Begun in
1518 by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo il
Giovane (1483/1546) on the area of the Ospizio di S. Nicola dei
Catalani (Hospice of St. Nicholas of the Catalans) of mid-1300s to emulate
the Church of St. James (S. Giacomo
degli Spagnoli) in Piazza Navona sponsored by the Crown of Castile
Completed
with the vault of the presbytery in the years 1673/75 by G.B. Contini (1641/1723)
Remodeled
in the years 1820/22 by Giuseppe Camporese
(1763/1822) with his nephew Pietro Camporese the
Younger (1792/1873)
Two levels
1585/93 by Francesco Capriani aka Francesco da Volterra
(1535/94)
PORTAL
Maybe by G.B. Contini who would
have also designed the sculpture with “Madonna and Child
cutting the rock with a saw” in memory of the sanctuary of Montserrat,
which is Spanish for mountain sawn
The saw
that is part of the sculpture is a genuine carpenter saw
1929/35 by Salvatore Rebecchini (1891/1977)
Originally
it was the church of the Aragonese and Catalans, now it's the Spanish
national church
INTERIOR
Nineteenth-century
decoration by Giuseppe Camporese
CENTRAL
NAVE
On the
right “Death of the Virgin Mary” by Francesco Nappi
(about 1565/1630), on the left “Coronation of the Virgin” by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)
1st
RIGHT - ROCCI CHAPEL
Above the
altar “St. Diego of Alcantara” 1606 07 by Annibale
Carracci (1560/1609) and maybe Domenico Zampieri aka Domenichino (1581/1641), formerly in S. Giacomo degli
Spagnoli
On the
right “Mausoleum of the two popes of the Spanish Borgia family: Callistus III
(1455/58) and Alexander VI (1492/1503)” 1889 by Felipe
Moratilla
The
sarcophagus contains mixed in the same coffin, the bones of both popes, uncle
and nephew, transferred here in 1881. The names of the two popes under the
medallions were mistakenly reversed
Below “Tomb
of Alfonso XIII” King of Spain from his birth in 1886 until 1931 when he was
deposed by the Second Spanish Republic and he went to exile in Rome, where he
died in 1941. He was the last Spanish king before Franco's dictatorship
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE MOST HOLY MARY OF THE ANNUNCIATION
“Annunciation”,
“Birth of Mary” and “Assumption” by Francesco Nappi
(about 1565/1630)
3rd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF PILAR
“Our Lady
of Pilar and Saints” by Francisco Preciado
(1713/89), a pupil of Sebastiano Conca
On the
right “Assumption” by Frans Van De Casteele
(1541/1621), on the left “Triumph of the Immaculate Conception” by Louis Cousin aka Luigi Gentile (1606/67), both Belgian
painters
MAIN ALTAR
“Crucifixion” 1564/65 by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta (1521/80) a pupil of
Perin del Vaga
The
painting was originally in S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli and it reveals its full
adherence to the precepts of the Council of Trent which had just ended, in 1563
3rd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JAMES
Statue of “St.
James” masterpiece by Jacopo Tatti aka Jacopo Sansovino
(1486/1570)
On the left
“Tomb of Bishop Alfonso de Paradinas” about 1486 by Andrea
Bregno (1418/1503)
On the
right “Tomb of Juan de Fuensalida” d. 1498, secretary of Alexander VI Borgia
maybe by Luigi Capponi (active end of
1400s/beginning of 1500s), a pupil of Andrea Bregno
“Funerary
monuments” by the school of Andrea Bregno
2nd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF MONTSERRAT
Magnificent
stucco decoration of the beginning of the eighteenth century maybe by Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)
Lunettes
and spandrels by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)
On the
right fresco “Miracle of St. Raymond of Peñafort”
On the left
“View of the mountain of Montserrat” by an anonymous
seventeenth-century artist
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ANNA
Sculptural
group “Virgin Mary, St. Anne and the Child” 1544 by Tommaso
Boscoli aka Maso (about 1501-03/after 1578),
formerly in S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli
According
to Vasari Tommaso Boscoli would have cooperated with Michelangelo in carving
the recumbent figure of the pope of the Mausoleum of Julius II in the church of
S. Peter in Chains
“This work,
derived from the similar group of Andrea Sansovino in St. Augustine in Rome,
with references also to that of Francesco da Sangallo in Orsanmichele in
Florence, and in some details referring to Michelangelo's patterns, shows
uncertainty of composition and an archaic taste” (Giancarlo Bojani - Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
Spanish College
CONFERENCE
ROOM
Bas-relief “Crucifixion
and Saints” with the upper part maybe executed by Paolo
Taccone aka Paul Romano (about 1415/77)
“Tomb of
Cardinal Pietro Montoya” d. 1630 with architecture by Nicola
Torriani (active in Rome about 1601/1636) and outstanding bust sculpted
in about 1621 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680),
an early work showing already a fine technique and his ability to reveal a
psychological insight of the sitter
The
marvelous busts “Damned Soul” and “Blessed Soul” now in the Palazzo di Spagna were also
part of the monument
“He shows
those qualities of realism noted in the Santoni's portrait but with such
clarity and accuracy that make the previous portrait look like rough and
unrefined. (...) It is sharp and clear as a whole and in its parts; it was
considered the apex of realistic portraiture” (Howard Hibbard)
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