Name of Monument:

Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore

Location:

Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Date:

1606–1636

Artists:

Architects: Giovanni Ambrogio Mazenta and Ercole Fichi; painted decoration: Giuseppe and Antonio Rolli

Denomination / Type of monument:

Religious architecture (church)

Patron(s):

Spada family

History:

The church construction began in 1607, following a project of the architect Giovanni Ambrogio Magenta which was financed by the Spada, a noble Bolognese family. The main building’s work was finished in 1611, but the façade was built in 1636, following a project by Ercole Fichi. The church was called “Maggiore” to distinguish it from the other two dedicated to St. Paul in Bologna (Osservanza and Ravone). From the Napoleonic Age the church was ruled by the diocesan clergy and in 1806 it became a parish church. The Barnabite fathers came back in 1959. Pope John XXIII attributed the title of basilica to the church two years after its construction. Antonio Maria Zaccaria, founder of the Barnabite order, was a medicine doctor and that is why St. Paul is the patron of medical doctors.

Description:

On a brick and sandstone façade, Ercole Fichi located the two upper statues, St. Charles Borromeo and St. Philip Neri, the lower ones, St. Peter and St. Paul, were carved by Domenico Mirandola and Giulio Cesare Conventi. The frieze is decorated with fleur-de-lis and swords, the Spadas' heraldic symbols.
Magenta planned the church on a Latin cross scheme, with a single nave and side chapels. Several art works enrich the inside, together with the painted decorations that represent stories of St. Paul.
In the 19th century Angelo Venturoli and Antonio Serra drew plans for the altars; the most famous local baroque artists (Guercino, Giacomo Cavedoni, Mastelletta, Giuseppe Maria Crespi) painted the altarpieces. Ludovico Carracci painted for this church his celebrated “Paradise”.
Baroque frescoes on the counter façade and the vault representing the life of St. Paul's are by Giuseppe (1645–1727) and Antonio Rolli (1643–1696), who painted them in 1695: while Giuseppe was working on them, he fell from a scaffolding and died. The work was finished by his pupil Paolo Antonio Guidi (1675–1704).
In the choir and the transept Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli (1672–1740) painted figures inside the quadratures by Pietro Farina: the two artists together decorated the dome with the “Ecstasis of St. Paul” and the pendentives with the four continents.
A masterpiece is the Beheading of St. Paul, a sculpture by Alessandro Algardi, made between 1641 and 1647, and placed inside a ciborium behind the high altar. Local artisans, following the drawings of Francesco Borromini, made the tabernacle of the high altar.

Well known for hosting Algardi's masterpiece (the marble group of the Beheading of St. Paul), the church was built after a project by Giovanni Ambrogio Magenta, while the façade is thought to be by Ercole Fichi. Inside, the walls and vaults are decorated with frescos and the side chapels house paintings by celebrated artists of the seventeenth-century.

How Monument was dated:

Historical documents.

Special features

St. Paul in Athens

Vault, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna

1695

Giuseppe Rolli; Antonio Rolli

St. Paul is represented pointing to the Athenians a ray of light that symbolises God coming to enlighten the people.
Giuseppe Rolli painted the figures, Antonio the architectures.

St. Paul in Ephesus burns the books of magic

Right transept, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna

1716–1718

Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli; Pietro Farina

In Ephesus there was a famous shrine dedicated to the pagan goddess Arthemis. When St. Paul arrived in Ephesus, he decided to stop there for three years, but his words sent him to prison.

Ecstasis of St. Paul

Dome, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna

1716–1718

Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli; Pietro Farina

Also known as the “Glorification of St. Paul”, the fresco represents the Saint carried to heaven by the angels.
Around the dome, in the pendentives, the four continents (Europe, Asia, America, and Africa) symbolise St. Pauls’ universal message spreading throughout the world.

Selected bibliography:

Fanti, M., Riccomini, E., Rubbi, P. E, Tassinari Clò, O., Le chiese di Bologna, Bologna, 1992.
Storia dell'architettura italiana,  Il Seicento (ed. A. Scotti Tosini), II, Milan, 2003.
Fanti, C., Le chiese di Bologna, Bologna, 1992.
Fini, M., Bologna sacra. Tutte le chiese in due millenni di storia, Bologna, 2007.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright images: Comune di Bologna, Musei Civici d'Arte Antica.

Citation of this web page:

Claudia  Solacini "Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;it;Mon12;35;en

Prepared by: Claudia SolaciniClaudia Solacini

SURNAME: Solacini
NAME: Claudia

AFFILIATION University of Bologna

TITLE Art Historian

CV

Graduated in conservation of cultural heritage at the University of Bologna, master in conservation of orifices at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice; presently studing for a Research Doctorate at the University of Bologna and also teaches as a fellow professor. She is a specialist in eighteenth century art, especially portrait painting.
Translation by: Claudia SolaciniClaudia Solacini

SURNAME: Solacini
NAME: Claudia

AFFILIATION University of Bologna

TITLE Art Historian

CV

Graduated in conservation of cultural heritage at the University of Bologna, master in conservation of orifices at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice; presently studing for a Research Doctorate at the University of Bologna and also teaches as a fellow professor. She is a specialist in eighteenth century art, especially portrait painting.
Translation copyedited by: Lisa Kelman

MWNF Working Number: IT2 40