Page 142 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Rome

140  ROME AREA B Y AREA

u Santa Maria del Popolo

One of Rome’s greatest stores of artistic treasures, this early Renaissance church
was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere in 1472. Among the artists who
worked on the building were Andrea Bregno and Pinturicchio. Later additions were
made by Bramante and Bernini. Many illustrious families have chapels here, all
decorated with appropriate splendor. The Della Rovere Chapel has delightful
Pinturicchio frescoes, the Cerasi Chapel has two Caravaggio masterpieces, The
Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifixion of St. Peter, but the finest of all is the Chigi
Chapel designed by Raphael for his patron, the banker Agostino Chigi. The most
striking of the church’s many Renaissance tombs are the two by Andrea Sansovino
behind the main altar.

. Chigi Chapel
Raphael designed this chapel, which
has an altarpiece by Sebastiano del
Piombo. Niches on either side of the
altar house sculptures by Bernini
and Lorenzetto. Mosaics in the
dome show God as creator of
the seven heavenly bodies.

Kneeling
Skeleton
This floor
mosaic of the
figure of death
was added to
the Chigi Chapel
in the 17th century.

Entrance
KEY
1 Cybo Chapel
2 The tomb of Giovanni della
Rovere (1483) is by pupils of
Andrea Bregno.
3 The altarpiece of The Assumption
is by Annibale Carracci (1540–1609). Della Rovere
Chapel
4 The altar houses the 13th- Pinturicchio
century painting known as the painted the
Madonna del Popolo. frescoes in the
5 The tomb of Ascanio Sforza, who lunettes and
died in 1505, is by Andrea Sansovino. the Nativity above
the altar in 1490.

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