1612/20 Rosato Rosati (1559/1622) who also designed the DOME for the Congregation of the
Barnabites who wanted to dedicate the church to St. Charles Borromeo
(1538/84). He had been canonized in 1610 and he had been a supporter of the
congregation
“The ribbed
dome was designed with a bold and highly innovative structure compared to the
Roman building tradition. For this it was viewed with some skepticism since its
implementation, which raised a number of problems from the static point of
view, resolved with subsequent interventions of reinforcement for the
foundations and the piers. Over the centuries, the dome was also repeatedly
threatened by various disasters, including lightning, bullets, and an
earthquake in 1915” (Marina Minozzi)
1636/38 G.B. Soria (1581/1651) for Cardinal G.B. Leni whose
coat of arms with three gnarled clubs appears carved into the façade several
times
EXTENSION
OF THE APSE
1637/46 by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)
The church
is dedicated also to St. Blaise from the name of the previously
destroyed church of the Barnabites
“The façade
of G.B. Soria has a structure which is still mannerist, barely touched by some
concession to the latest baroque tendencies. (...) The church layout, a Greek
cross on a longitudinal plan, responds to the 'congregational' typological
scheme, launched in Rome in the Gesù Church and later adopted by many other
buildings thanks to its visually open structure, perfectly functional to the
preaching needs of the orders established at the turn of the sixteenth century”
(Marina Minozzi)
Restored
1857/61 by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82)
On the left
“Charity
of St. Charles Borromeo to plague victims in Milan” 1652 by Mattia Preti (1613/99)
On the
right “St.
Charles Borromeo instructs the Barnabite Domenico Boerio to combat heresy in
the canton of Grisons” 1652 by Gregorio
Preti, Mattia's brother
Frescoes in
the lunettes of the counter façade “Beheading of St. Paul” and “Delivery of the
Keys to St. Peter” 1860 by Francesco Coghetti
(1801/75)
1698/72 Simone Costanzi (active in Rome from 1695/d. 1709) for
the Cardinal G.B. Costaguti in precious marbles
The
balustrade dates back to 1778
On the altar “Annunciation”
1624 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)
The canvas
was formerly part of the collection of Cardinal G.B. Costaguti
On the left
“Wooden crucifix” of the first half of the seventeenth century formerly in the
Chapel of St. Cecilia
Maybe Carlo Rainaldi
(1611/91) for Cardinal Giuseppe Assalonne
“The
Martyrdom of St. Blaise with St. Sebastian” 1677 by Giacinto
Brandi (1621/91)
Carlo
Maratta was also consulted for the execution of this altarpiece but Brandi was
preferred for his speed in painting and for his fee lower than Maratta's
Frescoes in
the lunettes “St. Blaise saving a child” and “Capture of St. Blaise on Mount
Argaeus” 1860 by Francesco Coghetti (1801/75)
Under the
arch “Angels” painted in the nineteenth-century by Ercole
Ruspi
1692/1700
by the brilliant Antonio Gherardi (1638/1702),
unfortunately little known to most people, for the Congregation of Musicians
after the death in 1691 of Carlo Rainaldi to whom the project was originally
commissioned
It is an
absolute masterpiece, one of the most exciting and intense chapels of Rome, a
veritable baroque explosion illuminated from above by the so called camera
di luce (room of light), i.e. a compartment located above the dome wider
than the opening, illuminated through a side window
The light
is so diffused evenly and mystically in the chapel. It was a system that
already Bernini and Borromini had experimented in their baroque creations
On the
altar “St. Cecilia and Angels” and decorations by Antonio
Gherardi who coordinated masterfully Lorenzo
Ottoni (1648/1736), Simone Giorgini
(active in Rome 1677/1712), Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome the second half
of the seventeenth century) and Jean-Baptiste Théodon
(1646/1713)
Sculpture “Angel
holds the Cross” in the marble pediment by Michel
Maille
“The
decorative structure takes over on the architectural structure creating one of
the most spectacular effects of the Roman Baroque” (Paolo Portoghesi)
“Both the
Avila Chapel in S. Maria in Trastevere and that of St. Cecilia are bold essays
of a strange kind of picturesque architecture, transpositions of quadrature
painting in three dimensions, based on the careful study of the use of light
made by Bernini and his experiments to unify architecture and realistic
sculpture. In the chapel of St. Cecilia, in addition, Gherardi quoted Guarini's
idea of the truncated dome through which one looks into a different space of
different shapes and brightly lit. It is the variety and quantity of the
motives freely distributed on the surfaces of the not uniform walls that gives
to the chapel the imprint of a late Baroque work” (Rudolf Wittkower)
On the left
CHAPEL
OF OUR LADY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Late 1700s.
On the altar “Lady of Divine Providence” 1732 copy by Pietro
Valentini from the original by Scipione Pulzone kept in the convent
Begun 1643
by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655) and Francesco Peparelli (active since about 1626/d. 1641),
finished in 1651 by Martino Longhi the Younger
(1602/60) for Cardinal Girolamo Colonna
“St.
