St. JOHN THE BEHEADED

S. GIOVANNI DECOLLATO

Via di S. Giovanni Decollato 22

Begun in 1490 at the behest of Pope Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) in place of an earlier church called S. MARIA DE FOVEA or S. MARIA DELLA FOSSA

The FAÇADE dates back to 1504

Finished in 1550 as the seat of the Arciconfraternita della Misericordia (Confraternity of Mercy) established in Florence in 1488 with the aim of assisting those sentenced to death

The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, whose head was cut off

Reconsecrated in 1727

New restorations in 1888

This church is one of the most significant examples of the presence of Tuscan Mannerism in Rome

Walls fully decorated with stucco and frescoes by Tuscan Mannerist with “Saints” in the years 1580/90:

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “The Nativity of S. John the Baptist” by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Incredulity of St. Thomas” about 1580 by an anonymous artist from the school of Giorgio Vasari

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Visitation” by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

MAIN ALTAR

“Beheading of St. John the Baptist” 1553 by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74)

“The composition is relatively little damaged by mannerist elements. (...) Evidently Vasari wanted to come out from the comparison with Francesco Salviati and Jacopino del Conte, who had abundantly expressed themselves in the oratory, in the best possible light; so it is explained the acuity of his stroke and the quality of the color effect. Again the architectural background contributes in the best way to the overall effect” (Hermann Voss)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Above the altar “The Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist” about 1580 by G.B. Naldini (about 1537/91)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

Above the altar “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” by Francesco Zucchi (about 1562/1622)

Oratorio di S. Giovanni Decollato

Oratory of St. John the Beheaded

Extraordinary Tuscan Mannerist frescoes painted in the years 1530/35

“New phase of Mannerism, aimed at reconciling the legacy of Raphael with the modeling of Michelangelo, according to a refined and decorative style. With the decisive contribution of Perin del Vaga and Polidoro da Caravaggio, the school of Giorgio Vasari and Francesco Salviati expressed a balanced and accessible version of Mannerism, quite different from the formal extremism of the Tuscan artists who were their contemporaries” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

FROM THE RIGHT

“Preaching of the Baptist” 1538 by Jacopino del Conte (about 1515/98)

RIGHT WALL

“The Birth of St. John the Baptist” 1551 and “Visitation” (with portrait of Michelangelo who was a member of the Confraternity) 1538 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“The Visitation is a true product of the joy that the artist felt in front of the splendor of Rome, and it is a work by the brilliant, strong character, with a wide arrangement of figures, with an architectural background built with art and wonderfully rhythmic groups of figures, that have nothing of the crammed compositions in the paintings by Pontormo and Bronzino, but have that breathing space and spaciousness that is characteristic of the compositions by Perin del Vaga. (...) It is linked to the workshop of Raphael by the composition and by some single images of movements and drapery (for example, the woman walking on the left, also present in the Fire of Borgo), but the idea of​plastic, which will become even more intense in later work, was inspired by Michelangelo. It is also possible that in the Visitation the influence of Parmigianino was present” (Hermann Voss)

“In the Birth of John the Baptist the richness and freshness of the first period have vanished, and the imposing monumentality which the artist tries to achieve in the full, heavy figures of his late style cannot compensate for this serious loss” (Hermann Voss)

“Annunciation of the Angel to Zechariah” 1535 altar table on the MAIN ALTAR “Deposition” about 1550 by Jacopino del Conte

“The character of the composition of the Annunciation of the Angel to Zachariah is that of a relief. It reminds us in some respects even of artists like Bandinelli or Ammannati, and to their style are very similar the bearded heads of a man and of an elderly man, as well as the spacious and pompous rendition of the draping. It is a historical representation still very close to the high Renaissance for its noble, simple demeanor and for its own monumentality” (Hermann Voss)

ON THE SIDES OF THE ALTAR

“St. Bartholomew” and “St. Andrew” by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati

LEFT WALL

“Beheading of John the Baptist” 1553 and “Dance of Salome” 1550 maybe by Pirro Ligorio (about 1513/83). It would be his only extant work of painting

“The work is brilliant with regard to the architectural and decorative setting. The powerful motive of the colossal columns, closing the space in the background, catches our gaze to the point that we pass over the weaknesses of the composition and figures” (Hermann Voss)

