Italia Napoli Cappella Sansevero 3

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Cappella Sansevero
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Piazzetta Nilo
Piazza San Domenico
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The current appearance of the Chapel corresponds
to a very precise icono-graphic design, conceived
by Prince Raimondo di Sangro and realised by the
artists who worked under his supervision. From
the main door, one enters the single nave, ending
in an apse containing the High Altar. The two
side walls have four rounded arches, each one
containing a tomb, except the third arch to the
left of the main entrance, where there is the
side door, and the third arch on the right, that
opens onto the Tomb of Raimondo di Sangro. The
tombs in the side chapels are dedicated to
the illustrious ancestors of the di Sangro
family, while the sculptures set against the
pillars separating the arches are dedicated to
the women of the household, past and
present (except for Disillusion, erected to the
memory of Antonio di Sangro, father of Raimondo).
These statues are certainly the focal point of
the Prince of Sanseveros original iconographic
design. In fact, they represent
different Virtues, stages on a pathway to
initiation leading to interior knowledge and
perfection. No less important in the overall
symbolic context is the floor with its labyrinth
motif, designed by the Prince and laid by
Francesco Celebrano. An ancient symbol, the
labyrinth represents the arduousness of the
journey towards knowledge. Some slabs of the
eighteenth-century flooring are visible today in
the passageway in front of the Tomb of Raimondo
di Sangro, and others are displayed in the
Underground Chamber and the Sacristy
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Statues of the virtues Self-control by Francesco
Celebrano, 1767 This monument commemorates
Geronima Loffredo, paternal grand-mother of
Raimondo di Sangro. The symbol of the strength of
character of the deceased, never defeated by
hostile destiny nor too exalted by fortune, is
this Roman soldier with a tame lion on a chain,
almost hypnotised by the mans gaze intellect and
 will thus prevail over instinct, savage energy
and the vanity of the passions
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In his will Raimondo di Sangro named it as one of
the few works in the Chapel that he would like to
see redone by a better artist. The subject of
control over the passions is a classical theme of
the eighteenth-century. Freemasonry, as well as
an inescapable stage in any initiation process.
In the iconography of the alchemists, the lion is
sometimes symbol of primal matter
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Statues of the virtues Sincerity by Francesco
Queirolo, 1754-55
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Sincerity Virtue is dedicated to the wife of
Raimondo di Sangro, Carlotta Gaetani. As the
monument was erected while Carlotta was still
alive, the portrait engraved in the medallion is
not fully outlined, as was customary in the case
of monuments to those still living
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Caduceus, symbol of peace and reason was the
pagan symbol of Hermes and later represented the
Hermetic science. In alchemy, the caduceus
symbolises the coincidentia oppositorum, or the
union of opposites, sulphur and mercury
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Statues of the virtues Sincerity (details) by
Francesco Queirolo, 1754-55
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Statues of the virtues Religious zeal Fortunato
Onelli, Francesco Celebrano et al., 1767
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Dedicated to Ippolita del Carretto and Adriana
Carafa della Spina, wives of the founder of the
Chapel Giovan Francesco di Sangro, Religious
Zeal is apparently the most orthodox work of
the Sansevero Chapel
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An elderly man with the Light of Truth in one
hand, and in the other a lash to punish
sacrilege, while he tramples under foot a book
from which the serpents of heresy emerge.
