Our Lady of the Craftsmen

Author: Unknown Sicilian sculptor

Date: End sec. XVII – beginning sec. XVIII

Material: Wood carved and painted

Dimensions: cm 123x74x52

Location: Milazzo, church of San Giacomo

Neglected by local sources, the graceful sculpture was placed in the church of San Giacomo in relatively recent times and the current state of research is unknown origin. The particular iconography with the Virgin supporting a ladder and a hammer, identifying attributes of the carpenters’ activity, is at the origin of the name by which the statue is commonly remembered. It is known the existence of an ancient Brotherhood of Craftsmen who was based in the church of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, formerly located in the village and in the eighteenth century moved to via Umberto, while another brotherhood, constituted by artisans and dedicated to San Giuseppe, was located in the church dedicated to the saint.

However, these news do not clear the fog that covers the origin of the work. The sculpture is never mentioned, at least with the current definition; in fact it can not exclude the possibility that the Madonna had a different designation in the past, It is not uncommon to see changes in subjects or iconographies made over the decades due to changing cultural or devotional needs. The Madonna, sitting on clouds curly, rests her foot on the head of a cherub. The slight rotation of the bust in the opposite direction to the position of the legs hardly moves the frontality of the statue; this arrangement, associated with the flattening of the modelled on the back, makes it probable that the original placement was within a niche.

The figure is wrapped in clothes by solid and little articulated draperies, except for the flap of the blue mantle that, passing over the raised arm to support the ladder, falls on the left side. The rich decoration of the dress, which is tightened under the breast by a cloth, has been almost completely altered by successive interventions; only a small portion remains on the back and back of the sleeves; the same is true for the golden decorative motifs of the blue mantle, which are now barely legible on the side of the statue, replaced by scattered flowers. The ornate with golden foliage volutes on a red background takes up styles diffused in late seventeenth-century fabrics; moreover, the slight inclination of the head, combined with the smile that slightly stretches the lips, gives a serene sweetness to the expression of the Virgin, in which we can see echoes of Maratta’s painting and the late Baroque Roman and Solimenesco classicist.

The set of formal characters that characterizes the work refers to the extensive production of wooden sculptures of Neapolitan scope, between the last two decades of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. In particular, there is an affinity with the production of the workshops of Gaetano Palatano and Nicola Fumo, which precisely in the eighties and nineties of the seventeenth century, when commissions are made more copious, have considerable correspondence probably due to reports “exchange or emulation” that have created attributive confusion. In the vestments that wrap the Virgin, as well as in the definition of the hair, the carving, however careful, appears synthetic and summary when compared with the refined subtlety of the Neapolitan examples. The strongly plastic model is hardly moved in a baroque sense and, departing from the emphasis and theatrical exuberance of Nicola Fumo’s draperies, it has a composure that shows the propensity for a classicist balance.

The appreciable workmanship of the Milazzese sculpture reveals the hand of a skilled carver in defining the details, as in the careful naturalness with which he makes the soft hand that holds up the scale or the face with the rounded chin, that repeats physiognomic characters somewhat exploited by the Neapolitan masters. There are still to be identified numerous minor personalities who populate the varied panorama of southern sculptural production; a fact that is now acquired by recent studies is the existence of a dense circulation of sculptures from Naples, which allowed local carvers to catch up on Neapolitan models without moving away from their home locations. The author of our statue, most likely Sicilian, is part of that large group of sculptors not yet clearly identified and reveals to have a solid technical training derived from the local sculptural tradition, in particular nebroidea, updated on the late 17th century Neapolitan prototypes. The hypothesis of a dating of the work between the last two decades of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century, based on stylistic comparisons with the Neapolitan sculptures, is enhanced by the decoration of the dress that recalls fabrics widespread in the second half of the seventeenth century and in use until the first decades of the eighteenth.

Buda V., Lanuzza S. (a cura di), Tesori di Milazzo. Arte sacra tra Seicento e Settecento., Milazzo 2015