Saint Francis before the Sultan of Egypt

Abstract

This was the last chapel to be both built and decorated at Orta's Sacro Monte. It was finished in 1757, more than fifty years after work had finished on the most recent chapel at the site and more than thirty years before another construction project would be attempted. Period sources record that it was funded by Bernardo Mina from Portugal. The sculptures were made by Carlo Beretta (1687 - 1764), and the frescoes were painted by Federico Ferrari (c. 1714 - 1802). Their names are inscribed on the walls of the chapel with the date 1756. Beretta had made a name for himself in Milan, working on sculptures for the cathedral. Ferrari also received many commissions for churches in Milan and Bergamo but does not seem to have any discernable connections to the family of Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1480 - 1546). This scene shows Saint Francis meeting the Sultan of Egypt, Melek el Kamel, in 1219. After his preaching, Francis proposed that his followers and the local religious leaders be put to trial by fire, much like Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18: 20 - 40). When all of the Sultan's prophets and priests fled the challenge, he offered the Franciscans gifts and gold. Francis refused these gifts and asked instead that his followers be allowed to preach freely in the Holy Land. The Sultan agreed, and exchange between them led to the order's eventual role as the official Guardians of Jerusalem. The Egyptians are distinguished by their exoticizing and Orientalizing costumes, which include turbans, earrings, ostrich feathers, curved swords, and tasseled or knotted buttons. In the center foreground a boy in turban is accompanied by what seems to be a female lion wearing a collar and a chain. Both the lion and the boy's stereotypically dark skin are used as tokens to remind the viewer that this scene took place in Africa. / Orta is the second oldest Sacro Monte. Construction began on the chapels there in 1591, just over a hundred years after the first Sacro Monte site was established at nearby Varallo. A community of Capuchin friars lived on the mountain, oversaw construction, and guided visitors on their pilgrimages once the chapels were finished. One of the brothers, Cleto da Castelletto Ticino (1556 - 1619) designed a series of thirty-six mysteries for the site, although only twenty chapels were ever completed. Before joining the Capuchin Order, Cleto had trained as an architect and engineer. After construction began at Orta, he also worked alongside Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 - 1596), one of Carlo Borromeo's favorite architects. Amico Canobio (1532 - 1592), a Benedictine Abbot and Commissioner of the secular lands within the diocese of Novara, oversaw Cleto's work and was the first major patron of the chapels at Orta. Carlo Bascapè (1550 - 1615) took charge of directing the progress at Orta as soon he was named Bishop of Novara in 1593, the year after Canobio's death.