Climb to Calvary

Abstract

This chapel was originally built to house the scene of Jesus being nailed to the Cross, which is now depicted in Chapel Thirty-Seven. The building was funded by the Marchioness of Masserano, Francesca Ferreri-Fieschi (d. 1640), and modified the design proposed for this chapel by Galeazzo Alessi in his Libro dei Misteri (1565 - 1569). Capomastro Giacomo Igonetto di Alagna supervised the construction of the chapel, which took place between 1589 and 1593 or 1594. At that time, either during his first or second pastoral visit to the Sacro Monte, Bishop Carlo Bascapè decided that this chapel should instead house the present scene. Elena de Filippis records that Bascapè furnished the fabbricieri with a detailed set of instructions concerning the interior decorations in 1597. Work on the sculptures began shortly thereafter. Jean de Wespin, who was called il Tabacchetti, modeled more than fifty life-sized terracotta figures and fourteen animals for this scene between 1599 and 1602. The woman riding on a camel at the far right of the group is believed to be a portrait of the chapel's next patron, the Countess of Serravalle Sesia. Her first name remains unknown, but she was a member of the Salomone family, who purchased the fiefdom of Serravalle Sesia from the Fieschi of Masserano in 1561. Francesco Torrotti wrote in the late seventeenth century that this particular statue was so esteemed that a group of Venetian gentlemen once offered to pay its weight in gold to purchase the work. An artist from Brescia named Antonio Grandino painted the sculptures in 1602 and initially received the commission for the frescoes as well. Later that same year, however, the commission passed to Pier Francesco Mazzuchelli (1573 - 1625 or 1626), who was called il Morazzone. This was Mazzuchelli's first project at the Sacri Monti, but he went on to paint chapels at Varese (Chapel Seven, 1608 - 1609) and Orta (Chapel Eleven, 1615 - 1616) in addition to his other works at Varallo. The surviving contracts reveal that both the painter and sculptor were explicitly instructed to copy the figures and style of Gaudenzio Ferrari's Crucifixion scene (Chapel Thirty-Eight, c. 1515 - 1520), in order to create narrative continuity between the groups. Morazzone painted these frescos between 1602 and 1607, returning again in 1616 to retouch some elements. Above the crowd three groups of angels carry framed images of scenes from the Old Testament. They depict Isaac carrying the wood on which his father intends to sacrifice him (Genesis 22), King Abimelech cutting down a tree to burn the Tower of Sechem (Judges 9), and Israel's spies returning from the promised land (Numbers 13). In 1885, antiquarian and conservator Giuseppe Steffanoni (1841 - 1902) sought to stabilize the frescoes by adding a canvas lining between the painted surface and the wall. The paintings were restored by Giulio Arienta in 1891-92, and the sculptures were treated by Pietro della Vedova. All the interior decorations were conserved again in 1994 - 1995. / 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.