Ferdinando Brambilla (1838-1921)

Ferdinando Brambilla (Milan, 1838-1921)

The nun of Monza

Oil on canvas, 60.5x49 cm

Signed and dated lower right “Brambilla 1868”

The painting depicts a nun caught in the intimate and personal act of reading the sacred scriptures. At the center of the composition, the figure of the nun dominates the scene, dressed in a dark dress and a white veil framing her face. The gaze, sweet and absorbed, is turned towards the observer, a serene and slightly questioning expression that invites direct eye contact. In his hands he holds an open book, the pages of which seem to absorb his attention, even if momentarily diverted. Behind him, through a large window, you can glimpse a particularly evocative glimpse: the imposing Gothic spiers of the Monza cathedral appear clearly visible. This allows us to identify the recantation with Gertrude, the absolute nun protagonist of the IX chapter of Manzoni's The Betrothed. The light that filters from the outside delicately illuminates the nun's face and the pages of the book, creating an atmosphere of quiet and contemplation. The painting overall conveys a sense of calm and devotion, suggesting a moment of personal study or reflection.

Ferdinando Brambilla was born in Milan on 8 July 1838. He attended the Sogni school in Brera, oscillating between neo-Renaissance and romantic ways, before moving on to those of Hayez and Casnedi. With the latter he collaborated on the fresco decoration –subsequently replaced by mosaics and now lost – of the octagon of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan (lunettes of America and Art). As a fresco painter, Brambilla was also active at the Temple of the Incoronata in Lodi, where he painted the allegorical figures of the pilasters on the upper floor, conducted with a certain pictorial warmth, the Facts of St. Marco in the chapel dedicated to the saint in S. Simpliciano in Milan. In the oil paintings of his youth he preferred the historical theme, not insensitive to the ways of theatrical melodrama, as can be seen in the Margherita degli Acciaiuoli and the second-hand dealer Giovanni dalla Palla, who obtained the triennial Brera prize of 1867 (Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera). His other awarded works were the Bagno Pompeiano of 1872 and the Slave Market in Morocco, awarded by Prince Umberto at the Brera Exhibition (see. Illustraz. ital., 21 Sept. 1879, p. 183), once in the Cusani Visconti collection in Milan. He died in Milan in 1921 after a career punctuated by various academic awards. 

Starting from the 1840s, also thanks to the incredible popularity of the figure of the nun from Monza in The Betrothed (it is necessary to remember that, in the so-called Twenty-Septan edition, the episode of Gertrude appeared further in-depth compared to what happens in the definitive version, the Quarantana), the representation of religious people proves to be common as far as the Italian pictorial panorama is concerned: to confirm this phenomenon, we need only think of the intriguing representations of the fascinating Manzonian character put into action by Giuseppe Molteni and Moses Bianchi and the depiction of a beautiful young nun proposed by the now elderly Francesco Hayez in the final stages of his career in 1879. Also further adding to this phenomenon is the great success of the neo-Gothic novel, often distinguished by a conventual setting, of which The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis proves to be one of the first testimonies

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