Key to Umbria: Perugia
 


Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia (died 1633)

and Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia (1616-80)


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Giovanni Antonio and Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia in:  Perugia    Trevi

Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia

Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, who came from Perugia, was first documented in 1585, and again in 1586, when the Confraternita di San Domenico commissioned “reliefs” of SS Sebastian and Dominic that could be taken in procession.  This suggests that he started his career as a sculptor, which probably explains the fact that he was enrolled as a member of the Collegio di Pietra e Legname (the guild of stonemasons and woodworkers) in 1614.  However, all his surviving works are paintings. 

A panel in the Museo Capitolare (see below) is thought to be his earliest surviving work, and to predate an undocumented period of training in Rome.  This work was probably commissioned by the Confraternita di San Francesco: his association with the Perugian confraternities dedicated to SS Dominic, Francis and Augustine was to continue throughout his career. 

Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia had probably returned to Perugia by ca. 1609: frescoes (now lost) of scenes from the life of St Stephen, which were executed in the Cappella di Santo Stefano of the Duomo soon after it was instituted in 1609, were attributed to him.  He spent the rest of his life in his native city.  His pupils included his son, Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia (below),  Giovanni Domenico Cerrini and Paolo Gismondi

Perugia

Madonna and Child (ca. 1600)


This lunette-shaped panel, which depicts depicts the seated Madonna and Child with two putti, was documented in the sacristy of the Oratorio di San Francesco, with an attribution to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, in 1784.   It is thought to be Scaramuccia’s earliest surviving work.  It is now in the Museo Capitolare.

Madonna and Child with saints (ca. 1610)

This small panel by Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, which was originally in San Domenico, passed to the Galleria Nazionale in 1863.  It depicts the Madonna and Child in glory: the Madonna passes a rosary to St Dominic while the baby Jesus is about to place a crown of roses on the head of the Blessed Colomba da Rieti, who holds her attribute, a dove.  The altarpiece was probably commissioned during the period 1610-2, which was a time of natural disasters in Perugia: the Blessed Colomba points to a putto that holds a plaque inscribed with the antiphon: “Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo” (Spare your people Lord).



San Domenico is prominent at the centre of the composition, with San Pietro to the left and the Rocca Paolina and the city centre to the right. 

Madonna and Child with saints (1610-7)

The Commune and the confraternities dedicated to SS Dominic, Francis and Augustine commissioned this panel from Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia in 1610 for the Perugian chapel of the Holy Rosary at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi.  He received payments for it in 1610 and again in 1614.  However, by the time that the panel was delivered in 1617, the Perugians had exchanged this chapel for the larger Cappella di Sant’ Antonio di Padova, and this was still in construction.  The panel was therefore taken to the Chiesa del Gesù in Perugia and then, in 1650, to the counter-facade of the Duomo

The panel depicts the Madonna and Child in Glory, above a cityscape of Perugia, with:

  1. SS Herculanus, Constantius and Laurence, the patron saints of Perugia; and

  2. SS Dominic, Augustine and Francis, the patrons of the Perugian confraternities that commissioned the panel.

Scenes from the life of Christ (1611-27)


The Confraternita di San Francesco commissioned these eight large panels form Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia in 1611 for the walls of the Oratorio di Sant’ Francesco.  They depict:

  1. the Annuncition;

  2. the Visitation;

  3. the Nativity;

  4. the Adoration of the Magi;

  5. the Presentation at the Temple;

  6. the Flight into Egypt;

  7. Christ among the Doctors in the Temple; and

  8. the Resurrection.

The work was complete by 1624, but a dispute between the confraternity and the artist delayed the final payment.  This dispute was resolved through the arbitration of Bishop Cardinal Cosimo de Torres: he essentially found in favour of Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, provided that he repainted the last panel.  This he duly did, in 1627.

Madonna and Child with saints (1625-7)

The Perugian confraternities dedicated to SS Dominic, Francis and Augustine commissioned this processional banner from Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia in 1625.  It depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Dominic, Augustine and Francis.  It now forms the altarpiece of the altar in the sacristy of the Oratorio di Sant’ Agostino.   

Madonna and Child with saints (1632)

An inscription on this altarpiece on the high altar of San Luca    records the Commendari Abbot Ruggero Ranieri commissioned it in 1632 from Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia.  It depicts the Madonna and Child with SS John the Baptist and Luke.






Madonna and Child with saints (17th century)

This altarpiece in Santa Teresa degli Scalzi, which depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Joseph and Theresa, is attributed to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia. 

Madonna and Child with saints (17th century)

The Collegio di Pietra e Legname commissioned this panel for their church of San Claudio.  It is attributed to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, who enrolled in this college in 1614.  It depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Joseph and Claudius.  When San Claudio was demolished in 1798, following the suppression of the Collegio di Pietra e Legname, the panel passed to the the Corporazione dei Falegnami.  They took it to Santa Croce when they moved there in 1833, and it is now on the left wall of the church.  


Madonna della Rosario (17th or 18th century)

This altarpiece on the high altar of the church the Monastero della Beata Colomba in Corso Garibaldi depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Dominic and Catherine of Siena.   It is probably the altarpiece recorded in 1822 on an altar in the nuns’ church at San Tommaso.  This original record attributes it to the 18th century artist Francesco Appiano, and this seems to be more likely than the attribution by other scholars to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia.



Madonna and Child (17th century)

This altarpiece, which is attributed to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, came from the nunnery of Santa Lucia.  It is now in the Museo Capitolare. The full length figure of the Madonna portrays her as the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.  





St Charles Borromeo (17th century)

This altarpiece, which is attributed to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, came from the nunnery of Santa Giuliana.  It is now in the deposit of the Galleria Nazionale.  It depicts the standing saint dressed as a cardinal, set against a cloth of honour held by putti.  

Trevi

Cappella di Sant’ Agata (17th century)

The decoration of the Cappella di Sant’ Agata in the Chiesa del Crocifisso is attributed to Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia.

Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia

After having initially worked with his father, Luigi left Perugia for Bologna, where he probably trained under Guido Reni.  He subsequently worked mainly in Bologna and Milan.  He is best known for his book “ Finezze de' Pennelli Italiani” (1674), which was written as an tour of the main artistic centres of Italy by “Girupeno di Raffaello”, guided by Raphael.  (Girupeno, Scaramuccia’s pseudonym, is an anagram of Perugino).

Perugia

Presentation of the Virgin (1665)

Count Giovanni Antonio Bigazzini commissioned this altarpiece from Luigi Pellegrino Scaramuccia using money left for the purpose by his mother, Artemizia.  It was installed in the Cappella della Presentazione di Maria in San Filippo Neri, which belonged to the Bigazzini family.  It is now in the Galleria Nazionale.





Read more: 
P. Mancini, “Profilo di Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia”, in:
Arte e Musica in Umbria tra Cinquecento e Seicento:  Atti del XII Convegno di Studi Umbri”, Gubbio (1981) pp 367-404

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