SAINT MAURUS CURES A LABORER

Cesare Sermei learned his craft between the cities of Orvieto and Rome, in the studio of Cesare Nebbia, studying examples of late Roman and Tuscan mannerism at length. He settled in Assisi during the first decade of the 17th century, after spending time in Pavia. He began a long career, during which he was active in the building of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the lower basilica of San Francesco, and in many towns in Umbria. He was favorable to the new stylistic reformation of painting, and he himself painted with a clear and balanced style. The canvas of The Miracle of St. Maurus curing a wounded Laborer, of which he is most generally assumed to be the painter, is from the later years of his career. Baldassarre Orsini (1784) has read the date as 1643, while Serafino Siepi (1822) read it as 1648. The scene is set at the base of a simply designed building in construction; the overall atmosphere is extremely peaceful and controlled.