ABSTRACT
In Milan, Malvasia met Ercole the Younger, Carlo Antonio’s son and the only remaining member of this famous dynasty of painters. Read in modern terms, the Procaccini family story is an example of skilled migration. Having grown up in Bologna, where the pater familias Ercole the Elder was a respected painter, they relocated to Milan, developing an artistic business that fulfilled a variety of commissions including major religious works, paintings for the private market and decoration of aristocratic villas. Elizabeth Cropper notes that Malvasia’s method insisted upon the importance of ocular inspection and the verification of facts through experience. The modern rediscovery of the Procaccini was inaugurated in 1929 by Nikolaus Pevsner, who wrote the first fundamental study on Giulio Cesare. Over the course of their careers, the Procaccini adopted a diverse range of stylistic references meant to appeal to both religious institutions and private patrons.
