Monday, February 18, 2019

St. JOSEPH AT THE HOUSES' END

S. GIUSEPPE A CAPO LE CASE
1588 next to the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites
It was rebuilt in 1628 with the monastery for Cardinal Marcello Lante
In the original church there used to be the famous painting “St. Teresa of Avila receives a gold necklace from the Virgin Mary” about 1613 (some say about 1618) by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647) now in the new Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Via della Nocetta 83
The painting was immediately very successful with the public
Involving the viewer emotionally and assuming the role of mediation between the world of the faithful and of the divinity, it constituted one of the first expressions of baroque sensibility in Italian art
“At this stylistic stage Lanfranco leaves the more robust plasticity sometimes derived from Ludovico Carracci and the use of light derived from Bartolomeo Schedoni only to get new elegance and a formal refinement, derived from early Roman 'Correggiesque' works by Annibale Carracci, combined with an atmosphere enveloping light and shade and a phosphorescent light (backlighting effects), reminiscent of the contemporary works of Orazio Borgianni. This phase lasted from about 1614 to 1618 and it is documented by a large number of works, often requested from outside Rome, which mark the success and prestigious location that Lanfranco had reached” (Erich Schleier - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

1st ALTAR ON THE RIGHT
“Holy Family” 1938 by Cleto Luzzi ( 1884/1952 )

2nd ALTAR RIGHT
“S. Melania” by an anonymous nineteenth-century artist

MAIN ALTAR AND TABERNACLE
Bartolomeo Breccioli (?/1639), deteriorated
Fresco “Dream of St. Joseph” about 1635 by Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661)
One of his sisters was a nun and used to live in the monastery. The painting was later restored by his pupil Carlo Maratta
Behind the altar there are the HOLY STAIRS 1718 by Tommaso Mattei (1652/1726), a pupil of Carlo Fontana
The sisters climb the stairs on their knees praying. It was built because, as the nuns were in seclusion, they could not go on pilgrimage to the original Holy Stairs

1st ALTAR ON THE LEFT
Painting “St. John the Baptist, Prophet Elisha and Angels” by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist
In the former monastery the GALLERIA D’ARTE MODERNA DI ROMA CAPITALE (Gallery of Modern Art of Rome Capital of Italy) is now housed

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