Della Rovere Chapel

[1] Other studies, for example those of Strinati (1995), have proposed an earlier date, before the Bufalini Chapel in Santa Maria in Aracoeli, oscillating between the 1470s and 1482, supported by the dedicatory epigraph of the cardinal that does not report his title of archbishop of Turin which he only got in that year.

[1] The chapel changed little during the centuries but suffered an important alteration when the tomb of Giovanni da Castro was moved here from its original place on the counterfaçade.

[4] La Malfa claims that the grotesques on the pilasters were clearly inspired by those painted in the Domus Aurea (the so-called Room of Achilles on Skyros) and the wall decoration was executed no later than 1479, that is before the building of the tomb of Cristoforo Della Rovere.

The scenes are: The latter was hidden behind the monument of Giovanni de Castro, placed there in the 17th century, and was discovered only recently: perhaps this is the portrait of Cardinal Della Rovere mentioned by Giorgio Vasari.

[1] The lunette paintings are worn and only their general compositional structure could be appreciated which according to Strinati was influenced by the Roman painters of the era: Piermatteo d'Amelia and Antoniazzo Romano.

The paintings were originally richly gilded as evidenced by the presence of red wax on the edges of the garments that served as a support for the leaves of precious metal.

In front of the hut of the Nativity, partially ruined and its walls built of different materials (symbolizing the Jewish and pagan religions which predated the rise of Christianity), and with a truss roof seen from underneath, the Holy Family is seen together with St. Jerome and the shepherds adoring the Child.

To the right the ox and the donkey are penned behind a fence of woven twigs while Joseph is represented in a typical dormant posture alluding to his role as a mere guardian of Mary and Jesus without active participation in the procreation.

The rich background fades in the distance according to the rules of perspective which makes things appear distantly blurred in bluish colours through the effect of haze; it is populated by a city on the banks of a lake and a series of fantastic rocky spurs, creating an atmospheric setting for the procession of the Magi and the angelic announcement to the shepherds, located at the top center.