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

1^st 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)

2^nd 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

3^rd 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)

3^rd 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)

2^nd 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)

1^st 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

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. AUGUSTINE (second part)

Left End Side of the Church

To the left of the main altar

CHAPEL OF St. MONICA

Frescoes and stucco work on the ceiling “Stories of St. Monica” about 1585/90 by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)

Frescoes on the side walls:

On the left “St. Monica comforted by a bishop” and “Vision of St. Augustine converted”, on the right “Conversion of St. Augustine” and “Death of St. Monica” in the altar wall “S. Navigio and S. Perpetua” other children of S. Monica about 1850 by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)

On the left “Tomb of St. Monica” (mother of St. Augustine) with sculpture maybe by Isaia da Pisa (active 1447/64) on the very strigillated sarcophagus in which St. Monica was originally buried after her death in 387 in Ostia waiting to embark with his son for Africa

The remains of the saint were moved during the restoration of Vanvitelli in the “Urn of ancient green marble” under the altar

On the right “Tomb of Cardinal Pietro Grifi” sixteenth century

Altarpiece “Madonna of the belt or of the Consolation with angels and the Sts. Augustine and Monica” by Giovanni Gottardi (1733/1812)

Leftmost chapel

BONGIOVANNI CHAPEL

In the vault simulating a dome “Assumption with Evangelists in the painted spandrels”

In the lunette “Apostles at the tomb of the Virgin Mary”

Three canvas: “Madonna appears to Sts. William of Aquitaine and Augustine” in the middle, “St. William of Aquitaine visited and healed by Our Lady” on the left and “St. Augustine ponders the mystery of the Trinity” on the right 1616, first public work in Rome and extraordinary masterpiece by the Baroque giant Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

The effect of optical illusion was diminished when the large tomb of Cardinal Lorenzo Imperiali was built and reduced the visibility of the chapel from the outside. Originally the effect was spectacular as only a balustrade was separating the chapel from the church

“In the vault Lanfranco built the first Baroque dome in Rome, transforming elements of Correggio illusionism in a style attributable to an influence of Annibale Carracci. The side paintings are instead dominated by a Caravaggio-like chiaroscuro atmosphere. A first version of the altar piece with only Christ crowning the Virgin (without God the Father) and a different location of the two adoring saints in the lower part, which did not please the clients and the Augustinians, is now in the Louvre” (Eric Schleier - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani)

LEFT TRANSEPT

Marble decoration by Giovanni Maria Baratta (active since 1644/d. after 1679) with the statue of “St. Thomas of Villanova and Charity” outstanding masterpiece of Melchiorre Caffà (1636/67) finished by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)

The poor Melchiorre Caffà died after completing St. Thomas and having sketched the woman who was executed by Ferrata who also sculpted the statues on the pediment

The chapel was dedicated to St. Thomas of Villanova after his canonization in 1658

“The female figure is not an anonymous woman of the people: in an act of poetic identification of the donor with the recipient, she appears in the traditional role of Charity. Placing her outside the central niche and turning her toward the saint, the artist has transformed her as a link between real life and the fictional world of art. Instead of worshiping a cult image the poor who pray here are encouraged to identify with the one who receives alms and to participate in charitable work of the active Church. These figures exhibit a super sensitive spirituality, an almost morbid sensitivity, compared to which the works by Bernini appear massive, strong and manly” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Reliefs in stucco “Miracles of St. Thomas of Villanova” about 1760 by Andrea Bergondi (active in Rome XVIII century)

In the upper right side “Tomb of Cardinal Lorenzo Imperiali with allegories of Fame, Time and Death” 1672 by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

The eagle flying out of the tomb represents the soul of the Cardinal

LEFT SIDE VESTIBULE

Four “Doctors of the Church” by Isaia da Pisa (active 1447/64) originally part of St. Monica's tomb

“Two busts of Augustinians” by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

“Crucifix between Sts. Cosmas and Damian” in marble maybe by Luigi Capponi (active end of 1400s/beginning of 1500s)

Above the door relief with “Christ dead held by two angels” maybe by Giovanni Duknovich aka Giovanni Dalmata (about 1440/1510)

5^th LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN OF SAHAGÚN (1430/79)

“St. John of Sahagún saves a child with a belt from a well after having raised the water level” about 1660 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

Oil paintings on the side walls and in the apse “Stories of St. John of Sahagún” about 1660 by artists of the Roman School

