Wedding at Cana
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Authors
Jean de Wespin and Nicolas de Wespin (i Tabachetti)
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Wedding , Cana , Jesus , Virgin Mary , Miracle , Disciples
Alternative Title
Abstract
The chapel was built at the expense of Count Traiano and Countess Billiani Corba of Casale Monferrato in 1590. Jean de Wespin (c. 1567 - 1615) and his brother Nicolas, who were called I Tabachetti, sculpted the figures inside around 1612. The frescoes were painted by Guglielmo Caccia, called Moncalvo, around the same time. It illustrates the first miracle Jesus performed at the prompting of his mother, turning water into wine. The modern clothes and decorations have led scholars to believe that the scene also represents the banquet that took place in August of 1604 when Nicolas de Wespin married Dorotea Calligaris. Only the figures of Jesus, Mary, and the high priest at the center of the table are dressed in the ahistorical style that was typical of religious figures at this time. The altarpiece behind the banquet table shows the wedding feast of Tobias and Sara, a story from the Book of Tobit, which was one of the Old Testament Books considered apocryphal by Protestants. Local legend also records that the two men at the end of the table are self-portraits of the two brothers, Jean and Nicolas, who sculpted the scene. Many of the figures were altered by Simone Canova and Lorenzo Giacheti in 1797, but it is still not entirely clear which sculptures were affected by this intervention and to what extent. / The hill at Crea has used as a pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages, when locals began to honor a miraculous image of the Black Madonna that was said to have been brought there by Saint Eusebius (c. 283 - 371). A community of Augustinians occupied the monastery at Crea beginning in 1176, but they were succeeded by the Lateran Canons Regular, who cared for the sanctuary between 1482 and 1798. Since the Sacro Monte was founded in 1589, local rulers had a direct hand in supporting it, including the Paleologue and Gonzaga dukes of Monferrato. Most of the scenes have since been redesigned or replaced; only six of the twenty-three extant sculpture groups date to the site's original program, which illustrated the life of the Virgin Mary.
Description
Sacro Monte di Crea, Serralunga di Crea
Citation
Amilcare Barbero and Carlenrica Spantigati, Sacro Monte di Crea (Novi Ligure: SO.G.ED. Edizioni, 1998), 163; Attilio Castelli and Dionigi Roggero, Un Santuario mariano: il Sacro Monte di Crea (Casale Monferrato: Fondazione Sant'Evasio, 2000), 153 - 160; Francesco Maccono, Storia del santuario di Crea (Casale Monferrato: Tipografia Operaia Artigiana, 1981), 51; Francesco Negri, Santuario di Crea: Arte e storia nel Monferrato (Alessandria: Accademia degli Immobili, 1902), 54.