Research
Rediscovered Relics and Architecture in the Age of Reform
My research situates SS. Luca e Martina within the interwoven histories of the early modern Paleochristian revival and seventeenth-century sacred architecture. While it is well known that relics of early Christian saints frequently resurfaced in Rome in the early modern period, the ways in which patrons and architects responded to these events, and how that architecture gave physical form to the phenomenon of rediscovery, is less well understood. From the late-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, at least three churches in Rome were renovated or rebuilt in response to the rediscovery of the relics of the titular saint. The first occurred in 1599 when Cardinal Camillo Sfondrato found the incorrupt body of saint Cecilia at his titular church, St. Cecilia in Trastevere, and proceeded to finance a complete restoration project. The second took place two decades later, at a small church at the farthest edges of the early-modern city. The skull of saint Bibiana was discovered in 1624 by workmen installing a new altar, and shortly thereafter the church was redecorated and received a modest façade. While these two projects maintained fidelity to the early Christian character of their original structures, the third, Pietro da Cortona’s SS. Luca e Martina, seems to be in opposition to the purity advocated by post-Tridentine reformers.
I utilize published documents, plans, and drawings that attest to the early phases of Cortona’s project in combination with contemporary guidebooks, avvisi notices, and diarist accounts to expand upon the significance of the church within the historiographical and ideological contexts of its day. Publications on Cortona’s intervention at SS. Luca e Martina have clarified the chronology of the project, located it within the artist’s architectural oeuvre, and examined the role of the church as the locus of the devotional activities for Rome’s congregation of painters, sculptors, and architects – the Accademia di San Luca. In relating the history of the church, scholars universally characterize Cortona’s discovery of St Martina’s relics as the tactic of an enterprising architect seeking the attention of a wealthy patron. My dissertation contends that the architect’s activity at SS. Luca e Martina was more than a superficial response to financial need, but rather elevated the status of the church such that it serves as a linchpin of the seventeenth-century Paleochristian Revival in which historians, churchmen, artists, and patrons sought to reconcile the duality of Rome’s history, both pagan and Christian.
Subterranean Barberini Patronage
The Cappella Barberini at Sant’ Andrea della Valle preserves a subterranean secret. Beneath the confessional window in the center of the floor are the shadowy remnants of a private family chapel of the Barberini family dedicated to Saint Sebastian. The Barberini were obligated to commemorate the saint on this site. In the course of the construction of Sant’ Andrea della Valle Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) ordered that the Theatines’ new church absorb the remains of the high altar of the previous edifice called San Sebastianello, where, according to legend, the body of the martyr was recovered from the sewer by the Roman matron Lucina. Letters exchanged between Maffeo Barberini (Pope Urban VIII, 1623–1644) and his brother Carlo signal their intent to preserve the site of the original invention of Sebastian’s sacred relics. Although unrealized, the grotto chapel would have offered a space for private devotion for members of the Barberini family, and the continuation of their devotion to Saint Sebastian, in perpetuity. The second chapter of my dissertation sheds light on Barberini subterranean patronage in Rome and argues that their ventures underground signal an interest in Christian archaeology, an understudied component of the Barberini cultural program.
My ongoing work on this subject will examine additional resources preserved in Roman archives to understand coeval processes of demolishing and preserving the remains of the site of martyrdom beneath San Sebastianello.
Accessing Sacred History
I am particularly interested in how patrons and architects deployed the growing literature on the early Christian history of Rome in their projects. In particular, those subterranean projects that sought to provide unprecedented access to the sacred history of the city. The theme of access will be of interest in future research projects.
Digital Mapping of Early Modern Rome
In collaboration with a social historian of early-modern Rome and the Papal States, we will produce a digital, interactive map of Rome that brings together several datasets concerning the social, economic, and urban history of the city.
