It was
built on the section of Capitoline Hill known as ARX, above the TEMPLE
OF CAPITOLINE ISIS, next to the TEMPLE
OF JUNO MONETA and over a Benedictine monastery of the seventh
century
It owes its
name to the legend of the fourteenth century about the vision that Augustus had
of the Virgin Mary
The Emperor
would have had the vision from his room through a hole in a column (the third
on the left) of a beautiful woman with a child in her arms, and he would have
also heard a voice saying: “This is the altar of the son of God”
It was the
Virgin Mary and legend has it that for this reason he decided not to assume
control of Rome explicitly
It was
originally much smaller and made out only of the current transept facing south
It was
rebuilt in its present size in the years 1285/87 maybe by Arnolfo di Cambio (about 1245/1302) for the Franciscan
friars and consecrated incomplete in 1291
Restorations
in the years 1467/72, 1564 and 1689
Made out of
125 steps. Built in 1348 by Lorenzo di Simone Andreozzi,
as the inscription on the left of the door mentions, at the expense of the
Roman people as a votive offering after the plague of that year
It was
built with marble taken from ancient buildings, maybe the Temple of Quirinus
Maybe it
was inaugurated by Cola di Rienzo
The FAÇADE dates back to the thirteenth
century
PORTAL 1564 for Alessandro Mattei
On the
ground, in front of the portal, tombstones including “Tomb of Flavio
Biondo (1392/1463)” historian and humanist, the first one ever to use the term Middle Ages
and one of the first to be interested in antiquarian studies, forerunners of
archeology
In 1806 the
clock on the façade, which since 1412 was the main public clock in Rome, was
taken off and was moved to the front of the Senatorial Palace
It is the main
church of the Franciscans in Rome being a minor basilica with a cardinal
title
1572/80 Flaminio Bolanger with gilding and paintings by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) and Cesare Trapassi for St. Pius V Ghislieri (1566/72)
The entire
ceiling was built as a votive offering in thanksgiving for the Christian
victory at the Battle of Lepanto against the Muslims
Thirteenth
century by members of the Cosmati family. It
incorporates fragments of the floor of the ninth century
“Celebratory
inscription” of the Roman Senate for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) 1634/36 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680), maybe executed by
his brother Luigi Bernini (1612/81)
TO THE LEFT
OF THE PORTAL
“Funerary monument of
Cardinal Ludovico d'Albret” 1465 the first Roman work of Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)
On the wall
very worn out “Tombstone of
Giovanni Crivelli” archdeacon of Aquileia d. 1432 by Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi aka Donatello (1386/1466) placed here in 1881
TO THE
RIGHT OF THE PORTAL
“Tomb of Ludovico
Grati Margani” d. 1531
Frescoes of the years 1686/91:
Three by Giovanni Odazzi (1663/1731):
“Adoration of the
Magi”,
“Flight into Egypt” and “Prophet David”
Two by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714), favorite pupil of Carlo
Maratta: “Death of the Virgin Mary” and “Assumption”
Seven by Fra'
Umile da Foligno, who also painted the ovals with “Franciscan Saints”
The last
two frescoes on the left are of the years 1801/03 by Father
Atanasio da Coriano, filling the space
of the organ destroyed by the French during the occupation of Rome in 1798
Inscription
A cubicle Augustorum and hole
4th
COLUMN ON THE LEFT
“Altar of Our Lady of
Refuge”
beginning 1400 by artists of the Viterbo school
AT THE FOOT
OF THE 5th COLUMN ON THE LEFT
“Tombstone
of Aldus magister et Murator” mysterious builder of the church of the
end of the thirteenth century
AT THE END
OF THE NAVE
Leaning
against one of the pillars “Altar of St. John of Capistrano” 1682 by Francesco Guidotti
St. John of
Capistrano drove the Turks from Belgrade in 1456 at the cost of his life, by
collecting tens of thousands of volunteers and participating in the attack
Right End Side of the Church
RIGHT NAVE
Frescoes “Stories
of St. Bernardino” who had lived in the monastery:
On the
right “St. Francis
Receiving the Stigmata”, “Glory of St. Bernardino” and “Donning of St.