4^th LEFT - CHAPEL OF S. APOLLONIA

S. Apollonia was a martyr of the third century in Alexandria

She had her teeth torn before spontaneously throwing herself into the fire. That's why she was declared patron saint of the dentists

“S. Apollonia” about 1585 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

Apse “Glory of S. Apollonia”

On the right “Allegoric figure symbolizing Martyrdom” and on the left “Allegoric figure symbolizing Virginity” about 1660 works by Francesco Rosa (active since 1674/d. 1687) Roman pupil of Nicolas Poussin and Pietro da Cortona

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CLARE OF MONTEFALCO

Extraordinary oil painting “St. Clare of Montefalco” about 1751 by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

St. Clare of Montefalco gives her heart to Christ in search of a place to plant the Cross, disturbing and morbid subject chosen by Sebastiano Conca for one of his last Roman works before returning to Naples

St. Clare was beatified in 1742, a period which was the arrangement of the chapel, and was canonized only in 1881

Apse “Stories of St. Clare of Montefalco and angels with instruments of the Passion” mid-1700s by Girolamo Nanni

On the walls on the right “St. Clare in prayer” and on the left “Apparition of Christ to St. Clare” by an anonymous eighteenth-century artist

2^nd LEFT - PIO CHAPEL

1643 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Angelo Pio. Bernini probably entrusted the construction of the chapel to Andrea Bolgi (1606/56)

Apse with frescoes and stucco “Angelic Glory” about 1643/49 by Guidobaldo Abbatini (1600/56)

The altarpiece “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” also by Abbatini was destroyed during the eighteenth century renovations by Vanvitelli

The image of the Madonna and Child on the altar is a copy of the “Madonna del Buonconsiglio” venerated in Genazzano

On the right “Tomb of Angelo Pio” about 1649 and on the left “Tomb of Baldassarre Pio” about 1643 maybe by Andrea Bolgi

Body of St. Benedict Martyr from the Catacomb of S. Callisto moved here in 1930

Bernini mingled here for the first time frescoes and stucco with an artifice that has made seem “actually true that fake that is nothing but fake”

“The awareness in architectural terms, of the problem of light may proceed from the primitive image of the altar of St. Bibiana and, as successive stages, with the monument of the Countess Matilda in St. Peter's, the Raymondi Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio and the Pio Chapel in St. Augustine. (...) This would bring together works that have in common the purist choice of a single material, white marble, and derive from the experience tied to the constraints of the artistic formation of the sculptor and still are part of the fortune of white marble in Rome around 1630 when, at S. Carlino and Sts. Luke and Martina, the two main antagonists of Bernini lay the foundations of their architectural work, renouncing to the enrichment of colors, typical of Roman Mannerism” (Paolo Portoghesi)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF LORETO

Shocking “Madonna of the Pilgrims” 1603/04 (1606?) by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610) for Ermete Cavalletti

The Madonna is a portrait of Lena (perhaps also portrayed in the “Death of the Virgin” in the Louvre) holding her son Paul

She was a friend and lover of Caravaggio and because of her the bloody fight took place in Piazza Navona in July 1605 between Caravaggio and the notary Mariano Pasqualoni: Caravaggio seriously injured the notary and he was forced to flee to Genoa for three weeks during which his powerful protectors covered up the story

For the posture of the Virgin Mary Caravaggio was maybe inspired by the ancient sculpture Barbarian Woman or Tusnelda kept in Villa Medici at the time and now in Florence

For the purely classical features of the face and for the long neck perhaps Caravaggio was inspired by the statue of Jacopo Sansovino, the Madonna del Parto a few steps from here

Among the many extraordinary details of a piece of art that moves, engages and shakes the soul one could mention the superb high contrast of light on the face of the Child Jesus, who, also because of this, really manages to appear at once human and divine, as very few similar images in the world do

Also striking is the incredible consistency of the material of the white cloth, symbolizing the shroud of Christ, hanging from the right arm of the Virgin Mary, one of the many technical virtuosity of Caravaggio always fitting and meaningful, never an exercise in self-indulgence

“It still has in common with the Deposition and the Cerasi paintings the diagonal composition, the low eye level and the close-up vision. But the intense darkness of the space envelops the figures even more, it doesn't highlight them from the sculptural point of view as strongly as in Deposition. Whilst generally the Madonna of Loreto is represented enthroned in Her Holy House as she is carried by the angels, the Virgin Mary here is resting on the threshold of a house in Rome in front of two common pilgrims with bare and dirty feet. It was a completely new idea that caused a stir especially among the common people who had identified themselves in those two pilgrims. It is the most moving Caravaggio's painting from the human point of view, based as it is on the meeting, on the close proximity of the pilgrims pious and full of hope, representing the whole of humanity, with the Madonna and Child bringing love, blessing and redemption” (Erich Schleier)

