Accademici di San Luca di Corconio nella chiesa di San Pietro in Carcegna (Novara)

The church of S. Pietro in Carcegna, erected on the east shore of Lake Orta during the second half of the seventeenth century, stands as an interesting result of the cultural phenomenon known as the artistic association. The Accademia di San Luca in Corconio had the important function of bringing together in the parish church of S. Pietro famous artists with highly different artistic and far-reaching geographic backgrounds. The high concentration of influential names in such a remote, unexplored place combined with the presence of artists coming from so many different parts of Italy represent the important outcome of an intense, expert joint artistic effort which was surely reflected in other sacred buildings in the Lake Orta area. Without this context, it would be difficult to explain the rare, if not unique, presence of the following artists in Northern Italy: the Roman Luigi Garzi, with the unpublished Adoration of the Magi; Luigi Scaramuccia, called Perugino, with his unpublished Purification of the Virgin; Federico Bianchi, the Milanese artist who collaborated with the canvas of the Immaculate Conception, which has not yet been inserted in the catalogue of the artist's works; and Giorgio Bonola, who decorated the Chapel of S. Mauro. This last artist admirably managed to act as a catalyst in bringing together such rare and important artistic personalities by creating an artistic association which is comparable to the more well-known academies in Milan and Rome.