Wedding of the Virgin (Il Sposalizio)
Loading...
Authors
Giovanni d'Enrico and Pietro Giuseppe Auregio
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Virgin Mary , St. Joseph , Wedding , Sposalizio , Temple , High Priest
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel was built between 1620 and 1640 at the expense of three communities near Biella: Chiavazza, Ronco (Biellese), and Zumaglia. It is believed to have been designed by Francesco Conti (dates unknown), because its construction coincides with the period during which the architect was most active at Oropa. He designed a new façade for the sanctuary and new wings to house Oropa's pilgrims between 1617 and 1640. The twenty-three figures inside are attributed to Giovanni d'Enrico (c. 1560 - 1644) and illustrate the marriage of the Virgin Mary to St. Joseph. According to the Golden Legend and the Gospel of James, which does not belong to the scriptural canon accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, Mary's suitors were instructed to place a bare tree limb on the altar of the temple. The branch that flowered would belong to the man God had chosen to be her husband. At the top of the stairs, Mary and Joseph are being married by the high priest. Joseph holds the green branch in his left hand and a dove, representing the holy spirit, has come to roost in its leaves. On the right-hand side of the chapel the unsuccessful suitors angrily break their sticks into pieces. The left-hand side of the chapel is full of women with young children. Since Mary was described as the last of her companions to be married, these may be some of the women who were raised alongside her at the temple. The chapels attributed to Giovanni d'Enrico are the only ones at Oropa to include applied materials to mimic hair on the sculptures. This was common practice at Varallo, but the artists at the first Sacro Monte traditionally used horse or human hair. These figures seem to be crowned with a plant-based material, such as hemp or flax, instead. Regardless of what material was used, this artificial hair would have to be reapplied periodically. Some of the draperies may also have been made using real cloth dipped in stucco. Later chapels, and the majority of the seventeenth-century Sacri Monti, tend to use fewer "real" objects in their scenes and abandon applied hair completely. The sculptures in this chapel were restored by Pietro Giuseppe Auregio (1667 - 1740) at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is unclear how much he may have altered the scene. It is also unclear who painted the chapel's original frescoes. The current paintings are attributed to restorations efforts by Paolo Giovanni Crida (1886 - 1967) in 1919. Another intervention was carried out in 1969 - 70. / The Sacro Monte at Oropa is part of a larger devotional complex dedicated to an image of the Black Madonna that has been venerated on this site since 1295. This sculpture is believed to be one of three dark-skinned and miraculous images of the Virgin Mary that Saint Eusebius brought back from the Holy Land in the Fourth Century. The other two figures are located in the Sanctuary at Crea, another Sacro Monte, and the Cathedral of Cagliari in Sardinia, where Eusebius was born. Black Madonnas were common throughout western Europe during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Modern Art Historians generally agree that the images darkened over time due to the soot released by nearby candles. Many of the sculptures have been repainted with light skin in recent years, including the examples at Crea and Varese. Unlike any of the other Sacri Monti Oropa was cared for by secular clergy throughout its entire history. The plans for a Sacro Monte to accompany the sanctuary date to 1620, the year that the new church building was finished, the statue of the Virgin was ceremonially crowned for the first time, and Duke Charles Emanuel I of Savoy declared himself the official protector of Oropa. The house of Savoy continued to fund and visit the elaborate sanctuary complex until the early twentieth century, even as they served as the Kings of Italy. The Sacro Monte, however, was built by local citizens, initiatives, and parishes. Only twelve of the twenty-eight chapels that were planned to illustrate the life of the Virgin Mary were ever completed. Primary documents detailing the Sacro Monte's construction are somewhat scarce compared to the records available at the other sites.
Description
Sacro Monte, Oropa
Citation
Franco Caresio, I Sacri Monti del Piemonte (Turin: Editurist, 1989), 200 - 219; Federico Fontana and Paolo Sorrenti, Oropa Sacro Monte (Biella: Valsesia Editrice, 1984), 157; Guido Gentile, Sacri Monti (Torino: Einaudi, 2019), 327 - 338; Santino Langé, Sacri Monti Piemontsi e Lombardi (Milano: Tamburini Editore, 1967), 37 - 40; Paolo Strobino, Guida alle Cappelle del Sacro Monte di Oropa (Biella, ATL Biella, 2000), 32 - 33; Geoffrey Symcox, Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy (Turnhout: Brepolis, 2019), 222 - 229; Mario Trompetto, Storia del Santuario di Oropa (Milan: Arti Grafiche Ricordi, 1967), 80; Luigi Zanzi and Paolo Zanzi Eds., Atlante dei Sacri Monti prealpini (Milan: Skira, 2002), 91 - 93.