1562/69 Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) and Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio (about 1513/68) under the patronage of Tommaso Cavalieri (the great love of Michelangelo) for the Confraternita del SS. Crocifisso (Confraternity of the Most Holy Crucifix)
The
Confraternity was protected by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese (after his death in
1565 his brother Cardinal Alessandro Farnese succeeded as protector) and had
duties of devotion for the fifteenth century wooden Crucifix kept in the church
of S.
Marcello al Corso
The
Crucifix was believed to be miraculous since it escaped in 1519 the fire that
destroyed the church of S. Marcello al Corso and after that the plague ceased
in 1522 due to its presence in a procession
Since then,
a procession used to move on the evening of every Holy Thursday from here to
St. Peter's Basilica
CEILING
1879 with painting in the center “Triumph of the Cross” by Giovanni
Gagliardi (1838/1924) grandson of Pietro Gagliardi
The
original ceiling of 1584 by Flaminio Boulanger was destroyed in 1798
Decorative
scheme on the walls made from 1578 to about 1584 and designed by Tommaso Cavalieri (1509/87) and Girolamo Muziano (1532/92) with a theme derived from
the medieval text of the thirteenth century by the Dominican friar Jacopo da
Voragine (or Varazze) “Legend of the True Cross”, a real tour de force of unlikely
fantasies
According
to the story, the wood of the Cross of Christ was already predestined by the
time that Adam's son Seth had put into his mouth, on his deathbed, three seeds
that would eventually spawn a large tree
After many
centuries, the tree was cut by Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem but the
wood did not seem compatible with the Temple and it was used for a footbridge
over a river. When the Queen of Sheba passed over the bridge had the
premonition that the Savior of mankind would have been crucified in the wood
and knelt in adoration
The story
continues with the battle of Milvian Bridge between Constantine and Maxentius,
and the journey of St. Helena, mother of Constantine, in search of the True
Cross
St. Helena
found a person who knew where it was buried, and to force him to talk, she had
him lowered into a pit without bread and water for seven days
She so
convinced the reluctant person to talk and she was able to find the three
different crosses used on the day of Christ's death. To identify the one on
which he died, St. Helena touched with the wood a dead man and he miraculously
resurrected
Another
chapter is the duel between Heraclius, Byzantine emperor, and Chosroes II, the
Persian king
After
Heraclius defeated the army of Chosroes in the battle of the Danube in 615 AD,
he invited him to be converted and baptized. Chosroes refused and Heraclius
drew his sword and cut off his head
Thus
Heraclius obtained the restitution of the Cross that was returned to Jerusalem
Compared to
the previously built Oratories of S. Giovanni Decollato
and of the Gonfalon,
the story loses its epic and dramatic dimension and gets a more serene and
discursive tone, of wider popular appeal, certainly more consonant with the
dictates of the recently completed Council of Trent (1545/63)
COUNTER
FAÇADE
Beautiful
1744 organ by the Tyrolean master Giovanni Corrado
Verlè
Frescoes
with “Stories of the brotherhood”:
On the right
“The Crucifix remains intact in the fire of S. Marcello” and “Foundation of the
convent of the Capuchin on Quirinal Hill” by Niccolò
Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1520/98) who succeeded in 1582 to Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)
On the left
“Procession
of the Black Plague of 1522” by Paris Nogari
(about 1536/1601)
“Approval
of the statutes of the brotherhood” by Baldassare Croce
(about 1553/1628)
WALLS
Story of
the Legend of the True Cross beginning from the right of the altar in clockwise
direction:
On the right
“St. Helena
tear down the idols” and “Invention of the Cross” about 1579 by Giovanni De Vecchi who also painted the “Sibyl”, the
two “Prophets” and the two higher “Stories with angels” and to whom it was
initially entrusted the job of completing the whole cycle
“Miracle of the True Cross” 1589 by Niccolò
Circignani aka Pomarancio who also did the two “Prophets” and the “Story”
above
On the left
“Duel
between Heraclius and Chosroes”, “Vision of Heraclius” and two “Prophets” by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio
“Heraclius
carrying the Cross in Jerusalem”, two “Prophets” and “Sibyl” by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
ALTAR
In the
niche on the right “Magdalena” and on the left “St. John the Evangelist” Cesare Nebbia
In the
lunette above the altar “Eternal Father” by Paris
Nogari
The wooden “Crucifix”
is a copy of the miraculous one preserved in S. Marcello al Corso
“Madonna of
the Sun” maybe dating back to the begin of fifteenth century from the chapel at
the Monastery
of Tor de' Specchi
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