His work is little known outside his native Italy. But an exhibition opening next week suggests Moroni is one of the great artists of the Counter Reformation
It’s a grey, showery autumn day in Albino in Lombardy, and I’m at the main church in the town square. By Italian standards the Chiesa di San Giuliano is pretty dull: originally a medieval foundation, it was rebuilt in neoclassical style in the early 19th and unremarkable: but in this Renaissance heartland there’s always the chance that even the most unlikely church harbours stunning art treasures.I follow Dr Arturo Galansino, curator at the Royal Academy in London, up the poorly-lit nave, to a side altar towards the front of the church. Someone finds a light switch and suddenly there in front of us is a
16 October 2014, The Tablet
Out of the shadows
Giovanni Battista Moroni, Royal Academy London (25 October to 25 January)
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