San Giovanni Evangelista (Parma)
Encyclopedia
San Giovanni Evangelista is a church in Parma
, northern Italy
, part of a complex also including a Benedictine
convent and grocery.
The abbey basilica was rebuilt from around 1490, with a definitive project by Benedetto Zaccagni dating from 1510. The construction ended around 1519. The design included since the beginning a thoroughly painting decoration of the interior, and a contract had been signed with the young Correggio, who a had already worked in another Benedictine monastery, that of San Paolo (at the Camera della Badessa).
Correggio executed five frescoes groups. The first includes the lunette
with St. John and the Eagle (c. 1520), followed by the dome, with the Ascension of Christ and the drum and the four pendentives decoration. The third work was the decoration of the vault and the apse ceiling of the Cappella Maggiore, partially destroyed in 1586 when the choir was prolonged: today the central fragment with the Coronation of the Virgin (now at the Galleria nazionale di Parma
) has survived. The fourth intervention was in the choir's walls, which were totally destroyed during its reconstruction. Finally, Correggio added a painted frieze which runs for the whole internal perimeter. Preparatory drawings show that also the parts executed by his pupils were designed by Correggio, such as the candelabra in the presbytery's vault and the puttos on the cross-vaults.
Around 1524, Correggio also painted two canvasses in the Del Bono Chapel, now at the Galleria nazionale di Parma: the Lamentation for Dead Christ and the Martyrdom of Four Saints
.
style in 1604, and completed in 1607. The bell tower on the right side, perhaps designed by Giovanni Battista Magnani
, was completed in 1613. With a height of 75 meters, it is the tallest in Parma.
. The structure is similar to the nearby cathedral's. The grooved piers are Renaissance elements of classical inspiration. In the nave is a frieze by Correggio and his workshop (c. 1522-1524). Is ia long strip with monochrome paintings (with few red details) on a dark blue background, including also some tondoes with portraits of Benedictine popes, cardinals and monks. The main feature is a series of puttos in actions symbolizing the importance of the Christian mess and sacrifice. The grotesque decorations on the semi-piers and the vault decoration (with candelabra, puttos and symbols of St. John the Evangelist) were also from Correggio's pupils, in particular Michelangelo Anselmi
(c. 1520).
The left nave has a baptismal font whose base is a c. 1st century AD Roman funerary monument. The twelve side chapels were frescoes by local artists (including Angelo Michele Colonna
) in the late 16th century and early 17th century. The first chapel on the left has an arch frescoed by Parmigianino
, with St. Agatha and the Executioner and Sts. Stephen and Lawrence. These are monumental figures influenced by Pordenone
's frescoes in the Cathedral of Cremona. Another Sts. Stephen and Lawrence and a Saint Vitalis with the Horse, both by Parmigianino, are in the following chapel. Attributed to Parmigianino, but today considered by Anselmi, is a fresco cycle in the Zancheri Chapel, whose altarpiece is by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli
(Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1536). Anselmi also painted a Christ Carrying the Cross (c. 1522) in the sixth left chapel.
thumb
Works in the right chapels include an Cristoforo Caselli
's Adoration of the Magi (1449, third chapel), Mazzola Bedoli's altarpiece of Madonna with Child and St. James (c. 1543-1545, fourth chapel), and 18th century copies of Correggio's canvasses in the Del Bono Chapel, whose arch has maintained frescoes executed by his pupils under his design (Conversion of St. Paul and Sts. Andrew and Peter). The ceiling of the left crossing was painted by Anselmi with a St. Benedict Enthroned and Four Saints (1521), while the walls show terracotta sculptures by Antonio Begarelli
(St. John the Evangelist and Madonna with Child and St. John, c. 1543). The right chapel of the presbytery as, in the arch, frescoes by Bedoli.
The right apse has ceiling frescoes of Stories of the Life of St. John of Parma by Anselmi. The altarpiece with the Miracle of Sy. John was painted by Emilio Taruffi (1674). At the walls are two groups by Begarelli, portraying St. Felicita with Saint Vitalis and St. Benedict. The presbytery has grotesque decorations attributed to Correggio, while the puttos were added around 1588 by Innocenzo Martini; a fresco from 1587 replicates the original by Correggio, of which only the central part remains, now at the Galleria Nazionale di Parma. The altarpiece is a Transfiguration by Bedoli (c. 1556). The carved wooden choir is from 1513-1538. The portal leading to the sacristy has a fresco by Correggio in the lunette, depicting St. John and the Eagle and generally considered his first work in the church, although similarities with the dome decoration could imply that it dates from a later period. The inscription ALTIUS CAETERIS DEI PATEFECIT ARCAN around the painting refers to the nocturnal prayers of the monks. The sacristy was frescoed in 1508 by Cesare Cesariano
.
