The two Della Rovere brothers, Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Mauro, were both known by the name 'Fiammenghino', which refers to the Flemish origin of their father. The brothers usually worked together on vast decorations in the churches of the Lombard capital and in its surrounding territory. They possessed an easy decorative style and worked extensively on canvas and in fresco in Lombardy, Emilia and Piedmont, almost always in collaboration. They helped to popularize late Milanese Mannerism through an expansive narrative style, rich in realistic effects, and based on highly developed and brilliant perspective skills, evident in their spectacular architectural and landscape backgrounds. Their art is indebted to 16th-century Cremonese Mannerism, and to the work of Camillo Procaccini. In the later works, these influences unite with that of Cerano's and of Morazzone, whose iconography and compositions are often adopted wholesale by the Fiamminghini. The art of Gaudenzio Ferrari also encouraged them, in conformity with the demands of the Counter-Reformation, to create a simpler and more didactic art. |
