Studi sul Settecento Romano
Rivista annuale, ANVUR classe A
Studi sul Settecento Romano 39
Artisti e artigiani a Roma, IV dagli Stati delle Anime del 1700, 1725, 1750, 1775
a cura di Elisa Debenedetti
Parrocchia di Santa Prassede Rione Monti
Sabina Carbonara
The origins of the Basilica of Santa Prassede, located in Rome’s Monti quarter, date far back in history. Its current layout is that of the structure erected in the first year of the papacy of Paschal I (817-824) to replace an earlier sacred building. Following this major architectural undertaking, other projects were carried out in the 13th and 16th centuries.
A more significant transformation occurred in the 18th century, a period which can be analysed by examining, among other sources, the Status animarum parishioner registers. In the first half of the 18th century, the chancel area underwent a notable restoration, and the last three chapels were added to the basilica layout. A number of carpenters were entered in the 1700 parish register, along with an even larger contingent of bricklayers and pozzolanari-cement ma- sons, whereas by 1725, the jubilee year preceding the start of the work carried out under Lodovico Pico della Mirandola, the Cardinal Titular (1668-1743), the relative numbers of the different categories of workers had changed. The 1775 register, which compensates in part for the missing 1750 volume, shows an increase in the types of workers recorded, with carpenters, stonemasons and painters joining the bricklayers who had always been well represented in the Santa Prassede parish.
Parrocchia dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta Rione Monti
Alfredo Marchionne Gunter
The presence of artists and artisans remain constant in time in the Saints Quirico and Giulitta parish having already been registered during the first half of the century during the Jubilee years 1750 and 1775.
After Antonio Matricardi’s death (1772), who lived on the Salita del Grillo, an important wood carver disappeared; his activity had been flanked - around the middle of the century - by a younger colleague Remigio Franchini, who lived in Borgo Sant’Agata.
These are the years when the carpenter Domenico Tinelli is registered, in Vicolo degli Ibernesi, most probably a contemporary of his relative Giuseppe, a carpenter, who worked in Vicolo Orsini in the parish church of St. Maria in Monticelli.
wenty five years previously in his colleague’s house, Paolo Abbondanza, on the Salita del Grillo, his brother Vincenzo lived, who was a carver belonging to a qualified lineage of craftsmen, amongst whom we have Giuseppe Gamba the gilder, registered in strada Baccina, shortly before his death (1776).
These family ties were even more articulated and included members of an important family of painters, ornamentalists and gilders. The Soccorsi, as we have already seen were related to the famous painter Odoardo Vicinelli who was a student of Giovanni Maria Morandi from Florence.
The presence of these artists during the second half of the century are connected to the names of the painter from Bologna Filippo Machelli (died 1788) and to the Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lallemand’s temporary Roman stay, (Dijon 1716 – Paris 1803) registered in the Don- nini houshold in Tor de’ Conti.
Even the families of these well-known painters lived in the parish, like Christian Reder’s son, Giovanni, who died at an advanced age in August 1775 in the house on the Salara Vecchia and the merchant Vincenzo, probably the son of the late painter Corrado Giaquinto, in front of the St. Agata dei Tessitori church, where the old Marco Caprinozzi also lived (died 1778).
Regarding the pictorial arts other lesser known names emerge, like the painter Antonio Rustagni, Gregorio Vacca in Vicolo degli Ibernesi and his contemporary Giacomo Petruccioli on the Salita del Grillo, and the younger Carlo Grisanti.
The graphic activity is represented, around the middle of the century, by the copper engraver Gennaro Gutierrez, of Neapolitan origin and his brother Nicola and later by Francesco Barbazza, a copper sculptor, who made views of famous antique monuments, the area being extraordinarily rich.
The abundance and ample availability of excavated material had also favoured the pres- ence of expert artisans in marble processing, for example the stone sawers resident in Vicolo del Lauro; Giacomo Mucci, Giuseppe Fortunati and the young Francesco Buzi, in Strada Alessandrina, Pietro Passeri and Giovanni Torre in the Saints Cosma and Damiano church, flanking the Roman Forum.
Remaing on the Strada Alessandrina documented activity will be registered about the marble sawers Raimondo Vezzi and Antonio Ossoli whilst on the Salara Vecchia we have the name of the younger Giovanni Antonio Borsini.