In the apse “Annunciation”, “Coronation of the Virgin” and “Nativity”

On the right “St. William of Aquitaine” and on the left “St. Mary Magdalene” beginning of 1600s, all works by Cristoforo Casolani (1587/1629), a pupil of Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio

SACRISTY

1756/60 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) and Carlo Murena (1713/64) to replace the old sacristy incorporated into the convent. In the process Vanvitelli destroyed the Chapel of St. Helena with paintings by Daniele da Volterra

Outside the sacristy

To the right of the door of the sacristy “Bust of Panvinio Onofrio (1530/68)” by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

Onofrio Panvinio was the founder of Christian archeology and modern ecclesiastical historiography. It was he who first dated from the sources the foundation of Rome on 21 April 753 BC

Above the door of the sacristy “Bust of Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville” patron of the church

Inside the sacristy

Above the door painting “Preaching of St. Augustine” maybe by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

In the ceiling “Baptism of St. Augustine” in 1887 by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)

Altar altarpiece “Alms of St. Thomas of Villanova” by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

Cabinets made out of wood from Brazil 1760

“Even in the sacristy, as in the works for the convent, the intervention of Vanvitelli is based on a classical and solemn style, with clean lines and harmonious proportions. The simple and almost austere design of the architectural is softened and made more elegant by curvilinear elements as the rounded corners, the clipei, the design of the floor” (Valeria Annecchino)

Biblioteca Angelica

Angelic Library

Next to the church, the first library in Rome open to the public, founded in 1614 by the Augustinian Angelo Rocca. It is specialized in literature and philology

It became property of the Italian State in 1873

Since 1941 it is the headquarters of the ACCADEMIA LETTERARIA DELL'ARCADIA (Literary Academy of the Arcadia)

It contains about 200,000 volumes, 2,650 manuscripts and more than 1,000 incunabula

Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) designed in 1659 a new wing, executed in the years 1659/69 by Francesco Righi

It was enlarged in the years 1756/65 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) and Carlo Murena who designed on the first floor the room known as the “Vase”

The shelves in walnut wood date back to 1668

“Two pairs of celestial and terrestrial globes” 1599 and 1603 unique in Italy

FORMER CONVENT OF THE AUGUSTINIANS

Now it is the Palazzo dell'Avvocatura Generale dello Stato (Palace of the State Attorney General)

COSTAGUTI PALACE

PALAZZO COSTAGUTI

Piazza Mattei 10

First half of the sixteenth century for Costanzo Patrizi, treasurer of Paul III Farnese (1534/49) who had the church of S. Leonardo De Albis demolished to build this palace

Renovated during the early seventeenth century by Carlo Lambardi (1545/1619) for the Costaguti family. They were Genoese bankers and had acquired it in 1578

It still belongs to the descendants of the family, the Marquis Afan de Rivera Costaguti

Unfortunately the palace is not visible to the general public

The original main entrance was the one on Via della Reginella

The rooms are decorated with some of the richest and most important paintings of all Roman palaces:

ROOM OF HERCULES

Painted maybe by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647) or Sisto Badalocchio (1585/1645)

ROOM OF HOURS

Paintings maybe by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91) or Sisto Badalocchio

ROOM OF ARIONE

Paintings by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

ROOM OF BACCHUS AND ARIADNE

Frescoes by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

ROOM OF THE MONTHS

Painted by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66) and his younger brother Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609)

ROOM OF VENUS AND AENEAS

Frescoes by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)

ROOM OF APOLLO

Ceiling “Chariot of the Sun” with Time revealing the Truth and Cupids about 1622 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641) and perspectives by Agostino Tassi (1578/1644)

Truth escapes from Time and Night and goes toward Apollo-Sun

ROOM OF ARMIDA AND RINALDO

Ceiling “Rinaldo sleeping kidnapped by Armida” on a chariot drawn by dragons, 1621 spectacular Roman debut of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666) and perspectives by Agostino Tassi

“Centaur Nessus carrying off Deianira” by Francesco Albani (1578/1660)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (twenty-second part)

Room XXVI - Baroque in Rome from Bernini to Maratta

“Transfiguration” and “Crucifixion” by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

