St. AUGUSTINE (second part)

Left End Side of the Church

To the left of the main altar

CHAPEL OF St. MONICA

Frescoes and stucco work on the ceiling “Stories of St. Monica” about 1585/90 by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)

Frescoes on the side walls:

On the left “St. Monica comforted by a bishop” and “Vision of St. Augustine converted”, on the right “Conversion of St. Augustine” and “Death of St. Monica” in the altar wall “S. Navigio and S. Perpetua” other children of S. Monica about 1850 by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)

On the left “Tomb of St. Monica” (mother of St. Augustine) with sculpture maybe by Isaia da Pisa (active 1447/64) on the very strigillated sarcophagus in which St. Monica was originally buried after her death in 387 in Ostia waiting to embark with his son for Africa

The remains of the saint were moved during the restoration of Vanvitelli in the “Urn of ancient green marble” under the altar

On the right “Tomb of Cardinal Pietro Grifi” sixteenth century

Altarpiece “Madonna of the belt or of the Consolation with angels and the Sts. Augustine and Monica” by Giovanni Gottardi (1733/1812)

Leftmost chapel

BONGIOVANNI CHAPEL

In the vault simulating a dome “Assumption with Evangelists in the painted spandrels”

In the lunette “Apostles at the tomb of the Virgin Mary”

Three canvas: “Madonna appears to Sts. William of Aquitaine and Augustine” in the middle, “St. William of Aquitaine visited and healed by Our Lady” on the left and “St. Augustine ponders the mystery of the Trinity” on the right 1616, first public work in Rome and extraordinary masterpiece by the Baroque giant Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

The effect of optical illusion was diminished when the large tomb of Cardinal Lorenzo Imperiali was built and reduced the visibility of the chapel from the outside. Originally the effect was spectacular as only a balustrade was separating the chapel from the church

“In the vault Lanfranco built the first Baroque dome in Rome, transforming elements of Correggio illusionism in a style attributable to an influence of Annibale Carracci. The side paintings are instead dominated by a Caravaggio-like chiaroscuro atmosphere. A first version of the altar piece with only Christ crowning the Virgin (without God the Father) and a different location of the two adoring saints in the lower part, which did not please the clients and the Augustinians, is now in the Louvre” (Eric Schleier - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani)

LEFT TRANSEPT

Marble decoration by Giovanni Maria Baratta (active since 1644/d. after 1679) with the statue of “St. Thomas of Villanova and Charity” outstanding masterpiece of Melchiorre Caffà (1636/67) finished by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)

The poor Melchiorre Caffà died after completing St. Thomas and having sketched the woman who was executed by Ferrata who also sculpted the statues on the pediment

The chapel was dedicated to St. Thomas of Villanova after his canonization in 1658

“The female figure is not an anonymous woman of the people: in an act of poetic identification of the donor with the recipient, she appears in the traditional role of Charity. Placing her outside the central niche and turning her toward the saint, the artist has transformed her as a link between real life and the fictional world of art. Instead of worshiping a cult image the poor who pray here are encouraged to identify with the one who receives alms and to participate in charitable work of the active Church. These figures exhibit a super sensitive spirituality, an almost morbid sensitivity, compared to which the works by Bernini appear massive, strong and manly” (Rudolf Wittkower)

Reliefs in stucco “Miracles of St. Thomas of Villanova” about 1760 by Andrea Bergondi (active in Rome XVIII century)

In the upper right side “Tomb of Cardinal Lorenzo Imperiali with allegories of Fame, Time and Death” 1672 by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

The eagle flying out of the tomb represents the soul of the Cardinal

LEFT SIDE VESTIBULE

Four “Doctors of the Church” by Isaia da Pisa (active 1447/64) originally part of St. Monica's tomb

“Two busts of Augustinians” by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

“Crucifix between Sts. Cosmas and Damian” in marble maybe by Luigi Capponi (active end of 1400s/beginning of 1500s)

Above the door relief with “Christ dead held by two angels” maybe by Giovanni Duknovich aka Giovanni Dalmata (about 1440/1510)

5^th LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN OF SAHAGÚN (1430/79)