The associated library has manuscript and codexes testifying the amanuensis
activity of the local monks. The manuscripts arrived here from the monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua
without decorations, and here were decorated by Damiano da Moile, Francino da Moile and, starting from 1492, da Michele da Genova.
The monastery has also an ancient grocery, documented since 1201. Its dependences include the Abbey of Santa Maria della Neve at Torrechiara
.
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, part of a complex also including a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
convent and grocery.
History
Works for the abbey and church were started in the 10th century over a pre-existing oratory entitled to St. Colombanus. In 1477 the whole complex was damaged by a fire.The abbey basilica was rebuilt from around 1490, with a definitive project by Benedetto Zaccagni dating from 1510. The construction ended around 1519. The design included since the beginning a thoroughly painting decoration of the interior, and a contract had been signed with the young Correggio, who a had already worked in another Benedictine monastery, that of San Paolo (at the Camera della Badessa).
Correggio executed five frescoes groups. The first includes the lunette
Lunette
In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
with St. John and the Eagle (c. 1520), followed by the dome, with the Ascension of Christ and the drum and the four pendentives decoration. The third work was the decoration of the vault and the apse ceiling of the Cappella Maggiore, partially destroyed in 1586 when the choir was prolonged: today the central fragment with the Coronation of the Virgin (now at the Galleria nazionale di Parma
Galleria nazionale di Parma
The Galleria nazionale di Parma is an art gallery in Parma, northern Italy.Painters exhibited include Beato Angelico, Canaletto, Correggio, Sebastiano del Piombo, Guercino, Leonardo da Vinci, Parmigianino, Tintoretto and others.-History:...
) has survived. The fourth intervention was in the choir's walls, which were totally destroyed during its reconstruction. Finally, Correggio added a painted frieze which runs for the whole internal perimeter. Preparatory drawings show that also the parts executed by his pupils were designed by Correggio, such as the candelabra in the presbytery's vault and the puttos on the cross-vaults.
Around 1524, Correggio also painted two canvasses in the Del Bono Chapel, now at the Galleria nazionale di Parma: the Lamentation for Dead Christ and the Martyrdom of Four Saints
Martyrdom of Four Saints
The Martyrdom of Four Saints is an oil on canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Correggio, dating from around 1524 and housed in the Galleria Nazionale of Parma, Italy.-History:...
.
Description
The marble façade of the church was designed by Simone Moschino in BaroqueBaroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
style in 1604, and completed in 1607. The bell tower on the right side, perhaps designed by Giovanni Battista Magnani
Giovanni Battista Magnani
Giovanni Battista Magnani was an Italian architect working entirely in Parma in the first half of the 17th century. He was the most successful of a family of masons and architects that included his father Nicostrato and his son Carlo....
, was completed in 1613. With a height of 75 meters, it is the tallest in Parma.
Interior
The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles covered with cross vaults, and a dome at the crossingCrossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
. The structure is similar to the nearby cathedral's. The grooved piers are Renaissance elements of classical inspiration. In the nave is a frieze by Correggio and his workshop (c. 1522-1524). Is ia long strip with monochrome paintings (with few red details) on a dark blue background, including also some tondoes with portraits of Benedictine popes, cardinals and monks. The main feature is a series of puttos in actions symbolizing the importance of the Christian mess and sacrifice. The grotesque decorations on the semi-piers and the vault decoration (with candelabra, puttos and symbols of St. John the Evangelist) were also from Correggio's pupils, in particular Michelangelo Anselmi
Michelangelo Anselmi
Michelangelo Anselmi was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active mostly in Parma.-Biography:He was born, apparently in Tuscany, perhaps in Lucca, from a Parmesan family. He moved to Siena around 1500, where he is mentioned as painter for the first time in 1511. He was a pupil of Il Sodoma...
(c. 1520).
