Raising of the Widow of Naim's Son

Abstract

This chapel is based on designs by Galeazzo Alessi that are collected as part of a manuscript called the Libro dei Misteri (1565 - 1569) and are still housed in Varallo's Biblioteca Civile. Construction began sometime before 1572 and continued well into the 1580s. Some confusion persists about the chapel's chronology, but Galloni records clearly that the 1586 edition of Sesalli's Descrittione del Sacro Monte di Varallo describes the chapel as "cominciata," while the 1589 edition uses "fabricata" instead. The sixteen life-sized statues inside are made of stucco. They are attributed to Bartolomeo Badarello of Campertogno, a village west of Varallo, higher up along the Valsesia. According to Stefani Perrone, Badarello was active at Varallo throughout the last two decades of the Cinquecento, but these figures were modeled between 1587 and 1588. The frescoes were painted by another local artist, Gian Giacomo Testa, who was from Varallo. Elena De Filippis dates the paintings to 1583 - 1587, although Bordiga and Stefani Perrone place them c. 1580. Samuel Butler notes that this chapel was believed to work miracles for "those who had had bad falls or any accidents whereby they had been rendered speechless, stupid, senseless, and [were] apparently dead." This chapel also had a powerful patron, Matilda of Savoy, the Marchesa of Pianezza (c. 1577 -1639). Matilda was one of Duke Emanuel Filibert's (1528 - 1580) illegitimate children, but she was officially recognized by her father as an infant and went on to play a key role in dynastic politics during the rule of her half-brother, Carlo Emanuel I (1562 - 1630). The Marchesa was widowed in 1608, the same year that her only son was born. Her role in supporting this chapel is clear, but the early guidebooks do not indicate when Matilda's patronage began. It seems likely, given her age, that Matilda became the chapel's patron after she became a widow, when the scene was already finished, or nearly so, perhaps at a time when her son's life seemed to be in danger. De Filippis writes that the sculptures were adjusted by Enea Pavese and repainted by Antonio Orgiazzi in 1784. Further alterations were carried out by Giovanni Albertoni in 1831 and the figures were repainted once more by Carlo Giuseppe Delzanno in 1850. More recent efforts to restore the chapel and its decorations were carried out by conservators in 1969, 1993, 1998, and 2001 - 2008. A plaque above the scene points visitors to two biblical stories about the resurrection of a widow's son. Jesus miracle is recounted in Luke 7: 11 - 17. The other story takes place in 3 Kings 17: 17 - 24 (1 Kings in Protestant Scriptures), when the Prophet Elijah revived the son of a Widow from Zarephath. The contrast between these two accounts underscores Christ's spiritual authority: Elijah prostrated himself over the child's body three times and cried out to God, Jesus spoke directly to the boy and told him to rise up. / Varallo was the first Sacro Monte in Northern Italy. The collection of chapels on the hilltop overlooking Varallo was established by Bernardino Caimi (before 1450 - 1499 or 1500) as a way of recreating the sights and experiences of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He organized the chapels according to their Holy Land geography and incorporated architectural details from the pilgrimage churches corresponding to each scene. Caimi chose Varallo to be the site of his New Jerusalem in 1481, he received papal permission to begin collecting donations in 1486, and he is believed to have overseen the project from 1491, when the first chapel was finished, until his death. Different writers have counted each of these dates as the year of the Sacro Monte founding. Many of the early chapels were decorated by Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1480 - 1546), who was born nearby and gained a reputation during his lifetime as one of the leading painters in Lombardy. Saint Carlo Borromeo (1538 - 1584) visited the Sacro Monte multiple times while he was Archbishop of Milan (1564 - 1584). Carlo and his contemporaries implemented new policies to clarify Catholic doctrine and structure spiritual practices in Milan after the Council of Trent (1545 - 1563). Carlo Bascapè (1550 - 1615), Saint Carlo's close friend and the Bishop of Novara, personally oversaw a building campaign to reorganize the chapels at Varallo and restructure the pilgrimage experience according to the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. These changes were largely based on designs by Galeazzo Alessi (1512 - 1572), which are collected and preserved in a manuscript called the Libro dei Misteri (1565 - 1569) in Varallo's Biblioteca Civica. Construction continued throughout the first half of the seventeenth-century, led primarily by Giovanni d'Enrico the Younger (c. 1559 - 1644) and his family workshop. Beginning in 1609, d'Enrico also supervised the construction of the new Basilica, which is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin. The Basilica was consecrated in 1649 and the old church, or Chiesa Vecchia, was demolished in 1773, but the Chiesa Nuova was not finished until the façade was added in 1891 - 1896.