Begun in
1662 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for the Carmelite
Fathers
Rainaldi's
project was bound by the measures of the columns recycled from the destroyed
Bernini's towers for St. Peter's Basilica, also used in the “twin” church S. Maria dei Miracoli
Continued
since 1673 by Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) with
funding from Cardinal Girolamo Gastaldi
In the
years 1674/75 Fontana worked together with Gian Lorenzo
Bernini (1598/1680) who designed the DOME
“Because the
areas of the two churches were of different sizes, symmetry, which here was
essential, was not easy to obtain. Choosing an oval dome for the tighter area
of S. Maria di Montesanto and a circular one for the wider S. Maria dei
Miracoli, Rainaldi managed to give the impression that they had the same size
and shape. One wonders if Rainaldi would have ever come up with the
pseudo-symmetrical arrangement of these churches without the impression he
received by Bernini's way of creating architecture” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Completed
in 1679
Restored in
1825 when the dome was covered with shards of slate
In 1707
Georg Friedrich Händel, commissioned by Cardinal Carlo Colonna, composed
psalms, motets and antiphons that were performed in this church for Vespers of
the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
It is also
known as the Church of Artists
“The
cultural importance of the church is linked to the name of Monsignor Ennio
Francia (1904/1995), personality of great culture, who in 1953 made it the
seat of the Mass of Artists, which he established in 1941. The celebration of
Sunday Mass, which has involved many famous representatives of the art world,
has over time given the church a second denomination, Church of the Artists,
which recalls and perpetuates the successful collaboration of the art historian
Giulio Carlo Argan, of the artists of the School of Piazza del Popolo, of
musicians such as Goffredo Petrassi. The enlightened project had the merit of
making this place a sacred space open to discussion and dialogue, creating an
unusual but fruitful relationship with creativity and culture. The ellipsis of
the layout, which circumscribes the sacred space, suggests the idea of the
universe in motion, which radiates into the city through the streets that
branch off from it” (Web site of the Church of the Artists -
www.chiesadegliartisti.it)
BELL TOWER
1758/61 Girolamo Theodoli (1677/1766)
UPPER PART
OF THE FAÇADE
“Eight
statues of Carmelite nuns” by various artists including Lazzaro Morelli (1608/90), G.B. De Rossi and Filippo
Carcani (active 1670/91)
At the
center of the floor “Large coat of arms of the Gastaldi family” 1678 by Carlo Rainaldi
1st
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE MOST HOLY CRUCIFIX
1677 Alessandro
Cessani, stuccos by Pietro Papaleo (1640/1740)
Ovals “David
with the Head of Goliath” and “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” 1822 by Ferdinando Cavalleri (1794/1867) from Turin
On the
right “Prophet Hague with the wife of Jeroboam” and on the left “History of
Tobit” 1822 by Ludovico Venuti (1785/1872) Cortona
“Altar
frontal” with precious marbles
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
On the
altar “Supper at Emmaus” 1981 by Riccardo Tommasi
Ferroni (1934/2000)
“This work
was inspired by the idea that Jesus is renewed in time and in every time, which
is why the artist is representing Jesus with ancient clothes, the man standing
with seventeenth-century clothes and the apostles with modern clothes, while in
a basket under the table rests the dog of the artist himself. This is the
symbolic meaning that Ferroni wants to suggest, that is, Jesus is always
present in our daily lives” (Interactive Web Site Rome -
www.romainteractive.com)
Vault with “Purgatory”
by an unknown artist
On the
right “St. Gregory in prayer” and on the left “Sts. Albert and Lawrence” 1907
by Silvio Galimberti (1869/1956)
3rd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ANNA
1679 Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri
(1655/1721), a pupil of Carlo Fontana
Above the
altar “Sacred Conversation”
Frescoes in
the vault “Eternal Father in
glory”,
lunettes “Angel Appearing to
Joachim” and “Meeting of Joachim and Anna”
all works by Niccolò Berrettoni (1637/82)
This was
