Investiture of Saint Clare
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Authors
Giovanni d'Enrico, Giacomo Ferro, and Dionigi Bussola
Date
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Language
Keyword
St. Francis , St. Claire , Investiture , Poor Claires , Franciscan Order , Virgin Mary
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel shows Saint Francis establishing the female branch of the Order by initiating his cousin, Clare, as its first member and abbess. The building's construction began between 1634 and 1639, but the sculptures date to the following decade. Giovanni d'Enrico (1559 - 1644) and his assistant Giacomo Ferro (dates unknown), who also decorated a number of new chapels at Varallo around this time, were paid for their work in 1642. The figures of the Virgin Mary and the angels above the altar is based on a marble group at Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan that was sculpted by Annibale Fontana (1540 - 1587) in 1586. There is some debate about the authorship of the frescoes in this chapel. Cristoforo Martinoli (1599 - post 1664), who was called il Rocca, Panfilo Nuvolone (c. 1578/81 - 1651), and his two sons Carlo Francesco (c. 1608 - 1661) and Giuseppe (1619 - 1703) have all been suggested by various scholars. The frescoes were painted between 1642 and 1648. Dionigi Bussola (1615 - 1687) also added figures to this chapel sometime after 1661. His interventions at Orta always seem intended to increase the size and drama of the existing sculptural groups. Bussola is known for his energetic Baroque style. Adding these sculptures seems to have been an easy way to make the chapels more stylish and modern-looking without having to redecorate completely. The man in black robes, the one dressed as a Roman soldier, and the one with a slashed doublet and red cloak are likely Bussola's additions. Their facial features stand out from those of the other figures, and they seem out of place in the narrative of Clare's consecration. / Orta is the second oldest Sacro Monte. Construction began on the chapels there in 1591, just over a hundred years after the first Sacro Monte site was established at nearby Varallo. A community of Capuchin friars lived on the mountain, oversaw construction, and guided visitors on their pilgrimages once the chapels were finished. One of the brothers, Cleto da Castelletto Ticino (1556 - 1619) designed a series of thirty-six mysteries for the site, although only twenty chapels were ever completed. Before joining the Capuchin Order, Cleto had trained as an architect and engineer. After construction began at Orta, he also worked alongside Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 - 1596), one of Carlo Borromeo's favorite architects. Amico Canobio (1532 - 1592), a Benedictine Abbot and Commissioner of the secular lands within the diocese of Novara, oversaw Cleto's work and was the first major patron of the chapels at Orta. Carlo Bascapè (1550 - 1615) took charge of directing the progress at Orta as soon he was named Bishop of Novara in 1593, the year after Canobio's death.
Description
Sacro Monte, Orta
Citation
Elena De Filippis and Fiorella Mattioli Carcano, Guida al Sacro di Orta (Omegna & Novara: Litotipografica Editoriale Gianni Fovana & Ente gestione riserve naturali speciali del Sacro Monte di Orta del Monte Mesma e del Colle della Torredi Buccione, 2001), 29 - 30; Guido Gentile, Sacri Monti (Torino: Einaudi, 2019), 271 - 290; Cynthia Ho, Kathleen Peters, and John McClain, Sacred Views of Saint Francis: The Sacro Monte di Orta (Santa Barbara: Punctum Books, 2020), 78 - 80; Santino Langé, Sacri Monti Piemontsi e Lombardi (Milano: Tamburini Editore, 1967), 20 - 25; Pier Giorgio Longo, Antiche guide del Sacro Monte di Orta (tra XVII e XVIII secolo) (Novara: Italgrafica slr & Ente gestione riserve naturali speciali del Sacro Monte di Orta del Monte Mesma e del Colle della Torredi Buccione, 2008), 90 - 93 & 178 - 181; Father Angelo Maria Manzini, Sacro Monte di Orta. (Milan: Tipolito Testori, 2006), 38 - 39; Enrico Massone Ed., Sacri Monte in Piemonte: Itinerari nelle aree protete di Belmonte, Crea, Domodossola, Ghiffa, Orta, Varallo (Torino: Kosmos, 1994), 105 - 127; Geoffrey Symcox, Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy (Turnhout: Brepolis, 2019), 207 - 218; Luigi Zanzi and Paolo Zanzi Eds., Atlante dei Sacri Monti prealpini (Milan: Skira, 2002), 94 - 95.