St. EGIDIO

S. EGIDIO

Piazza S. Egidio 3a

1630 for Filippo Colonna who also wanted to dedicate it to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

It was built in the area of the older church S. Lorenzo in Janiculo or De Curtibus

TO THE LEFT OF THE ENTRANCE

“Funeral Monument of Veronica Rondinini Origo” by Carlo Fontana (1634/1714)

MAIN ALTAR

“Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Simon Stock” about 1630 by Andrea Camassei (1602/49)

In the chancel “Virgin and Sts. Teresa and Joseph” by Andrea Pozzo (1642/1709)

CHAPEL ON THE LEFT

“St. Egidio” by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

In the monastery, since 1968, there are the headquarters of the Comunità di S. Egidio (Community of St. Egidio) a “public association of lay people of the Catholic Church” formed by about 50,000 members living in more than 70 countries around the world, dedicated to communicating the Gospel and its implementation in practice, helping the poor, the sick and those in need of help

In the MONASTERY there is also the

Museo di Roma in Trastevere

Museum of Rome in the Trastevere District

Section of the Museo di Roma (Museum of Rome) opened in 1977 in the wing renovated by Attilio Spaccarelli (1890/1975)

It show aspects of everyday Roman life from the late 1700s to the end of 1800s

Six “Roman Scenes” depicting life-size aspects of everyday Roman life in the nineteenth century:

A pharmacy, the depot of a wine wagon, the courtyard of an inn where one could dance the saltarello (a Roman folk dance), the interior of an inn, a public square with a public scribe and two pipers in front of a shrine

“Nativity scene” set in Rome in the nineteenth century

Materials belonging to the Roman poet Trilussa (1871/1950) donated after his death to the City of Rome, shown in part in the so-called TRILUSSA ROOM including a “Vase of the deers” in bronze 1903/06 by Duilio Cambellotti (1876/1960)

Terracotta sculpture by Achille Pinelli (1809/41)

PAINTINGS

Series of paintings of “Vanished Rome” of the end of the nineteenth century by Roesler Franz (1845/1907)

“Night View of Rome” by Amedeo Simonetti (1874/1922)

“Fantastic view of the Palatine Hill” by Carl Friederch Seiffert (1809/91)

Watercolor “The fishmonger in Portico d'Ottavia” about 1824 by the Englishman Samuel Prout (1783/1852)

“Piazza Colonna at night” by Pasquale Ruggero (1851/1915)

“Lunch in the country” in 1858 by Vincenzo Morani (1809/70)

Small views by Diego Angeli (1869/1937)

“The seller of hot chestnuts in Via Sistina” 1867 by Arnoldo Corrodi (1846/74)

BRASCHI PALACE - MUSEUM OF ROME (seventh part)

SECOND FLOOR

The Barberini Family

ROOM 1

“Investiture of Taddeo Barberini as prefect in the Pauline Chapel” about 1632 by Agostino Tassi (1578/1644)

“Banner with paintings about St. Francis” 1612 by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

“Joust in Piazza Navona” about 1634 by the great painter from Nettuno Andrea Sacchi (1599/1661) and by the Roman Filippo Gagliardi (about 1607/1659) aka Filippo Bizzarro o Filippo delle Prospettive

Interestingly, in this image of Piazza Navona of the first half of the seventeenth century, Palazzo Braschi, Palazzo Pamphilj, the church of S. Agnese in Agone and even the Fountain of the Four Rivers don't appear, not having been built yet

“Parade at Palazzo Barberini” about 1656 by Filippo Gagliardi and Filippo Lauri (1623/94)

“Tapestry with Barberini bees” and painting “Constantine destroys the pagan gods” about 1636 maybe by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

ROOM 2

Medals from the Barberini collection

ROOM 3

Busts of members of the Barberini family or of members of their entourage:

“Carlo Barberini” about 1630 by Francesco Mochi (1580/1654)

Carlo Barberini was the older brother of Pope Urban VIII (1623/44) appointed by him commander of the papal troops

“Bust of Cardinal Giulio Gabrielli” after 1694/before 1700 by Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644/1725)

“Bust in marble of Cardinal Antonio Barberini junior” about 1680 maybe by Lorenzo Ottoni (1648/1736)

Nephew of Pope Urban VIII, patron of memorable and spectacular parties often produced by none other than Gian Lorenzo Bernini

“Bust in marble of Cardinal Francesco Barberini senior” about 1680 maybe by Lorenzo Ottoni