the last work of the most important pupil of Carlo Maratta, who died
45-year-old soon after painting it
“Putti” in marble by Pietro
Paolo Naldini (1619/91)
1676/79 Mattia De
Rossi (1637/95)
“Virgin Mary of
Montesanto” of the sixteenth century. The church is dedicated to her
“Angels” on
the altar and “Sculptural group with angels holding the Gastaldi coat of arms”
in stucco above the triumphal arch by Filippo Carcani (active 1670/91) who also sculpted the four statues
of the “Sts. Angel, Alberto, Elisha and
Elijah” that
are in the niches of the dome
TO THE
SIDES OF THE MAIN ALTAR
Four
painted terracotta busts:
On the
right “Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67)” and “Clement X Altieri (1670/76)”
On the left
“Clement IX Rospigliosi (1667/69)” and “Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)”
They are
copies that replaced the bronze originals by Girolamo
Lucenti (?/1698) except that of Urban VIII (Lucenti had sculpted a bust
of Innocent XI Odescalchi - 1676/89) which is a copy of an original by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini now in the Louvre
3rd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF Sts. FRANCIS AND JAMES
1687 Tommaso Mattei (1652/1726),
a pupil of Carlo Fontana
It belongs
to the Montioni family
Above the
altar “Virgin Mary and
Child with Sts. Francis and James the Great” 1687 by Carlo
Maratta (1625/1713) for the wealthy banker Francesco Montioni
“The Sixties
of the seventeenth century opened and closed with the disappearance of two
rulers of the pictorial context of Rome, as well as the leaders of the main and
opposing stylistic tendencies of the time, the 'classical' (which favored
groups of few figures, sitting in balanced, studied poses) and 'baroque' (which
favored conspicuous masses of figures in distinctly dynamic attitudes): Andrea
Sacchi, who died in 1661, and Pietro da Cortona, who died in 1669. At this
juncture of epochal transition, Maratta was the only one who proved to be
suitable - in terms of personality, taste, capability and professional
reliability - to fill in the vacant leadership, and to keep it more and more
firmly in the decades to follow, placing himself at the head of a firm not less
efficient than extensive, which would have formed some of the most able
professionals of the Roman scene of the late seventeenth and of early decades
of the eighteenth centuries (Giuseppe Chiari, Niccolò Berrettoni, Giacinto
Calandrucci, Andrea Procaccini, Agostino Masucci, Giuseppe Passeri)” (Luca
Bortolotti - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
On the
right “Christ Blessing with
the Virgin Mary appearing to St. Francis” by Luigi
Garzi (1638/1721), a pupil of Andrea Sacchi and later influenced by
Carlo Maratta
On the left
“Charity of St. James” 1688 by Daniele Seiter
(1649/1705)
In the
vault “Glory of the Virgin Mary” 1687 by Giuseppe
Chiari (1654/1727), pupil of Carlo Maratta
About 1677 Carlo Rainaldi
Above the
altar “Virgin Mary hands
the veil to St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi” represented for the first time
after the canonization of 1669
On the
right of the “Communion of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi”, on the left “Apparition
of St. Augustine to St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi”
Vault “Christ
in Glory” 1680/85 all works by Ludovico Gimignani (1643/97)
Stuccos
with “Angels and cherubs holding garlands” about 1680 maybe by Lazzaro Morelli and Filippo
Carcani
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. LUCIA
Above the
altar “St. Lucia” by an artist of the Roman school of the end of the
seventeenth century
“Sepulchral
monuments of the Palombi family” mid nineteenth century
1678,
restored in the second decade of the nineteenth century
Vault “Glory
of Angels with instruments of the Passion” end of the seventeenth century by an
artist of the school of G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio
Above the
altar “Deposition” about 1720 by Biagio Puccini
(1673/1721), one of his last works
ROOM NEAR
THE SACRISTY
Frescoes “Dove
of the Holy Spirit and glory of angels with the instruments of the Passion”
1691/92 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)
On the
altar “Deposition” copy made in about 1690 by Giuseppe
Chiari (1654/1727) from the original by Annibale Carracci now in Naples
