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Cappella Sansevero | |
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà | |
![]() Entrance to the chapel. | |
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Location | Naples |
Country | Italy |
History | |
Founded | 1590 |
Founder(s) | John Francesco di Sangro |
Dedication | Santa Maria della Pietà |
The Cappella Sansevero (also known as the Cappella Sansevero de' Sangri or Pietatella) is a chapel located on Via Francesco de Sanctis 19, just northwest of the church of San Domenico Maggiore, in the historic center of Naples, Italy. The chapel is more properly named the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà. It contains works of Rococo art by some of the leading Italian artists of the 18th century. [1]
Its origin dates to 1590 when John Francesco di Sangro, Duke of Torremaggiore, after recovering from a serious illness, had a private chapel built in what were then the gardens of the nearby Sansevero family residence, the Palazzo Sansevero. The building was converted into a family burial chapel by Alessandro di Sangro in 1613 (as inscribed on the marble plinth over the entrance to the chapel). Definitive form was given to the chapel by Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero, who also included Masonic symbols in its reconstruction. [2] Until 1888 a passageway connected the Sansevero palace with the chapel.
The chapel received its alternative name of Pietatella from a painting of the Virgin Mary (La Pietà), spotted there by an unjustly arrested prisoner, as reported in the book Napoli Sacra by Cesare d'Engenio Caracciolo in 1623. When the chapel was constructed it was originally dedicated to Santa Maria della Pietà, after the painting. [1]
The chapel houses almost thirty works of art, among which are three particular sculptures of note. These marble statues are emblematic of the love of decoration in the Rococo period and their depiction of translucent veils and a fisherman's net represent remarkable artistic achievement. The Veiled Truth (Pudicizia, also called Modesty or Chastity) was completed by Antonio Corradini in 1752 as a tomb monument dedicated to Cecilia Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona, mother of Raimondo. The 1753 Christ Veiled under a Shroud (also called Veiled Christ), by Giuseppe Sanmartino, shows the influence of the veiled Modesty. The Release from Deception (Disinganno) completed in 1753–54 by Francesco Queirolo of Genoa serves as a monument to Raimondo's father. [1]
The ceiling, the Glory of Paradise, was painted by Francesco Maria Russo in 1749. The original floor (most of the present one dates from 1901) was in black and white (said to symbolize good/evil) in the design of a labyrinth (a masonic symbol for "initiation"). [1]
In the basement there is a painting by the Roman artist Giuseppe Pesce, Madonna con Bambino, dating from around 1750. It was painted using wax-based paints of Raimondo di Sangro's own invention. The prince presented this painting to his friend Charles Bourbon, king of Naples. [1]
The following is a list of the works of art in the chapel, numbered in the accompanying diagram, along with the artist:
The chapel also displays two early examples of what was long thought to be a form of plastination in its basement. These "anatomical machines" (macchine anatomiche) were thought to be examples of the process of "human metallization" (metallizzazione umana) as implemented by anatomist Giuseppe Salerno ca. 1760 from a commission by Raimondo di Sangro. The exhibit consists of a mature male and a pregnant woman. Their skeletons are encased in the hardened arteries and veins which are colored red and blue respectively. Previously, historians have surmised that the corpses could have been created by injecting the hardening substances directly into the veins of living subjects. [3] However, recent analysis shows no evidence of techniques involving injection. Analysis of the "blood vessels" indicate they are constructed of beeswax, iron wire, and silk. [4]
The Collegio Clementino is a palace in Rome, central Italy, sited between the Strada del'Orso and the banks of the Tiber. It was founded by Pope Clement VIII in 1595, to host Slavonian refugees. Giacomo della Porta was commissioned to erect a suitable building to house them, which would be one of the aged architect's last projects. On February 25, 1601, Urban VIII shifted the Slavs to Loreto and refounded the Collegio Clementino as an elite school for young noblemen of every nation and the richest families in Rome. The musical tradition of the Collegio Clementino remained strong: Alessandro Scarlatti wrote oratorios for Carnival seasons and came up from Naples to oversee their production.
