Cesare Magni proposed as author of San Galdino chapel frescoes near Milan

The Cappella di San Galdino in Zelo Surrigone, near Abbiategrasso, was built in 1518 by brothers Gabriele and Bernardo Sala (de Salio). Its interior features a monochrome brown pergola of mulberry branches on a blue vault, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Sala delle Asse in the Castello Sforzesco. The frescoes have long been attributed to Nicola Mangone (Moietta), active at the nearby Convento dell'Annunciata in 1519, but scholars like Sandrina Bandera have not found conclusive evidence. New analysis by Luca Tosi, conservator at the Castello Sforzesco, points to Cesare Magni (1492–1534) as the possible author. The coat of arms on the vault combines the Sala and Magni families, and restorer Luigi Parma confirmed it is original, not a later addition. Cesare, illegitimate son of Francesco Magni, apprenticed under Fermo Tizzoni da Caravaggio from 1511, where he likely met Moietta. His early work, an Adoration of the Magi (c. 1526), shares stylistic traits with the San Galdino figures: squared faces, soft drapery, and distinctive noses. The chapel's frescoes blend Leonardesque, Zenalian, and Bramantesque influences, reflecting the diffusion of Renaissance ideas into rural Lombardy.