Santi Luca e Martina is a church 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 ...

, Italy, situated between the

Roman Forum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...

and the

Forum of Caesar The Forum of Caesar, also known by the Latin Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris,Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. 3d Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. was a forum built by Julius Caes ...

and close to the

Arch of Septimus Severus The Arch of Septimius Severus ( it, Arco di Settimio Severo) at the northwestern end of the Roman Forum is a white marble triumphal arch dedicated in 203 A.D. to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, ...

History

The church was initially dedicated to Saint Martina, martyred in 228 AD during the reign of Emperor

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...

. In 625

Pope Honorius I Pope Honorius I (died 12 October 638) was the bishop of Rome from 27 October 625 to his death. He was active in spreading Christianity among Anglo-Saxons and attempted to convince the Celts to calculate Easter in the Roman fashion. He is chief ...

commissioned construction of the church. Restored first in 1256 during the reign of

Pope Alexander IV Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261. Early career He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne (now in the Province of Rome), he ...

, it was a simple rectangular structure surrounded on three sides by other constructions until it was rebuilt by the painter and architect,

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

, in the seventeenth century. In 1577 the Accademia di San Luca, the academy of painters, sculptors and architects in Rome, was founded and in 1588 it was given the church which was rededicated as S. Luca in S. Martina. The academy undertook minor refurbishments of the church and also there were projects for a new church prepared in drawings attributed to

Ottaviano Mascherino Ottaviano Nonni (1536 – 6 August 1606), called Il Mascherino, was an Italian architect, sculptor, and painter born in Bologna. Apprentice of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, he was active in Emilia and in Rome, where he had been living in the rione of ...

(1536–1606). Gradually the academy began to acquire properties adjacent to the church. In 1634, Pietro da Cortona was elected president of the academy. Almost at once he began restoration of the crypt and, as was common at this time in Rome, buried remains were found and were attributed to the martyred Saint Martina. No doubt it was hoped that this would precipitate an influx of funds to shelter the relics in a new church. In November 1634,

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

visited the church, and the papal nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who had been protector of the church since 1626, dedicated 6,000

scudi The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin ''s ...

although their full support for a new building seems to be in some doubt. Construction of the new edifice began in 1635 but was subject to interruptions such as Cortona's extended visit to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

from 1639–47 and Francesco Barberini's flight from

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in Januar ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1645-48. At the time of Cortona's death in 1669, some parts, such as the interior dome decoration, were still incomplete.

Overview

The plan of the upper church is almost a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

with nearly equal arms and the centre is crowned by the dome. Large Ionic columns, supporting a large

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

, cluster around the crossing and populate the wall spaces of the apsidal

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

s, choir and nave. The windows in the apsidal vaults are each surmounted by a split

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

with a head in a scallop shell with octagonal coffering above, motifs which Cortona used in his fresco painting. However, apart from the altarpieces, the interior is white stucco; a surprising design decision for a church dedicated to the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of painters ( St. Luke), built for the painting academy in Rome, and by a painter who had decorated some of the most opulent church vaults in Rome, such as

Santa Maria in Vallicella Santa Maria in Vallicella, also called Chiesa Nuova, is a church in Rome, Italy, which today faces onto the main thoroughfare of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the corner of Via della Chiesa Nuova. It is the principal church of the Oratorians, ...

. The interior dome decoration has been attributed to Cortona's pupil and collaborator,

Ciro Ferri Ciro Ferri (1634 – 13 September 1689) was an Italian Baroque sculptor and painter, the chief pupil and successor of Pietro da Cortona. He was born in Rome, where he began working under Cortona and with a team of artists in the extensive fresc ...

