Vincent Malò (Cambrai 1602/06-Rome 1644) The Crucifixion of St. Andrew Oil on panel, 51x68 cm With frame, 59x76 cm Critical analysis by Prof. Alberto Crispo Vincent Malò was born in Cambrai, in the heart of the French Flanders region, probably between 1602 and 1606. From 1623 to 1634, Malò was a student of the two most prominent painters in flourishing Antwerp: initially, he worked in the workshop of Pieter Paul Rubens, from whom he inherited the marked chiaroscuro contrast of Caravaggio's style, and later with David Teniers the Elder, from whom he adopted the marked characterization of the figures that animate genre scenes and works of religious subject matter. During this period, he became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. After 1634, Malo moved to Italy, settling in Genoa. There he lived and collaborated with another Flemish painter, Cornelis de Wael, who played an important role in the Flemish artistic community in Genoa and who contributed to the spread of the dictates of Northern lenticularism in the north of the Peninsula. The port city of Genoa offered an environment rich in potential patrons and collectors. Malò received several commissions for local churches and palaces. During his stay in Genoa, he had Antonio Maria Vassallo as a student, who, along with his son Vincent Malò II, was his most famous successor. Among the works executed by the Flemish painter for Genoa is the Vision of Saint Ampelius of the Genoese church of Santo Stefano: the work was executed around 1637, when the relics of the Saint were found: this fact is of particular importance for placing Malò in Liguria in the 1630s. During his decade-long stay in Italy, Malò also resided in Florence and Rome, where he died on April 14, 1644. His family returned to Antwerp, and in 1652 his son was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke as the son of a master. Vincent Malo painted genre scenes, religious and mythological subjects, and occasionally portraits. His early works still show Mannerist traits, while his mature works reveal a Baroque style close to that of Rubens and van Dyck. As evidence of his remarkable critical fortune, it is necessary to remember how a brief biographical and artistic profile of him was outlined already in the second half of the seventeenth century by Raffaele Soprani, who wrote: "Vincenzo Malò of Cambrai lived the years passed in Genoa, a painter of beautiful colors, & his brushes had such applause, that those cabinets were not considered well adorned, in which some small table was not seen worked by his hands. He had, in his early years, learned the art of painting in Antwerp under the tutelage of David Tener [Teniers] a highly esteemed painter: but, becoming enamored of the beautiful manner that Pietro Paolo Rubens held in painting, he went to his house, & there, staying for some time, he attended with peace of mind to perfecting himself in his craft; it is true that in his works design always yielded to color, and therefore his small canvases were always more appreciated than the large ones, and particularly in Genoa where he painted a great quantity of them, often making use of the designs of Cornelio de Vael [de Wael], which is why they are held in great esteem by lovers of the profession. In the Oratory of Saints Peter, & Paul are his the table of the high altar, & a very large Last Supper made by him in very few days, & in S. Stefano there is the table of S. Ampegli consoled in his infirmity by the visit of the Angel: nor is any other of his work seen in public, the others all being preserved by many Citizens in their own homes, and among these is a very beautiful Saint Mary Magdalene, which is with Mr. Gio: Nicolò Cavana. Desirous Vincenzo to see Florence went there with his whole family, and after having dwelt there for some time, wanted to visit the City of Rome where rather quickly falling ill due to his very unregulated way of life ended his days at the age of 45. in about, and with him died the good hope that one had of his happy success" (R. Soprani, Le vite de pittori scultori, et architetti genovesi, Genoa 1674, p. 330). Our panel can be easily associated with Malò's work, as revealed by comparisons with other pictorial proofs of the Flemish painter, a student of Rubens and Teniers. See, for example, the Camillus and the schoolmaster of Falerii formerly by Pandolfini in Florence, November 14, 2017, lot 12, where we find stylistic features that are entirely similar, from the physiognomies to the way the garments are delineated, but also observe the Triumph of David presented by Il Ponte in Milan, October 26-27, 2016, lot 563, in which we see warriors with armor and crests very close to those drawn in our panel and, above all, a graceful steed almost overlapping with ours, if not for the different inclination of the head. In the composition, two unusual characters are visible as far as the classic iconography of the crucifixion of Saint Andrew is concerned: on one side we find the centurion Aegeas, who imposes the crucifixion of the saint, while in front we find the presence of his wife Maximilia, who had been healed by the saint himself, who weeps with sorrow for his martyrdom.