|
Abbey of Casoretto
|
|
|
Show an other treasure of art and history in Milan:
|
 Mostly represented styles: Gothic - Renaissance - Baroque
The Abbey of Casoretto, also known with the name Church of Santa Maria Bianca (White Saint Mary of Mercy), doesn't have interiors full of decorations like other churches on this page, but it is nevertheless rich in history, since it was built in the fifteenth century.
It was part of a monastery, that of Santa Maria Bianca, still in the nineteenth century surrounded by the countryside and which had its golden age from the end of the fifteenth century throughout the following century, a period during which the suburban monastery was also an important center of humanistic studies.
The church was built according to plans of the family Solari. Also Guiniforte worked to it,giving it a structure similar to that of Santa Maria delle Grazie, his masterpiece.
The church originally had a simple structure, comprising three naves covered by cross vaults and a quadrangular choir.
After having become Abbey, the building was transformed, perhaps on a design by Tibaldi, according to the dictates of the Council of Trent. The modifications included the construction of the tiburium, the replacement in the main nave of the crossed vaults with barrel vaults and the subdivision into chapels of the lateral naves. In the following century the church received some changes in baroque style, changes which were then then eliminated in 1927, when the building was restored under the guidance of Ambrogio Annoni, who gave it the original appearance of the fifteenth century, as we can see it today.
The adjective "white" in the name refers to the detached fresco of unknown author depicting the Madonna of Mercy (Fig. 8). The Virgin Mary is portrayed while worshipping the Child Jesus lying on the grass. Beautiful is the depiction of the Madonna, in a white dress with gold rim; less refined the representation of the Child Jesus, result of interventions in the seventeenth century. The adjective "white" also helped to distinguish the church from two other churches at the gates of Milan and also pilgrimage destinations: Santa Maria Rossa ("red") in Crescenzago and Santa Maria Nera ("black") in Loreto (not existing any more).
The church also houses canvases of Cerano, Nuvolone and Camillo Procaccini.
It is worth mentioning the great canvas behind the main altar (Fig. 7). Of the first half of the seventeenth century and of anonymous author, is contains a very detailed and precise representation of the convent as it was at the time of the execution of the painting.
Other pictures of the Church of Santa Maria Bianca della Misericordia in the Photography section of this web site
If you are interested in a guided tour of this monument send an email!
Categories: Churches / Religious buildings
Piazza San Materno, 20131 Milano |
Further pictures of the Abbey of Casoretto in the section Photography |