Saturday, January 4, 2020

SACRED STIGMATA OF St. FRANCIS

SS. STIMMATE DI S. FRANCESCO
Via dei Cestari/Largo delle Stimmate 1

1297 consecration of a pre-existing church as Ss. XL Martirium de Calcararo

However, it is already mentioned by sources in 1192 as Calcariorum
The name derives from the presence of numerous calcare (kilns) where, in the Middle Ages, pieces of limestone or marble from the ancient monuments were transformed into lime

In 1597 Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605) entrusted it to the Confraternity of the Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis which had been founded three years earlier

Clement XI Albani (1700/21) in 1714 laid the foundation stone of the new church rebuilt by G.B. Contini (1641/1723) who was dismissed in 1716 due to disagreements with his clients

Completed 1716/21 by Antonio Canevari (1681/1759) who also made the INTERIOR, the FAÇADE and the BELL TOWER

Since 1974 it has been entrusted to the Capuchins of the Picena Province

FAÇADE
“Statue of St. Francis” 1718/21 by Bernardino Cametti (1669/1736)

PORCH
“Tomb of Palmira Petracchi and his son Enrico Pulieri” 1844 by Adamo Tadolini (1788/1868), a pupil of Canova

NAVE
Decoration with capitals 1828/29 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839)

COUNTER FAÇADE
Organ of 1856
Confessionals in walnut wood, a product of Roman cabinetry of the beginning of the eighteenth century

VAULT
“Glory of St. Francis” about 1720 last work of Luigi Garzi (1638/1721), a pupil of Andrea Sacchi who was later influenced by Carlo Maratta

1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF REDEMPTION
Vault “Triumph of the Cross with the angels holding symbols of the Passion of Christ” about 1726 by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)
“Ivory crucifix” maybe by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)
Above the altar “Our Lady of Sorrows” maybe by Francesco Mancini (1679/1758)
On the walls, on the right “Flagellation” about 1730 by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

“Having reached around 1730 the fullness of his style, the restless painter, however, ended up contradicting himself as he compromised more than once with the prevailing academic taste. If in such works as the Massacre of the Innocents, in the collection Ferroni in Florence today, one can appreciate the smart inspiration from the tragic mimicry of Nicolas Poussin, in other works, such as the Flagellation in S. Francis of the Stigmata in Rome and the Vision of S. Catherine of Genoa, now in Palazzo Corsini, he aligns himself with the professors of the Academy of St. Luke. He was, in fact, received among them in 1741” (Evelina Borea - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

On the left “Crown of Thorns” about 1730 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742)

2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. MICHAEL
Above the altar “St. Michael the Archangel” a nineteenth century copy by Nicola Pannini from the original by Guido Reni in St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception

3rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
“Apparition of the Virgin Mary to St. Joseph Calasanz” about 1749 by Marco Caprinozzi aka Marco del Ruspoli da Civita Castellana, a little known pupil of Benefial

MAIN ALTAR
“S. Francis stigmatized” 1719 masterpiece by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)
“Angels” in stucco on the pediment by Pietro Bracci (1700/73)
Left wall of the presbytery “Tomb of Count Ladislaus Constantine Wasa” d. 1698 son of King Ladislaus IV of Poland, commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Albani (future Clement XI) to Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)

3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA
Restored 1870 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)
Above the altar “St. Anthony” 1719 by the capable Istrian painter Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)

2nd LEFT - PECCI CHAPEL 
Pecci was the family of Leo XIII (1878/1903)
Above the altar “Immaculate Conception” and frescoes on the walls 1887 by the Roman Domenico Torti (nineteenth century)

1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY FORTY MARTYRS
“The Martyrdom of Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste” about 1660 masterpiece by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

“Before 1663 the painter carried out the work that marked his artistic maturity, the Holy Forty Martyrs for the Roman church of the Stigmata. The drawing (Rome, private collection) and the preparatory sketch (Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire) testify the merger, which was implemented in this painting, of all the means of expression acquired by Brandi. (...) The fame achieved after this work was such that the artist was considered to be among the best of his time, as confirmed by a judgment of Mattia Preti, who, writing in 1665 to Don Antonio Ruffo, a collector of Messina, states that compared to Mola, Ferri and Maratta, Brandi 'is the best painter of all three'. However, in the seventh decade of the century, the artist joined in ever more conspicuously to the stylistic climate of Baroque, perhaps more to obey the wishes of his clients than for a phase of decline of his talent” (Antonella Pampalone - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

SACRISTY
Vault “Pardon of Assisi” by Girolamo Pesci (1679/1759)
Two paintings: “Death of St. Francis” maybe by Massimo Stanzione (1585/1656) and a copy of the “Deposition” by Annibale Carracci

“Silver reliquary” 1633 donated by Card. Francesco Barberini with fragments of cloth and sponge soaked in the blood that flowed from the wounds of St. Francis, collected by Fra Leone, a disciple of the saint

HALL OF THE STIGMATA (oratory) on the first floor
In the vault canvas “Ecstasy of St. Francis” by Filippo Lauri (1623/94)

“In the work is described the particular event occurring after the consecration of the stigmata, the so-called miracle of the bees that sucked the wounds of the saint as pollen of eternal life, and that could be a reference to the arms of the Barberini family, who commissioned the work, as it can be inferred by the figure of Cardinal Carlo, who in 1686 obtained the patronage of a chapel of the church, of which this painting was perhaps the altarpiece” (Stefano Petrocchi)

On the entrance wall tempera “Apparition of St. Francis to Gregory IX” about 1720/24, “St. Elizabeth of Hungary” and “Clare” by an unknown artist from the studio of Sebastiano Conca
In a room of the convent but originally intended for the oratory, canvas “St. Francis stigmatized” by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

UNDERGROUND CEMETERY
Two rooms the first of which has a ceiling decorated with motifs made ​​from the bones of the monks according to the Franciscan tradition

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