Starting from the large chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in recent times a corner has been dedicated to the painter Francesco Guarini with three of his paintings. On the short wall of the transept there is a first chapel which contains one of the most famous paintings by Francesco Guarini, namely the Sine Macula (i.e. “spotless, immaculate”), created for the Confraternity of the Immaculate which is based in the same collegiate church.
The Sine Macula is one of the most famous works of the Solofran painter Francesco Guarini. The latest studies have placed the work around 1643 and not 1637 as previously thought. The title of the Immaculate Conception derives from the upper section writing, completely unusual for the time as the dogma was recognized only in 1854 with the Ineffabilis Deus seal. Previously, for long centuries, Christian theologians had been divided into opposing fronts between Immacolatists, especially Franciscans, who recognized the Virgin with the gift of being born without original sin and the Dominicans, who believed the Virgin Mary was born human, with the cancellation of first fault only after her birth. The Council of Trent, while not taking an open position, expressed a clear, albeit prudent, orientation of the Church towards the immaculate position. In this context, starting from the second half of the sixteenth century, especially in the Franciscan and Carmelite churches, there was an artistic flowering of paintings of the Immaculate. Francesco Guarini melds the late Mannerist model with a modern form, combining the symbols of the Litany of the Immaculate Conception with a more realistic and effective rendering by inserting at the top the sensational novelty of the cartouche held up by two cherubs with the words “SINE MACULA”. It is not a matter of writing with the sole function of identifying the subject, but of a real proclamation of the sinless Virgin Mary, a clear and precise stand within the theological debate. The writing is evocative of the first passage of the Loreto litany which opens with the famous passage from the Song of Songs (IV, 7): Tota pulcra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te. On the upper sides, two of the symbols of the immaculate are arranged in a shadow effect, namely Mystical Staircase on the left, and Ianua Coeli on the right. The putti holding the scroll on the left also hold two other Marian symbols, namely Rosa mystical and Lily, i.e. Lilium inter spinas.
On the left side, under the pair of cherubs, the Sun is depicted, another of the symbols taken from the Song of Songs to represent the Virgin “pulchra ut luna electa ut sol (cc 6.6). Further down, on the left side of the Virgin, three other Marian symbols are depicted, namely a small temple, a mirror and a branch, each supported by a puttino. The small building in the symbolic value of the Lauretan Litany corresponds to the spiritual Vas, sedes sapientiae, the temple of the Holy Spirit, that is, the Church. The mirror is the Speculum sine macula, expression of Marian virginity and its purity. The third putto with a shrub in his hands should hold a cedar tree, Cedrus, an expression of Wisdom which is taken up by the Book of Sirach (24, 13-14). On the right side three other symbols are depicted, an olive branch, a tower, and a palm tree on the back. The first reminds the observer of the oliva speciosa in campis from the biblical book. The olive tree is also the sign of peace. The tower, on the other hand, is the Turris davidica, the ivory Turris proclaimed in the Loreto Litany. And behind the tower you can clearly see the palm tree, that is, the paradise tree. A notable iconographic aspect comes from the representation of a seascape below the Virgin, who seems to be raised between heaven and earth. This is an important innovation that has a significant precedent in Neapolitan painting in the Immaculate Conception painted by Ribera in 1635 for the church of the Extremely Pure in the convent of Las Augustinas in Salamanca. The seascape below, rarely used up to that moment, is taken from the depiction of the Virgin as “Morning Star”, which is found in the mentioned Loreto Litanies but is widespread by the Jesuits.
In this context of iconography renewal, the seascape is represented from a bird’s eye perspective that also renews the landscape representations. Landscape representations are the result of the collaboration with artists who are specialists in this field, like the French painters Francois de Nomé, known as Monsù Desiderio, or Didier Barra, who had been active in Naples for some years. At the end of the Thirties of seventeenth century there were other Neapolitan artists like Domenico Gargiulo, known as Micco Spadaro, or Salvator Rosa. It is possible that a landscape specialist worked on the landscape of both the Sine Macula and the Madonna di Porto Salvo.
The Virgin Mary of Porto Salvo
The painting, one of the master pieces of Francesco Guarini, comes from the chapel of Saint Mary of Porto Salvo, located inside St Mary of the People Church, demolished in the 1960. On this occasion it was moved to the collegiate church. The painting was commisioned by Domenicantonio Morena, whose portrait is painted down on the left holding an illegible scroll. According to some stylistic feedback, the painting should be placed around 1645 when the painter moves away definitely from the sturdy naturalism to come into a more open vision and new motivations. The Virgin with The Baby, sitting on a cloud, occupies the whole aerial space with a whirlwind of cherub who celebrates her by playing with a satin cloth. Beneath, instead, a deep sea landscape that gives the sense of the painting’ s subject, is dedicated to the protection of the sailors in navigation. It’ s possible that the marine inlet was realised by some artist specialized in landscape rapresentations. The Holy Family with The Baby Jesus and Saint Anne. The painting comes from the church or the XII Apostles of Solofra. It represents the Virgin with The Baby standing on a base and Saints Anne and Joachim on the sides. Before the restoration the painting had the date 1645, then resulted apocryphal. Indeed the painting is to be considered close to Guarinian paintings such as the Sine Macula and the series of Saint Antony Bishop at Campobasso, both realized in the year 1643.
Traces of a floor from the16th century
In front of the altar, very important traces of an ancient floor made of painted ceramic tiles appeared during the restoration. The date of this floor can be placed at the beginning of the collegiate church, shortly before the middle of the 16th century. Other traces can be found in the left aisle under the pillar of St Joseph’s chapel.
Left apse.
The left apse has undergone many changes over the last few centuries. From the beginning of the 17th century, it was the altar of the Orsini family, the feudal lords of Solofra, who had their own chapel dedicated to St Basil. This was abandoned after about a century. Of the original configuration, the marble frame remains, while the altar is a creation in marble intarsia, datable to the middle of the 18th century. Most probably, the altar comes from the chapel of St Joseph of the Mount of the Dead, where there were three altars, including one dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. On the sides, as it can be seen, are the insignia of the Confraternity with skulls. The covered statue, now placed in the apsidal niche, also comes from the Cappellone dei morti (Chapel of the Dead) and dates back to at least the last quarter of the 17th century.
Stone half-bust Madonna with Child.
A half-bust of the Madonna and Child, which has remained for years in disrepair on the stairs leading to the crypt of the collegiate church, is temporarily placed on the altar. Recently restored, it has revealed valuable information. It was made of a stony amalgam which had been crushed around a central core consisting of a wooden parallelepiped with an arched shape on the back, in order to make the structure stable. The stone mortar, once roughly shaped, was covered with stucco to make the surface smoother. After being dried naturally, it was painted and treated like a real statue. There is a Gothic writing on the Virgin’s collar, ‘AVE MARIA’, and on Jesus’ collar, which is very difficult to read. The style recalls the figurative culture of the Angevin period when a new iconography of the Madonna and Child was developed, especially in the Tiber area, and lasted for several decades. Some aspects of our sculpture, such as the drapery of the Child and the inscription, date back to the late Gothic period of the 15th century. The singularity of the composition suggests that it was destined for very humid and cold environments, which is not recommended for easily perishable works like those made of wood.
Source: illustrated colleggiate guide of San Michele Arcangelo
Antonio Braca
