S. MARIA DELLA CONCEZIONE
1626/30 Antonio Felice Casoni (1559/1634) for Cardinal Antonio
Barberini on land donated to the Capuchin Friars Minor by his brother Urban
VIII Barberini (1623/44) who laid the first stone of the church and celebrated
the first Mass here in 1630
It is also
called the CHURCH OF THE CAPUCHINS
The
Capuchins were a group of Franciscans who, from the Twenties of the sixteenth
century, set out to live the Rule of St. Francis with great rigor and simplicity
It was
consecrated in 1636
With the
opening of Via Veneto in the years 1886/90 it has lost the old suburban context
“The church
provides an excellent insight into the various trends in easel painting between
1630 and 1640: the old Bolognese Classicism close to the Baroque Classicism of
Sacchi and the elegant and haughty style of the last period of Reni's life
close to the vigorous versions of Baroque given by Lanfranco and Cortona”
(Rudolf Wittkower)
Adorned by Nicola Mattonelli who also painted the vaults of the
side chapels
1st
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
It is a
very famous painting of which there are hundreds of copies around the world
It was a
tribute from Reni to the painting of the same subject by Raphael now in the
Louvre: the face of the devil is none other than Cardinal G.B. Pamphilj who,
nine years later, would become Pope Innocent X. He had ill-treated Reni himself
and the Barberini family, patron of the artist
“Close to
Carracci's Classicism, he was able to give a personal and controlled
interpretation of it. Beyond the study of the classics, his interpretation showed
a real appreciation of the Baroque fullness, within an elegant and rigorous
structure and of a very high quality use of color. (...) In 1601 he was called
to Rome by Cardinal P. E. Sfondrato to execute paintings in St. Cecilia (...);
with brief interruptions he remained in the city until 1614 (...), and he
returned in 1621 and 1627. Here he enriched his experiences, to the point of
being compared with Caravaggio (...): the use of solutions inspired by
Caravaggio is blended and balanced in the personal and idealizing style of the
artist. From the third decade Reni introduced in his paintings the use of
silvery light as well as plain and precious tones” (Enciclopedia Treccani)
On the left
“Christ Mocked”
by Gerrit Van Honthorst aka Gherardo Delle Notti
(1590/1656)
2nd
RIGHT - TRANSFIGURATION CHAPEL
Above the
altar “Transfiguration of Christ” by Mario Balassi
painter from the circle of Guido Reni
On the
right “St. Bernard of Corleone” late eighteenth century by Fra' Luigi da Crema Capuchin friar
On the left
“Nativity”
1632 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)
Lanfranco
replaced his “rival” Domenichino who had resigned and had left for Naples
Under the
painting “Early Christian Sarcophagus”
3rd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS
Above the
altar “St. Francis Stigmatized”
about 1628/31 by Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)
who maybe painted also the fresco on the left with “Death of St. Francis”
According
to Giovanni Pietro Bellori the canvas with St. Francis Stigmatized was donated
by Domenichino himself to thank St. Francis after healing from a serious
illness
“Well-learned
artist, he aimed not so much to resurrect, as to evoke the sixteenth-century
Classicism and understand its deeper meaning. Due to these capabilities
Domenichino was able to merge figures and landscape into a sincere naturalism
that takes a remarkable part in his works, especially in paintings (...) and in
frescoes of mythological subjects. Often even in small paintings of lesser
commitment he obtained results that seem to us precursors of modern taste,
composing the landscape with wide classic sense and open sensitivity to the
problems of light and color” (Enciclopedia Treccani)
On the
right “Theologians confer with the Blessed Crispin” by Fra'
Luigi da Crema
Under the
altar there were the relics of Blessed Crispin of Viterbo (1695/1750). Since
1985 they are in his hometown
4th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF OLIVES
On the
right “Christ crowning St. Veronica Giuliani” 1839 by Peter
Herzog
On the left
“Funeral relief of Giovanni and Costanza Serafini” 1855 by Antonio Bisetti
5th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ANTHONY OF PADUA
Above the
altar “St. Anthony” about 1635 by Andrea Sacchi
(1599/1661)
“He marks
the beginning of a new trend in the context of the Roman Baroque style:
Sacchi's compositions are fully seventeenth-century for the spatial structure,
for the rhetorical commitment and for the warm and rich color of Venetian
ancestry, consistent trait of his style. However, it is clear there is a
specific reference to Raphael and to the sixteenth-century Classicism, in the
simplicity of compositions and in the psychological essentiality given to the
concentration of the event in a few figures. (...) Sacchi's influence, which
extended even to artists followers primarily of Cortona and Bernini, gave a