Bernardino”
In the
central wall “St. Bernardino
crowned between Sts. Louis of Toulouse and St. Anthony of Padua with, at the top, Christ and cherubim and, in the background, preaching
by the Bonfire of the Vanities and the peacemaker intervention between the
Bufalini and the Baglioni families”
On the left
“Funeral of St.
Bernardino with Niccolò Bufalini on left standing”
In the left
lunette “Penance of St.
Bernardine at Porta Tufi in Siena”
In the
vault “Evangelists”
At the
center “Symbol of St. Bernardino” which cost him accusations of heresy and
three trials
All works
carried out in the years 1482/84 by Bernardino di Betto aka Pinturicchio (1454/1513) for Niccolò Bufalini from
Città di Castello in order to celebrate the reestablished peace between his
family and the Baglioni of Perugia thanks to the mediation of St. Bernardino of
Siena
“In vain
with previous artists, or with other art schools, we would look for (...) a
larger and more harmonious ceremony than the Funeral of St. Bernardino, the
background of a town square as noble as this and where one would feel more
comfortable to breathe at ease” (Bernard Berenson)
Restored
for the first time in the years 1818/29 by Vincenzo
Camuccini (1771/1844)
On the altar “Pietà” about 1570 by Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87)
Frescoes on
the vault “Stories of the
Passion of Christ” and on the walls, on the left “Deposition” and on the right “Christ in the tomb” about 1585/90 by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)
“This chapel
met with greater favor among his contemporaries than the other chapel painted
by Roncalli in Aracoeli with stories of St. Paul. The decorative division was
enhanced and the nagging heaviness of the frescoes of the other chapel was
mitigated” (Hermann Voss)
“Busts of Paolo Mattei (d. 1592) and of his wife Tuzia Colonna“ maybe sculpted by Tommaso della Porta (about 1550/1606)
STATUE OF GREGORY
XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) by Pietro Paolo
Olivieri (1551/99) moved here in 1876 from the Senatorial Palace of
Capitoline Hill with the other two statues of popes
Painting on
slate “St. Jerome Penitent” about 1572 by Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615) discovered after
an altarpiece by Franz Von Rohden was stolen
Paintings 1875 by Ludovico
Seitz (1844/1908), which replaced the worn out decorations by De Vecchi
“Tomb of Mario Delfini (d. 1573), and of his son Gentile Delfini (d. 1559)” formerly owners of the
chapel
Altar
consisting of “Three fragments of a parapet” of the third century AD
“Wooden Crucifix” of the seventeenth century
On the
right wall “Transfiguration” about 1573/75 by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) a pupil of
Perino del Vaga, for the Armentieri family
On the left
wall “Front of sarcophagus” of the third century AD embedded in
the wall
In the
lunettes “Agony in the Garden” and “Flagellation” by artists
of the Roman school of the eighteenth century
5th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. MATTHEW or MATTEI CHAPEL
1564/65 Jacopo Del Duca (about 1520/1604)
Above the
altar “St. Matthew and the
Angel with the Virgin Mary of Loreto” by an unknown
seventeenth-century artist
Four oil
paintings on the walls “Stories of St. Matthew”: on the right “Martyrdom of St.
Matthew” and “Prayer of St. Matthew”, on the left “Call of St. Matthew” and “St. Matthew raises
the son of the king of Ethiopia from the dead” 1586/89 by Girolamo
Muziano (1532/92)
On the
right “Funerary memorial of Carlo Teodoro Antici” 1852 by Alessandro Massimiliano Laboureur (1796-1800/1861),
son of Francesco Massimiliano Laboureur
Carlo
Teodoro Antici married in 1803 the last descendant of the Matteis and added his
name to that of the ancient Roman family
6th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. PETER OF ALCANTARA
1675/86 G.B. Contini (1641/1723)
Marble
group “Ecstasy of St. Peter
of Alcantara” 1682/84 masterpiece by Michel Maille Michele Maglia (active in Rome, second half of the
seventeenth century). He also sculpted the two ovals on the side walls: on the
left “St. Stephen” and on the right “St. Ranieri”
St. Peter
of Alcantara is the patron saint of Brazil
In the
vault stuccos by Francesco
Cavallini (active 1672/1703) and paintings by Marco
Antonio Napolitano
“Maille was
strictly adhering to the style of his master Ercole Ferrata. The convincing
spirituality of the figures and the free transition between sculpture and space
make this a legitimate descendant of the Cornaro Chapel by Bernini” (Rudolf
Wittkower)
7th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF Sts. LORENZO AND DIEGO
Above the
altar “S. Diego heals a
blind man” about 1610 by Giovanni De Vecchi (about
1537/1615)
On the
walls “Miracles of St.
