Ex Voto | Page 7

able
to find out. Over and above the foregoing, there is the inventory drawn
up by order of Giambattista Albertino in 1614, and a number of other
documents, to which reference will be found in the pages of Bordiga,
Galloni, Tonetti, and of the many others who have written upon the Val
Sesia and its history. A twelve months' stay in the Val Sesia would not
suffice to do justice to all the interesting and important questions which
arise wholesale as soon as the chapels on the Sacro Monte are
examined with any care. I shall confine myself, therefore, to a
consideration of the most remarkable features of the Sacro Monte as it
exists at present, and to doing what I can to stimulate further study on
the part of others.
I cannot understand how a field so interesting, and containing treasures
in so many respects unrivalled, can have remained almost wholly
untilled by the numerous English lovers of art who yearly flock to Italy;
but the fact is one on which I may perhaps be congratulated, inasmuch
as more shortcomings and errors of judgment may be forgiven in my
own book, in virtue of its being the first to bring Varallo with any
prominence before English readers. That little is known about the Sacro
Monte, even by the latest and best reputed authorities on art, may be
seen by turning to Sir Henry Layard's recent edition of Kugler's
"Handbook of Painting,"--a work which our leading journals of culture
have received with acclamation. Sir Henry Layard has evidently either

never been at Varallo, or has so completely forgotten what he saw there
that his visit no longer counts. He thinks, for example, that the chapels,
or, as he also calls them, "stations" (which in itself should show that he
has not seen them), are on the way up to the Sacro Monte, whereas all
that need be considered are on the top. He thinks that the statues
generally in these supposed chapels "on the ascent of the Sacro Monte"
are attributed to Gaudenzio Ferrari, whereas it is only in two or three
out of some five-and-forty that any statues are believed to be by
Gaudenzio. He thinks the famous sculptor Tabachetti--for famous he is
in North Italy, where he is known--was a painter, and speaks of him as
"a local imitator" of Gaudenzio, who "decorated" other chapels, and
"whose works only show how rapidly Gaudenzio's influence declined
and his school deteriorated." As a matter of fact, Tabachetti was a
Fleming and his name was Tabaquet; but this is a detail. Sir Henry
Layard thinks that "Miel" was also "a local imitator" of Gaudenzio. It is
not likely that this painter ever worked on the Sacro Monte at all; but if
he did, Sir Henry Layard should surely know that he came from
Antwerp. Sir Henry Layard does not appear to know that there are any
figures in the Crucifixion Chapel of Gaudenzio, or indeed in any of the
chapels for which Gaudenzio painted frescoes, and falls into a trap
which seems almost laid on purpose for those who would write about
Varallo without having been there, in supposing that Gaudenzio painted
a Pieta on the Sacro Monte. Having thus displayed the ripeness of his
knowledge as regards facts, he says that though the chapels "on the
ascent of the Sacro Monte" are "objects of wonder and admiration to
the innumerable pilgrims who frequent this sacred spot," yet "the bad
taste of the colour and clothing make them highly repugnant to a
cultivated eye."
I begin to understand now how we came to buy the Blenheim Raffaelle.
Finally, Sir Henry Layard says it is "very doubtful" whether any of the
statues were modelled or executed by Gaudenzio Ferrari at all. It is a
pity he has not thought it necessary give a single reason or authority in
support of a statement so surprising.
Some of these blunders appear in the edition of 1874 edited by Lady

Eastlake. In that edition the writer evidently knows nothing of any
figures in the Crucifixion Chapel, and Sir Henry Layard was unable to
supply the omission. The writer in the 1874 edition says that
"Gaudenzio is seen as a modeller of painted terra-cotta in the stations
ascending to the chapel (sic) on the Sacro Monte." It is from this source
that Sir Henry Layard got his idea that the chapels are on the way up to
the Sacro Monte, and that they are distinct from those for which
Gaudenzio painted frescoes on the top of the mountain. Having perhaps
seen photographs of the Sacro Monte at Varese, where the chapels
climb the hill along with the road, or having perhaps actually seen the
Madonna del Sasso at Locarno, where small oratories with frescoes of
the Stations of