Cerasi Chapel
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The Cerasi Chapel (Capella Cerasi) is one of five chapels located within the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. It contains important paintings by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, two of the founders of Baroque art, all dating from 1600/1601.
The chapel was purchased in July 1600 by Monsignor Tiberio Cerasi, Consistorial Advocate and Treasurer-General to Pope Urban VIII. Cerasi commissioned Carracci and Caravaggio, the two leading emerging artists of the day, to provide an alterpiece of the Resurrection (Carracci) and a The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus and The Crucifixion of Saint Peter (Caravaggio) for the two side walls. Cerasi's choice of a Assumption of Mary for the altar seems straight-forward enough, while the Saint Paul and Saint Peter honoured the two Apostles central to the Catholic Church, as well as the popular Counter-Reformation themes of conversion and martydom. Caravaggio's dramatically lit and forshortened Peter and Paul, intended to be viewed from the side rather than straight-on, draw the eye to Carracci's frontally-presented Assumption, so that the chapel is aesthetically united despite the very different styles of the two artists.
While Maria del Popolo contains many treasures, this and the Chigi Chapel are its artistic high points. The chapel and church are open daily between 07.00-12.00 and 16.00-19.00, and on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation between 08.00-13.30 and 16.30-19.00.
