Santa Maria delle Grazie is a 17th-century
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
-style,
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church and convent located just outside the city of
Senigallia
Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...
, region of
Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
, Italy.
History
The church was commissioned in 1494 by the local lord
Giovanni Della Rovere
Giovanni della Rovere (1457 – November 1501) was an Italian condottiero. He was a nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and the brother of Giuliano della Rovere (1443–1513), Pope Julius II from 1503.
Biography
Giovanni della Rovere was born at Savona. ...
, as a votive offering after the birth of his son on March 25, 1490, and placed in hands of the
Franciscan order
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
. The birth of
Francesco Maria I della Rovere
Francesco Maria I della Rovere (25 March 1490 – 20 October 1538) was an Italian condottiero, who was Duke of Urbino from 1508 to 1516 and, after retaking the throne from Lorenzo II de' Medici, from 1521 to 1538.
Biography
He was born ...
, future Duke of Urbino, on the day of the Annunciation which is recorded in a small bas-relief in the entrance to the cloister.
The design is attributed to the Florentine architect
Baccio Pontelli
Baccio Pontelli (c. 1450 – 1492) was an Italian architect, who designed the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican City. Baccio is an abbreviation of Bartolomeo.
Pontelli was born in Florence. Passing the phase of artistic formation with Giuliano and Be ...
. Some attribute part of the design to
Girolamo Genga
Girolamo Genga (c. 1476 – 11 July 1551) was an Italian painter and architect of the late Renaissance, Mannerist style.
Life and career
Genga was born in a region near Urbino. According mainly to Giorgio Vasari's biography, by age thirtee ...
. Work continued until the 17th century under the patronage of the last Della Rovere Duke of Urbino.
The cloister has frescoed lunettes depicting scenes from the ''Life of St Francis'' (1598) attributed to Petrus Franciscus Renulfus. The apse has an altarpiece depicting an ''Enthroned Virgin and Saints'' by
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pup ...
.
The church once held the ''
Madonna di Senigallia'' which is now attributed to
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...
, and is displayed in the Gallerie Nazionale delle Marche in
Urbino
Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of ...
. The painting, attributed during the early 19th century to
Fra Carnevale
Fra Carnevale OP ( 1420–25 – 1484) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento, active mainly in Urbino. Widely regarded as one of the most enigmatic artists, there are only nine works that can be definitively attributed to Carnevale know ...
was still in situ in 1900.
Giovanni Della Rovere
Giovanni della Rovere (1457 – November 1501) was an Italian condottiero. He was a nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and the brother of Giuliano della Rovere (1443–1513), Pope Julius II from 1503.
Biography
Giovanni della Rovere was born at Savona. ...
was buried in the church in 1501, his tomb can be seen in the right wall of the nave. The convent now houses a museum on the history of local agriculture, including the economic system of
metayage
The metayage ; es, mediería ; it, mezzadria . system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping. Another class of land tenancy in France is named , whereby the rent is ...
.
Comune of Senigallia
entry on church and convent.
References
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Renaissance architecture in le Marche
Baroque architecture in Marche
16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy
Churches in the Province of Ancona
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