Built in
the area of a square called “Siena” from a building that had been built here
for Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II (1458/64)
In 1582 the
Countess Piccolomini d'Aragona Duchess of Amalfi bequeathed the family mansion
to the Regular Clerks also known as Theatins founded in 1524 by
Gian Pietro Carafa, later Paul IV (1555/59), and St. Cajetan of Thiene,
provided a church would be built dedicated to St. Andrew patron saint of Amalfi
FOUNDATIONS
1591/93 Fra' Francesco Grimaldi supervised by Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) for the Theatins and
for Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo on the area of the destroyed church S.
Sebastiano de Via Papae
Works
continued in the years 1594/96 with Pietro Paolo
Olivieri (1551/99)
New
continuation of the works from 1608 with Carlo Maderno
(1556/1629) for Cardinal Alessandro Peretti Montalto nephew of Pope Sixtus V
TRANSEPT
and CHOIR 1620/21
In 1621 Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) worked on the capitals
of the lantern
1622, the fifth
(16.10 m - 52.8 feet) larger in diameter in Rome after the Pantheon (43.3 m -
142.06 feet), S. Peter's (42.56 m - 139.6 feet), S. Giovanni Bosco al Quadraro
(31 m - 101.7 feet) and Sts. Peter and Paul in the EUR district (28 m - 91.8
feet)
Consecrated
in 1650 by Cardinal Francesco Peretti nephew of Cardinal Alessandro Peretti
Montalto
The church
is also known for having been chosen by the composer Giacomo Puccini as the
setting of the first act of his opera Tosca, based on the stage play of
the same name by the French Victorien Sardou
In the plot
a mysterious Attavanti Chapel is mentioned, but a chapel with that name never
existed in the church. The only Attavanti Chapel of Rome is in the church of S. Bernardino da Siena
1656/65 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) with the help of his
assistant Carlo Fontana (1634/1714), who developed
an existing project by Maderno
According
to Cesare Brandi, when Corso Vittorio Emanuele II was enlarged it produced a
distortion of visual perception of the façade. It was designed to have the
viewer closes to it, while distance vision produces a visual compression of the
columns
“The current
baroque façade is a baroque alteration of Carlo Rainaldi of a design by
Maderno. The design, in turn, was purified and freed from any ambiguity by
Carlo Fontana” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Statues on the façade:
On the left
“St. Cajetan of Thiene” by Domenico Guidi
(1625/1701) and “St. Andrew” by Ercole Ferrata
(1610/86)
On the
right “St. Sebastian” by Domenico Guidi and “St.
Andrew Avellino” by Ercole Ferrata
On the
arched pediment of the portal “Hope and Fortitude” by Giacomo
Antonio Fancelli (1619/71) who had sculpted the Nile in the nearby Fountain of the Four Rivers in
Piazza Navona
On the left
side “Angel” by Ercole Ferrata not replicated on
the right side and tied to an anecdote: when the statue was erected, it was
much criticized and Ercole Ferrata, having learned that Alexander VII Chigi
(1655/67) had joined the critics, said: “If he wants another angel, he can do
it himself!”
“For St.
Andrew the Apostle and St. Andrew Avellino, Ferrata used perhaps sketches of
Melchiorre Caffà, which allowed him to achieve greater dynamism and chiaroscuro
effects. Ferrata was also responsible for sculpting the imposing angel on the
top left depicting Fame” (Gerardo Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
Treccani)
The façade
was cleaned in 1991, but it is, unfortunately, already dirty
Painted in
1905 in panels imitating those by Domenichino in the choir
Stuccos by Michele Tripisciano (1860/1913)
Paintings:
“Holy
Family” and “Annunciation” by Cesare Caroselli
(1847/1927)
“Apostles” in the lunettes of the windows by Silvio Galimberti (1869/1956)
1667/84 Carlo Fontana
(1634/1714)
Relief “Angel
announces the Flight into Egypt” 1675 by Ercole Antonio
Raggi (1624/86) who also sculpted the “Statue of Cardinal Marzio Ginetti”
on the left
Copies made
in the seventeenth century of statues by Michelangelo
On the left
“Tomb of the Marquise Prassede Tomati Robilant” 1828 by Giuseppe De Fabris (1790/1860)
ABOVE THE
CIRCULAR CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
“Tomb of Pius III” Piccolomini (1503) maybe by Sebastiano Ferrucci or Francesco
di Giovanni
It was
moved here in 1614, with the tomb of Pius II, from the ruined chapel of St.
