The original
church dates back to 1296, built for Boniface VIII Caetani (1294/1303)
Enlarged
and restored in the years 1479/83 by Giacomo da
Pietrasanta (active from 1452/d. about 1497) and Sebastiano Fiorentino (active 1479/83) for the powerful and
extraordinary wealthy Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville, chamberlain of Sixtus
IV Della Rovere (1471/84) and protector of the Augustinians
The FAÇADE was built with marble taken from
the Colosseum
“This is one
of the first Renaissance façades in Rome, really interesting because it shows,
even with some disproportions and a lack of consistency on the whole, the
typical desire of the time to research and experiment with new architectural
solutions” (Valeria Annecchino)
Transformed
in 1756/61 by Luigi Vanvitelli (1700/73) who
reworked also the bell tower. He was at the same time engaged in the
construction of the humongous Royal Palace of Caserta and he had therefore
entrusted the work on his behalf to Carlo Murena
(1713/64)
It was
restored again in the nineteenth century until 1870
St.
Augustine (354/430), one of the fathers of the church, was born in Africa, in
Algeria and died in Ippona, in Sardinia, where he was bishop. He is buried in
Pavia. He founded the Order of the Hermits focused mainly on charitable
activities and the study of theology
In the past
the church had a unique feature in Rome: it was the only one to admit
courtesans and it houses the tombs of some of them: Fiammetta, the lover of
Cesare Borgia, Giulia Campana with her daughters, Penelope and the famous
Tullia d'Aragona
It was the
first church in Rome for which a dome was built. The present dome was rebuilt by Luigi Vanvitelli
It was a
church so important that even Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) was
commissioned a painting for the church, the “Entombment”, unfinished and now in
the National Gallery in London
On the left
“Madonna of
Childbirth”
1521 by Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino
(1486/1570), pupil of Andrea Sansovino (he inherited his nickname) for the
heirs of the Florentine merchant Giovanni Martelli who had built the chapel
The statue
was originally known as Madonna del Sasso (Our Lady of the Stone) and is
still very much venerated among Roman pregnant women who frequently leave
messages of prayer or thanksgiving at the statue
The
tradition began in 1820 after a husband, worried about the pregnancy of his
wife, had his prayer answered. He had kept a lamp on in front of the statue day
and night
Probably
Jacopo Sansovino was inspired by an ancient statue in porphyry representing
Apollo seated, kept in a Roman palace at the time and now in the Archaeological
Museum of Naples
To the left
of the Madonna of Childbirth “Tomb of Francesca
Faggioli” d.
1661 wife of the painter Francesco Cozza
(1605/82) who painted the portrait on the monument
The very
large ORGAN dates back to 1905
STOUPS
Two basins
shell-shaped in black marble supported by two angels in white marble: “Raphael”
on the left 1650 by Cosimo Fanzago (1591/1678)
and “Gabriel” on the right 1660 by pupils of Fanzago
“In the
Renaissance church more light had been planned, not only from the windows now
closed on the right-end side, but also from the windows, now closed as well,
which opened in every chapel. Brightness was widespread and enhanced by the
whiteness of the pillars, covered with travertine up to a third of their height
and by the whitewashed walls. The Renaissance church expressed in full, with
its harmonious proportions and its diffuse light, the ideal of composed beauty
of Christian humanism, for which aesthetic was deeply connected to the values
and truths of faith. Medieval reminiscences perhaps due to the building
traditions of the architect and workers, are visible in the strong upward
thrust of the architectural framework as well as in the use of external
buttresses at the sides” (Valeria Annecchino)
The church
was painted in the years 1855/68 by Pietro Gagliardi
(1809/90) helped by his nephew Giovanni and Enrico Marini with
the following works:
On the
walls of the nave “Stories from the Life of the Virgin Mary”, whose sketches
are kept at the Museum of Rome, which
correspond to “Jewish Heroines” foretellers of the Virgin Mary, and on the
VAULT “Abraham and David”
On the PILLARS
“Five prophets
authors of Marian prophecies” and in the PRESBYTERY “Scene of the triumph of
Mary after her death”
3rd PILLAR
ON THE LEFT
Fresco “Isaiah the Prophet” of 1512 Raffaello
Sanzio (Raphael) (1483/1520) clearly inspired by the figures by
Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel
In the
parchment unrolled by the prophet are these word in Hebrew: “Open the doors so
people who believe enter” (Isaiah - XXVI, 2)
Below “Madonna and Child
with St. Anne”
1512 by Andrea Contucci aka Andrea Sansovino
(1460/1529)
There is an
interesting contrast between the realistic facial features of St. Anne and the
beautifully and abstractly classic look of the Virgin Mary
Both works
were commissioned by Giovanni Goritz from Luxembourg
The day of
St. Anne all the poets of Rome used to hung their poems around the statue, they
would go to Mass and then they would all eat at Goritz's home near Capitoline
Hill
PULPIT
Completed
in 1644 and maybe designed by Vincenzo Della Greca
(1592/1661) who, at that time, was the architect of the monastery
“Monuments
of Stefano and Lorenzo Mutini” beginning of 1600s
“St. Catherine of
Alexandria”
oil on slate, on the right “St. Lawrence” and on the left “St. Stephen” oil on
paper, about 1550/60 by Marcello Venusti (about
1512/79)
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. JOSEPH
“Madonna of the Roses” 1589 copy by Domenico Spagnolo from the original Madonna of the
Veil that Raphael did for S.
