Savona

Niccolò Longhi (1523-1578/1579) is mainly known for his Roman activity as a sculptor and restorer of ancient statues, but when he moved to this city, around 1543, he had an important career behind him. During this period, he mainly worked in Genoa, in the workshop of Gian Giacomo Della Porta. Of this activity, little is known but some new documents found in the State Archive of Genoa, Massa, Milan and Savona allow to clarify the main stages. Particularly significant is the addition to his catalogue of two works, that shed new light on his brilliant skills as a sculptor: a bust in the Cathedral of Savona and a Eucharistic Tabernacle in the Cathedral of Acqui; of the latter the author proposes a reconstruction since it was dismantled, and its pieces were reused inside and outside the sacred building. Thanks to stylistic comparisons and to the information traced in local sources, the author also reconstructs the original aspect of an altar that Niccolo Longhi seems to have carved for the Cathedral of Acqui. The newly discovered documents strengthen Longhi's links with the workshop of Della Porta, supporting the hypothesis that at the time of his sojourn in Genoa Longhi had the opportunity to work for illustrious patrons such as Antonio Doria. Furthermore, they add important information to the biography of the sculptor, documenting for the first time his activity before 1538. In light of this overall reconsideration of his entire career, it is also possible to identify in the church of San Martino in Viggiù, the artist's birthplace, near Varese, the altarpiece that was donated by the artist, and that bears his portrait and the portrait of his wife.

Between the first decade of the 1600s and the early eighteenth century, the small town of Pontinvrea was a feudal property of the Invrea family, which formed part of the Genoese aristocracy and provided the Republic with four Doges. While the palazzo of the marquesses has been stripped of all its painted furnishings, three busts relating to Invrea commissions have survived in the town’s two churches, two of which are of extraordinary quality in spite of having remained unknown to scholars until now. Through a reconstruction of relationships with contemporary artistic and cultural contexts, an updated review of archival and documentary sources and rigorous stylistic comparison, the busts of Antoniotto and Francesco Invrea senior are here ascribed to the sculptor Jacopo Antonio Ponzanelli (1654-1735), the finest pupil of Filippo Parodi, thus once again highlighting the central role of the Genoese school in the art of Baroque marble sculpture.