The stonemasons’s trade must have been far more qualified, Giovanni Battista Brogi, member of the known dynasty of stonecutters originally from Ligurno, with close family and professional ties with other families such as the stonemasons d’Alis (Alise, Alisi or D’Alessi) registered in the neighbouring parish of St. Salvatore ai Monti, without doubt related to the stonemason Antonio D’Alis who lived at Tor de’ Conti.
Simone Ferrari was another important family of sculptors and carvers, he was registered during the middle of the century in vicolo de Pozzi, together with his old uncle Francesco and only later Francesco Ferrari was in piazza delle Carrette together with his son Antonio.
Near Tor de’ Conti we have Andrea, the late Giorgio Casella’s son and we are led to believe that some workshops survived into the 19th century, such as that of the polisher Antonio Leonardi celebrated on the sepulchral stone placed in the parish church, most likely a descendant of the stonemason Pietro Leonardi.
With regard to the families of architects, like that of the late Girolamo Caccia resident in the neighbouring parish of St. Salvatore ai Monti – whose descendants are registered on the Salara Vecchia – or in the presence of Girolamo Dosio in front of the Saints Quirico and Giulitta, a place of honour is occupied by the members of the important lineage of the Fontanas from Como, in particular the bricklayer Giovanni Antonio resident in Borgo Sant’Agata and the younger Giovanni Battista who were flanked by a group of colleagues, his guests, contemporary of the master builder Domenico Giorgioli, who twenty five years later will be registered at the Isola named Vicolo del Sole in a house of his own.
Complimentary to the bricklayers’ activity - apart from a large group of diggers - we have Giovanni Monti on the Salara Vecchia and two old plasterers who in 1775 are among the residents in the parish: Antonio Bisenzi, already resident and qualified as a bricklayer and Nicola Leggiova who died that same year.
Much more specific activities were those of the modeller or “trainer”, represented by the elderly Alessandro Mazzoni (died 1780), the one regarding the ‘festarolo’, the decorator, Marco Antonio Bianchini registered in vicolo de Pozzi, or the one carried out by the young Michelangelo Cavanna from Milan, or the tapestry maker who also worked in the Kingdom of Naples.
In 1750 the glass maker, Chiappetti, continued producing normal glass objects in his laboratory like the one still existing at Tor de’ Conti.
Parrocchia di San Marcello Rione Trevi
Antonella Pampalone
Antique Paleochristian Church, reconstructed during the 16th century by Jacopo Sansovino and Antonio da Sangallo, with a baroque facade erected by Carlo Fontana before 1686, overlooking via del Corso in the southern section of the ancient via Lata, which belongs to the Trevi district. Its location in the heart of the urban fabric, the presence of minor and noble palaces (Mellini, Sciarra Colona di Carbognano, etc.) the Oratories of the Most Holy Crucifix and of the Caravita, the numerous entrepreneurial activities, determined the demographic increase and the social depth of the parish. The moderate representation of qualified craftsmen and artists, who due to craft transmission between family members ensured a certain housing permanence (Giobbe, Irlandieri, Ostini, Vassalli) were joined by prestigious booksellers and printers, like the Settari, Bouchard & Gravier who promoted the spreading of a French publishing market, or Komàrek, poles of cultural attraction both scientific and musical, for the whole city, qualifying St. Marcello as the most important parish of the Trevi district together with the one in front, St. Maria in Via Lata, transferred to the Pigna district after the reorganisation of the 3 districts in Rome in 1744.
Parrocchia di Santa Maria in Via Rione Trevi
Elisa Debenedetti
St. Maria in Via, situated on the corner with the current via del Tritone, is linked to both St. Maria in via Lata and to the demolished St. Nicola in Arcione. It has antique origins and draws its dedication from a miraculous event, for which it’s also called St. Maria del Pozzo: the image of the Madonna emerging from the waters of a well located in a stable in 1256 is still preserved in the first chapel on the right, as it was in ancient times in the Pozzo chapel, created 475 by Alexander IV to preserve the precious painting on a stone slab. The Church, its reconstruc- tion was completed in 1670, stands out above all due to the presence of important architects: Giovanni Battista Contini, Antonio Asprucci and Carlo Marchionni, the last two were still children initially; and furthermore Girolamo Theodoli, whose work is stylistically linked to Contini, Francesco Ferrari and Carlo Francesco Lambardi who, having obtained the patronage of a noble chapel, is still buried here. The names of notable silversmiths stand out, like Simone Palmieri and Mauro Lamberti, beside the painters Giacomo Triga, Geremia Rovari (whose registration is particularly precious, given the total absence to date of biographical data regarding the artist) and Pietro Paolo Vasta from Acireale, apart from the crowd of carpenters, master builders and festaroli, all living in the parish starting from the last years of the 17th century.
