The little Gothic chapel at the extreme west end of the church lighted
by a small west window, has an arched roof with crossed pieces; the side
walls are divided by painted pilasters. The whole architectural
decoration is in monochrome, in pale brownish grey upon a rich brown
ground. On the pilasters on either side is a beautiful decoration of
fruits and seed-pods in great masses, tied in with ribbons adapted from
the antique, and resembling a framework by Mantegna in the Eremitani
Chapel at Padua. The frescoes on the walls are separated by long slender
candelabra with flaring flames, the stems formed of grotesques, masks
grave and grimacing, climbing stags and gambolling _putti_. The arches
of the roof have been profusely enriched with gold, and culminate in a
blue and gold boss. Below the altar is a long procession, also in
monochrome, captives and warriors, a soldier on horseback dragging a
nude woman, others laden with spoils and torches, a conqueror on a
triumphal car, with a naked captive bound behind; these are painted with
almost impressionist touches, and the horses are much better drawn than
we usually expect from Pintoricchio.
In the roof, in four triangles, are the "Four Evangelists": St. Matthew
looking up as for inspiration, dipping his pen in the ink held by a
beautiful kneeling angel-figure at his side. Both this figure and that
of St. Luke are very broadly and freely painted. Steinmann points out
that we find them almost repeated, apparently by a scholar, in the
sacristy of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. This church has been closed for
two years for repairs--I have not been able to see the frescoes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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