Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi no relation Annibale Caracci
Tiberio Cerasi's chapel
The patronage rights of the chapel were purchased on 8 July 1600 by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, Treasurer-General of Pope Clement VIII. He bought the chapel from the Augustinian friars with the option to rebuild and adorn it "in the manner and form" he wanted to. The edifice was reconfigured by Carlo Maderno who was referred to as the architect of the still unfinished chapel in the 2 May 1601 codicil to Cerasi's will.
In September Cerasi contracted Caravaggio to paint two panels for the side walls; the contract with Annibale Caracci for the altarpiece has not been preserved. The commissions went to the leading artists in Rome at the time. Caracci painted The Assumption of Mary while Caravaggio depicted the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter on the lateral walls. Cerasi's choice of the Assumption for the altar seems straightforward enough, while the other two paintings honoured the Apostles central to the foundation of the Catholic Church as well as popular Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martyrdom. The precedent already existed for this juxtaposition in the Cappella Paolina at the Apostolic Palace by Michelangelo. Saint Peter and Paul were also the patrons of Rome and they had a strong connection with the papacy. Because Tiberio Cerasi did not belong to the ranks of the Roman aristocracy and he made his career and fortune in the Roman Curia, it was important to emphasize his proximity to papal power and the Church of Rome.
The first versions of the Caravaggio paintings were rejected by the patron and then Caravaggio painted two canvasses instead of the cypress panels as it had been formerly stipulated. The story of the rejection of the first versions was recorded by Giovanni Baglione in his 1642 Life of Caravaggio.Tiberio Cerasi died on 3 May 1601 and was buried in the chapel. In his will he named the Hospital of the Madonna della Consolazione as his heir with the responsibility to complete the unfinished chapel. Annibale's altarpiece was probably already complete at the time while Caravaggio was paid on 10 November 1601 for his work. The paintings were finally installed in the chapel by a woodworker named Bartolomeo in May 1605, and the chapel was consecrated on 11 November 1606.The chapel was acquired by a descendant of the family, Antonio Cerasi, count of Monterado in 1853 who subsequently restored it.
no relation