Vincent Malo (I)

Vincent Malo or Vincent Malo I (Cambrai c. 1602 or 1606 – Rome, 14 April 1644) 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, Vincenzo Malò and Vincenzio Malo. Vincent Malo painted genre scenes as well as religious and mythological subjects and, occasionally, portraits. The date of birth of Vincent Malo is not known. In a document of 12 March 1637 the painter declares to be 31 years old, which would indicate he was born in 1606. The registers of the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome record that the painter died there on 14 April 1644 at about 42 years old which suggests a birth date around 1602.

He moved to Genoa in Italy after 1634. He lived and collaborated with fellow Flemish painter Cornelis de Wael, who played a pivotal role in the Flemish artistic 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. The art historian Didier Bodart argued in a 1970 article against this identification. He expressed the view that the Vincenzo Armanno described by Passeri should rather be identified with the Dutch painter Herman van Swanevelt. Bodart compared the biography of Vincenzo Armanno by Passeri with that of Vincent Malo by Soprani. He concluded that the lives of the two persons described in these biographies are completely dissimilar and that Armanno and Malo were clearly two different persons. Moreover, some facts recorded about van Swanevelt's life such as his troubles with the Holy Office in Rome and his specialisation as a landscape painter made him the more likely candidate for identification with Vincenzo Armanno. The matter of the identity of Vincenzo Armanno has still not been resolved with certainty.

Vincent Malo has also been confused with the Flemish painter Vincent Adriaenssen who worked for a significant time in Rome. In fact, both painters called Malo (Vincent Malo I and Vincent Malo II) had died before Vincent Adriaenssen. Today it is assumed that Malo mainly made religious and genre works and Adriaenssen painted battle scenes. Works Vincent Malo was a painter of genre scenes and of religious and mythological subjects and occasional portraits.

He collaborated with other Antwerp painters. He added figures in the land- and seascapes of Andries van Eertvelt and Gijsbrecht Leytens and also collaborated with Cornelis de Wael during his stay in Genoa.