“St. John of Sahagún saves a child with a belt from a well after having raised the water level” about 1660 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91)

Oil paintings on the side walls and in the apse “Stories of St. John of Sahagún” about 1660 by artists of the Roman School

4^th LEFT - CHAPEL OF S. APOLLONIA

S. Apollonia was a martyr of the third century in Alexandria

She had her teeth torn before spontaneously throwing herself into the fire. That's why she was declared patron saint of the dentists

“S. Apollonia” about 1585 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

Apse “Glory of S. Apollonia”

On the right “Allegoric figure symbolizing Martyrdom” and on the left “Allegoric figure symbolizing Virginity” about 1660 works by Francesco Rosa (active since 1674/d. 1687) Roman pupil of Nicolas Poussin and Pietro da Cortona

3^rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CLARE OF MONTEFALCO

Extraordinary oil painting “St. Clare of Montefalco” about 1751 by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)

St. Clare of Montefalco gives her heart to Christ in search of a place to plant the Cross, disturbing and morbid subject chosen by Sebastiano Conca for one of his last Roman works before returning to Naples

St. Clare was beatified in 1742, a period which was the arrangement of the chapel, and was canonized only in 1881

Apse “Stories of St. Clare of Montefalco and angels with instruments of the Passion” mid-1700s by Girolamo Nanni

On the walls on the right “St. Clare in prayer” and on the left “Apparition of Christ to St. Clare” by an anonymous eighteenth-century artist

2^nd LEFT - PIO CHAPEL

1643 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Angelo Pio. Bernini probably entrusted the construction of the chapel to Andrea Bolgi (1606/56)

Apse with frescoes and stucco “Angelic Glory” about 1643/49 by Guidobaldo Abbatini (1600/56)

The altarpiece “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” also by Abbatini was destroyed during the eighteenth century renovations by Vanvitelli

The image of the Madonna and Child on the altar is a copy of the “Madonna del Buonconsiglio” venerated in Genazzano

On the right “Tomb of Angelo Pio” about 1649 and on the left “Tomb of Baldassarre Pio” about 1643 maybe by Andrea Bolgi

Body of St. Benedict Martyr from the Catacomb of S. Callisto moved here in 1930

Bernini mingled here for the first time frescoes and stucco with an artifice that has made seem “actually true that fake that is nothing but fake”

“The awareness in architectural terms, of the problem of light may proceed from the primitive image of the altar of St. Bibiana and, as successive stages, with the monument of the Countess Matilda in St. Peter's, the Raymondi Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio and the Pio Chapel in St. Augustine. (...) This would bring together works that have in common the purist choice of a single material, white marble, and derive from the experience tied to the constraints of the artistic formation of the sculptor and still are part of the fortune of white marble in Rome around 1630 when, at S. Carlino and Sts. Luke and Martina, the two main antagonists of Bernini lay the foundations of their architectural work, renouncing to the enrichment of colors, typical of Roman Mannerism” (Paolo Portoghesi)

1^st LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF LORETO

Shocking “Madonna of the Pilgrims” 1603/04 (1606?) by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610) for Ermete Cavalletti

The Madonna is a portrait of Lena (perhaps also portrayed in the “Death of the Virgin” in the Louvre) holding her son Paul

She was a friend and lover of Caravaggio and because of her the bloody fight took place in Piazza Navona in July 1605 between Caravaggio and the notary Mariano Pasqualoni: Caravaggio seriously injured the notary and he was forced to flee to Genoa for three weeks during which his powerful protectors covered up the story

For the posture of the Virgin Mary Caravaggio was maybe inspired by the ancient sculpture Barbarian Woman or Tusnelda kept in Villa Medici at the time and now in Florence

For the purely classical features of the face and for the long neck perhaps Caravaggio was inspired by the statue of Jacopo Sansovino, the Madonna del Parto a few steps from here

Among the many extraordinary details of a piece of art that moves, engages and shakes the soul one could mention the superb high contrast of light on the face of the Child Jesus, who, also because of this, really manages to appear at once human and divine, as very few similar images in the world do

Also striking is the incredible consistency of the material of the white cloth, symbolizing the shroud of Christ, hanging from the right arm of the Virgin Mary, one of the many technical virtuosity of Caravaggio always fitting and meaningful, never an exercise in self-indulgence

