Sts. SYLVESTER AND MARTIN AT THE MONTI NEIGHBORHOOD

SS. SILVESTRO E MARTINO AI MONTI
Viale del Monte Oppio 28

About 509 for Pope Symmachus (498/514) with the name of S. Martino (St. Martin)

It was built at the same time of the adjacent church of S. Silvestro (St. Sylvester) for which the structures of the ancient Titulus Equitii were used, maybe house of Pope St. Sylvester I (314/335)

It was renovated in the year 772 for Hadrian I (772/795)

Completely rebuilt in the years 844/847 for Sergius II (844/847), who built the monastic buildings over the old church of St. Sylvester. It was completed under the next pope, Leo IV (847/855)
For the foundations were used limestone blocks taken from the Servian Walls still visible on the right side of the church

Restorations 1636/67 by the Roman architect and painter Filippo Gagliardi (about 1607/1659) aka Filippo Bizzarro or Filippo delle Prospettive

BELL TOWER 1714

It is officiated since 1299 by the Carmelite Fathers
St. Martin of Tours (about 316/397) was originally the patron saint of animals with horns, and then also became the protector of cuckold husbands

“Twenty-four ancient columns” in different kinds of marble: cipollino, pavonazzetto, biglio and imezio, maybe recycled from the nearby Baths of Trajan

When in 1653 the box with the relics was found, it was was decided the lowering of the floor of the church of 50 cm (20 inches) in order to see the relics from the entrance

CEILING
1560 for Cardinal Charles Borromeo who was the cardinal in charge of the church with frames embossed in gold

It was rebuilt in 1650 and restored in the years 1741 and 1870

COUNTER FAÇADE
Statues in the first order “St. Peter” and “St. Paul” by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)
Statues in the second order “St. John the Baptist” and “St. Antonio the Great aka St. Anthony from Egypt” by Daniele Fiammingo

ON THE TRABEATION OF THE NAVES
“Frieze with Christian-Jewish symbols” 1649/52
“Eight statues of saints” and “Medallions in stucco” about1655 by Pietro Paolo Naldini

SIDE NAVES
Eighteen frescoes on the walls “Stories of St. Elijah and of his disciple Elisha inserted in the Roman countryside landscapes” of which sixteen were painted by Gaspard Dughet (1615/75) and two by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna
St. Elias was the Prophet revered as an inspiration by the Carmelites
In addition, two frescoes in the left nave with the interior of “St. John’s Lateran” (before the renovation by Borromini) and “The old St. Peter's Basilica” by Filippo Gagliardi (about 1607/1659)

“This decoration is one of the most important and innovative cycle of paintings of the mid-1600: it is unique in the panorama of seventeenth-century ecclesiastical decoration in Rome. The novelty consists in the subordination of religious scenes to the setting of broad landscape that accomplishes itself the function of transmitting the religious message” (Simonetta Ceccarelli)

1^st RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. MARY MAGDALENE OF PAZZI
“St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi” 1647 by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi

2^nd RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. TERESA OF JESUS
“Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Jesus” 1646 by Giovanni Greppi

3^rd RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. MARTIN
“St. Martin” 1645 by Fabrizio Chiari (about 1615/95)

4^th RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. STEPHAN
“St. Stephan” 1645 by Giovanni Angelo Canini (1609/66)

5^th RIGHT - ALTAR OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO
“St. Charles Borromeo” 1693 by Filippo Gherardi (1643/1704)

MAIN ALTAR
End of the eighteenth century by Francesco Belli

APSE
Eighteenth-century frescoes “Eternal Father, saints and the Madonna and Child” by Antonio Cavallucci (1752/95) and Giovanni Micocchi
Spectacular CRYPT about 1650 by Filippo Gagliardi with stucco in the vaults by Pietro Paolo Naldini and “Fake dome in perspective with the symbol of the church” also by Filippo Gagliardi

TO THE LEFT OF PRESBYTERY - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
Rebuilt in 1790 by Andrea de Dominicis
Above the altar “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” 1595 by Girolamo Massei (?/1614-19) surrounded by the altar piece “Souls in Purgatory and cloud of St. Elijah” by Antonio Cavallucci who also painted the fresco on the left wall “Vision of St Elijah” and in the vault “Our Lady gives the scapular of Mount Carmel to St. Simon Stock” together with Tommaso Sciacca

