Sts. LUKE AND MARTINA

SS. LUCA E MARTINA
Via della Curia 2/Clivo Argentario

 Dedicated at the time of Pope Honorius I (625/638) only to S. Martina, martyred under Septimus Severus (193/211) on the ancient CURIA HOSTILIA

Rebuilt in 1256

Restored with the rise of the floor in 1593 by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606), after it had been granted in 1588 to the Academy of St. Luke founded in 1577 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)
So the title of St. Luke was added

Restored again in the years 1635/64 by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

Works completed in the years 1674/77 by Ciro Ferri (1634/89), a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

“The pylons strongly projecting, fronted by the double pillars, seem to have the wall crushed in the middle, so that the warp seems to be the result of a compression always going on. Absolutely different from any façade of any previous church, it prepares the visitor for the understanding of the internal structure, because the treatment of the wall and the articulation of the premises are explained here in a different key. Cortona think in terms of flexibility of the plastic mass of the walls, and through this he gets the dynamic coordination of exterior and interior. To him can be assigned the honor of having erected the first of the great highly personal and completely homogeneous churches of the Baroque style” (Rudolf Wittkower)

From here it used to begin the procession known as Candelora (Candlemas) established by Gelasius (492/496) to replace the pagan festival of the Lupercalia

Here are buried the artists Pietro Da Cortona, Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764), Luigi Canina (1795/1856), G.B. Soria (1581/1651), Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703)

Design of the area outside 1932 by Gustavo Giovannoni (1873/1947) for the opening of Via dei Fori Imperiali

“In his constructive architecture Cortona eliminated the figurative elements which made such an integral part of his painted architecture. One can not imagine a stronger contrast with the concept of the architecture by Bernini. For Bernini, the very meaning of architecture conceived classically was summarized in realistic sculpture. A similar sculpture would have hidden the wealth and complexity of the work of Cortona. His effervescence here reaches its climax with the absolutely unprecedented wildly undulating shapes of the coffers of the dome. The personal design of these coffers found no imitators” (Rudolf Wittkower)

PENDENTIVES
Sculptures “Symbols of the Evangelists” 1730:
“St. Mark” by Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768),”St. Matthew” by Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728), “St. Luke” and “St. John” by G.B. Maini (1690/1752)
On the floor of the nave tomb of Pietro da Cortona

TO THE RIGHT OF THE ENTRANCE
“Tomb of the artist Giovanna Garzoni” by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95) with maybe portrait of Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

RIGHT END SIDE
“Martyrdom of St. Lazarus” by Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703). On the left there is his grave
In a niche on the right relief “Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene” by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

MAIN ALTAR
“Recumbent statue of St. Martina” 1635 by Niccolò Menghini (about 1610/55)
Above the altar “St. Luke painting the Virgin Mary” by the Sienese Antiveduto Grammatica (about 1572/1626), maybe copy from the original by Raphael now at Palazzo Carpegna

LEFT END SIDE
“Assumption and St. Sebastian” 1740 by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764). On the right there is his grave
On the left of “Tomb of Luigi Canina” by Pietro Tenerani (1789/1869)

LOWER CHURCH

At the entrance
“Monument of G.B. Soria (1581/1651)”

In the octagonal room
Stucco relief on the altar “Dead Christ with the Virgin Mary and the Father” 1638/39 by Alessandro Algardi
Statues in the niches “Cecilia”, “Agnes” and “Martina” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88), “S. Eufemia” by Pompeo Ferrucci (about 1566/1637)

In the church
“Altar of S. Martina” by Pietro da Cortona
Terracotta in the chapel to the left of the corridor “Sts. Epifanius, Concordio and a companion” 1634 by Alessandro Algardi

St. MARY OF THE PRAYER AND DEATH

S. MARIA DELL'ORAZIONE E MORTE

Via Giulia 262

Originally built in the years 1575/76

Formerly known as S. Maria della Morte for the Arciconfraternita della Morte (Confraternity of Death) founded in 1538 that gave burial to the poor

It was rebuilt in the years 1733/37 by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) with the help of Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753) who was master builder at the time

Ferdinando Fuga asked, as only reward, the right for free burial for himself and his heirs

Golden decorations and other works in the interior done in 1867

Restored in 1975

Since 1992 it has been dedicated to people who had died at work

“For the façade Fuga conceived initially a convex shape and later changed his project, because of the limited space available toward the street and also for his personal stylistic evolution, to a rectilinear structure but with strong visual contrasts” (Daniele Ferrara)

