1472-1480, commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV
When the papacy moved back to Rome from Avignon in the 1420s, the city was a virtual ghost town. Medieval Rome had not fared well, and the inhabitable area of the city was reduced to the banks of the Tiber River, the only source of fresh water. By the time Pope Sixtus IV was elected in 1471, however, the city was undergoing a regrowth of both population and artistic patronage. Sixtus commissioned not only the construction and wall frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace, but this small church in Piazza del Popolo, the piazza of the people.
His location was strategic; all visitors coming into the city from the north entered through the Porta del Popolo, a large gate at the head of the piazza. His new church therefore was highly visible and it quickly became a symbol of the new Rome.
The façade is extremely flat, and served as a prototype for all Roman churches until the mid sixteenth century. It was built by anonymous architects according to the architectural principles of Leon Battista Alberti, a famous theoretician of the day who wrote that Renaissance churches should take as their model the temples of antiquity, and should therefore be faced with classical orders (here the four Corinthian pilasters on the lower level), be raised on a podium (hence the stairs), and be crowned by a pediment (the triangular shape at the very top).
The interior differs from the models of contemporary Florence, taking instead its cue from classical Rome with the use of Travertine marble and groin vaulting on the ceiling. Although quite simple, the interior is absolutely one of my favorites, and the natural lighting is gorgeous.
The exterior in the late afternoon
The church and the Porta del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo. Sixtus V moved the obelisk here in the 1580s, and the twin churches in the background were built in the seventeenth century.
Interior nave with a beautiful pinkish glow
About an hour later and the light is noticeably more green
The choir behind the main altar-- Bramante's earliest known work in Rome
The Chigi chapel, which you may recognize from the movie Angels and Demons
The Cerasi chapel, with Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St Peter, and Annibale Carracci's altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
Detail of Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St Peter
Beautiful grisaille work in the Costa chapel. Everything you see on the walls (the benches, figures, etc.) is painted and completely flat.
When the papacy moved back to Rome from Avignon in the 1420s, the city was a virtual ghost town. Medieval Rome had not fared well, and the inhabitable area of the city was reduced to the banks of the Tiber River, the only source of fresh water. By the time Pope Sixtus IV was elected in 1471, however, the city was undergoing a regrowth of both population and artistic patronage. Sixtus commissioned not only the construction and wall frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace, but this small church in Piazza del Popolo, the piazza of the people.
His location was strategic; all visitors coming into the city from the north entered through the Porta del Popolo, a large gate at the head of the piazza. His new church therefore was highly visible and it quickly became a symbol of the new Rome.
The façade is extremely flat, and served as a prototype for all Roman churches until the mid sixteenth century. It was built by anonymous architects according to the architectural principles of Leon Battista Alberti, a famous theoretician of the day who wrote that Renaissance churches should take as their model the temples of antiquity, and should therefore be faced with classical orders (here the four Corinthian pilasters on the lower level), be raised on a podium (hence the stairs), and be crowned by a pediment (the triangular shape at the very top).
The interior differs from the models of contemporary Florence, taking instead its cue from classical Rome with the use of Travertine marble and groin vaulting on the ceiling. Although quite simple, the interior is absolutely one of my favorites, and the natural lighting is gorgeous.
The exterior in the late afternoon
The church and the Porta del Popolo
Piazza del Popolo. Sixtus V moved the obelisk here in the 1580s, and the twin churches in the background were built in the seventeenth century.
Interior nave with a beautiful pinkish glow
About an hour later and the light is noticeably more green
The choir behind the main altar-- Bramante's earliest known work in Rome
The Chigi chapel, which you may recognize from the movie Angels and Demons
The Cerasi chapel, with Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St Peter, and Annibale Carracci's altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
Detail of Caravaggio's Crucifixion of St Peter
Beautiful grisaille work in the Costa chapel. Everything you see on the walls (the benches, figures, etc.) is painted and completely flat.
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