Cavalier d'Arpin
The selection and deployment of the pictorial decoration was a saga that involved many of the premier painters of early 17th century Rome and Naples. The Deputation in charge of construction and decoration of the chapel, initially entrusted the pictorial decoration of the chapel to Giuseppe Cesari, also called "Cavalier d'Arpino". The painter was popular in Rome under Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini and remained so under Pope Paul V Borghese . A request was forwarded in 1616, and a contract was signed on March 7, 1618 But Cesari was slow to move to Naples, and the Deputation in 1620, revoked his contract and instead offered the position to Guido Reni. Reni, after much haggling about payments, refused the assignment, and finally the commission was offered to painter Fabrizio Santafede, who collaborated with Battistello Caracciolo and the Bolognese pupil of Reni, Francesco Gessi, to propose a design. The Deputation, however, was not satisfied with the plan. Soon after, Santafede died, and the team of Caracciolo and Gessi were fired.