Carafa Chapel
The frame of the scenes include a pattern of branches twisting in rings and diamonds (this a symbol of Lorenzo de' Medici), intermingled with books and palms.
The end wall is decorated with a fresco above the high altar with the Annunciation within a stucco frame and the Assumption of the Virgin at the sides and in the upper section.
The subjects portrayed include a Roman ship with an olive tree branch, an allusion to Oliverio Carafa's command of the papal fleet (1472) against the Turks.
The frieze, which is now only partially preserved, shows other subjects related to the Cardinal's activities, while on the upper frame are angels with the Carafa coat of arms.
The scene is framed by a rich frieze decorated with vases, fruit, columns and grottesche, the latter thought to be inspired by the recently discovered paintings in the Domus Aurea.
[4][5] At his feet is a figure covered by books, symbolizing Sin, holding a strip of parchment with the inscription Sapientia vincit malitiam ("Wisdom defeats Wickedness"),[6] an allusion to the importance attributed by Dominicans to knowledge in the fight against heresy and vice.
[7] The women at the saint's sides are, as recognizable by their labels, personifications of Philosophy, Theology (with a crown, pointing upward), Socratic Dialectics (with a snake) and Grammar, portrayed while teaching a youth (the staff would be used to punish any sign of laziness).
[8] The characters in the foreground are mostly heretics (also identified by golden inscriptions on their garments) including the Persian prophet Mani, founder of Manicheanism, with a finger on his lips, Eutyches with a pearl earring, Sabellius (whose figures resembles the depiction of Dacian prisoners in the Arch of Constantine), Arius and others.
The two buildings on the sides resemble contemporary examples in Umbrian painting, such as the Pinturicchio's Funerals of Saint Bernardino in the Bufalini Chapel of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.
On the left is a cityscape including a depiction of Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which at the time was in the Lateran and was believed to portray the emperor Constantine.
The woman with monastic garments and a rosary inside the belt has been seen as a personification of the Catholic Church, and in this case the man on the stairs would be her husband, Christ, whose passion is symbolized by the red cloak (and, accordingly, the child would represent the clergy borne by them).