3^rd LEFT - ALTAR OF THE HOLY TRINITY
“Holy Trinity with Sts. Bartholomew and Nicholas of Bari” 1640/44 by Giovanni Angelo Canini (1609/66)

2^nd LEFT - ALTAR OF St. ALBERT
“St. Albert Carmelite” 1575 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

“A genuine controversial response to the late Mannerist painters from Emilia and Tuscany who still enjoyed great success in Rome during the seventies. The painting by Muziano from Brescia is quiet and solemn, with that monumental saint who dominates the canvas with his lofty quiet melancholy, solid like an oak and at the same time available to a frank chat with the faithful. Muziano, just like Marcello Venusti, moves away from any drama to focus on results of absorbed severity and intense naturalism” (Vincenzo Farinella)

BETWEEN THE TWO ALTARS
Large fresco “Pseudo-council of St. Sylvester in the age of Constantine” according to the apocryphal documents of Symmacus 1640 by Galeazzo Leoncini a Milanese that after this work, perhaps aware of his limitations, began the work as innkeeper

1^st LEFT - ALTAR OF St. ANGELUS OF JERUSALEM
“St. Angelus of Jerusalem” 1646 by Pietro Testa (1612/50)

TOP OF THE NAVE
Large fresco “S. Cyril baptizes a sultan” 1651 by the Antwerp painter Jan Miel (1599/1663)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS
From the crypt it is possible to go down to a hall of 18 x 11 m (59 x 36 feet) of the third century AD preceded by a vestibule part of the Titulus Equitii
Roman and medieval architectural fragments
Remains of frescoes from the ninth century, including “Jeweled cross” and a mosaic of the sixth century “Madonna with St. Sylvester”

St. MARY OF THE SOUL

S. MARIA DELL'ANIMA

Via di S. Maria dell'Anima 64

Built in the fourteenth century as a chapel for the Hospice for German, Dutch and Flemish Pilgrims at behest of the gunsmith Dordrecht and his wife

Rebuilt in the years 1500/23 maybe by Giuliano Giamberti aka Giuliano da Sangallo (1445/1516)

Mid-1700s CHOIR renovated by Paolo Posi (1708/76)

Fully restored in 1843

Further restoration 1874/75 by Emilio Stramucci with interior decoration by Ludovico Seitz (1844/1908) representing German personalities and Saints

FAÇADE

Three portals and a copy of the sculptural group “Virgin Mary between two souls in purgatory” (original in the Chapel of the Fallen) maybe by Andrea Contucci aka Andrea Sansovino (1460/1529) or by Bartolomeo Lante

BELL TOWER built in 1502

It is the German national church whose model were the German Hallenkirchen

“Saints” in the nave and stained glass window above the entrance “Virgin Mary with Child enthroned with saints” 1875/82 by Ludovico Seitz

TO THE LEFT OF THE ENTRANCE

“Tomb of Cardinal Andrea d'Asburgo” 1600 by Gillis de la Rivière (?/1602)

TO THE RIGHT OF THE ENTRANCE

“Tomb of Cardinal Willem van Enkevoirt” 1536/38 by Giovanni Mangone

1^st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF S. BENNO

“St. Benno receives from a fisherman the keys of the cathedral of Meissen in Saxony” 1618 by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620)

“The Bishop Benno, who lived in the eleventh century, was declared a saint in 1523 by Pope Adrian VI (buried in this church) in opposition to the rampant Lutheran movement, which soon after would destroy Benno's reliquary throwing it in the Elba River; the saved relics were brought to the Duke of Bavaria (to whom Saraceni was about to send some of his works) in the 'Bavaria Sancta' where the Catholic cult of relics was a bulwark against the Protestant Reformation and of which Benno was declared guardian saint. (...) The fish is a clear reference to Christology, and the host-fisherman is almost certainly a portrait of an influential member of the community, the merchant and patron George Piscatorius” (Maria Giulia Aurigemma)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Altarpiece “Holy Family” by Giacinto Gimignani (1606/81)

