At Palazzo Madama, the choir from Staffarda Abbey reveals how the passage of time has played an important role in the survival of the 16th-century artefact.
The work has undergone injuries, splits, restoration and reintegration over the centuries and the result continues to astonish and amaze.
You have to sharpen your eyesight and start hunting monsters!
Do you see him? A half-horse half-man chimera, twisted, turned in on itself, a centaur worthy of a Kafkaesque nightmare. The head with the cone-shaped hat looks towards its equine offshoot. The metamorphosis seems not to have been fully accomplished. The front legs look like human thighs, the hooves, still feet. The being is frightened, its mouth wide open, it is about to scream all its despair. Behind him another centaur, headless, has on his chest a shield that has done little good against the woodworms that, feasting on parts of his body, have consumed him.
In another section of the choir, a merman stands majestically, his hair and beard the envy of a hipster. He supports a naked woman with long hair gathered by a ribbon. Seated at the amazon she cautiously holds onto the creature's arm and snake-like tail. Over there, look closely and you can see a dragon with the face of a mature man, he is resting while two cherubs help him groom: the first smoothes the wing feathers, the other, vexatiously, holds the brawny ears and the tip of the creature's flowing beard.
Now it is up to you to search through the carvings; follow the stalls, seats and pinnacles masterfully carved out of walnut wood, find the other monsters and mythological creatures that run through the precious artefact.
- The work: Staffarda Abbey Choir, Staffarda room, ground floor of Palazzo Madama | Turin
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