Diego”
by Vespasiano Strada (1582/1622)
Frescoes on
vault and lunettes “Life of St. Diego” by Avanzino
Nucci (1552/1629)
Outer
lunette with medieval mosaic “Madonna and Child
with Angels” possibly by Jacopo Torriti (active
1270/1300)
“Color
triumphs: the intense blue of the background becomes clearer within the clypeus
and brings out the deep blue hues, the pearls and the mantle of the Madonna. In
virtue of its peculiar combination of color tones, the work gets a unique
volumetric thickness” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
In the
inner side fragments of frescoes of the end of the thirteenth
century by an anonymous artist follower of Pietro
Cavallini
On the
right “Tomb of Cecchino
Bracci”
by Francesco Amadori (known since 1530/d. 1555),
designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564)
Cecchino
Bracci died 15 years old: he was maybe loved by the great master, judging by
what he wrote in a poem: Cecchino... to whom I brought grace in bed, whom I
embraced, and in whom my soul continues to live
On the left
“Tomb of Pietro Manzi” maybe by Andrea Contucci aka Andrea Sansovino (1460/1529)
Frescoes of the
thirteenth century including “Virgin Mary and Child between the two St. Johns” by an unknown Roman painter from the circle of Pietro Cavallini
found during the restorations of the years 2000/03
“The
discovery may even confirm the intuition of Federico Zeri, according to whom
the frescoes of Assisi are neither by Giotto nor by any Florentine painter but,
if not by Cavallini himself, by members of a Roman school headed by the latter
and by Torriti, earlier than the Tuscan school (if not even superior
considering it would have been responsible for the cycle of Assisi), extreme
thesis, this one, which would imply a review of the origins of Italian painting”
(Laura Russo)
On the
sides canvas “Miracles of St.
Paschal Baylon” by the Viennese Daniele Seiter
(1649/1705)
Stuccos by Francesco
Cavallini (active 1672/1703)
1727 Filippo Raguzzini (1680/1771)
Above the
altar “Ecstasy of St.
Francis” by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)
On the left
wall “Tomb of Luca Savelli” with a Roman sarcophagus underneath and on the right “Tomb of his wife
Giovanna Aldobrandeschi” (parents of Honorius IV Savelli 1285/87, whose
statue was placed in the sixteenth century above his mother's grave) about 1287
maybe by Arnolfo di Cambio (about 1245/1302). He
was definitely the sculptor of the small statue of the Madonna with Child
Architecture
and painting by Antonio Gherardi (1638/1702)
Paintings
in the vault of the room before the chapel “Immaculate
Conception and Saints” by Giuseppe Ghezzi
(1634/1721)
In the
adjacent CHAPEL OF St. ROSE OF
VITERBO
mosaic embedded in the left wall “Madonna and Child
with Saints and Donor” of the end of the thirteenth century maybe by Jacopo Torriti (active 1270/1300)
Presbytery
“Two ambos” about 1200 by Lorenzo di Cosma and his son Jacopo
On the
altars on either side “Putti holding scrolls” by Giovanni
De Vecchi
In the
spandrels of the arch gigantic “Augustus” and “Sybil” about 1686 by Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714)
At the
center of the vault “Virgin Mary with
angels playing musical instruments” about 1568 masterpiece by Nicolò Martinelli aka il Trometta (about 1540/1611) for Pius IV Medici (1559/65
Pius IV had
the previous apse demolished with the masterpiece “Apparition of the Virgin Mary
to Augustus” by Pietro de' Cerroni aka Pietro Cavallini (about 1240/about
1325). It was considered his best work in Rome, according to Giorgio Vasari
“While the
general layout and the composition of the two stories, as well as the oval
format, are again totally influenced by Zuccari, the clear and lively colors
are rather reminiscent of Barocci, who must have held Trometta in high esteem”
(Hermann Voss)
Originally
there was the “Madonna of Foligno” by Raphael
(now in the Vatican Museums) which was removed at the behest of Pius IV Medici
(1559/65) and it was replaced with the “Icon of Our Lady” maybe of the eleventh
century, formerly in the Chapel of St. Elena
Left End Side of the Church
Above the
altar “Virgin Mary in Glory
with Sts. Gregory, Francis and the souls in Purgatory” 1771 by the Calabrian Vincenzo Milione (about
1732/1805)
Under the
altar body of the Blessed John of Triora martyred in China in 1816
In the
first corner to the left “Tomb of Roman the
composer Emilio de' Cavalieri (1550/1602)” one of the main inventors of opera
“In Rome, he
set up music for the Lent services of the Confraternity of the Crucifix in S.
