Churches in Sicily
Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore (The Church of the Carmine Maggiore)
According to Maria Giuffrè (The Baroque Architecture of Sicily), the church of the Carmine in Palermo was “built over the transept of an older building which was being completely remodelled inside. The interior was transformed with carved altars by the brothers Giacomo and Giuseppe Serpotta, in which twisted columns of stucco separate figural scenes. Their dynamism contrasts with the static 17th-century plan and leads the eye upwards to the apex of the dome. The dome was conceived as an integral part of the townscape, and is a magnificent synthesis of the traditional skills that [Angelo] Italia would have learnt during his training: the drum is marked by pairs of columns framing imposing telamones, with a dense exuberance of sculpted decoration around the windows, and the dome itself is covered with a mass of brightly coloured majolica tiles.”
Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore with its spectacular dome adorned with colorful glazed majolica tiles. Carmine Maggiore was designed by Mariano Smiriglio, under the guidance of P. Teodoro Stremula. It is the major Carmelite church in Palermo.
“The dome was begun in 1670 to Angelo Italia’s design, and in 1679 work was started again to Italia’s design, on its stucco decoration (Plate 43). The columns and the four figures of the atlantes were first roughly sculpted in stone by Giovanni Tartaglia, Giovan Battista Ferreri, and Francesco Cemellino, put in place around the drum, and covered with a first layer of plaster. Then, in June 1680, Fra Angelo La Rosa signed a contract with Andrea Surfarello and Gaspare La Farina, masters in stucco, for the more delicate work which gave their actual appearance to the four giants and the stucco urns above the entablature, and the elaborate window surrounds of strapwork, putti, and garlands. The atlantes, admired by Mongitore, derive, as does much of the internal decoration, from the Michelangelesque tradition of the Ferrari still very much alive among the local artisans and architects. Italia on other occasions borrowed heavily, at least for the figurative element of his chapels, from that tradition.” (Garstang, p. 219)
The interior of the drum at Carmine Maggiore features richly decorated stucco window surrounds.
The chapel of the Holy Crucifix in the church of the Carmine Maggiore was ennobled with stucco ornaments in 1684. The altar has four spiral stucco columns, in the twists of which can be seen the mysteries of the Passion of the Lord. Above the columns is the cornice (the crowning horizontal moulding that projects above the columns, unifying and finishing the architectural composition of the altar).
In the 1930s Monsignor Meli published the documents which proved the collaboration of the two Serpottas, Giacomo and Giuseppe, on the altars of the Carmine (1683–4).
According to Garstang, “the revolutionary aspect of these altars, and the element which conditions their figurative load, is the spiral form of the columns. These were introduced to Palermo in the 1630s in the chapel of the Madonna di Trapani in Casa Professa. The niche which contains the statue of the Madonna is framed by a baldacchino of twisted columns seen in diminishing perspective. The source of the columns would seem to be an engraving of Orazio Torriani’s talamo for the procession of the Rosary of 1625 in Rome.” (In Baroque processions and festivities, a talamo was a temporary ceremonial structure, usually a richly decorated stage, canopy, or triumphal machine, often carried in religious processions.)
The Carmelite coat of arms (stemma carmelitano)—here executed in wrought iron (ferro battuto) and mounted in the bell tower of the Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore.
The crown at the top signifies “Mary, Queen of Carmel,” a crown of victory. The upright cross in the center corresponds to the cross added in the early modern period as a distinguishing element of the order’s arms. The lower “mount/ship” form with three rosettes/stars represents a stylized Mount Carmel with three stars (Mary together with the prophets Elijah and Elisha; often six-pointed in the iconography). A circular frame/medallion around the shield is common in historical renderings of the Carmelite arms.
The Carmelite coat of arms also appears in majolica decoration on the dome.
The editor ascending inside the bell tower for a closer look at the magnificent dome of the Carmine Maggiore church.
Sources
Donald Garstang: Giacomo Serpotta and the Stuccatori of Palermo 1560-1790 (London, 1984)
Maria Giuffrè: The Baroque Architecture of Sicily (London, 2007)
Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione
The Life Force is visible if you know where to look.