“It still has in common with the Deposition and the Cerasi paintings the diagonal composition, the low eye level and the close-up vision. But the intense darkness of the space envelops the figures even more, it doesn't highlight them from the sculptural point of view as strongly as in Deposition. Whilst generally the Madonna of Loreto is represented enthroned in Her Holy House as she is carried by the angels, the Virgin Mary here is resting on the threshold of a house in Rome in front of two common pilgrims with bare and dirty feet. It was a completely new idea that caused a stir especially among the common people who had identified themselves in those two pilgrims. It is the most moving Caravaggio's painting from the human point of view, based as it is on the meeting, on the close proximity of the pilgrims pious and full of hope, representing the whole of humanity, with the Madonna and Child bringing love, blessing and redemption” (Erich Schleier)

In the apse “Annunciation”, “Coronation of the Virgin” and “Nativity”

On the right “St. William of Aquitaine” and on the left “St. Mary Magdalene” beginning of 1600s, all works by Cristoforo Casolani (1587/1629), a pupil of Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio

SACRISTY

1756/60 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) and Carlo Murena (1713/64) to replace the old sacristy incorporated into the convent. In the process Vanvitelli destroyed the Chapel of St. Helena with paintings by Daniele da Volterra

Outside the sacristy

To the right of the door of the sacristy “Bust of Panvinio Onofrio (1530/68)” by Gaspare Sibilla (about 1723/82)

Onofrio Panvinio was the founder of Christian archeology and modern ecclesiastical historiography. It was he who first dated from the sources the foundation of Rome on 21 April 753 BC

Above the door of the sacristy “Bust of Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville” patron of the church

Inside the sacristy

Above the door painting “Preaching of St. Augustine” maybe by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)

In the ceiling “Baptism of St. Augustine” in 1887 by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)

Altar altarpiece “Alms of St. Thomas of Villanova” by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

Cabinets made out of wood from Brazil 1760

“Even in the sacristy, as in the works for the convent, the intervention of Vanvitelli is based on a classical and solemn style, with clean lines and harmonious proportions. The simple and almost austere design of the architectural is softened and made more elegant by curvilinear elements as the rounded corners, the clipei, the design of the floor” (Valeria Annecchino)

Biblioteca Angelica

Angelic Library

Next to the church, the first library in Rome open to the public, founded in 1614 by the Augustinian Angelo Rocca. It is specialized in literature and philology

It became property of the Italian State in 1873

Since 1941 it is the headquarters of the ACCADEMIA LETTERARIA DELL'ARCADIA (Literary Academy of the Arcadia)

It contains about 200,000 volumes, 2,650 manuscripts and more than 1,000 incunabula

Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) designed in 1659 a new wing, executed in the years 1659/69 by Francesco Righi

It was enlarged in the years 1756/65 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) and Carlo Murena who designed on the first floor the room known as the “Vase”

The shelves in walnut wood date back to 1668

“Two pairs of celestial and terrestrial globes” 1599 and 1603 unique in Italy

FORMER CONVENT OF THE AUGUSTINIANS

Now it is the Palazzo dell'Avvocatura Generale dello Stato (Palace of the State Attorney General)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (eighteenth part)

Room XXIII - Caravaggisti

“Christ drives out the merchants from the temple” about 1618, “Judgment of Solomon” about 1620 and “Last Supper” about 1625 by Jean Valentin aka Valentin de Boulogne (about 1591/1632)

“Having settled soon in Rome (where, however, he is only documented from 1620) he was in contact with French and Nordic artists and looked upon the work of Bartolomeo Manfredi. His activity is well documented from 1627, when he began working for Cardinal Francesco Barberini, his protector and patron. Careful interpreter of Caravaggio's lesson, he painted scenes of tavern, concerts and historical and religious paintings, characterized by psychological research and a use of light that creates precious effects of surface and color” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Concerto (Hearing)” 1629 by the Dutchman Hendrick Ter Brugghen (about 1588/1629) among the most innovative Caravaggisti in northern Europe

