Focus on The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (Moretto) and discuss the Style.
Contemporary critics have agreed that the work is likely dateable to between 1530 and 1535.: 294  The dating of the painting, however, has been controversial.: 292  From the first study by Stefano Fenaroli in 1877 to the most recent by Pier Virgilio Begni Redoni in 1988, hypotheses have been proposed from anywhere between 1520 and 1544, practically the entire length of Moretto's career. The painting has been described as both a youthful, immature work and as the result of an experienced painter—there are no stylistic elements of the work that help to establish a correct date.: 294 The question was nearly resolved in 1981 by Maria Cristina Rodeschini, who discovered unpublished documents in the Grumelli archive.: 294  The documents state that on May 14, 1526, Marcantonio Grumelli sought Anselmo Cortesi, a master engraver, to prepare a marble tomb based on a design by Jacopino degli Scipioni for Marcantonio's brother Pietro. Pietro Grumelli, the previous year, had dedicated money to the family chapel in the chiesa dei Santi Stefano e Domenico. Three years later, Marcantonio Grumelli again commissioned Jacopino degli Scipioni to decorate the chapel with frescoes. Rodeschini concluded, then, that the main work on the chapel ended after 1530. From that point on, the Grumellis would have commissioned Moretto to paint The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr for the chapel.: 294  That period also coincides with Moretto's presence in Bergamo, where he was commissioned by Lorenzo Lotto to complete frescoes for the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.: 294  Another possible contact between Marcantonio Grumelli and Moretto would have come in 1534, when the painter was commissioned to complete Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints in the church of Sant'Andrea in Bergamo: the Grumellis contributed money to that work as well.: 294 The work demonstrates a dramatic expression of movement rendered with traditional tones of color and through figures in the background. The landscape exhibits elements of "spontaneity and lyrical sentiment", art historian Panazza observed. This combination reflects the style of Moretto and deviates from the work in the Portinari Chapel. Moretto was likely influenced by the frescoes of Vincenzo Foppa in the Portinari Chapel in Milan, as well Titian, who painted an altarpiece with similar angel figures in 1530.: 295 Robert Longhi, in 1929, while researching the models of Caravaggio, suggested that The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr might have been a reference for Caravaggio's The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Portinari Chapel Vincenzo Foppa Sant'Andrea Milan The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew Martyr Bergamo Caravaggio Titian Lorenzo Lotto Santa Maria Maggiore Maria Cristina Rodeschini