The Palatine Chapel of the Royal Palace of Caserta
The Palatine Chapel transformed the Baroque anticipating the birth of the Neoclassical
History
Inaugurated on Christmas 1784 by King Ferdinand of Bourbon and Queen Maria Carolina, the Palatine Chapel of Caserta, at the behest of the previous King Charles of Bourbon, was designed inspired by that of Versailles, but Vanvitelli with his genius not only created something totally different, but managed to synthesize in it all the Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque traditions, giving rise to neoclassicism.
The rich and complex decoration with a refined neoclassical taste is the result of Vanvitelli’s masterful ability to synthesize all the Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque traditions in a single work, such as the festoons, oval windows or chests of drawers ceiling, often used by Vanvitelli throughout the Reggia, but which appear different each time according to their positioning, thanks to a different decoration and different plays of light.
By express will of the Rulers, the Palatine Chapel of the Royal Palace of Caserta was built without any expense limitation with the best marbles of the Kingdom and Carrara marble, and by the best artists available at the time. In the side balconies there were six statues of saints, later not inserted: Saints Gennaro, Rosalia, Carlo, Amalia, Irene and Michele. The insertion of a colossal carved topaz, now in Taranto, was foreseen in the door of the tabernacle.
In 1943, during the Second World War, it was bombed by the Anglo-Americans and was seriously damaged, thus also losing many works of art.
The apse
The painting
- Author: Giuseppe Bonito
- Title: Immaculate Conception
- Year: 1789
- Technique: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 6.9×3.6m
Giuseppe Bonito - "Immaculate Conception" - 1789 (oil on canvas, Dimensions: 6,9x3,6m)
The missing organs
The ceiling
The hemispherical ceiling is divided into three areas with coffers and windows, decorated with festoons and cherubs. In the center a sunburst with the monogram of the Virgin and two angels.
The three projects of the apse
The apse we see today is the result of changes made by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli after the publication of the project in the Declaration of Drawings. It should not be forgotten that in 1943 the two organs that were present where the tents are now were bombed. In the center the painting “Immaculate Conception” by Giuseppe Bonito.
The altar
In the apse area, the stucco altar is not the definitive version, but the original model, which was never finished in marble. Similarly, the tabernacle provided in hard stones (amethyst, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate and jasper) was not completed, and in its place there is one in polychrome wood.
Under the altar there was an ancient gray marble urn decorated with agates and gilded bronzes, while the tabernacle must have been made up of precious stones: amethysts, lapis lazuli, petrified wood, carnelians, agates and jaspers, and decorated with gilded bronzes. The door of the ciborium should have been in lapis lazuli, purchased as early as 1743, but subsequently it was decided to use a large topaz instead, purchased in Rome by Ferdinando I (perhaps on the occasion of his visit to the city in 1816), through Filippo Rega, a cameo maker and director of the Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure in Naples. Rega was supposed to sculpt the topaz in the form of Christ blessing who holds up the world, but could not complete it due to his death in 1833.
The work on the tabernacle lasted for many years, and when in 1845, on the occasion of the VII International Congress of Sciences, Ferdinand II ordered that the altar and the tabernacle be placed in the Palatine Chapel, but the then Director replied that the Laboratory had both the drawings and the models disappeared, and that after various requests he had received a very different model from the first designed by Luigi Vanvitelli.
Therefore the Director of the works of the Reggia, at the time the architect Gaetano Genovese, commissioned the designer Enrico Maldarelli to prepare the project for the temporary altar, the same one that exists today. The drawing in six tables, sent to the Laboratory only on November 12, 1845, showed in the lower part of the altar a white marble urn placed there after 1826, smaller than the gray marble one of the size of the altar which since 1826 it is kept in the warehouses of the Reggia. However, King Ferdinand II did not like the white marble sarcophagus, who, advised by Genovese himself, had it replaced with a decorative panel in pietre dure with two white marble angels on the sides as designed by Luigi Vanvitelli.
The work on the tabernacle was interrupted in 1784 and never resumed due to the Napoleonic domination of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies. So currently the altar and the tabernacle of the Palatine Chapel, despite their exceptional manufacturing quality, are only models.
The bombing in 1943
The Chapel suffered serious damage on August 27, 1943 due to the American bombing of the city of Caserta and the Royal Palace, which struck the Palatine Chapel, damaging the ceiling, the columns and the walls, destroying priceless works such as the sacred vestments, the two organs placed high up on the sides of the altar (where the curtains can now be seen), as well as seven of the eight paintings in the Chapel.
After the war, intense restoration work began on the Palatine Chapel to restore its original splendor, but due to the depletion of the Bourbon marble quarries, they had to be searched for for a long time on the antiques market. In 1948 the floor of the central nave and the apse area, the tabernacle of the altar, the balcony and the gilded stuccos of the ceiling were restored. Not everything has been restored, so that looking at the scarred marbles, you will remember this story forever.
EXTERNAL LINK: 1943 - The bombing of Caserta< /a>
The original paintings
- Sebastiano Conca, “The Annunciation” (destroyed);
- Giuseppe Bonito, “Immaculate Conception” (surviving);
- Sebastiano Conca, “The Adoration of the Magi” (destroyed);
- Sebastiano Conca, “Birth of the Virgin” (destroyed).
- R. Mengs, “Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple” (destroyed);
- Sebastiano Conca, “The Birth” (destroyed);
- Giuseppe Bonito, “The Marriage of Mary” (destroyed).
- Sebastiano Conca, “The Visitation” (destroyed).
Virtual reconstruction of the Palatine Chapel
Scene from the 1942 film "The Three Eaglets".
In this movie recorded one year before the bombing, you can see all the things that were destroyed.
The structure of the Palatine Chapel
The affinity with that at Versailles
Project analysis
- Side section. Note the great harmony of the proportions.
- In the Royal Tribune note the third level with the two rows of windows not visible from the Chapel.
- Statues were foreseen between the paired columns in the project, but they were never sculpted. Note the difference in height and in the decoration of the barrel vaults, which evidently changed during the construction phase of the Chapel.
Vintage photo of the Palatine Chapel
Some period photos of the Palatine Chapel of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
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- 1896
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- 1900
Virtual tour of the Palatine Chapel
Click on the image and hold to rotate