“Ter Brugghen gave an original interpretation of Caravaggio, in the strong emotional emphasis in religious paintings or in the treatment of some popular subjects, such as the many concerts he painted. His highly personal interpretation of light, both the treatment and the density of the air in the clear luminosity of the background, as well as the importance he gave to color values, were all important parts of the education of the Utrecht school and for training painters like Johannes Vermeer” (Enciclopedia Treccani)

“Separation of St. Peter and St. Paul led to martyrdom” about 1626 by Giovanni Serodine (about 1600/30)

A surprising and innovative masterpiece

“The touches of light mixed with a clever use of colors anticipate artistically the kind of painting style that would physically and visually employ matter, resulting in almost a distortion of shapes; Serodine accentuated these effects so as to match the results of free brushwork of Velasquez and Rembrandt” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Jerome” and “Crown of Thorns” by Lionello Spada aka Scimmia del Caravaggio (1576/1622)

“Vanity” by the so-called Candlelight Master

“St. Jerome” by Trophime Bigot (about 1579/1649)

“The particular effect of candlelight which cancels the anatomical details and episodes, typical of the works of Bigot, and prominent in St. Jerome, rules out that the painter would be the author of Vanity, which looks very different in the volumetric rendition of the forms highlighted by the use of light. According to a recent suggestion the candle light would display the 'lux intellecti', a metaphor for divine grace derived from St. Augustine” (Rossella Vodret)

BARBERINI PALACE - NATIONAL ART GALLERY (sixteenth part)

Room XX - Caravaggio

Volta: “Apollo's Chariot” about 1585/87 by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628) for Paolo I Sforza

“Judith cutting off Holofernes' head” about 1599/1600

“Judith and Holofernes is the beginning of a long series of violent themes treated by the painter Caravaggio in which he would explore the dominant thoughts, the meaning of life and the tragic conflict between persecutors and victims. With the central assumption another theme is interwoven, the opposition between the beautiful, victorious Judith and the horrible assistant alluding to the contrast between youth and old age” (Mina Gregori)

“He adhered perfectly, except for the presence of the assistant, to the story of the book of Judith from the Old Testament accepted by Orthodox and Roman Catholics but not by Jews and Protestants who rate it as an apocryphal texts. Another reason, this, to think that the choice of the subject also has a powerful anti-Lutheran meaning. He chooses as always to represent the climax of the action: the most terrible and tragic moment of the beheading of Holofernes here hanging between life and death in a scene where the use of light is the protagonist, lighting with skillful chiaroscuro quite a surreal scene” (Rossella Vodret)

“Narcissus” about 1598 and “St. Francis in Meditation” about 1605 three masterpieces of outstanding beauty by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610)

In the sacristy of S. Maria della Concezione (St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception) there is a copy of S. Francis in Meditation maybe painted by Bartolomeo Manfredi, from the original of Carpineto Romano found in 1968 and now here at Palazzo Barberini

Some scholars even claim that neither is the original by Caravaggio

“With the exception of Michelangelo, no other Italian painter exercised so great an influence on later painters” (Bernard Berenson)

“Sacred Love and Profane Love” about 1602 by Giovanni Baglione (1566/1643)

The face of the demon at the bottom is the portrait of Caravaggio hated by Baglione who denounced him for libel in 1603 together with Onorio Longhi with whom Caravaggio had written a series of scurrilous poems

Caravaggio was sentenced to nearly a month in jail and then, through the intercession of the French ambassador, he was released. He still had to undergo house arrest. Eventually the trial was eventually covered up without further criminal consequences

Baglione was deeply influenced by the stratospheric genius of Caravaggio even though he hated him and he was one of his biographer in his book about the lives of artists contemporary to him

“St. Francis and the Angel” about 1612/13 by Orazio Lomi aka Orazio Gentileschi (1563/1639)

“Unlike others, Gentileschi was not subjugated by the strong personality of Caravaggio, but he selected the stimuli accurately showing preference for the clear and transparent light of the first works of the master, and, as demonstrated by this St. Francis, assembling immediately, without hesitation, a resounding summary with what was his basic cultural component: the reformed paintings by Santi di Tito and Andrea Commodi, combined with a particular sensitivity inherent in Tuscan colors, but sharpened by his long experience in the papal construction sites” (Rossella Vodret)

