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The Church was built in the year 1899-1900. The walls of the church are covered with the paintings of the artist Anthony Moscheni of Italy. It is comparable with the Sistine chapel in Rome. The special beauty of the chapel is the wonderful series of paintings that virtually cover every inch of the interior roof and walls executed by Bro. Moscheni trained in Italy.
How
the Chapel was painted:
There are two types of paintings in the Chapel: fresco and canvas.
A fresco is painted on fresh wet lime plaster walls. The colours get embedded in
the lime plaster as it dries up. Frescos cover about 600 square rnetres of the
walls of the Chapel. For an oil painting, the colours are made by mixing
pigments with linseed oil. The canvas is made of pure linen of strong close
weave. The paintings on the ceilings in the Chapel (about 400 Square Metres) are
in oil on canvas.
The
Restoration of the Paintings:
In recent times the paintings have suffered damage due to the humidity and dust.
The stitches of the canvases had given way. The canvases were taken down with
the help of a special cradle, the dust was removed, the pieces were restitched,
the joints were reinforced with tapes. After restretching the canvas on the
frame the paintings were put back in place. The work of restoration was done by
specialists of INTACH - ICI Lucknow from 1991 to 1994 under the guidance of Dr
O.P.Agrawal.
Antonio Moscheni was born in a village called Stezzano near Bergamo in Italy on January 17, 1854. Fortunately for him, his artistics were discovered early and he was sent to the famed Accademia Carrara in Berganeo. He studied under able masters and acquired considerable proficiency in the art of painting. He then went to Rome to study the masterpieces of the Vatican. Fresco painting now became his passion. In 1889, Antonio renounced the pro of a brilliant career and took up religous work. But his religious superiors did not wish his talents to be buried, ordered him to paint several churches in his native place. They then sent him to Mangalore to the Chapel of St. Aloysius College. It took him a little over two to cover the walls and ceilings of the Chapel with paintings.