Charles Borromeo carrying the sacred nail in a procession” 1651 by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669). It was put in place in
1657
“Four
ancient columns of porphyry” and column on the pediment to symbolize the
commissioning family, the Colonnas
On the
pediment statues: on the left “Charity towards the neighbor”, on the right “Charity
towards God” and “Putti in marble and bronze” about 1643/51 by Orfeo Boselli (about 1600/67)
Ovals on
the left “St. Francis de Sales” and on the right “St. Alexander Sauli” about
1850 by Ercole Ruspi
“Glory
of St. Charles Borromeo between saints and angels presented by Our Lady to the
Trinity”, “Three
theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity, and the four cardinal virtues in
monochrome” and “Putti” 1646, the last work of Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)
The
preparatory cartoons were mysteriously stolen from him and he had to do without
them
“According
to Bellori the fresco was executed in six months and was inaugurated on the
feast day of the saint (5 November 1647), a few weeks before the death of
Lanfranco. In the fresco Bellori noted that 'the composition and the figures
reveal fatigue with the brush', and in any case, in this work Lanfranco had
regained formal discipline, which he had lost over the last frescoes in Naples,
because, as Bellori underlines 'in Naples he indulged in his practice;
sometimes he was content to do less than what he could have done'“ (Erich
Schleier - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
On the
sides statues copies of the ones in St. Peter's Square but smaller
On the
right “St. Paul” 1847 by Adamo Tadolini
(1788/1868) and on the left “St. Peter” 1847 by Giuseppe
De Fabris (1790/1860)
CHOIR LOFTS
1685 Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) and completed in the
nineteenth century by Virginio Vespignani
(1808/82)
Choir
behind the apse with frescoes that are not visible:
Oval panel “St.
Charles in prayer” by Guido Reni (1575/1642)
fresco, formerly in the oval on the church façade
Altarpiece “St.
Charles Borromeo” about 1623 by Andrea Commodi,
first master of Pietro da Cortona, formerly on the main altar of the church
“Miracle of
St. Blaise” maybe 1669 by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609/81)
or maybe by an unknown artist of the late sixteenth century
“Cardinal
virtues”:
Fortress
with Self-containment, Justice
with Kindness or Charity, Prudence
with Time, Temperance
with Virginity 1629/30 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641) for Cardinal Scipione
Caffarelli Borghese (1577/1633)
The
Temperance was finished by his pupil Francesco Cozza
(1605/82) and it also represented the heraldic symbols of the Borromeo family:
bridle, camel and unicorn
Domenichino
was inspired by the book Iconography by Cesare Ripa published for the
first time in 1593
“The figures
occupy the space with an extraordinary illusionistic effect, celebrated by
sources and evident in the shadows painted on the frames in gilded stucco.
(...) Time, personified by the old man with the hourglass, is indispensable for
the application of contemplation, of judgment and of advice, acts considered fundamental
by Aristotle for the practice of the Virtue of Prudence and here respectively
symbolized by the mirror, by the cherub who puts the balls in the urn and the
putto with the dove and the serpent” (Marina Minozzi)
Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)
about 1635 for Monsignor Marco Filonardi
Above the
altar “S. Antonio Maria Zaccaria” about 1897 by Virginio
Monti (1852/1942)
S. Antonio
Maria Zaccaria was the founder of the Regular Clerks of St. Paul, the
Barnabites, and was canonized in 1897
On the
right “Persians
Martyrs Mario, Martha, Audiface and Abaco” 1641 by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a
pupil of Pietro da Cortona
In the
lunettes on the right “Martyrdom
by beheading of the Persian martyrs”, on the left “Persians
Martyrs chaplains and preachers of the good news” by Giacinto Gimignani 1641 (1606/81)
On the
altar “Death
of St. Anne” 1645/49 masterpiece by Andrea
Sacchi (1599/1661)
Frescoes in
the lunettes “Marriage of Sts. Joachim and Anne” and “Presentation of Mary in
the Temple” 1860 by Francesco Coghetti (1801/75)
Under the
arch “Angels” maybe by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)
1739 Mauro Fontana (1701/67) in precious marble
On the
altar “St. Paul and St. Alexander Sauli Barnabite bishop” by an unknown nineteenth-century artist
Sculptures by Agostino Corsini
(1688/1772) and Giuseppe Lironi (1689/1749)
Dome and
oval panels with stories of St. Paul: “St. Paul receives the visit of Ananias”
and “St. Paul preaching to the Athenians” first half of 1600s by Filippo Mondelli
On the left
ROOM OF THE BAPTISMAL FONT with eighteenth-century basin and 1840 frescoes by Andrea Giorgini (1798/1844)
SACRISTY
1650 “Crucifix” in bronze maybe by Alessandro
Algardi (1598/1654)
“Mocking of Christ” about 1598 Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)
