GIOACCHINO ASSERETO (Genoa, 1600 - 1649) Virgin of the Rosary with Child and Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena (c. 1630) Oil on canvas, 130X108.7 cm Provenance: Genoa, private collection Bibliography: T. Zennaro, Aggiunta al catalogo di Gioacchino Assereto, in Paragone Arte, year LVI, n. 64, November 2005, pp. 36-37, 41, notes 45-46, table 47 T. Zennaro, Gioacchino Assereto 1600-1650 e i pittori della sua scuola, Soncino 2011, I, pp. 300-301, no. A57 Gioacchino Assereto distinguished Genoese painting during the first half of the 17th century and his older colleague Bernardo Strozzi was an indispensable point of reference for him, to the detriment of the teachings he learned in Luciano Borzone's workshop. The latter was nonetheless able to bring his pupil closer to the Lombard examples of Procaccini and Cerano and to introduce him to the Academy of Giovan Carlo Doria, whose collection in 1621 counted 28 works by the Capuchin. Later, Assereto was entrusted to the teachings of Andrea Ansaldo but even in this case, the comparison with Strozzi and his 'Milanese friends' was always preponderant (cf. Longhi 1926, p. 17). The first to note the ideal affinity of intentions between the two painters was Roberto Longhi, who did not hesitate to emphasise how the spiritual mannerism of the Lombard characterises the youthful works and how the vague Caravaggismo is a strozzesco-like decantation structured in its chromatic and draftsmanship preciousness. This can be seen by looking at the Saint John the Baptist dated 1619, in which the manner and outcome look to the Cappuccino, recognising the teachings of Borzone and Ansaldo. The same is true of the Three Fates at Palazzo Rocca in Chiavari, whose attributive vicissitudes best reflect affinities. With the beginning of the third decade, however, we will see Assereto soften the strozzesque temptations by working the bright and harsh colour in the guise of modelled foils, bearing witness to his study of Procaccini and Cerano, bringing out that distinctive expressive and gestural tension. At the same time, his palette is enriched in hues, showing off a precious malachite green, violet and orange tints, while the physiognomies and draperies take on geometric shapes that evoke Cambiasque, Ansaldian and Nordic memories, in a sort of neo-Mannerism that we see, for example, in the Coronation of the Virgin to the Dominicans of Taggia and in the Lapidazioni of Palazzo Bianco and the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Lucca. These are works in which the painter favours the use of small formats and a sketch-like manner, characterised by sharp outlines and Procrustean suggestions. These characteristics can also be seen in the precious Adoration of the Magi on copper in Palazzo Spinola and in a more majestic and bizarre manner, according to Soprani's definition, in the frescoes of the Annunziata, stylistically consistent with the Saint John the Baptist in the parish church of Taggia, to be dated around 1625. This being said, the third decade saw Assereto demonstrate an uncommon pictorial and research activity, with peaks of very high quality and leaps forward, so much so as to create uncertainties in the chronological scansion of his works. An emblematic case in point is the famous Circe from the Dayton Art Institute, assigned by Zennaro within 1625, while Pesenti places it five years later, due to its evident craftsmanship and maturity. This dating, although seductive, is belied by the metallic drapery and the comparison with the Carige's Saint Francis comforted by the musician angel, whose date of 1630 seems to have been established. There is no doubt, however, that in these works the artist meditated and reworked all possible lessons and that within the new decade there was a continuous succession of exceptional works. We recall the Holy Family with St. Peter and St. John from which Longhi studies began, the Alexander and Diogenes in Berlin, Tobias and the Angel in Birmingham, the Presentation in the Temple in Brera and the Madonna and Child with Saints Cosmas and Damian. Alongside these wide-ranging compositions, some, more intimate, herald dark sensibilities and interesting light research, as demonstrated by St. Peter of the Museo Làzaro Galdiano in Madrid, so riberesque as to once boast its attribution, and the St. Jerome from a private collection dated 1627. On the other hand, it can be assumed that it will be in the Annunciation in the parish church of St. Andrew in Rigoroso and its accurate atmospheric and chiaroscuro investigation that the painter's technique will turn towards the 1630s, when he discovered his search for increasingly complex and refined drafts, evolving with the aforementioned St. Francis Carige and therefore to be dated around 1635. This progress is demonstrated by the beautiful Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew at the Ligustica Academy, in which the peculiar gloomy naturalism is, as Roberto Longhi said, an accomplished fact for dramatic temperament and scenic setting. A painting also sustained by impeccable drafts, traversed by subtle vibrations and transparencies that presage the results of his full maturity, with variations in the material and pictorial conduction that accentuate the mimesis of the flesh tones and the tragic expressiveness of the characters, demonstrating a definitive emancipation. In these years, the artist's creations saw the completion of innovative compositional research, putting into practice those diagonal arrangements that would prevail during his maturity. This is demonstrated by the Presentation at the Brera Temple, the aforementioned Altarpiece of Saints Cosmas and Damian and the canvas presented here, which dates back to the early 1930s. Reference bibliography: R. Longhi, E ancora dell'Assereto, in Pinacotheca, 1929, pp. 22, fig. 1 G. V. Castelnovi, Intorno all'Assereto, in Emporium, CXX, no. 7, July 1954, pp. 17-35 G. V. Castelnovi, La pittura nella prima metà del Seicento dall'Ansaldo a Orazio de Ferrari, in La Pittura a Genova e in Liguria, Genoa 1970-1971, II, p. 156 F. R. Pesenti, La pittura in Liguria. Artisti del primo seicento, Genoa 1986, ad vocem G. V. Castelnovi, La pittura nella prima metà del Seicento dall'Ansaldo a Orazio de Ferrari, in La pittura a Genova e in Liguria, Genoa 1987, II, p. 133 A. Orlando, Il caravaggismo genovese. Strozzi, Fiasella, Borzone, Assereto e altre comparse, in Caravaggio e i Genovesi. Committenti, collezionisti, pittori, exhibition catalogue edited by A. Orlando, Genoa 2019, pp. 210-263 C. Masoero, in Progetto Superbarocco. I protagonisti. Capolavori a Genova 1600-1750, Genoa 2022, pp. 100-101, n. 2