CARLO FRANCESCO NUVOLONE (Milan, 1609 - 1662) Roman Charity Oil on canvas, 97.5X75.5 cm Inscribed on the verso: 204 charité R Provenance: Milan, Finarte, 27 April 1978, lot 51 (as Daniele Crespi) Italy, private collection The canvas presented here was attributed to Carlo Francesco Nuvolone by Filippo Maria Ferro and proves to be an important addition to the artist's catalogue, not only for its pictorial quality, but also because it documents his youthful style, still influenced by the examples of Cerano and Procaccini, thus suggesting a date in the early 1930s. Having said this, the painting shows a fluent language, confident in its results and an evident drawing mastery that partly clarifies, by virtue of the skilful draftsmanship, the previous attribution to Daniele Crespi. As we know, Carlo Francesco belonged to a dynasty of painters whose progenitor was Panfilo (Cremona, 1581 ; 1651) and his brother Francesco (Milan, 1609 ; 1662), but in his evolution he succeeded in expressing a harmony of tints and a greater narrative complexity that, during his maturity, would be influenced by figurative examples from Emilia and Genoa. But, as we have said, in this work we observe the soft drafts, played on delicate nuances and chromatic tones, it is also characterised by an appreciable direction of light that offers a peculiar scenic harmony of classical taste, here applied with the visionary and meditative inclinations of the contemporary Milanese cultural climate around mid-century. We thank Filippo Maria Ferro for the attribution. Reference bibliography: F.M. Ferro, Nuvolone, una famiglia di pittori nella Milano del '600, Soncino 2003, ad vocem F. M. Ferro, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, Frammenti di un discorso amoroso, in Valori Tattili, 2, July-December 2013