VATICAN MUSEUMS - VATICAN PICTURES' GALLERY (first part)

Pinacoteca Vaticana

Building built in 1932 and designed by Luca Beltrami (1854/1933) for Pius XI Ratti (1922/39), specifically to house the Vatican collection of paintings, mostly with sacred subjects, which now includes about 430 works

The collection was put together since 1770. From 1790 it was exposed in the current Tapestry Gallery at the behest of Pius VI Braschi (1775/99). Many paintings were stolen and taken to France by Napoleon in 1797

The French stole all together 506 works of art. 249 were given back in 1816 including 77 paintings, the sculptures of the Laocoon and the Apollo and Torso of the Belvedere, thanks to the efforts of Antonio Canova

The paintings were placed, in different stages, also in the Borgia Apartment in five rooms set up in 1819 by Raffaele Stern (1774/1820), in the Sala Bologna and adjacent rooms on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace, and finally in the ground floor of the Corridor of Pius IV in the Vatican Library with entrance from the side of the gardens

In the Vestibule "Bust of Pope Pius XI" patron of the Picture Gallery by Enrico Quattrini (1863/1950)

ROOM I

Italian painting from the twelfth to the fifteenth century

"All the paintings in Room I provide a comprehensive overview of the transition from the ways of abstracting late Byzantine tradition, common until the second half of the thirteenth century, to the new fourteenth century language, focusing on overcoming the symbolic component and the reinstatement of the natural vision as the basis of visual experience" (Guido Cornini)

"Processional Cross" about 1260/70 by an unknown artist of the Umbrian school

"Table with Blessing Christ" about 1150 by an unknown artist of the Roman school, with an image pattern typical of Byzantine art from the Monastery of S. Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio

"Last Judgement" with "Christ Pantocrator, Christ the Priest, Allegory of Earth and Sea, Hell and Heavenly Jerusalem with the patron Abbess Constance and her partner Benedetta" of the end of 1100s by Giovanni and Nicolò

It also comes from the Monastery of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in the Campus Martius, it was maybe originally placed on the counter façade of the Oratory of S. Gregory Nazianzen and later kept until 1934 in S. Luigi dei Francesi (St. Louis of France). It is interesting to detect a legacy almost Hellenistic present in the embodiments of Earth riding a bull and Sea riding a sea monster as a Nereid

Tablet "St. Francis of Assisi" about 1270/80 signed by Margheritone d'Arezzo from S. Francesco a Ripa

"St. Francis of Assisi and four post-mortem miracles" about 1260/70 by artist of the school of Giunta Pisano

"The central icon solemn composure, conducted in accordance with strict frontality and symmetry, gives way to the development of lively perspective solutions, anticipating the Expressionist change of the late thirteenth century language" (Guido Cornini)

Eight tablets with "Stories of St. Stephen" about 1345 by Bernardo Daddi

Four tablets with "Stories of Mary" first half of 1400 of the Sienese school

"Polyptych Madonna and Child, and Sts. Onuphrius, Nicholas, Bartholomew and John the Evangelist" 1371 by Giovanni Bonsi from the church of S. Miniato in Florence

"Trinity with Sts. Francis of Assisi, Mary Magdalene, a saint deacon and a saint prophet" by an unknown artist of the school of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini

"Two sections of an altarpiece with St. Paula and St. Eustace" about 1390/1420 by the Master of the Strauss Madonna

"Virgin of the Apocalypse with Saints and Angels" about 1355/60 by Giovanni del Biondo

Two compartments of a polyptych with "St. James the Greater" and "Mary Magdalene" about 1368/88 Antonio Veneziano. They anticipate the expression of the late Gothic rich delicacies and minutiae

Processional banner with "Madonna of the Beaten" about 1340 by Vitale degli Equi aka Vitale da Bologna (1309/59) from the church of the Hospital of the Battuti Bianchi (Beaten White) in Ferrara

"The experience of Vitale da Bologna is bound by a context of expression deeply rooted in the tradition of miniature of the Po Valley. In his extensive education flow back the multiple components of the cultural background of Emilia. His splendid Madonna of the Beaten is remarkable for purity of line and refinement of chiaroscuro structure" (Guido Cornini)

"Funeral of St. Francis of Assisi" by thePseudo Jacopino about 1330

"Triptych with Madonna enthroned between St. Michael and St. Ursula" 1365 by Allegretto Nuzi (1315/73) from the church of S. Lucia in Fabriano

"Altarpiece of the Madonna of Humility" about 1350/55 by Francescuccio Ghissi student of Allegretto Nuzi

"Crucifixion" about 1330 maybe by Pietro da Rimini

ROOM II

Giotto and his influence

"Triptych Stefaneschi" about 1320 by Giotto (about 1267/1337) and assistants for the Cardinal Jacopo Gaetano Stefaneschi. Originally this Triptych was located on the altar of the Basilica of St. Peter:

in the front SIDE at the center St. Peter enthroned between angels, saints and patrons making offers: the patron, presented by St. George, and Pope Celestine V (1294), in a monk's habit and presented by St. Sylvester, offering to Peter the model of the triptych and a manuscript