“Ferdinando Fuga demonstrates that he thoroughly studied Borromini, Bernini and Rainaldi regarding the history of this type of building, almost proposing to fix himself a type which would be the synthesis and, at the same time, the adjustment of the different solutions. He does not alter substantially the structure of the Baroque image of space, but, in summarizing it, he almost involuntarily brings the elements to the firmness preached by the classical treatises of 1500s” (Giulio Carlo Argan)

On the walls FRESCOS DETACHED:

Among the chapels to the right

“St. Anthony Abbot and St. Paul of Thebes”

Among the chapels on the left

“St. Simeon Stylites” about 1605 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647), his first independent works from the Camera degli Eremiti (Room of the Hermits) of the destroyed Palazzina Farnese (Farnese Small Palace)

Above the entrance there is a third fresco covered. The three murals were placed here in 1734

“In this first cycle Lanfranco shows that he was already following a relatively free pictorial line, immune, rather strangely, to the severity of the Roman style of Annibale Carracci” (Rudolf Wittkower)

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA

On the altar “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine” by unknown artist of the end of the sixteenth century probably from the old church

2^nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. MICHAEL

1741 Paolo Posi (1708/76)

On the altar “St. Michael the Archangel” about 1740/50 copy by an unknown artist from the original by Guido Reni in the church of S. Maria della Concezione (St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception)

MAIN ALTAR

On the altar “Crucifixion” about 1680 by Ciro Ferri (1634/89), a pupil of Pietro da Cortona, who was here clearly influenced by the painting with the same subject by Guido Reni in in the church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina

2^nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JULIANA FALCONIERI

Above the altar “St. Juliana Falconieri receives the dress from St. Philip Benizi” about 1740 by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY FAMILY

Above the altar “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” mid-1700s by Lorenzo Masucci (?/1785), son of Agostino Masucci

“The curvilinear and jutting pediments out of the chapels have a slight concavity in contrast with the convexity of the entablature above the choruses and the confessionals: this alternation of form suggests a swaying motion that ends at the chorus, where the arc breaks up the attic on which the dome rests. The undulating outline of the interior is an original design by Ferdinando Fuga, never seen before even considering the interiors of Borromini's churches” (Daniele Ferrara)

SACRISTY

Canvas:

“St. Michael the Archangel defeats the devil” about 1576 maybe by Raffaellino Motta aka Raffaellino da Reggio (1550/78)

“Deposition of Christ” by an unknown seventeenth-century artist

“St. Michael the Archangel save the souls of Purgatory” and “St. Michael the Archangel, the devil and the passing of a dying man” about 1660/70 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91), originally located in the church at the sides of the altar of St. Michael

UNDERGROUND CEMETERY

Large room originally built in 1762 but resized during the works for building the walls by the River Tiber

For three centuries, from 1552 to 1896, about 8,600 corpses were buried here, with an average of one every two weeks

The decorations with skeletons of people belonging to the Confraternity of Death were very macabre, similar to those in the cemetery of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception

St. AMBROSE DELLA MASSIMA

S. AMBROGIO DELLA MASSIMA

Via di S. Ambrogio 3

Erected, according to tradition, over the house of the father of St. Ambrose (about 334/397) who would have lived here before being transferred as consul in Milan where he later became bishop, in the area once occupied by the TEMPLE OF HERCULES MUSAGETE

According to tradition, at the time of St. Leo III (795/816) it became the property of a certain Maxima, hence perhaps the name, who built a Latin cross church with monastery

The specification De Maxima in the name of the church appears in the sources only in the thirteenth century and, in fact, it is most likely derived from the nearby Cloaca Maxima, the oldest sewer of Rome, or from a commercial building known as Porticus Maxima

It was called S. Stefano de Maxima and S. Maria in Formosa but in the fifteenth century it returned to its original name

Rebuilt in the years 1606/26 maybe by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) for the De Torres family

Complete with dome and side altars in 1633 by Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657)

The FAÇADE was rebuilt in 1863 on the model of the previous one and on the same year the church was restored and the interior embellished with inlaid marble altar frontages taken from Ligurian churches

Since 1861 the monks of Subiaco live in the premises

1st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Nineteenth-century painting “Sts. Marcellina, Ambrose and Satyr” which replaced the painting by Pietro da Cortona “Martyrdom of St. Stephen” stolen in 1810

2nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Statue “St. Benedict” of the Roman Orfeo Boselli (about 1600/67), who was inspired by the style of François Duquesnoy

RIGHT TRANSEPT

“Crucifixion” copy with variations from the original by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746) in S. Sylvester in Capite

MAIN ALTAR

Canvas of 1974 painted on the occasion of the visit of Pope Paul VI to the Church

PENDENTIVES OF THE DOME

“Cardinal Virtues”: “Justice defeats Envy”, “Fortress defeats Fear”, “Temperance defeats Lust” and “Prudence defeats Luck” about 1633 by Francesco Cozza (1605/82), pupil of Domenichino

“This is actually the triumphs of the cardinal virtues on the personifications of the vices opposing them, as they are described by Cesare Ripa in his Iconology. (...) Inspired by similar depictions of Domenichino in S. Carlo ai Catinari, Francesco Cozza is shown here firmly rooted in his training with the first generation of Bolognese classicists” (Francesca Cappelletti)

LEFT TRANSEPT

“S. Mauro heals a paralytic” by Ciro Ferri (1634/89)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Frescoes “Life of the Virgin Mary” maybe by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640) and his school

Altar “Medieval Icon” discovered in S. Benedict in Piscinula in 1846, heavily restored. Only the face of the Virgin Mary is original

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Canvas “Ss. Joseph, Ambrose and Marcellina” of the second half of 1800s

REFECTORY

Fresco transferred to canvas in 1963 originally in the portico of the church from which it was detached in 1862 “Deposition with the patrons Benedictine Sisters” about 1497 by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)

“The scene follows the iconography of the Nordic Vesperbild (image of the vesper), a subject of popular piety derived from Northern Europe and common in the Umbria region, but very unusual in Rome. Towards the end of the fifteenth century Michelangelo will be the one (...) to give fame and nobility to this Nordic popular subject. In the Roman painting the theme of the Pietà is inserted in a more complex figurative system with the presence in the background of the symbols of the 'Arma Christi' (Arms of Christ), according to an association quite common starting from the second half of the fourteenth century to encourage the faithful to meditate, prompting emotional involvement” (Anna Cavallaro)

“Death of St. Benedict” about 1609 by Baccio Ciarpi (1574/1654)

“In Rome he had Pietro da Cortona as one of his pupils. His works show a conventional narrative language in a reformed key, enriched with a luminosity influenced by Caravaggio” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

St. AGNES IN AGONE

S. AGNESE IN AGONE

Piazza Navona/Via S. Maria dell'Anima 30a

In the eighth century a small chapel was built here, on the spot where, according to tradition, St. Agnes was exposed naked and was covered by her hair that had miraculously grown, only to be killed shortly afterwards

In 1123 the chapel was converted into a small basilica by Callistus II (1119/24) with entrance from today's Via dell'Anima

Reconstruction began in 1652 by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655) and his son Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55)

Continued in the years 1653/57 by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667)

“While retaining the Greek cross plan designed by Rainaldi, Borromini demolished the previously built part of the façade and built it on a concave plant pushing it back towards the square. Two towers resting on the two side wings indicate the desire to enhance the light mass of the dome set on a high drum. Since then the type of the dome, the prototype of which dates back to that Michelangelo will see a progressive reduction of mass and a tendency to be thinner and slighter if taller” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The viewer feels drawn into the cavity of the façade above which looms the concave mass of the drum. Nobody can overlook the fact that Borromini, while employing the traditional grammar of motives, repeated here the spatial inversion of the façade of S. Ivo” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“In architecture Baroque religious art curved forms, concave and convex, appear more and more often to make communicable feelings and actions such as the bodily presence, the attraction, the embrace” (Paolo Portoghesi)

It was completed in the years 1657/72 by Carlo Rainaldi with advice, especially for the interior, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj after the death of her husband, the pope's nephew Camillo Pamphilj

It was owned by the Doria Pamphilj family until 1992 when it was granted to the Vicariate of Rome

BELL TOWERS

Antonio Del Grande (about 1625/79) and Giovanni Maria Baratta (known from 1644/d. after 1679) from a design by Francesco Borromini