Maria del Popolo. Now it is in Chantilly
In the apse
three round panels “Stories of the
Virgin Mary”
frescoes about 1587/88 by Avanzino Nucci
(1552/1629) for Cardinal G.B. Castagna later Urban VII (1590), who was pope for
only twelve days, the shortest papacy in history
On the
right “St. John the
Evangelist”
and on the left “St. John the Baptist” maybe by G.B.
Montagna recently rediscovered
On the
right “Tomb of Pietro
Gagliardi”
who had painted the two side paintings now moved into the sacristy after the
discovery of the frescoes by G.B. Montagna
1672 G.B. Contini (1641/1723). S. Rita after praying to
share the sufferings of Christ on the Cross was given a thorn from the crown in
her forehead and kept it there for fifteen years
“Ecstasy of S. Rita” about 1674 by Giacinto Brandi (1621/91) for the princess Camilla Orsini Borghese
In the apse
“S. Rita miraculously
introduced into the convent by her patrons saints Augustine, Nicholas of
Tolentino and John the Baptist”, on the right “S. Rita as a girl
surrounded by bees” and on the left “Death of S. Rita” about 1686 by Pietro Locatelli (about 1634/about 1710), a pupil of
Pietro da Cortona
Marble
group “Delivery of the Keys” 1596 by G.B.
Cotignola
In the
pediment table “God the Father” of the end of 1400s by the school of Pinturicchio
Apse “Musical Angels”, on the right “Immaculate
Conception”
and on the left “Assumption” beginning of 1600s by Giuseppe Vasconio, pupil of
Guido Reni
“Wooden cross” end of 1400s, before which St.
Philip Neri used to pray during the period of his studies in the adjacent
convent
Above the
pediment “Angels in stucco
with symbols of the Passion” mid seventeenth century by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist
Renovation
begun in 1636 by Vincenzo Della Greca
(1592/1661)
In the apse
frescoes: “Conversion of St.
Augustine” on the right, “Glory of St. Augustine intercessor” in the center and
“St. Augustine meditates on the Trinity” on the left by G.B.
Speranza (c. 1600/40)
“Sts. Augustine among
St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul the First Hermit” by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)
Canvas at
the sides: on the right “St. Augustine defeat
heresies”
and on the left “St. Augustine
welcomes the Redeemer in the guise of a pilgrim” by Giovanni
Lanfranco (1582/1647)
On the left
“Tomb of Cardinal
Giuseppe Renato Imperiali” designed by Paolo Posi (1708/76) in 1741
with sculptures by Pietro Bracci (1700/73). The mosaic portrait of the
cardinal was
made by Ludovico Stern (1709/77) and executed by
the mosaicist of St. Peter's Basilica Pietro Paolo
Cristofari (1685/1743)
Cardinal
Giuseppe Renato Imperiali was the great-grandson of Cardinal Lorenzo Imperiali
buried in the left transept
On the
right “Baptism of St.
Augustine”
by Pietro Gagliardi (1809/90)
To the right of the main altar
S. Nicholas
of Tolentino (1249/1305) was the first Augustinian saint to be canonized and he
is patron of the souls in Purgatory
Frescoes
and stucco work on the ceiling “Stories of St.
Nicholas of Tolentino” about 1585/90 by G.B. Ricci (about
1550/1624) and Vincenzo Conti (second half of
1500s/about 1620)
The
extraordinary decorative apparatus can well mask the fact that the right side
of the chapel is longer than the left
Frescoes on
the side walls, “Four Blessed of the Augustinian order”, on the right “End of the plague in
Cordova” and
on the left “Vision of St.
Nicholas during the celebration of the Mass” about 1850 by Pietro
Gagliardi (1809/90)
Altar “St. Nicholas of
Tolentino”
by Tommaso Salini (about 1575/1625) painter
influenced by Caravaggio
1627 maybe Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) or Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657)
Extraordinary
“Temple-like
tabernacle with dome” made of precious marbles sent from the West Indies by the Augustinian
missionaries
Altar “Madonna Odighitria” maybe Byzantine
On the
broken pediment two statues of “Angels kneeling” by the great Giuliano Finelli (1602/53) from terracotta models of Gian Lorenzo Bernini
On the
doors on the sides “Two pairs of putti” on the left by Pietro
Bracci (1700/73) and on the right by Bartolomeo
Pincellotti (known from 1735/d. 1740)
In the
upper part stained glass window “St. Augustine
defeats heresy” by the master glassmaker Antonio
Moroni (1825/86) who also made windows in other churches in Rome
No comments:
Post a Comment