Viterbo: MRA-ITA-Vit001
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ITA-Vit001
Sample Material Type
- Mural painting
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 2.9
- Width
- 3.2
- Height
- 0.7
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 9.06
Geographic Location
- Country
- Italy
- Place
- Viterbo
Site/monument
- Italy (ITA)
Viterbo
Chiesa Santa Maria della Verità
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Verità, Cappella Mazzatosta
Historical note about the site/monument
- The Saint Maria of Verità Church is a 12th century Romanesque building dedicated to Our Lady of the Truth. The building was presumably erected already as a church in the mid-12th century, but soon abandoned [1]. The Servite Order would take over in the next century and dedicate it to the Virgin Mary. The church has Latin cross floor plan with a single nave and Gothic transept and single- and double-lancet windows open on the left and right side to illuminate the space. The construction was enlarged in the century in the presbytery, and after a miraculous apparition of Our Lady to three lads in 1446, the place was converted to a sanctuary and attracted pilgrims, offers and extensions until the next century. The place served as a church until the second half of the 19th century, when it was converted to convent, and educational establishment then. The mural painting adorning the walls of the church was almost completely covered in the 17th century, and only the contemporary conservative activity is restoring its original appearance. Mazzatosta Chapel is a family chapel, erected within the church in 1460 for Niccolò Mazzatosta, a member of the local family and that one of the most important in the city as part of the Papal household since the 1st quarter of the 15th century. In most likelihood, Niccolò ordered its construction as an addition to a pre-existing building attributable to the same family [2]. A round arc opens the access from the rest of the church to the chapel, that consists of three walls and a rib vault, with large stone ribs meeting in a pointed arch. The stone ribs divide the space into four sections that host fresco paintings. The occidental side of the chapel opens with a small double-lancet window. The chapel decoration was by the local artist Niccolò della Tuccia. The fresco paintings were ended on 1469 feature the Prophets, Evangelists, Doctors and Patriarchs on the ceiling, while the walls host scenes from the life of Our Lady organized on two levels [3].
Further reading:
[1] Mario Signorelli (1962). Signorelli, M. (1965). Guida di Viterbo: monumenti del centro cittadino. Viterbo: Agnesotti.
[2] Ignazio Ciampi (1872). Cronache e statuti della città di Viterbo. Firenze: coi tipi di M. Cellini.
[3] Simonetta Valtieri Bentivoglio & Enco Bentivoglio (1973). Le pitture di Lorenzo da Viterbo nella Cappella Mazzatosta a Viterbo. Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 17 (1): 87-104. JSTOR: 27652315.
Chronological period (sample)
- 15th century