In the side panels on the left Sts. James and Paul, on the right Andrew and John the Evangelist

In the predella (dais), in the only surviving panel St. Stephen and two saints

IN THE BACK SIDE at the center Christ enthroned with angels and the patron at his feet, identifiable with Stefaneschi himself

In the side panels:

Crucifixion of St. Peter between the Pyramid of Cestius (Meta Remi) and the now destroyed Meta Romuli. In the Middle Ages the indication inter duas metas for the site of the crucifixion of St. Peter was interpreted as the site midway between the two pyramids of Rome, i.e. S. Pietro in Montorio

Beheading of St. Paul with S. Plautilla receiving a bandage inflated with air, almost like a parachute, dropped from St. Paul as he was taken to heaven by angels

The three compartments of the predella (dais) depict the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels, St. Peter and St. James at the center plus five apostles on each side

"The paintings of Giotto elicited in contemporaries a more intense impression of similarity with true reality than not reality itself! Today's current notions of anatomy have very much developed: in the human figure, we expect greater articulation and fluency. To put it briefly, today we see much less naively than the contemporaries of Giotto, and his paintings wouldn't appear to us more alive than reality. Nevertheless, we feel them intensely real, as they powerfully excite our tactile imagination, and, like all things that with their visual presence stimulate our sense of touch, convince us of the reality of their existence. Which is the only condition by which an object painted may begin to give us a genuinely artistic pleasure: that is, separated from its interest as a symbol" (Bernard Berenson)

"Madonna and Child enthroned between female saints and Annunciation, called Regina Virginum" about 1330 by Puccio Capanna

"Dossal with five stories of the Passion" about 1320/30 maybe by the Master of the Crucifix of Trevi

"Madonna with Child" about 1320 by Jacopo del Casentino

"Christ before Pilate" about 1335, "St. John the Baptist" and "St. Peter" about 1329 by Pietro Lorenzetti (about 1280/1348)

"If the work of Simone Martini is at the origins of a trend aimed at the accentuation of the profane components of the world of 'Court Gothic style' inspiration, the work of Pietro Lorenzetti aims, with the representation of an everyday life more subdued, at the construction of an independent language, where the linear rhythms of the Byzantine tradition coexist with the more vigorous plasticity borrowed from the painting of Giotto and his followers" (Guido Cornini)

Cyma (highest section) of an altarpiece with "Redeemer blessing" about 1315/20 by Simone Martini (about 1284/1344)

"The particular tension and synthesis between secular world and religious belief is the basis of his entire production, in a language which, starting from the lesson of Duccio, reprocessed originally ideas that came from the works by Giovanni Pisano and from the refined works of gold and enamel from North of the Alps. He also reprocessed Giotto's new space and the experience of the Lorenzettis, and that in turn became important in the formation of the international Gothic style" (Enciclopedia Treccani)

"Madonna of the Magnificat" about 1335/37 by Bernardo Daddi (about 1290/1348)

"Crucifixion with saints and evangelists" about 1347 by Lippo Menni

Two panels of the predella of a disappeared altarpiece "Death" and "Resurrection of the Virgin" about 1410 by Taddeo di Bartolo (about 1362/1422)

"Nativity" about 1440, "Annunciation" 1445 and two panels with stories of the Passion: "Lamentation for the Death of Jesus" and "Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane" about 1440/45 Giovanni di Paolo (about 1400/82)

Four tablets with Stories of St. Nicholas of Bari:

"Birth of St. Nicholas", "Miracle of the three children killed by the host and put in a barrel to salt", "Gift of three golden balls to three poor girls" and "Ship rescued from the sinking", 1425 by Gentile di Niccolò aka Gentile da Fabriano (about 1370/1427) from the Quaratesi Polyptych of the Church of St. Nicholas Oltrarno in Florence now divided between London, New York, Florence and Rome

"The revolution of the renovators had already made great steps and it had already appeared in their ranks the heroic, unsettling figure of Masaccio. Gentile attempts to show that he does not need to renounce to his poetry to address the crucial issues of monumental or perspective vision. He attempts to compromise siding with moderates like Ghiberti. He applies the new rules of perspective to the predella, but it is a tactical approach rather than a conversion" (Giulio Carlo Argan)

"Annunciation" about 1425 by an unknown artist of the workshop of Gentile da Fabriano

"Vision of St. Thomas Aquinas" about 1423/26 and "Madonna of Humility" about 1435 by Stefano di Giovanni aka Sassetta (about 1400/50) from Siena

"The ascetic vocation of Sienese painting is expressed in the poetic introspection of the Vision of St. Thomas Aquinas where the metaphysical space of prayer is measured by the geometric rigor of the slender arches" (Guido Cornini)

