The author discusses the iconography of the funerary chapel of Orazio Ferrari in the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, dedicated to the Virgin Annunciate and decorated by the painter Carlo Saraceni and other artists and craftsmen between 1613 and 1617. A native of Tortona in Lombardy (now Piedmont), Ferrari (1548-1639) was a lawyer active in the circle of the Barberini family throughout his life. In the light of his devotions and spiritual and literary interests, including emblems and devices, as they can be ascertained from his will and inventory of books and paintings as well as the inscriptions present in the chapel, an iconological interpretation is then proposed of some details in the two main sidewall stories, representing the Presentation of Mary in the Temple and Her Birth respectively; namely, the hut behind St Anne in the former and the couple of objects laid on the chair in the right foreground in the latter. These objects – that is, a candle and a mirror – are analysed as a three-level combined symbol of the Immaculate Conception, of Vanity in general and of a personal, eschatological projection of the patron himself, to be intended as a reminder of the future life promised to the faithful.
La fiamma è spenta o è accesa? Simboli "inquietanti" nella cappella Ferrari in Santa Maria in Aquiro a Roma dipinta da Carlo Saraceni
Antonio Vannugli
2023-01-01
Abstract
The author discusses the iconography of the funerary chapel of Orazio Ferrari in the church of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, dedicated to the Virgin Annunciate and decorated by the painter Carlo Saraceni and other artists and craftsmen between 1613 and 1617. A native of Tortona in Lombardy (now Piedmont), Ferrari (1548-1639) was a lawyer active in the circle of the Barberini family throughout his life. In the light of his devotions and spiritual and literary interests, including emblems and devices, as they can be ascertained from his will and inventory of books and paintings as well as the inscriptions present in the chapel, an iconological interpretation is then proposed of some details in the two main sidewall stories, representing the Presentation of Mary in the Temple and Her Birth respectively; namely, the hut behind St Anne in the former and the couple of objects laid on the chair in the right foreground in the latter. These objects – that is, a candle and a mirror – are analysed as a three-level combined symbol of the Immaculate Conception, of Vanity in general and of a personal, eschatological projection of the patron himself, to be intended as a reminder of the future life promised to the faithful.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
