Oratory Visconteo, Albizzate (VA)

A rare testimony to the artistic production of the late fourteenth century, the frescoes of Albizzate depict episodes from the lives of Francis of Assisi and Louis of Toulouse. Painted by a Lombard artist, probably a pupil of Giovanni da Milano, they demonstrate a typically Lombard narrative style of painting, oriented toward storytelling and the representation of events in a lively, almost fairy-tale-like and popular manner. There are clear similarities with contemporary fresco cycles found in Lentate sul Seveso, Solaro, Mocchirolo and Campione d'Italia. Due to their deterioration, the frescoes were detached in the 1960s and then repositioned in their original location on specially prepared wooden supports.