Cerasi Chapel

About

The Cerasi Chapel or Chapel of the Assumption (Italian: Cappella Cerasi, Cappella dell'Assunta) is one of the side chapels in the left transept of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. It contains significant paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, two of the most important masters of Italian Baroque art, dating from 1600 to 1601.

Before the present-day edifice another funerary chapel on the same spot was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was built by Pietro Foscari, the Cardinal of Venice. Johann Burchard notes in his diary that the cardinal died on 11 August 1485. "His body was then transferred to the city, and given over for burial in a chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which he had built for himself", states Burchard. This construction obviously correlated to the general rebuilding of the basilica by Pope Sixtus IV which began in 1472. The Cardinal of Venice was an influential person in the Roman court and Italian politics. It seems an obvious choice that he built himself a chapel in the Pope's favourite church in a very prominent position in the left transept. The construction might have begun in 1476.

The chapel was covered by a barrel vault with a depth equal to the 15th century arch of the papal chapel. According to the will of the patron, the sarcophagus, which was due to host his remains, was placed at the center of the edifice. Due to its particular placement and visibility the sarcophagus was decorated on all four sides. This arrangement was markedly different than the Florentine type wall tombs of the basilica. Probably it was modelled after the tomb of Pope Sixtus IV by Pollaiuolo or even more after other 15th century sculptural works in the city of Siena. This sepulchral monument is the only remaining vestige of the demolished chapel. Now it is placed in the Costa Chapel in the right aisle.

The bronze gisant is attributed to a Sienese sculptor, Giovanni di Stefano, a follower of Vecchietta, who was commissioned by the heirs of Cardinal Pietro Foscari and used a funerary mask for the modelling of the face.

The patronage rights of the chapel were purchased on 8 July 1600 by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, Treasurer-General of Pope Clement VIII. He bought the chapel from the Augustinian friars with the option to rebuild and adorn it "in the manner and form" he wanted to. The edifice was reconfigured by Carlo Maderno who was referred to as the architect of the still unfinished chapel in the 2 May 1601 codicil to Cerasi's will.

In September Cerasi contracted Caravaggio to paint two panels for the side walls; the contract with Annibale Caracci for the altarpiece has not been preserved. The commissions went to the leading artists in Rome at the time. Caracci painted The Assumption of Mary while Caravaggio depicted the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter on the lateral walls. Cerasi's choice of the Assumption for the altar seems straightforward enough, while the other two paintings honoured the Apostles central to the foundation of the Catholic Church as well as popular Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martyrdom. The precedent already existed for this juxtaposition in the Cappella Paolina at the Apostolic Palace by Michelangelo. Saint Peter and Paul were also the patrons of Rome and they had a strong connection with the papacy. Because Tiberio Cerasi did not belong to the ranks of the Roman aristocracy and he made his career and fortune in the Roman Curia, it was important to emphasize his proximity to papal power and the Church of Rome.

The first versions of the Caravaggio paintings were rejected by the patron and then Caravaggio painted two canvasses instead of the cypress panels as it had been formerly stipulated. The story of the rejection of the first versions was recorded by Giovanni Baglione in his 1642 Life of Caravaggio.

Tiberio Cerasi died on 3 May 1601 and was buried in the chapel. In his will he named the Hospital of the Madonna della Consolazione as his heir with the responsibility to complete the unfinished chapel. Annibale's altarpiece was probably already complete at the time while Caravaggio was paid on 10 November 1601 for his work. The paintings were finally installed in the chapel by a woodworker named Bartolomeo in May 1605, and the chapel was consecrated on 11 November 1606.

The chapel was acquired by a descendant of the family, Antonio Cerasi, count of Monterado in 1853 who subsequently restored it.

Before the present-day edifice another funerary chapel on the same spot was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was built by Pietro Foscari, the Cardinal of Venice. Johann Burchard notes in his diary that the cardinal died on 11 August 1485. "His body was then transferred to the city, and given over for burial in a chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, which he had built for himself", states Burchard. This construction obviously correlated to the general rebuilding of the basilica by Pope Sixtus IV which began in 1472. The Cardinal of Venice was an influential person in the Roman court and Italian politics. It seems an obvious choice that he built himself a chapel in the Pope's favourite church in a very prominent position in the left transept. The construction might have begun in 1476.

The chapel was covered by a barrel vault with a depth equal to the 15th century arch of the papal chapel. According to the will of the patron, the sarcophagus, which was due to host his remains, was placed at the center of the edifice. Due to its particular placement and visibility the sarcophagus was decorated on all four sides. This arrangement was markedly different than the Florentine type wall tombs of the basilica. Probably it was modelled after the tomb of Pope Sixtus IV by Pollaiuolo or even more after other 15th century sculptural works in the city of Siena. This sepulchral monument is the only remaining vestige of the demolished chapel. Now it is placed in the Costa Chapel in the right aisle.

