The Brothers see Saint Francis on a Chariot of Fire
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Authors
Giovanni d'Enrico, Melchiorre d'Enrico, Giacomo Ferro, and Bartolomeo Tiberino
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
St. Francis , Disciples , Fire , Brothers , Miracle , Vision
Alternative Title
Abstract
The construction of this chapel took place between 1624 and 1629, but the decorations were not completed until decades later. Cristoforo Martinoli (1599 - post 1664), called il Rocca, painted the interior frescoes between 1639 and 1640. The circle of terracotta figures on the chapel floor was made by Giovanni d'Enrico (1559 - 1644), Melchiorre d'Enrico (c. 1573 - 1642), and Giacomo Ferro (dates unknown), who also sculpted many scenes for the new chapels at the Sacro Monte of Varallo in this period. Both Martinoli and the sculptors were from Valsesia, where Varallo is located, which suggests that the connection between the two Sacri Monti was something that Orta's founders wanted to highlight and encourage. This chapel shows Saint Francis' followers' miraculous vision of their leader being taken up to heaven in a flaming chariot like the Old Testament prophet Elijah. A friar named Bartolomeo da Pisa first recorded this story in his book De conformitate vitae beati Francisci ad vitam Domini Iesu (1385 - 1390), which recounted forty examples of how Francis' life mirrored that of Christ. If one of Francis' miracles did not have a clear connection to that of Jesus, the author showed how it related to another biblical prophet. The sculpture of Francis, the chariot, and the horses was made by Bartolomeo Tiberino (c. 1584 - 1654) in 1640. Tiberino was known as a wood carver. He was originally from Rome, but active across northern Italy, from Arona to Biella, between 1625 - 1650. The wooden figures were painted by Martinoli and installed in 1641. Wood sculptures are rare at the Sacri Monti, which usually have terracotta figures. The wood sculptures that do survive at other Sacri Monti, including Varallo and Locarno, are usually limited to individual figures or small groups from the late-fifteenth century that survived from earlier decorative campaigns. Terracotta is less expensive and can be worked more easily than wood, so it became the preferred material for sculptors at the Sacri Monti soon after the turn of the sixteenth century. Wood was likely chosen for this sculpture because it is lighter than terracotta and is therefore better suited for a group suspended from the ceiling. / 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
Casimiro Debiaggi, Dizionario degli artisti Valsesiani dal secolo XIV al XX (Varallo: Società conservazione opere arte monumenti Valsesia, 1968), 111 - 112 & 62 - 63; 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), 27 - 28; 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), 75 - 78; 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), 88 - 91 & 174 - 177; Father Angelo Maria Manzini, Sacro Monte di Orta. (Milan: Tipolito Testori, 2006), 36 - 37; 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.