"Four Stories of St. Peter Martyr" about 1440

"St. Benedict" about 1460

Four tablets with "Stories of the Virgin" ("Presentation", "Marriage", "Flight into Egypt", "Nativity") belonging to two different polyptychs about 1450 by Sano di Pietro, a student of Sassetta

"Flagellation of Christ" about 1435 by the Maestro dell'Osservanza from Siena

Six tablets with "Works of Mercy" 1404 by Olivuccio di Ciccarello from the Marche region

Triptych with "Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Sts. Acconcio, John the Baptist, Margaret and Mary Magdalene" about 1440 by the Maestro di Barga from Lucca

"St. Anthony meets the hermit Paul" about 1400/10 and "Stories of St. Benedict" about 1410/15 by Pietro di Giovanni aka Lorenzo Monaco (about 1370/1424)

"In contrast to the glittering naturalism of Gentile da Fabriano, the meditative paintings by Lorenzo Monaco introduce in the common late-Gothic fashion a note of unexpected mysticism. In essence, the artist merely accentuate, in the poetics of his time, 'the spiritualistic element more than the naturalistic one', the concern for the transcendent more than for the immanent: 'he replaces adorned beauty with simple beauty, troubadour songs with mystical praises, but the rhythm does not change'" (Guido Cornini - Giulio Carlo Argan)

"Circumcision of Jesus" and "Mystic Marriage of St. Francis with Poverty" about 1425 by Ottaviano Nelli (1375/1444) from Gubbio

Two compartments of a triptych with "Sts. Anthony Abbot and John the Baptist" and "Sts. Mary Magdalene and Julian Hospitaller" about 1430 by Cola a pupil of Ottaviano Nelli from Gubbio

ROOM III

Beginning of the fifteenth century in Florence

"At the beginning of the fifteenth century it came to be accomplished, in Florence, a transformation of thinking, ways, and function of art as radical as the one that took place a century earlier with Giotto. In the unfolding of a new vision of Nature and History, art changed from an eminently practical, or collective activity to a mental or subjective one. This was the result of an intellectual growth (...) which found in Masaccio its application and in Leon Battista Alberti its first utterance" (Guido Cornini)

Large polyptych "Coronation of Mary" with angels, two monks and devotees about 1444 by Filippo Lippi (about 1406/69). It was originally a single altarpiece divided later into compartments

"The Carmelite Filippo Lippi was formed on the examples of Masaccio and Fra Angelico, but he was also strongly influenced by his knowledge of Flemish painting" (Guido Cornini)

Two panels with "Stories of St. Victorinus" by Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio (1410/49) from Siena

"Crucifixion" and "Death of the Virgin" about 1428/31 by Masolino da Panicale (about 1383/1440) maybe elements of the dismembered triptych of the Madonna of the Snow from the Basilica of St. Maria Maggiore executed in collaboration with Masaccio

"Madonna and Child between St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Alexandria" about 1435

"Stigmata of St. Francis" about 1440

Two compartments of a predella with "Stories of St. Nicholas of Bari":

"Birth, Vocation, Gift to the three poor girls" 

"Meeting with the imperial envoy, saving a load of grain for the city of Myra and saving from a ship wreck" 1447/49 by Fra' Giovanni da Fiesole aka Fra Angelico (about 1395/1455) from the predella of the Guidalotti altarpiece formerly in the church of S. Domenico in Perugia, and now in the National Gallery of Umbria still in Perugia

"In the panel with the Stigmata of St. Francis the identification of color with space and light is absolute, whereas the panel with Madonna and Child with Saints still proves, in the radiance of the mix of color, a harmony of style and technique with the Florentine miniaturist tradition" (Guido Cornini)

"They are three distinct episodes, however, that are fused together by a fundamental element, the linear perspective, the rational perspective. (...) The rational perspective is drawn based on very precise scientific laws, as the perspective of paintings and frescoes of the fourteenth century is intuitive. (...) In Fra' Angelico was a focal point set toward which all lines converge. He adopted a scientific perspective, the same that had been designed, coded and implemented by the man who is certainly the father of the Italian Renaissance, Filippo Brunelleschi. (...) It is an extraordinary picture for the care of execution. I wish it would be noticed, for example, just how the spatial depth is underlined by the small roof which covers the door of the house where the three girls are sleeping and above again by the barrel which is supported by iron poles (...). In short, everything is seen as a function of spatial depth and dimensionality, i.e. the perspective, which is the greatest invention of the Florentine Renaissance" ( Federico Zeri)

Small triptych "Virgin and Child enthroned with four sacred scenes" by the school of Fra Angelico

"Madonna and St. Anna" about 1490 by Lorenzo d'Alessandro from S. Severino in the Marche region

"Adoration of the Magi" about 1477 by Ludovico Urbani from S. Severino as well

"Madonna gives her girdle to St. Thomas" and predella with "Stories of the Virgin" about 1450/52 by Benozzo di Lese aka Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97) formerly on the altar of the church of St. Fortunato in Montefalco

