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| Santa Maria della Vittoria | |
|---|---|
 Façade of Santa Maria della Vittoria | |
 Click on the map for a fullscreen view | |
| 41°54′17″N12°29′39″E / 41.90472°N 12.49417°E /41.90472; 12.49417 | |
| Location | Via Venti Settembre 17,Rome |
| Country | Italy |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Religious order | Discalced Carmelites |
| History | |
| Status | Titular church,basilica |
| Dedication | Our Lady of Victories |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Carlo Maderno Giovanni Battista Soria |
| Style | Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 1605 |
| Completed | 1620 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Width | 19 m (62 ft) |
| Clergy | |
| Cardinal protector | Seán Patrick O'Malley[1] |
Santa Maria della Vittoria (English:Saint Mary of Victory,Latin:S. Mariae de Victoria) is aCatholictitularminor basilica andDiscalced Carmeliteconventual church dedicated toOur Lady of Victories inRome,Italy, famously the home ofGian Lorenzo Bernini‘s masterpiece theEcstasy of Saint Teresa. The church is in theRioneSallustiano, on number 98 via XX Settembre, where this street intersects with Largo Santa Susanna. It is located next to theFountain of Moses and mirrors theChurch of Santa Susanna across the Largo. It is about two blocks northwest of thePiazza della Repubblica and Teatro dell'Operametro station.
The land for the church was purchased on April 20, 1607,[2] and the church was built from 1608 to 1620 as a chapel dedicated toSaint Paul for theDiscalced Carmelites.[3] After the Catholic victory at theBattle of White Mountain in 1620, which reversed theReformation inBohemia, the church was rededicated to theVirgin Mary.Ottomanstandards captured at the 1683Battle of Vienna were later hung in the church, reinforcing to the theme of the Virgin helping lead Catholic armies to victory.[2]
The order itself funded the building work until the discovery of theBorghese Hermaphroditus in the excavations.Scipione Borghese,Cardinal-nephew ofPope Paul V, appropriated this sculpture but, in return, funded the rest of work on the façade and granted the order his architect,Giovanni Battista Soria. These grants only came into effect in 1624, and work was completed two years later.[2]
The church is the only structure entirely designed and completed by the earlyBaroque architectCarlo Maderno, though the interior suffered a fire in 1833 and required restoration. Its façade, however, was erected byGiovanni Battista Soria during Maderno's lifetime, 1624–1626, showing the unmistakable influence of Maderno'sSanta Susanna nearby.[citation needed]
The interior of the church has a single wide nave under a low segmental vault, with three interconnecting side chapels behind arches separated by colossalCorinthian pilasters with gilded capitals that support an enrichedentablature. Contrasting marble revetments are enriched with white and gilded stucco angels andputti in full relief. The interior was sequentially enriched after Maderno's death; its vault was frescoed in 1675 with triumphant themes within shaped compartments withfeigned frames:The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy andFall of the Rebel Angels executed byGiovanni Domenico Cerrini in 1675.
Other sculptural detail abounds:The Dream of Joseph (left transept,Domenico Guidi, flanked by relief panels byPierre Etienne Monnot) and the funeral monument to CardinalBerlinghiero Gessi. There are paintings byGuercino,Domenichino, and Nicolas Lorrain. The church is also the final resting place ofSaint Victoria, whose preserved remains are on display inside.
The Cornaro Chapel is a privatechapel commissioned byFederico Cornaro to Baroque sculptorGian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini lostpapal patronage following the death of PopeUrban VIII and his replacement by PopeInnocent X, who disliked his artistic style, which enabled his commissioning by private patrons at this accomplished stage in his career. The entire architectural and sculptural ensemble of the chapel was designed by Bernini.
Thealtarpiece of the Cornaro Chapel, theEcstasy of St. Teresa, is among the most celebrated works of all ofBaroque sculpture, and widely considered one of Bernini's masterpieces.[4] The statues depict a moment as described by SaintTeresa of Avila in her autobiography, where she had the vivid vision of aSeraph piercing her heart with a golden shaft, causing her both immense joy and pain. The flowing robes and contorted posture abandon classical restraint and repose to depict a more passionate, almost voluptuous trance. Although artistically atour de force, nonetheless, during Bernini's lifetime and in the centuries following, theEcstasy of St. Teresa was accused by diverse critics for crossing a line of decency by sexualizing the visual depiction of the saint's experience, to a degree that no artist, before or after Bernini, dared to do: in depicting her at an impossibly young chronological age, as an idealized delicate beauty, in a semi-prostrate position with her mouth open and her legs splayed-apart, her wimple coming undone, with prominently displayed bare feet (Discalced Carmelites, for modesty, always wore sandals with heavy stockings) and with the seraph "undressing" her by (unnecessarily) parting her mantle to penetrate her heart with his arrow.[5][6]
Santa Maria della Vittoria was established as atitular church byPope Pius VII on 23 December 1801.[citation needed] The following is a list of itsCardinal-Priests:[7]
Media related toSanta Maria della Vittoria at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by Santa Maria in Via Lata | Landmarks of Rome Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome | Succeeded by San Martino ai Monti |
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