FAÇADE (made with travertine taken, in
part, from the Colosseum) and CHURCH UNTIL THE 4th CHAPEL built in
1566 by Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi (?/1573), son
of Baldassare Peruzzi
It replaced
an earlier church with the same name built closer to Castel Sant'Angelo
1581/87
building up to the front pillars of the dome by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606)
1635/68
building of the BELL TOWER, TRANSEPT and DOME by Francesco
Peparelli (active since about 1626/d. 1641)
The
construction of the church lasted therefore 102 years
It was the
parish of the gunners of the nearby Castel Sant'Angelo who wanted a low dome,
so as not to have their line of fire obstructed
“Glory of
the Virgin Mary” 1894 by Cesare Caroselli
(1847/1927)
Above the
altar “St. Barbara” 1597 one of the masterpieces by
Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino
(1568/1640) for Pietro Aldobrandini
Frescoes “Stories of St.
Barbara” 1610/20 by Cesare Rossetti (active
1593/1620) designed by Cavalier d'Arpino
Decorations
with military guns, coats of arms and cannons
The breast
in full view of the saint worried the patron Pietro Aldobrandini who didn't
want his uncle, the Pope Clement VIII (1592/1605), to see the painting
The breast
was covered only in the nineteenth century and revealed again in the twentieth
century
“The fact
that Caravaggio might have found ridiculous the St. Barbara painted by his
former employer, can be guessed by the way he quoted her in the first version
of St. Matthew and the Angel, destroyed in Berlin during the Second World War:
in his cheeky androgynous angel Caravaggio mimicked the drapery and the curvy
posture of the plump body of Barbara, a posture known among Mannerist as
serpentine, and in particular he mimicked the way the flimsy fabric clung to
the soft underbelly and to the just raised thigh, as well as her tousled hair”
(Peter Robb)
2nd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. CANUTE
On the
altar “Ecstasy of St. Canute” 1686 by the Viennese Daniel
Seiter (1649/1705)
S. Canute
(about 1042/1086) was a Danish king, who was canonized in 1101. He planned to
invade England and tried to increase the power of monarchy and church at the
expense of nobility and common people
He was
murdered in the wooden church of St. Albany in the city of Odense during a
popular rebellion
3rd
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF CARMEL
In the
nineteenth century the “Statue of Our Lady
of Mount Carmel” was put here for veneration
The throne
dates to 1922 and the statue, blessed by Pope Pius XI Ratti (1922/39), was
crowned on the eve of the Feast of Mount Carmel (July 16) in 1928
On 12
September 2001, the day after the tragedy of the Twin Towers in the U.S., it
was once again crowned by Pope John Paul II (1978 /2005), in St. Peter's
Square, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the gift of the Scapular
4th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
Above the
altar “Wooden Crucifix” from the old church
Frescoes “Stories
of the Christ” 1649 by Bernardino Gagliardi
(1609/1660)
5th
RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. ALBERT OF TRAPANI
Canvas on
the altar “St. Albert of
Trapani” and frescoes in the vault “Stories of St. Albert of Trapani” 1614/20 by
Antonio Circignani aka Pomarancio (about
1568/1629), son of Niccolò Circignani
RIGHT
TRANSEPT or CHAPEL OF St. MARY MAGDALENE DE' PAZZI
Built in
1626 on the occasion of the beatification of the Florentine saint
Above the
altar “Trinity, Virgin Mary, St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi and St. Joseph” by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609/81) or G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624)
Vault “Cross
and angels with symbols of the Passion of Christ” by Cesare
Caroselli (1847/1927)
1674 Carlo Fontana (1634/1714)
Altarpiece “Icon
with the Virgin Mary and Child” 1216 brought from the Holy Land by the
Carmelites
Superb
ALTAR FRONTAL in opus sectile (inlaid marble)
“Angels” in
stucco on the ciborium and in marble at the center by Leonardo
Retti (active 1670/1709)
Statues on
the doors of jasper at the sides of the ciborium:
On the
right “Prophet Elijah” by Antonio Lavaggi
(active in Rome in the second half of the seventeenth century) and “Prophet
Elisha” by Vincenzo Felice (about 1657/1715)
On the left
“St. Angelo martyr” by Alessandro Rondoni and “St.
Albert of Trapani” by Michel Maille aka Michele Maglia (active in Rome in the second
half of the seventeenth century)
“An absolute
masterpiece is the altar for the Carmelites of S. Maria in Traspontina (...).
having started from the very simple idea of a tabernacle, Fontana built a
magnificent small temple with double columns in Sicilian jasper, a broken
pediment on which there are two angels, by Leonardo Retti, flanking a
monumental bronze dome shaped as a crown. The impression made on his
contemporaries is evidenced by the initiative of the Confraternity of the
Agonizing of S.
Maria del Pianto that,
in 1675, commissioned to Fontana 'a small temple with columns and a crown as
dome' to celebrate the release of a person sentenced to death” (Helmut Hager -
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
CHOIR
BEHIND THE ALTAR
“Stalls in
walnut” 1651 by Filippo Gagliardi (about
1607/1659) also known as Filippo Bizzarro or Filippo delle Prospettive
On the
walls to the left “Sacrifice of the Prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel” and “Birth
of Jesus”, to the right “Liberation from the plague of the island of Cyprus
thanks to S. Pier Tommaso” and “Birth of Mary” 1760/61 by Angelo Papi
LEFT
TRANSEPT or CHAPEL OF St. ANDREW CORSINI
Above the
altar “Virgin Mary appears to St. Andrew Corsini” by Giovanni
Paolo Melchiorri (1664/1745)
Vault “Apparition
of St. Andrew Corsini in the Battle of Anghiari” 1697 by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721)
5th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ANGELO OF SICILY
Above the
altar “Preaching of St.
Angelo martyr” and on the sides and vault “Stories of St. Angelo” 1612 by G.B. Ricci (about 1550/1624), who was buried in this
chapel in a tomb now lost
4th
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. THERESA OF JESUS
Above the
altar “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” 1698 masterpiece by Antonio
Gherardi (1638/1702)
Ovals to
the side of the beginning of the eighteenth century by Placido
Celi
Columns to
which St. Peter and St. Paul would have been tied
Above the
altar “Flagellation of Sts. Peter and Paul” and frescoes “Stories of Sts. Peter
and Paul” by G.B. Ricci
2nd
LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. ELIJAH
Above the
altar “Prophet Elijah between St. Antonio Abate and the blessed Carmelite
Franco Lippi from Siena” by Giacinto Calandrucci
(1646/1707) a pupil of Carlo Maratta
1st
LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE PIETÀ
Above the
altar “Pietà” in terracotta of the fifteenth century
“Angels in
wood” painted in imitation of marble by artists of the
school of Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)
Frescoes of
the years 1700/16
ORATORIO OF
THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
To the right of the church
Frescoes by
the brothers Luigi Garzi (1638/1721) and Sebastiano Garzi
“Glorification
of St. Albert” by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)
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