Christ's second appearance before Pontius Pilate
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Authors
Giovanni D'Enrico and Giacomo Ferro
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Jesus , Trial , Passion , Pilate , Governor , Roman
Alternative Title
Abstract
This chapel is part of the building called Pilate's Palace, which was built largely between 1595 and 1610. This space originally served as the entrance to that building, but when the current entrance was added in 1605, Bartolomeo Ravelli and Giovanni d'Enrico, the architects leading the project, decided to add another narrative scene in the alcove. The new structure was finished in 1628, and the sculptures were installed in 1641. These twenty-three, life-sized, terracotta figures were modeled by Giovanni d'Enrico, probably with the help of Giacomo Ferro. They are believed to be some of the last works he made for the Sacro Monte before moving to Borgosesia, where Giovanni died in 1644. Jesus wears a large white cloth draped over his shoulders. This garment first appeared in the frescoes of the previous chapel, which were painted around 1630. Gaudenzio Bordiga explained that "at that time white overcoats were given to those reputed to be insane." This shawl therefore is a visual reminder of how Jesus was mocked by King Herod and his soldiers before they sent him back to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:11). Francesco Torrotti wrote that both Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli (1573 - 1625/26), who was called il Morazzone, and Giovanni's youngest brother Antonio d'Enrico (c. 1575 - 1633), who was called Tanzio da Varallo, began painting a series of frescoes for this chapel but never finished them. Pierfrancesco Gianoli (1624 - c. 1692), a painter from nearby Campertogno who trained in Milan, received the commission in 1658, and his plans were approved by the bishop in 1661. First, the Grandi brothers, Giovanni Battista (1643 - 1718) and Gerolamo (1658 - 1718), painted the architectural elements of the scene around 1670. Gianoli painted the figural portions of the frescoes between 1675 and 1679, when he also signed and dated the work. Among the painted figures on the viewer' left, Gianoli included a portrait of his daughter, one of the Grandi brothers, and a self-portrait, which has since been removed to the Pinacoteca di Varallo. The chapel's interior decorations were restored in 1993, and the windows were treated more recently, in 2008. / Varallo was the first Sacro Monte in Northern Italy. The collection of chapels on the hilltop overlooking Varallo was established by Bernardino Caimi (before 1450 - 1499 or 1500) as a way of recreating the sights and experiences of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He organized the chapels according to their Holy Land geography and incorporated architectural details from the pilgrimage churches corresponding to each scene. Caimi chose Varallo to be the site of his New Jerusalem in 1481, he received papal permission to begin collecting donations in 1486, and he is believed to have overseen the project from 1491, when the first chapel was finished, until his death. Different writers have counted each of these dates as the year of the Sacro Monte founding. Many of the early chapels were decorated by Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1480 - 1546), who was born nearby and gained a reputation during his lifetime as one of the leading painters in Lombardy. Saint Carlo Borromeo (1538 - 1584) visited the Sacro Monte multiple times while he was Archbishop of Milan (1564 - 1584). Carlo and his contemporaries implemented new policies to clarify Catholic doctrine and structure spiritual practices in Milan after the Council of Trent (1545 - 1563). Carlo Bascapè (1550 - 1615), Saint Carlo's close friend and the Bishop of Novara, personally oversaw a building campaign to reorganize the chapels at Varallo and restructure the pilgrimage experience according to the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. These changes were largely based on designs by Galeazzo Alessi (1512 - 1572), which are collected and preserved in a manuscript called the Libro dei Misteri (1565 - 1569) in Varallo's Biblioteca Civica. Construction continued throughout the first half of the seventeenth-century, led primarily by Giovanni d'Enrico the Younger (c. 1559 - 1644) and his family workshop. Beginning in 1609, d'Enrico also supervised the construction of the new Basilica, which is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin. The Basilica was consecrated in 1649 and the old church, or Chiesa Vecchia, was demolished in 1773, but the Chiesa Nuova was not finished until the façade was added in 1891 - 1896.
Description
Sacro Monte, Varallo
Citation
Samuel Butler, Ex Voto: An Account of The Sacro Monte or New Jerusalem at Varallo-Sesia (London: Tubner & Co., 1888), 177 - 179; Gaudenzio Bordiga, Storia e guida del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Francesco Caligaris, 1830), 67 - 69; Girolamo Cattaneo, Guida per ben vistare la nuova Gerusalemme nel Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Francesco Calligaris, 1826), 64 - 66; Casimiro Debiaggi, Dizionario degli artisti valsesiani dal secolo XIV al XX (Varallo: Società conservazione opere arte monumenti Valsesia, 1968), 77 - 78; Elena De Filippis, Guida del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Borgosesia: Tipolitografia di Borgosesia, 2009), 102 - 103; Giovanni Giacomo Ferrari. Brevi considerazioni Sopra i Misteri del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Pietro Revelli, 1611), unpaginated; Tomasso Nanni. Dialogo sopra i Misteri del Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Pietro Revelli, 1616), unpaginated; Stefania Stefani Perrone, Guida al Sacro Monte di Varallo (Torino: Kosmos Edizioni, 1995), 63 - 64; Francesco Torrotti, Historia della Nuova Gierusalemme: Il Sacro Monte di Varallo (Varallo: Unknown, 1686), 80.