Antonio Corradini was an Italian Rococo sculptor from Venice. He is best known for his illusory veiled depictions of the human body, where the contours of the face and body beneath the veil are discernible.
Sant'Anna dei Lombardi,, and also known as Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, is an ancient church and convent located in piazza Monteoliveto in central Naples, Italy. Across Monteoliveto street from the Fountain in the square is the Renaissance palace of Orsini di Gravina.
Francesco Queirolo was an Italian Genoese-born sculptor, active in Rome and Naples during the Rococo period.
Innocenzo Spinazzi (1726–1798) was an Italian sculptor of the Rococo period active in Rome and Florence.
Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero was an Italian nobleman, inventor, soldier, writer, scientist, alchemist and freemason best remembered for his reconstruction of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples.
Giuseppe Sanmartino or Giuseppe Sammartino was an Italian sculptor during the Rococo period.
The Abbey of Santa Giustina is a 10th-century Benedictine abbey complex located in front of the Prato della Valle in central Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. Adjacent to the former monastery is the basilica church of Santa Giustina, initially built in the 6th century, but whose present form derives from a 17th-century reconstruction.
Paolo Persico, was an Italian sculptor of the late-Baroque, active at and near Naples.
The church of Santi Severino e Sossio and the annexed monastery are located on via Bartolommeo Capasso in Naples, Italy.
The Palazzo D'Afflitto is a palace located in the San Giuseppe neighbourhood of Naples, Italy, adjacent to the Palazzo Capomazza di Campolattaro. It used to belong to the princely family d'Afflitto. In the third floor is the recently restored Church of the Real Monte Manso di Scala, built atop the famed Cappella Sansevero. The palace was built in the 15th century but underwent numerous reconstructions.
The Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano is a Baroque palace located on Via Toledo number 185 in the quartiere San Ferdinando of central Naples, Italy. It is also called the Palazzo Zevallos or Palazzo Colonna di Stigliano, and since 2014 serves as a museum of artworks, mainly spanning the 17th through the early 20th centuries, sponsored by the Cultural Project of the bank Intesa Sanpaolo. This museum is linked to the Museum or Gallerie di Piazza Scala in Milan and the Museum at Palazzo Leoni Montanari in Vicenza, also owned by the Bank.
The Anatomical Machines are a pair of anatomical models reproducing the human circulatory system, displayed in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples. Created in the second half of the 18th century, they are constructed over a male and a female human skeleton. The reproduction of the vessel system is formed of metal wire, wax, and silk, but because of its richness of detail it was for a long time believed to be of natural origin.
The Veiled Nun is a marble bust depicting a female figure that was sculpted by an unidentified Italian workshop in c. 1863. Despite its name, the woman depicted is not a nun. The bust was popular with visitors to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from 1874 until the museum closed in 2014. The bust is now displayed in the National Gallery of Art.
Modesty or Chastity or Veiled Truth by Antonio Corradini is a sculpture completed in 1752 during the Rococo period. Corradini was commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro to sculpt a memorial for his mother in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, where the marble sculpture still remains.
Palazzo di Sangro, also known as either Palazzo de Sangro di Sansevero or Palazzo Sansevero, is a late-Renaissance-style aristocratic palace facing the church of San Domenico Maggiore, separated by the via named after the church, in the city center of Naples, Italy. Part of the palace facade faces the piazza in front of the church, which is also bordered to the south by the Palazzo di Sangro di Casacalenda.
The Vestal Virgin Tuccia or Veiled Woman is a marble sculpture created in 1743 by Antonio Corradini, a Venetian Rococo sculptor known for his illusory depictions of female allegorical figures covered with veils that reveal the fine details of the forms beneath. The work is housed in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
The Di Sangro family is an Italian noble family.
Trojano or Troiano Spinelli was an Italian nobleman, philosopher, economist, and historian, active in Naples.