With museums closed and churches open, a friend and I went to see some of the art housed in the churches. In any other city these would be masterpieces enshrined in special exhibits. Here, they are part of the decorations, but no less spectacular for it. In fact it is interesting to see the paintings and works in the places they were created to inhabit.
She found a description of a guided walking tour of some Caravaggio masterpieces and we did our DIY version. There were three churches on our list, Santa Maria del Popolo, San Luigi dei Francesi, and Sant’ Agostino. We made it to the first two, but Sant' Agostino was closed by the time we got there. Through all of this church touring I have learned to check opening hours since all but the major churches seem to be closed in the afternoon and sometimes the morning too.
San Luigi dei Francesi is the national church of France in Rome. It is also the home of the Chapel of St Matthew where three Caravaggio paintings hang. They were painted for this location and haven't moved. They are some of his first public works and are truly spectacular. Caravaggio even took the direction of the light from the window above into account and mimicked it in his paintings. While in Rome his patron was a powerful Cardinal from the Medici family. Caravaggio lived in the Cardinal's home, the Palazzo Madama, during the time he worked on these paintings. From the upper windows of the palace you would be able to see the entrance to the church. It is now the Senate building for Italy, so you can often see reported hanging around outside and important looking people in fancy suits coming and going from the guarded entrance.
The paintings are each impressive in their own way. The centerpiece, the Inspiration of St Matthew, is the second version painted. The first one was rejected. Perhaps it was because the angel was too close or he was holding the hand of Matthew and directing the writing rather than inspiring it. Some thought this implied that Matthew was rough and illiterate. It was considered blasphemous because of its humanized interpretation of the Saint. After it was rejected the painting was quickly purchased by a private collector and later found its way to Berlin. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during WWII.
After the success of the St Matthew chapel, Caravaggio earned commissions for two paintings in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo at Piazza del Popolo. These paintings depict the martyrdom of St Peter, the chief apostle, and the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus. Once again these are this second attempts at the paintings after the first tries were rejected by the commissioning Cardinal. Caravaggio's stark style is so dark and lacks the cheery lighter and brighter colors of earlier painters. It almost looks out of place with the ornate white and gold on the walls.
My girl refers to the masterpiece, Conversion on the way to Damascus, as "the one with the dude falling off of his horse". Other less respectful people call it the horse butt painting.
Later I went back to Sant' Agostino just outside Piazza Navona to see the Madonna of Loreto, another controversial Caravaggio. At the time this painting was criticized for it's realistic depiction of Mary and the pilgrims, including their dirty feet. Caravaggio scandalously used a well known prostitute as his model for the Madonna. Interesting, since this particular church was popular during the Renaissance with humanist scholars and poets and the prostitutes who accompanied them. This particular group included educated women who were influential enough and just respectable enough to be buried in the church. Sadly, their funerary monuments were destroyed during a 19th century renovation.
Many people come to this church to see the Madonna, but the church has other artistic treasures including a fresco of the prophet Isaiah by Rafael on a pillar. You would walk right by if you didn't know. The fact that they are selling posters and prayer cards with the image is a clue that it is something important.
On another day I took a ride up to the Quartiere Coppedè. This is a neighborhood knows for its quirky Art Nouveau architecture designed by Gino Coppedè during the 1920s and teens. The center is Piazza Mincio with its frog fountain and outdoor chandelier. The houses are sometimes referred to as fairy houses for their fanciful decorations in a hodge podge of styles.
On my way to Piazza Mincio I passed this amazing church on Piazza Buenos Aires. I immediately noticed the colorful mosaics. This is the Church of Santa Maria Addorlorata, the national church of Argentina. The bell tower and arches at the entry are reminiscent of older churches, but it was built in the 1920s. The mosaics mimic the style and motifs of the much older mosaics in other churches around the city. Peacocks and winged animals representing saints are found in early Christian and later stone reliefs and mosaics.
In my wandering home from Quartiere Coppede I went to Villa Torlonia. The museum in the main house was closed, but the grounds were open and many people out enjoying a warm sunny day. I even found another obelisk. I'm not sure if it is Egyptian or new. The original builder and owner was a famous collector of antiquities. Part of his collection of marble busts and figures is on display in a special show at the Capitoline museum. The show is closed along with the museum, but I hope to see it when it opens. His son was obsessed with ancient ruins and had several "follies" constructed on the grounds when no actual ruins were found. In the 1920s the young owner offered the home to Mussolini for 1 lira per year. Mussolini lived there until 1943. During that time he build underground bunkers, just in case. After the war the villa and grounds were occupied by the Allied high command. Later the city took control and repaired the significant damage that had happened during the war and post-war years. The villa and grounds were opened to the public as a series of museums and a park in 1996. It is outside the historical center, but worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
There is a church just a block from the Pantheon that I've been trying to visit for ages, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. It has the strangest opening hours, or should I say hour. It is open for one hour and 45 minutes a day starting at 5 pm. I'm usually at home or busy with the after school things at that time so I haven't been able to visit. One day, when I knew I had the time, I made a special trip. Because it is still wintery it was pretty dark at that time of day and there was very little illumination. It made me think of what it must have been like during the Medieval years.
Outside in the piazza is an obelisk resting on the back of a Bernini elephant, what a strange little creature. There must be a school nearby since there were kids playing soccer and mom's standing around chatting. It's nice to see the city and the people who live here without all of the tourists. The obelisk's twin is in the piazza just around the corner in front of the Pantheon.
The church name includes Sopra (above) Minerva because it was believed that it was built above an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva. It is now believed that it was a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis and that the temple might not actually be under the church, but off to the side. Also up for debate is when the original church was built. It's old. It was mentioned in documents from 800 AD and may have been built as early as the early 7th century.
What we see today is the new church from the late 13th century, of course remodeled and redecorated over the years. The more gothic style, rose windows included, is quite unique for Rome. The Mediaeval ceiling is quite spectacular. It somehow escaped the full Baroque remodel that so many other churches suffered. It was quite dark and much of the nave was blocked off when I visited so I couldn't see much. I definitely need to go back later in the year when the lighting is better.
On a different grey dreary day I went to our local church to draw. It was strangely quiet. This is San Giovanni in Laterano, a pretty major church in Rome. It is the seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Along the nave are niches with statues of the apostles. I think it is quite interesting to see how they all have something that makes them recognizable without the viewer being able to read. St Peter holds keys. St Bartholomew holds a human skin because he was flayed alive. Yikes. St Phillip holds a cross and has his foot on a dragon's head because he drove a dragon from a temple in Hierapolis. I had heard this story before. It's not as far fetched as you might think. Archeologists have found the entrance to a Roman shrine in Hierapolis that leads to an underground opening. Poisonous gas leaks from this opening and even today kills birds and small animals.
In less exciting news, the neighbors are doing a major gut renovation. There have been weeks (months?) of hammering as all of the tile was removed and cement walls were taken down. When you take out the tile in an Italian apartment it is a LOT of tile. At one point the terrace was half full of bags of broken tiles. They all got carried down the stairs by hand and dumped on a truck to be hauled away. Imagine trying to work or do online school with someone, or a few someones, hammering on the walls. It isn't fun. We had a break over Christmas, but they came back. After the hammering ended there was a break as they did something else. Then the tile installation started. It sounds like it should be quiet, but it came with a tile saw on the terrace. I'm not sure which was worse.
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