In 1903, following the miraculous recovery of his wife, Lorenzina, Ernesto Sprega, a member of the Brotherhood of Mercy, decided to create a work to show his gratitude to the Virgin Mary. Lorenzina passed away in 1906, but Sprega continued his work and when the last firing of the ceramic tableau was...
In 1903, following the miraculous recovery of his wife, Lorenzina, Ernesto Sprega, a member of the Brotherhood of Mercy, decided to create a work to show his gratitude to the Virgin Mary. Lorenzina passed away in 1906, but Sprega continued his work and when the last firing of the ceramic tableau was completed in 1908, he said of it that “all the enamels were a perfect match”. Sprega received permission from Prince Albert I to install his tableau. In 1909, the painted ceramic piece was placed on the front of the chapel. It was blessed by the Bishop of Monaco in 1910. “At that moment, I thanked the Most Blessed Virgin for having enabled me to confront all of the difficulties that I had encountered while completing this important work and achieving the goal I had set myself, of publicly glorifying him for the blessings I had been given.” Ernesto Sprega pass away the next year.
Ernesto Sprega was born in Rome in 1829. During the cholera epidemic which hit Rome in 1837, the young Sprega particularly worshipped the Holy Virgin. His father, a cabinetmaker, secured him an apprenticeship with a carpenter and cabinetmaker in Rome. He joined the Accademia di San Luca in 1844 and studied drawing. He started to learn ceramics, working under Alessandro Mantovani, who restored the Vatican loggias. He travelled to Sienna to learn ceramic painting. In 1877, he was offered the role of director of the Monaco Pottery, founded by Marie Blanc until it closed in 1884. He carried out restoration work at the Prince’s Palace in the 1880s. He worked with Fassi, a glass painter, in Nice while undertaking his major work in the Chapel of Mercy. He died in 1911.