Marcello (1578/1584), characterized by a humanistic spirit somehow in
contradiction with the Roman musical forms of the time. In 1589 in Florence,
once appointed superintendent of the arts at the Medici court, he found himself
working among the humanists, poets and musicians of the Camerata Fiorentina.
(...) In 1590 he produced - first of any modern musicians - a representative
music consistently 'monodic' with his pastoral fables The Satyr and The Despair
of Filenus, now lost. (...) However, at that point, the monody representative
of the Florentine Camerata had definitely started, and Cavalieri in Rome
(1597/1600) could resume, under the most favorable conditions, his work of
renewal. In February 1600, the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in S. Maria in
Vallicella staged his Rappresentazione di Anima et di Corpo, a sort of
spiritual melodrama, not devoid of references to the medieval 'Devotions' (...)
where a different representative style was created, about eight months before
this style would be established definitively in Florence with Euridice by
Jacopo Peri” (Enciclopedia Treccani)
On the left
wall “Tomb with bust of
one G.B. Cavalieri” who died young in 1508
In the
second corner on the left “Tomb of Clelia
Sannesi wife of Emilio de' Cavalieri”
CHAPEL OF
St. HELENA
1605 small temple above the altar built by Augustus
after the prophecy of the Sibyl, with the tomb of St. Helena, mother of
Constantine
Olive wood statue
from the Gethsemane garden, copy of the original stolen in 1994
Inserted in
the wall “Tombstone of Catherine of Bosnia” d. 1478, Franciscan tertiary who
died in 1478 in Rome, where she had fled after the victory of the Turks
On the left
“Monument of
Alessandro Crivelli” by Marcello Venusti (about 1512/79) with
relief “Trinity” by Jacopo
Del Duca (about 1520/1604) and portrait on slate by Marcello Venusti
“Monument of Cardinal
Matteo d'Acquaviva” maybe by Giovanni di Cosma with painting maybe by Pietro de' Cerroni aka Pietro Cavallini (about 1240/about 1325)
STATUE OF LEO X
Medici (1513/21) about 1520 by Domenico Aimo aka
Varignana (about 1460-70/1539)
LEFT NAVE
Restored in
1613 by Onorio Longhi (1568/1619)
Seventeenth-century
frescoes with “Life of the Virgin
Mary”
and “Virtue” by Marzio Colantonio Ganassini (active
in Rome at the beginning of the seventeenth century)
“Tombstone
and epitaph of Felice De Fredis” the noble of low lineage who fell in 1506 in a
pit of his own vineyard on Opium Hill and found the sculptural group of the Laocoon
His wife
ordered this writing on the tomb: He
deserved immortality for his virtues and for having found the divine, almost
alive statue of Laocoon that you can admire in the Vatican
8th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. MARGARET OF CORTONA
“The canvas
is one of the masterpieces of Benefial which sums up all the brilliance of his
invention inspired by the Emilian Classicism, in particular the emotional
lyricism of Guercino and also fed by acquaintances of the Francophile taste of
Benedetto Luti, Bianchi and later Subleyras. The male nude is an absolute first
for the studies on this topic by Batoni and Corvi and the figure of Margaret,
theatrical and rigorous, combines perfectly historical description with
religious fervor” (Anna Lo Bianco)
On the left
“Death of St.
