Annunciation
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Authors
Cristoforo Prestinari
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Annunciation , Virgin Mary , Gabriel , Holy Spirit , Conception , Jesus
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel illustrates the Annunciation, the first of five joyful mysteries of the rosary. Construction was finished by 1609, and the terracotta sculptures were installed the following year. There is a signature on the base of the statue of the Archangel Gabriel, which reads "1610 - Cristoforo Prestinari." Prestinari (1573 - 1623) was already active at the Sacro Monte of Orta in the first decade of the seventeenth century, and these sculptures were donated to Varese's nascent Sacro Monte by the citizens of Orta. They are the smallest sculptures in the chapels at Varese, only 154 cm tall or about three-quarters life-sized. The gilded wooden dove that hangs from the ceiling may have been carved by another artist. The chapel does not contain any narrative frescoes. Instead, its interior walls are painted to resemble bricks, in imitation of the Holy House at Loreto. Outside, it recalls the Oratory of the Madonna of Loreto in Roccapietra, outside Varallo (another chapel that was based on the Holy House and frescoed by Gaudenzio Ferrari in 1514 - 1518). The room here is also decorated with number of wooden furnishings that donated by the Archinti family of Milan in the early-seventeenth century. An elaborately carved bed, sideboard, tables, chairs, chests, and spinning wheel are adorned by rich fabrics, dishes, and three pairs of slippers to complete the domestic scene. The original fabrics do not survive. A number of empty iron hooks along the walls indicate that other decorations may also have been removed since the chapel was completed. Across the Via Sacra from this chapel stands the Fountain of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. This fountain was the first structure built at the Sacro Monte, because the water it carried from the summit was critical to supply construction efforts, workers, and later pilgrims. / 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), 28 - 30; Silvano Colombo, Conoscere il Sacromonte: Guida alle Cappelle, al Santuario ed ai Musei del Sacro Monte sopra Varese (Varese: Edizioni Lativa, 1982), 37 - 42; 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), 215 - 218.