Wedding of the Virgin (Il Sposalizio)

Abstract

This chapel was funded by the citizens of Candia Lomellina, a small town just east of where the Sesia River meets the Po. The chapel and all its decorations were finished sometime before 1612. The eleven life-sized figures inside were modeled by Jean de Wespin (c. 1567 - 1615), perhaps with the help of his brother Nicolas. They are made of terracotta and were painted "a freddo" after the various pieces of each figure had been fired and assembled. The scene depicts the Virgin Mary's betrothal to Saint Joseph, an apocryphal story that is recorded in the Protoevangelium of James and the Golden Legend. A large altarpiece behind the figures recounts the tale of Isaac and Rebecca's betrothal from Genesis 24. Setting up a direct comparison between these two narratives of divinely appointed marriages emphasizes the continuity of Christian beliefs and the authority of Catholic scriptures, which would have been a particularly meaningful message for viewers during the Counter-Reformation. It is possible that the camels in the Old Testament scene were modeled from life, since a local count from the Scarampi family is known to have imported two camels from Africa in 1601. Jean de Wespin may have visited the animals at the Castello di Camino, which is about five miles north of Crea. The frescoes in this chapel are generally attributed to Guglielmo Caccia (c. 1568 - 1625), who is called il Moncalvo, although some authors have suggested an attribution to one of his students, Giorgio Alberini (c. 1576 - 1625). The figures were restored in 1858 - 1860 by Father Giuseppe Latini. Leonardo Bistolfi (1859 - 1933), a painter from nearby Casale Monferrato, restored the frescoes sometime later in the nineteenth century. The decorations were restored again in 1935 by Guido Capra (1890 - 1965) and once more by Pietro Vignoli (1911 - 1995) in 1980. Francesco Negri notes that the chapel originally had a porch to shelter the doorway. It is not clear when this structure was removed. / The hill at Crea has used as a pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages, when locals began to honor a miraculous image of the Black Madonna that was said to have been brought there by Saint Eusebius (c. 283 - 371). A community of Augustinians occupied the monastery at Crea beginning in 1176, but they were succeeded by the Lateran Canons Regular, who cared for the sanctuary between 1482 and 1798. Since the Sacro Monte was founded in 1589, local rulers had a direct hand in supporting it, including the Paleologue and Gonzaga dukes of Monferrato. Most of the scenes have since been redesigned or replaced; only six of the twenty-three extant sculpture groups date to the site's original program, which illustrated the life of the Virgin Mary.