“Bacchus and a Drinker” about 1610 by Bartolomeo Manfredi (1587/about 1620)

“Among the first members of the so called Caravaggio's 'school', rather than an interpreter he was an imitator, who drew the patterns of composition and lighting by Roman works of the master, so much so that many of his works were considered by the hand of Caravaggio himself” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“St. Gregory the Great” by Jusepe de Ribera aka Spagnoletto (1591/1652) to whom it was recently attributed based on documentary evidence

VILLA OF THE AURORA

CASINO DELL'AURORA

Via Lombardia 46

House of the sixteenth century on the site of the HORTI SALLUSTIANI belonging first to Cardinal Del Nero and later to Cardinal Del Monte, who was the protector of Caravaggio hosted by him in the current Palazzo Madama

Renewed 1621/23 for the Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi

Expanded in the nineteenth century

It is all that remains of the buildings of the VILLA LUDOVISI with the Palazzo Grande now incorporated in the U.S. Embassy

GROUND FLOOR

ENTRANCE

Vault with "Janus quadrifronte"

HALL OF THE AURORA (Sala dell'Aurora)

Lovely temper "Chariot of Aurora" and, in a lunette a wonderful allegory of "Night" 1621 by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666) with decorations imitating architecture by Agostino Tassi (1578/1644)

It was inspired by the book "Iconology" by Cesare Ripa already published in 1593 and reissued in 1618 and it was the answer to the "Aurora" which had been painted by Guido Reni seven years before for the Borghese family in the current Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi

"Guercino creates a visual effect in the infinite space: he goes beyond the Carracci solutions of images within frameworks and conceives a vast, limitless and celestial light in which the chariot of Dawn suddenly appears. The full effects of light and shadow as well as the mobility of the air give emotional quality to the representation. Moreover the extreme freedom of execution gives sketchy effects to the whole composition, especially to the beautiful pastoral landscapes that break up the rigors of architecture. Compared to the balanced and composed interpretation of Guido Reni, Guercino's one announces the suggestions of aerial illusionism. Guercino's naturalist sensibility inspired by Carracci is particularly evident in the personification of Night, where she manages to infuse a feeling of sweet melancholy evoked by the moonlight of the night sky" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

ROOM OF THE FIREPLACE or OF THE LANDSCAPES

"Four Landscapes" Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino, G.B. Viola, Paul Brill (1554/1626) and Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641)

Ceiling maybe by Antonio Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1568/1629), son of Niccolò Circignani

The landscapes were executed before the Aurora and it was perhaps the test case for the choice of the painter of the Aurora

ROOM OF THE CUPIDS

Ceiling with "Procession of Cupids" maybe by Antonio Circignani aka Pomarancio

PIANO NOBILE

ROOM NEXT TO THE ENTRANCE (Alchemic Cabinet)

In the vault "Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto with zodiac signs" 1597 only known work painted with oil on plaster by Michelangelo Merisi aka Caravaggio (1571/1610)

Audacious and breathtaking close-up perspective view, rich in mysterious symbolism where the three faces are probably Caravaggio's self-portraits. It was cleared from the layer of soot and virtually rediscovered only in 1990 after the revealing restoration by Maria Grazia Bernardini

"Caravaggio shows a deep grasp of illusionary achievements in northern Italy, with particular reference to Giulio Romano and his frescoes in the Palazzo Te in Mantua. The theme and the interest in the chemistry of Cardinal Del Monte gave rise to many controversial allegorical interpretations" (Caravaggio Monograph - Mondadori)

"Really it must have seemed incomprehensible the natural rendition of the bodies of naked men and animals resulting not from the timeless world of classical mythology, but from observation of concrete models chosen in the Roman streets: Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto have abandoned for a moment their clothes of Roman butchers, innkeepers and porters to climb a ledge and offer Caravaggio a new perspective from which he could look at the world of the ancient gods without any awe" (Vincenzo Farinella)

HALL OF FAME

Ceiling "Fame with Honor and Virtue" by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino with painted architectonical decorations by Agostino Tassi