DOME

“Glory of Paradise” 1670/89 by Ciro Ferri (1634/89) for G.B. Pamphilj

Despite the 19 years which he had had to paint it, Ciro Ferri was unable to complete the work and it was finished after his death by his pupil Sebastiano Corbellini

PENDENTIVES

Magnificent “Cardinal Virtues” 1668/71 first frescoes by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709):

From the right

“Temperance, with the symbol of the muzzle held by the little angel on the top right, crowns Chastity while trampling the seductive figure of Lust with the wings of the partridge in her hand. In front of them Anteros defeats Eros and a unicorn in the background alludes to Temperance”

“Justice with sword and scales crowned by two angels and kissed by Peace holds an olive branch. Crushes under her foot the monstrous War with serpent's tail and watches the boards supported by Law. In the background Truth with the sun in hand”

“Prudence with two faces looks in the mirror to both past and future, while Providence equipped with rudder and crowned with wheat triumphs over Fortuna lying blindfolded and beautifully half-naked”

“Fortitude triumphant over a pagan statue and a brazier toppled turns to the angel with the cross pointed by the Charity”

Baciccio obtained the commission of the frescoes from the Pamphilj family thanks to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. When they were shown for the first time they were accused of “lust” for the sensuality and the attitude of some of the virtues

ABOVE THE DOORS

Between pairs of pilasters there are “Eight marble bas-reliefs with angels bearing the attributes of saints venerated in the church” 1658/59 by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86) and Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

RELIEFS AND STATUES ON THE SEVEN ALTARS:

In the apses of the altars stuccos with “Angels and putti with attributes of the saints depicted in the marble reliefs below” by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) completed after his death by his pupils Domenico Guidi and Ercole Ferrata from designs by Ciro Ferri

Interestingly, the saints represented in the altars were all chosen from among the youngest martyrs of the Christian church

From the right

“Death of S. Alexius of Rome” in front of Innocent I (401/417) after being recognized by the parents 1660/63 by Giovanni Francesco Rossi (known 1640/77)

Statue of “St. Agnes” 1660 by Ercole Ferrata

Represents the moment when St. Agnes remained miraculously unharmed by the flames

The chapel is lined with ancient green Thessalian marble, which overlaps the ancient yellow marble pilasters with capitals of marble from Carrara. The false perspective is also made with extraordinary marbles such as coral breccia or bardiglio

“It reminds for certain aspects the S. Susanna by Duquesnoy, as also here the dress is relatively smooth and supports the structure of the body, while the head is derived as much from Duquesnoy as from classic Niobids. But no artist who worked in 1660 in the orbit Bernini could return to the classical purity of Duquesnoy in 1630. Following the example of the statues of saints by Bernini, Ferrata represented a transitory moment, we are witnessing a dramatic moment: the power of her prayers makes her immune from the holy fire. It creates a formal and emotional restlessness, in stark contrast with the purist trends of the thirties” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Stuccos with “Musical Angels” 1662/64 by Paolo Landini

In the side walls two pairs of “Alabaster oval medallions with faces of saints and popes” not precisely identified

“Martyrdom of St. Emerentiana” 1668/1709 by Ercole Ferrata who made the lower part. It was finished after his death in 1709 by Leonardo Retti (active 1670/1709)

Emerentiana was the foster sister of St. Agnes and she ended up being stoned to death during the funeral of her sister

“The clear and simple tripartite arrangement seems the result of a dogmatic application of Algardi's principles. While the type of the saint also shows here a careful study of the S. Susanna by Duquesnoy, and while some characters are clearly inspired by the relief of Attila, Ferrata returns for the figures of the attackers and of the mother and child to the most classic of Baroque painters, Domenichino. The sculptural principles applied by Retti in the upper half of the survey are in contrast with those of the lower half” (Rudolf Wittkower)

MAIN ALTAR

1720/21 from a design by Carlo Rainaldi executed by Francesco Moderati (about 1680/after 1724) with “Four columns of ancient green marble” maybe from the destroyed Arch of Marcus Aurelius on Via del Corso

“Three putti” by G.B. Maini (1690/1752) holding a cartouche with the phrase Among born of women there is none greater than John for G.B. Pamphilj (Innocent X) who had wanted the main altar to be dedicated to the saint who bore his name

“Angels” in 1856 stucco on the pediment by Antonio Della Bitta (1807/about 1879)

Altar “The two holy families” 1677/83 masterpiece by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

Continuing from the high altar towards left:

