An ex-voto or votive offering is generally speaking an offering to God or other deity, or saint, for a favour he or she has granted to the supplicant.
An ex-voto derives from a vow (the voto), a commitment by a person or a community to give something in exchange for the divine intervention prayed for; but the ex-voto is also a tangible expression of gratitude to the deity or saint for the fortunate outcome of a potentially tragic event. Ex-votos can be classified as follows:
- Non material: legacies of goods or money, novenas, pilgrimages, fasts, etc.
- Material:
- Representational: three-dimensional reproductions of parts of the body, tools, buildings, etc; paintings, oleographs, photographs, etc.
- Symbolic: hearts, plaits, candles, etc.
- Circumstantial: objects having physical relevance to the event (crutches, weapons, etc.)
- Gifts: jewels, cloth, animals, etc.
- Buildings: churches, chapels, altars, etc.
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The Museo del Paesaggio’s collection is made up only of ex-voto paintings. The exhibition is laid out as follows (741 examples are on display):
- a room devoted to the structure of the painted images, their styles and techniques;
- a room with ex-votos made by painters and specialized workshops;
- a gallery divided into the various topics of illness, accidents at work, falls, carts and cars, firearms and weapons of war, etc
- a room with Mexican ex-votos and others from the sanctuaries of Re and Ornavasso, in the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola. |
