Flagellation
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Authors
Agostino Silva, attr. to
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Flagellation , Jesus , Column , Soldiers , Passion
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel was built sometime between 1680 and 1687 thanks to a donation from Tommaso Gilardone from Volesio, a village near Tramezzina. His family crest is displayed above the window looking into the chapel, and the small N above the patron's initials is taken to mean "nipoti," indicating that Gillardone's younger relatives (nephews or grandsons) also contributed to the chapel or were among those to whom it was dedicated. No documents specifying the chapel's exact dates survive, but it must have been completed before Gilardone's death in 1687. The seven life-sized terracotta figures inside have been attributed to Agostino Silva, although they depart significantly from the style of Silva's other works on the mountain. These characters are bulky and well-muscled whereas Agostino's style tends toward thinner figures who make elegant balletic gestures. Agostino's figures also tend to have prominent, raised brows and large, almond-shaped eyes that slope down towards the outside of their faces and create a distinctly sad-looking expression. The author and date of the frescoes in this chapel remains unknown. The three scenes visible through the openings in the painted architecture include hilly landscapes, a formal garden with a fountain, and two rows of white houses with tiled roofs. They do not seem to have any meaningful relationship to the scene represented in the sculptures. In the central archway, behind Christ and his captors, we see a fountain topped with a putto that is set in a rocky grotto and crowned by the inscription SPQR. It recalls the fountains and outdoor spaces cultivated by Italian ruling families during sixteenth century, such as the Boboli Gardens in Florence. / The Sacro Monte of Ossuccio is dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of the rosary, and many of its chapels closely resemble those at the Sacro Monte of Varese (built 1605 - 1699), which is dedicated to the same subject. Agostino Silva (1628 - 1706), an artist from nearby Ticino, designed most of the scenes at Ossuccio. He was also active at the Sacro Monte sopra Varese, where the majority of chapels had been decorated by his father, Francesco Silva (1568 - 1641). The early history of this Sacro Monte remains unclear: some sources suggest that work began as early as 1623, but it is clear from the records of pastoral visits discovered by Daniele Pescamora that none of the chapels were built before July of 1644. Traditionally, many modern scholars have followed Santino Langé, who believed that Francesco had modeled the sculptures in the first three chapels at Ossuccio and Agostino had only taken charge of the project after his father's death in 1641. However, the pastoral records cited above preclude Francesco's involvement entirely and suggest that most of the scenes were decorated from the sixteen-sixties onward, when Agostino was active on the mountain (he was first documented at Ossuccio in 1663). The end of the devotional path is marked by the sanctuary of the Madonna del Soccorso, which was built in the first quarter of the sixteenth century and houses the final scene in the rosary sequence. Modern scholars date the miraculous image of the Madonna and Child for which the Sanctuary is named to the 14th century. Most of the statues of the Virgin that are venerated in the sanctuaries at the Italian Sacri Monti are made of wood, but Ossuccio's titular image is carved in white marble and embellished with gold accents. The existing sanctuary is believed to occupy the site of a pre-Christian temple to the Roman goddess Ceres. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the religious complex was overseen by Third Order Franciscans. Just as Bernardino Caimi had directed the construction of the Sacro Monte at Varallo, the project at Ossuccio was led by Brother Timothy Snider from c. 1643 until his death in 1682. Unlike Caimi, however, Snider seems to have designed the chapels and arranged the devotional path himself. All the chapels have likely been cleaned and restored multiple times since they were finished. Silvestro Marmori's conservation efforts in 1935 were particularly extensive and are well-documented by Pescamora (2004).
Description
Sacro Monte, Ossuccio
Citation
Cappuchin Fathers of the Santuario della Beata Vergine del Soccorso, Santuario Madonna del Soccorso - Ossuccio (Menaggio: Attilio Sampietro Editore, 1998), 4 - 8; Piera Gatta Papavassiliou, Il Sacro Monte di Ossuccio: Guida alle Cappelle (Carlazzo: Attilio Sampietro Editore, 2013), 80 - 86; Santino Langé, Sacri Monti Piemontsi e Lombardi (Milano: Tamburini Editore, 1967), 40 - 41; Daniele Pescamora, "Precisazioni storiche sul SM di Ossuccio (Avvio della ricerca)," Altri Sacri Monti (Atti del Convegno: Sacro Monte di San Francesco d'Orta, 30 November - 1 December 2001) (Gravellona Toce, Press Grafica slr, 2008), 97 - 107; Daniele Pescamora et al, "Il restauro della prima cappella del Sacro Monte di Ossuccio," Quaderni Fondazione Carlo Leone et Mariena Montadon, Vol. 1 (Como: NodoLibri, 2004), 25 - 26; Luigi Zanzi and Paolo Zanzi Eds., Atlante dei Sacri Monti prealpini (Milan: Skira, 2002), 96.