Bufalini Chapel

Coordinates: 41°53′37.57″N 12°28′58.46″E / 41.8937694°N 12.4829056°E / 41.8937694; 12.4829056
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Bufalini Chapel
View of the chapel
Map
41°53′37.57″N 12°28′58.46″E / 41.8937694°N 12.4829056°E / 41.8937694; 12.4829056
LocationRome, Italy
History
Founded1484
Architecture
Architectural typeChapel
Completed1486

The Bufalini Chapel is a

Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, Italy. The first chapel on the right after the entrance, it houses a cycle of frescoes executed c. 1484-1486 by Pinturicchio depicting the life of the Franciscan friar St. Bernardino of Siena
, sainted in 1450.

History

The chapel was commissioned by Niccolò Di Manno

Santa Maria in Aracoeli.[2] Bufalini[3] was a prelate, citizen of Città di Castello, who worked as abbreviator di parco maggiore[notes 2] and consistorial lawyer in Rome.[2] His family coat of arms (a bull with a flower) appears widely in the chapel.[4] Several important painters, including Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and Pinturicchio, had finished the wall decoration of the Sistine Chapel (1482), and had returned to their hometowns, with the exception of Pinturicchio, who had formed a workshop including some of the collaborators in that work. Pinturicchio, who had been so far outshone by Perugino's fame, could exploit his presence in Rome to obtain the commission of his first great work, the Bufalini Chapel,[4] also favored by the common origin[clarification needed] with Riccomanno Bufalini. The painter had already executed at least one work for the latter's family, a Madonna now in the Municipal Gallery of Città di Castello (c. 1480).[4]

No documents about the works' execution exist, but they are generally dated to around 1484-1486.[4][5] The frescoes suffered some damage and repainting, and were subsequently restored in 1955-1956 and 1981-1982.[6]

Description

The chapel has a rectangular plan, with a

Baglioni and Del Monte families.[6]

Detail of St. John the Evangelist, in the vault.

Vault

The paintings on the vault were the first to be completed. They depict the four Evangelists, within four bright oval almonds, according to a layout inspired by Perugino. The Evangelists' postures were carefully studied and are more lively than those by Perugino.[4]

The Glory of St. Bernardino.

Central wall

The central wall is decorated with the Glory of St. Bernardino, on two levels as was the lost Assumption by Perugino. The lower section portrays Bernardino on a rock, with open arms, surmounted by two angels crowning him. He is flanked by the saints

Antony of Padua, while in the background is a landscape inspired by those of Umbria. The upper sector depicts a blessing Christ within an almond, with angels and musicians.[7]

This fresco shows a more lively composition than Perugino's, both in the figures and the rocks in the landscape, which do not follow a symmetrical pattern and are spatially deeper.[7] Bernardino holds a book on which is written PATER MANIFESTAVI NOMEN TVVM OMNIBVS ("Father, I have shown your name to everyone"), the words the friars were chanting as Bernardino passed away on Ascension eve, 1444.

Under the previous scenes is a monochrome band, today only partially readable: It originally housed

blind niches and reliefs, of which one remains today with a military procession with prisoners and satyrs. It is one of the first examples of the taste for antiquities which was becoming widespread in Rome at the time, and which was used also by Filippino Lippi in the Carafa Chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva.[7]

Right wall

For the right wall, which features a double

dove, an early Christian symbol of eternal life. The wall contains also two scenes with episodes of the life of St. Francis of Assisi: The first is the Renunciation to the Patrimony, characterized by an oblique perspective, which takes advantage of the piers of the arches, having a grotesque decoration; the second depicts St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, featuring in the background a view of the Verna Sanctuary over a rocky peak. Under the real window is an illusory opening with five characters: among them is an aged friar, perhaps the convent's prior, and a lay figure that resembles him, perhaps an administrator of the basilica.[7]

The Funerals of St. Bernardino. Riccomanno Bufalini is depicted standing on the left, next to St. Bernardino.

Left wall

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Rome) - Cappella Bufalini.

The left wall comprises two scenes organized vertically, divided by a painted frieze. The upper

candelabra. On the right is a cubic building connected through a double loggia to the landscape and the bright sky in the background.[7]

The foreground depicts the saints' funerals. Bernardino lies on a catafalque, which, thanks to its oblique perspective, increases the depth of the scene and the interaction between the characters.[7] Friars, pilgrims and other common people are approaching the corpse to pay homage; on the sides are two richly dressed characters, identified as Riccomanno Bufalini (on the left, with a fur-lined hood and the gloves) and a member of his family.[7] The remaining characters are used to portray a series of miracles attributed to Bernardino during his life: the healing of a blind man (who hints at his eyes), the resurrection of someone possessed, the healing of a dead newborn, the healing of Lorenzo di Niccolò da Prato, wounded by a bull, and the pacification of the Umbrian families.[7]

In the fresco, Perugino's influence on Pinturicchio is manifest:[8] the Umbrian-Perugian perspective rationality, the variety of types and attitudes of the characters, inspired by Florentine painters such as Benozzo Gozzoli or Domenico Ghirlandaio, the striking appearance of the poor pilgrims and beggars, derived from Flemish painting.[7] The candelabra grotesque decoration is inspired by contemporary examples discovered at Rome in the Domus Aurea. These elements are contained in one of the few drawings certainly attributable to Pinturicchio, housed in the Kupferstichkabinett of Berlin (n. 5192). In his later works, the quality of Pinturicchio's decorative elements would fall due to the increasing use of assistants.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ His full name was Niccolò Di Manno Bufalini, Di Città Di Castello
  2. ^ The abbreviators di parco maggiore, which are all prelates draw the Papal bulls, and send them when they are written. (Buck, Charles; Henderson, Ebenezer (1833). A theological dictionary. James Duncan ; T. T. & J. Tegg ; Simpkin & Marshall. p. 749. Retrieved 6 July 2011.)

References

Citations

  1. Enciclopedia Italiana
    . Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b Aronberg Lavin 1994, p. 215
  3. ^ Bufalini, Angelo (April 11, 1965). "English: Bufalini Family 1491 to 1782" (PDF) – via Wikimedia Commons.
  4. ^ a b c d e Acidini 2004, p. 175
  5. ^ Other sources date the frescoes incorrectly to the 1490s.
  6. ^ a b Acidini 2004, p. 179
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Acidini 2004, p. 177
  8. Enciclopedia Italiana
    . Retrieved 3 May 2011.

Bibliography

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