Via dei Penitenzieri 12/Via Borgo S. Spirito
Church inside the SCHOLA SAXONUM, the complex built in the year 727 for Ina king of the Saxons in order to assist his compatriots pilgrims, the English of Wessex, the south west of England
Rebuilt in 1198 when it took the name of S. Spirito (Holy Spirit) for Innocent III Conti di Segni (1198/1216)
It was rebuilt again in the years 1471/75 for the Jubilee of 1475 when it was united to the nearby hospital of S. Spirito at the behest of Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)
After the destruction for the sack of Rome in 1527, new reconstruction and FAÇADE 1538/45 by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane (1483/1546) for Pope Paul III (1534/49)
“Sangallo was able to operate an organic synthesis between the fifteenth-century architectural culture and the changing needs for urban quality and representational appearance typical of his century and beyond. It is also remarkable this sort of timelessness that hovers in the entire building and that often makes one underestimate the architectural choices and confuses the visitor accustomed to recognize the same architectural choices in many churches of the second half of the sixteenth century” (Sivigliano Alloisi)
COAT OF ARMS, STAIRCASE AND PLASTERING OF THE FAÇADE
1588/90 by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90)
BELL TOWER
1471 maybe by Baccio Pontelli (about 1450/92). It is unique among the Romans bell towers for its robustness that makes it look like a watchtower for the Vatican citadel
“The decoration of S. Spirito in Sassia represents a significant evolution in the field of contemporary visual arts, especially the works of Jacopo Zucchi showing an attempt to give to the ideologies of the counterreformation a strong structure. The evolution of the sixteenth-century artistic tools here has three phases: in the time of Paul III there is still the Renaissance language assigned to the school of Perin del Vaga. A second phase (1544/77) in which Livio Agresti operates with the interventions of Pompeo Cesura and Giuseppe Valeriano; a third and more important phase, with Jacopo Zucchi eventually replaced by Cesare Nebbia” (Sivigliano Alloisi)
CEILING
Wooden lacunar ceiling of 1547, restored in the mid-1700s and in 1856
COUNTER FAÇADE
“Coming of the Holy Spirit” about 1930 by Antonino Calcagnadoro (1876/1935)
“Angels”, “St. Peter”, “St. Paul” and “Sibyls” about 1583 by Cesare Conti (about 1550/1622)
On the left “Visitation” 1545, the first Roman work of Marco Pino aka Marco da Siena (about 1525/87)
On the right “Conversion of St. Paul” begun in 1545 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63) and finished by his pupil Pedro de Rubiales
1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF PENTECOST
Above the altar “Pentecost” 1588, on the right “Prophet Joel”, on the left “St. John the Baptist”, frescoes on the walls and vault by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96)
“The Pentecost theme that in the apse he had painted a few years before had exploded in a clear willingness to involve the whole ecclesial community encompassing the whole church with the miracle action, here is more intimate and exclusive. It becomes an event that qualifies as an example and witness of grace, understood as reward and encouragement that God offers to those who have done well in life. The means employed by Zucchi to express these concepts are very different from those used in the complex machinery of the apse. The medium is no longer the allure of perspective but the emotion of light, whose presence is capable of upsetting and suggest sensations, even to the point to reduce the viewer in a state of feverish excitement” (Sivigliano Alloisi)
2nd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION
Above the altar “Assumption” 1576 maybe by Livio Agresti (about 1508/79) but more likely by his pupil Litardo Piccioli
On the right “Circumcision” by Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601) and on the left “Nativity of the Virgin Mary” by G.B. Lombardelli (about 1538/92)
Decorations in the basin “Life of the Virgin Mary” by Livio Agresti
ORGAN WITH BALCONY
Fixed here in 1547, according to Arnaldo Bruschi, by Andrea Palladio (1508/80)
Paintings by artists under the organ by artists of the school of Livio Agresti
3rd RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND S. FILIPPO NERI
Devotional image “Merciful Jesus” 1994 by the Polish painter Piotr Moskal, which has replaced the lost “Trinity” by Livio Agresti
On the sides “Healing of the blind man and the paralytic” by Livio Agresti (about 1508/79)
4th RIGHT - TRANSFIGURATION CHAPEL
Above the altar “Ascension” 1570, vault “Pentecost”, on the right “St. Augustine”, on the left “St. Paul” by Giuseppe Valeriano (1542/96)
APSE
In the upper part “God the Father”, in the basin “Jesus between St. Peter and St. John the Baptist”, in the lower part “Pentecost”, on the sides “Stories of Sts. Peter and Paul” 1582/83 by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96) with his brother Francesco Zucchi (about 1562/1622) with iconographic program designed by father Egnazio Danti (1536/86), the mastermind of the phantasmagoric Gallery of the Geographical Maps in the Vatican Museums
“The use of a perspective structure open on a fictitious space that simultaneously engages, with an effect of redundancy, on a real space is a bold artistic idea that is unparalleled in its time. Although similar expedients, but on a smaller scale, had already been tested by artists in the High Renaissance (Mantegna, Correggio), it is surprising to see this sudden revival of thematic perspective that Mannerism had made obsolete and especially their application on such a scale. In fact, after the difficult years of religious crisis, the Catholic Church feels now strong enough to regain the initiative and felt the inadequacy of the artistic language tools devised by Mannerism” (Sivigliano Alloisi)
MAIN ALTAR
Relics of Sts. Tryphon, Respicius, Nymph, Agapitus and Severa
On the floor in front of the altar “Commemorative plaque of the physician Giovanni Maria Lancisi” d. 1720
5th LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND OF THE VIRGIN MARY
Above the altar “St. John the Evangelist” 1834 by Antonio Giorgini
“Stories of the Old Testament” and on the right “Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist” attributed by Vasari to Marcello Venusti, but in reality by artists of the school of Perin del Vaga
4th LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS OR GONZAGA
Above the altar “Deposition” and oil paintings on the wall “Saints and stories of the Old Testament”, on the sides “Adoration of the Shepherds” and “Resurrection” 1554/57 the first major works of Livio Agresti (about 1508/79)
“This chapel opened a new chapter in the history of Roman Mannerism anticipating that devout and pious feeling that would characterize the second half of the century” (Sivigliano Alloisi)
3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE CRUCIFIX
On the altar “Crucifix” of the sixteenth century
Frescoes “Stories of the Passion of Christ” maybe by Livio Agresti or Pedro de Rubiales
On the right “Tomb of Antonio Foderato” 1549 containing small relief with “Pietà” by Jacopo Del Duca (about 1520/1604), maybe from a design by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) with a very controversial subject at the time, for which Michelangelo was described as an inventor of garbage by an anonymous author of a contemporary document
2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF St. AUGUSTINE
Above the altar “Coronation of the Virgin Mary” (moved here from the first chapel on the left) about 1595 by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
Frescoes in the basin with “Stories of St. Augustine”, on the sides “St. Augustine” and “St. Monica” begun by Pompeo Cesura (?/1571) and maybe finished by his pupils
1st LEFT - BAPTISTERY
Statue of “St. Aloysius Gonzaga and a young man” by Ignazio Jacometti (1819/83)
Frescoes “Saints” by Cesare Nebbia and pupils
SACRISTY
Above the altar “St. Helena, relics of the Passion of Christ, the risen Christ and saints” by Jacopo Zucchi (about 1542/96)
St. Helena in this painting has maybe the appearance of Clelia Farnese, daughter of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and lover of Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
Vault and walls with “Stories of the Schola Saxonum with popes and allegorical figures” 1648/50 masterpiece by Guidobaldo Abbatini (1600/56) the painter favorited as collaborator by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
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