Santi Apostoli (Naples)
| Chiesa dei Santi Apostoli
|
|
|---|---|
| Patronage : | apostle |
| Order : | Theatiner |
| Address: | Largo Santi Apostoli, Naples |
Coordinates: 40 ° 30 ′ 41.9 ″ N , 14 ° 9 ′ 13.4 ″ E
The chiesa dei Santi Apostoli (Church of the Holy Apostles) is a church in Naples in the square of the same name (Largo Santi Apostoli), in the historic city center.
Despite an inconspicuously simple, “poor” facade, reminiscent of a mendicant order church , it is one of the greatest Baroque buildings in Naples, thanks to the rich picturesque decoration inside, with one of the most extensive fresco cycles by Giovanni Lanfranco , The Stories of the Saints Apostles (1638-1646); It also contains the only work in Naples by Francesco Borromini , the Altare Filomarino (1638–1647).
history
According to tradition, the church was founded by Bishop Sotero in 468 , together with four other places of worship (so-called "parrocchie maggiori"). In ancient times, possibly a Roman stood in the same place Temple , the Mercury was dedicated.
The first concrete information about the church can only be found from 1530, when its management was in the hands of the Marchese di Vico, Colantonio Caracciolo . In the following years it was handed over to the Theatine monks, who took care of a new building from 1581. The cloister was built in 1590 by the architect and brother Francesco Grimaldi .
The reconstruction of the church began around 1611 and was initially in the hands of Grimaldi. After his death in August 1613, the architect Giovan Giacomo Di Conforto followed , who modified the original plan of the church by enlarging the chapels and shortening the choir ; this work was completed in 1626.
In 1638 Bartolomeo Picchiatti built the bell tower , and in 1647 the Filomarino Chapel with the altar by Francesco Borromini , which had been begun in Rome ten years earlier . The 1688 earthquake destroyed part of the monastery and a new wing was added in 1758.
After the suppression of the Theatine order by Joachim Murat in 1809, the monastery was used as a barracks until Ferdinand IV wanted to entrust it to the Jesuits in 1821 - but since the order was suppressed, this did not happen. Instead, the Theatines were able to regain their church, which a few years later was administered by the Church of Santa Maria Vertecoeli .
From 1870 the monastery was used as a tobacco factory for about a century.
During the 1980 Irpinia earthquake , the two-tone majolica cladding of the dome was damaged and never restored. After a careful and long restoration, the monastery complex is now the seat of the National Art School of Naples, the Liceo Artistico Statale “Santissimi Apostoli”.
The inner
Main nave and apse
The interior of the church is based on the shape of a Latin cross , with a single nave covered by a barrel vault .
Almost the entire fresco decoration comes from Giovanni Lanfranco , who decorated the entrance facade, the vaults in the main nave, in the transept and in the apse , as well as the upper area of the end walls in the transept from 1638 to 1646 with the large cycle Stories of the Holy Apostles .
In the vault of the nave, within a framing decoration made of golden stucco, he depicted the martyrs of St. Thomas , Bartholomew , Matthew and John the Evangelist , in the apse the transfiguration of the apostles follows ; in the lunettes of the windows and above them prophets and patriarchs , also by Lanfranco. On the entrance facade he painted a practical water basin within an illusionistic temple architecture by Viviano Codazzi ; above in the window zone the martyrdoms of the apostles Simon and Jude , again by Lanfranco.
The arches of the side chapels were frescoed by Francesco Solimena in 1693 , the dome fresco with Paradise was painted by Giovanni Battista Beinaschi in 1680 , and the four evangelists from Lanfranco in the spandrels of the dome. The stucco decor comes from Dionisio Lazzari .
In 1751 Ferdinando Fuga designed the high altar , but it was moved to the Basilica of San Francesco di Paola around 1836 and replaced by the altar of the demolished church of Santo Spirito di Palazzo . On both sides of the high altar are two bronze candlesticks by Andrea Bolgi from 1653, who also created the two candlesticks in the form of candle-holding angels. The ciborium made of semi-precious stones and metal above the altar dates from the second half of the 17th century, the wood-carved choir stalls by Antonino da Sorrento .
The picturesque decoration - both altar paintings and the frescoes - of the semicircular apse was again created by Lanfranco: in the middle of the vault the Transfiguration of Saints Philip and James , surrounded by the ten other apostles in the surrounding segments. A little further down in the rectangular frame between the two windows in the middle of the front wall, the martyrdom of Saints Philip and James is shown.
Side chapels
On each side of the nave there are four side chapels , each surmounted by small elliptical domes and a semicircular apse. The side entrance to the church is in the third chapel on the right.
