Celebration and Power: the making of a cult
It was very much in the interest of both the family and the church to celebrate Gabriele’s memory and promote his cult. He was the first member of his ancient and noble Anconitian family to die in odour of sanctity, and for a Renaissance family having a Saint (or a Blessed) in their lineage brought either a lot of honour and prestige. In the same way, for a church to hold the mortal remains of a religious public figure entailed hosting an appealing devotional site, which meant an attractive place for pilgrims and devotees and all their resulting offers and ex-votos. For these reasons a great funerary monument was created, even in spite of Gabriele’s observation of the Franciscans' rule of humility.
Gabriele Ferretti died in 1456 and was buried in San Francesco ad Alto. His tomb was rebuilt in 1489, when the Pope gave consent to the Ferretti's family to erect a funerary monument in honour of his cult. Many sources recorded that his memory was worshipped and promulgated particularly by his sister Apollonia -which he frequently reproved for exaggerating his merits- as for example the eighteenth-century manuscript inserted in the 1789 book Discorso apologetico sopra il Beato Gabrielle d’Ancona dell’Ordine de’ Minori Osservanti discendente della nobilissima famiglia Ferretti, written by the Anconitian Gaspare da Monte Santo:
'In the chronicles, tombstone, and history of the Blessed Gabriele [it] is [written] that, one of his sisters, named Polonia, or Apolonia made to this Blessed the sepulchre but [we know] from the life of the Blessed Gabriele, that he was son of a Liverotto – now this Appollonia is found with authentic proofs to be married to this Gian Simone Ferretti, and is specified [as the] daughter of Liverotto Ferretti.'
There are many testimonies of his miracles, curing a woman’s hand and another one’s blindness. This second one is believed to be the one that began the offering of ex-votos, vowing a pair of silver eyes.
The friars began promoting his cult straight after his death, with ornaments and oil lamps perpetually burning and celebrating a dedicated service every 12th November. Fragments of his mantle and habit have been preserved as relics and presented to sick people looking for a grace. The popular devotion started to grow around Ancona and offers were hung up near the grave. It is reported the Blessed’s body has cured lepers and children of epilepsy, and even restored to life one. Because of that, the Senate of Ancona petitioned the Pope Calixtus III for his canonisation.
After the Pope’s permission, the funerary monument has been erected following Gabriele’s sister Apollonia’s last will, with funds received from her great-grandson Ciriaco Ferretti. This happened at the same time of a larger redecoration of the church and ultimately resulted in a great monument to the piety and munificence of the family and initiated the cult on a grandiose scale. From this moment, another grandson, Fra Bernardino Ferretti, started using the family’s patrimony to adorn and embellish San Francesco ad Alto, going against the Franciscan humility rule and Gabriele’s will, but gaining an extraordinary fame for his ancestor and their family. In the interest to attract devotion to his monument and convent, he went against the official austerity and was sent away.
Read more about: Gabriele's depiction as Saint Francis
To emphasize his holiness, this depiction of the Blessed Gabriele closely echoes depictions of Saint Francis. Four points in particular suggest it: the chosen iconography of the Apparition, the second friar, his golden aureole and the eremitic setting.
The choice of subject for his funerary painting was, among all of his life anecdotes and tomb miracles, the Apparition of the Virgin. It is a well-known fact that the Franciscan Order is particularly devoted to Mary, but even more than this the Apparition is the ultimate proof of someone’s holiness: Saint Francis himself saw the Holy Virgin and the Child in 1216. Gabriele is said to have received the Vision of Mary at least three times during his life -however no one of these is among the official Marian Apparitions recognized by the Roman Church. The representation of the golden mandorla as in the Assumption iconography (read about this here), is another attempt to create the most sacred aura possible in the artwork.
Moreover, the painting follows the typical iconographic style of Franciscan apparition art, with the kneeling friar positioned in one lower corner and the divine apparition in the opposite upper corner. For example, the composition scheme is especially clear when juxtaposed with the artwork made by a Crivelli's homonym, Taddeo Crivelli's folio The Stigmatization of Saint Francis (c. 1469, fig. 4). It is useful to additionally compare NG668 with other two of his contemporaries' works, The Apparition of the Virgin to a Franciscan Friar Commended by Saint Anthony of Padua by Filippino Lippi (c. 1475-80, fig. 5), and Saint Francis Receives the Stigmata by Ambrogio “il Bergognone” da Fossano (c. 1500-10, fig. 6).
The paragon with Taddeo Crivelli and Bergognone's pieces not only put on display the same configuration, but also put into relief another crucial point: the other friar. In the paintings the second figure is the Blessed Leone of Assisi, Saint Francis's inseparable and most faithful disciple, usually represented by his side. He is an attribute rather than the depiction of a real person, placed there to remind us of the Blessed Leone, and to elevate Gabriele, thus tracing an analogy with Saint Francis.
Furthermore, Gabriele Ferretti was not appointed as a Saint at the time of this painting, and would not even be recognized as Blessed until the end of the beatification process in 1753. Nevertheless, Crivelli painted him with the golden aureole. It is true that the panel was commissioned by the Ferretti family, who had every reason to want to portray him with this attribute; but this was not a private painting in which the committee could ignore the canons of religious images. On the contrary, it was made for a public and official context, inside San Francesco ad Alto. Given that there are no other possible explanations the only conclusion that can be drawn is that both the family and the church had a vested interest in representing the Blessed as a holy person because of the fame and the economic advantages that accompanied the possession of a Saint's body.
One final element that persuades us of the parallel being drawn between Gabriele and Saint Francis is the setting of the main scene. The vision is set in the place where it occurred, the convent's orto, alluded by the tamed appearance of nature, and yet looks nothing like a cultivated area. The bare, poor ground clashes with the green woods of the middle and background. More than a green garden carefully cultivated by friars, it gives an appearance of an eremitic location, such as the typical rocky mountain with a cave. Even though there are some green woods behind the Blessed and on the foreground, the setting of the vision is poor and desert-alike, and is reminiscent of representations of hermits from this era: Saint Francis himself used to practice the eremitic life for long periods of time, in remembrance of Christ's example in the desert, and underlined them as the purest moment of spiritual research and adoration. In this way of interpreting the picture it is safe to say that every part of the image, even the landscape, contributes to the depiction of Gabriele's holiness.