Andrew of the old Basilica of St. Peter
Renovated
in 1858
“It was in
Parma that the artist found the stimuli to abandon his initial classicism
assimilated through contacts with Reni and Domenichino: the vision of the dome
of the cathedral with frescoes by Correggio of the years 1526/30 was an ideal
model, so much that Lanfranco took on and developed in his Assumption that
proposal before its time, breaking out with the fundamental principles of
balance and harmony. The relationship with the viewer is now played on the
direct emotional involvement. Again Correggio-like is the use of light: placed
over the figures, it moves in a descending way and at the same time, as a
physical component coming from the holes, causes an illusionistic dilation
towards the infinite space of the heavens. Shapes, whose contours disappear in
motion, regain their relief in the unity of light. The dome caused astonishment
in Rome and it started a new phase of decoration of domes and vaults: the Baroque
illusionism” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
PENDENTIVES
APSE
“This
arch-classicist seemed tempted by the new Baroque trend. This is clearly visible
in the Evangelists, where a strong Correggio note is added to the reminiscences
of Raphael and Michelangelo. One could assume that Domenichino wanted to
outshine his rival Lanfranco. In the apse scenes, while individual episodes are
still strictly separated by decorated ribs, the scenario is expanded and
figures move more deeply in it than they used to do before, some in perfect
coordination with the lush landscapes surrounding them. Domenichino appears to
be inspired also by Ludovico Carracci, another sign of his departure from his
orthodox classicism of ten years before” (Rudolf Wittkower)
The two
great artists and rivals, Giovanni Lanfranco and Domenichino, found themselves
working at the same time, despite their will, only a few meters away. It is
documented the purchase of a tent which served to hide from each other their
respective work
“Rome, in
the alternative between Classicism and Baroque - that opposed Domenichino and
Lanfranco and that was carried out, because of the extraordinary coincidences
that sometimes the randomness of history gives us, on the surfaces of the same
church - had already chosen Baroque: its freedom of design and invention that
was in stark contrast with the principles of Domenichino. Its transcending the
likelihood in imagination. Its considering immediacy, the transience of the
real true as a testing ground of art which therefore can be fixed only with the
speed of execution and not with the slow methodical planning. The pope who
ushered Baroque in painting, with the dome of Lanfranco in May 1627, was Urban
VIII Barberini who, doing so, unsettled the known idea of painting, but also
unsettled the image of Rome. It was the pope who called Bernini and Pietro da
Cortona to create this new image. For Domenichino there was no room in this
vision, as there was no room for Francesco Albani, Guercino and Guido Reni.
They all left Rome” (Anna Coliva)
Divisions
in golden stucco by Alessandro Algardi
(1598/1654)
CURVE OF
THE APSE
“His
appointment in the congregation of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon (1650)
coincided with the execution of the monumental frescoes of the choir and
tribune of S. Andrea della Valle in Rome, which seem to have been completed in
1651. Alongside the works of Domenichino and Lanfranco the three large
paintings (...), are binding for their all new strength and breadth of style.
