Pisogne Outline of “Santa Maria della Neve” guided tour
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| Margherita Loda
Istituto Turistico- Pisogne Summer Cicerones - Ciceroni d’Estate 2012
Pisogne - Outline of “Santa Maria della Neve” guided tourTHE CHURCH WHERE? - outside the district - but on the main road to the Camonica Valley and to Brescia - visible also from the lake WHEN? 2nd half of 15th Century, probably built in 1480-1485 2 clues
a.portal in local red stone b.decoration: similar to the one in the parish church (S. Maria in Silvis) treefoil arches similar to those in dated 1485 Santa Maria in Valvendra in Lovere signed Damiano da Milano 1473-1483 Pisogne, Vallecamonica and Brescia under Venice, “The Most Serene”: p Pisogne was the market place of the Camonica Valley (on Saturday big market: exchange of wood, wool, iron, cattles, resin coming form the valley with cereal coming from the southern plane; very important up to 17th C., ended around 1850 with the new road on the lake). WHO? The church is a civic temple, the people wanted it. It’s a collective patronage: there was not just a single benefactor. The client was the city: the city coat of arms (+ V.P. =Vicinia Pisonearum) is carved in a capital of a pilaster strip inside.
- Christian catechisis (religious teaching), possibly by the Brotherhood of Discipilnants (Flagellants) - collective patronage. It’s a half religious-half lay way of showing off, it’s a display of greatness/grandeur.
-1 nave
-sloping roof -probably 2 symmetrical chapels outside: only the northern one left; the southern chapel was pulled down in 1588 to build the Augustinian monastery? (hospital till 1976, now rest home) -the portal: build in red local stone; bas-relief decoration of colums, figures of Saints; very similar to the portal of Santa Maria in Silvis (the parish church) there dated 1485 and sigmed Damiano da Milano on the lunette date 1508: end of exeterior decoration? THE EXTERIOR PICTORIAL DECORATIONT
T  he façade:
-red, purple, green, blue diamonds with big white flowers inside (typical of the Renaissance) -very small prophets in the trefoil arches (gothic style) -Annunciation in the medallions (lost) ... and ... the masterpiece! Triumph of Death and Triumph on Deathtotally disappeared A 
2 groups of 21-22 people going towards 2 different images of DEATH emerging from the doorjambs. visual effect: geometrical decoration versus this BIG REPRESENTATION OF DEATH (more than normal size) o  n the right:
death as a skeleton with crown, bow, arrows towards death: cortège (Pope, bishops, cardinals, lords, ladies,... common people) holding money, jewels, gifts for death but they must surrender: this 1st death is inevitable and you can’t corrupt it o  n the left:
death as a skeleton with no crown, no arrows, just a bow. Christ, the Lady, prohets, virgins go towards death holding nothing Christ is the right path, death has no power on him (and on his followers/disciples). On the scroll We’ll spurn wealth (= we’ll scorn money) because we can’t live by it.
The school of Pietro Da Cemmo in the northern chapel and on the trefoil arches on top of the wall: Bible stories (the Creation of man, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden/Earthly Paradise, the Annunciation, Jesus’ childhood...)T  he Lady of the jobs in the third northern bay: frescoed rectangle the crowned Lady praying with her hands joined; around her scenes from common life describing the various jobs (a young man pulling a mule, a long table full of food, various tools, vintage /grape harvest, a sailing boat on the rough lake, an oxen pulled cart full of farm products).
Unknown author. Picture of life at the end of 15th C. The idea is that the Lady protects all kind of occupations: probably the different congregations ordered it. There’s a similar fresco in Cemmo.
The church was probably completely decorated by 1508, but Romanino arrival in 1533 provoked changes: a new open gallery on the North wall (possibly built with the church which was a hospice for pilgrims-?-) with 3 bays to protect 3 frescoes by Romanino (the Epiphany –now lost – which covered the Lady of the jobs, the Adoration and the Procession of the Kings) . They were strappati in 1878 and now they are in the curch. The open gallery was pulled down in 1830 because dangerous! 3 trefoil windows closed up in the nave (2 in the north wall and 1 in the south wall) ( The church was repainted inside from 1533 to 1534 by a painter called Romanino. Let’s go and see! THE INSIDE1 nave - 3 bays separated by 2 pointed/ogive arches – 3 ogive cross-vaults  capitals of the south pilaster strips with city coat of arms Tower and letters VP (Vicinia Pisonearum)
What you see is a painting cycle = visual support for preaches during Advent and Lent FRESCOES = BIBLE FOR PEOPLE Christians couldn’t read the Bible by themselves, they needed priests’ help .... but 1517 Lutero and the Reformation: personal relationship between man and God, people are allowed to read the Bible by themselves 1546 official Counter-Reformation... Catholics can’t read the Bible
possibly client = brotherhood of Disciplinants m THE VAULTProphets and sybils (12 + 12) with scrolls (readable only in the first bay!) 24 monochromatic putti 8 diviners with scrolls
THE WALLSLet’s have a look at the walls. The main theme is a reflection on Christ, but it’s more like the church was divided into CHAPELS. E
[N.B. note well= under the Pentecost the only fragment of the previous decoration(yellow cloth)] o n the right:
