The Veiled Son, a sculpture by Jago, in the Chapel dei Bianchi, Basilica of San Severo fuori le mura in Naples

Jago “The Veiled Son”

Sculpture – Danby marble (200 x 100 x 50 cm) 2019

Jago, The Veiled Son The ‘Veiled Son of Jago’ echoes the “Veiled Christ” sculpted by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753 for the Sansevero Church in Naples.

Their lifeless bodies, both covered with a light shroud, invite us to reflect.

On the one hand, Christ, who willingly gave his life to wash away the sins of the world.

On the other, Jago’s veiled son, who was just a child full of life, believing in the future, drowned whilst crossing the Mediterranean with his parents in the hope of a new life.

Jago, The Veiled Son The naked body of the dead child is covered with the white shroud of the little innocents; the position of his limbs and chubby hands is that of a young sleeper, but his swollen belly and the expression on his face beneath the cloth show that he has suffered.

Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ and Jago’s Veiled Son both rest in Neapolitan churches bearing the same name of San Severo, but the former’s sacrifice for humanity suddenly seems in vain when looking at this tiny lifeless body.

Jago’s Veiled Son in the Chapel of the Confraternity of the Bianchi

Upon entering the Chapel of the Confraternity of the Bianchi, built in 1662, one is struck by the splendour of the venue where the sculpture of the Veiled Son rests.

Jago, The Veiled Son Although Jago’s sculpture does not claim to be religious, the atmosphere of the place inspires prayer, silence and reflection.

Whether or not one believes in God, one cannot help but feel the sanctity of this place, heightened by the presence of the small, innocent body of this child who lies there in peaceful silence.

His body is not displayed on a polychrome marble plinth, decorated with gilding and stucco; it simply lies at our feet, stretched out on a large slab of white marble from which it was carved from a single block.

It lies at our feet, in the centre of this Chapel, and we walk silently and respectfully round it without ever losing sight of it.

One feels a sense of admiration for the beauty of this work, born of Jago’s incredible talent, which evokes a sense of unease in the presence of this innocent child’s corpse.

Jago, The Veiled Son Beneath the thin sheet that clings to her body like a second skin, we can see her left arm and hand resting on her swollen belly, whilst her right arm extends slightly away from her body and lets her little hand peek out from under the sheet.

A hand with an open palm, next to which lies a small pebble, a pebble that appears in several of Jago’s works, such as the one held by Cassandra or the one that has fallen from the teenager’s hand in the Pietà.

Cassandra’s pebble symbolises her resilience, the child’s pebble is his final message.

Jago, The Veiled Son The dishevelled folds of the sheet around his remains highlight his unburied body, lying beneath a simple piece of cloth, as vulnerable in death as he was in life.

That little pebble he was still clutching in his hand just before he died, was left as a sign of hope that the world can still change, encouraging us to think, to react, to act.

As we leave this Chapel, the joyful life of Naples surrounds us once more, yet our thoughts are still filled with the emotion we felt before Jago’s Veiled Son.

The Veiled Son is a cry of pain and hope

The Veiled Son, with his belly swollen with the drowned, covered with a simple sheet in the Chapel dei Bianchi of the Basilica of San Severo Fuori le Mura in Naples, is one of the many innocent victims abandoned to their fate.

Jago, The Veiled Son The sculpture of this anonymous child lying before us in the silence of this Chapel, invites us to reflect on the reality of a tragedy that is all too often repeated in this beautiful Mediterranean Sea, traditionally associated with the joyful image of holidays.

The veiled child is the tragic, universal image of a young victim of selfishness and of the age-old cruelty that perpetuates injustices and conflicts despite Christ’s message and technical and scientific progress.

This dead child urges us to react to the scandal of the anonymous martyrs of our troubled times.

Jago’s work is a cry of hope for an end to this current tragedy, through the realisation that, unlike the death of Christ, the death of this child is an unintended death without redemption, a sheer waste.

The works Narcissus | Ajax Cassandra | Veiled Son | Pietà | Self-portrait | Venus | From Foetus to Ego
Jago The works Schedule Tickets Location | Authorizations

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