Then inside the Lanci palaces, the dukes from Poli, the Alfieri di Sintes and the Theodoli are some well-known historical figures with their families.
Parrocchia di Santa Maria in Aquiro Rione Colonna
Rosella Carloni
St. Maria in Aquiro’s parish was subject to important urban interventions during the first half of the 18th century, the Curia and related offices were transferred to Montecitorio consequently indispensable adjustments were made to the surrounding road structure. Soon the whole area was re qualified and private construction started for rental buildings, like the ones promoted by Del Cinque and the Giannini. The area thus became the privileged residence of professionals, small nobility, and during the first decades of the century of workers active in the building sector. Famous artists also settled here, Pietro Bracci, Nicola Salvi and a few architects who, like Francesco Ferrari and Filippo Raguzzini, had contributed with their works to the new territorial layout. Thanks to these characteristics the district became the place of some of the most important printing works and booksellers of the city, in particular we have Girolamo Mainardi and Generoso Salomone, but also workshops linked to luxury manufacturing, like the goldsmiths Giovanni Battista Catalucci, the Austrian Simone Custerman and the silversmith Lorenzo Greci.
Parrocchia dei Santi Celso e Giuliano Rione Ponte
Simona Sperindei
In 1736 the Saints Celso and Giuliano Church was once more re consecrated following a reconstruction promoted by Clemente XII. An act which involved not only the church but also the two neighbouring buildings that housed the oratory and the home of the Holy Sacrament’s oratory. The parish adjoined St. Giovanni dei Fiorentini and Saints Simone and Giuda. Through the States of Souls we can see how at the beginning of the 18th century many artisans’ workshops were managed by families, they welcomed workers into their homes so the activity was transmitted from father to son or between relations. In the first quarter of the century a large group of weavers were registered whilst towards the middle there were more builders. In 1775 there were less artisans and a progressive increase of the “middle-class” population.
Parrocchia di Santa Maria in Grottapinta Rione Parione
Agnese Morano
The medieval Church of St. Maria in Grottapinta was for a long time patronage of the Orsini family who had it restored at the end of the 16th century. Reduced to a state of abandonment and deconsecrated in 1926, it is now a cultural centre. The parish was chosen by artists and artisans as a place of residence since it was central and in the commercial heart of the Parione district, but it was considered a transit area for those coming from outside Rome who then moved elsewhere. The total absence of painters is unusual, however there are many goldsmiths and carpenters. The generic indications offered by the parish priests have prevented establishing the exact location of the residents.
Parrocchia di Santa Maria in Monticelli Rione Regola
Alfredo Marchionne Gunter
The parish church of St. Maria in Monticelli has antique origins, most probably dating back to the early Middle Ages.
The surviving structures in St. Paolo alla Regola, the so called St. Paolo’s houses, which are medieval, would have been a testimony – according to a pious tradition – of the apostle’s presence among the first Christian communities.
Restored during Pasquale II’s time in 1101 and again consecrated by Innocenzo II in 1143, the church was restored several times, above all during Clemente XI Albani’s pontificate, who had it transformed completely by the architect Matteo Sassi and the master builder Giuseppe Sardi, whose family had ties with the parish, like the Cioli family with Antonio Cioli the architect, the Pope’s Masterbuilder, the stonemason Filippo and the architect Giacomo Cioli, buried in the church, probably related to the silversmith Flavio Sirletti.
A consequence of the 18th century restorations was the destruction of the antique vestiges, a loss that was profoundly regretted by Vasi, who describes with bitterness the loss of the medieval mosaic of which only a small fragment remains, still today framed in the centre of the apsidal basin.
It is situated in an area of Rome which is continuously afflicted by the floods of the Tiber, the elevated position of the building – probably linked to the toponym “Monticelli” – has helped to preserve the structure up until the 18th century’s renovation carried out by the Roman architect Francesco Azzurri (1827-1901).
The urban fabric of the area which extended south towards the Tiber was completely distorted by the demolition of the Saints Vincenzo e Anastasio dei Cuochi and St. Bartolomeo dei Vaccinari churches but also allowed the reclamation of unhealthy areas, inhabited by communities of artisans dedicated to the processing and tanning of animal skins.