The diagonal composition, emphasized by the bodies, the choice of simple
perspective axes, the beautiful paint, the airiness of the scenes are elements
that put the artist well up in the art scene of his time” (Enciclopedia
Treccani)
At the
sides on the right “Arrival in Ancona of Cardinal Basilios Bessarion with the
head of St. Andrew” and on the left “Condemnation of St. Andrew” 1662 by Carlo Cignani (1628/1719), a pupil of Francesco Albani
To the left
of the presbytery CHAPEL OF PURITY with decorations of the early 1900s
1912 by Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939)
Statues of “Abundance”
and “Wisdom” by Giulio Tadolini (1849/1918)
Statues on
the pediment by Michele Tripisciano (1860/1913)
Paintings in
the vault by Silvio Galimberti (1869/1956)
ABOVE THE
CIRCULAR CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
“Tomb of Pius II” (1458/64) maybe begun by Paolo
Taccone aka Paolo Romano (about 1415/77) and
finished by a follower of Andrea Bregno known as the Master
of Pius II for Cardinal Francesco Todeschini
In the
relief there is the presentation of the head of St. Andrew to Pius II. The tomb
was originally in the old Basilica of St. Peter
IN THE LEFT
VESTIBULE
Above the
altar “St. Sebastian” about 1613 by Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)
2nd
LEFT - CHAPEL RUCELLAI
1603/04 by Matteo Castelli (1560/1632), probably designed by Carlo Maderno
Matteo
Castelli came from Melide in Switzerland
He was a
relative of Borromini and later became the chief architect of the king of
Poland, for whom he designed castles, palaces and churches, taking to the
largest Polish cities the Roman style of Carlo Maderno
Monsignor
Giovanni Della Casa (1503/56) was a writer and archbishop, famous for being the
author of the manual of good manners and etiquette Galateo overo de' costumi
(Etiquette or about costumes)
1st
LEFT - BARBERINI CHAPEL or OF THE ASSUMPTION
1604/16 Matteo Castelli, with marble taken from buildings of
the Forum, for Carlo Barberini and his brother Maffeo Barberini, the future
Pope Urban VIII (1623/44)
“Maffeo had
chosen some of the best sources of inspiration: the superb Caetani chapel of S.
Pudenziana, the one dedicated to St. Lawrence in the church of S. Susanna, the
precious marbles of S. Cecilia, the Aldobrandini family chapel by Della Porta
in S. Maria sopra Minerva and the Rucellai chapel that the architect Castelli
was about to carry out with a successful project” (Cesare D'Onofrio)
Altarpiece “Assumption”, paintings on the walls “Stories of
Mary,” in the small dome “Eternal Father”, in the DOME, in the niche on the left “Lucina
collects St. Sebastian” 1604 by Domenico Crespi aka Passignano
(1559/1638)
In the
niches there are important statues:
On the right:
“S. Marta” 1609/17 masterpiece by Francesco Mochi (1580/1654)
Mochi had
almost completed in 1611 when he had to go to Parma to sculpt the equestrian
statues for the Farnese family. It was placed in the chapel on the floor in
front of its niche only in 1617, probably in order to be retouched, and it was
finally placed in a niche in 1621
Martha was
the sister of Mary Magdalene and, according to a Provencal legend, she had
killed a dragon with holy water. Mochi depicted here the very determined saint
who is about to use the sprinkler while holding the dragon still with her left
hand
“It's not a
fight scene between Martha and the dragon, it seems rather a scene of victory,
so much is the self-confidence in the expression of the beautiful face and in
the peaceful and intent attitude of the entire body, draped in a robe with
large and discrete folds. I could not really say how many statues, in the
chapels of Rome, can compete with this Martha of Bethany” (Cesare D'Onofrio)
On the left:
“St. John the Baptist” 1615 by Pietro
Bernini (1562/1629), who replaced Nicolas Cordier (1567/1612) who had
been given originally the job, but died in 1612
“The
comparison between Buonvicino's St. John the Evangelist and the St. John the
Baptist made by Pietro Bernini shows again the cultural differences already
present in the Pauline Chapel. The thin figure with minute features of the
Baptist carved by Pietro, with his gentle twisting of the body and the dense
drilling of marble at the level of the hair and the lamb is still heir to the
tradition of Mannerism from Tuscany and Rome. The strong and vigorous statue by
Buonvicino seems to oppose that sharp and rarefied elegance that, marked by a
sweet naturalness and a calm expression completely Lombard” (Alessandro
Angelini)
“Pair of putti” to the left by Francesco Mochi. They replaced in the third decade of the seventeenth century
the original ones by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
“Pair of putti” on the right 1618 early work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680)
The other
statues are by Cristoforo Stati
IN THE
PASSAGE ON THE RIGHT
“Tombs of
the parents of Urban VIII, Antonio Barberini and Camilla Barbadori” 1627 by Tommaso Fedeli. They replaced
the original busts of the years 1619/20 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
SACRISTY
1629 Paolo Marucelli
(1594/1649)
“Crucifixion” about 1614 by Giovanni
De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)
CONVENT OF THE
THEATINS
1602 Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655) and Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)