He was called Gozzoli by Giorgio Vasari in the 1568 edition of his book dedicated to the lives of the artists, but all the other existing documents identify him as Benozzo di Lese

"The Madonna of the Girdle is interwoven with references to contemporary preaching. (...) The episodes of the predella, touched by a rhythmic freedom of unprecedented magnitude, are notable for subtlety and variety of descriptive setting, recalling solutions present in the eastern gate of the Baptistery in Florence" (Guido Cornini)

"Deposition" by an artist of the school of Benozzo Gozzoli

"Miracle of St. Louis of Toulouse" about 1458/60 by the Sienese Lorenzo di Pietro aka Vecchietta (about 1412/80)

"The Miracle of St. Louis of Toulouse exhibits, in the complex perspective framework, a spatial illusionism comparable to that of the 'stacciato' (disconnected) by Donatello: but Vecchietta doesn't understands Donatello's profound implications, too busy trying to translate in linear rhythms the simple plasticity of the model" (Guido Cornini)

Four panels of the predella with "Stories of Christ" by the Pseudo Domenico di Michelino

Two tables "Martyrdom of Sts. Simon and Jude" and "Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew" fifteenth century by the Rhenish school

BASILICA OF St. JOHN LATERAN

BASILICA S. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO

Piazza di Porta S. Giovanni

The official name is Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran, Cathedral of Rome, Mother and Head of all churches

Built 313/318 by the order of Constantine (306/337) on the site of the CASTRA NOVA EQUITUM SINGULARIUM, the second barracks of the Emperor's Horse Guard to be built

The first, CASTRA PRIORA EQUITUM SINGULARIUM, was in the area where Via Tasso is now

Nearby there was the RESIDENCE OF THE LATERAN FAMILY confiscated by Nero (54/68) and then donated by Fausta, wife of Constantine, to Pope Miltiades (311/314). It became the main papal residence for about 1.000 years. Constantine ordered the construction of the Basilica next to the residence

It was damaged and restored several times

In the fifteenth century the interior was painted by Gentile di Niccolò aka Gentile da Fabriano (about 1370/1427) and Antonio Pisano aka Pisanello (about 1390/about 1455)

Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90) had the benediction loggia added by Domenico Fontana and Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605) had the transept redecorated

Innocent X Pamphili (1644/55) had the five aisles remodeled in the years 1646/50 and 1656/57 by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667)

FAÇADE

Rebuilt in the second half of 1100. Rebuilt again 1732/35 by Alessandro Galilei (1691/1737) for Clement XII Corsini (1730/40). Galilei had won a competition among twenty-three architects, the largest in the history of Roman architecture, which marked with his victory the triumph of the classicist party

On the BALUSTRADE fifteen sculptures: "Christ, Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist and twelve Doctors of the Church"

"The impact of Palladian taste has been wrongly detected in Galilei's work filtered by the architect during a previous visit in England (no Palladian building had in fact yet been erected in England at that time). It is the stimulus of the Roman tradition of Maderno and Michelangelo which is at work here: the crowning of the façade, and even more the new pedestal of the statue of Christ, draws directly from baroque models. These components are repeated in a strong composition, perfectly balanced in the alternation of full and empty sections, typical of the late Baroque classicism" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

In 1763 the reconstruction of the apse was commissioned to G.B. Piranesi by Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico (1758/69), but the project did not materialize

In 1884/86 Leo XIII Pecci (1878/1903) had the apse rebuilt, the only element of the churh that had remained intact until then

On 28 July 1993, the side entrance and the façade of the palace were severely damaged by a car bomb. Although the static of the façade was damaged, it was possible to repair the damage quickly. This attack was regarded as a warning to the pope who earlier had spoken in Sicily against Mafia

PORTICO

Bronze doors from the Curia in the Forum adapted in about 1660 with a banded contour decorated with symbols from the coats of arms of Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67)

On the left "Statue of Constantine" from the homonymous baths on the Quirinal

Above the statue and the doors there are marble reliefs with "Stories of the life of St. John the Baptist" Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768), Bernardino Ludovisi, G.B. Maini (1690/1752) and Pietro Bracci (1700/73)

On the right there is the entrance to the MUSEO STORICO VATICANO (Vatican Historical Museum)

MAIN NAVE

130 m (427 feet) long

CEILING

1562/67 maybe by Pirro Ligorio (about 1513/83), decorated by Daniele da Volterra (1509/66). It was begun under Pius IV Medici (1559/65), completed under S. Pius V Ghislieri (1566/72) and restored under Pius VI Braschi (1775/99): the coat of arms of the three Pius popes are massively displayed in the ceiling

"The primitive form of the basilica was to be preserved and so Borromini conceived the aisle as a great hall while preserving the ancient structures. He filled a span encompassing in large pillars every two columns in pairs of the ancient basilica: an order of fluted pilasters articulates the powerful rhythm of the walls. Lowering the height of the coverage of small aisles he gave them a quiet luminosity as opposed to full clarity in the main nave. The vault he had designed would have continued the articulation of color and space of the nave, but the pope preferred to keep the massive sixteenth-century ceiling" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

