Wanted in Rome DEC 2021

Art
this piece of street theatre’s effect that a wall-notice
stipulates the design be in no way changed by future
generations. Today’s crowds keep to nearby Piazza
Navona. Comparatively secluded, Piazza della Pace,
matching its name, remains one of Roma’s most
delightful squares. And to think Cortona claimed
his architecture was a mere hobby…
Also little visited in SS. Luca and Martina. As
tourists shuttle between the Roman Forum and
Campidoglio, the church is easily overlooked, which
is a pity, given its beautiful crypt. Cortona’s work
actually began back under Pope Urban, inspired,
as with S. Bibiana, by concurrent exhumation of
a saint – Martina. The remains’ authenticity has
since been contested*, but initially fortune and/or
providence seemed in Cortona’s favour. Until his
patron, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, was accused
by Innocent X of embezzlement and fled to France.
A seven year interruption ensued. After which
Cortona’s work started again, this time on the upper
church, including rose-stuccoed dome and the floor
where he would eventually be buried.
Self portrait by Pietro da Cortona.
from his sympathetic portrait of Urban VIII back
in the Capitoline Museums one may hazard that
the Barberini pope is smiling too. The ceiling could
have turned out differently. While Cortona was away
decorating Florence’s Pitti Palace, two overweening
assistants determined to complete the masterwork
on their own. However their presumption was
checked when the intonaco / plaster ran out,
stuccatori’s / plasterers’ pay having fallen in arrears.
Urban’s papacy once ended, Barberini cardinals
having fled to France, one might expect a downturn
in Cortona’s fortunes. But, talent and tact ever to
the fore, he was soon decorating pro-Spanish
Innocent X’s Pamphilij palace/ new power-centre in
Piazza Navona with “Stories of Aeneas.” Ownership
currently resting with the Brazilian embassy, the
fresco-cycle is visitable twice a week for guided
tours in Italian and Portuguese.
Under Alexander VII, Cortona’s first Chigi
commission was S. Maria della Pace.
The facade of the new church, alternating concave
and convex a la Borromini, conjured harmony from
urban mess. Better seen than described, a confined
space suddenly seemed much larger. So pleasing was
Out of envy or no, some of Cortona’s fellow S. Luca
academicians suspected a plot to turn the church,
(his ‘beloved daughter’ he called it) into a private
mausoleum**. The lower church was roped off
and a six-year controversy broke out. Accusing the
academicians of obtructionism, Cortona’s supporters
prevailed, duly placing in the lower church a more
fulsome wall-plaque/cenonotaph and bust.
Not that Cortona ceased painting altogether. Next
door to the rippling façade of Borromini’s Oratory,
S. Maria in Vallicella combines spectacle with the
miraculous. Look up and one sees an expanse of
(blue) sky. The church-roof, or its remains, threatens
to crash down on one’s head. Only the presence of
the Virgin and some strong-armed putti prevent
disaster.
Cortona continued creating alterpieces. In
Borromini’s S. Ivo, then in S. Carlo dei Catinari.
In Pope Alexander’s 1661 refurbishment of Castel
Gandolfo’s church to newly-canonised Tommaso
da Villanova, he created The Crucifixion altarpiece.
Working alongside him in the church was Bernini,
as they had done back in S. Bibiana 37 years before.
*Donatella Sparti, Article, 998
**Corinna Ricosoli- from ‘Who telleth a tale of unspeaking
death’, Dublin
12 | December 2021 • Wanted in Rome