Marian Image Unearthed
[DAMILLANO, Giovanni Francesco.]
Racconto storico con nuove addizioni dello scoprimento della prodigiosa immagine di Maria Vergine delle Grazie venerata nella città di Cherasco dedicato a S. A. R. la principessa Felicita di Savoja. Turin, nella stamperia reale, 1790.
8vo, pp. [12], 118, [2]; with a copper-engraved frontispiece (‘Bart. Bianchi scul.’); a little foxing and toning; a good copy in nineteenth-century green morocco, covers with border and frame tooled in blind and gilt, spine decorated and lettered in gilt, gilt edges, marbled endpapers; some wear to extremities; gilt arms of King Victor Emmanuel II to covers.
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Racconto storico con nuove addizioni dello scoprimento della prodigiosa immagine di Maria Vergine delle Grazie venerata nella città di Cherasco dedicato a S. A. R. la principessa Felicita di Savoja.
Much expanded second edition (first 1775) of an account of the rediscovery and subsequent veneration of a fresco of the Virgin and Child unearthed in the ruins of an ancient church dedicated to San Giovanni ad Fontes in the Italian town of Cherasco, in Piedmont, in 1760.
The rediscovery was considered miraculous, especially when small red droplets appeared on the Madonna’s face. The decision was made to build a more worthy church on the site, and work began in 1762 on the Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie under the direction of Giovanni Francesco Damillano, the author of the current work. Two years later, despite the construction being only partially complete, the new site was consecrated.
The attractive engraved frontispiece reproduces the fresco, portraying the Virgin and Child surrounded by angelic musicians.
Provenance: with the supralibros of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy (1849–1861), and King of Italy (1861–1878).
No copies located in the UK, and only one in the US (Dayton).