Christ Nailed to the Cross

Abstract

This structure was added onto the existing Crucifixion Chapel (Thirty-Eight) between c. 1632 and 1641, although Carlo Bascapè, the Bishop of Novara, had instructed that a chapel of this subject be built as early as 1603. It was based on plans that were drawn up in 1614 by Giovanni d'Enrico and Bartolomeo Ravelli. Elena de Filippis mentions the Fabbrica's contract with the foremen of 1632 and suggests that construction work began sometime thereafter. She notes that the bishop's instructions for the interior decorations also survive, but the date of that document remains unknown. According to Stefania Stefani Perrone, one of the chapel's chief patrons was Antonio or Avondo Tornelli, an official from Varallo. It is not entirely clear whether this is the same Antonio Torinielli who served as Novara's bishop from 1636 to 1650. Older sources, such as Torrotti and Cattaneo also cite the patronage of Giacomo d'Adda and the Marchesa di Masserano. The terracotta statues in this group were modeled by Giovanni d'Enrico and his assistant Giacomo Ferro around 1635 - 1637 or 1638. Samuel Butler points out that the figures in this chapel are slightly larger than life-sized, which is unusual for the Sacri Monti. As in Chapel Thirty-Six, the sculptors modeled many of the figures in the scene on characters that Gaudenzio Ferrari had sculpted for the Crucifixion (Chapel Thirty-Eight) in the 1520s. They also copied some of Jean de Wespin's figures from Chapel Thirty-Six, including the noblewoman riding a camel, which, in the previous group, was believed to be a portrait of the Countess of Serravalle Sesia. The final details of the figures' applied hair and armor were still unfinished when Cardinal Tornielli visited the Sacro Monte in 1641. Melchiorre Gherardini (1607 - 1668) painted the frescoes in this chapel between 1637 and 1639. The artist was called il Ceranino because his style resembled that of Giovanni Battista Crespi (c. 1576 - 1632), who was known as Il Cerano. Above the painted crowd and landscape, three groups of angels hold framed images of Old Testament narratives: The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 23 - 24), Jacob mourning Joseph's supposed death (Genesis 37: 32 - 35), and the Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22: 9 - 18). The two staircases and covered walkway that leads visitors to chapels Thirty-Seven through Thirty-Nine were built in 1852 by Giacomo Geniani. Emilio Contini led the restoration of the interior decorations in 1954 and they were treated again in 1993. / 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.