Everything about San Luigi Dei Francesi totally explained
San Luigi dei Francesi is a
church in Rome, not far from
Piazza Navona.
The church was designed by
Giacomo della Porta and built by
Domenico Fontana between
1518 and
1589: the works could be completed through the personal intervention of
Catherine de' Medici, who donated it some possessions in the area. It is the national
French church of Rome and actually entitled to the Virgin Mary, to
St. Dionigis Areopagitas and
St. Louis IX, king of France. The French character is evident since the facade itself, which has several statues recalling national history: these include
Charlemagne, St. Louis,
St. Clothilde and
St. Jeanne of Valois. The interior also has frescoes telling the stories of St. Louis (by
Charles-Joseph Natoire), St. Dennis and
Clovis.
The church was chosen as the place of sepulture for the higher prelates and members of the French community of Rome: these include the tomb of
Pauline de Beaumont, died by
consumption in Rome in
1805, erected by her lover
Chateaubriand, the classic liberal economist
Frédéric Bastiat and that of
Cardinal de Bernis, ambassador in Rome for
Louis XV and
Louis XVI.
Domenichino painted here one of his masterworks, the frescoes portraying the
Histories of Saint Cecilia. Other artists who worked in the decoration of San Luigi dei Francesi include
Cavalier D'Arpino,
Francesco Bassano il Giovanni,
Muziano,
Giovanni Baglione,
Siciolante da Sermoneta,
Jacopino del Conte,
Tibaldi and
Antoine Derizet.
The church's most famous item is however the cycle of paintings in the
Contarelli Chapel, painted by the
Baroque master
Caravaggio in
1599-
1600 about the life of
St. Matthew. This include the three world-renowned canvases of
The Calling of St Matthew,
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew,
The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.
The church, together with the other French churches in Rome, is governed by an "Administrative deputy" named by the French ambassador at the
Holy See. The current
Cardinal Priest of the
Titulus S. Ludovici Francorum de Urbe is
André Cardinal Vingt-Trois.
Adiacent to the church is the
late-Baroque San Luigi dei Francesi Palace. It was built in
1709-
1716 as a "recovery for the French religious community and the pilgrims without resources". Its porch has a bust of Christ whose face is traditionally identified as
Cesare Borgia's one. The interior houses a gallery with the portraits of the
French kings and a notable Music Hall.
Image:Michelangelo Caravaggio 040.jpg|The Calling of St. Matthew
Image:The_Inspiration_of_Saint_Matthew_by_Caravaggio.jpg|The Inspiration of St. Matthew
Image:Michelangelo Caravaggio 047.jpg|The Martyrdom of St. Matthew
Image:Sanluigideifrancesi4d.jpg|Interior
Image:Sanluigideifrancesi.jpg|ceiling
Sources
- Claudio Rendina, Enciclopedia di Roma. Netwon Compton, Rome, 1999.
Further Information
Get more info on 'San Luigi Dei Francesi'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://san_luigi_dei_francesi.totallyexplained.com">San Luigi dei Francesi Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
