Ottavio Amigoni: Apparition of Saints Faustinus and Jovita in the Defense of Brescia

The Ringling Museum's (Sarasota, FL) Knights exhibition features Medieval and Renaissance arms and armor on loan from the collection of Florence's Museo Stibbert. The shine and lethality of the 100 or so offensive and defensive weapons on display are somewhat softened by the presence of nine paintings, none familiar to me.

In this series I explore the backstory of these pieces, beginning with Ottavio Amigoni's Apparition of Saints Faustinus and Jovita in the Defense of Brescia.

Ottavio Amigoni, Apparition of Saints Faustinus and Jovita
in the Defense of Brescia, mid-17th-century

The map below shows the location of Brescia, a part of the Republic of Venice in 1600, within the Lombardy region today.

Italy in 1600 with Brescia highlighted in the red oval

The patron saints of Brescia are Faustinus (the preacher) and Jovita (a deacon), nobly born Brescian brothers, who fearlessly preached Christianity while their bishop cowered in fear. According to tradition, the brothers were arrested for their activities, tortured, paraded down to Milan, Rome, and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. They remained constant in their faith through it all so Emperor Hadrian ordered them beheaded. Depending on the source, this beheading occurred in 118 or 120 AD. February 15th is the feast day of the saints. The painting below dramatizes the beheadings.

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Martyrdom of Saints
Faustinus and Jovita

Italy's history is rife with wars between competing city-states and Duchys. During the early 15th century the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan continued this tradition with a series of four campaigns which began in 1427 and ended with the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. In the fourth campaign of the series, the Venetian forces and their allies were led by Gattamelata and Francesco Sforza, while the Milanese force and its allies were led by Niccolò Piccinino. Piccinino laid siege to the city of Brescia in 1438.

The siege lasted from 1438 to 1440. During that time, 40 bombards battered the walls for months. The final attack, when it came, included 15,000 soldiers and 500 horses but they were repulsed by 1000 Brescian footsoldiers and 600 horses.

According to tradition, the victory was also owed to a miraculous apparition of the patron saints Faustinus and Jovita. A 16th-century monument halfway along Via Brigida Avogadro marks the spot where the saints appeared on the bastion of Roverotto.

Returning to the painting, the listed artist is Ottavio Amigoni (1606 - 1661), an Italian painter who was active in Brescia painting primarily frescoes. The bulk of his identified works are done in the Baroque style.

I have grouped the Amigoni painting with two similarly labeled efforts below for purposes of comparison.

Ottavio Amigoni, Apparition of Saints Faustinus and Jovita
in the Defense of Brescia, mid-17th-century

Gian Domenico Tiepolo, Saints Faustinus and Jovita Appear
in Defense of Brescia under Attack from Niccolò Piccinino
in 1438, 1754 - 1755 (Oil on canvas)

Grazio Cossali, Appearance of Saints Faustinus and Jovita in
the Defense of Brescia, 1603, Church of Saints Faustinus and
Jovita

Of the three, the Amigoni effort seems to be the least pre-occupied with its title. In the Tiepolo painting, the apparition is a dominant feature, floating effortlessly high above the battlefield, visible from all aspects. The saints are less monumental in the Cossali effort but are centered. with the construct of the painting, and the play of light, directing the viewer's eye to them. In the Amigoni effort, the saints are barely visible (apparitions) as stick-like figures within the confines of a shining halo which is itself almost obscured behind and within the smoke of battle.

The Amigoni painting seems to be more about the battle, the layout of the battlefield, and the heroism of the Brescians. It is constructed on multiple planes with the earliest part of the foreground occupied by non-combatants. Four of the five persons on the left side of the painting are looking out and are probably elites who would have been known to contemporary viewers. On the right-hand-side of this initial frame we see Piccinino, the leader of the Milanese forces, pointing out the apparition to another mercenary leader.

The central plane shows the flat land around Brescia Castle as a raging battlefield with charging horses and smoke rising from the arquebuses employed by the foot soldiers. The castle is the dominant structure, with its white stone walls unsullied by the battle raging around, its openings belch defensive fire at the advancing hordes, and defenders engage those who would seek to scale its walls.

Within the castle walls there is a tranquil, peaceful green space whose trees point us to the battle raging beyond.

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