Una nuova camera picta pavese tardogotica: le Damigelle d Lardirago

[Autom. eng. transl.] The contribution presents the fragments of a new camera picta pavese, which depict Damsels in a luxuriant garden. The works constitute an important and qualitatively very high piece of late Gothic painting in Pavia and more generally in Lombardy. The essay investigates the models on which the paintings depend, to be traced in the decorative campaigns promoted by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the castle of Pavia; in particular, they faithfully reproduce the inventions prepared by Giovannino de' Grassi in the Taccuino di disegni of Bergamo. The pungent naturalism that distinguishes the tree species arranged in the background of the fragmentary cycle, characterized by a great modernity, which constitutes a direct precedent of the Camera dei Putti in Palazzo Branda in Castiglione Olona (1423), also derives from the artist. At the same time, the essay investigates the figure of the possible patron of the frescoes, Franceschino Surigari, a noble and learned Ghibelline of the Visconti court. The identification, in addition, allows us to formulate a fascinating research path to try to give a name to the anonymous master author of the Damigelle, datable to around 1405.