"Borromini developed a strategy, particularly in the placement of the light sources to obtain an effect of perspective depth by the dosage of light in areas situated in succession and finalized the system of the chamber of light, an enclosed space in which the light source is completely hidden and produces a stream of reflected light crucial to get the effects of soft and gradual chiaroscuro reminiscent of Leonardo's sfumato" (Paolo Portoghesi)

TWELVE AEDICULAE

Designed by Francesco Borromini (1599/1667), with "Twenty-four ancient columns of mottled green marble from Greece" formerly used as support of the naves and recovered in the reconstruction of the Basilica, in which TWELVE STATUES OF THE APOSTLES were placed in 1718:

"St. Thaddeus" by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)

"St. Matthew", "St. James the Great", "St. Andrew" and "St. John the Evangelist" Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)

"In Rusconi it can be identified a kind of simultaneous presence of classic, algardiane and Baroque-Bernini lines that shine in the intense pathos of many of his creations and in the vibrant permeability of the forms to the atmosphere. St. Matthew, set to a specific pattern of diagonal cross, stands energetic but perfectly balanced in the aedicula space. Intense and heroic is the attitude of the apostle, absorbed by his book, in comparison of whom the admittedly refined S. Bartholomew by Legros is more rhetorical in its pathetic excitement. The mass of the statue is powerful, but under the tiered steps of nuanced chiaroscuro, it is shrouded by a veil of atmospheric air that gives it a thoroughly modern lightness" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

"St. Philip" by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

"St. Thomas" and "St. Bartholomew" by Pierre Legros (1666/1719)

"St. Peter" and "St. Paul" by Pierre-Étienne Monnot (1657/1733)

"St. James the Less" by the Genoese Angelo De Rossi (1671/1715)

"St. Simon" by Francesco Maratta, brother of Carlo Maratta

On top of the aediculae HIGH-RELIEFS IN STUCCO:

On the left "Scenes of the Old Testament", on the right "Scenes of the New Testament" 1650 designed by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) who sculpted himself four of them ("Resurrection", "Baptism", "Crucifixion" and "Expulsion from Paradise"). The others were sculpted by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86) and Giovanni Francesco Rossi (active 1640/77)

Higher up, in oval frames, PROPHETS:

Painted in about 1718, a gallery of paintings by the best artists active in Rome at the time:

On the right

"Nathum" by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661/1742), "Jonah" by Marco Benefial (1684/1764), "Amos" by Giuseppe Nasini (1657/1736), "Hosea" by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731), "Ezekiel" by Giovanni Paolo Melchiorri, "Jeremiah" by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

On the left

"Isaiah" by Benedetto Luti (1666/1724), "Baruch" by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746), "Daniel" by Andrea Procaccini, "Joel" by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721), "Obadiah" by Giuseppe Chiari (1654/1727), "Micah" by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755)

CYBORIUM

1367/69 designed by Giovanni di Stefano (active 1366/91) for Urban V (1362/70) with the money of the French king Charles V (lilies of his arms in the decoration) decorated with twelve panels frescoed maybe by Barna da Siena and retouched by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (1452/1508) and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo

Giovanni di Stefano was here clearly inspired by Arnolfo di Cambio (about 1245/1302)

Urban V was the first pope to return from Avignon to Rome, where he remained for three years (1367/70)

Above "Reliquaries with heads of St. Peter and St. Paul" made in 1804 as replacement of those by Giovanni di Bartolo stolen in 1799 by the French

Tradition has it that the heads were placed here after the period in which the bodies of the two saints were hidden in the Basilica of St. Sebastian, at the time of the persecution of Valerian (253/260) in 258. When it was possible to transfer the bodies back into their respective basilicas, it was apparently decided to keep the heads in the Papal Basilica

PAPAL ALTAR

Restored in 1851 with, in the top part inside, the wooden altar of the early popes

In the CONFESSIO "Tomb of Martin V" Colonna (1417/31) 1443 maybe by Simone Ghini on a design by Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi aka Donatello (1386/1466)

FAR RIGHT NAVE

"Borromini was given broad scope to demonstrate his skills as a decorator. The various decorative elements and, what is more important, the reorganization of the new aisles during the pontificate of Alexander VII, of the old graves and monuments of the popes, cardinals and bishops show an inexhaustible wealth of ideas and imagination without restrictions. Each of the venerable relics of the past is placed in a kind of treasure chest of its own, wonderfully suited to his character. Typical of the style of Borromini is the blending in these decoration of realistic forms and motifs of flowers and fresh greenery filled with sharp, clear architectural shapes" (Rudolf Wittkower)