“Martyrdom of St. Cecilia” visited by Urbano (222/230) 1662/66 by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)

The relief was originally commissioned in 1660 to Giuseppe Peroni (about 1626/63), a pupil of Algardi who died leaving the life-size model that was taken up by Raggi

“The influence of Algardi is to be located in the middle division and in the differentiation between the calm faith of the pope and the excited crowd on the right. The individual style of Raggi is evident in the extremely elongated proportions of the figures, the slender build, the elegant movements as well as in the fall of drapery, which reveal a restless and nervous temperament. Contrary to Ferrata, Raggi refused the lessons learned by Domenichino. Compared to the terse composition of the relief of St. Emerentiana, the figures in the work of Raggi appear crowded in complicated groups almost confused. It goes to show his indifference for the classical dogma of clarity expressed with a minimum number of figures. On the other hand, the magnificent angel with a palm, absolutely Bernini-like shows the sweetness and tenderness of feelings, characteristic of the art of Raggi” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Statue of “St. Sebastian” 1717/19 by Pietro Paolo Campi (known 1702/40), a student of Pierre Legros

“St. Eustace among the beasts” 1666/69 by Melchiorre Caffà (1636/67)

The poor young Maltese sculptor died shortly after the start of the work which was finished by Ercole Ferrata with Giovanni Francesco Rossi in a rather academic way, a far cry from the plastic feeling of the brilliant Caffà

The model in terracotta of this relief is in Palazzo Venezia

“Caffà can be considered the most important personality of the generation after Bernini, but he died too young to achieve a leading position and to exert a role in the development of Italian sculpture. (...) His teacher, Ercole Ferrata, had introduced him to the style of Algardi, but far more decisive for him was the impression created by the works of Bernini: that character in them of final achievement was certainly of great importance for the process of maturation of the younger artist. Once convinced of the validity of the style now developed, he was bent on perfect it to virtuosity, soften it, refine it in aesthetic terms. (...) Since this, the oldest known of his works, Caffà goes beyond Ferrata, adopting the illusionistic 'bottom to top' typical of Bernini's reliefs. In the apparent recklessness of the model, in which constantly the level of projection changes, and in the dissolution of the constituent links, there is in embryo a new concept - which is late Baroque - of the relief” (Rudolf Preimesberger - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

RIGHT OF THE ALTAR OF S. SEBASTIAN - CHAPEL OF S. FILIPPO NERI

Restored 1859 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) with decorations by Annibale Angelini (1812/84)

In a silver reliquary there is the alleged skull of S. Agnes

Vault “Virgin Mary receives S. Filippo Neri in heaven (known as St. Philip Neri in English)” about 1663 by Francesco Allegrini (1587/1663)

From the chapel it is possible to enter the crypt of the monumental tombs of Pamphilj arranged in 1864 by Andrea Busiri Vici

LEFT OF THE ALTAR OF S. SEBASTIAN - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCES OF ROME

Here, according to tradition, the saint was baptized

Fresco “St. Frances of Rome assumed into heaven” by Francesco Cozza (1605/82)

Altar and baptismal font of St. Agnes consisting of a block of stone from the old oratory. At the sides “Angels” by Andrea Bolgi (1606/56)

Marble relief on the altar “St Frances of Rome shows the rule book flanked by an angel” by an artist of Algardi's school, maybe Domenico Guidi

ABOVE THE ENTRANCE

“Monument of Innocent X” Pamphilj with “Justice” and “Religion” 1730 by G.B. Maini (1690/1752)

The Pope's body was buried in the crypt of the Pamphilj to the right of the altar. For days after his death the corpse had been in a warehouse for tools of the Basilica of St. Peter at the mercy of mice to the neglect of the family

Above beautiful “Choir” by Carlo Rainaldi 1659/62 with “Angels caryatids” by Domenico Poli and Isidoro Baratta

Organ of 1914 that replaced the seventeenth century one of which some elements were reused

SACRISTY

1658/66, designed by Francesco Borromini

Fresco on the vault “Glory of St. Agnes” 1664 Paolo Gismondi aka Paolo Perugino (1612/85)

Frescoes in the presbytery “Stories of Mary” 1660 by Francesco Allegrini (1587/1663)

Angels and holy water fountain 1666 by Andrea Baratta (about 1595/1666)

CRYPT

Three rooms derived from the Circus of Domitian (81/96) with fornix (from fornix derives the verb fornicate) which is traditionally considered the brothel of the story of St. Agnes