But a clear cut was created between two sectors of the parish territory with the opening of via Arenula and the construction of the Ministry of Justice’s headquarters which led to the loss of other buildings and unusual activities like the sellers of ribbons, with the shops mostly situated in the picturesque vicolo degli Strengari, now significantly reduced, or the vendors of ‘acqua cotta’ or mortellari, in vicolo della Mortella. We have fan painters, dress makers goldsmiths and jewellers, many coming from the via del Pellegrino area.
The temporary presence of a few painters, amongst whom we have Giacomo Antonio De Castris, hosted by his brother in Rome, perhaps for the 1725 Jubilee, the sculptor Bernardino Ludovisi’s family who was a refined interpreter of the sculptural decoration of the St. Trinità dei Pellegrini’s church facade and – shortly after Easter 1750 – the colleague Agostino Cornacchini, who was busy in the workshop of a certain Carlo Sartori, whose identity has not been certified but seems quite unlikely to be traced to the pope’s jeweller.
Parrocchia di San Salvatore in Onda Rione Regola
Maria Celeste Cola
The small church of St. Salvatore in Onda, in the heart of the Regola district, was an im- portant landmark for the inhabitants of the area together with the artisan workshops since the middle of the 16th century. Seat of the Conventual Minor Friars, it occupied an important role up until 1824 when it was suppressed. On January 9, 1445 Pope Eugenio IV had in fact granted to the Conventual Friars, apart from the convent attached to the Church, the baptismal font for curing the souls in that part of the city which from the “Platea di Ponte Sisto” went towards via dei Pettinari’s straight road on the outskirts of Campo dei Fiori and the Trinità dei Pellegrini. The extreme nearness to the Tiber which on the one hand was convenient for trade, exposing it on the other hand to floods from which the church derives its patronymic, this encouraged the arrival of important families from the construction world, among whom we have the Cartoni here remembered during the Jubilee year 1775.
In the inner fabric of the parish, its closeness to Via del Pellegrino, the St. Lorenzo in Damaso area, St. Maria del Pianto and St. Salvatore in Campo, encouraged jewellers and silversmiths , both Italian and foreign to settle here, who from the end of the 17th century found their ideal headquarters in St. Salvatore in Onda. Their presence was certainly boosted by the Monte di Pietà (pawnshop) their establishment made easy by money changers and money lending performed, notably, by jewellers and silversmiths.
Parrocchia di Santa Maria in Publicolis Rione S. Eustachio
Maria Celeste Cola
On the borders between the St. Eustachio and the St. Angelo district, the St. Maria in Publicolis church is along the way bearing the same name, it forms the natural architectural backdrop of the road axis that from piazza Costaguti leads to the extremity of the current border with via Arenula. Notwithstanding the small facade facing the Costaguti island, the sacred building was always the religious and spiritual reference of the Santacroce merchants in fabrics and spices, established since the beginning of the 15th century in the Arenula district where they stand with authority in the large building opposite the St. Carlo ai Catinari church .
Listed among the affiliates of St. Lorenzo in Damaso with Urban III’s bull in 1186, the small church obtained, on the basis of the 1569 Savelli edict , the baptismal font. The recognition of which they had since 1570, incorporating in 1747 also part of the suppressed St. Maria del Pianto church. The church was an important landmark for the many artisans resident in the area favouring the actual denomination of the road where the same church hosted a considerable amount of carpenters from Bergamo and workshops tied to wood processing, including guitarists and luthiers.
Parrocchia di San Marco Rione Pigna
Antonella Pampalone
Founded in 336 by Pope St. Marco, rebuilt during the IX century on a raised level, during the XV century the church was incorporated into Palazzo Barbo promoted by Paolo II who also commissioned the facade; the interior was renovated twice during the middle of the 17th and 18th century. The demographic density was distributed on a territorial extension that embraces the monumental part from piazza Venezia to the Church of Gesù, from the Campidoglio with its slopes up to Tor de’Specchi insinuating into the basin of St. Maria in Campitelli, making it the most crowded parish of the Pigna district. The coexistence of stately buildings (D’Aste, Doria Pamphili, Altieri, Petroni), a widespread minor housing, a significant number of shops, makes the socio-economic fabric articulated, characterized by artisanal dynasties of whitewashers, festaroli (among whom we have the Fornari), a large number of carpenters (Cartoni, Ravasi), gilders, carvers, and other various categories representing all the trades. A considerable amount of painters (Mazzanti, Zoboli, Angeletti) and architects (Barigioni, Nolli, Nicoletti, Posi, Quarenghi), who are the interpreters of the cultural tendency which turns from the baroque-rococò to the neoclassical.