“St. John the Baptist being arrested” 1541/44 by Battista Franco (1498/1561)

“Despite his Venetian origin, Battista Franco did not have a particular talent for colors (perhaps this was the reason for his departure from Venice), but on the other hand he dominated the art of drawing with a virtuosity equaled by few. His stroke seems frail in its elasticity, generally very thin and yet extraordinarily confident. (...) In the Arrest of John the Baptist, the artist has avoided to borrow directly from Michelangelo, but the male figure lying in the foreground does not hide its inspiration from the cartoon with Venus and Cupid by Michelangelo (painted by Pontormo)” (Hermann Voss)

“Baptism of Christ” 1541 by Jacopino del Conte

“The plastic content of the movement of the figures is strengthened so as to give the impression of something unstable, almost dancing. This applies mainly to the figure of Christ and for that scene with the river god in the foreground, which is typical of both the penetration of the mythological world in the religious world, and the way of working with nudes in Michelangelo style used as side scenes (repoussoirs), which in Rome became increasingly fashionable” (Hermann Voss)

CLOISTER-CEMETERY

Portico of the years 1535/55, rebuilt in the seventeenth century

Seven manholes in the floor through which the bodies of executed criminals were introduced without head into mass graves. Six were for men and one for women

The heads of the prisoners were in fact cut and eventually burned all together in a fire every 24 June, on the occasion of the feast of St. John the Beheaded

Museo della Camera Storica

Museum of the Historical Room

Housed in a room adjacent to the church

It is open only one day a year: every June 24 on the occasion of the feast of St. John the Beheaded

It contains documents and memorabilia of the Confraternity of Mercy

Among the objects:

Basket for the head cut off from Beatrice Cenci and kneeler on which she said her last prayers

Hood of Giordano Bruno (1548/1600)

Stretchers on which the remains of those sentenced to death were transported

Black capes of the confreres

Numerous wooden tablets with religious subjects that were offered to the sight and to the devotion of the condemned until the time of the executions. In the nineteenth century they took place in the nearby Piazza dei Cerchi

GADDI PALACE

PALAZZO GADDI

Via del Banco di Santo Spirito 42

Built in 1518/27

According to Giorgio Vasari it was designed by Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino (1486/1570) for the Gaddi family, Tuscan merchants who moved to Rome in the fifteenth century

It was also known as PALAZZO NICCOLINI and PALAZZO AMICI from the names of the two families who lived here

Michelangelo Buonarroti lived here for two years (1544/46) and Benvenuto Cellini as well

The roof terrace was built in 1841

Beautiful Renaissance COURTYARD with statues in niches and rich stucco decoration in the upper part

DORIA PAMPHILJ PALACE - DORIA PAMPHILJ GALLERY (third part)

Third Corridor

“Allegory of Virtue” by Antonio Allegri aka Correggio (1489/1534)

Beautiful unfinished painting that was perhaps a source of inspiration for the sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini Truth Unveiled by Time also unfinished

“Landscape with rest of the flight into Egypt” by Claude Lorrain (1600/82)

“The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist”, “Holy Family with Saints Joachim and Anna” and “Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria” by Benvenuto Tisi aka Garofalo (about 1481/1559)

“Penitent Magdalene” by Domenico Fetti (1589/1623)

“It caused a stir this sober and remorseful prototype of great fortune, (...) loose, nervous, impeccable union of Rubens' style and Venetian color scheme” (Gabriel Milantoni - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“Juno sets Argo's eyes in the peacock's tail” by Orazio Riminaldi (1593/1630) from Pisa

“St. Francis in Ecstasy” by Francesco Albani (1578/1660)

“St. Jerome” by Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480/1556)

“Study of head (St. Jude?)” by Federico Fiori aka Barocci (1535/1612)

“Barocci had a real passion for the subtle gradations ranging from clearer and brighter gray until the purest white, for the more transparent color of complexion and especially for the refractions of the color tone through the poignant intensity of light. Sometimes his works remind of pastel paintings magnified” (Hermann Voss)

“Return of the Prodigal Son”, “St. John the Baptist in the desert” and “Martyrdom of St. Agnes” by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

