La Crocifissione e santi dell’eremo di San Salvatore a Crevenna. Appunti e considerazioni

On the hilltop of Crevenna, a hamlet of Erba, stands the small church of San Salvatore. Inside, on the far wall, is a fine fresco with Crucifixion and Saints, discovered around the middle of the th century and for years attributed to Michelino da Besozzo. This article aims to reconstruct the church’s story and investigate the art historical scenario in which, in the early decades of the th century, its decora- tion is likely to have been carried out. First of all the owners of the building are identified: the Carpani, an important Guelph family who lived in the pieve of Incino, and probably commissioned the fresco. An investigation is also made of their ties with the court and work sites of the duchy of Milan. It is then attempted, by means of stylistic analysis, to distinguish the different artistic personalities probably responsible for the execution of the fresco, both of whom linked to the Milanese workshop of the Zavattari. Finally, it is proposed to identify the authors with local artists, the magistri de Crebena, who probably learned their craft in the heart of the Visconti dominions side by side with the master artists active in the Cathedral of Monza, and were subsequently called back to their homes to disseminate the late Gothic style of Milan and Michelino in Upper Brianza.