Parrocchia dei Santi Venanzio e Ansuino Rione Campitelli
Matteo Borchia
This contribution analizes the States of Souls of the 18th century Jubilee years of the Saints Venanzio and Ansuino parish. The church, founded with the name St. Giovanni in Mercatello, was rebuilt between the 17th and 18th centuries by the Camerinesi Confraternity. Located at the foot of the Capitoline hill, the building disappeared in 1928, demolished due to Rome’s new administrative plan together with the whole district between the Aracoeli staircase and the St. Marco Basilica.
The parish which depended on the church encompassed only a few blocks and about fifty families: it was demolished in 1824. Only a few of the artists are registered in the parish archive. Small artisans, unknown to the research, having various occupations (stonemasons, weavers, carpenters).
Una parrocchia satellite: Santa Maria in Via Lata
Elisa Debenedetti
The deaconry of St. Maria in Via Lata was founded under Sergio I (687-701). To the church, built during the 11th century on a structure from the imperial age, still present in the basement, a new building with a basilica plan was superimposed in 1491. The apse was built in the 17th century, the interior renovated and the monumental facade erected by Pietro da Cortona. Located in the Pigna district beside Palazzo Pamphili, south of Via del Corso, the antique Via Lata from which the Church takes its name, the parish has a limited territorial extension being wedged between the residential fabric of St. Marco and St. Marcello, having a similar demographic configuration distinguished by high-level professional categories. Being in the centre and having ancient noble residences, the parish was chosen as headquarters by Francesco Corallo, decorator and set designer for the Chigi, Colonna, Pamphili, Ruspoli and by Angelo Spinazzi from Piacenza, famous silversmith appreciated by quite a few cardinals and by Benedict XIV, by prestigious printers of historical-religious works, like Nicola Angelo Tinassi, who was then substituted by Girolamo Mainardi, or the Chracas, printers from Puglia living in Palazzo Vitelleschi, the ‘Diary of Rome’ publishers, source of all the events of the papal court and the aristocracy, with news from abroad. The architect Alessandro Specchi moved to via del Corso, he had Palazzo De Carolis erected beside the Church and for about ten years the painter Sebastiano Ceccarini, the most important portraitist from the Marche lived there. The hub of the social and cultural life was Palazzo Mancini, seat of the Academy of France since 1725, real laboratory of the new artistic production. Here generations of pensionnaires were formed, winners of Prix de Rome with the most famous protagonists of French art, their names restore the picture of international figurative art.
La perduta chiesa dello Spirito Santo alla Colonna Traiana. Due conferme per Giacinto
Gimignani, un inedito di Luigi Garzi e un’ipotesi per Sebastiano Conca
Alessio Ciannarella - Marco Coppolaro
Here retracing the historical-artistic events of the Roman Spirito Santo alla Colonna Traiana Church annexed to the homonym monastery, demolished in 1812 due to the implementation of the urban planning policy promoted by the French government. Through the analysis of published and unpublished sources, not only was it possible to determine the transformations undergone by the decorative apparatus during the centuries, but also retracing several works formerly considered missing. Fundamental for the identification of these paintings was the reconstruction of what the religious community went through in the aftermath of the demolition: the nuns, in fact, transferred themselves to the nearby St. Pudenziana, bringing with them several furnishings, accessories and some paintings from the church. First of all, the two side altarpieces of the main altar, both by Giacinto Gimignani, where we herby con- firm its origin and its original location. We are dealing with a St. Augustine and child still kept in St. Pudenziana and the St. Monica and the angel today in the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Pistoia and Pescia. Remaining in St. Pudenziana, we found an unpublished St. Agustine by Luigi Garzi. Whilst searching we found a big anonymous arched altarpiece depicting a Pentecost, in the Basilica of St. Antonio da Padova’s sacristy on the Esquiline hill. At present it’s not possible to state whether the work of art ever really belonged to the decorative apparatus of the Spirito Santo’s church however, the painting dates more or less to the second quarter of the 18th century and appears to be ascribable, on a stylistic basis, to Sebastiano Conca.