Sunday, February 10, 2019

St. JEROME OF CHARITY

S. GIROLAMO DELLA CARITÀ
A small church was built on the site where, according to tradition, St. Jerome on the year 382, was a guest in the house of the saint matron Paola
Known since 1492
Assigned in 1524 to the Arciconfraternita della Carità (Archconfraternity of Charity)
The church is linked to the figure of S. Filippo Neri (1515/95), known as St. Philip Neri in English
He lived for 33 years in the adjacent convent, in a room where there used to take place frequent meetings between four saints: Filippo Neri, Charles Borromeo, Ignatius of Loyola and Felice da Cantalice
In a barn adjoining the church S. Filippo Neri established the institution of the oratory
A fire in 1631 damaged the church
Rebuilt in the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)
Restored in the years 1652/60 by Domenico Castelli (1582/1657)

1660 completed by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) after the death in 1657 of Domenico Castelli who had already designed in 1647

FLOOR
Made of marble, 1660 by Alessandro Sarti

CEILING
1587 by the master carpenter Andrea Tozzi

1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY or SPADA CHAPEL
1654 Giovanni Somazzi for Virgilio Spada
It is traditionally attributed to Francesco Borromini (1599/1667), of whom in fact there is only one project for the front of the altar and nothing else

Above the altar
“Madonna and Child” by an anonymous Sienese painter of the fifteenth century

At the sides of the altar
“Two medallions embossed with Sts. Francis and Bonaventure” by Pietro Paolo Naldini (1619/91)

On the right wall
“Tomb of Giovanni Spada” by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88)

On the left wall
“Tomb of Lorenzo Bernardino Spada” by Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)
“Ferrata proved to be a faithful executor of the drawings supplied to him, showing a remarkable ability to adapt his style to the task requested. It is however acknowledged in him a tendency to tone down excessively dramatic and pathetic images in the name of that idea of Classicism of which he was then the main representative in Rome” (Gerardo Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Above the graves
“Six medallions embossed with illustrious ancestors of the Spada family”, three on each side:
“Amadore I with his brother Aleramo Spada” and “Pietro di Cecco and Serrone di Pietro Spada” by Pietro Paolo Naldini
“Amadore with his son Mengo Sword” by Ercole Antonio Raggi (1624/86)
“Amadore II Spada” by Francesco Baratta (about 1590/about 1663)
“Mutio with his nephew Antonello Spada” by Ercole Ferrata
“Ghino di Mengo Spada” by Giuseppe Perone

On the threshold of the chapel
Sculptural group in bloodstone with “Angels kneeling and tending tablecloth for the Eucharist” by Antonio Giorgetti (known from 1660/d. 1669), a pupil of Alessandro Algardi
The angel on the left has movable wooden wings in faux marble used as small door of the chapel
“Borromini had little to do with the project (...) and anything with its execution. The lavish style of the chapel is very different anyway from the one of the architect from Canton Ticino in his late period. It remains a masterpiece of Baroque Roman for the highly theatrical effect and the use of pictorial marquetry and marble slabs with fake damasks” (Olga Melasecchi)

2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
It was remodeled in 1717, the year to which frescos and stuccos date back to
Above the altar “Wooden crucifix” mid-1400s in front of which tradition has it that S. Filippo Neri used to celebrate Mass

RIGHT TRANSEPT
“Tomb of the Earl Asdrubale from Montauto” 1629 Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)
“The baroque style is detectable in the original cyma around the portrait, with the ends curled and the hanging festoons, imitated by Carlo Maratta for his own grave at S. Maria degli Angeli” (Olga Melasecchi)

TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR
CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE BAPTIST formerly CASALI CHAPEL and later MARESCOTTI CHAPEL
Altarpiece “Madonna and Child with Sts. Joseph, John the Evangelist and John the Baptist” by Durante Alberti (1538/1616) who also painted the frescoes with “Stories of Jesus” damaged by a fire in 1630 and by some bad restorations in the eighteenth century

MAIN ALTAR
1645/47 Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) for Fantino Renzi and his nephew Scipione Gisleni who are buried here and whose “Busts” by the school of Algardi are inserted in the walls
“Communion of St. Jerome” 1797 copy by Antonio Corsi from the famous 1614 original by Domenichino which was originally here and is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana

TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ALTAR
ANTAMORO CHAPEL
1707 by the great architect Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736)
“He solved the narrowness of the available space creating movement with the ellipsoidal shape of the plan, opening a large oval window at the end and expanding the stucco decoration in the lantern where it ends in a glory of cherubims. The concave shape of the altar is a counterpoint of the convex part of the steps” (Olga Melasecchi)
Statue of “S. Filippo Neri” by Pierre Legros (1666/1719) perhaps also the author of the reliefs with “S. Filippo Neri in the Catacomb of St. Sebastian” and “S. Filippo Neri sees the souls of his penitents going to heaven” also attributed to Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)

2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. CHARLES BORROMEO or MALAGOTTI CHAPEL
“Madonna and Child appearing to Sts. Carlo Borromeo and Filippo Neri” by an unknown artist of the first half of the seventeenth century
On the sides “Fake perspectives” and “Annunciation” about 1748 by Girolamo Mengozzi aka Colonna (1688/1774) from Ferrara

1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. PETER
“Handing of the keys” maybe by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)
Prospective frescoes by Girolamo Mengozzi aka Colonna

SACRISTY
Walnut furniture attributed to Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736)
“S. Filippo Neri in adoration of the Madonna and Child” about 1639 maybe by Pietro Barbieri (1684/1730) pupil of Carlo Maratta

CONVENT
In Via S. Girolamo della Carità 63
Rebuilt in the years 1632/37 by Francesco Peparelli (active since 1626/d. 1641)
Paintings with connections to S. Filippo Neri including “S. Filippo Neri in adoration of the Madonna and Child” about 1640 by Emilio Savonanzi (1580/1660) from Bologna

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