S. ELIGIO DEGLI OREFICI
1514/1551
designed by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael)
(1483/1520) from a project of the years 1514/15
The
attribution is based on a drawing by Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi (?/1573) son of
Baldassarre Peruzzi. The drawing is in the Uffizi Museum in Florence and there
is a note in which the church is explicitly attributed to Raphael
It was
built on the former church of S. Eusterio, demolished in 1514
St. Eligius
(about 588/660) was a French saint, patron of goldsmiths
According
to tradition, the Frankish king Clotaire II would have commissioned a golden
throne and Eligius would have made two with the amount of gold that he had been
given just to make one
The king
was very impressed by his ability and his honesty and appointed him goldsmith
of the court and master of the mint
In addition
to being the patron saint of goldsmiths, he is also the patron saint of
farriers and veterinarians because he would miraculously hung a leg off a horse
RESTORATIONS
In 1590 by
Francesco Capriani aka Francesco da Volterra
(1535/94) and in the years 1602/04 by Flaminio Ponzio
(1560/1613) who consolidated the church and in the years 1710/11, 1857/65, 1911
under the direction of Antonio Muñoz
(1884/1960), 1952/55 and 1977/78
“Despite the
various restorations over time, the interior maintains a fine of solemnity, as
determined by light and geometric harmony among the various parts of the
building that is inspired, regardless of the exact identification of the specific
contributions to the project - Raphael and Peruzzi -, to the culture of
Bramante. Significant in this respect the choice of the Greek cross plan that
certainly can be seen as a reflection on a reduced scale of the formal,
functional and symbolic implications of the designs of Bramante for St. Peter”
(Sofia Barchiesi)
FLOOR
1857 using
marble slabs from the destroyed Basilica
of St. Paul Outside the Walls
Collapsed
in 1601
It was
rebuilt in 1602/04 by Flaminio Ponzio
Completed in 1620, possibly by Giovanni Bonazzini
DOME
Maybe by Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) who completed Raphael's
project
Restored and redesigned in 1590 by Francesco
Capriani aka Francesco da Volterra (1535/94)
In the
years 1710/11 the lead lining of the exterior of the dome began, only to be
completed in 1739
RIGHT ALTAR
“Adoration
of the Magi” 1639 by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
(1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona, who also painted the “Sibille”
on the sides at the top
Originally
there was a fresco by Federico Zuccari with the same subject destroyed by the
collapse of 1601
APSE
Frescoes “Eternal
God supporting the crucifix between angels” at the top and “Madonna and Child
with Sts. Eligius, Stephen, Mary Magdalene and Lawrence on the right and John
the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria on the left” at the bottom 1581/84
maybe by Matteo da Lecce (about 1546/1616) and Taddeo Zuccari (1529/66)
“Matteo da
Lecce in his frescoes was able to bring to such intensity the three-dimensional
illusion that his figures - in the words of Baglione - seemed to come off the
walls. In this, which is his Roman masterpiece, the composition betrays the
influence of the school of Raphael, and in the design of the bodies, of the
school of Michelangelo, especially through Sebastiano del Piombo and Salviati”
(Hermann Voss)
On the
sides “Two prophets” maybe by Taddeo Zuccari
Above the
altar fragment of the head of St. Eligius kept in a silver reliquary of
1628
ARCH ABOVE
THE ALTAR
Fresco “St.
Eligius as he is assisting the poor” by an unknown
seventeenth-century artist
On the
sides “Annunciation” maybe by Matteo da Lecce
LEFT ALTAR
“Adoration
of the Shepherds” in 1574 by Giovanni De Vecchi
(about 1537/1615)
On the
sides at the top “Sibille” by Giovanni Francesco
Romanelli
LEFT AND
RIGHT OF THE CHURCH
Houses
belonging to the Brotherhood of the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths
The
one on the right was designed in 1625 by Paolo
Marucelli (1594/1649)
