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30-505: Located on the road across the Val Cavallina which links Bergamo to Lago d'Iseo , the chapel had existed since the 15th century. Around 1523 count Giovan Battista Suardi commissioned Lotto to decorate the oratory and so the artist immediately moved to the area. By this show of piety the count hoped to avert a flood (predicted by astrologers for 20 February 1524) and to counter the seeds of Lutheranism brought to northern Italy by

60-426: A pilgrimage might see Jerusalem”. After his death in 1499, father Candido Ranzo and father Francesco da Marignano, continued his work. Helped by Gaudenzio Ferrari from Valduggia (a key figure until 1529 – painter, sculptor and architect), creator of some of the most enthralling of the sacred dramas: The Three Kings and The Crucifixion . The Lanino brothers Giulio Cesare Luini and Fermo Stella da Caravaggio were

90-657: A basin area of 161 square kilometers (62 sq mi). Its source is at 1,276 meters (4,186 ft) above sea level at Monte Torrezzo near Lake Endine . From there, it flows into the Oglio at Palosco . The main tributary is the Tadone River on its right bank. The valley of the river is known as the Val Cavallina ( lit. "Valley of the Little Horse"; Lombard : Al Caàlina ). The river flows past

120-404: A hermit, eventually leading to her baptism and rejection of pagan idols. After her return to the women's quarters, her father discovers her conversion and furiously orders her to be killed by the sword. The saint flees to the mountains and hides in the bushes, but a shepherd betrays her and drags her by the hair to the praetor , who orders her to be whipped and tortured with upside-down hammers. She

150-419: A name label above them. The first square opens outwards through a half-rolled-up wall and shows Brigid taking the veil, on which occasion she miraculously revived a tree. It also shows her handing out bread to the poor in the presence of another of the commissioners, Maffeo Suardi, shown with men, women and children of his family. A still life of sacred objects is shown on the altar of the small painted church in

180-480: A pitched wooden roof supported by exposed beams, along with a small semicircular apse with some modest existing frescoes from before Lotto's time. Lotto's frescoes are spread over three walls above a large plinth. Together they form a complex iconographic programme on redemption and faith as incarnated in the lives of saints Barbara (north side), Brigid (south side), Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria (back wall), along with Christ's victory over evil as predicted by

210-497: A substantial number of the chapels in the garden area were constructed, the frescoes were finished and the statues were added. From 1593 until 1640, the organization of the urbanistic, architectural and figurative elements was carried out in the elevated zone. The configuration of the Sacro Monte was taking place; the cardinal points of the first scenes - Nazareth , Bethlehem , Crucifixion and The Burial - were established in

240-403: Is a Sacro Monte ("sacred mountain", a type of mountainside Christian devotional complex) overlooking the town of Varallo Sesia in the province of Vercelli , Piedmont , northern Italy . It is the oldest Sacro Monte , founded in 1491 by Franciscan friar Bernardino Caimi. It is built on a natural terrace on the rocky slopes of Monte Tre Croci ("three crosses mountain"), on the left bank of

270-782: Is a continuation of the frieze of prophets and Sibyls, with this section including Habbakuk , the Tiburtine Sibyl , Zephaniah , the Phrygian Sibyl , Daniel , the Persian Sibyl and Moses , each with a still-legible cartouche of their name. Val Cavallina The Cherio ( Lombard : Chere ) is a river of the Province of Bergamo in Lombardy in Italy . The river runs for 32 kilometers (20 mi) and has

300-631: Is lost, with the commissioners' and the painter's names and the date along with the relevant passage from John 15.5 ("I am the Vine, you are the branches") in Latin in gilded letters. That New Testament text is central to the iconography of the whole chapel, linking the Roman Catholic Church and the lives of saints Barbara, Brigid and Mary Magdalene to Christ in a clear anti-Lutheran polemic. From Christ's fingers rise vine branches, which end at

330-561: Is then imprisoned, but Christ visits her and heals her. She is then brought before the praetor again, who has her hung up by the arms and tortured with torches. She is stripped and her breasts cut off, but an angel brings a white sheet to protect her modesty. She is then dragged through the city into the marketplace amidst a curious crowd. The final scene, in the background, shows her own father beheading her but then being punished by being suddenly devoured by fire. The right-hand or south side shows three squares, each showing multiple scenes from

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360-589: The Annunciation until his arrival in Bethlehem . The second zone, preceded by the Porta Aurea , is located on the summit, and is built up of palazzi and elaborate porticos , built around the two squares; piazza dei Tribunali ( piazza civica ) and piazza del Tempio ( piazza religiosa ). The aim here, was to represent the city of Jerusalem ; it does indeed have a city feel about it. The chapels narrate

390-464: The Landsknechts . The frescoes were complete by summer 1524. The artist and commissioners were friends, as shown by their correspondence discussing the cartoons for the intarsi in the choir of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo . Lotto was assisted by Francesco Bonetti , documented as his pupil from 1517 to 1550. Simple and rustic in its architecture, the chapel's plan is essentially rectangular with

420-525: The Sesia river where it leaves Val Mastallone. It is 600 m above sea level, 150 m above the historic centre of Varallo. The Sacro Monte at Varallo comprises the minor basilica and 45 chapels , either isolated or inserted into the large monumental complexes Nazareth , Bethlehem , Pilate’s house , Calvary , Sepulchre and Parella’s house – populated by more than 800 life size painted statues , in wood and terracotta, that dramatically illustrate

450-405: The life, passion, death and resurrection of Christ . These interiors are vividly decorated with fresco paintings. The Sacro Monte area is divided into two distinct zones. The first, surrounded by plants, is set out like a sloping garden; here the chapels are positioned at strategic points along the path. Beginning with Adam and Eve or Original Sin , they narrate the story of Christ , from

