Carafa Chapel
The Carafa Chapel (Italian: Cappella Carafa) is a chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, Italy, known for a series of frescoes by Filippino Lippi.
History
The chapel, located in the right side of the basilica and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Thomas of Aquino, was built in the late 15th century by will of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa. He was a member of the Dominicans, who at the time administrated the church, and his palace was located nearby.
Raffaellino also decorated a smaller room annexed to the chapel, which would house Carafa's body after his death, with the Stories of Virginia and other chastity-related themes.
Description
Vault
The decoration began from the vault, which was divided into four triangular sectors in which Filippino depicted four
In the Sibyls, Filippi was the first Florentine painter to adopt the sotto in su ("from below")
Central walls
The end wall is decorated with a fresco above the high altar with the Annunciation within a stucco frame and the Assumption of the Virgin at the sides and in the upper section. The scene is located within a fictive arch supported by pilasters with decorated candelabre. The subjects portrayed include a Roman ship with an olive tree branch, an allusion to Oliverio Carafa's command of the papal fleet (1472) against the Turks. Lippi copied the ship from a Roman relief in the basilica of
The frieze, which is now only partially preserved, shows other subjects related to the Cardinal's activities, while on the upper frame are angels with the Carafa coat of arms.
Annunciation
For the Annunciation, Lippi adopted a rather unusual composition with St. Thomas presenting to Mary the kneeling Cardinal Carafa. The presence of the donor was a common theme, as in Antoniazzo Romano's Annunciation in the same church. Here, however, Mary is depicted as both glancing at the angel, and at the same time, addressing and blessing with her right hand, Carafa. The scene is set in an interior location where Mary is kneeling on a chair next to a bookrest filled with books. Behind a curtain is a still life depiction, including a shelf with books, a carafe (a symbol for transparent purity), and an olive tree branch. The two latter elements form a rebus of Oliviero Carafa's name.
On the left is a hall with a
Assumption
The Assumption, flanked by the depictions of saints staring at its scene, shows the Virgin ascending on a cloud which is pushed upwards by a group of angels; at her sides are burning candles, angels spreading incense and by a luminous mandorla of cherubs. The two thuribles are inspired by those painted by Sandro Botticelli in the Punishment of the Rebels fresco in the Sistine Chapel, and to which Lippi perhaps collaborated.
The Virgin is portrayed in a traditional fashion, from a frontal point of view; more original are the angels dancing around her, depicted da sotto in su like those of Melozzo da Forlì. The angels, in clockwise order, hold a drum, a trumpet, a psaltery, torches (the three ones who are pushing the cloud), a drum (at the waist), a triangle of trapezoidal shape, and a cornamuse in colors which hint at the Carafa's crest. The instruments are typical of the time's military bands, and are another allusion to Carafa's naval success in Turkey.
In the lower sector, behind the apostles is a procession of exotic characters and animals, which is perhaps a reference to the triumph conceded to the cardinal after his return from the naval expedition. Lippi had likely seen in Florence a giraffe after it had been donated to Lorenzo de' Medici a few years before, and had created a popular enthusiasm.
Left and right walls
On the left wall is the funerary monument of Pope Paul IV, another member of the Carafa family, by Pirro Ligorio. For its creation, Lippi's frescoes of Vices and Virtues were destroyed and are now known only through Giorgio Vasari's description.
The right wall is characterized by a painted architecture similar to that in the central wall, but is divided into a lunette and a central scene by a frieze. They portray respectively The Dispute of St. Thomas, or "The Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas over the Heretics,"[2] and the Miracle of the Book.
The scene of St. Thomas is enclosed within a
Thomas is holding an open book, which must be the bible, with the inscription in Latin Sapientiam sapientum perdam ("I will destroy the scholar's knowledge (the wisdom of the wise)"), taken from St. Paul's words in the bible,[3] which in turn refer to an oracle quoted by Isaiah.[4][5] At his feet is a figure covered by books, symbolizing Sin, holding a strip of parchment with the inscription Sapientia vincit malitiam ("Wisdom defeats Wickedness"),[6] an allusion to the importance attributed by Dominicans to knowledge in the fight against heresy and vice.[7] The women at the saint's sides are, as recognizable by their labels, personifications of Philosophy, Theology (with a crown, pointing upward), Socratic Dialectics (with a snake) and Grammar, portrayed while teaching a youth (the staff would be used to punish any sign of laziness).[8]
The characters in the foreground are mostly
The two buildings on the sides resemble contemporary examples in Umbrian painting, such as the
The lunette contains further episodes of the life of St. Thomas, such as the Miracle of the Book. In the right background is a loggia, behind which is a city, and which a character is descending from a staircase. The characters have been variously interpreted. The small dog attacking a boy is usually a representation of the Devil threatening the youth's purity. The woman with monastic garments and a rosary inside the belt has been seen as a personification of the Catholic Church, and in this case the man on the stairs would be her husband, Christ, whose passion is symbolized by the red cloak (and, accordingly, the child would represent the clergy borne by them).
The character on the right, dressed as a Muslim, is addressed by a man pointing at the woman (an allusion to the man's need to convert). The woman in the background would be a personification of the Synagogue, an allusion also contained in Botticelli's Trials of Christ in the Sistine Chapel.
See also
References
- ^ Gail L. Geiger, "Filippino Lippi's Carafa "Annunciation": Theology, Artistic Conventions, and Patronage" The Art Bulletin 63.1 (March 1981:62-75) p. 71.
- ^ Web Gallery of Art, ed. by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx, https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lippi/flippino/carafa/index.html
- ^ 1 Corinthians 1:19
- ^ Isaiah 29:14
- ^ The passage in Isaiah 29:13-14 has been translated as follows: "(13)The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; (14) so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing. The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden." This passage in Isaiah has been interpreted to mean: " A new relationship with God, based on a positive response to his acts (Ex 19, 4-6), will replace Judah's superficial traditionalism (ironically called wisdom and discernment; compare 1 Cor 1.19." The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible, ed. by Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy, New Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 903 OT.
- ^ Old Testament, Wisdom 7:29-30: (29) est enim haec speciosior sole et super omnem stellarum dispositionem luci conparata invenitur prior / For she (Wisdom) is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. (30) illi enim succedit nox sapientiam autem non vincit malitia / For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom. From http://vulgate.org/ot/wisdomofsolomon_7.htm
- ^ Thomas Aquinas cited Wisdom 30 in his Summae Contra Gentiles, Book I, Cap. LXXI, p. 177, "Quod Deus cognoscit mala." https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=nMo_AAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-nMo_AAAAYAAJ&rdot=1
- ^ The Web Gallery of Art descriptions, by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx, names these personifications as Philosophy, Astronomy, Theology and Grammar (Latin). See https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lippi/flippino/carafa/index.html
Sources
- Cosmo, Giulia (2001). Filippino Lippi. Florence: Giunti. pp. 13–30. ISBN 88-09-02031-6.
- Geiger, Gail L. (1986). Filippino Lippi's Carafa Chapel : Renaissance art in Rome. Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers. ISBN 0-940474-05-0.