Extravagance in the use of marble

Marble chapel decoration, walls, columns and floor

S Giovanni in Laterano; NB lest a taste for extravagant and luxuriously expensive marble decoration be thought exclusively 17th-century, cf. the painted marble panels befind the figures in Andrea del Castagno's Last Supper in S. Apollonia, Florence, circa 1447, reproduced in Roettgen I pp.254ff, with closeups of the "marble" intarsia work on plates 155-158 and 161.

Indeed, the use of coloured marbles is a staple of the Cosmatesque style of the Middle Ages, found in great quantitites in Roman churches, usually on the floor, as in SM in Cosmedin (1; 2; 3; 4) where blah blah blah

S Clemente: presbyterium;

S Clemente: presbyterium and nave;

SM in Aracoeli presbyterium;

SM in Aracoeli presbyterium; but occasionally as a frieze: or on marble furniture:

S Balbina: tghrone;

S Balbina: tghrone; or on a tomb:

S Balbina;

S Balbina; and especially in the marble transennae separating the clergy from the people in the nave, often with pulpit(s) included, as also in SM in Cosmedin (1; 2).

S Clemente: presbyterium;

or in cosmatesque ambos:

SM in Aracoeli presbyterium;

SM in Aracoeli;

or candlestick:

SM in Aracoeli presbyterium;

- and sometimes for decorating a complete apse:

S Cecilia in Trastevere;

S Lorenzo in Lucina narthex;

Such cosmatesque floor decoration is usually confined to the nave and /the presbyterium. It seems unusual to find it in a chapel, such as that of the Crocefisso in SM Aracoeli:

SM Aracoeli;

but this might be a local fashion, cf. the della Valle chapel in the same church:

SM Aracoeli;

Floor much redone ? at:

S Gregorio Magno;

Castelnuovo 1992 on marble: Useful to cite not only for examples of the mechanics of getting stuff from the newly-reopened quarries to the work-sites (the catalogue is restricted to Pisa and the Lunigiana), but also has excellent bibliography;

For the supply of marble in the Renaissance, cf. Ciadri & Severini 1992.

- and include intarsia marble floor funerary slabs;

Increasing taste for marble, perhaps kicked off by the ambitious designs for the new S. Peter's. Plenty of marble - indeed, proportionately more marble - had been available in the 15th century, but the chapels in SMpop do not use it. Why?

taste for simplicity;

conceivable technical difficulties cutting it (NB number of spolia tombs in 15thC, and surely a lot more we don't know about);

the 15thC perhaps hadn't studied ancient Roman tombs closely, so didn't know about the use of marble for wall cladding (this seems unlikely!);

Then the taste come in. Again, why?

Raphael's study of the antique, and also that of his circle. NB the false marble panels at the Farnesina, which must be amongst the earliest.

Did Raphael actuaqlly install the marble, or only project it?

But conceivable Raphael started the fashion, as also that for the use of pyramid/obelisks for actual tombs (cf. Filarete's doors for the Old S. Peter's);

Why does the taste develop so extravagantly, from the Chigi toward the Cibo Chapel, as it were?

cutting technology?

easier access to marble supplies?

Baroque desire for sumptuousness (with Gesu as about as far as one can go);

Money must come into it, because there are plenty of Baroque chapels with the walls frescoed, not marbled;

For the great Baroque chapels in SM Maggiore, cf. Ostrow 1996. However, the book concentrates on the fresco cycles to the extent that marble/veneer/mosaic don't even get indexed. This is a pity, given that the main impact of the chapels is surely through their sculpture and marble (and bronze gates!).

SM in Campitelli, Capp.Albertoni ;

SM in Campitelli, Capp.Capizucchi;

SM di Montesanto;

Extravagance in Design

But extravagance can also be found in chapels where it is the design rather than the materials which is intended to impress, as for example in the Cappella Avila in SM in Trastevere, once attributed to Borromini CHECK:

Cap. Avila, SM in Trastevere;

Cap. Avila, SM in Trastevere; where to the design of the dome is added a perspectival trick:

Cap. Avila, SM in Trastevere;

S Agostino;

SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; Chigi Chapel; Chigi Chapel; Chigi Chapel;

SMPop Chigi Chapel;

At the crossing in SMPop: SMPop ; SMPop ;

Glazed tiles as a substitute? SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop; SMPop della Rovere; SMPop della Rovere;