The Cerasi Chapel or Chapel of the Assumption ( it, Cappella Cerasi, Cappella dell'Assunta) is one of the side chapels in the left transept of the
Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo
, image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg
, caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo
, coordinates =
, image_size ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. It contains significant paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio and
Annibale Carracci, two of the most important masters of Italian
Baroque art, dating from 1600–1601.
History
Precursor: Foscari Chapel
Before the present-day edifice another funerary chapel on the same spot was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was built by
Pietro Foscari, the Cardinal of Venice.
Johann Burchard
Johann Burchard, also spelled Johannes Burchart or Burkhart (c.1450–1506) was an Alsatian-born priest and chronicler during the Italian Renaissance. He spent his entire career at the papal Courts of Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Pi ...
notes in his diary that the cardinal died on 11 August 1485. "His body was then transferred to the city, and given over for burial in a chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which he had built for himself", states Burchard. This construction obviously correlated to the general rebuilding of the basilica by
Pope Sixtus IV which began in 1472. The Cardinal of Venice was an influential person in the Roman court and Italian politics. It seems an obvious choice that he built himself a chapel in the Pope's favourite church in a very prominent position in the left transept. The construction might have begun in 1476.
The chapel was covered by a barrel vault with a depth equal to the 15th century arch of the papal chapel. According to the will of the patron, the sarcophagus, which was due to host his remains, was placed at the center of the edifice. Due to its particular placement and visibility the sarcophagus was decorated on all four sides. This arrangement was markedly different than the Florentine type wall tombs of the basilica. Probably it was modelled after the tomb of
Pope Sixtus IV by
Pollaiuolo or even more after other 15th century sculptural works in the city of
Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
. This sepulchral monument is the only remaining vestige of the demolished chapel. Now it is placed in the
Costa Chapel
The Costa or St Catherine Chapel ( it, Cappella Costa or Cappella di Santa Caterina) is located in the south aisle of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. This is the fourth side chapel from the counterfaçade and was dedicated to St Ca ...
in the right aisle.
The bronze
gisant
A tomb effigy, usually a recumbent effigy or, in French, ''gisant'' (French, "lying"), is a sculpted figure on a tomb monument depicting in effigy the deceased. These compositions were developed in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, and ...
is attributed to a Sienese sculptor,
Giovanni di Stefano, a follower of
Vecchietta
Lorenzo di Pietro (1410 – June 6, 1480), known as Vecchietta, was an Italian Sienese School painter, sculptor, goldsmith, and architect of the Renaissance. He is among the artists profiled in Vasari's ''Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, ...
, who was commissioned by the heirs of Cardinal Pietro Foscari and used a funerary mask for the modelling of the face.
Tiberio Cerasi's chapel
![Tiberio cerasi teresa pelzer tombs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Tiberio_cerasi_teresa_pelzer_tombs.jpg)
The patronage rights of the chapel were purchased on 8 July 1600 by Monsignor
Tiberio Cerasi
Tiberio Cerasi (1544 – May 3, 1601) was a Roman jurist and Treasurer-General to Pope Clement VIII. He is mainly known for building the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome and commissioning Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci to cre ...
, Treasurer-General of
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605.
Born ...
. He bought the chapel from the Augustinian friars with the option to rebuild and adorn it "in the manner and form" he wanted to. The edifice was reconfigured by
Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno (Maderna) (1556 – 30 January 1629) was an Italian architect, born in today's Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Vall ...
who was referred to as the architect of the still unfinished chapel in the 2 May 1601 codicil to Cerasi's will.
In September Cerasi contracted Caravaggio to paint two panels for the side walls; the contract with
Annibale Caracci
Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...
for the altarpiece has not been preserved. The commissions went to the leading artists in Rome at the time. Caracci painted ''
The Assumption of Mary'' while Caravaggio depicted the ''
Conversion of Saint Paul
The conversion of Paul the Apostle (also the Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, Damascus Christophany and the "road to Damascus" event) was, according to the New Testament, an event in the life of Saul/Paul the Apostle that led him to ce ...
'' and the ''
Crucifixion of Saint Peter'' on the lateral walls. Cerasi's choice of the Assumption for the altar seems straightforward enough, while the other two paintings honoured the
Apostles central to the foundation of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
as well as popular
Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martyrdom. The precedent already existed for this juxtaposition in the
Cappella Paolina
The Cappella Paolina (the Pauline Chapel) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. It is separated from the Sistine Chapel by the Sala Regia. It is not on any of the regular tourist itineraries.
