Wednesday, April 3, 2019

St. MARY MAGDALENE

S. MARIA MADDALENA
At first it was just a small chapel built in the fourteenth century
It was given in 1586 to St. Camillus De Lellis as the seat of the Ministers of the Sick
In 1621 room was cleared for a new square in front of the church
It was rebuilt in the years 1631/34 by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606/80) from Bologna, who especially worked for the convent
The works continued with this sequence of architects:
1673 Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) (dome and vault)
1680/82 Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)
1695 Giovanni Antonio De Rossi (1616/95)
Completed in 1699 by Giulio Carlo Quadri and Francesco Felice Pozzoni

Designed in gorgeous Rococo style
1735 attributed to Giuseppe Sardi (1680/1753) but more likely by the engraver Domenico Barbiani and the Portuguese Emanuel Rodriguez Dos Santos
It is a unique example in Rome of application of the repertoire of ornamental Rococo to exterior architecture
Statues in the lower order “S. Filippo Neri” and “St. Camillus De Lellis” maybe by Paolo Campana
Statues in the higher order “S. Martha” and “St. Mary Magdalene” 1760 by Joseph Canard
It is the Church of the Abruzzo Region

ABOVE THE ENTRANCE
Exceptional ORGAN 1736 by Hans Conrad Wehrle (beginning XVIII century/1771), German organ builder designer of numerous organs for churches in Rome and in the Lazio region
Wooden gilt choir 1729/35 and stuccos done in 1740

VAULT
“Resurrection of Lazarus” and “Six stories of Mary Magdalene” 1730/32 by the Roman Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)
On the walls niches “Statues of the Virtues” in stucco:
On the right “Verecunda”, “Fidelis” and “Lacrimabilis” maybe by Paolo Morelli (active from 1712/d. 1719)
On the left “Humilis” by Carlo Monaldi (about 1690/1760), “Secreta” and “Simplex” 1696 by Giuseppe Raffaelli

1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF St. FRANCIS OF PAOLA
It was rebuilt in 1837 by Antonio Cipolla (1822/74)
Above the altar “St. Francis of Paola Resuscitating a Child” 1720 by Biagio Puccini (1673/1721)

2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE SALUS INFIRMORUM
Decoration 1718 by Francesco Ferruzzi
Venerated image of “Our Lady of Health” by an unknown sixteenth-century artist
Above the altar “Angels in flight and the Holy Spirit” maybe by Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721)

3rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE RELICS OF St. CAMILLUS
1757 Francesco Nicoletti (?/1776)
Above the altar “St. Camillus has the vision of the Cross” 1749 by Placido Costanzi (1702/59)
Urn under the altar 1770 by Luigi Valadier (1726/85) with relics of St. Camillus De Lellis
Vault “Glory of St. Camillus” 1744 by Sebastiano Conca (1680/1764)
Passage between the two chapels “Wooden statue of Mary Magdalene” by an unknown fifteenth-century artist

TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
1764 Francesco Nicoletti (?/1776)
On the altar “Wooden cross” of the end of the fifteenth century which, according to tradition, he spoke to St. Camillus De Lellis

1757 Francesco Nicoletti
Above the altar “St. Mary Magdalene in prayer” 1698 by Michele Rocca (about 1675/1751) from Parma
On the sides bas-reliefs: on the left “The three Marys at the Tomb” and on the right “Noli Me Tangere” by Francesco Gesuelli
Sculptural group on the pediment “Angels supporting the cross” by Pietro Pacilli (1716/after 1769)

“Preaching of Jesus” 1732 by Aureliano Milani (1675/1749)

ARC BETWEEN APSE AND DOME
“Dinner at the Pharisee's house” 1730/32 by Michelangelo Cerruti (1663/1748)
“Cerruti could not be part of the Academy of St. Luke. He opposed it in fact when, for the approval of a new statute that introduced a rigid and binding control of the members of the Academy on all the most important works in the field of fine arts, a dispute arose for the defense of the rights of the artists not belonging to the Academy. (...) Integration and adaptation of figurative painting with the real architecture of the church can be seen in the decoration of the ceiling and the arch of the tribune in St. Mary Magdalene, carried out in 1732 at the behest of father Costantini, provincial of Rome, with a wealth of inventions and innovations. We mention, among other things, the solution of fresco in the tribune in which the Supper in the Pharisee's house is represented as if it were the figuration of a tapestry held and expanded by angels in flight” (Michele Cordaro - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
“Holy Trinity in Glory” and spandrels “Doctors of the Church” 1739 by Etienne Parrocel (1696/1774)

TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ALTAR - CHAPEL OF THE RELICS
Above the altar “Death of St. Joseph” by Antonio Gagliardi

3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. NICHOLAS OF BARI
1673 Carlo Fontana
Covered in marble in 1696 by Mattia De Rossi (1637/95) and Francesco Carlo Bizzaccheri (1655/1721)
Above the altar “Christ, Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas of Bari” 1698 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)
“Using the brightness of Veronese, Baciccio cleared out Roman painting of the seventeenth century, opposing his terse and brilliant color solutions not only to the anachronisms, but also to whatever more advanced one could see in Rome at that time. It would suffice to enter today in any Roman church where there is an altar piece or a fresco by Gaulli to notice the incredible difference in terms of values of light and colors compared to what one could see around. This quality of light and colors, mind you, is not the one of the Thirties, from the Veneto region, inspired by Titian's bodied and dense matter that dissolves the form, but it is substantiated by smooth and unwrinkled surfaces designed with drawing, which, for their uniformity of matter, are even more vivid” (Francesco Petrucci)
On the sides “Miracles of St. Nicholas” by Bonaventura Lamberti (about 1653/1721)

2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. LORENZO GIUSTINIANI
Above the altar “St. Lawrence Giustiniani adoring the Child” 1704 by Luca Giordano (1634/1705), his last masterpiece
“The speed with which he produced his great improvisations was proverbial, and he was soon nicknamed 'Luca fa presto' (Luca is quick). He considered the whole past an open book for his own purposes. He studied Dürer as well as Lucas Van Leyden, Rubens as well as Rembrandt, Ribera as well as Veronese, Titian as well as Raphael and he was able to paint in any way he chose, but he never copied. He was inspired by all traditions rather than being tied to one and his personal style is always unmistakable. Evidently the purpose of painting for him was fun. In Rome and Venice his influence became extraordinarily strong, and on an international scale the effect of his art cannot be overstated” (Rudolf Wittkower)
Above the pediment of the altar fresco “Angels in Flight” by Girolamo Pesci (1679/1759)
On the left “Tomb of Maffeo Farsetti” 1704 by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION
Above the altar “Assumption” by Girolamo Pesci who also painted the angels on the ceiling

1739 Francesco Rosa (active from 1674/d. 1687) in rococo style, one of Rome's most beautiful
Closets at the corners 1740 by Domenico Barbiani
In the vault “Glory of Sts. Camillus and Filippo Neri” by Girolamo Pesci
On the first floor CHAPEL OF St. CAMILLUS with his relics 1732 by Emanuel Rodriguez Dos Santos, in the place where St. Camillus died

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