Cesare da Sesto
1477–1523 · Lombard Renaissance painter, follower of Leonardo da Vinci
Cesare da Sesto (Sesto Calende, 1477 – Milan, 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter active mainly in Lombardy and southern Italy. He is counted among the Leonardeschi, the artists who adopted, wholly or partly, the manner of Leonardo da Vinci. His significance lies less in a distinctive personal style than in his role as a transmitter: he carried Raphaelesque influence into northern Italy and Leonardesque influence into the south.
The details of his training are unclear. By around 1505 he appears in Rome as an assistant to Baldassare Peruzzi, and he seems to have remained in Lazio until 1510–1512, a period when he saw Raphael's early Roman works and met Il Sodoma. Back in Milan, he merged the Roman, Raphaelesque manner with the Leonardesque current that dominated Lombard painting. His Salome in Vienna (1512) takes its theme, expressiveness and handling of the surface from Leonardo, while its figure canon derives from Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura. In the Baptism of Christ (1512) he softened the Leonardesque types, although this synthesis lacked Leonardo's subtlety and sometimes bordered on caricature.
In 1514 he left Milan with his assistant Aliprando, passed through Rome, Siena and Florence, and settled in the south for six years, in Naples and Messina. There his style grew more sophisticated and elegant, though somewhat mannered. His Adoration of the Magi, now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, shows close study of Raphael's Holy Family of the Spasimo di Sicilia, then kept in Naples. Returning to Milan in 1520, he painted the polyptych of the Madonna in Glory for San Rocco, his last major work. He died in Milan in 1523.
His eclecticism kept him from becoming a great creative figure, but he played an important role in spreading the manners of Raphael and Leonardo across Italy.
Works (7)
This work by Cesare da Sesto, dated 1550, treats the Gospel episode of the Last Supper, with Jesus as its central figure. Without further reference material, we can only say with confidence that it is a religious painting kept in the parish church of Sant'Ambrogio. Details of its composition, technique and colour would require closer study.
This polyptych by Cesare da Sesto, dated 1523, is painted in oil on panel and is housed in the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Its title points to Saint Roch, and polyptych denotes an altarpiece of several joined panels. Beyond these facts, available information does not confirm who commissioned it or its original arrangement.
Oil on canvas of religious subject gathering Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a widely venerated figure in Christian tradition. No reliable details about its commission or date are recorded here, so the reading focuses on the scene itself and on the saint's place within the holy family.
Painted by Cesare da Sesto in 1510, this religious work brings together the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist. The available information does not describe its commission or composition in detail, so a closer reading would need direct examination of the painting and specialist literature.
Where to see the work
- Galleria Borghese Paris · 1
- Museo di Capodimonte Naples · 1
- Wilton House Wilton · 1
- Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco Milan · 1
- National Art Museum of Azerbaijan Baku · 1
- National Museum of Ancient Art Estrela · 1
Teachers and pupils
Studied with
- Leonardo da Vinci 1452–1519