Michelangelo's two frescoes in the Ca ...
at the
Apostolic Palace
The Apostolic Palace ( la, Palatium Apostolicum; it, Palazzo Apostolico) is the official residence of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, located in Vatican City. It is also known as the Papal Palace, the Palace of the Vatican and t ...
by
Michelangelo.
[Lilian H. Zirpolo, cit., pag. 91.] Saint Peter
) (Simeon, Simon)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
, death_date = Between AD 64–68
, death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
, parents = John (or Jonah; Jona)
, occupat ...
and
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
were also the patrons of Rome and they had a strong connection with the papacy. Because Tiberio Cerasi did not belong to the ranks of the Roman aristocracy and he made his career and fortune in the
Roman Curia, it was important to emphasize his proximity to papal power and the Church of Rome.
The first versions of the Caravaggio paintings were rejected by the patron and then Caravaggio painted two canvasses instead of the cypress panels as it had been formerly stipulated. The story of the rejection of the first versions was recorded by
Giovanni Baglione
Giovanni Baglione (1566 – 30 December 1643) was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. He is best remembered for his acrimonious and damaging involvement with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio and ...
in his 1642 ''Life of Caravaggio''.
Tiberio Cerasi died on 3 May 1601 and was buried in the chapel. In his will he named the Hospital of the Madonna della Consolazione as his heir with the responsibility to complete the unfinished chapel.
[Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, cit., pag. 22.] Annibale's altarpiece was probably already complete at the time while Caravaggio was paid on 10 November 1601 for his work. The paintings were finally installed in the chapel by a woodworker named Bartolomeo in May 1605, and the chapel was consecrated on 11 November 1606.
The chapel was acquired by a descendant of the family, Antonio Cerasi, count of Monterado in 1853 who subsequently restored it.
Description
![Carracci - Le Christ du Couronnement de la Vierge, INV 7169, Recto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Carracci_-_Le_Christ_du_Couronnement_de_la_Vierge%2C_INV_7169%2C_Recto.jpg)
The oblong shaped chapel consists of a sail-vaulted anteroom and a narrower, barrel-vaulted chancel with the altar. The space is lit dimly by light coming through a lunette window on the back wall. The arched entrance is closed by a balustrade of colourful marble. The focal point of the architecture is the altar. It was built of white and colourful marble in the shape of an
aedicule adorned with two large Corinthian columns, two half-pilasters and a broken pediment. The Cerasi coat-of-arms is depicted in the center of the stained glass lunette window. From the outside the chapel is invisible because it is hemmed in by the neighbouring parts of the basilica and a narrow, walled courtyard. The architect skillfully maximized the very small space left between the presbytery (on the right) and the 16th-century
Theodoli Chapel (on the left), and created the impression of "a miniature Latin-cross church, complete with transept, domed crossing, and choir. The nave
..is supplied by the visitor's motion, his sense of direction and focus".
Caravaggio's dramatically lit and foreshortened paintings are intended to be viewed from the side rather than straight-on, and draw the eye to Carracci's frontally presented ''Assumption'', so that the chapel is aesthetically united despite the very different styles of the two artists. According to Steinberg the light on the Caravaggio paintings comes from the painted heaven on the vault of the anteroom, inhabited by the dove of the Holy Spirit.
[Leo Steinberg, cit., pag. 185.] On the other hand, Varriano claims that the "source" of the light seems to be the clerestory window across the transept.
[John L. Varriano, cit., pag. 44.]
The chapel is decorated in exuberant Baroque style. The frescos on the short barrel-vault of the chancel depict the ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (central medaillon) and the visions of Sts Peter and Paul, ''Domine quo vadis'' and ''Saint Paul Transported to the Third Heaven'' (side panels), both set in rich gilded stucco frames. The frame of the central medaillon is held by four stucco
putti
A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
. The paintings were executed by
Innocenzo Tacconi, an able assistant of Annibale Carracci, and at least the coronation scene was designed by Carracci himself. This is proved by a detailed preparatory drawing of the figure of Christ in almost the same position as in the executed fresco which was preserved in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. A far less elaborate sketch of the meeting of Christ and St Peter in front of a city gate, which was made for the Domine quo vadis panel by Carracci, was identified by
Hans Tietze
Hans Tietze (May 1, 1880 in Prague – April 4, 1954 in New York City) was an Austrian art historian and member of the Vienna School of Art History.