480-457: The ceiling in ten fruit-like circles with images of the saints and Doctors of the Church, with Saint Jerome at the far left and Saint Ambrose at the far right. At either end harvesters with ladders and billhooks fail in their attempt to cut down the branches and fall from the sky - these symbolise historical heretics and some are inscribed with their names. From left to right, the other saints in

510-589: The circles are Saint Apollonia , Margaret of Antioch with Saint Lucy , Saint Ursula , Saint Barbara with Catherine of Alexandria , Mary Magdalene with Catherine of Siena , the Virgin between two angels, John the Baptist , Saint Peter with Saint Paul , Alexander of Bergamo with Saint Stephen and Saint Sebastian , Saint Dominic with Augustine of Hippo and finally Francis of Assisi . Damaged cartouches above their heads give their names. Either side of

540-399: The communes of Endine Gaiano , Monasterolo del Castello , Casazza , Vigano San Martino , Grone , Borgo di Terzo , Berzo San Fermo , Luzzana , Entratico , Trescore Balneario , Zandobbio , Gorlago , Carobbio degli Angeli , Bolgare , Calcinate , Mornico al Serio and Palosco . Sacro Monte di Varallo The Sacred Mountain of Varallo ( Italian : Sacro Monte di Varallo )

570-465: The entrance door is a half-length figure of a male bird-hunter carrying an owl and a bundle of rods on his shoulders – the rods would be used to make traps in the branches and the owl to attract birds into the traps. An ancient tradition holds this bird-hunter to be a self-portrait of Lotto hidden under a cryptic and esoteric disguise. On the ceiling is a peeing putto symbolising the saving water of baptism and of divine protection – according to alchemists of

600-461: The events of Christ's life inside and around the walls of Jerusalem ; here are The Last Supper , The Burial , The Resurrection of Christ and The Assumption of the Madonna , to which the basilica is also dedicated. The urban character of this Sacro Monte clearly distinguishes it from the others. The present layout of the Sacro Monte is the result of a series of interventions carried out from

630-525: The executors of his work. From the middle of the sixteenth-century work began on a total renovation of the site. At the height of the Counter-Reformation , all the events of Jesus’s life were to be represented, the passion and his death . The area was organized into two zones, the predominantly natural lower portion and the summit, destined to represent the City of Jerusalem . From 1570 to 1590

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660-513: The figure of Christ are a series of buildings and landscapes, all showing scenes from the life of Saint Barbara , her conversion and her martyrdom under Maximian and Diocletian . They are set in city scenes such as a marketplace, giving a popular and lively feel to the storytelling. The figures are smaller than the saints in the upper register and show the saint's life as an unheroic one, a series of anecdotes, similar to works from northern Europe at that time, anti-rhetorical and anti-classical, as do

690-440: The image, perhaps a reference to Raphael 's The Mass at Bolsena . The second square shows a landscape in which the saint gives out food to the needy, turns water into beer, heals a blind man, calms a hurricane, dries up a tree and tames a boar. The third square is set in a city, showing more of Brigid's deeds, such as dividing a vase between three lepers and saving a man condemned to death by replacing him with his shadow. Over

720-738: The life of Brigid of Kildare , a 6th-century Irish saint. The three squares are punctuated by the entrance and two windows but are united by a continuous trompe-l'œil wall with round openings, from which appear prophets and sibyls: David , the Erythraean Sibyl , Isaiah , the Samian Sibyl , Jeremiah , the Delphic Sibyl , Ezekiel , the Cimmerian Sibyl , Micah and the Hellespontine Sibyl , each with

750-427: The mass. The brushwork is quick but efficient and the work's taste for popular narration (typical of Lotto) remains wedded to the north Italian tradition. At the centre of the north wall is a monumental figure of Christ the Vine, with arms spread wide. At his feet are the work's commissioners praying – Battista, his wife Orsolina and his sister Paolina. Above these three figures is a dedicatory inscription, part of which

780-648: The new layout. From 1565 until 1569 the architect Galeazzo Alessi played a decisive role in the renovation work, as did the Perugian architect Domenico Alfiano , and Valsesians Giovanni d’Enrico and Bartolomeo Ravelli . The sculptors , Tabacchetti, Giovanni D’Enrico, and painters like il Morazzone , Tanzio , Rocca , the Gherardini brothers, and the Gianoli brothers worked in the same artistic vein established by Gaudenzio Ferrari . However, Morazzone and

810-499: The prophets and sibyls and guaranteed and confirmed in the lives of the saints. Several figures show peasants and other working class figures, often studied from life and previously unrepresented in Italian painting. Lotto also frescoed the ceiling between (and using) the beams, creating a fake pergola against a bright blue background, with playing putti and cartouches with biblical and liturgical passages about vines and wine as used in

840-414: The time boys' urine had important properties as a "burning" liquid whose essence was fire. In alchemy urine was known as "lot", probably used here as a play on the artist's surname and as a reference to his ability to transform and create. The east wall at the back shows one frame with scenes from the life of Mary Magdalene and another with scenes from the life of Catherine of Alexandria . Above them both

870-481: The unusual colours chosen, from yellow with violet, pink with green and white with brown. This conception of scenes within an architectural setting owed much to the example of the Sacro Monte di Varallo . At the far left we see her locked up by her father in a round tower (a typical attribute of the saint), still under construction but guarded by soldiers. At its top we see her being instructed in Christianity by

900-592: The very end of the 15th century up until the middle of the 19th century. Father Bernardino Caimi , an eminent political and religious man, was the promoter of the Sacro Monte, with the help of rich local families. He had been rector of the Palestinian Holy Places , and an Ambassador to the Spanish court. A plaque tells us that Caimi tried to recreate the “Holy sites, so that who could not go on

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