It is in
the area where the Church of St. Biagio and a Benedictine Monastery
of the tenth century originally were
According
to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1226) was a guest of the monastery
for a period of time
The
monastery became possession of the Minor Friars in 1229 when the little
church was expanded to have three aisles for the Anguillara family and
decorated with frescos depicting “Stories of Jesus and St. Francis” by Pietro
de' Cerroni aka Pietro Cavallini (about 1240/about 1325) now totally
disappeared
The
monastery was expanded in late 1500 and early 1700
It was used
as barracks for the Bersaglieri corps of the Italian army from 1873 until 1943
The church
was supposed to be modified in 1535 by Baldassarre
Peruzzi (1481/1536)
The church
was extended with the choir in 1603 by Onorio Longhi
(1568/1619)
1682/89 Mattia De Rossi (1637/95) destroyed the frescos by
Cavallini and rebuilt NAVES and FAÇADE for Innocent XI Odescalchi
(1676/89)
IN THE
SQUARE
“Ancient
column of white Carrara marble” placed here in 1847 for Pius IX
Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)
It was
found in 1817 in the ruins of the city of Veii along with eleven other columns
that are now in the portico of Palazzo
Wedekind in Piazza Colonna
1st
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
Carlo
Fontana (1634/1714)
Wooden
seventeenth-century “Crucifix” by Fra' Angelo from
Pietrafitta
To the left
“Monument
of Cardinal Michelangelo Ricci” d. 1682 with bust maybe by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)
Vault and
pendentives “Saints” by Fra' Emanuele da Como
Carlo
Fontana
Altarpiece,
walls and vault “Stories of St. John of Capistrano” about 1725 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742)
1685 Stefano Legnani or Legnanino
Frescos on
the walls, vault and pendentives by Giuseppe Passeri
(1654/1714) one of the favorite pupils of Carlo Maratta
Under the
altar there is the body
of St. Leontia martyr
Spectacular
chapel by Nicola Michetti (about 1675/1758),
finished in the years 1710/25 by Ludovico Rusconi Sassi
(1678/1736)
Altarpiece “Sts.
Peter of Alcantara and Paschal Baylon” by Giuseppe
Chiari (1654/1727) who was also one of the favorite pupils of Carlo
Maratta
Ovals by
the brother Tommaso Chiari (1665/1773)
On the
sides funerary
monuments with sculptures “Cardinal
Virtues”, “Skeletons” and “Portraits”
1713/19 by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)
1746 by Fra' Secondo
da Roma in polychrome marbles
Statue of “St.
Francis” about 1587 by Fra' Diego da Careri
On the
sides plaster statues “Faith” and “Charity” 1751 by Fra'
Secondo da Roma
Altarpiece
with “Trinity and Saints” by Paris Nogari (about
1536/1601) facing the 1603 choir by Onorio Longhi (1568/1619)
1622/25 by Giacomo Mola (?/1650)
Famous
statue “Blessed
Ludovica Albertoni” 1671/74 by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini (1598/1680) with a painting above “St.
Anne and the Virgin Mary” by G.B. Gaulli aka
Baciccio (1639/1709) for Clement X Altieri (1670/76)
Clement X
had only one female heir and he arranged for her to marry Gaspare Paluzzi
Albertoni. The pope imposed so the name Altieri to the Paluzzi Albertoni family
The statue
was made by Bernini without compensation as fine and bail for his brother
Luigi, who had been caught raping a boy in St. Peter's Basilica in front of the
statue of Constantine
The coffin
with the body of the blessed is under the statue, covered at the beginning of
the eighteenth century by a mantle of montauto alabaster
The
alabaster replaced the original wood paneling painted in red blood, perhaps
wanting to remind of Bernini's painting “Sea of blood that flows from the
wounds of Christ on the Cross”, of which he was very fond
“Bernini
co-wrote all the elements to make them as real as possible. The blessed woman
is living, the light is effective, the big picture is really painted. The
beautiful compound theorized for large enterprise, focuses this time in an
intense three-dimensional altarpiece. Picture within the picture, theater
within the theater, art within art” (Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco)
“The direct
light contributes decisively to the unreal effect of the work. Employing
directional light, the source of which is hidden to the viewer, was one of the
great inventions of Bernini. In contrast to the serene and widespread light
used by the artists of the Renaissance, the directional light appears
transitory, precarious. The directional light corroborates in the viewer the feeling
of transience of the represented scene” (Rudolf Wittkower)
On the
right fresco “Blessed
Ludovica Albertoni” maybe its authentic portrait by an anonymous sixteenth-century artist
AMONG
TRANSEPT AND 3rd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
“Monument to Giulia Ricci Paravicini” 1662
bust by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)
Altarpiece “St.
Michael the Archangel” 1660 copy by Giuseppe Mallenghi
from the original by Guido Reni, which replaced an original artwork by Annibale
Carracci now in France
“Mattei
Tombs” 1635 by Niccolò Menghini (about 1610/55)
and 1687 Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)
To the left
“Bust
of Laura Frangipani” 1637 by Andrea
Bolgi (1606/56)
Frescoes in
the lunettes “Miracles of St. Charles of Sezze” 1882 by the Roman Marcello Sozzi a pupil of Tommaso Minardi
Under the
altar bronze urn with body of S. Charles of Sezze
Above the
altar “Annunciation”
about 1534 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco
Salviati (1510/63)
Frescoes
including “Eternal Father” by G.B. Ricci (about
1550/1624)
Outside “Tomb
of Giuseppe Paravicini” d. 1695 with bust by Camillo
Rusconi (1658/1728)
Above the
altar “Immaculate
Conception” about 1555 by the Flemish artist Marten de Vos (1532/1603)
On the left
“Nativity of the Virgin” about 1620 by Simon Vouet
(1590/1649)
On the
right “Assumption of the Virgin” by Antonio Mariani Della
Cornia (about 1584/1654)
In the
pendentives “Sibyls” by an anonymous artist of the
school of Simon Vouet
In the back
of the chapel the painter Giorgio de Chirico
(1888/1978) is buried. His body was moved here in 1992
Three of
his paintings are near the tomb:
“Self-portrait”
“Portrait
of his wife Isa (veiled lady)”
“Fall or Climb
to Calvary with St. Francis” his most important sacred work
SACRISTY
1696/98
including the Chapel of St. Francis with “Cabinet of relics” 1708
Inside the cabinet:
Relics of
the most important Franciscan saints
A copy of
the portrait of St. Francis of Assisi maybe by Margheritone d'Arezzo considered
one of his true portraits, now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana
“Black
Stone” which would have been used by St. Francis as a cushion
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