Caetani's Magnificentia: Transfiguration of Christian and Medieval Memories in a Roman Chapel in the Counter-Reformation

• In Event: Chapels in Roman Churches between the Cinquecento and the Seicento: Form and Meaning I

Abstract

The Caetani chapel in S. Pudenziana in Rome, an early Christian church with important Romanesque remnants, was reshaped between 1588 and 1597. The decision of its patron, Cardinal Enrico Caetani, to invest a large amount of money in a new shrine reflects his connection with Sixtus V, who had specific interests in this area, but also the will to display a magnificentia linked with the early history of S. Pudenziana, according to a tradition revived by Ugonio and Baronio. Therefore, Baronio’s rediscovery of Christian antiquities was an opportunity for the Caetani family––through the decoration of the chapel with precious marbles and mosaics––to reassert its early connection with the history of the Church, using the display of relics, precious materials, and the revival of ancient decorative techniques.

Author

• Enrico Parlato, Università degli Studi della Tuscia