The bronze gisant is attributed to a Sienese sculptor, Giovanni di Stefano, a follower of Vecchietta, who was commissioned by the heirs of Cardinal Pietro Foscari and used a funerary mask for the modelling of the face.

The patronage rights of the chapel were purchased on 8 July 1600 by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, Treasurer-General of Pope Clement VIII. He bought the chapel from the Augustinian friars with the option to rebuild and adorn it "in the manner and form" he wanted to. The edifice was reconfigured by Carlo Maderno who was referred to as the architect of the still unfinished chapel in the 2 May 1601 codicil to Cerasi's will.

In September Cerasi contracted Caravaggio to paint two panels for the side walls; the contract with Annibale Caracci for the altarpiece has not been preserved. The commissions went to the leading artists in Rome at the time. Caracci painted The Assumption of Mary while Caravaggio depicted the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter on the lateral walls. Cerasi's choice of the Assumption for the altar seems straightforward enough, while the other two paintings honoured the Apostles central to the foundation of the Catholic Church as well as popular Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martyrdom. The precedent already existed for this juxtaposition in the Cappella Paolina at the Apostolic Palace by Michelangelo. Saint Peter and Paul were also the patrons of Rome and they had a strong connection with the papacy. Because Tiberio Cerasi did not belong to the ranks of the Roman aristocracy and he made his career and fortune in the Roman Curia, it was important to emphasize his proximity to papal power and the Church of Rome.

The first versions of the Caravaggio paintings were rejected by the patron and then Caravaggio painted two canvasses instead of the cypress panels as it had been formerly stipulated. The story of the rejection of the first versions was recorded by Giovanni Baglione in his 1642 Life of Caravaggio.

Tiberio Cerasi died on 3 May 1601 and was buried in the chapel. In his will he named the Hospital of the Madonna della Consolazione as his heir with the responsibility to complete the unfinished chapel. Annibale's altarpiece was probably already complete at the time while Caravaggio was paid on 10 November 1601 for his work. The paintings were finally installed in the chapel by a woodworker named Bartolomeo in May 1605, and the chapel was consecrated on 11 November 1606.

The chapel was acquired by a descendant of the family, Antonio Cerasi, count of Monterado in 1853 who subsequently restored it.

The oblong shaped chapel consists of a sail-vaulted anteroom and a narrower, barrel-vaulted chancel with the altar. The space is lit dimly by light coming through a lunette window on the back wall. The arched entrance is closed by a balustrade of colourful marble. The focal point of the architecture is the altar. It was built of white and colourful marble in the shape of an aedicule adorned with two large Corinthian columns, two half-pilasters and a broken pediment. The Cerasi coat-of-arms is depicted in the center of the stained glass lunette window. From the outside the chapel is invisible because it is hemmed in by the neighbouring parts of the basilica and a narrow, walled courtyard. The architect skillfully maximized the very small space left between the presbytery (on the right) and the 16th-century Theodoli Chapel (on the left), and created the impression of "a miniature Latin-cross church, complete with transept, domed crossing, and choir. The nave [...] is supplied by the visitor's motion, his sense of direction and focus".

Caravaggio's dramatically lit and foreshortened paintings are intended to be viewed from the side rather than straight-on, and draw the eye to Carracci's frontally presented Assumption, so that the chapel is aesthetically united despite the very different styles of the two artists. According to Steinberg the light on the Caravaggio paintings comes from the painted heaven on the vault of the anteroom, inhabited by the dove of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Varriano claims that the "source" of the light seems to be the clerestory window across the transept.

The chapel is decorated in exuberant Baroque style. The frescos on the short barrel-vault of the chancel depict the Coronation of the Virgin (central medaillon) and the visions of Sts Peter and Paul, Domine quo vadis and Saint Paul Transported to the Third Heaven (side panels), both set in rich gilded stucco frames. The frame of the central medaillon is held by four stucco putti. The paintings were executed by Innocenzo Tacconi, an able assistant of Annibale Carracci, and at least the coronation scene was designed by Carracci himself. This is proved by a detailed preparatory drawing of the figure of Christ in almost the same position as in the executed fresco which was preserved in the Louvre. A far less elaborate sketch of the meeting of Christ and St Peter in front of a city gate, which was made for the Domine quo vadis panel by Carracci, was identified by Hans Tietze in the collection of the Albertina. Baglione identified the right-hand panel as Paul in Third Heaven (mentioned in the Second Letter to the Corinthians) while others believe it represents Christ ordering Paul to leave Jerusalem (Acts 22:17–21) or even a synthesis of the two episodes. The setting of the fresco is celestial with Christ surrounded by angels and reclining on clouds. On the right is the constellation of Ursa Major, perhaps a hidden signature of Annibale, playing on the assonance of the word carro (meaning cart, the constellation is also known as Grande Carro in Italian) and his own surname, Carracci.