The mystery of which artist designed and executed the stunning paintings and murals in Assumption Church was solved in October 2023.
Award winning artist Lori Le Mare and her partner Gord Pullam who are the restoration are the restoration artists who are cleaning and resorting the beautiful paintings and murals that adorn Assumption Church.
They have discovered that Guido Nincheri was the artist who painted ‘Our Lady of the Assumption’ in Mary’s Chapel as well as the other ceiling decorations in the main body of Assumption Church.
Nincheri studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy and became a very esteemed artist who decorated over 200 churches in Canada and the United States. He was recognized by Pope Pius XI as “the church’s greatest artist of religious themes”.
In 1933 Pope Pius XI named Nincheri Knight Commander of the Order of St. Francis and in 1972 he received a knighthood from the Republic of Italy.
Based upon photographs of the couple, Le Mare believes that Nincheri used his wife as the model for the ‘Lady of the Assumption’ painting and used a self-portrait for one of the Apostle medallions.The Assumption Church decorations were done by Nincheri in 1925.
Nincheri also created the stained glass windows for Assumption Church in 1940-41. Nincheri’s stained glass window located in the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver was used by Canada Post as the 1997 Christmas stamp.
The connection to this renowned artist adds another layer to the significance of the Assumption Church and its decorations and stained glass windows. We expect this finding will be of interest to the Monuments Board of Parks Canada who are still considering whether to recommend that Assumption Church be recognized as a National Significant Historic Site.
