulator, but more importantly, of inlaid marble work in general. It was popular in Ancient Roman times, where it served a decorative purpose; and in the Christian era, when it relates symbolically to the arrangement of the precious stones that went to make up the Temple of the New Jerusalem, as described in the Apocalypse of St. John.
Ludovico Leoni is also credited with a distinctive series of early eighteenth century altar fronts.[i] Tripartite in design, they feature geometrically shaped panels of different shapes and sizes which contain images of religious figures expressed in an off-white imitation ivory colour, with line drawing and some cross-hatched shading in black. The quality of the shading is not comparable with that of Carpi, and the reliance on line drawing, also used in places to depict swirling ‘ivoried’ foliage, gives these paliotti a less refined appearance than their Emilian counterparts. There are several of these works in the church of San Sepolcro in Piacenza [Photo 15].
[i] Ibid…None of these are signed or documented, and Ludovico Leoni’s authorship, which has been asserted on the basis of anecdote and style – similar colouring and the use of imitation marble panels and tiles – is not formally confirmed.
During the Renaissance removeable and interchangeable fabrics were often substituted with rigid panels made from carved wood, metal or stone. The practice became widespread following a ruling from the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which stated that all Roman Catholic altars and altar fronts should from now on be permanent structures (See Chapter 5).
An early bronze altar front by Lorenzetto depicting Christ and the Samaritan (Chigi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, ca. 1522)
The earliest Pietre Dure paliotti were of Roman or Florentine origin, and date from the end of the 1500s. The style closely follows the developments of secular Pietre Dure work, with different coloured panels and abstract geometrical designs giving way to more naturalistic (often floral) decoration (See Chapter 3). They often include a symbol that reflects the subject matter of the painting or statue above the altar, or they might bear the coat of arms of the donor; in rare cases they are pictorial.
Pietre Dure altar front by Gian Battista Rangheri, 1693. Relief carvings of the Madonna Addolorata, side cherubs and festoons by Domenico Aglio . (Main altar of Santi Siri e Libero, Verona.)
The region of Emilia Romagna to the east of the Apennines did not have the same access to marble that was available in Rome and Tuscany; nor did it have the skills available to work it. On the other hand there were large deposits of selenite, the translucent rock used to make gypsum plaster. The area was not wealthy and when the technique of scagliola first appeared in the early 17th. Century, it provided a solution to the problem of upgrading church interiors, and in particular altar fronts and surrounds; the prestige and beauty of architectural and inlaid marble were brought within the reach of town and country parishes, at a fraction of the cost and time. As in the case of the secularly inspired scagliola in Munich, no stigma attached to the fact that the material was an imitation. The ability to copy rare and precious marbles with plaster and pigments was something to be acknowledged and celebrated, a triumph of human skill and ingenuity in the service of God and the Counter Reformation of the Catholic Church. In a curious turn-around from its exclusive position in Bavarian court architecture and decoration, scagliola found a new role for itself in Italy: as poor man’s marble, il marmo dei poveri,
References: Ornamental Antependiums using Pietra Dure, Scagliola and Stuccolustro, by Heinrich-Joseph Klein, in: Kunstgeschichtliche Aufsatze: Von seinem Schulern und Freunden des KhlK Heinz Ladendorf zum 29.Juni 1969 gewidmet, edited by Joachim Guas, pp. 276-308, Cologne 1969
Next/Chapter 16: The Origins of Italian Scagliola