The Narration Project. Skiagraphic Reading of the Ecce Homo Chapel at the Sacro Monte at Varallo

The Sacri Monti are devotional complexes whose chapels are structured as a support for the ‘sequela Christi’ meditation. We examine the relationship between the shadow drawing and the chapel narrative content, in particular its temporal moment. The reading of signs—painted shadow outlines—allows the analysis of a virtual reality in which the variable natural phenomenon is removed from the artwork, but returns to it as crystallized representation. The integrated reading shows the frescoes light as a chapels project strategy element. The use of light appears as an additional element aimed at achieving the expectations needed for greater illusion, to induce the spectator to be participating in the ‘sequela Christi’.