Inside the chapel are six oil paintings on canvas and a series of plates made in the mid-1940s by Aurelio Galleppini, aka Galep, who a few years later would become famous as one of the creators of Tex Willer, Italy’s most popular comic book character.
In the postwar period, Galleppini was living in Cagliari and earning a living by making souvenirs for American soldiers (painting city views on tiles made from bombed-out houses), movie posters, advertising posters and postcards. In a short time he had earned a solid reputation as a painter, so much so that he also obtained the position of drawing teacher at the Liceo Artistico and at the Salesian Fathers’ middle school.
When the nuns of the Institute of St. Vincent de Paul asked him to fresco their chapel and create a series of paintings on the themes of the Stations of the Cross, Galleppini enthusiastically agreed.
The canvases in the chapel depict some significant moments in the history of the Vincentian order. The first depicts the apparition of Our Lady to St. Catherine de Labouré; the second shows Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillà welcoming poor children into the congregation in Paris; in the third, a Vincentian nun distributes medals to the French people; and finally, the fourth depicts the apparition of the Sacred Heart to a Daughter of Charity. The existence of these works constituted a little secret for years, which Galleppini did not like to reveal except to family members and trusted friends. In fact, the works were signed only in 1984, when the artist returned to Cagliari for an exhibition dedicated to him.
Beyond the curiosity that this “sacred side” of him may arouse in the activity of one of Italy’s greatest creators of comic strips, the works in the chapel of the Vincentian nuns are also important because they tie in with a specific period in Cagliari’s history: the difficult postwar years, when artistic and cultural life was struggling to get back on track in the city, badly scarred by the bombings.