220 heads of cherubs in stucco by Borromini have been counted in the church

"In St. John the winged heads of the cherubs play a role in the dialectic of the beveled corners, of the roundings designed to overcome the harshness of the 90 degrees angles. (...) Angels in Bernini are a figurative event introducing into the architectural discourse the 'appearance' of sculpture, whereas in Borromini angels become rhythmic emphasis and access to the supernatural in the abstract system architecture" (Paolo Portoghesi)

On the right "Monument of Cardinal Paul Mellini" 1527 with fragmentary fresco above "Madonna with Child" by Melozzo's school

1st RIGHT - ORSINI CHAPEL

Rebuilt by Borromini, "Immaculate" 1729 Placido Costanzi (1702/59)

Between first and second chapel

"Monument of Cardinal Giulio Acquaviva" 1574

2nd RIGHT - TORLONIA CHAPEL

1830/50 Quintiliano Raimondi (1794/1848)

Altar front made with malachite and lapis lazuli, above the altar relief "Deposition dalla Croce" 1844 by Pietro Tenerani (1789/1869)

BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD CHAPEL

"Statue of St. James" 1492 maybe by Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)

3rd RIGHT - MASSIMO CHAPEL

1564/70 Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602)

"Crucifixion" 1575 by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) a student of Perin del Vaga

4th RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE EVANGELIST

"Vision of St. John the Evangelist in Patmos" about 1660/65 masterpiece of Lazzaro Baldi (c. 1624/1703)

"In the Vision of St. John in Patmos he implemented the immersion of the figure in an atmospheric space, with a use of the light similar to Pietro da Cortona, (...) he obtained one of the highest results of Pietro da Cortona's school and at the same time he anticipated the plein-air painting typical of much of the eighteenth-century" (Evelina Borea - Biographical Dictionary of Italian Treccani) 

FURTHER ON IN THE NAVE "Tomb of the Milanese Cardinal Casati" 1287 in Cosmatesque style, rebuilt magnificently by Francesco Borromini

FURTHER ON MORE "Tomb of Cardinal Antonio Martino de Chaves" aka Cardinal of Portugal 1447 with sculptures by Isaia da Pisa (active 1447/64), who completed the project by Antonio Averlino aka Filarete (about 1400/about 1469) who had to flee Rome wrongly accused of theft of antiquities

RIGHT MIDDLE NAVE

5th PILLAR

"Tomb of Cardinal Rinuccio Farnese" 1565 by Jacopo Barozzi aka Vignola (1507/73): he was the son of Pierluigi Farnese, a son of the Pope Paul III

4th PILLAR

"Tomb of Sergius IV (1009/12)" 1012

3rd PILLAR

"Tomb of Alexander III Bandinelli (1159/81)" by Francesco Borromini with the help of Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

"Borromini who prefers whitewashed plaster, used here polychrome marble in a symbolic way for effects of great elegance" (Paolo Portoghesi)

2nd PILLAR

"Cenotaph of Sylvester II (999/1003)" 1909 with an old inscription. He was a pope interested in esoteric sciences and legend has it that when approaching the death of a pope, the coffin used to sweat and make noises of clashing bones

The legend ended in 1648 when the tomb was opened and the body was found intact but crumbled immediately on contact with air

The present tomb was rebuilt in 1909 by the Hungarian Gzila Nalder

1st PILLAR

"Boniface VIII Caetani (1294/1303) proclaims the Jubilee Year 1300" fragment of a fresco by Giotto (about 1267/1337)

FAR LEFT NAVE

On the left "Sarcophagus with reclining statue of Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi" copy of the original by Arnolfo di Cambio now in the cloister

1st LEFT - CORSINI CHAPEL

1732/35 by Alessandro Galilei (1691/1737)

"Strictly classical in comparison to other works of the same years, the chapel is still far from true Neo-classicism, especially regarding the sculptural decoration and the subtle symphony of colors of the marbles where the pale purple and green mottled still dominate" (Rudolf Wittkower)

On the altar "St. Andrew Corsini" copy in mosaic from the original by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

On the left "Monument of Clement XII Corsini (1730/40)" urn and porphyry columns recycled from the Pantheon. The urn was located in front of the Pantheon and was known as the Tomb of Agrippa

"Bronze statue of Clement XII" and "Monument to Cardinal Neri Corsini" G.B. Maini (1690/1752)

Allegorical figures by Carlo Monaldi (about 1690/1760)

Statues in niches, "Fortress" by Giuseppe Rusconi (1688/1758), "Justice" by Giuseppe Lironi (1689/1749), "Prudence" by Agostino Cornacchini (1683/1740) and the excellent "Temperance" made in 1742 by Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)

"Della Valle from Florence developed a language of elegance where, along with the teachings of Rusconi, there are echoes of the clearest classicists from Tuscany and France, which are tinged with a grace of expression typical of the eighteenth-century. His work emblematic is the Temperance: the shape, plastically contained, winds in a harmonious rhythm serpentine with a distant echo of Mannerism. The surfaces are gently exposed to light. The extreme attention to details - the hair, the finely chiseled amphora - stresses the precious elegance of his work" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