The side chapels are adorned with frescos and paintings by Francesco De Mura , Domenico Fiasella , Giacomo del Pò , Agostino Beltrano , Giacomo Farelli , Marco da Siena , Giovanni Battista Beinaschi . Nicola Malinconico , Giuseppe Sammartino and Paolo De Matteis . Giuliano Finelli , Bartolomeo Mori and Simone Tacca created sculptures and tombs .
crypt
The crypt , finally, which has about the same size as the church, but is oriented in the opposite direction, that is, with the apse at the entrance, dates back to 1636 and was once used as a cemetery. It has three naves and two rows of columns with a high altar and four side chapels and was frescoed by Belisario Corenzio with stories from the Old Testament .
The famous poet Giambattista Marino was buried here.
Transept
In the transept there are two magnificent marble altars on the main walls: on the left the only Neapolitan work by Francesco Borromini : the Filomarino altar , named after the client Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino . It is dedicated to the Annunciation and is made of white marble. It was created mainly in Rome from 1638 and completed in Naples in 1647, with the participation of various other artists: Giuliano Finelli (balustrade and two lions), Giulio Mencaglia (medallion and sacrifice of Isaac , 1646), François Duquesnoy ( frieze with putti , 1639) , Andrea Bolgi (heads of cherubim and fruit basket ); the mosaics of the Annunciation and Virtues are by Giovan Battista Calandra (after paintings by Guido Reni in the Chapel of the Quirinals in Rome), as are the portraits of the Cardinals Ascanio and Scipione Filomarino in the side medallions (based on paintings by Pietro da Cortona and Valentin de Boulogne go back).
Lanfranco painted the martyrdoms of Saints Peter and Paul in the vault and next to the windows above the altar .
The large Pignatelli altar in the right transept was modeled on the Filomarino altar by Ferdinando Sanfelice between 1713 and 1723 and is dedicated to Maria Immaculata . Several other artists also worked on him: Matteo Bottiglieri ( choir of angels ), Francesco Solimena ( cardinal virtues on the sides), and Bartolomeo Granucci (gilded bronzes and side medallions of San Gaetano and Sant'Andrea d'Avellino). In the center is an Immaculate Conception from the end of the 16th century.
Lanfranco painted again the scenes with the martyrs of Saints Andrew and James the Elder in the vault and next to the windows.
On the side walls of the transept, Luca Giordano also created several paintings around 1692 with the birth of Mary and the birth of Jesus on the right, and the representation in the temple and the dream of St. Joseph on the left.
sacristy
The entrance to the sacristy , considered to be one of the most important in Neapolitan churches, is on the corner of the left transept. It was built in 1626 and then restored according to a design by Ferdinando Sanfelice. It consists of a small octagonal chapel and is decorated with frescoes by Nicola Malinconico : The Assumption , the Sacrifice of Aaron , the Triumph of Judith and the Judgment of Jacob . The choir was designed by Francesco Montella in 1640. It also contains baroque furniture, liturgical vestments and a historic organ from the 18th century by Felice Cimmino , as well as a bust of Gennaro Filomarino, a work by Gaetano Finelli from 1649.
Cloister
The cloister is well worth seeing in the monastery of the Holy Apostles ( convento dei Santi Apostoli ) belonging to the church , which was built at the end of the 16th century by the same architect Francesco Grimaldi and which today houses the National Art School of Naples, the Liceo Artistico Statale “Santissimi Apostoli ”.
Transfiguration of Saints Philip and James with ten other apostles by Lanfranco in the vault of the apse
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Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Loredana Gazzara: Napoli . Mondadori Electa, Milan 2007, pp. 106-107
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j AA.VV .: Napoli e dintorni , Touring Club Italiano Milano, 2007, p. 231
- ↑ a b AA.VV .: Napoli e dintorni , Touring Club Italiano Milano, 2007, p. 230
- ↑ AA.VV .: Napoli e dintorni , Touring Club Italiano Milano, 2007, p 232
literature
- AA.VV .: Napoli e dintorni , Touring Club Italiano Milano, 2007. ISBN 978-88-365-3893-5 (Italian)
- Maria Rosaria Costa: I chiostri di Napoli ("The Cloisters of Naples"), Tascabili Economici Newton, Rome, 1996, ISBN 88-8183-553-3 (Italian)
- Loredana Gazzara: Napoli . Mondadori Electa, Milan 2007, pp. 106-107 (Italian)
- Regina Vincenzo: Le chiese di Napoli. Viaggio indimenticabile attraverso la storia artistica, architettonica, letteraria, civile e spirituale della Napoli sacra , Newton e Compton editore, Naples 2004. (Italian)