“Bust in terracotta of Taddeo Barberini Prefect of Rome in 1631” 1704 by Bernardino Cametti (1669/1736)

“Pupil in Rome of the sculptor Lorenzo Ottoni, Cametti attended his studio for fifteen years. Towards the end of this period, or immediately after, he had at his disposal a studio in the Academy of France in Rome, an extraordinary fact for an Italian artist, which explains, at least partly, the remarkable influence French sculpture had on his artistic evolution, especially the art of Pierre Etienne Monnot and Pierre Le Gros” (Robert Engass - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

BRASCHI PALACE - MUSEUM OF ROME (third part)

FIRST FLOOR
The Popes

ROOM 1

Pius VI: The ancient city and the major works

“Portrait of Pope Pius VI” by the great painter from Lucca 1775 Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)

“Batoni, going back to the Roman tradition of the early eighteenth century, but not forgetting the new impulses from French and English schools, creates a new way to portray: the perfect physiognomic rendering combines psychological analysis of the character, often depicted in a setting that, in objects and in the landscape, reminds of his intellectual interests” (Anna Maria De Strobel)

Large “Portrait of Pius VI” about 1776 by Giovanni Domenico Porta (1722/80)

Marble bust “Pius VI” after 1788 by Giuseppe Ceracchi (1751/1801)

Paintings “The abduction of Helen” 1784 and “The Death of Achilles” 1785 by the Scottish Gavin Hamilton (1723/98)

“Braschi Sedan in red leather and gold”

ROOM 2

Pius VI: The ancient city and the major works

“Allegory of the Museum Pius Clementine in the Vatican” about 1788 by Bernardino Nocchi (1741/1812)

Tempera on canvas model for the decoration of the ceiling of the Sala del Cantone in the Palazzo della Consulta. Painting, Architecture and Sculpture are invited by the Genius of the Arts to visit the Museum Pius Clementine

“Pius VI visiting the Pontine Marshes” 1786 by Abraham Louis Rodolphe Ducros

ROOM 3

The papal court

“Terracotta bust of Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy” 1635 by François Duquesnoy (1597/1643)

“Profile portraits of Innocent XIII Conti (1721/24) and of Cardinal Ludovico Sergardi” after 1724 by Pietro Bracci (1700/73) or Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)

“Terracotta bust of Innocent XII Pignatelli (1691/1700)” 1694/96 maybe by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

“Busto in marmo di Clemente XII Corsini (1730/40)” di Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)

“The bust, which reveals the sculptor's ability to capture the facial features within the limits of an idealizing style, was placed in 1818 on the Marforio Fountain in Piazza del Campidoglio, under the inscription for the inauguration of the Museum of Sculpture in the Palazzo Nuovo, opened in 1734 by Clement XII” (Sign posted in the museum by the work)

“Marble bust of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni” 1670/80 maybe by Domenico Guidi (1625/1701)

He was pope for a year and a half with the name of Alexander VIII (1689/91)

“Terracotta Bust of Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi degli Albertoni” about 1698 by the Florentine Lorenzo Merlini (1666/1745)

“A stylistic language rich in refined eclecticism, borrowed mainly from the Tuscan and Roman schools. If typical of G.B. Foggini (his Florentine teacher) are, in fact, the shape and the anatomical definition of the figure, typical of Lorenzo Ottoni, leading figure of the Roman sculptural portraiture in the late Baroque age, appear to be the strong expressive characterization of the face, deferential, markedly, to the style common in Rome between Bernini’s death (1680) and the eighteenth century” (Sandro Bellesi - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

ROOM 4

The papal court

“Corpus Christi procession in St. Peter's Square” about 1646 by an anonymous artist of the seventeenth-century before the construction of the colonnade of Bernini with the bell tower still on the façade

ROOM 5

The papal court

“Portrait of Pope Clement XI Albani (1700/21)” about 1710 and “Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55) gives the cardinal's hat to the Fabio Chigi future Pope Alexander VII” 1724 by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755)

“The portrait of Clement XI is considered one of the most significant examples of the portraits of the artist, based on intensive physiognomic characterization, almost caricatured traits, and a search for immediacy of gestures and expressions, accentuated by the rapid treatment of the subject and by the fringed painting” (Brief Guide to the Museum of Rome)

“Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740/58) with Cardinal Gonzaga” about 1755 Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1691/1765)

“Portrait of Cardinal Giacomo Rospigliosi” about 1669 maybe by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)

“Portrait of Cardinal Giovan Francesco Ginetti” about 1681 maybe by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)

BRASCHI PALACE - MUSEUM OF ROME (second part)

