Annunciation
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Authors
Gaudenzio Ferrari, attr. to
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Annunciation , Virgin Mary , Gabriel , Holy Spirit , Conception , Jesus
Alternative Title
Abstract
The early sources disagree somewhat about precisely when this chapel was built and decorated, but it is generally believed to be among the oldest surviving structures on the mountain. Butler and Fassola say that it was built between 1490 and 1500, Bordiga estimates a date around 1500, and more recent experts, such as Stefani Perrone and De Filippis, believe it was built between 1514 and 1528. The first published guidebook to Varallo, called Questi sono li Misteri... (1514), describes this as "una cappella concavata," which recent scholars have interpreted as a sign that most of the construction took place after 1514. It was designed as a reproduction of the Holy House of Loreto, which had been officially recognized by Pope Julius II in 1507 as the actual building in which Mary's angelic vision and Christ's miraculous conception took place. The terracotta sculpture of the Virgin and Child that Gaudenzio Ferrari made for this chapel around 1515 - 1517 was moved to its current location in Chapel Nine in 1572. At that time the figures from the adjoining Annunciation chapel were installed here and Chapel Three was redecorated to show the Visitation. This substitution is emblematic of the Post-Tridentine renovations at Varallo, which focused on transitioning the site from a physical recreation of the most prominent religious sites in the Holy Land to a clear, sequential, retelling of biblical history. The simple wooden lattice that separates pilgrims from the scene and the wooden kneeler at which Mary prays are further evidence of Counter-Reformation efforts to add structure and discipline to personal expressions of faith. De Filippis writes that the wooden grate was installed in the 1570s and dates the kneeler to the seventeenth century. Given the pose and size of the Virgin, it seems likely that the existing prayer bench replaced an earlier version that was smaller and less elaborate. These sculptures of Mary and Gabriel were made by Gaudenzio Ferrari, c. 1500 - 1514, and are some of the oldest works on the Sacro Monte. Like Ferrari's image of the Dormition of the Virgin (c. 1498) beneath the high altar at the Sanctuary, the heads and arms of these figures are carved in wood, and their bodies are not fully articulated. Both figures were originally dressed in fabric that had been dipped in gesso and painted. During the Counter-Reformation Carlo Bascapè decided that the existing garments were inappropriate and said that new clothes should be made for both figures, it is possible that Gabriel's legs were partially exposed since they are carved and painted up to the mid-calf. The oldest images of the scene dates to Giovanni Giacomo Ferrari's guidebook of 1611 and depicts the angel wearing a floor-length robe with fitted sleeves and a sleeveless tunic that recalls the cassock and surplice worn by early modern clergy. Mary is shown wearing a floor length veil, loose-fitting dress with a high neckline, and a ruffled collar that nearly reaches her chin. The Virgin's original white shift, which was was uncovered by conservators in 2018, was much less modest and this seems likely to have contributed to Bascapè's criticism. This database includes images of the sculptures both before (Photo One) and after (Two - Six) the recent restoration. In 1830, Gaudenzio Bordiga noted that the sculpture of Mary in Chapel Two had "recently" been given a new sleeveless silk-brocade dress by a pious visitor. Another taffeta gown with sleeves had been replaced with a facsimile by conservators in 1985. This seems to be the dress that appears in Pietro Galloni's book Sacro Monte di Varallo (1914), but it is not clear exactly when or why the figure was redressed again after 1830. The frescoes in this chapels depict five Old Testament prophets who foretold Christ's birth: Jeremiah, Micah, Isiah, Haggai, and Zechariah (seen from left to right). Scholars continue to debate their date and authorship. As with the frescoes outside Chapel One, Cattaneo gave these paintings to Giovanni Battista della Rovere, who was called Il Fiamminghino, while Bordiga credited Giovanni (Jan) Miel of Antwerp, both of whom would have been active at Varallo during the last decade of the sixteenth century. Stefani Perrone agrees with this date but does not venture a guess at the author. De Filippis likewise leaves the attribution open, pointing instead to the circle of Gaudenzio during the first half of the Cinquecento. Butler avoids the question altogether. The wooden dove that is suspended above the scene was added on Bascapè's orders in the early Seicento. / 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.
Description
Sacro Monte, Varallo
Citation
Giovanni Agosti and Jacopo Stoppa, Il Rinascimento di Gaudenzio Ferrari (Milan: Officina Libraria, 2018), 135 - 139; Samuel Butler, Ex Voto: An Account of The Sacro Monte or New Jerusalem at Varallo-Sesia (London: Tübner & Co., 1888), 125 - 128; Gaudenzio Bordiga, Storia e guida del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Francesco Caligaris, 1830), 40 - 41; Girolamo Cattaneo, Guida per ben vistare la nuova Gerusalemme nel Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Francesco Calligaris, 1826), 12 - 13; Elena De Filippis, Guida del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Borgosesia: Tipolitografia di Borgosesia, 2009), 38 - 41; Giovanni Giacomo Ferrari. Brevi considerazioni Sopra i Misteri del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Pietro Revelli, 1611), unpaginated; Pietro Galloni, Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Tip. G. Zanfa, 1914), 43; Stefania Stefani Perrone, Guida al Sacro Monte di Varallo (Torino: Kosmos Edizioni, 1995), 36 - 37.