“Boy with bat in hand”, “Girl pouring oil from a lamp”, “Young singer” and “Young singer crowned with laurel” of the Master of the Candle (first half of 1600s)

“Satyr and Shepherd” maybe by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)

“Madonna adoring the Child” and “Fight of Putti” by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

“Woman with a lamp” and “Man with oil lamp” by Wolfgang Heimbach (about 1615/about 1678)

“Battle in the Port of Naples” and “Garden of Eden” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526-31/1569), father of Jan Brueghel the Elder

“Christ led to Calvary” by Alessandro Allori aka Bronzino (1533/1607) pupil of Agnolo di Tori Cosimo aka Bronzino

“Crucifixion” by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79) from a lost original by Michelangelo Buonarroti

“Holy Family” and “Madonna in prayer” by G.B. Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85)

“The great popularity of inventions by Sassoferrato painting comes from the ability to create images of essential beauty and immediate emotional perception. Accordingly he stands on the continuation of Scipio Pulzone from Gaeta and on the line of his great Florentine follower Carlo Dolci” (Maria Antonietta De Angelis)

“Adoration of the Shepherds” by Francesco da Ponte aka Bassano the Younger (1549/92)

“Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist” by Giovanni Bellini (about 1432/1516) and workshop

“Seascape with shipyard and good luck” by Agostino Tassi (1578/1644)

“Allegory of Taste” by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

“Garden of Eden” by Jacopo da Ponte aka Jacopo Bassano (about 1510/92)

“Preaching of St. John the Baptist” by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714)

“Birth of the Virgin Mary” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)

“Bust of Pope Innocent X” by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

Room of the 1700s

Two “Views of Venice” by Gaspar van Wittel (1653/1736)

Great painter Dutch landscape painter who worked for the Colonna family. He had his name translated in Italian as Vanvitelli and was the father of the great architect Luigi Vanvitelli

“He was perhaps the first true 'landscape painter' of art history. Often remembered as a forerunner of Italian Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, the Dutch painter is famous for his so-called exact views of many Italian cities and landscapes, to which Canal himself will refer to. Like Canaletto later, (...) Gaspar made extensive use of the camera obscura, a pre-photographic tool strikingly modern at that time, which allowed the artist to have before his eyes the reflection of the inverted image to paint. It was a portable cabin, completely blacked out, with a hole at the top and a mirror which, when tilted, projected inside the room, the live image, an 'exact' vision of the subject that the artist painted and modeled on” (Paolo Gallinaro - ilmediano.it)

“Magdalene” by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

Four “Landscapes”, formerly panels placed above doors, by Paolo Anesi (1697/1773)

DORIA PAMPHILJ PALACE - DORIA PAMPHILJ GALLERY (second part)

GALLERIA DORIA PAMPHILJ

This splendid private collection is taken good care of by the Doria Landi Pamphilj family who still lives in the building and owns the works

The exhibition is well maintained and the splendor of the rooms invariably provokes amazement and admiration in the visitors

A gallery with magnificent and spectacular exciting peaks such as the Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio, the Double Portrait by Raphael, Susanna and the Elders by Annibale Carracci and the extraordinary Portrait of Innocent X, the member of the family who became pope, by Velásquez

Aldobrandini Room

Restored in 1956 after the collapse of the roof due to snow

There are ancient statues found mainly in Villa Pamphilj:

“Sarcophagus with Selene and Endymion”

“Odysseus under the ram”

“Bacchus” in porphyry marble restored by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

“Centaur” in polychrome marble found in the mid-1800s in Albano in one of the residences of the Pamphilj

Marble relief with putti “Amor sacred profane love breaks down” about 1630 by François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)

“In the representations of cherubs he really gave something of the soul of children and he molded their bodies so round, soft and delicate that they seem to be alive and breathing. It was Duquesnoy's conception of the child which became a general European property and, consciously or unconsciously, the majority of the following representations of children derived from him” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Paintings:

“Descent from the Cross” by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74)

It was bought by Camillo Pamphilj in 1661 from the church of S. Augustine where he had funded some works

“Gale at sea” by the school of Pieter Mulier

Seventeenth-century copy of the old “Aldobrandini Wedding” now in the Vatican Museums