MUSEO DI ROMA

Founded in 1830 by the will of Antonio Muñoz (1884/1960) in the Pantanella Palace in Piazza Bocca della Verità and moved here in 1952

In 1990 the property was transferred from the Italian government to the municipality of Rome

It was closed from 1987 until 2002, when it was partially reopened. The new exhibit is currently being completed

The works of painting, sculpture and applied arts have primarily an iconographic and documentary relevance regarding the topography and the history of Rome

It houses, especially in the storage rooms, about 40,000 works including: about 800 paintings by artists working in Rome in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, about 1,700 paintings by artists of the nineteenth and twentieth century and about 1,100 sculptures from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century

In the entrance sculptures by Francesco Mochi (1580/1654):

“St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus” 1633/44 originally sculpted for the church S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini, but never put in place. It then ended up in front of the Milvian Bridge, where there are copies since 1980

“St. Peter” and “St. Paul” 1635/38 for St. Paul outside the Walls. After having been rejected, they were placed in the Porta del Popolo, where there are now copies

STAIRCASE

1804 designed by Cosimo Morelli but maybe completed by Giuseppe Valadier with “Eighteen columns of Oriental granite” from the Portico of Caligula in the area of the Ospedale S. Spirito (Hospital of the Holy Spirit)

There are ancient statues and it is decorated with fine stucco reliefs with the “Myth of Achilles and Iliad” by Luigi Acquisti (1745/1823)

On the landing of the first floor important sarcophagus with “Endymion dying” about 250 AD

BRASCHI PALACE (first part)

PALAZZO BRASCHI

Piazza S. Pantaleo 10

1791/96 Cosimo Morelli (1732/1812) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) who wanted a home for his nephew Luigi Braschi Onesti

A previously existing building dating to 1435 which belonged to the Orsini family was demolished. It had been enlarged in 1501 by Cardinal Carafa and had a tower by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

Cosimo Morelli was from Imola, the same area from which the pope came, and he was also the architect of the Cathedral of Imola and those of Macerata and Fermo, as well as the theaters of Imola, Fermo and L'Aquila

“Morelli drew models from famous Roman buildings of the sixteenth century, with citations of works in Emilia, through a selection process aiming to reduce everything to a simple and correct style. Trying to blend simplicity and monumental, in the façades made in travertine and brickwork, with use of ashlar, he made the architectural elements busier and reversed what had been the Renaissance grandeur” (Davide Righini - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Completed 1802/11 by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) for the Duke Luigi Braschi Onesti

It was the last Roman palace to be commissioned by a family of popes

It was sold by the heirs of the family Braschi to the Italian State in 1871, and for fifty years it was the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior

In 1930 it became the seat of the Fascist Federation of Rome

Immediately after the armistice of 8 September 1943 it was occupied by the minions of Gino Bardi and Guglielmo Pollastrini, two fascist thugs who reconstituted the Fascist Federation of Rome. So a reign of terror began and the palace was the seat of prison and torture at the hands of the so-called banda di Palazzo Braschi (gang of Palazzo Braschi)

After the war three hundred homeless families lived in the palace until 1949, causing serious damage to the decorations

PAINTED DECORATIONS ON ALL THREE FLOORS OF THE BUILDING by the painter Liborio Coccetti (1739/1816) from Foligno, begun as early as 1791. The four rooms on the first floor cannot be attributed to him with certainty

“In his early work in Umbria he expressed himself in a language that shows full participation to the rococo culture, with remarkable results for panache and finesse, and shows, especially in the paintings on historical themes, relations with the Roman culture of the first half of the eighteenth century, especially with Sebastiano Conca. On an unspecified date he moved to Rome, where the patronage of Pope Braschi won him important commissions. (...) Since 1779 he had a succession of prestigious jobs in Rome and Lazio, in which shows a progressive approach to the neoclassical style. It can be said that there was no Roman family wishing to upgrade their townhouse or country that did not ask for his work” (Vittorio Casale - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

OTHER FRESCOES

“Stories of Love and Psyche” about 1610 by Ludovico Cardi aka Cigoli (1559/1613) and “Annunciation of the Virgin” school of Federico Zuccari (about 1542/1609) and Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66)

FIRST FLOOR

CHAPEL designed by Giuseppe Valadier

During the fascist regime it became the chapel of the fallen fascists

On the right “St. Francis” by Guido Reni (1575/1642)

On the altar “Ivory Crucifix” of the eighteen century

Every Sunday morning at 11 Mass is celebrated here