On the left “Tomb of Cardinal Johann Walter Sluse” 1687 with bust by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)

On the right “Tombs of Johannes Savenier and his nephew Gualtero Gualteri de Castro” with a bust by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

ON THE 3^rd PILLAR ON THE RIGHT

“Tomb of Adrian Vryburg with cherubs” 1629 by François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)

“From 1618 he was active in Rome, where he remained until a short time before his death. He was successful in the Roman scene, becoming one of the most prominent figures of the Classicist style. (...) The tombs (...) in S. Maria dell'Anima (...), enriched with figures of little angels, indicate not only his mastery in dealing with marble but also the anti-Baroque classical composure that was his artistic ideal” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

3^rd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

“Crucifix” by G.B. Montano (1543/1621)

“Life of the Virgin Mary” by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80)

4^th CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Copy of the “Pieta” by Michelangelo begun in 1532 by Lorenzo Lotti aka Lorenzetto (1490/1541) and completed by Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio (about 1513/68)

AT THE END OF THE NAVE - MEMORIAL CHAPEL

1937 Karl Holey (1879/1955) who rebuilt the Cathedral of Vienna and the Salzburg Cathedral after the Second World War

MAIN ALTAR

“Fugger altarpiece: the Holy Family with saints” 1522 by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546) for the banker Jacob Fugger of Augsburg, his last work before going to Mantua

It was repainted in 1619 by Carlo Saraceni in 1682 by Carlo Maratta, in 1819 by Pietro Palmaroli and in 1880 by Ludovico Seitz, although the work is considered by Giulio Romano for about 85%

“It is particularly significant because it seems to anticipate some of the grounds that the artist will develop after a few years. Thus the luminous effect that envelops the characters isolated in a dark space, recalls the night of the Sala di Psyche at Tea Palace in Mantua, in the same way as the ' architecture in the background with octagonal coffered vault and Doric pilasters that frame the niches , prefigures certain architectural solutions of the palace of Mantua” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

APSE

On the right “Nativity of the Virgin” and on the left “Death of the Virgin” mid-1700s by Ludovico Stern (1709/77), son of Ignazio Stern

Central window “Trinity” by Ludovico Seitz (1844/1908)

On the right “Monument of Adrian VI (1522/23)” with the four cardinal virtues: “Fortitude, Temperance, Justice and Prudence” by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536)

Adrian VI was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands and he was the last non-Italian pope before John Paul II (1978/2005)

On the left “Tomb of the Duke of Cleves” 1576 by Gillis de la Rivière (?/1602) and Nicolò Pippi (?/1601-1604 )

TO THE LEFT OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE SACRISTY

“Tomb of Lukas Holstenius” by Antonio Giorgetti (active since 1660/d. 1669)

ON THE 3^rd PILLAR ON THE LEFT

“Tomb of Ferdinand van der Eyden” 1631 by François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)

4^th CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

On the altar “Deposition”, in the vault “Descent of the Holy Spirit” and on the walls “Sacred Stories” 1540 masterpiece by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“Today, unfortunately, the frescoes are so faded that even critical judgment on them would be diminished. Anyway it is admirable the beautiful decorative texture of the side walls, whose narrowness does not appear to have represented a major obstacle for Salviati. On each of them the mighty figure of a saint stands in a pose with imposing balanced gestures and rhythmic articulation, surrounded by a rich ornamental frame. (...) The altarpiece accentuates almost too violently the nakedness of the body taken down from the cross. What in Rome appears as a novelty is the extraordinary exuberance of the decorative system of illusionary type” (Hermann Voss)

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. BARBARA

“Stories of St. Barbara” about 1538 by the Flemish artist Michiel Coxie (1499/1592), known as the Flemish Raphael. He died 92 years old, falling from the stairs

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

“Sts. John of Nepomuk and John Sarcander” 1880 by Ludovico Seitz

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. LAMBERT

There are the relics of St. Lambert

Altarpiece “Martyrdom of St. Lambert” 1618/19 by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620)

