According to verbal reports from Father Cassiano da Langasco, the sculpture came to the Capuchin convent in Portoria from the Augustinian church of Santa Maria in Passione in Genoa, a placement which could only have occurred in the 19th century, however, when the building housed the Canonesses Regular of the Lateran. The lack of information regarding the ancient origins of the artefact make the reconstruction of its history particularly difficult, not to mention the identification of the person likely to have commissioned it. Currently it is therefore impossible to know when The Virgin Fainting reached Genoa and why, and whether it was still integrated within a large retablo depicting the Crucifixion bought by a Genoese patron to decorate the altar of a church building in the city  (in a similar way to the Flemish dossal kept in the church of Santa Margherita in Testana), or whether it was already split from the other wood sections which, when assembled, formed a divided polyptych, and hence possibly destined for private worship.

Deemed in the past to be an element “originating from a Gothic deposition. 16th century”, more recently the Fainting has been the subject of a careful style analysis by Laura Lagomarsino, who proposed a convincing parallel with the Brussels output of the 1460s and ‘70s, highlighting in particular the close stylistic links to the retablo of Scenes from the Passion (Brussels, Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire), made around 1479 for Claudio Villa of Piedmont and his wife Gentilina Solaro. Important technical information emerging from the restoration carried out in 2004, following which it was possible to free the artefact's surface from heavy, misleading repainting, allowed the confirmation of the work’s attribution to an artist working in Brussels in the late 1400s, possibly at the turn of the century, as certain stylistic features seem to suggest. This refers more precisely to the subtle rendering of the skin tones and the vivid facial features, to the figures’ deliberately posed, yet dramatic, positions, to the arrangement of the folds furrowing their garments and to the intricate female hairstyles, as well as the locks of hair on the head of the young Evangelist, features which do indeed demonstrate a close relationship to Brussels sculpture of the late 15th century. The same exquisite use of colour, enriched in certain points by refined gilding such as that corresponding to Saint John’s cloak, and by the elaborate technique of pressbrokat, as in the garment of the woman in the right foreground, suggests the group possibly originates from one of the finest studios active in the Flemish city during the last decades of the 15th century.

The sculpture, intended therefore to be placed at the centre of a retablo, was made using a single block of oak, the back of which is not carved and on which no wood guarantee markings have been found.

Only recently, and thanks to the discovery of new information concerning the life and work of Lazzaro Calvi, has the Genoese artist's output of altarpieces, well known and considerable overall, found a considered and objective assessment.
The Portoria Deposizione itself, although without doubt one of Lazzaro Calvi's best works, was never given sufficient consideration by critics. The drastic change of position it underwent, probably in the second half of the 17th century, certainly did not help matters, followed as it was by further shifts and repaintings, as evidenced in the brief notes by Soprani, Ratti and Alizeri. This last describes the work as “nothing less than contrived in the chapel by which the sacristy is accessed” and “retouched in several places”.

The Cavanna family tasking the Calvi brothers - Lazzaro and Pantaleo - with the decoration of their chapel, to the right of the presbytery, was in fact an important, prestigious opportunity, for Lazzaro in particular. It gave him the chance to contend with the leading artists of the day in Genoa - Giovanni Battista Castello, Luca Cambiaso, Andrea Semino - who had already been called upon before him to carry out part of the decoration of the Ospedale di Pammatone church. Lazzaro, in all likelihood not yet sixty, therefore deployed every cultural tool available to him, seeking to put all the painting expertise he possessed to good use and sealing his efforts with signature and date (“Lazarus Calvi faciebat 1577”), which he placed in the lower margins of the panel, which was originally destined for the chapel’s main altar.

The composition - with the figures of Mother and Son arranged frontally along a single vertical line from top to bottom, and Jesus’ lifeless legs bent at a sideways angle as his arms are supported by the two pious women, one on each side - borrows entirely from an idea of Michelangelo from the 1540s, by way of one of the engravings taken from it, most likely those by Giulio Bonasone or Nicolas Beatrizet.

The refined colour range keeps to toned down colours, browns and purples, which express with consummate naturalism the time of day in which the Gospel episode takes place - dusk and the approaching night - while also revealing Lazzaro's choice to adopt the studies begun by Luca Cambiaso in those years, in paintings such as the slightly earlier Pietà in Carignano.

The atmosphere of suspended contemplation and the mute interior dialogue between the characters portrayed and the observer clearly demonstrate the skill with which Lazzaro interprets the new religious demands, then arising within the Catholic Church following the end of the lengthy Tridentine debate. The presence of the Jesuits at the church of Annunziata di Portoria in the same years cannot be overlooked: already settled in the city for some time, they officiated at the church for around three decades before moving to the present Chiesa del Gesù.

Gianluca Signorini joined Genoa in September 1988 and, before becoming a footballer, he was known as a man of great personality. He led the team and all the operation on the football pitch. A memorable moment was his moving exultation on June 4th 1995 under the North Gradinata, after learning from the radio the news of the goal scored from Milan over Padova in extra time, thus saving Genoa in the playoffs. After his death on November 6th 2002, his jersey number 6 was withdrawn by the club.
You can see him hereunder, as portrayed by the artist Elisabeth Cyran.

Early work (1927) by Francesco Messina, (http://www.fondazionemessina.it/), Goalkeeper, inspired to the plasticity of the goalkeeper Giovanni De Prà’s movement, given to him by Genoa Chairman, Andrea Vincenzo Ardissone

Pochette vase created in 1924 by the ceramist Francesco Mazzotti from Albisola, representing the goalkeeper Giovanni De Prà jumping during a match between the National teams of Italian and Spain.