“Sacrifice of Noah” by Ciro Ferri (1634/89)

“Landscape with rest of the flight into Egypt” by Pier Francesco Mola (1612/66)

Green Room

“Annunciation” about 1445/50 by Filippo Lippi (about 1406/69)

“Typical example of telescope perspective which limits the space to the visual field and organizes it in function of the transmission of light. But, in turn, light must have internal sources in the framework, and is therefore produced by the opposed intensification of light and dark as well as by the relationship between the colors” (Giulio Carlo Argan)

“Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine” by Domenico Beccafumi (1486/1551)

“Battle of Castro” by Jacques Courtois aka Borgognone (1628/79)

“Crucifixion” from Michelangelo maybe by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609)

“St. Joseph” and “Allegory of Spring” by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)

“Circumcision” school of Giovanni Bellini (about 1432/1516)

“Christ Carrying the Cross” by Sebastiano Luciani aka Sebastiano Del Piombo (1485/1547)

“In the years following the sack of Rome Sebastiano reaffirmed in sacred painting the needs of piety and austerity that some circles were shown to agree with before their official affirmation, which took place at the Council of Trent. Christ Carrying the Cross, repeatedly replicated by Sebastian is an early example of this religious feeling that inspired devotional images drawn up according to a severe style, convenient to the tragedy of the Roman climate shaken by the terrible story of the sack” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Flood” by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620) and Jean Le Clerc (about 1585/1633)

“Religion rescued from Spain” by Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) (about 1490/1576) and workshop

“Portrait of a man of thirty-seven” perhaps self-portrait of Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480/1556)

“In Venice painting kept true to the more mature and reflective spirit which had succeeded the luminous vapors to the early Renaissance. A spirit that led artists to see life with less enthusiasm and less illusions. Quieter pleasures were sought: the pleasures of friendship and sincere affection. It is not surprising that the Venetian artist who first expressed these new attitudes, was one who had been brought into contact with the miseries of Italy during long journeys, as it was not possible to those who stayed in Venice. Lorenzo Lotto, at his best, do not celebrate the dominance of man over things that surround him, but, in altarpieces, and even more in portraits, shows us people who needs to be comforted and supported, either by religion or by healthy ideologies, friends and loved ones. His figures look from the canvas almost asking for benevolence” (Bernard Berenson)

“St. Jerome” by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652)

“Bust of Pope Innocent X” by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

PALACE OF THE CHANCELLERY

PALAZZO DELLA CANCELLERIA

Piazza della Cancelleria/Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

Begun in 1485 and finished between 1511 and 1513 (about 27 years) for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

In 1483 Cardinal Riario had become the titular cardinal of the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso around which the palace was built

Cardinal Riario had won 14,000 gold ducats (the equivalent of almost one million Euros today) in one night of gambling with Franceschetto Cybo the nephew of his uncle's successor, Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) but the works for the palace required more than double that figure

Some of the marble used to build it was taken from the Colosseum, the Arc of Gordian and other ancient Roman monuments

FAÇADE 1495

Towards Campo de' Fiori CORNER WITH CURVED BALCONY finely carved maybe by Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)

PORTAL of 1589 by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) with columns and heraldic elements of Cardinal Alessandro Peretti

Influence of Donato Bramante (1444/1514) who almost certainly designed the courtyard and maybe participated in the final phase of construction, with maybe Antonio Montecavallo brother of Andrea Bregno as director of the works

Surely there was also the influence of Leon Battista Alberti (1406/72), even though he died in 1472, but the attribution of the architect of this masterpiece of the Renaissance “is one of the greatest mysteries of Italian architecture” (Peter Murray)

In 1517 it was confiscated to the Riario family who was involved in the conspiracy against Leo X Medici (1513/21) and became the seat of the Cancelleria Apostolica (Apostolic Chancery), known as “new” to distinguish it from the “old” that was in the nearby Palazzo Sforza

Internal works and renovations at the end of the sixteenth century by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90), in the seventeenth century and especially in the eighteenth century when Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni built a small theater designed by Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736) no longer existing

In 1789 it was the seat of the Tribunal of the Roman Republic proclaimed by Napoleon