Life and work
The son of a Jewish lawyer, Tietze grew up in Prague in a German speaking enviro ...
in the collection of the
Albertina
The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...
. Baglione identified the right-hand panel as Paul in Third Heaven (mentioned in the Second Letter to the Corinthians) while others believe it represents Christ ordering Paul to leave
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
(Acts 22:17–21) or even a synthesis of the two episodes. The setting of the fresco is celestial with Christ surrounded by angels and reclining on clouds. On the right is the constellation of
Ursa Major
Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear," referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa ...
, perhaps a hidden signature of Annibale, playing on the assonance of the word ''carro'' (meaning cart, the constellation is also known as Grande Carro in Italian) and his own surname, Carracci.
Iconographically the side panels "relate to the Caravaggio paintings in that they manifest the divine cause of what passes below" them. Similarly the Coronation scene is placed above Carracci's Assumption as a direct continuation. The vault forms a celestial zone in close contact with the three famous paintings below.
These relationships indicate that the artists worked in a compositional framework conceived by the patron or even more his friend and artistic adviser, Marchese
Vincenzo Giustiniani
Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani (13 September 1564 – 27 December 1637) was an aristocratic Italian banker, art collector and intellectual of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, known today largely for the Giustiniani art collection, assembled ...
. (That Caravaggio received 50 scudi as advance payment from Giustiniani, when he signed the contract to the two paintings, may be a hint to his role.)
![Cappella cerasi, stucchi dorati 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Cappella_cerasi%2C_stucchi_dorati_01.jpg)
The intrados of the arch between the chancel and the anteroom is decorated with white-gold stucco panels with two putti holding a wreath (top) and angels playing the harp and the flute (above the cornice). The stucco decoration on the pillars is similar but the figurative panels are gilded. The panels are directly related to the paintings of Caravaggio because they depict episodes from the life of St Peter and St Paul. The episodes from the life of Paul are on the right (from the top to bottom): ''Paul and Barnabas in Lystra refusing the sacrifice of a bull by the priest of Jove'' (Acts 14:8–18); ''Saul's baptism by Ananias'' (Acts 9:10–21) and ''The stoning of Stephen'' (Acts 7:54–60) which Saul had witnessed guarding the coats of the executioners. The episodes from the life of Peter are on the left (from the top to bottom): ''Peter delivered from prison'' (Acts 12:6–11); ''The Fall of Simon Magus'' (Acts of Peter XXXII) and ''Peter and John healing the cripple'' (Acts 3:1–10). The lower zone of the walls, up to a height of 2.2 m from the floor, is covered with fake painted marble, interspersed with real white and black marble slabs. The other surfaces are decorated with dense white-gold floral motifs.
The frescos in the anteroom of the chapel depict the Holy Spirit in the central oval medaillon and the Evangelists with their usual symbols and helpful putti on a golden background. The ''Doctors of the Church'' (Saint Augustine and Jerome; Saint Ambrose and Gregory the Great) are in the two lunettes. The oval form is repeated in the pattern of the terracotta pavement. The frescos of the anteroom were attributed to
Giovanni Battista Ricci
Giovanni Battista Ricci (Novara, circa 1537 – Rome, 1627) nicknamed Il Novara after his birth town, was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerist and early- Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.
Biography
Ricci moved to Rome from his native Pi ...
by
Giovanni Baglione
Giovanni Baglione (1566 – 30 December 1643) was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. He is best remembered for his acrimonious and damaging involvement with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio and ...
in his ''Lives''. The attribution is generally accepted by modern scholars. Two preparatory studies for the lunette paintings are preserved in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. Four golden putti in the spandrels seem to support the vault. As Giovanni Battista Ricci was a dependable but rather mediocre artist compared to Carracci and Caravaggio, Tiberio Cerasi's heirs probably chose him to complete the unfinished chapel in a quick and economical way.
There are funeral monuments on the lateral walls of the anteroom, one for Tiberio Cerasi, the founder of the chapel on the left and another for his father, Stefano Cerasi (†1575) and his mother, Bartolomea Manardi on the right (†1573). These are typical Baroque wall monuments with the carved busts of the deceased set in oval niches, curved broken pediments and long epitaphs. The projecting heads are turned towards the altar. The monuments have painted backgrounds with rich draperies and flaming urns. The tomb itself, where his father, mother and brother had been buried, was mentioned in Tiberio Cerasi's will in 1598; it was probably located under the floor of the transept.
