Mad Cell

A short picture story... The work "Mad Cell" by Italian painter Giacomo Grosso in 1884; It deals with the subject of a sad love story in Verga's novel "Storia di una capinera"...


In the story set in Sicily in 1854, a young nun named Maira lives a quiet life in a monastery. However, due to the plague that suddenly appeared, the monastery was closed and Maria had to return to her father and stepmother. Maria is unhappy to be back. Stepmother Mathilde hates herself. Thinking about how the days will pass, Maria suddenly sees her neighbor Nino. Nino is a handsome and impressive young man. Maria falls in love with Nino...

But he has a rival. He is also his half-brother. When stepmother Mathilde realizes Maria's love for Nino, she does everything in her power to send him back to the convent and eventually succeeds. Maria heads back to the monastery in tears. Meanwhile, Matilde marries her daughter to Nino. Maria returned to the monastery as a hopeless person, with the light of life in her eyes extinguished. He soon escapes from the convent and watches Nino's wedding. After watching the wedding, he returns to the monastery. He is no longer the same person he used to be. He begins to whip himself to suppress the pain of love he experiences under the pretext of confession... In this work from the Romanticism period, which reflects the strong and enthusiastic narrative of the novels, we watch the moment when Maria completely loses her mind due to the pain of love. He supports the dark tradition of Spanish art by using a strong baroque-like play of shadow and light.

Thus, the scene becomes more dramatic. The nuns are trying to drag Maria into the insane cell. We can only watch this lively scene helplessly from a corner, where we can even hear the echoes of the shouts in the environment...
In 1993, Italian director Franco Zeffirelli was inspired by this novel and shot his movie "Sparrow". Thank you for reading. Stay with art.