Name of Monument:

Sant’Andrea della Valle, Glory of the Virgin fresco

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Date:

1625–27

Artists:

Giovanni Lanfranco

Denomination / Type of monument:

Frescoed dome

Patron(s):

Cardinal Alessandro Peretti Montalto

History:

The construction of the church of the Clerics Regular (also known as Theatines), an order founded in 1524 by Gian Pietro Carafa (the future Pope Paul IV), began in 1591 on commission of Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo, protector of the Congregation. After his death, he was succeeded by Sixtus V’s nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Peretti Montalto who, starting from 1608, entrusted the completion of the building to Carlo Maderno, while the initial project had been designed by the Theatine Francesco Grimaldi and Giacomo Della Porta.
This majestic dome, second in size in Rome only to that of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, was completed in 1623.
Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of the newly elected Gregory XV, had pushed for the tribune and dome to be painted by his favourite artist, Domenichino, but Cardinal Montalto opted for a compromise by entrusting the dome to Giovanni Lanfranco (who had already proved his value in the magnificent illusionistic fresco of the Council of the gods in the Casino Borghese) while the pendentives and the vault of the apse were still commissioned to Domenichino. The two artists were both Emilian and pupils of Annibale Carracci. To the dizzying whirlwind of Lanfranco’s figures, Domenichino responded with his classic compositions marked by monumentality and calmness.

Description:

The fresco, which is spread over a surface of 622 m2, represents the Assumption of the Virgin in the glory of Paradise. At the centre, in the lower register above the altar, the Virgin is ascending. Thanks to her red robe and blue mantle she strikes out from the swirling mass of clouds where saints, prophets, apostles, patriarchs and biblical heroines come together. Two putti are about to crown her with a wreath of roses. Proceeding upwards in the second circle, a celestial concert of angel musicians is depicted, while at the base of the lantern seven little angels support garlands and festoons of flowers and fruit.
Christ, in a white robe, descends from the top of the lantern to welcome his mother to Heaven.
A precise and orderly hierarchy is therefore established from top to bottom in which the light that radiates from the figure of Christ plays a structural, as well as symbolic role: golden and dazzling at the top, it dematerializes the angelic figures closest to the lantern, while it becomes more ‘concrete’ towards the bottom, especially in the clouds at the base, producing light-toned colours on the garments of the characters based on very refined accords of pink, yellow, gray, orange, green and purple.
Among the saints in the lower circle, St. Andrew, with the cross of his martyrdom, can be seen holding the hand of the Theatine Andrea Avellino (canonized just a year before the beginning of the works) as he welcomes him to Paradise, while St. Peter is doing the same with Saint Cajetan.
The inspiring models for Lanfranco are the domes that Correggio had frescoed in Parma Cathedral and in the San Giovanni Evangelista Church, in the same city. However, Lanfranco also refers to Rubens (who was in Rome at the beginning of the century), especially in the drapery, to Bernini in the gestures in movement of the figures, to the ancient models in the positions of some figures.
The dome sparked great amazement in Rome, constituting the beginning of a new, fertile season in the decoration of vaults and domes: Baroque illusionism.

The dome, with its vortex of figures (strongly influenced by the art of Corregio in Parma) can be considered the birth of the tendency for the search of illusionist effects of the art of Seicento’s Rome.

How Monument was dated:

Archival documentation.

Selected bibliography:

Costamagna, A., "... l'aria dipingeva per lui": Giovanni Lanfranco e la Gloria del Paradiso a Sant'Andrea della Valle, in Costamagna, A., Ferrara, D. and Grilli, C. (eds) Sant'Andrea della Valle, Milan: Skira 2003: 195–235.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright images: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Pier Paolo Racioppi "Sant’Andrea della Valle, Glory of the Virgin fresco" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;it;Mon11;15;en

Prepared by: Pier Paolo RacioppiPier Paolo Racioppi

Laureato e specializzato in storia dell'arte presso l'Università di Roma “La Sapienza” sta conseguendo il dottorato di ricerca in Storia e conservazione dell'oggetto d'arte e d'architettura presso l'Università di Roma TRE. Ha svolto attività seminariali presso l'Istituto di Storia dell'Arte all'Università La Sapienza di Roma e attualmente è docente di storia dell'arte del Rinascimento presso la IES at Luiss (Roma).
Ha pubblicato diversi contributi sulla tutela artistica, il collezionismo e le accademie d'arte, ed ha collaborato al Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani dell'Enciclopedia Treccani.
Copyedited by: Janice MedinaJanice Medina

Janice Medina is an artist and educator based in Upstate New York. She studied interior design at Syracuse University and obtained her M.S. in Building Conservation in 2008 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Master of Fine Arts in 2019 (University at Albany).

Janice is a former participant in the US/ICOMOS International Exchange Program and she has taught courses in the history of design and historic preservation. Her artwork is influenced by her experiences in historic preservation, as well as by building materials and the natural environment.

Janice has participated as a copy-editor with Museum With No Frontiers since 2019. In this role she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including Discover Islamic Art, Discover Baroque Art and Discover Glass Art.
Translation by: Lavinia Amenduni

MWNF Working Number: IT1 15