In 1849 here was proclaimed the Roman Republic and it was the Seat of the Constituent Assembly

After 1870 it was the Seat of the Cardinal Chancellor with extraterritoriality confirmed by the Lateran Pacts of 1929

Now the palace is the seat of the TRIBUNAL OF THE ROMAN ROTA, of the PONTIFICAL ROMAN ACADEMY OF ARCHAEOLOGY and of the PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE CHURCH

Michelangelo Buonarroti lived here for about five years when he arrived in 1496 at the age of 21 in Rome, the period when he sculpted the “Pietà”

“The refined monumentality of Palazzo Riario is not dependent, but certainly in relation with the structural rhetoric and the tendency for grandeur of the paintings of Melozzo da Forlì as well as with the type of archaeological culture that prevailed in Rome at the end of 1400s” (Giulio Carlo Argan )

FIRST FLOOR

RIARIA ROOM (or AULA MAGNA)

It was decorated in 1718

On the back wall “Clock Dial” by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)

HALL OF THE 100 DAYS

Frescoes on the walls “Allegories and stories of Paul III Farnese (1534/49)” 1546 by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74) and assistants

It is said that when Vasari showed Michelangelo the frescos boasting that he painted them in only 100 days, the master replied, “It shows!”

In the apartment of the cardinals CHAPEL OF THE PALLIUM with stucco and paintings “Saints” and three little scenes: “Beheading of John the Baptist”, “Conversion of St. Paul” and “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” 1548 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“Especially in the Martyrdom the breakdown of the figures comes alive according to the model of the ancient reliefs: this provides a further peculiarity to the fresco, that is, the extension in length of the format. (...) In the Beheading there is a pleasing harmony between figures and background” (Hermann Voss)

STUDIO

In the vault “Biblical Scenes” by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

HEATER

Bath in the shape of a Greek cross 1515/20 maybe by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546)

In the vault “Pergola” maybe by Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

In about 1940 important ancient pieces were found: the “Altar of the Vicomagistri” and “Relief of the Chancellery” now in the Gregorian Profane Museum in the Vatican, a Mithraeum, a section of the Eurispes, artificial canal that connected the Stagnum Agrippae with the Tiber and the “Tomb of Consul Aulus Hirtius”

VATICAN MUSEUMS - ROOMS NEAR THE SISTINE CHAPEL (first part)

ROOMS NEAR THE SISTINE CHAPEL
 

Open to the public only with special permission

 

Sala Regia

Royal Room

1540/73 begun by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546). It is next to the Sistine Chapel and it was used to receive monarchs

Stucco coffered barrel vault by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

Stuccos on the walls by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66)

All the paintings depict papal victories designed to remind the visiting monarchs of the papal primacy

Large historical frescoes

“Battle of Lepanto” and “Return of Gregory XI Beaufort (1370/78) from Avignon” 1571 and “Night of St. Bartholomew” 1572 by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74)

“Submission of Barbarossa to Alexander III Bandinelli (1159/81)” by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“Capture of Tunis” and “Henry IV in front of Gregory VII (1073/85)” and panel over the door with “Donation of Charlemagne” by Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66) with his brother Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609)

“The culmination of the artistic activity of Taddeo Zuccari coincides with the work at the Sala Regia. (...) Of his Donation of Charlemagne both the pleasing arrangement of color and the cleverly harmonious composition were appreciated. (...) Overall it is hardly a masterpiece, but compared to the work of his competitors it is pleasant, thanks to the lightness and safety of the stroke. The Taking of Tunis also shows a similar mix of strengths and weaknesses. The fresco with Henry IV in front of Gregory VII, after the death of the artist, was completed by his brother, while the two allegorical figures above the door still betray the style of Taddeo” (Hermann Voss)

“Triumph of Faith over Unfaithfulness” by Lorenzo Sabatini (about 1530/76)

Smaller pictures

“Return of the provinces to Agapito” by Orazio Sammachini (1532/77)

“Donation of Ravenna” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)

“The offer of Pietro d'Aragona to Eugene III (1145/53)” by Livio Agresti (about 1508/79)

“Single perfect figures, such as the warrior standing in the left foreground, are isolated, while the protagonists of the scene do not reach the same level” (Hermann Voss)