The three rooms were rearranged in 1885 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911)

It is believed to be the place where, according to tradition, Saint Agnes was killed with a sword thrust in her throat immediately after she revived the young man who had fallen dead during an attempted rape against her

“Roman floor mosaic”

On the walls

“Traces of medieval frescoes” maybe of the thirteenth century, covered in 1893 by Eugenio Cisterna (1862/1933), who imitated the style of early Christian art deemed appropriate in those spaces, and perhaps inspired by the earlier thirteenth-century frescoes

Above the altar

Relief “Miracle of the hair of St. Agnes” designed in 1653 by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) and executed in 1663 by Giovanni Buratti

SPADA PALACE - SPADA GALLERY (third part)

Room III

The room was known as GALLERY OF THE CARDINAL and was designed in the years 1636/37 by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)

Ceiling decorations “Four parts of the world, the four elements and the four seasons” 1698/99 by Michelangelo Ricciolini (1654/1715)

“Portrait of Youth” maybe by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)

“Allegory of the Massacre of the Innocents” about 1639 and “Sacrifice of Iphigenia” 1640 by Pietro Testa (1612/50) Lucca engraver who committed suicide in the Tiber for disappointments in his painting career

“Astronomers” about 1645 and “Cain and Abel” by Niccolò Tornioli (1598/1651)

The Astronomers exalts the new astronomical discoveries and in particular the telescope of 1609 by Galileo Galilei

At the center of the picture is Nicolaus Copernicus showing the phases of the moon, to the left Ptolemy and Aristotle, and on the right the woman with the turban is Astronomy itself. Galileo Galilei (1564/1642) had recently died and this painting was a burning issue at the time

Some scholars saw a quote of the Narcissus attributed to Caravaggio in the man on the right looking into the telescope, as well as one of the reasons they would ascribe with certainty the Narcissus to Caravaggio

“The Vestal Virgins” about 1670 by Ciro Ferri (1634/89)

“Landscape” about 1555 by the visionary Niccolò dell'Abate (about 1510/71)

“There are two scenes socially opposite: the aristocratic wild boar hunting with knights and ladies in the foreground, and the popular procession with the greasy pole in the distance. The fantasy architecture that gives the entire composition a fairytale feel, refers to the Flemish landscapes and to those of Dosso Dossi” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

“Feast of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra” about 1701 by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746) from Istria, with Cleopatra dissolving a pearl in wine to show her indifference to wealth

“In the episode, described with theatrical taste, are placed precious details that combine features of sixteenth-century Venetian tradition with those of Roman classicism” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

“Allegory of Music and Poetry” and “Allegory of Painting and Sculpture” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

“Summer and Autumn” and “Spring and Winter” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721)

“The Abduction of Aeneas” copy of Giacinto Campana (1600/about 1650) from the original by Guido Reni now in the Louvre. Reni himself revised this copy

“The Death of Dido” about 1631 by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666) composed almost like a scene out of the newly born Italian musical theater, also known as opera, the most comprehensive art form that would eventually spread throughout the world

“The work is remarkable for the scenographic vision and the richness of the costumes is made with plastic and coloristic sense, characteristics of the artist's work, learned from experiences in Veneto, Bologna and Ferrara” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

Two paintings of the same subject “Boreas Abducting Orythia” one by Francesco Solimena (1657/1747) and one by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

“Bacchus” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

“Spring or Flora” about 1680 by Carlo Cignani (1628/1719)

“Looting of a village” by Peter Snayers (1592/1666)

Very realistic “Portrait of young man” by a follower of Annibale Carracci

“View of a beach by moonlight” by Egbert van der Poel (1621/64)

“Death of Cleopatra” 1706 and “Death of Marcantonio” 1702 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742) for Cardinal Fabrizio Spada

“Christ and the Samaritan” about 1677 and the sketch of “Triumph in the name of Jesus” for the vault of the Chiesa del Gesù (Church of Jesus) by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)

“S. Lucia's shoulders” about 1632 by Francesco Furini (1603/46)

In this very original painting S. Lucia holds a plate with her eyes which had been removed by the torturers. An opportunity for the Florentine Francesco Furini to show off his specialty: painting beautiful bare backs of women

