Vincent Malo

Vincent Malo or Vincent Malo I (Cambrai 1585/1605, (ca. 1595) – Rome, 1649) was a Flemish painter who after training and working in Antwerp was mainly active in Italy, where he was known, amongst others, as Vincenzo Malo and Vincenzio Malo.

Malo was a pupil of the leading Flemish Baroque painters David Teniers the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens and they taught him the Flemish Baroque style. Between 1623 and 1634 he worked in Antwerp. During this period he was a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. He married in Antwerp and had a son also named Vincent in 1629. His son would later also become a painter and be known as Vincent Malo II.

He moved to Genoa after 1634 where he lived and collaborated with fellow Flemish painter Cornelis de Wael, who played a pivotal role in the Flemish community in Genoa. Genoa was at the time an attractive destination for artists since the competition between artists there was less intense than in the leading cultural centres Rome, Florence and Venice. Genoa was a thriving port city where a large number of potential patrons and collectors lived. In Genoa Malo completed various commissions for local churches and palaces.

Malo later travelled to Florence with his family and resided and worked there for a while. He then travelled to Rome where he died not long after his arrival at the age of 45. His family returned to Antwerp and in 1652 his son was admitted in the local Guild of St. Luke as the son of a master.

Isaac Wigans was his pupil in Antwerp and Antonio Maria Vassallo in Genua.

The details of Vincent Malo’s life are relatively obscure and confuse. In 1662 the Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bie called him the "Great Master Vincent Malò" who painted large and small works with a great feeling for flesh tones. De Bie did not specify any dates for Malo. The earliest biographer naming a Vincenzio Malo is Raffaello Soprani in his 1768 publication about artists in Genoa Le vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi. This book is still our primary source of information on Malo.

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