Mary from the very beginning (the conception) to the end of Christ’s life: on the altar-step the Deposition! (strappo 1965) 2. The South wall 3rd bay. altar- step: Jesus entering eartlhy Jerusalem altar- piece: the Ascension (= Jesus entering heavenly Jerusalem) 2nd bay. altar- step: the Washing of the feet Jesus washed the feet to his disciples, sign of great humility altar- piece: Christ’s descent into Hell (= the moment of maximum lowering – in order to free the just) 1st bay. altar- step: the Last Supper altar- piece: the Resurrection not easy relationship . During the Last Supper Jesus established the Eucharist which is an anticipation and a reminder of the Resurrection. During the rite you say “ Every time we eat this bread... we announce your death and proclaim your Resurrection”
The North wall is the “Christ and man wall”!!! 2nd bay. Problems!!! According to Marco Rizzi (a scholar form the Catholic University ) during the restoration of 19th C. the 2 altar-steps were “strappati” and exchanged) a  ltar- piece: the Ecce homo would in fact be related to Pontius Pilate washing his hands (in the 1st bay) (strappo 1847)
1  st bay. altar- piece: Up to the Calvary and the figure of Veronica
should be related to The Supper at Simons’s the Pharisee and Mary Magdaleine (putting ointment on Jesus’feet) (strappo 1965) SPECIAL FEATURES: the game of opposites 
o The suppers  South wall: Christ (and the humankind) North wall: Christ and man
4. The “Controfacciata”: the crucifixion 
37 figures 15 horses the autoportrait(s) (Longinus?) the cross is in the middle
angel pointing to the right way devil the good thief the bad thief women weeping soldiers Have a look at the OCULUS: the only 15th C. fragment of stained glass window in the province of Brescia!
THE PAINTERWho is Romanino? We don’t know much about his life: born in Brescia, probably in 1486- when the church was built up- , died in 1560. STYLE + INFLUENCES
T Sculptural quality of the characters (remiding Michelangelo) painting “in dialect” (not in Italian) common people as prophets or apostles but this is wrong Romanino is not a popular painter, a 2nd class one: he’s very up to date! He was learned. He’s dissenting and innovative: he wants to get free from the CLASSIC ROMAN CULTURE which gave harmony but not realism (typical of Northern Art). He looks for REALISM and AUTHENTICITY.
Romanino was part of this very up-to-date movement and this influenced his frescoes. THE FRESCO TECHNIQUE
ROMANINO FRESCO TECHNIQUE QUICK ACHIEVEMENT Since you need fresh plaster, you must fresco little by little: each part is called “a day of work” Romanino realised the church only in 150/160 days of work! NO PREPARATION The pouncing: usually frescoists used cartoons = a full-size drawing of the painting made on sturdy paper. Such cartoons often had pinpricks along the outline of the design. A bag of soot (fuliggine) was “pounced” over the cartoon –held against the wall- to leave black dots on the plaster. R ROUGH PLASTER Frescoists needed smooth plaster, spread with care on the wall. N The technique of fresco is complicated: if you make a mistake you are in trouble! N Like a fore-runner of Impressionism. Also because he used Albrecht Dürer’s prints as a model: a. Up to the Calvary look at Christ’s face(beard, eyebrows, forehead, nose).In Tavernola he uses this technique! b This is related to another important feature:
Just a sketch is ok (Remember? Pietro Aretino and Sprezzatura “I must write like a painter who sketches out”) e.g. The Last Supper: look at S. Peter’s stool, the apostles’ hair, the clothes...
And he knew! Frescoists use pigments mixed with water. Romanino used special insoluble pigments (smaltine and malachite green) that must be used in “a secco painting”. SMALTINE: light blue > become grey (in clothes , shadows and finishing-off of beards) MALACHITE GREEN: cloth of 4th apostle in Washing of the Feet Well preserved in Jesus entering Jerusalem socks of young man (because used on a dark base) ...Imagine the effect if these colours have lasted!!!! Clients liked this job (more evident at the bottom ) and Romanino was called to paint S. Antonio in Breno. Why the APSE is empty? Probably Romanino left the original frescoes of the Virgin – the church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Snow, after Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. School of Pietro Da Cemmo cartoons/pouncing? Santa Maria Maggiore The name Our Lady of the Snow for the basilica in Rome became popular in the 14th century in connection with a legend. During the pontificate of Liberius (4th century A.D.), the Roman patrician John and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary. On 5th August, at the height of the Roman summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night (together with the Pope), the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow....but... it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. In the sacristy more frescoes. ... That’s all! |
he original aspect must have been very attractive: the church was all decorated (all around +the bell tower black and white)
t the 2 sides of the doorway 2 frescoed rectangles: 4.80 metres large (16 feet) 
the nave is now enlightened only by an oculus!)
ain idea= Christ saved the humankind through his sacrifice with prophets and sybils in the background (both the Roman and the Jewish worlds waited for the Messiah)
Christ up and down in opposite walls 
he church had been defined “the Sistina chapel of the poor”
omanino painted directly on the wall, free-hand!
ot Romanino! Here the plaster is very rough! If you have grazing light (passing very close to the wall) you can see the signs of the trowel he used to spread the plaster. photo!