Unable to arrive at any conclusion, I asked the sacristan, and was
told it was by a certain Dedomenici of Rossa, in the Val Sesia, and
that it had been painted some forty or fifty years ago. I
expressed my surprise, and the sacristan continued: "Yes, but what
is most wonderful about him is that he never left his native
valley, and never had any instruction, but picked up his art for
himself as best he could."
I have been twice to Varallo since, to see whether I should change
my mind, but have not done so. If Dedomenici had been a Florentine
or Venetian in the best times, he would have done as well as the
best; as it is, his work is remarkable. He died about 1840, very
old, and he kept on improving to the last. His last work--at least
I was told upon the spot that it was his last--is in a little
roadside chapel perched high upon a rock, and dedicated, if I
remember rightly, to S. Michele, on the path from Fobello in the
Val Mastallone to Taponaccio. It is a Madonna and child in clouds,
with two full-length saints standing beneath--all the figures life-
size. I came upon this chapel quite accidentally one evening, and,
looking in, recognised the altar-piece as a Dedomenici. I inquired
at the next village who had painted it, and was told, "un certo
Dedomenici da Rossa." I was also told that he was nearly eighty
years old when he painted this picture.
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