Two frescoes dedicated to Mary, mother in Cana and on Calvary. Their language is essential, rich in
hidden evangelical accents
by Don Lorenzo Cappelletti
GThe last two frescoes created in 1971 by Silvio Consadori for the chapel of the Mother of Divine Providence in the Basilica of San Giuseppe al Trionfale depict respectively "The Wedding at Cana" and "The Mother at the foot of Calvary".
Unlike the previous panels, where the artist had not implemented this device, in "The Wedding at Cana" Consadori wanted to surround the heads of Jesus and Mary with a halo of light like a halo. It is the light of heaven, which indicates their holiness and at the same time constitutes an identification device. Thus, the two servants, a young man and a woman, are even more easily recognizable - starting from the left - to whom, according to the evangelical dictate (see John 2:5), Mary is addressing; then the bride and groom, tenderly hugged and dressed in modern clothes; then the table master, with a face so characterized that it makes one think of a portrait (of whom?). So, always if one follows the evangelical dictate (see Jn 2, 2), in the three characters on the far right - also portraits of contemporaries, among which the self-portrait of the author is certainly identifiable, standing and perhaps in work clothes (but also in the woman sitting next to him , perhaps, you could recognize the painter's wife) – Consadori evidently wanted to represent the disciples invited to the wedding together with Jesus. These disciples participate, in their everyday life, not only in the wedding blessing, but also and above all in participation in the Eucharist. In fact, with a beautiful intuition - corresponding to what the faith of the Church has always seen in the miracle of Cana in Galilee, or the anticipation of the Last Supper - the artist does not place rich dishes for a wedding dinner on the table, but, among a piece of bread and half a glass of red wine, a fish (symbol of Jesus himself), as well as, on the margin, two eggs (traditional symbol of the Resurrection): it is the memorial of Easter.
The “Mother at the foot of Calvary”, the last panel dedicated to Mary, is not part of the traditional iconographic heritage. Two elements characterize Consadori's composition: the procession of people descending from Calvary and three crosses placed in the distance. In Christian iconography these elements are encountered rather in the burial of the body of Jesus. Here instead they bring to the foreground the desolate figure of the Mother, flanked by two of the pious women.
"The hour" of the Lord, which "has not yet come" at the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:4), was fulfilled on the cross, where the Mother saw her son die, but mysteriously received him again in the apostle John (see John 19, 26) together with an innumerable crowd of brothers: «And from that hour the disciple took him to himself» (John 19, 27). In reality, not even his son Jesus is lost, since it is he who opens the path of life to all as the firstborn. But in his fresco Consadori does not dwell on all this, but on Mary's pain, rendered in an extraordinarily effective manner through her pale face framed by an electric blue cloak (a cold color like no other!), the livid sky, the barren ridge of Calvary, the crowded procession from which the inconsolable desolation of the Virgin emerges even more.
A final observation imposes itself at the end of the illustration of Consadori's frescoes in the chapel of the Mother of Divine Providence, and it is that this Marian cycle ignores not only the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also the traditional theme of the apparition of Jesus resurrected to his Mother, as well as by the glorious mysteries of Mary's assumption and her coronation. Ending with the sorrowful Virgin supported by the pious women, it contains the representation of Mary between her annunciation and her desolation. At the behest of the clients? For a specific choice of the author? For the spirit of the times? We couldn't say.
The fact is that Consadori's paintings, due to the sincerity of their inspiration and the essentiality of their representation, even if they are limited only to some Marian episodes, speak persuasively not only to our gaze, but also to our heart, of the Mother of the divine Providence and his Son. You don't always have to say everything with pedantic didactic intent; often a hint is enough, an accent is enough.
