Observations in the Cerasi Chapel

* I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Wolfgang Lotz for his guidance, friendship, and company on several unforgettable nocturnal walks in Rome during the summer of 1957. My debt to Professor Richard Krautheimer beggars any specific acknowledgment.

Abstract

THE Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (Fig. 1), is justly celebrated for three paintings—two Caravaggios on the side walls and, between them, a Carracci Assumption. Architecturally, the chapel holds out little promise of interest: an oblong recess consisting of a sail-vaulted anteroom with the tombs of the Cerasi on the lateral walls; and a narrower, barrel-vaulted chancel where the altar stands under a dim lunette light. The whole is rich in gilt stucco and half-faded frescoes, but remarkable chiefly for being the darkest chapel in the church.