Name of Monument:

Church of Santa Rosalia, funerary monuments to Prince Taddeo Barberini and Cardinal Antonio Barberini

Location:

Palestrina, Rome, Latium, Italy

Date:

1704

Artists:

Architect, stucco worker and sculptor: Bernardino Cametti (1682, Gattinara – 1736, Rome)

Denomination / Type of monument:

Religious architecture, church; funerary monuments

Patron(s):

Cardinal Francesco Barberini Junior (1662–1738), son of Maffeo and Olimpia Giustiniani

History:

The Church of Santa Rosalia, commissioned by Taddeo Barberini (1603–47) from the architect Francesco Contini (1599–1669) as a family chapel, was completed by his son Maffeo (1630–85). Opened on 7 November 1660, it was dedicated to the saint who protected the Prenestini (people of Palestrina) during the plague of 1656. The church, with its twin towers, is integral to the scenographic backdrop made up of the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia and the Palazzo Barberini. Inside the church, the funerary monuments of Taddeo and Antonio Barberini were placed on the side-walls at the beginning of the following century.

Description:

The church of Santa Rosalia has a central plan with a continuous cornice, polychrome marble walls, double cross-vault and a presbytery, richly decorated with polychrome marble and monuments. The Pietà group, known as the Palestrina group, was added to a niche in the chapel behind the sacristy (the Depository of the Tombs); one of the later sculptures, attributed to Michelangelo, is now in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.
In the funerary monuments on the side-walls, of Taddeo Barberini (1603–47) to the right and his brother Cardinal Antonio (1607–71) to the left, the sculptor combines – using Berninian forms ­– the geometric shapes of the triangle (a kind of pyramid in giallo antico – golden antico ­– marble on lion’s paws) and the circle (the medallion in grey marble containing candid busts of the deceased) in a composition which, while centred on the two portraits and seemingly static, is animated by the figures of angels, intent on writing the epitaph on Antonio’s tomb or playing the trumpet on Taddeos, made using typically Baroque forms suspended at the moment of action: the rich draperies, the hair in locks dishevelled but harmonious, wings, plumage described in detail, and the soft modelled shapes of the figures, all of which are treated using light, such as to create highlights in the rigid geometric partitioning of multicoloured marble walls.

In the funerary monuments of Taddeo Barberini and his brother Cardinal Antonio, the sculptor combines – using Berninian forms – the geometric shapes of the triangle (a kind of pyramid in giallo antico – golden antico – marble) and the circle (the medallion in grey marble containing candid busts of the deceased) in a composition which, while centred on the two portraits and seemingly static, is animated by the figures of angels, intent on writing the epitaph on Antonio’s tomb or playing the trumpet on Taddeos, made using typically Baroque forms suspended at the moment of action.

How Monument was dated:

Inscription on the tomb of Antonio Barberini

Selected bibliography:

Romanelli, P., Palestrina, Napoli 1967, pp. 86–87.
Masella, L. and Fornari, Z., “L’attività architettonica …” in I Barberini a Palestrina (P. Tomassi ed.), Palestrina 1992, pp. 74–90.
Barberini, F., “La famiglia Barberini” in I Barberini a Palestrina (P. Tomassi ed.), Palestrina 1992, pp. 7–36.
Baiocchi, G., “Chiesa di S. Rosalia”, I Principi della Chiesa, Milan 1998, p. 176.

Citation of this web page:

Laura Indrio "Church of Santa Rosalia, funerary monuments to Prince Taddeo Barberini and Cardinal Antonio Barberini" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;it;Mon13;20;en

Prepared by: Laura Indrio
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 20