“The patron Lambertus de Ursinus Vivariis placed the painting with his namesake saint in his family chapel. He chose a subject connected with his name and with the criminal profanation in a sacred place (the Cathedral of Liege), alluding to the desecration of the memory of the martyrs and of the role itself of holiness that the Protestants carried out during the wars of religion that had shocked the Netherlands” (Maria Giulia Aurigemma)

Frescoes “Stories of St. Lambert” 1650/53 by the painter from Antwerp Jan Miel (1599/1663)

SACRISTY

1636 Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657) and later Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)

In the vault “Assumption” 1636/39 by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

Paintings on the walls with the theme of “Life of the Virgin Mary” by Gilles Hallet (1620/94), Giovanni Maria Morandi (1622/1717), Theodor van Loon (1581-82/1649) and Anton von Maron (1733/1808)

CORSINI PALACE - CORSINI GALLERY (third part)

Room II - First Gallery

“Known in the eighteenth century as 'Second Antechamber', the First Gallery was added, along with the Antechamber, to the apartment of Neri Maria Corsini during the extension work carried out in the years 1750/53 by the architect Ferdinando Fuga” (Official Website the Corsini Gallery - galleriacorsini.beniculturali.it)

The decorations of the room 1736/38 are by Ginesio del Barba (1691/1762)

Small bronze statues “Baptism of Jesus” and “Fauns on a goat with parrots” by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654) and “Lion Biting a Bull” copy by Antonio Susini (1580/1624) from an ancient original statue

Impressive and visually disturbing “Agony of Prometheus Bound to the Rocks”, “Marina with lighthouse” and six other paintings by Salvator Rosa (1615/73)

“A man of brilliant talents but eternal rebel, ruthless in his criticism of society, obsessed with a pre-Romantic egotistical concept of genius, he used to take offense when praised as a painter of landscapes, seascapes and battles. But it is on the successes in this field more than on the large historical compositions that his posthumous fame is resting. The 1700s saw in the landscapes of Salvator Rosa and Claude Lorrain, the quintessence of the contrast between the sublime and the beautiful. In the words of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Claude leads us to the tranquility of the scenes of Arcadia and fairyland, while the style of Rosa has the power to inspire feelings of grandeur and sublimity” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“Landscape with St. John the Baptist” and “Landscape with Horse Riders” XVII century, by an unknown Dutch painter

“Pietà (Mercy)” by Francesco Cozza (1605/82)

“Cozza, a figure painter, favors narrative moments, by subordinating the landscape to the arrangement of characters, expressing consequently a very individual style in the landscape painting of the seventeenth century” (Ludovica Trezzani)

“Hare” by Hans Hoffman (d. 1592)

“Jacob's Ladder” by Donato Creti (1671/1749)

“Together with the senior Marco Antonio Franceschini, Creti was the last significant exponent of the doctrine of classical-idealism in Bolognese painting. He was deeply engaged in what we might call the metaphysics of ideal form, i.e. the search for the perfect shape in nature. For him the important thing was to make the invention of the individual figure and outline its concept perfectly. He was clearly a fanatical perfectionist” (David Miller - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

“Finding of Moses” by Luigi Garzi (1638/1721) a pupil of Andrea Sacchi later influenced by Carlo Maratta

“Hunters on horses” by the Dutch artist Philips Wouwerman (1619/68)

“Wouwerman's oeuvre consists mainly of small cabinet pieces with horses, such as battle and hunting scenes, army camps, smithies and interiors of stables. He also painted sensitively executed silvery-grey landscapes, genre pieces and a few original representations of religious and mythological scenes. Wouwerman was also exceptionally prolific. Although he only lived to the age of 48, more than a thousand paintings bear his name. Even when one bears in mind that a number of these paintings should actually be attributed to his brothers Pieter and Jan, Philips left an extraordinarily large oeuvre” (from the web site www.wouwerman.org)

“Tamar and Judah” by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

“Architectonical Perspective” by Viviano Codazzi (1604/70)

“Adoration of the Shepherds” and “Adoration of the Magi” by Jan Miel (1599/1664)

“Shepherds and Flock by Some Ruins” by the Dutch Cornelis Van Poelenburgh (about 1586/1667)

