The birthplace of S. Carlo Borromeo. It was over this gateway as well as over the gateway of Fénis (no. 53), that he told me there ought to be a fresco of Fortune with her Wheel (Memoir, ch. xx.) The Rocca Borromeo, Angera, and Arona are mentioned in Alps and Sanctuaries, ch. xxiv. (new edn., ch. xxiii.), and several times in the Memoir, e.g. ch. ix., xvi.
20. Water-colour: The Rocca Borromeo. A Room in the Castle. 1871.
I am not sure whether or not this is the room in which S. Carlo Borromeo was born. One view of that room is in Alps and Sanctuaries ch. xxiv. (new edition, ch. xxiii). This may be the same room looking towards the left and showing a piece of window-seat and shutter.
21. Water-colour: Amsteg. 1871.
22. Water-colour: Fobello. A Christening. 1871.
This was to have been a picture for the Academy, but he did not finish it. Here are shown women with short skirts and leggings. They dress like this so that they can climb into the ash trees and pull off the leaves which they throw down upon the grass to be mixed up with the hay. (Memoir, ch. ix.)
23. Oil Painting: Varallo-Sesia. The Washing Place. 1871.
“Butler made three oil sketches at Varallo all the same size, about 16x20. One is the washing place outside the town.” (Diary of a Journey, p. 16). The other two were both done in the Piazza on the Sacro Monte. One was given to the Municipio of Varallo-Sesia; the other to the Avvocato Francesco Negri of Casale-Monferrato.
24. Oil Painting: Monte Bisbino, near Como. 1876.
Alps and Sanctuaries, ch. xxi. The white sanctuary on the summit shines like a diamond in some lights.