Rome: Santa Maria sopra Minerva, project for the reconstruction of the Rustici Chapel, transversal section, 1586

Artist/Maker

DatesSigned: Signed 1586

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: 73,3 x 36,3 cm uppklistrat på underlagspapper

Inventory numberNMH CC 199

AcqusitionDonated 1941 by Eric Langenskiöld. Formerly in the Cronstedt collection, Fullerö

Other titlesTitle (sv): Förslag till utsmyckning av Cappella Rustici i S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rom. Sektion med beskrivning Title (en): Rome: Santa Maria sopra Minerva, project for the reconstruction of the Rustici Chapel, transversal section, 1586 Previous: Proposal for Decoration of the Rustici Chapel in S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. Section with notes

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Bortolozzi, Italian Architectural Drawings from the Cronstedt Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2020 (cat.no. 126) Francesco da Volterra (c. 1535–94) Pen and brown ink over black chalk, red chalk, brown, red and violet wash, compass, straightedge and freehand, 73.3 × 36.3/37 cm NM H CC 199 PAPER: two joined sheets, subsequently laid on to a secondary sup - port of late 17th-century French paper using a starch paste. Trimmed edges WATERMARK : Hills 12 WATERMARK OF THE MOUNTING SHEET : Chaplet 10 INSCRIPTIONS : Adì 15 di settembre 1586. Disegnio dela faciat - ta in testa delo altare dela capella dela famiglia dei Rustici per ristaurarsi, ora riduta in questa forma e ornamento con la tribuna sopra l’altare, è il tutto dela beleza si considerata dala pianta e ancho l’a [ l ]tro profillo della banda, tutto ornatto di maniera che farà la respondenza a quella de Rosario e de più ancho la tribuna che farà un bel vedere e sarà molto nobile e bella (at the upper left corner); pitura allo altare (in the altarpiece); Francesco deto il Volterra; Faciata del drento dela capella de Rustico nela Minerva col disegnio delo altare, che dela più diforme che ora è verà la più ornatta e nobile (at the bottom edge); [...] settembre 1586. Disegno per la facciatta di fuora della capella di Rustice che si vedrà dela strada incontro questo [...] che di dietro dela Minerva che viene dal colegio del Jeso. La [ h ]a bel vedere per la trebuna e la sua lanterna e la [….] che si vede (on the verso of the drawing, covered by the mounting) MEASUREMENTS : Roman palmi, once; scale at lower edge with 20 units [once] = 17 cm PROVENANCE: Carl Johan Cronstedt and descendants; Eric Langen - skiöld; gift to the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm 1941 BIBLIOGRAPHY: Langenskiöld, Moselius 1942, 71, Cat. no. 338; Lan - genskiöld 1946, 61–64 and fig. 43; Marcucci 1991, 177–180 and fig. 136; Marcucci 1997, 53–54 and fig. 3a, b. EXHIBITED: Langenskiöld, Moselius 1942, 71, Cat. no. 338 The drawing shows a proposal for the reconstruction of the Rustici Chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. From 1476 onwards, the chapel, located on the left of the choir and dedicated to Saint Thomas Aquinas, was under the patronage of the Rustici family. In the second half of the 16th century, the interior was in poor condition and the family apparently considered repair or reconstruction. The inscription in the upper left of the drawing refers to the project as a ‘restoration’. The old Rustici Chapel was a rectangular space consisting of two bays with cross-vaults. Volterra’s proposal focuses only on the inner bay, transforming it into a centralised space covered by a low dome. On the exterior (drawn on the back of the sheet, partially discernible through the mounting), colossal Doric pilasters surmounted by obelisks convey a monumental character to the structure, evident from the street approaching the back of the church from the Collegio Romano. Two thermal windows, inscribed in the round -headed arches springing from a Corinthian order, light up the interior. Volterra gives a dominant position to the altar aedicule in the decoration, as it fills the whole lower wall and is embellished with coloured marbles. As in a similar design (not executed) for the Caetani Chapel in Santa Pudenziana (NM H CC 165, Cat. no. 123), the top of the altarpiece breaks the entablature of the aedicule and enters the pediment. Volterra’s project was never in fact executed, and in 1596 the Visitatore apostolico urged the Rusticis to restore their chapel, threatening to take the patronage of the chapel away from the family. The request had no effect, and in 1600 a medieval door leading from the chapel to the back of the church was enlarged, transforming the chapel into a vestibule. LITERATURE : Palmerio, Villetti 1989, 168–169; Marcucci 1991, 177–180; Marcucci 1997 [end]

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialPaper

Keyword