You may have noticed that in all the chapels of Varese's Sacro Monte the mysteries of the rosary are represented in elaborate three-dimensional scenes. These contain sculptures, as big as real people and placed within elaborate painted settings, which spectators can observe from different points of view, through elegant iron gates.
The chapels are rich in details of daily life, which allowed visitors of the time to completely identify with the scene and perceive the sacred story as something close and palpable.
Look carefully at this chapel: while, in the centre of the scene, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the Temple, on the left a young boy takes advantage of the general confusion to slip some coins from the belt of a bystander. A dog sees him and the boy, with a look of complicity, puts his finger to his lips, silently asking the animal not to bark!