On the right memorial plaque remembering papal soldiers who died fighting against the patriotic soldiers of Garibaldi in 1860

2nd LEFT - ANTONELLI CHAPEL

Rebuilt by Borromini

"Face of the Virgin" fragment of painted wood of the fifteenth century included in "Assumption of the Sts. Dominic and Philip Neri" by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731)

To the right marble group "Pietà" about 1732 by Antonio Montauti (1685/1740) formerly in the crypt of the Corsini Chapel

BETWEEN 2nd AND 3rd CHAPEL

"Tomb of Cardinal Bernardino Caracciolo" 1255

3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIX

1600/10 Onorio Longhi (1568/1619)

On the altar "Crucifix" maybe by Stefano Maderno (1560/1636)

On the left "Monument of Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio" about 1631 with bust sculpted by the great Giuliano Finelli (1602/53)

"Here Finelli expanded the idea of the baroque figure kneeling to the altar began by Algardi with the Mellini Tomb in St. Maria del Popolo: Cardinal Santorio seems really kneeling behind a kneeler, his hands resting on the pillow. The Algardian realism in dealing with the surface strengthens the illusion of real life and this is accompanied by a very audacious move of the figure toward the altar and a more intense expression of devotion" (Rudolf Wittkower)

4th LEFT - LANCELLOTTI CHAPEL

1675 Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95)

Canvas of "St. Francis" by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721)

The chapel is beautifully decorated in stucco with "Angels and cherubs" about 1685 Filippo Carcani (active 1670/91)

"Absorbed in the style of the last part of Bernini's life, Filippo Carcani was attracted by Ercole Antonio Raggi of whom resumed the iper-sensitive style, but with this difference: in Raggi's style, as in Bernini's last style, the body structure was still important; you can always perceive the classical model even if the body is hidden by a mass of drapery. Carcani, however, was no longer interested in the classical structure. In his stucco bodies are very long and fragile, as if they had no bones, while the drapery folds parallel to the masses cover them. The stuccos in the Lancellotti chapel can be defined as strange protorococò with a fascination already belonging to the eighteenth century" (Rudolf Wittkower)

On the last pillar "Monument of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate (founder of the Casanatense Library at St. Ignatius) 1707 Pierre Legros (1666/1719)

5th CHAPEL ON THE LEFT rebuilt by Borromini

LEFT MIDDLE NAVE

"Tomb of Elena Savelli" 1570 by Michelangelo's followers Jacopo Del Duca (about 1520/1604), prototype of many seventeenth-century tombs with a portrait bust

TRANSEPT

Completely renovated in 1597/1601 for the Jubilee of 1600 at the behest of Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605) with the architecture of Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) and the frescoes by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640) who coordinated the Roman Mannerists in "Saints" at the top and "Stories of St. Sylvester and Constantine" at the bottom:

RIGHT TRANSEPT

On the right wall:

"St. Barnabas" by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)

"St. Bartholomew" and "St. Sylvester receives the envoys of Constantine" by Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601)

"St. Simon" and "Baptism of Constantine" by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

On the left wall:

"St. Thomas" by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)

"St. Philip" by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)

"St. Thaddeus" by Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639)

"Foundation of the Basilica" by Paris Nogari

"Consecration of the Basilica" by G.B. Ricci

LEFT TRANSEPT

On the right wall:

"St. James" by Paris Nogari

"St. Paul and two Saint doctors" by Cesare Nebbia

"Appearance of the Holy Face" and "Constantine donates furniture to the Basilica" by Giovanni Baglione

On the left wall:

"St. Andrew" by G.B. Ricci

"St. Peter" and "Triumph of Constantine" by Bernardino Cesari (1571/1622) brother of Cavalier d'Arpino,

"Two Saint doctors" and "Dream of Constantine" by Cesare Nebbia

On the right ORGAN

1598 Luca Biagi (1548/1608) with decorations by G.B. Montano (1543/1621). It is also known as Organo Biagi from the name of the specialist who designed it

Columns of yellow marble from Tunisia and "Two Angels" by Giovanni Antonio Parracca aka Valsoldo (?/1642-46)

It is the largest and oldest organ of Rome and one of the largest in the world, originally had 1,000 barrels and 700 more were added in 1731 after a restoration work. In 1707 it was played by Georg Friedrich Handel

A wrong restoration in 1934 made it unusable until 1984 when it was finally restored to its powerful sound

"Tomb of Pope Innocent III of the Counts of Segni (1198/1216)" 1861 by Giuseppe Lucchetti (1823/1907)

He was the pope who summoned the Fourth Lateran Council, and he finally declared the superiority of the church over any other secular power with the birth of the Papal State in the year 1200. He acknowledged St. Francis but, ironically, he also established the Inquisition Tribunal and declared the Fourth and the Fifth Crusade

On the left ALTAR OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT

About 1600 Pietro Paolo Olivieri (1551/99)