The 19th-century Neoclassical tomb of Teresa Pelzer, a young German woman from
Aachen and the wife of Count Antonio Cerasi, was inserted into the wall under the monument of Tiberio Cerasi. She died in 1852 at the age of 27 in childbirth and her baby died with her. Their sculpture was created by Giuseppe Tenerani who finished the monument in 1857. The Latin inscription on their grave says: Post tenebras spero lucem (After Darkness I Hope Light). Teresa Pelzer is portrayed sleeping on her bed, and she is holding her dead child on her breast. The benefactor of the public hospital of
San Giacomo degli Incurabili
The hospital of ''San Giacomo in Augusta'' (Saint James in Augusta), also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili (Saint James of the Incurables) was a historic hospital located in Rome.
History
The Hospital was built for the first time in 1349 by ...
, Paolo M. Martinez (†1833) was buried under the pavement,
[ Vincenzo Forcella. "Iscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edifici di Roma dal secolo XI fino ai nostri giorni." Roma (1869): vol.1, p. 400] but his monument was placed on the external left pillar.
Gallery
File:Caravaggio-Crucifixion of Peter.jpg, Crucifixion of St. Peter (Caravaggio)
File:Assumption of Mary - Cerasi Chapel - Santa Maria del Popolo - Rome 2015.jpg, Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Carracci)
File:Caravaggio-The Conversion on the Way to Damascus.jpg, Conversion of Saint Paul (Caravaggio)
File:Cappella cerasi 01.JPG, The chapel from the transept
File:Cappella cerasi 02 affreschi di innocenzo tacconi (inizi XVII sec).JPG, Frescos of Innocenzo Tacconi on the vault
File:Domine quo vadis? studio volta cappella Cerasi.png, Sketches for the Domine quo vadis panel
File:Cerasi anteroom vault.jpg, The frescos of Giovanni Battista Ricci in the anteroom: the Holy Spirit and the Evangelists.
File:Crucifixion of Saint Peter - Cerasi Chapel - Santa Maria del Popolo - Rome 2015.jpg, Left side wall
File:Conversion of Saint Paul - Cerasi Chapel - Santa Maria del Popolo - Rome 2015.jpg, Right side wall
File:Stefano cerasi tomb.jpg, The monument of Stefano Cerasi
File:Cappella cerasi 03 pavimento.JPG, Pavement
File:Giovanni Battista Ricci, dottori della chiesa 02.jpg, Saints Augustine and Jerome
File:Giovanni Battista Ricci, dottori della chiesa 01.jpg, Saints Ambrose and Gregory the Great
File:St ambrose and gregory gio batt ricci.png, Preparatory study for a lunette painting
File:St augustine and jerome gio batt ricci.png, Preparatory study for a lunette painting
File:Martinez monument.jpg , Monument of Paolo M. Martinez, benefactor (on external left pillar), whose tomb is in the chapel pavement
Notes
Bibliography
*Leo Steinberg: ''Observations in the Cerasi Chapel'', in: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1959), pp. 183–190
*Lilian H. Zirpolo: ''The A to Z of Renaissance Art'', Scarecrow Press, 2008
*John L. Varriano: ''Caravaggio: The Art of Realism'', Penn State University Press, 2006
*Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe: Two "Avvisi", Caravaggio, and Giulio Mancini, in: Source: ''Notes in the History of Art'', Vol. 12, No. 3 (Spring 1993), pp. 22–29
* L. Spezzaferro, "La cappella Cerasi e il Caravaggio," in: ''Caravaggio, Carracci, Maderno. La Cappella Cerasi in S. Maria del Popolo a Roma'' (ed. L. Spezzaferro, M.G. Bernardini, C. Strinati, and A.M. Tantillo (Milan 2001), pp. 9–34.
*William Breazeale: «Un gran soggetto ma non ideale»: Caravaggio and Bellori's legacy, Kunsttexte.de. 1/2001
*William Breazeale: ''Il Caravaggio, il Carracci e la cappella Cerasi: eredità teorica e opinione moderna'' Firenze : Le Càriti, 2006.
*Heather Nolin: "Non piacquero al Padrone: A Reexamination of Caravaggio's Cerasi Crucifixion of St. Peter, in: ''Rutgers Art Review'' 24 (2008)
{{Authority control
Caravaggio
Cerasi
Rome R. IV Campo Marzio
1606 establishments in Italy
Carlo Maderno buildings