; ribs and coffering are combined as they are at

Santa Maria della Pace Santa Maria della Pace is a church in Rome, central Italy, not far from Piazza Navona. The building lies in rione Ponte. History The current building was built on the foundations of the pre-existing church of Sant'Andrea de Aquarizariis in 1482 ...

but here the forms of the coffering are far more fluid and almost shimmer with movement. Two stairways from the upper church lead down to the lower church that has a corridor connecting to an octagonal chapel directly below the dome of the upper church and the chapel of Santa Martina below the high altar. A circular opening in the vault of the octagonal chapel allows a view through up to the dome of the upper church. In contrast to the white spatial expansiveness of the upper church, the lower church, and particularly the chapel of Santa Martina, is richly decorated with colour, marbles, gilt bronze and has relatively low vaults. In the Chapel of Santa Martina, the Ionic columns in the corners have been placed on the diagonal, reminiscent of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's design of the Sforza Chapel in

Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

, and so setting up oblique as well as orthogonal tensions in this chapel centred on the altar to S. Martina. The gentle curvature of the facade is contained by a double storey of paired pilasters The columns of the ground storey are pressed into the wall rather than projecting as a spatial entity like the entrance portico at Santa Maria della Pace. Other elements such as pediments and mouldings are allowed to project between the columns to create spatial tensions which are reminiscent of Florentine

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

.R. Wittkower, 1985, p.239-41 In the upper church, the main altarpiece ''Saint Luke painting the Madonna'' was painted by

Antiveduto Grammatica Antiveduto Grammatica (1571 – April 1626) was a proto- Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome. Grammatica was born in either Siena or Rome. According to Giovanni Baglione the artist was given the name Antiveduto ("foreseen") because his ...

, and is a copy of the original attributed to

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

found now in art collection of the Accademia. Below this is a white marble statue of the martyred S. Martina by Nicolo Menghini. In the left transept is an ''Assumption and Saint Sebastian'' by

Sebastiano Conca Sebastiano Conca (8 January 1680 – 1 September 1764) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born at Gaeta, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, and apprenticed in Naples under Francesco Solimena. In 1706, along with his brother Giovanni, who ...

, and in the right transept is the ''Martyrdom of San Lazzaro'' by

Lazzaro Baldi Lazzaro Baldi ( – 30 March 1703) was an Italian painter and engraver of the Baroque period active mainly in Rome.

who is buried here. Inside the main entrance door to the upper church, a stone slab marks Cortona's burial place (died 1669) and there is a wall memorial with a bust of Cortona by Bernardo Fioiti in the lower church. The sculptures of the Evangelists in the

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s of the dome are 18th-century additions sculpted by

Filippo della Valle Filippo della Valle (26 December 1698 – 29 April 1768) was an Italian late-Baroque or early Neoclassic sculptor, active mostly in Rome. Biography Della Valle was born in Florence. Initially apprenticed with Giovanni Battista Foggini in F ...

Camillo Rusconi Camillo Rusconi (14 July 1658 – 8 December 1728) was an Italian sculptor of the late Baroque in Rome. His style displays both features of Baroque and Neoclassicism. He has been described as a Carlo Maratta in marble. Biography Initially trained ...

, and

Giovanni Battista Maini Giovanni Battista Maini (6 February 1690 – 29 July 1752) was an Italian sculptor of the Late-Baroque period, active mainly in Rome. He was born in Cassano Magnago in Lombardy, and died in Rome. He may have had contacts with Foggini in Florence ...

. To the right of the entrance is the monument to ''Carlo Pio Balestra'' (1776) by

Tommaso Righi Tommaso Righi (1727–1802) was an Italian sculptor and stuccator with a practice in Rome. His marble and stucco funeral monument to Carlo Pio Balestra (died 1776), patron of the Church of Santi Luca e Martina, in the Roman Forum, is probably h ...

and a ''Monument to Giovanna Garzoni'' by

Mattia De Rossi Mattia de Rossi (14 January 1637 – 2 August 1695) was an Italian architect of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome and surrounding towns. Biography Born in Rome to a family of architects and artisans, he rose to prominence under the mentors ...

. In the sacristy is a relief of the ''Ecstasy of St Mary Magdalene'' by

Alessandro Algardi Alessandro Algardi (July 31, 1598 – June 10, 1654) was an Italian high-Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome, where for the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the major ...

Notes

External links

Interactive Nolli Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santi Luca E Martina 7th-century churches in Italy 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Luca e Martina, Santi Luca Martina Church buildings with domes Pietro da Cortona buildings

History

Overview

See also

Notes

External links