Above the pediment in a reliquary there is a fragment of the last supper table that is exposed on the day of Easter

At the sides statues "Elijah", "Moses", "Melchizedek" and "Aaron" about 1599 by Camillo Mariani (1567/1611), Gillis de la Rivière (?/1602), Nicolò Pippi (?/1601-1604) and Giacomo Longhi Silla (active since 1568/d. 1619)

Above fresco with "Transfiguration" by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino

The four columns of gilt bronze were obtained, according to legend, with the fusion of the bronze beaks of the ships of Cleopatra defeated at Actium in 31 BC. They had been placed by Augustus in the Temple of Jupiter

"Tomb of Leo XIII Pecci (1878/1903)" 1907 by Giulio Tadolini (1849/1918)

CHOIR CHAPEL or COLONNA CHAPEL

1625 Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655) for the Colonna family

"Portrait of Martin V Colonna (1417/31)"

"Monument to Lucrezia Tomacelli" 1625 by Teodoro Della Porta (1567/1638) son of Guglielmo Della Porta and Giacomo Laurenziano (active since 1607/d. 1650)

PRESBYTERY AND APSE

1884/86 rebuilt by Francesco Vespignani (1842/99) to a design by his father Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) for Leo XIII

Mosaic "Christ with angels and, on the right, Sts. John, Andrew, Paul and Anthony (small), on the left Virgin Mary, St. Peter and St. Francis (small) with Nicholas IV offering the church" 1291 by Jacopo Torriti (active 1270/1300) for Nicholas IV (1288/92)

He was in charge of the pictorial program of the imposing Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi to which Torriti himself worked. The mosaic was transported from the old apse and restored

N THE WALLS OF THE PRESBYTERY frescoes: on the right "Stories of Innocent III of the Counts of Segni (1198/1216)" and on the left "Virginio Vespignani submit the draft to Pope Leo XIII" Francesco Grandi (1831/91) a pupil of Tommaso Minardi

MUSEUM OF THE BASILICA

Liturgical furnishings including various reliquaries with relics: St. Catherine, St. Mary of Egypt, and cilice of Mary Magdalene

Crosses: Stational thirteenth or fourteenth century, Processional 1441 by Nicola da Guardiagrele (1385/about 1462) from the Abruzzi region

SACRISTY

In the corridor Tombs of Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661) and Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino

OLD SACRISTY aka BENEFICIATI SACRISTY

Vault decorated with frescoes by the brothers Giovanni Alberti (1558/1601) and Cherubino Alberti (1553/1615)

Wood panel painting "Annunciation" by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79) after a drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564)

EXTERNAL PORCH ON THE RIGHT (Loggia of the Blessings)

Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V

Bronze statue of "Henry IV of France (1503/1610)" 1608 by Nicolas Cordier (1567/1612)

Henry IV was a Huguenot, and before he became king of France he was involved in the wars of religion. Before his coronation as King of France in 1589, he abjured the Calvinist faith to embrace Catholicism. In 1598 he ended the civil war by issuing the Edict of Nantes which guaranteed religious freedom to Protestants

Frescoes in the vault "Angeli e Santi" by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614), Ventura Salimbeni (1568/1613) and others

TWO TWIN BELL TOWERS of the thirtheenth century, cusps added in 1370

CLOISTER

1215/32 cosmatesque masterpiece by Vassalletto father and son. In the center "Circular well" of the ninth century

Along the walls, architectural elements, sculptures and ornaments from the ancient basilica as well as Roman and early Christian material excavated in the Basilica:

"St. John the Baptist" and "St. John the Evangelist" 1492 by Luigi Capponi (active end of 1400s/beginning of 1500s) from the dismembered De Pereriis altar

"Bronze doors" 1196 by Pietro and Uberto da Piacenza, formerly doors for the Holy Stairs and now, oddly enough, the door of a room with a vending machine

"Recumbent statue of Riccardo Annibaldi" and fragments including the relief of "Funeral procession of clerics" from the 1276 tomb, certainly one of the earliest works attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio (about 1245/1302)

Tapestry of the sixteenth century

"Ciborium" 1297 Deodato Cosma

BEHIND THE APSE OF THE BASILICA

"Monument to Workers" 1904 by the deaf and dumb sculptor Annibale Monti (1875/1941) for Leo XIII with base by Luigi Rosa

"Annibale Monti, who had always maintained regular contacts with representatives of the Lombard artistic culture of those years, worked several times inspired by social issues, both in the representation of figures of workmen, and in the more symbolic representatin of the work tools, in support of portraits or devotional images. However, a fundamental result in this sense, was the victory achieved by the artist in the competition held by the Company of Workers of St. Joachim in Rome in 1904 to externalize through a sculpture the principles of the Encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' that Pope Leo XIII had wanted to write about labor issues. The work (...) represents a worker who holds a cross and the working tool combining in this way the religious and the social instance" (website storiadeisordi.it)