Presentation at the Temple
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Authors
Francesco Silva
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Presentation , Circumcision , Virgin Mary , Jesus , St. Joseph , High Priest
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel was constructed between 1605 and 1621. The circular porch was added in 1662. It was financed first by Emilio Omodei, a banker and merchant from Milan who died in 1626, and then by his nephew Cardinal Alosio, or Luigi, Omodei. The chapel represents the fourth joyful mystery of the rosary, Christ's Presentation at the Temple. Francesco Silva (1568 - 1641), a sculptor from Morbio Inferiore in nearby Ticino, modeled and installed the terracotta figures in 1617. This may have been the first of the twelve groups Silva made for the Sacro Monte at Varese. His signature and the date are clearly visible on the right side of the altar in this chapel. The sides of the altar are also decorated with two smaller sculptures, about two feet tall, of Judith with the Head of Holofernes and David with the Head of Goliath. They were originally left unpainted and are the only small-scaled figures at the site. Sometime after their installation, however, they were painted to resemble bronze statuettes. The figures adorn the altar like devotional images of saints would in contemporary Roman Catholic churches, which is not consistent with Jewish religious practices. The frescoes in this chapel were painted by Giovanni Ghistolfi (1623 - 1683) from Milan in 1658 - 1659. Ghistolfi also carried out prestigious commissions for frescoes at the monastery of Certosa di Pavia in the 1660s. / The Sacro Monte sopra Varese is built on Mount Olona, also called Mount Vellate, which is believed to be the site of Saint Ambrose's final victory over an army of Arian heretics in the year 389. A church dedicated to the Madonna del Monte was erected on the site in the 10th century and rebuilt by the duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in the late 15th century. Two local women established an Augustinian convent there in 1474 and, little more than a century later, another of their number proposed that a Sacro Monte be built leading up to the sanctuary. There are fourteen chapels and three monumental arches illustrating the mysteries of the rosary, preceded by a church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The final mystery is represented by the cult statue on the high altar, which is attributed to Saint Luke. The chapels were designed by Giuseppe Bernascone, il Mancino (1565 - 1627), an architect from Varese who trained with Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 - 1596), or Pellegrino de' Pellegrini, and constructed quickly between 1605 and 1699. They are significantly larger than the chapels at any other Sacro Monte.
Description
Sacro Monte, Varese
Citation
Giovanni Antonio Antolini, ed., Guida al Santuario di Santa Maria del Monte sopra Varese (1823) (Varese: Pietro Maccione Editore, 2014), 38 - 40; Silvano Colombo, Conoscere il Sacromonte: Guida alle Cappelle, al Santuario ed ai Musei del Sacro Monte sopra Varese (Varese: Edizioni Lativa, 1982), 55 - 60; Carlo Alberto Lotti, Santa Maria del Monte Sopra Varese - Il monte sacro Olona e il Sacro Monte del Rosario (Milan: Arti Grafiche Amilcare Pizzi S.p.A., 2000), 229 - 232.