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Curiosities you may not know about Naples' 'Veiled Christ'

Naples is one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world, both for its architecture and its sights, including museums. One of the most appreciated places of all is undoubtedly the Sansevero Chapel, inside which is the statue of the 'Veiled Christ'.

This is a marvellous work where the dead Christ, lying on a mattress, is covered by a veil that adheres perfectly to his form. The magnificence of the statue lies in the veil, carved from a single block of marble, which seems transparent over Christ's body. On his face, moreover, one can see precisely the signs of suffering following the Passion.

On the account of the 'Veiled Christ', there is also a fascinating legend about the veil and alchemy, of which Raimondo di Sangro, the commissioner of the work.

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Curiosities you may not know about Naples' 'Veiled Christ'
Naples is one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities in the world, both for its architecture and for its sights, including museums. One of the most popular sights of all is undoubtedly the Sansevero Chapel, inside which is the statue of the 'Veiled Christ'.
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The statue was not originally commissioned to Giuseppe Sanmartino
Raimondo di Sangro commissioned the work. Originally, this statue was to be placed in the family mausoleum below the Chapel. The first sculptor to whom the statue was commissioned was Antonio Corradini, who unfortunately died shortly afterwards. He only made a terracotta sketch, which is now in the San Martino National Museum. Because of this, the commission was given to Sanmartino.
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The importance of details
For non-experts in neo-classical art, even looking at such a work can be difficult since one does not know which parts to focus on. The spectacularity of this statue is not only the veil covering Christ's body, so realistic that it seems to be posed (and we will come back to this), but also the transparency on Jesus' face, from which all the suffering for the torture he has just undergone transpires. Matilde Serao (a famous Italian journalist), a great admirer of the sculpture, also emphasised the perfection of Christ's body, which is shown young, strong, and healthy, a body that is 'beautiful but torn', with a veil over it that 'covers some spasms and softens the figure'.
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The legend about Raymond di Sangro and alchemy.
Raimondo di Sangro was a famous scientist and alchemist. Over the centuries, the perfection of the veil has given rise to legends according to which this detail was not originally present in the work, but was added later through an alchemical process called 'fabric marbling'. Through a chemical process, the veil would have been laid on the marble and slowly 'transformed' into marble. Chemical analyses of the work, and also the exchange of letters that took place during its creation, leave no doubt that the entire statue was carved from a single block of marble.
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The incredible reactions of artists over the centuries
The statue immediately became famous, and already during the 18th century it was a pilgrimage destination for many artists. One of the greatest admirers of the 'Veiled Christ' was Antonio Canova, who was so fascinated by it that he tried to buy it, without success. In more recent times, Riccardo Muti (a very famous Italian conductor), chose the image of the 'Veiled Christ' as the cover of Mozart's 'Requiem' that he conducted. Even the writer Héctor Bianciotti is said to have been seized by the Stendhal syndrome while admiring the veil.
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Sansevero Chapel
The Sansevero Chapel, also called the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà or Pietatella is located near Piazza San Domenico Maggiore and is now a deconsecrated place. In addition to the 'Veiled Christ', the chapel houses many other masterpieces of art, including Antonio Corradini's 'Modesty' and Francesco Queirolo's 'Disenchantment'. Many do not know, moreover, that in addition to being conceived as a place of prayer, the mausoleum is also, and perhaps above all, a Masonic temple (as reported on the same website) full of symbolism and meaning that reflects the mind of Raimondo di Sangro.
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