“Loth and his daughters” by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

“The Guardian Angel” 1656 and “Portrait of a man” by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

“Portrait of Maria Maddalena Rospigliosi” and large painting with full figure “St. John Evangelist” by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

“David with the Head of Goliath” about 1625 and “Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)” about 1632 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)

“Bernini's paintings have tones far removed from those of officialdom: the liveliness of the gaze of the pontiff and the familiar tone of the portrait reveal the intimate relationship of confidence between the two great personalities. The David, inspired by the great sculpture of the Galleria Borghese, is considered to be a youthful self-portrait of the artist” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Pietà” 1667, “Portrait of Pope Clement IX Rospigliosi (1667/69)” and “Portrait of Gian Lorenzo Bernini” about 1673 by G.B. Gaulli said Baciccio (1639/1709)

“The three Marys: Blessed Mary Magdalene of Japan, Mary Magdalene and Mary Magdalene of the Pazzi family” and “St. Francis marrying poverty” by Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661)

Room XXVII - Plurality of languages between 1600s and 1700s: Tuscan, Genoese and Venetian painters

“Allegory of Fortune” about 1665 by Bernardino Mei (1612/76) from Siena

“Allegory of Fortune” 1664 by Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81)

“It alludes to the unequal fortune enjoyed by the ignorant, represented by the girl embraced the donkey, which refers to the culture Hercules, the symbol of virtue, restrained Envy, his head crowned with serpents” (Official website of the Barberini Gallery - www.galleriabarberini.beniculturali.it)

“Charity of St. Lawrence” about 1617 by the Genoese Bernardo Strozzi (1581/1644)

“Portrait of Tommaso Raggi and his son Ferdinando” by the Flemish artist Jan Roos aka Giovanni Rosa (1591/1638)

He moved to Genoa when he was twenty-three and remained there for the rest of his short life

“Portrait of Monsignor Ottaviano Prati” about 1650 by G.B. Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85) from the Marche region

CHURCH OF JESUS AND MARY

CHIESA DI GESÙ E MARIA

Via del Corso 45

Begun in the years 1633/36 by the Milanese architect Carlo Buzio (1608/59)

Completed 1671/80 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Monsignor Giorgio Bolognetti bishop of Rieti

It was open to the public only after the death of Monsignor Bolognetti in 1687

"Carlo Rainaldi unified the whole interior not only architecturally but also in terms of colors. His black, brown and reddish marbles, interrupted by the sparkle of white figures, are perhaps the last resoundingly loud symphony of colors of the Baroque style" (Rudolf Wittkower)

VAULT

Seven canvases "Assumption of the Virgin" at the center and at the sides "Groups of Blessed" and "Evangelists" 1685 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

COUNTER FAÇADE

On the right "Tomb of Monsignor Giulio Del Corno" with Time tearing up the plaque by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)

Above "King David singing with the harp" Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century)

On the left "Tomb of Monsignor Camillo Del Corno" by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701) with a skeleton that looks at the hourglass. Camillo was Giulio's nephew and client of the two tombs

Above "Moses with the Tablets of the Law" by Girolamo Gramiglioli

FUNERARY MONUMENTS OF THE BOLOGNETTI FAMILY

1681/83 designed by Carlo Rainaldi

On the right "Pietro e Franceso Bolognetti" by Francesco Aprile (?/1685) and "Mario Bolognetti" by Francesco Cavallini (active 1672/1703)

On the left "Giorgio Bolognetti" (the client) by Francesco Cavallini and "Ercole and Luigi Bolognetti" believed to be sculpted by Michel Maille but eventually proved to be the work of Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)

"As in Bernini's Cornaro Chapel, here there are no coffins, and there is nothing to remember the dead: the illusion had to be as complete as possible. The six dead are represented in subtly different stages of religioƒus enthusiasm. But if you compare these figures with Bernini's Fonseca, one can not see that they are far less convincing and that the more agitated, that of Mario, the closest in style to the late Bernini, appears almost melodramatic in its reverent exuberance. The spatial concepts of the Baroque style found in this church a triumphant achievement, but the religious sentiment that had supported them began to decline" (Rudolf Wittkower)

MAIN ALTAR

1678/80 "Coronation of the Virgin" and presbytery vault "Holy Spirit" by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

Statues on either side "St. John the Baptist" and "St. John the Evangelist" by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

2nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

1824 Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839)

"Madonna and Child with St. Joseph" by Giacinto Brandi

SACRISTY

Paintings maybe by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)