The left nave has a baptismal font whose base is a c. 1st century AD Roman funerary monument. The twelve side chapels were frescoes by local artists (including Angelo Michele Colonna
Angelo Michele Colonna
Angelo Michele Colonna was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Bologna, northern and central Italy and Spain. He is sometimes referred to as Michelangelo Colonna.-Biography:...
) in the late 16th century and early 17th century. The first chapel on the left has an arch frescoed by Parmigianino
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola , also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino or sometimes "Parmigiano", was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma...
, with St. Agatha and the Executioner and Sts. Stephen and Lawrence. These are monumental figures influenced by Pordenone
Il Pordenone
Il Pordenone, byname of Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis , was an Italian painter of the Venetian school, active during the Renaissance. Vasari, his main biographer, identifies him as Giovanni Antonio Licinio.-Biography:...
's frescoes in the Cathedral of Cremona. Another Sts. Stephen and Lawrence and a Saint Vitalis with the Horse, both by Parmigianino, are in the following chapel. Attributed to Parmigianino, but today considered by Anselmi, is a fresco cycle in the Zancheri Chapel, whose altarpiece is by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli
Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli
Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli was an Italian painter of the Parmesan school of Painting, active in the Mannerist style.Bedoli was born in Parma in a family coming from Viadana...
(Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1536). Anselmi also painted a Christ Carrying the Cross (c. 1522) in the sixth left chapel.
thumb
Works in the right chapels include an Cristoforo Caselli
Cristoforo Caselli
Cristoforo Caselli was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period....
's Adoration of the Magi (1449, third chapel), Mazzola Bedoli's altarpiece of Madonna with Child and St. James (c. 1543-1545, fourth chapel), and 18th century copies of Correggio's canvasses in the Del Bono Chapel, whose arch has maintained frescoes executed by his pupils under his design (Conversion of St. Paul and Sts. Andrew and Peter). The ceiling of the left crossing was painted by Anselmi with a St. Benedict Enthroned and Four Saints (1521), while the walls show terracotta sculptures by Antonio Begarelli
Antonio Begarelli
Antonio Begarelli, also known as Begarino was an Italian sculptor.He was born at Modena, and is said to have been instructed by Giovanni dell'Abbate, the father of the painter Niccolò. Begarelli worked chiefly at Modena, where many churches are decorated with his plastic compositions in...
(St. John the Evangelist and Madonna with Child and St. John, c. 1543). The right chapel of the presbytery as, in the arch, frescoes by Bedoli.
The right apse has ceiling frescoes of Stories of the Life of St. John of Parma by Anselmi. The altarpiece with the Miracle of Sy. John was painted by Emilio Taruffi (1674). At the walls are two groups by Begarelli, portraying St. Felicita with Saint Vitalis and St. Benedict. The presbytery has grotesque decorations attributed to Correggio, while the puttos were added around 1588 by Innocenzo Martini; a fresco from 1587 replicates the original by Correggio, of which only the central part remains, now at the Galleria Nazionale di Parma. The altarpiece is a Transfiguration by Bedoli (c. 1556). The carved wooden choir is from 1513-1538. The portal leading to the sacristy has a fresco by Correggio in the lunette, depicting St. John and the Eagle and generally considered his first work in the church, although similarities with the dome decoration could imply that it dates from a later period. The inscription ALTIUS CAETERIS DEI PATEFECIT ARCAN around the painting refers to the nocturnal prayers of the monks. The sacristy was frescoed in 1508 by Cesare Cesariano
Cesare Cesariano
right|thumbnail|A 1521 [[Italian language|Italian]] edition of [[Vitruvius]]' [[De architectura]], translated and illustrated by Cesare Cesariano....
.
Monastery
The monastery has three cloisters. The first has Ionic columns, the second has decorations by Correggio and the third, known as Cloister of St. Benedict, has early 16th century frescoes.The associated library has manuscript and codexes testifying the amanuensis
Amanuensis
Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
activity of the local monks. The manuscripts arrived here from the monastery of Santa Giustina in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
without decorations, and here were decorated by Damiano da Moile, Francino da Moile and, starting from 1492, da Michele da Genova.
The monastery has also an ancient grocery, documented since 1201. Its dependences include the Abbey of Santa Maria della Neve at Torrechiara
Torrechiara
Torrechiara is a frazione of the comune of Langhirano, in the province of Parma, northern Italy. It is especially known for its massive castle, built by Pier Maria II Rossi , count of San Secondo, between 1448 and 1460.-Geography:...
.