Donato Calvi. [Churches of the Diocese of Bergamo (1661-1671)]

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
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Donato Calvi

Delle Chiese della Diocesi di Bergamo (1661-1671)
[Churches of the Diocese of Bergamo]

edited by Giosuè Bonetti and Matteo Rabaglio

Cinisello Balsamo (Mi), Silvana editoriale, 2008

Bergamo - Palazzo della Ragione and the Cathedral of St. Alexander
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[1] Text of the back cover:

"With this edition, three volumes of manuscripts preserved at the Civic Library Angelo Mai in Bergamo are released. They bound the letters of parish priests in Bergamo, in response to a detailed questionnaire designed by Donato Calvi. The questionnaire was in function of the Effemeride sagro-profana di quanto di memorabile sia successo in Bergamo, sua diocese et territorio (Sacred and profane ephemerides of memorable events happened in Bergamo, his diocese et territory) (Milan 1676-1677), i.e. the main historiographical work of the seventeenth century in Bergamo.

Bergamo, Church of Saints Bartholomew and Stephen
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lorenzo Lotto, The Martinengo Altarpiece, 1513-1516, Bergamo, Church of Saints Bartholomew and Stephen
Source: Wikimedia Commons

333 documents, mostly letters, draw a varied landscape of knowledge, and present a true polyphony of voices, culture and sensitivities. They contribute to establish a canon of historical information that takes account of the detailed investigation made by Calvi, typically organized in 16 questions: 1. Principles of the church or parish, if any; 2. Accurate day, month and year of consecration, with the name of the consecrating Bishop; or at least the day when it is registered; 3. Structure of the church with the number of altars; 4. Whether there are any paintings or sculptures of good hand with the name of the author; 5. Whether there are bodies or relics of distinguished saints, the days dedicated to them, with the time of processions if ​​any; 6. Privileged, perpetual or temporary altars; 7. Any brotherhood and the time of its establishment; 8. Privileges, exemptions, immunities; 9. Sacred objects, silverware and organ; 10. Recent or restored rooms in the church and when building works were started; 11. Whether in the church it is preached daily or in other form, including during Lent or Advent; 12. Processions of greater solemnity; 13. Day of the major public holidays requiring assembly; 14. Whether there are ancient inscriptions or other worthy objects to be recollected; 15. Whether there are miraculous Images or Madonnas and their principles and most famous miracles; 16. How many souls live in the parish.

During a decade (included between 1661 and 1671) all priests, external vicars, priors and abbesses of the Diocese of Bergamo provided a rough draft of information on the work table of the prior of the monastery of St. Augustine, which can lead us through the history of the faith and the mentality of a society of the old regime, still shaken by the events of the plague described by Manzoni [note of the translator: in The Betrothed.]"

Ambrogio da Fossano aka Bergognone, Polyptych, 1507, Bergamo, Church of the Holy Spirit
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lorenzo Lotto, Altarpiece of the Holy Spirit, 1521, Bergamo, Church of the Holy Spirit
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[2] It's just obvious that the reports sent to Calvi now form an important source for the history of the local church; however, the reliability of information is much lower (but not nil) for those who take care of sources of art history. We do not quite agree with those describing these pages as the first systematic survey of local artistic heritage. The answers are inevitably discontinuous in quality; surely, the presence of artwork is reported as a function of the greater or lesser importance that the parish had in the local religious community, similarly to (and in fact with less emphasis than) the presence of relics venerated by believers. In many cases, one must then be satisfied to know that in a place of worship there are "beautiful", "most lovely", or "ancient" paintings, and so on; information is already better when we focus at least on the subject of the works (which, as you can imagine, is however still to be verified); certainly, the cases of attribution are infrequent, and are almost never based on stylistic analysis, but most often on knowledge and oral memories, handed down from generation to generation. Always keeping these limitations in mind, there are ways and opportunities to smile, as in the case of the Altarpiece of San Martino, kept at the church of S. Martino oltre la Gocchia, for which the response is: "the altarpiece of the main altar is a St. Martin dividing the cloak to the poor, painting of not ordinary beauty. Unless you do not talk to my father, you cannot know the author" (p. 183); only to find out, in another report - it is unclear whether from another source - that "the highly noble picture of the altarpiece at the main altar was painted by da Lattantio from Rimini in the year 1503”. That picture has come down to us, it is dated and signed. You can see the painting by clicking here. Of course, it is more logical to think that the attributions have more credibility - also and especially when the work of art has not survived - when they refer to artists of the Lombardy area (as Giovanni Battista Moroni, born in Albino) and in the case of paintings made in relatively recent years, compared with the investigation of Calvi. The book was reviewed by Pino Cappellini in "L'Eco di Bergamo" (the local daily newspaper). Rightly so, in the review work is cited as a particularly tasty and informal the (anonymous) response on the Church of Mapello. However, the editor fails to mention that the same author who so nicely describes the beauty of places and hunting also speaks – with an embarrassing lack of awareness – about the presence in that location of a "Magdalena from the great Raphael from Urbino and two Madonnas from Knight Pomarancio", reserving however, more attention to local hunting.

Lorenzo Lotto, Altarpiece of San Bernardino, Bergamo, Church of San Bernardino in Pignolo
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[3] Some additional indications: the three volumes of manuscripts, where the responses to Donato Calvi’s questionnaire can be found, are preserved at the City Library Angelo Mai in Bergamo with signature Room I, D, 7, 14-16. Of the 333 pieces that make them up, precisely 327 are responses sent to the Augustinian monk and 6 are hand-written notes by Calvi himself. In total, the parishes on which are supplied reports are 219: in 191 cases, a single report; in 29 there is more than one. Not all answers are dated; the chronological details of those in which a year appears go precisely from 1661 to 1671 (the most recent ones are the majority of cases). This work is (rightly) attributed to Calvi, although it is clear that virtually nothing of what is contained in it has been written by him; nevertheless, Donato must be recognized for all purposes as the project coordinator of the campaign of detection. In support of the book, a CD-ROM is also provided, reproducing images and the text in pdf format 

Bergamo, Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and Colleoni Chapel
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Inlay of the Choir of Santa Maria Maggiore,
realized by Giovan Francesco Capoferri and projected by Lorenzo Lotto
Source: Wikimedia Commons

[4] Finally, I would like to remember that Calvi is mentioned by Schlosser in his Art Literature as the author of Le Pitture misteriose del Pal. Moroni spiegate (Explanation of the Mysterious Paintings in the Moroni Palace). The text "discusses the paintings of the Moroni Palace (1655), whose arguments had been indicated by the same scholar. For the content and the way of formulating it, it is a significant contribution to the iconography of Baroque "(p. 552).