Santa Maria delle Grazie Maggiore a Caponapoli or Santa Maria delle Grazie Maggiore is a church located in the historic center of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy.

History

Work on the church and adjacent monastery began in 1447, inspired by the beatified Pietro da Pisa. The church was completed in 1473, but from 1516 to 1535 it underwent reconstruction, including the portal by Giovanni Francesco di Palma. Further reconstruction occurred in the 18th century. During the second half of the 18th century, it was a secret meeting place for members of

Free Masonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

, supposedly sponsored by the monk Serafino Pinzone (who was accused of revolutionary

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

leanings in 1794). In 1809, the church was suppressed, and in 1933 joined to the Hospital of Incurables (

Ospedale degli Incurabili The Ospedale degli Incurabili (''Hospital for the Incurables'') or Complesso degli Incurabili is an ancient and prominent hospital complex located on Via Maria Longo in central Naples, Italy. Part of the complex, including the remarkable pharma ...

) under the original order of the monastery. But by the 1970s, the church was in poor state of conservation. The interior is laid out as a Latin cross with chapels, and houses paintings by

Domenico Antonio Vaccaro Domenico Antonio Vaccaro (June 3, 1678 – June 13, 1745) was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect. He created many important sculptural and architectural projects in Naples. His later works are executed in an individualistic Rococo s ...

Girolamo D'Auria Girolamo D'Auria (1577–1620) was an Italian sculptor, active mainly in Naples, Italy. His first name is variously used as Hieronymus, Ieronimo, Hieronimo, Jeronimo, Geronimo or Gerolamo. Girolamo's father, Giovanni Domenico D'Auria, and An ...

, and a ''Madonna'' statue and a ''Deposition'' bas-relief by

Giovanni da Nola Giovanni da Nola (1478–1559), also known as Giovanni Merliano, was an Italian sculptor and architect of the Renaissance, active in Naples. He was born the son of a leather merchant, in Nola near Naples. Da Nola moved to Naples where he trained ...

. Among the masterworks in the church is the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

burial monument of the ''Giovanniello de Cuntco and his wife, Lucrezia Filangieri di Candida'' (1517), sculpted by Giovanni Tommaso Malvito. Giovanello, secretary to the King of Aragon, reclines above in three dimensions, while his wife sleeps below in an elegant but simple bas-relief. The presbytery and apse decorated with frescoes by

Giovanni Battista Beinaschi image:Benaschi-llanto por abel.JPG, ''The Deploration of Abel'', Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Madrid). Giovanni Battista Benaschi, or Beinaschi, (1636–1688) was an list of Italian painters, Italian painter and engraver active i ...

and

Lorenzo Vaccaro Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655 – 10 August 1706) was an Italian late-Baroque sculptor. He worked in a formalized restrained style. He was born in Naples, the son of a lawyer. He apprenticed with Cosimo Fanzago and Dionisio Lazzari. He was a close frie ...

. The right arm of the transept has a ''Sant'Antonio di Padova'' by

Andrea da Salerno Andrea Sabbatini (1487–1530) (var. Andrea Sabatini or Andrea da Salerno) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He was born in Salerno, and initially trained under Raimondo Epifanio in Naples, but move to Rome and became a close discipl ...

; in the 6th chapel on left, in relief the ''Incredulity of St Thomas'' by

Girolamo Santacroce Girolamo Santacroce (c. 1502 – c. 1537) was a 16th-century Italian sculptor and medalist of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. i ...

, while the first chapel has both the ''Deposition'' bas-relief by

and a ''Burial of Galeazzo Giustiniani'' by an unknown 16th-century artist.

Bibliography

*Vincenzo Regina, ''Le chiese di Napoli. Viaggio indimenticabile attraverso la storia artistica, architettonica, letteraria, civile e spirituale della Napoli sacra'', Newton e Compton editor, Naples 2004. *Mario Buonoconto, ''Napoli esoterica: an itinerario nei misteri napoletani'', Rome 1999.

External links

The church di Santa Maria delle Grazie a Caponapoli su Napoligrafia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria delle Grazie Caponapoli, Naples Former churches in Naples Renaissance architecture in Naples 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1473