A putto with a torch completes the work
of destroying the heretical texts, and two
other puttini hold up the medallion portraying
the two women in profile
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Statues of the virtues Sweetness of the marital
yoke Paolo Persico, 1768
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Raimondo di Sangro dedicated his Sweetness of the
Marital Yoke (a fulsome-bellied woman holding a
feathered yoke representing sweet obedience, and
in her right hand she holds up two flaming
hearts deep mutual love) to the wife of his
eldest son Vincenzo, Gaetana Mirelli of the
Princes of Teora, when she was in the flower of
youth
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It is for this reason that the womans profile is
little more than a sketch in the medallion, as
was customary in the case of monuments to those
still living
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At her feet a winged putto plays with a pelican,
emblem of charity. In mediaeval iconography, in
fact, the pelican which pierces its own breast to
nurse its young represents the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross
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Lastly, according to the Hermetic tradition
regarding alchemy, the blood of the pelican is
the so-called natural quintessence
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Statues of the virtues Decorum by Antonio
Corradini, 1751-52 This work, dedicated to the
first and second wives of Giovan Francesco di
Sangro, Prince of Sansevero, represents the
quality shared by these two women decorum
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This Virtue is embodied in the form of a youth
partially draped in a lion skin. By his side,
there is the head of the same animal, resting on
a half column, symbolising the victory of
the human spirit over unbridled nature
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Decorum The youth wears a buskin on his right
foot and on the left a simple clog, indicating
his dual relationship with the celestial world
and the underworld, as well as, for some, his
androgynous nature, and also the behaviour each
man must adopt as befits his station
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Statues of the virtues Divine Love Francesco
Queirolo (?), second half of the eighteenth
century Divine Love, dedicated to Giovanna di
Sangro of the Marquises of San Lucido, wife of
the fifth Prince of Sansevero, Giovan Francesco
di Sangro. A youth wrapped in a cloak looking
towards the heavens and holding a flaming
heart in his right hand extols the
noblewomans love of God, commemorated in the
inscription on the pedestal
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Divine Love
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Statues of the virtues Education by Francesco
Queirolo, 1753
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The monument was set up at the wish of Raimondo
di Sangro to the memory of Girolama Caracciolo
and Clarice Carafa di Stigliano, first and second
wives of Paolo di Sangro, second Prince of
Sansevero.
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The disciple, carefully listening to the
solicitous lessons of the teacher, holds
Ciceros De officiis in his left hand. On the
pedestal the motto is Educatio et disciplina
mores faciunt, i.e. Education and discipline
form good behaviour
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Like control of the impulses (symbolised
by Self-control), education through the study of
traditional texts and interior discipline
represents a compulsory stage in reaching the
perfection that the disciple aims for
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Statues of the virtues Liberality by Francesco
Queirolo, 1753-54
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Liberality is dedicated to the memory of Giulia
Gaetani dellAquila dAragona, wife of the fourth
Prince of Sansevero
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In her left hand the woman holds a cornucopia
overflowing with gold and jewels, while in the
right she holds some coins and a compass, emblems
of generosity and equilibrium
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The eagle, placed symmetrically to the
cornucopia, represents strength and temperance,
as well as being according to the mediaeval
bestiaries the only animal capable of looking
into the sun
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Statues of the virtues Modesty by Antonio
Corradini, 1752
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Raimondo di Sangro dedicated the monument to the
memory of his incomparable mother, Cecilia
Gaetani dAquila dAragona, who died on 26th
December 1710, when Raimondo was not yet one
year old
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The gaze lost in time, the tree of life, and the
broken plaque are the symbols of an existence cut
short too soon, and express the pain of the son
Raimondo, who thus wished to preserve for the
future the features and virtues of his young
mother
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The bas-relief on the pedestal also makes
explicit reference to the Gospel story Noli me
tangere (Christ appears to the Magdalene dressed
as a gardener).
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The intention of commemorating Cecilia Gaetani is
not the only meaning of this statue. The veiled
woman can be interpreted as an allegory of
Wisdom, and the reference to the veiled Isis,
special divinity of the science of initiation,
appears extremely clear (without considering that
a long tradition, in reality unsub-stantiated,
holds that Modesty is situated in the place where
once a statue of Isis stood in the Greek Neapolis)
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Statues of the virtues Disillusion Francesco
Queirolo, 1753-54
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Queirolos masterpiece is without
question Disillusion, a work dedicated by
Raimondo di Sangro to his father Antonio, Duke of
Torremaggiore. After the premature death of his
wife, Antonio led an eventful and disordered
life, entrusting his son to the care of his
grandfather Paolo. Enslaved as the plaque
states to youthful passions, the Duke
travelled throughout Europe, but in his old age,
now tired and repentant of his errors, he
returned to Naples, where he spent his last years
in the tranquility of the priestly life
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The group of sculptures describes a man who has
been set free of sin, represented by the net into
which the Genoese artist put all his
extraordinary skill
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A little winged spirit, with a small flame on his
forehead, a symbol of human intellect, helps the
man to free himself from the intricate netting
while pointing to the globe at his feet, symbol
of worldly passions. An open book rests on the
globe it is the Bible, a sacred text, but
also one of the three great lights of Masonry
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The bas-relief on the pedestal, with the story
of Jesus restoring sight to the blind,
accompanies and strengthens the meaning of the
allegory
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Text pictures Internet All  copyrights  belong
to their  respective owners Presentation
Sanda Foisoreanu
2018
Sound Pergolesi - Stabat Mater
(fragment)- Julia Lezhneva, Philippe Jaroussky