Description
The Sansevero Chapel, or church of Santa Maria della Pietà, is a small Baroque temple a short walk from Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, in the historic center of Naples.
Today it is a museum, and one of the most visited in the city: you come for a marble statue, the Veiled Christ, and stay for a decorative program full of Masonic symbols.
At the center of the nave is the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino: a dead Christ stretched out on a mattress, covered by a shroud so thin that it lets you see the face, the hollowed ribs and the wounds. Around him lie the instruments of the Passion, including a crown of thorns and some nails, one of which seems to pinch the veil.
Two other works hold their own against it. The Modesty by Antonio Corradini is a woman wrapped in a transparent veil, with a garland of roses at her waist, dedicated to the mother of Raimondo di Sangro. The Disillusion by Francesco Queirolo shows a man freeing himself from a net, this too carved in marble.
The other statues, set against the pillars, are the Virtues: allegorical figures dedicated to the women and men of the Sangro family, to be read one by one with their symbols. Behind the high altar is the Deposition by Francesco Celebrano, a high relief that seems to want to leave its frame.
High up, on the vault, the Glory of Paradise by Francesco Maria Russo stands out for the freshness of its colors, prepared, according to the prince, with pigments of his own invention.
Below, in the crypt, the anatomical machines are two skeletons, a man and a woman, with the entire circulatory system reproduced in the most minute detail, by a process still not fully explained. According to legend the prince injected into their vessels a substance that metallized them; a recent study speaks of iron wire, silk and beeswax.
The prince was Raimondo di Sangro, seventh Prince of Sansevero, inventor, scientist and Freemason. From the 1740s he transformed the family chapel into a temple full of symbols: he spent a good part of his fortune, took on debts, directed the works and even made the materials for the frame and the colors of the vault himself.
The Christ's veil created a legend: the prince's reputation as an alchemist made people believe it was real cloth turned into marble. A careful analysis and the letters of the time confirm that it is carved from the same block as the statue.
The Christ was to have been made by Corradini, who however died in 1752 leaving only a terracotta sketch. The prince turned to Sanmartino, who started over from scratch with a new design.
A labyrinthine floor of black and white marble, wanted by the prince to symbolize the difficulties of the path toward knowledge, was destroyed in the collapse of 1889 and replaced with Neapolitan terracotta; a few fragments remain.
Don't miss
• The Veiled Christ.
• The Modesty.
• The Disillusion.
• The anatomical machines.
• The Deposition.
Did you know?
• According to legend the veil was real cloth turned to stone by the alchemist: in fact it is all marble, carved from the same block.
• It is said that the prince had the sculptor blinded so that he could not repeat his masterpiece: it is a rumor, without any proof.
• The prince had an amphibious carriage built with cork horses, to cross the Gulf of Naples.
Today it is a museum, and one of the most visited in the city: you come for a marble statue, the Veiled Christ, and stay for a decorative program full of Masonic symbols.
At the center of the nave is the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino: a dead Christ stretched out on a mattress, covered by a shroud so thin that it lets you see the face, the hollowed ribs and the wounds. Around him lie the instruments of the Passion, including a crown of thorns and some nails, one of which seems to pinch the veil.
Two other works hold their own against it. The Modesty by Antonio Corradini is a woman wrapped in a transparent veil, with a garland of roses at her waist, dedicated to the mother of Raimondo di Sangro. The Disillusion by Francesco Queirolo shows a man freeing himself from a net, this too carved in marble.
The other statues, set against the pillars, are the Virtues: allegorical figures dedicated to the women and men of the Sangro family, to be read one by one with their symbols. Behind the high altar is the Deposition by Francesco Celebrano, a high relief that seems to want to leave its frame.
High up, on the vault, the Glory of Paradise by Francesco Maria Russo stands out for the freshness of its colors, prepared, according to the prince, with pigments of his own invention.
Below, in the crypt, the anatomical machines are two skeletons, a man and a woman, with the entire circulatory system reproduced in the most minute detail, by a process still not fully explained. According to legend the prince injected into their vessels a substance that metallized them; a recent study speaks of iron wire, silk and beeswax.
The prince was Raimondo di Sangro, seventh Prince of Sansevero, inventor, scientist and Freemason. From the 1740s he transformed the family chapel into a temple full of symbols: he spent a good part of his fortune, took on debts, directed the works and even made the materials for the frame and the colors of the vault himself.
The Christ's veil created a legend: the prince's reputation as an alchemist made people believe it was real cloth turned into marble. A careful analysis and the letters of the time confirm that it is carved from the same block as the statue.
The Christ was to have been made by Corradini, who however died in 1752 leaving only a terracotta sketch. The prince turned to Sanmartino, who started over from scratch with a new design.
A labyrinthine floor of black and white marble, wanted by the prince to symbolize the difficulties of the path toward knowledge, was destroyed in the collapse of 1889 and replaced with Neapolitan terracotta; a few fragments remain.
Don't miss
• The Veiled Christ.
• The Modesty.
• The Disillusion.
• The anatomical machines.
• The Deposition.
Did you know?
• According to legend the veil was real cloth turned to stone by the alchemist: in fact it is all marble, carved from the same block.
• It is said that the prince had the sculptor blinded so that he could not repeat his masterpiece: it is a rumor, without any proof.
• The prince had an amphibious carriage built with cork horses, to cross the Gulf of Naples.