basis for the subsequent development of Classicism, from the archaic paintings
by Sassoferrato to the ones of his pupil Carlo Maratta” (Enciclopedia Treccani)
On the
floor funerary slab of the great sculptor Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE ARCH
“Tomb of
Johann Freiherr von Goess” cardinal of S. Pietro in Montorio d. 1699 with 1823
relief by Francesco Massimiliano Laboureur
(1767/1831)
Maybe by Fra' Michele da Bergamo with marble from St. Peter's
Basilica building site
Above the
altar “Immaculate Conception”
1814 by Gioacchino Bombelli that replaced the
altar piece of the same subject by Giovanni Lanfranco destroyed in a fire the
year before
On the
ground in front of the altar tomb with a Latin inscription “Here lie dust, ashes and nothing
else” for Cardinal Antonio Barberini d. 1646 brother
of Urban VIII who had the church built at his own expense and who commissioned
almost all the paintings of the altars to the best artists of the time, all
working for the Barberini family
TO THE LEFT
OF THE MAIN ALTAR
Alexander
Sobieski was the brother of the King of Poland John III (1674/1696)
5th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. BONAVENTURE
Above the
altar “Apparition of the Virgin Mary to
St. Bonaventure” 1635/36 by Andrea
Sacchi including buildings painted with illusionistic effect maybe by
the “specialist” Filippo Gagliardi (about
1607/1659) aka Filippo Bizzarro (Bizarre
Philip) o Filippo delle Prospettive (Philip of
the Perspectives)
On the
right “St. Joseph of Leonessa” by Fra' Raffaele da Roma
On the left
“Communion of St. Lawrence of Brindisi” maybe by Sebastiano
Conca (1680/1764)
4th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF HOPE
Nineteenth-century
altar piece
In the
floor funerary slab of the great architect Gabriele Valvassori (1683/1761)
3rd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST
Above the
altar “Deposition”
1632/35 by Andrea Camassei (1602/49)
On the left
“St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata” about 1570 by Girolamo
Muziano (1532/92) from the church of S.
Croce and S. Bonaventura dei Lucchesi, former seat of the
Capuchins
“Very
expressive for unifying the landscape with the Biblical event. The effect is
especially strong in the face of the saint, which expresses a somewhat ecstatic
and supernatural emotion” (Hermann Voss)
2nd LEFT -
CHAPEL OF St. FELIX OF CANTALICE
St. Felix
of Cantalice was the first saint of the Capuchin order and his remains are
preserved in the underlying “Sarcophagus of the third century AD”
On the
right “Healing of the paralytic” by Fra' Simplicio da
Verona
On the left
“S. Felix gives sight to a child” by Fra' Luigi da
Crema
1st LEFT -
CHAPEL OF St. PAUL
In the
vault “St. Stephen” by Liborio Coccetti
(1739/1816)
“The
paintings of Cortona with their brilliant pictorial qualities, their main
characters vigorously designed and their concentration on the center of the
action belong to the highest class of history painting, where the most coveted
traditions of Raphael, Correggio and Annibale Carracci find their legitimate
continuation. The keynote of the painting is, quite characteristically,
Raphael's reminiscences soaked in Venetian taste for colors” (Rudolf Wittkower)
On the right
“Portrait
of Pope Urban VIII” by Antonio Alberti aka Barbalonga
(1600/49) the best pupil of Domenichino
“Noli Me Tangere” maybe by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87) or Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)
On the
left
“Cardinal
Antonio Barberini with the church and convent of the Conception” and “Urban VIII”
by Antonio Alberti aka Barbalonga
ORATORY OF
URBAN VIII (to the right of the seventeenth century choir)
Secret
chamber for the pope's prayers used as well by Queen Margherita di Savoia
Above the
altar “Holy Family” traditionally attributed to G.B.
Salvi aka Sassoferrato (1609/85)
SACRISTY
“St.
Bonaventure” maybe by Paolo Piazza (1557/1621)
Two
fragments of the destroyed “Immaculate Conception” by Giovanni
Lanfranco saved from the fire of 1813
Museum
and Crypt of the Capuchins
FIVE
CHAPELS with the bones of about 4,000 monks who died in the 342 years between
1528 and 1870
The
skeletons dating back to the period before the construction of the church were
brought here between 1627 and 1631 from the church of S. Croce and S.
Bonaventura dei Lucchesi, former seat of the Capuchins, making “three hundred
carts trips”
The soil in
the floor was apparently brought from the Holy Land
The writing
at the exit reads: “You are what we were, you will be what we are”
CONVENT
Eight of
the rooms of the convent are included in the museum
“Nazarene” by Jacopo Negretti detto Jacopo Palma il Giovane (1544/1628)
“St.
Francis” about 1605 copy maybe painted by Bartolomeo
Manfredi (1587/about 1620) from the original by Michelangelo Merisi aka
Caravaggio (1571/1610) found in 1968 in Carpineto
Romano and now in Palazzo
Barberini
There
are some scholars who claim that neither of the two is original
