Walks in Rome (Est. 2001)
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Walking Tours of Rome

Santa Maria sopra Minerva:
Cappella Carafa


Map
 The Carafa Chapel, church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
The Carafa Chapel

The patron of the Cappella Carafa  was Cardinal Oliviero Carafa (1430-1511), who came from a very prominent Neapolitan family and was an influential member of the Roman Curia. When he took over the patronage of the chapel, which was already dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St Thomas Aquinas, he commissioned the Florentine artist Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) to paint the frescoes. Lippi worked on the chapel from 1488 to 1493 and its rich and lavish decoration testifies to the wealth of his patron. 
​
The altarpiece, which is a fresco and not a panel painting, depicts the Annunciation. We see the Archangel Gabriel alighting on tiptoe to announce the Incarnation of Christ. The Virgin casts Gabriel a sidelong glance and raises her hand in a gesture that seems to bless the kneeling cardinal. The sadness on the Virgin’s face expresses, perhaps, her fore-knowledge of her son’s fate, whose death was once represented in relief at the bottom of the frame. St Thomas Aquinas gazes at the Virgin Mary as he presents the cardinal to her.
 

For the fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin, Lippi imitated the real architecture of the entrance arch of the chapel. Although spatially unified, the scene is divided into two levels by the banner above the altarpiece. At the bottom, on either side of the altarpiece, we see the apostles. There are only eleven figures in attendance, as, according to tradition, St Thomas was not present at the event. 

On the right wall there is a fresco of the Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas over the Heretics. In the painting we can see (on the right) two boys, the future Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII, whose funeral monuments lie close by, behind the high altar. The fresco in the lunette depicts the Miracle of the Cross of St. Thomas Aquinas. 

The vault is decorated with images of four sibyls rather than the customary four Evangelists. 

On the left wall of the chapel is the funerary monument to Pope Paul IV (r. 1555-59), a member of the Carafa family. Filippino Lippi's fresco of The Triumph of Virtue was destroyed when the monument was installed. 

Altar wall, Carafa Chapel, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
Altar wall
The Annunciation by Filippino Lippi, Carafa Chapel, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
The Annunciation
Right wall, Carafa Chapel, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
Right wall
Left wall, Carafa Chapel, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
Left wall

walking Tours of Rome

Copyright © David Lown 2001-2022. All Rights Reserved. 
  • Home
  • Personalised Tours
  • Vatican Tours
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • Images
  • St Peter's Basilica
    • Altars >
      • Altar of St Joseph
      • Altar of St Gregory the Great
      • Altar of the Madonna of Succour
      • Altar of St Sebastian
      • Altar of the Lie
      • Altar of the Presentation of the Virgin
      • Altar of St Jerome
      • Altar of the Transfiguration
      • Altar of Pope Leo the Great
    • Monuments >
      • Countess Matilda of Canossa
      • Maria Clementina Sobieska
      • Queen Christina of Sweden
      • Pope Innocent VIII
      • Pope Paul III
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      • Pope Gregory XIV
      • Pope Leo XI
      • Pope Urban VIII
      • Pope Alexander VII
      • Pope Clement X
      • Pope Innocent XI
      • Pope Alexander VIII
      • Pope Innocent XII
      • Pope Benedict XIV
      • Pope Clement XIII
      • Pope Pius VII
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      • Pope Pius VIII
      • Pope Gregory XVI
      • Pope Pius X
      • Pope Benedict XV
      • Pope Pius XI
      • Pope Pius XII
      • Pope John XXIII
      • The Stuarts
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      • Door of Death
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    • Fountain of the Naiads
    • Fountain of the Cannonball
    • Fountain of the Four Lions
    • Fountain of the Pantheon
    • Fountains of Piazza Farnese
    • Fountain of the Goddess Roma
    • Rioni Fountains
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    • Fountain of the Moor
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    • Fountain of the Porter
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  • Mosaics
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    • S. Marco
    • S. Maria in Domnica
    • S. Maria in Trastevere
    • S. Maria Maggiore
    • S. Prassede
    • S. Pudenziana
    • S. Venanzio
    • S. Zenone
    • Ss. Cosma e Damiano
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  • Gallery
    • Ancient Rome
    • Borromini & the Baroque
    • Churches
    • Domes
    • Fountains
    • Old Photographs
    • Palaces
    • Papal Coats of Arms
    • Street Shrines
  • Vatican Museums
    • Borgia Apartment
    • Cappella Niccolina
    • Gallery of the Candelabras
    • Gallery of the Maps
    • Gallery of the Tapestries
    • 'Raphael' Tapestries
    • Stanza della Segnatura
    • Stanza di Eliodoro
    • Stanza dell' Incendio
  • Palazzi
    • Palazzo Barberini
    • Palazzo del Quirinale
    • Palazzo della Cancelleria
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    • Palazzo Venezia
    • Villa Farnesina
    • Villa Medici
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    • Piazza del Campidglio
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    • Piazza Navona
    • Piazza San Pietro
  • Miscellaneous
    • A Calendar of Saints
    • Cloisters
    • Domes
    • EUR
    • House of the Owls
    • Knights of Malta
    • 'Protestant' Cemetery
    • Quartiere Coppedè
    • Spanish Steps
    • 'Talking' Statues
    • Villa Borghese
    • Vittoriano