Baroque Masterpieces

The vast territory of the diocese of Novara is the subject of this book dedicated to the Baroque. Between 1630, the year of the plague about which Manzoni wrote, and 1738, when this territory passed to Duke Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy, it is possible to note a process of renewal in terms of iconography and decoration, stimulated by the wide-ranging actions of a number of bishops, including Benedict Odescalchi, later Pope Innocent XI, and Giulio Maria Odescalchi. After an interruption caused by the plague, there was a return of post-Tridentine religious and artistic fervour which, through the introduction of new creative stimuli, took form in a renewed wealth of forms and in a suprising expressive creativity. We see the blossoming of important decorative projects. Prestigious names and the presence of "foreign" artists enrich churches, oratories and chapels: the Nuvolone brothers, Bianchi, Busca, Scaramuccia, Preda, Abbiati, and on to Legnanino and Magatti at the start of the 18th century; Carlo Maratta and Luigi Garzi from Rome, and Giacinto Gimignani from Tuscany. Artists who left their mark on Novara's figurative arts, reviving painting and moving it towards a classical manner.