Oration in the Garden
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Authors
Francesco Silva
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Jesus , Angel , Gethsemane , Capture , Oration , Agony
Alternative Title
Abstract
Chapel Six illustrates the first of the five sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. Construction began around 1606 and continued until sometime after 1656, when the porch was added. The nine life-sized figures inside were modeled in terracotta by Francesco Silva (1568 - 1641), who was from Morbio Inferiore in nearby Ticino. Much like Silva's sculptures in Chapel Five, the date of these works is somewhat uncertain. They are usually dated to the second decade of the seventeenth century, towards the beginning of the artist's activity at Varese. The frescoes were painted by Bartolomeo Vandoni, or Ghiandone (1603 - c. 1676), sometime after the installation of the sculptures. Because of the chapel's position on the hillside, the lower portion of the walls have been greatly damaged by humidity. In the nineteenth century the frescoes were repainted to cover the large areas of paint loss. In order to ensure that the new layer of plaster would adhere to the walls, the artist and his assistants chipped away at the old plaster with a sharp tool leaving circular holes that are still visible in many places. Another intervention took place in 1927, which dramatically altered the composition of the frescoes. Girolamo Poloni (1877 - 1954), a painter from Bergamo, replaced the narrative panels behind the figures with scenes that created an illusionistic setting for the sculptures, much like Gaudenzio Ferrari had in the oldest surviving chapels at Varallo. Photographs show that Poloni's frescoes closely resemble those in the chapels at Varallo that illustrate this scene: The Oration in the Garden and Jesus Waking the Sleeping Disciples (Chapels 21 & 22). Gethsemane is imagined as a hilly place, with tall thin trees, picket fences, and a city on a hill in the background. The chapels at Varallo had also been repainted in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, respectively, by Antonio Orgiazzi the Elder (Chapel 21, 1778) and Paolo Emilio Morgari (Chapel 22, 1865), so the existing frescoes may depart somewhat from the chapels' first backdrop. The paintings in Chapel Six were treated again in 1988, returning the background to its original state and leaving the existing losses visible. One of the soldiers on the right holds a seventeenth century halberd. Two more of these period weapons survive in Chapel Eight but the remainder of the handheld objects in this scene are wooden props. The chalice that the angel holds out to Jesus is also made of wood and dates to the seventeenth century. Unlike most of the chapels at Varese, this building and its windows are positioned away from the valley, which limits the amount of light illuminating the interior. The resulting darkness adds narrative accuracy, since this event was believed to take place at night, and has a theatrical effect. / 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), 46 - 48; Silvano Colombo, Conoscere il Sacromonte: Guida alle Cappelle, al Santuario ed ai Musei del Sacro Monte sopra Varese (Varese: Edizioni Lativa, 1982), 69 - 74; Elena De Filippis, Guida del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Borgosesia: Tipolitografia di Borgosesia, 2009), 84 - 87; 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), 238 - 241.