Sant'Onofrio

where: Piazza di Sant Onofrio, Trastevere
open: closed August, Sunday to Friday 9:00-13:00

Across the Tiber and up the steep staircase of Salita di Sant Onofrio in Trastevere, sits the church of Sant'Onofrio on the Gianicolo Hill.

The church was completed in the 16th century and built on the site of a hermitage dedicated to the 4th century Saint Onopheius of Egypt.
Climbing the steps of the church you will see on the right the Renaissance portico, here are three lunette frescoes by Domenichino dating from 1605. At the end of the portico is the Baroque chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary decorated with a fresco of the Sybils by Agostino Tassi.
In the cloister are lunette frescoes commissioned for the Jubilee year of 1600. Three are by Giuseppe Cesari, the others by artists from his studio.

Inside the church is the beautiful main altar by Baldasarre Peruzzi. Some of the other artworks inside the church are the Trinity fresco by Francesco Trevisano and Annibale Carracci's altarpiece, the Madonna of Loreto.

Domenichino

Agostino Tassi

Giuseppe Cesari

Artists in Sant'Onofrio

Giuseppe Cesari

Francesco Trevisani

Annibale Carracci

Domenichino

Agostino Tassi

Baldassare Peruzzi

Antoniazzo Romano

Giovanni Battista Ricci

Girolamo Pesci

Sebastiano Strada

Claudio Ridolfi

Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

where: Via Giulia, 262
getting there: half-way down Via Giulia near the Arco Farnese

open: 10:00-12:15 & 16:00-18:00 possibly closed July and August

I've always been curious to see inside Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte, the church on Via Giulia near the Farnese Arch, but every time I've tried to visit the church — decorated with skulls and winged skeletons — I've found it to be closed.
The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and its name translates to Saint Mary of Prayer and Death.
It was built in 1575 by a charity that took on the responsibility of burying the abandoned corpses of the poor people of Rome.
The church was remodeled in 1733 and the facade decorated with the gorgeous laureled skulls and winged skeletons on the marble alms boxes.

Inside the church are frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco of St Anthony Abbot and St Paul of Thebes and an altarpiece by Ciro Ferri of the Crucifixion.

There is a copy of  Guido Reni's St Michael and the Angel in the Chapel of Saint Michael and the sacristy has paintings by Giacinto Brandi.

San Paolo Fuori le Mura

where: Via Ostiense 
getting there: metro - Linea B/Basilica San Paolo
open: daily 7:00-18:30
cost: Basilica free, cloisters 9:00-18:30, €4

The Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura is outside the walls of Rome and the name literally translates to Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Here is thought to be the final resting place of the Apostle Paul after his execution.
The original church was built by Constantine in the 4th century, over the centuries the church was enlarged until a fire in 1832 almost completely destroyed it. The church was rebuilt to the same plan and style and reopened in 1840.

Inside is a 12th century candlestick that survived the fire. Reaching five meters high it is decorated with scenes of Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection. The tabernacle dating from the 13th century, as well as the triumphal arch and original mosaics also survived.

Circling the top of the walls of the Basilica are mosaics of all popes from Saint Peter to the current pope, with still room for a few more portraits.

The statue of St Paul in the atrium garden in front of the church is by Giuseppe Obici and dates from the 19th century.

Giovanni Baglione (1566 - 1643)

Giovanni Baglione was a Baroque painter. He was born in Rome and spent most of his working life there. During his long career he was employed by popes Sixtus V, Clement VIII, Urban VIII and Paul V. as well as the many private commissions he received. 

Giovanni Baglione and Caravaggio, although contemporaries, had a mutual dislike of each other which resulted in a court case where Caravaggio was sued for slander after he and his artist friends circulated unflattering poems, causing Caravaggio to spent two weeks in prison.

Baglione's painting, Profane Love Subdued by Divine Love which caused all the trouble is in the Galleria Barberini. 

Baglione published two books, 'Vita de Pittori' on the lives of painters, sculptors, architects and engravers and 'The Nine Churches of Rome'.

He was a member of The Accademia san Luca and died in Rome at the age of 77.

Adoration of the Magi

San Luigi dei Francesi

art historian and writer.

Giovanni Baglione Art in Rome
Santa Maria Maggiore
San Luigi dei Francesi
Santa Maria della Consolazione
Santa Maria dell'Orto
San Nicola in Carcere
Last Supper
St Peter's Basilica
Saint Peter Raising Tabitha from the Dead
Scala Santa (near San Giovanni in Laterano)
Finding of Moses
Denial of St Peter
Arrest of Christ
Santa Pudenziana
Scenes from the Life of St Peter
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
Saints Peter and Paul
Santa Maria degli Angeli
Virgin and Child with Saints Hyacinth and Raymond
Pinacoteca Capitolina
Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples
Galleria Borghese
Judith and the Head of Holofernes
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Sacred and Profane Love
St John the Baptist

Francesco Albani

Landscape with the Assumption of the Virgin

Galleria Doria Pamphilj

Francesco Albani  1578 - 1660

Francesco Albani was born in Bologna in 1578. His father was a silk merchant but instead of joining his father's business he became an apprentice at age 12 to Flemish painter Denis Calvaert. In this studio he met fellow student Guido Reni, following him to the Academy run by the Carracci family and becoming one of Annibale's prominent apprentices.

In 1601 Reni and Albani moved to Rome to work on the frescoes in Palazzo Farnese with Annibale Carracci and his studio, also with Annibale's designs and the assistance of Lanfranco he completed frescoes in the San Diego Chapel in what was then San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Piazza Navona, now called Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore. Much of the artwork here was destroyed or removed during the early 19th century. 

He worked independently from the Carracci studio in the early 17th century completing the choir frescoes in Santa Maria della Pace and frescoes of San Sebastian and the Assumption of the Virgin in San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura.

He returned to work in Bologna after the death of his first wife where he remarried and remained there until his own death in 1660.

His pupils included his brother Giovanni Battista Albani and Andrea Sacchi.

Francesco Albani Art in Rome
Palazzo Farnese
Santa Maria della Pace
San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura
Galleria Doria Pamphilj
Frescoes in the Hall of Aeneas
Assumption of the Virgin
Galleria Borghese
Spring-Venus at her bath
Summer-Venus in Vulcan's Forge
Autumn-Venus and Adonis
Winter-The Triumph of Diana
Galleria Colonna
Tasso's Landscapes
Ecce Homo
Galleria Corsini