Margaret of Cortona” 1732 masterpieces by Marco Benefial (1684/1764)
“It is
important to emphasize the link of his painting with the element of the truth
of the narrative as well as the truth of the image (sources report that he had
somebody reading texts relevant to the subjects he was painting). (...) In the
Death of St. Margaret prevails the description of the poverty of the interior
with the detail, which is frequent in his paintings, of the herring bone tiles
on the floor. (...) The two paintings for the Aracoeli church are some of the
best works of Benefial, representing very clearly the less academic aspects in
his painting style” (Lorenza Mochi Onori)
Altar with columns of
reef breccia 1660/72 designed by Carlo Rainaldi
(1611/91)
On the
right “Tomb of Luigi Marini
(d. 1838) and of his first wife Settimia Maffei (d. 1822)” by Alessandro
Massimiliano Laboureur (1796-1800/1861), son of Francesco Massimiliano
Laboureur
On the left
“Tomb of Barbara
Clarelli” d. 1870, Luigi Marini's second wife
6th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE ASCENSION or FRANGIPANE ORSINI
Above the
altar “Ascension” about 1584 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)
On the
walls “Virtues” and on the lunettes “St. Paul establishing a congregation of
Christians” and “Ascension” about 1582/84 by Nicolò
Martinelli aka il Trometta (about 1540/1611)
Busts of “Funerary
monuments of Vittoria Orsini
Frangipane Della Tolfa and Camillo Pardo Orsini“ maybe by Martino
Longhi the Elder (1534/91) or his son Onorio
Longhi (1568/1619)
On the
altar “St. Paul” about 1584 by Girolamo Muziano
Frescoes on
the sides, on the left “Preaching of St.
Paul”
and on the right “Beheading of St.
Paul”
and vault with very damaged “Paradise” 1584/86 by Cristoforo
Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626) who was also in charge of the
stuccos
“His first
work of importance (...). Both paintings have a great momentum in the
composition, with strong bodies, rather massive and with energetic movements,
with a sumptuous and rhythmically felt representation of the drapery. (...) The
decapitation, structured in an even more impressive and effective way than the
Preaching, has an effect even too heavy in its colors, like all works of
Roncalli (even more so with his paintings on wood), and it is also very damaged
by the fact that the colors over time were darkened” (Hermann Voss)
“Funerary monument of
Filippo Della Valle” 1494 maybe by Andrea Brioso aka il Riccio
“Holy
Family appears to the Blessed Caterina Sforza” 1730 by Francesco
Trevisani (1656/1746)
On the left
“Blessed Andrea Conti heals a possessed woman” about 1724 by Francesco Bertosi (active 1690/1740), a pupil of
Trevisani
1572. It
was modified at the end of the nineteenth century by the construction works for
the Victor Emmanuel Monument
“St. Anthony of Padua
and two donors” only trace left of the frescoes of about 1454/58 by Benozzo di Lese aka
Benozzo Gozzoli (1420/97)
In the
vault “Paradise” and in the corbels “Sts. Agnes, Cecilia, Frances of Rome and the Blessed
Ludovica Albertoni” about 1582 by Nicolò Martinelli aka il Trometta
(about 1540/1611)
Oil
paintings on the wall “Stories of St.
Anthony of Padua” by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist,
maybe Charles Mellin (about 1597-1600/1649)
“Tomb of Antonio Albertoni” d. 1509
STATUE OF PAUL III
Farnese (1534/49) 1543 maybe by Guglielmo Della Porta
(1515/77)
1572. It
was modified at the end of the nineteenth century by the construction works for
the Victor Emmanuel Monument
Since 1833
the nativity scene with wooden statues of the eighteenth and nineteenth century
in this chapel is famous all over the world
1st
LEFT - SERLUPI CHAPEL or CHAPEL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
1550/51
complex cycle of frescoes “Immaculate
Conception” 1555 by Francesco Pichi with the analogy Mary-Eve
WALL AT THE
END OF THE NAVE
“Martyrdom of St.
John del Prado d. 1636” about 1730 by Francesco
Bertosi (active 1690/1740) and an otherwise unknown Paolo Mattei
According
to the somewhat improbable tradition St. John del Prado was scourged, stabbed,
hit by arrows, burned, stoned and clubbed at the same time!
SACRISTY
“Holy
Family known as the Madonna of the she-cat” copy maybe by Avanzino Nucci (1552/1629) from the original of about
1523 by Giulio Pippi aka Giulio Romano (1499/1546), now in the Museo di
Capodimonte in Naples
“St.
Dominic” maybe by Simon Vouet (1590/1649)
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