“He preferred the female figure and created a kind of refined painting genre whose subject, inspired by the poems of chivalry, the biblical tradition and mythology, were appreciated by scholarly collectors. Deeply stimulated by the trip to Venice and the painting by Pietro da Cortona (working in Florence in 1637), Furini became in his maturity a painter increasingly fluid and soft” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Portrait of Angela Mignanelli” about 1730 by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)

“The smug expression of the face, not rigid, but natural and of remarkable psychological intensity is enhanced by using soft and pasty brush strokes which give brightness to the eyes, sweet and mysterious at the same time. (...) The artist seems to overcome the ways of Roman portraiture of the seventeenth-eighteenth century and get closer to the French one, anticipating more casual formal solutions that will be in vogue especially in the second half of 1700s at the hands of Mengs, Goya, and Pier Leone Ghezzi” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

“Landscape with windmills” 1607 by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568/1625)

At the center of the room two globes 1616/22 by the Dutch cartographer William Bleau

“Statue of a philosopher sitting” of the beginning of the first century AD

Room IV

“David with the Head of Goliath” about 1610 by Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639) from Pisa

About 50 cm (20 inches) of the painting in the lower part have been lost, where the body of Goliath was

“The painting, in which the hand of Agostino Tassi has been identified in the landscape, reflects the classicist ideals of Carracci's style, and the realistic ones that enrich the scene into several parts, as one can see in the rendering of the coat. A terse light affects the body of David, enhancing the volumetric characteristics, in memory of the original Tuscan Mannerist training of the painter” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

“Christ and the adulteress” and “Christ tempted by the devil” by Mattia Preti (1613/99)

Christ and the adulteress is a work of extraordinary visual impact and powerful religious significance. The dizzying cleavage of the adulterous woman stuns and draws the eye inexorably as Christ indicates it and watches us expliciting in the act the message of salvation by grace that disregards human works

The message is clear: God's mercy can save us from the sins of the flesh, even from such white and unavoidably erotic flesh

Isn't this cleavage after all so dazzling illuminated by the same light that comes from the right and that shines on Christ's face and also on the beautiful gesture of forgiveness of His left hand?

“La Pietà” by Orazio Borgianni (1578/1616)

“Allegory of Astronomy” by G.B. Magni aka Modenino (about 1592/1674)

Five paintings of the so-called Bamboccio Pieter Van Laer (about 1595/1642)

“The value of detectable anti-rhetorical realism in his paintings reveals a fundamental part of the culture of the Dutch painter in addition to his mastery in the use of light and shadow. His painting and that of his many followers - the Bamboccianti such as Jan Miel, Michiels Sweerts - proposed the discovery of a papal city not monumental, of a Rome that invited reflection on social policies” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

Three paintings in the so-called bambocciante style including “Death of the donkey” and the historical view “Revolt of Masaniello” by Michelangelo Cerquozzi (1602/60)

“Accents more distinctly typical of everyday life than the ones of Pieter Van Laer are detectable in the lively folklore scenes of Cerquozzi, also a follower of Laer, even if he developed an independent style facing also sacred subjects of large format, battles and still lifes” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist” and “Herodias with the head of St. John the Baptist” by Jean Valentin aka Valentin de Boulogne (about 1591/1632)

“St. John the Evangelist” by the Frenchman Nicolas Tournier (1590/post 1657)

“Market” about 1650 by Willem Reuter (1642/1681), influenced by Michiel Sweerts

“Allegory of Vanity” by Andrea Podestà (about 1608/before 1674)

“Capture of Christ” by a follower of Gherardo delle Notti, maybe Trophime Bigot (about 1579/1649)

“S. Cecilia” and “Madonna nursing the Child” by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593/about 1652)

“Worthy disciple of her father Orazio and highly regarded since 1614 in the Florentine art scene, she lived for a long time in Naples, where the local painting environment represented by artists like Cavallino and Caracciolo was deeply influenced by the Caravaggio's knowledge of Artemisia. She inherited from her father the taste for precious fabrics and a preference for the rendering of golden and firm flesh through a naturalistic study of shadows and lights rousing stunningly beautiful effects” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Both works have been painted in her youth and are characterized by the delicate and refined drawing of colors, for the firmness and for the expressive intensity of the two female figures, the result of the artistic experiences of his father” (Maria Lucrezia Vicini)

Plaster cast “Divine love defeats profane love” about 1630 maybe a model of the bas-relief at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj by the Flemish artist François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)