Maria frescoes at Varallo; but none of the four altar-pieces
in the two transepts tempted me to give them much attention. As
regards the smaller altar-piece at Saas-Grund, analogous work may be
found at Cravagliana, half-way between Varallo and Fobello, but this
last has suffered through the inveterate habit which Italians have
of showing their hatred towards the enemies of Christ by mutilating
the figures that represent them. Whether the Saas work is by a
Valsesian artist who came over to Switzerland, or whether the
Cravagliana work is by a Swiss who had come to Italy, I cannot say
without further consideration and closer examination than I have
been able to give. The altar-pieces of Mairengo, Chiggiogna, and, I
am told, Lavertezzo, all in the Canton Ticino, are by a Swiss or
German artist who has migrated southward; but the reverse migration
was equally common.
Being in the neighbourhood, and wishing to assure myself whether the
sculptor of the Saas-Fee chapels had or had not come lower down the
valley, I examined every church and village which I could hear of as
containing anything that might throw light on this point.
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