Essays on Life 



wood-sculptor available, with the exception 

 of a few figures cut by the artist himself. 



We ask, then, at what period in his life 

 did Tabachetti design these chapels, and what 

 led to his coming to such an out-of-the-way 

 place as Saas at all? We should remember 

 that, according both to Fassola and Torrotti 

 (writing in 1671 and 1686 respectively), Ta- 

 bachetti l became insane about the year 1586 

 or early in 1587, after having just begun the 

 Salutation chapel. I have explained in u Ex 

 Voto" that I do not believe this story. I 

 have no doubt that Tabachetti was declared 

 to be mad, but I believe this to have been due 

 to an intrigue, set on foot in order to get a 



1 The story of Tabachetti's incarceration is very doubtful. 

 Cavaliere F. Negri, to whose book on Tabachetti and his work 

 at Crea I have already referred the reader, does not mention it. 

 Tabachetti left his native Dinant in 1585, and from that date 

 until his death in 1615 he appears to have worked chiefly at 

 Varallo and Crea. There is a document in existence stating 

 that in 1588 he executed a statue for the hermitage of S. Rocco, 

 at Crea, which, if it is to be relied on, disposes both of the in- 

 carceration and of the visit to Saas. It is possible, however, that 

 the date is 1598, in which case Butler's theory of the visit to 

 Saas may hold good. In 1590 Tabachetti was certainly at 

 Varallo, and again in 1594, 1599, and 1602. He died in 1615, 

 possibly during a visit to Varallo, though his home at that time 

 was Costigliole, near Asti. R. A. S. 



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