Other paintings by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87)

Aula delle Benedizioni

Room of the Blessings

Next to the Royal Room above the Atrium of St. Peter, with the same size

Damaged fresco in the upper part “Boat of the apostles” 1627/28 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647) formerly in the passage to the Chapel of Sts. Michael and Petronilla in the Basilica of St. Peter, placed here in 1721 when it was substituted with a copy in mosaic by Pietro Paolo Cristofari (1685/1743). It had in turn replaced a 1605 fresco by the poor Bernardo Castello

VATICAN MUSEUMS - CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V

Cappella Nicolina

In the TOWER OF INNOCENT III of the Counts of Segni (1198/1216)

Rediscovered in 1721 when it was added the altarpiece “Stoning of St. Stephen” by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74)

Extremely important cycle of frescoes:

In the vault:

“Four Evangelists”

Pilasters at the side of the altar:

“St. Athanasius”, “St. Leo the Great”, “St. Gregory the Great” and “St. Chrysostom”

Pilasters at the side of the door:

“St. Thomas Aquinas”, “St. Ambrose”, “St. Augustine” and “St. Bonaventure”

On three walls:

“Stories of the protomartyrs Sts. Stephen and Lawrence” 1448/50 masterpiece by Fra' Giovanni da Fiesole aka Fra Angelico (about 1395/1455) for Nicholas V Parentucelli (1447/55) finished with the assistance of Benozzo di Lese aka Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97 )

The six scenes from the life of St. Stephen are in the lunettes at the top:

“St. Stephen receives the diaconate from St. Peter”

“S. Stephen distributes alms”

“Preaching of St. Stephen”

“Dispute in the Sanhedrin”

“St. Stephen led to torture”

“Stoning of St. Stephen”

The five scenes from the life of St. Lawrence are in rectangular panels at the bottom:

“St. Sixtus II (with the portrait of Nicholas V) gives the diaconate to St. Lawrence”

“St. Sixtus II entrusts the Church's treasure to St. Lawrence”

“St. Lawrence distributes alms to the poor”

“St. Lawrence in judgment before Emperor Decius”

“Martyrdom of St. Lawrence”

The Dominican monk Giovanni da Fiesole aka Fra Angelico is known as Beato Angelico (Blessed Angelic) in Italian and he was actually proclaimed blessed only by Pope John Paul II in 1984. However he was described as “Beato” soon after his death both for the emotional devoutness of his paintings, and for his human qualities

In his work he conjugated aspects of medieval art such as the importance of education in art or the mystical use of light with new Renaissance instances such as the careful use of perspective or the emphasis on human figures

His influence will be felt by his collaborator Benozzo Gozzoli and by Filippo Lippi. With his use of light he paved the way for the great masters Piero Della Francesca and Melozzo da Forlì

“Influenced by the Roman environment and of course also from the direct vision of the ancient monuments, Fra Angelico's style acquired a brand new appearance dignified, majestic and classic. The simple Florentine narration leaves the field to noble rhetorical oratory, the figures become firmer and monumental, reconnecting to the solemn Masaccio's Tribute; natural landscape is replaced by grandiose architectural plants, rich in classical allusions. Behind the mask of the vicissitudes of life and martyrdom of the saints is in fact the celebration of this papacy, self-proclaimed heir to the greatness of Ancient Rome” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The humanist pope would not have called Fra Angelico if he had not recognized him as the great exponent of religious humanism. Angelico wants to show that a fact is historical when it contains a deep conceptual meaning. St. Lawrence giving Church property to the poor is a historical fact that, as an exhortation to charity, may also have a moral significance, but it also has a conceptual meaning because material goods given are the grace that the Church distributes in the whole mystical body of the Christian community. The Church is represented by the deep perspective aisle and the community of the faithful or the mystical body of the poor, decent as ancient characters” (Giulio Carlo Argan)

“In the use of light, however, Fra Angelico's technique is at its finest: pervading the entire surface of the painting light manages to instill a deep sense of unity to the scenes. The bright light mystically understood ends up being almost emanation of the divine and manages to optimize colors that shine also for the use of gold” (Andrea Pomella)