Parrocchiale della Natività di Maria Vergine
According to Bescapè, the church was consecrated in 1488 by the bishop Antonio Caccia, suffragan of the bishop Gerolame Pallavicino. During the XVII century it was rejigged several times. In the years 1873- 1877 the nave was made 11 m longer, according to Ercole Marietti’s designs. Here we find two important XVII century works: the Last Supper (1959), attributed to Giovan Battista Crespi (known as Cerano), kept in the SS. Sacramento Chapel and a wooden sculpture representing the Ecce Homo, also attributed to Cerano, kept in the lateral chapel. In the 1700’s Lazzaro Agostino Costa, a wise man, talks about the sculpture kept in the parish church saying it was studied, restored and delivered to Crespi. The figure of Christ with his wrists tied and his leaning bust recall Michelangelo’s Christ Carrying Cross, kept in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, though this sculpture’s proportions and coldness are translated into a dramatic language: the drama emerges from the face of Jesus Christ, from the blood that gushes out from his forehead creating furrows on his face, from the perfect anatomy. All these elements make of the Ecce Homo a masterpiece of wooden sculpture. The church hides more surprises: over the XVIII century marble altar, the beautiful polyptych attributed to Sperindio Cagnoli depicting Virgin Mary with Child in the centre, the Crucifiction above and the Saints on both sides, in the minor compartments. The polyptych recalls the style of Gaudenzio Ferrari and the Milanese pictorial culture of the 1500’s.
Cod. 11
Il Seicento nel Novarese
F.Gonzales, C.Ranghino
ATL della Provincia di Novara
Il seicento novarese rappresenta un segno stilistico forte che ha caratterizzato l'intero territorio provinciale, con un gusto suo proprio, uno stile inconfondibile che interpreta con fantasia ed estro le forme classiche, fatte di luci ed ombre che costituiscono la sua originalità.