Crucifixion
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Authors
Dionigi Bussola
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Crucifixion , Jesus , Passion , Mary , Stations of the Cross , Via Crucis
Alternative Title
Abstract
This is the first of three scenes that Dionigi Bussola sculpted for the interior of the sanctuary at Domodossola, only two of which are counted as chapels in the Sacro Monte's narrative sequence. Four terracotta sculptures of Jesus, his mother, Mary Magdalene, and John the Evangelist are arranged in a group above the altar. Unlike the other sculptures at Domodossola, these are slightly larger than life-sized, but from the perspective of a parishioner they do not appear any larger than the others. Bussola installed the figure of Jesus in 1662 and added the other three the following year. They are positioned in such a way that as the priest elevated the Host during the mass it would seem to align with the image of Christ's body on the cross. It is likely that Giovanni Battista de Magistris, who was called il Volpino, helped Bussola with modelling and painting the later figures especially. For many years there was a window behind the sculptures, which allowed the priests and seminarians in their private chapel on the other side of the wall to meditate on the group from behind. It is likely that the window was boarded up shortly before the current backdrop was painted by Cino Bozzetti in 1921. A group of stucco angels and putti were added above the scene by Antonio Roncati of Meride in 1693. The chapel is dedicated to the twelfth Station of the Cross, in which Jesus dies on the cross, but the religious community that worships here insists that none of the Sacro Monte's sculptures show Christ's face while he is dead. This is an important distinction because it emphasizes that these groups are still treated as narrative, almost living, images. / The Sacro Monte, or Monte Calvario, of Domodossola was founded by two friars from the local Capuchin convent, Gioacchino da Cassano and Andrea da Rho. In 1656, they planted a large cross atop the ruins of the medieval fortress that had previously occupied the site and began building the sanctuary on top of the hill in July of the following year. This was the first Sacro Monte dedicated to the Via Crucis, or the Stations of the Cross. Early construction efforts were led and funded by Giovanni Matteo Capis (1617 - 1681) a wealthy merchant who had previously served as the mayor of Domodossola, the director of its hospital, and a leader in the local inquisition.
Description
Sacro Monte Calvario, Domodossola
Citation
Tullio Bertamini and Carlo Pessina, Il Sacro Monte Calvario di Domodossola (Ornavasso: Tipografia Saccardo Carlo & Figli, 2000), 78 - 80; Franco Caresio, I Sacri Monti del Piemonte (Turin: Editurist, 1989), 246 - 260; Guido Gentile, Sacri Monti (Torino: Einaudi, 2019), 355 - 361; Santino Langé, Sacri Monti Piemontsi e Lombardi (Milano: Tamburini Editore, 1967), 41 - 42; Angelo Marzi, Guida al Sacro Monte Calvario di Domodossola (Torino: Kosmos Edizioni, 1995), 30 - 31; Enrico Massone Ed., Sacri Monte in Piemonte: Itinerari nelle aree protete di Belmonte, Crea, Domodossola, Ghiffa, Orta, Varallo (Torino: Kosmos, 1994), 67 - 87; Simonetta Minissale and Alessandro Feltre, eds., Calvario: Monte Sacro di Domodossola (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & Co., 2009), 76; Pietro Prada, Domodossola e il Monte Calvario (Milano: Tip. Edit, L.F. Cogliati, 1897), 46, 106, 113; Geoffrey Symcox, Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy (Turnhout: Brepolis, 2019), 242 - 246; Luigi Zanzi and Paolo Zanzi Eds., Atlante dei Sacri Monti prealpini (Milan: Skira, 2002), 84.