Santa Maria della Carità (Brescia)
 facade |
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| Basic data | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| place | Brescia, Italy |
| diocese | Diocese of Brescia |
| Patronage | Maria |
| Building history | |
| architect | Agostino Avanzo |
| construction time | 1640-1655 |
| Building description | |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| 45 ° 32 '23.2 " N , 10 ° 13' 25.6" E | |
The Church of Santa Maria della Carità , also known as the Church of the Good Shepherd because it was administered by the monastery of the same name until 1998, is a church in Brescia , in Via dei Musei at the intersection with Via Gabriele Rosa. The baroque building with some works of art, including sculptures, is located on a characteristic octagonal floor plan .
history
The church was built from 1640 to a design by the architect Agostino Avanzo at the instigation of the priest Pietro Franzoni, director of the Pio Istituto delle Penitenti, and thanks to the economic contribution of the population, and was completed in 1655. The new building was erected in place of a predecessor building dedicated to Maria Magdalena with the aim of reproducing a faithful replica of the Holy House of Nazareth from the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto . The replica was erected in 1658. As early as 1654 the church received the miraculous fresco of the Madonna della Carità, a work from the late 15th or early 16th century that was originally in the Carmelite monastery of San Girolamo, now the former Randaccio barracks in Via Lupi di Tuscany. The two side altars and the corresponding altarpieces were taken over from the previous building in the new church.
From 1730 the building was extensively renovated on the initiative of the Messner Busi, who in turn was supported by the population. The high altar has been replaced by a marble altar by Calegari, which is decorated with an ornate balustrade on the front and two statues by Dionigi Cignaroli on the sides. In the middle is the fresco of the Madonna della Carità. The interior was also completely redesigned: in 1731 Giuseppe Orsoni painted the walls with frescoes, while Bernardino Boni in 1733 painted the lunettes under the dome with the most important episodes from the life of the Madonna in oil. During the century, the dome was also painted by Ferdinando Cairo and Luigi Vernazal. In 1744 the entrance portal was built and shortly afterwards the two statues of Antonio Ferretti and Alessandro Calegari were placed on both sides of the facade. Other important work was the laying of the floor with elaborate and complicated marble inlays, which have remained almost intact. In the 19th century, a Tonoli organ was installed on the opposite facade of the choir.
At the end of the 19th century, the responsibility of the church passed to the nuns of the nearby monastery of the Good Shepherd, from which the church was given the name it still has today alongside the original. In 1998 the sisters moved to Mompiano and at the request of Bishop Bruno Foresti, the administration of the church was transferred to the parish of the cathedral.
Holy Mass has been celebrated in the church every day since 1567 , while the tradition of the rosary dates back to 1693.
structure
Outside
The traditional facade of the church does not reveal the octagonal shape inside. The dominant color is ocher, the light yellow pilaster strips divide the facade into two orders: Doric pilaster strips on the lower one and Corinthian on the upper one. On the central axis is the entrance portal and above it a large rectangular window, while a triangular tympanum crowns the entire facade. On either side are the two statues of Ferretti and Calegari; the latter in particular, on the right, represents a female figure holding a model of a house. It proves the original purpose of the church building, namely for a copy of the Holy House.
portal
The portal of Santa Maria della Carità is the only particular detail of the building. The two free iron-colored columns come from the old basilica of San Pietro de Dom, which was demolished in 1603 to build the new cathedral. They are two of only ten columns that have survived from the original twenty-eight that made up the inner colonnade. The material is a dark Roman-era Egyptian marble and was likely quarried near the city's Roman forum. The Ionic capitals at the top were added later.
Left facade
Right facade
Angel statue by Alessandro Calegari
Angel statue by Antonio Ferretti with a model of the holy house of Loreto
Portal with the columns of San Pietro de Dom and two grisaille by Enrico Albrici .
Interior and outfit
The interior is laid out on an octagonal floor plan, with a main axis formed by the orientation of the entrance and the large high altar, which looks like a large cubic shell made of wood and marble and contains a replica of the Holy House of Loreto. On the walls, diametrically opposite and at right angles to the central axis, are the two side wooden altars, which were already in the previous church and have been moved here. On the left there is an altarpiece depicting Maria Magdalena by Antonio Gandino, on the right the Saints Sebastian, Antonius and Rochus by Francesco Paglia, both works from the 17th century. On the high altar is the fresco of the Madonna della Carità .
Adjacent to the church is a small chancel and rectory, in which other works of interest are kept, including tombstones, frescoes from the 16th century that belong to the previous building, and paintings by various artists.
Interior views
The left altar with the altarpiece by Antonio Gandino
Altar with altarpiece by Francesco Paglia
The high altar with the replica of the Holy House inside
Fresco of the Madonna della Carità
Vault fresco with mock architecture
Copy of the Holy House of Loreto
The frescoed dome
The multi-colored marble floor
.JPG)
organ
Above the cantoria on the opposite facade is the Tonoli organ, which was built in 1878 and renovated by Gianluca Chiminelli in the first decades of the 20th century. The instrument with fully mechanical action has a keyboard with 58 keys and a straight, non-original pedal keyboard with 27 keys. The levers that control the different registers are arranged in three columns, two to the right of the console for the Concerto and Repieno works and one to the left for Secondo Organo . The disposition of the instrument is shown below according to its position in the various columns :
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Illustrated leaflet of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità
- ^ Brescia - Antegnati Organ Crawl. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .
literature
- Francesco de Leonardis: Guida di Brescia . Grafo Edizioni, Brescia 2008 (Italian).
- Illustrated leaflet of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità
