MALO, Vincent

Flemish painter, active mainly in Italy as Vincenzo Malo, but he was also identified erroneously with a certain Vincenzo Armanno.

Malo was a pupil of the leading Flemish Baroque painters David Teniers the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens who 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 Genoa.