In the late 16th century, the Duke of Torremaggiore, Giovan Francesco di Sangro, after a miraculous recovery from a serious illness, erected a chapel to thank the Virgin Mary in the gardens of his family home in the heart of Naples, Italy. This chapel, called “Cappella Sansevero de' Sangri”, is today home to some of the most extraordinary pieces of art by leading Italian artists from the 18th century. Among these, in the center of the nave, there is a reclining figure of Christ, covered with a shroud carved from the same block as the statue. The shroud looks so realistically transparent that it was rumored that the sculptor, Giuseppe Sanmartino, had laid a real veil on the sculpture and then transformed this veil into marble by means of a chemical process.