“Cornelis van Poelenburgh was a founder of Dutch Italianate landscape painting. He studied under the Utrecht Mannerist Abraham Bloemaert, but his years in Rome, from 1617 to 1625, were more decisive for his development. An early member of the schildersbent, the club for Rome's Netherlandish painters, he was nicknamed “Satyr.” In Rome, a friend noted that Poelenburgh “exerted himself to the utmost to paint his figures in the manner of Raphael.” Poelenburgh also copied German artist Adam Elsheimer's Italianate landscapes, which were usually painted on copper. (…) After returning from Italy, he became one of Utrecht's leading artists, honored as Peter Paul Rubens's guide during his 1627 visit to the city. At the king's invitation, Poelenburgh worked in England from 1638 to 1641. (…) Poelenburgh painted some history paintings, but his fame rests on the enamel-smooth landscapes, often depicting romantic ruins and statuary fragments, that he created after 1620. He was among the first artists to render Italian sunlight and atmosphere convincingly. His highly detailed figures were so admired that he was hired to paint them in other artists' works” (The J. Paul Getty Museum Web Site – www.getty.edu)

“Holy Family with S. Anna” by Pietro de’ Pietri (1655/1716)

“Holy Family” by Simone Cantarini (1612/48)

“Triumph of Ovid” by Nicolas Poussin (1594/1665)

“History was for Poussin of the highest value, the ideal to which he gave vision. He faced historical, biblical and mythological subjects, from which his spiritual inclinations, which led to the denial of the purposes of the most striking Baroque style, appear abundantly clear” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“Head of agonizing man” by an unknown artist probably a pupil of Guercino

“Winter Landscape” and “Landscape with Pond” by the Flemish artist Lucas Van Uden (1595/1672-73)

“Portrait of Pope Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)” about 1636 by Guidobaldo Abbatini (1600/56)

“He can combine with remarkable balance, the 'friendliness' of Matteo, highlighted by a colorist opulence influenced by Pietro da Cortona, but still supported by considerable technical qualities, with the description of a physical decline that shines through, without drama, backlit. There is no doubt on Abbatini's ability, as evidenced by how he can detect the golden embroidery stole, or how casually he describes the lace and the folds of the clothes and he is able to forge with a few touches, the heavy tissue that garnish the seat of the chair. Surely these were the qualities that Bernini appreciated in the Umbrian painter and that led him often to use his cooperation” (Sivigliano Alloisi)

“The departure of Jacob” by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione aka Grechetto (about 1611/65)

“Battle”, “Blindman’s Buff”, “The watering hole” and “St. John the Baptist Preaching” by the so-called bambocciante Michelangelo Cerquozzi (1602/60)

“Portrait of a Man” by Federico Fiori aka Barocci (1535/1612)

“For a long time this painting was considered a self-portrait also by contemporary historiography, until Olsen has expressed doubts about its authenticity. Indeed, both inventory information and comparisons with the identified self-portraits of the painter don't help to clarify the issue. (...) The beautiful head alive and alert is in front of us with no conventionalities, with an immediacy that goes beyond the conventional pose. It is framed by a white collar, soft and smooth, which helps to give life to the face free and gentle of the character. Even in the portrait, Barocci anticipates the demands of the truth of many artists of the seventeenth century” (Sivigliano Alloisi)

“Winter Landscape” and “Woodland Landscape” by the Flemish Franz de Momper (1595/1673)

Spectacular “Denial of St. Peter” by the so called Master of the Judgment of Solomon (XVII century) or maybe by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652)

“Hunt of Wild Beasts” XVII century, copy from an original by Rubens

“Bivouac of soldiers in a cave” and “Breakfast outside” by the Flemish Anton Goubau (1616/98)

“Landscape with peasants” and “Landscape with figures” by the Roman Andrea Locatelli (1693/1741)

“Sposalizio mistico di S. Caterina” di Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

“Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine with Baby Jesus at the Presence of St. Anthony of Padua” by Ippolito Scarsella aka Scarsellino (1551/1620)

“St. Peter weeping” by Francesco Solimena (1657/1747)

“The ransom” by the Flemish Christoffel Jacobsz Van Der Lamen (about 1606/about 1652)