Author of the entry: Luigi Coiro
The monument is dedicated to Giulia Gaetani dell’Aquila d’Aragona, consort of Paolo di Sangro, fourth Prince of Sansevero (cf. entry 13). She died in 1636 and is portrayed in three-quarter view in the medallion at the apex of the pyramid that forms the backdrop to the statue of Liberalità. The tomb was executed by Francesco Queirolo before the close of 1754 (Origlia 1754, p. 366), a date also recorded in the inscription on the base, probably following one of the thirty-six sculptural models for the Chapel prepared by Antonio Corradini by 1752 (ibid., p. 365).
The ‘animated and ingenious allegory’ (Colapietra 1986a, p. 67) reflects, with some licence, the attributes associated with this virtue in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia. In her right hand, she holds a compass, still visible and intact in an engraving executed shortly before the mid-nineteenth century by Franz Wenzel (pl. XIII). Only a fragment remains, embellished with a delicate ‘fettuccia’ (Inventario 1771, fol. 114v; cf. Attanasio 2011, p. 148), and three coins (or medals). The left hand, however, upends a spectacular cornucopia overflowing not with ‘fruits and flowers’, but with ‘jewels, money, necklaces, and other valuable objects’ (Ripa 1765, p. 25), while the eagle – which, moreover, alludes to the family name and coat of arms of the deceased and is described as the ‘most liberal among all birds’ – instead of being placed ‘above the head of the said figure’ (ibid.), is positioned at her feet. The figure is adorned with a banded diadem set with a drop pearl.
It is precisely in these details that the realist vein of the Genoese sculptor (Cioffi 1994, p. 40) emerges once again, as he engages with the various still lifes that enrich the composition without overburdening it: the eagle, certainly, but above all the cornucopia, whose virtuoso and highly polished rendering suits its sumptuous content, which seems on the verge of overflowing beyond the rocky base.
In Marina Picone’s view (1959, p. 76), compared with Sincerità and Santa Rosalia (cf. entries 25 and 7), Liberalità also displays a ‘less stylised language […], but rather a more generous design, richer in decorative vitality’, which softens, ‘in the broken sinuosity of the folds, the typically angular rigidity of the other works’.
Essential bibliography on the work
Origlia Paolino Giangiuseppe, Istoria dello Studio di Napoli…, II, Naples, Giovanni di Simone, 1754, pp. 365–366.
Inventario de’ beni rimasti nell’eredità del fu eccellentissimo don Raimondo di Sangro principe di Sansevero, Naples, notary Francesco de Maggio, 1771, copy of the document held at the Archivio Storico del Pio Monte della Misericordia di Napoli, d’Aquino di Caramanico collection, provisional shelfmark A.162, fol. 114v.
Wenzel Franz, pl. XIII representing Liberalità, belonging to a group of 32 lithographs of the sculptures of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples drawn by various authors and engraved by Wenzel c. 1839: the copy identified (lacking six lithographs) is held at the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli, shelfmark PALATINA Banc. 03.
Picone Marina, La Cappella Sansevero, Naples 1959, pp. 75–76.
Colapietra Raffaele, ‘Raimondo di Sangro e il Templum sepulcrale della Cappella Sansevero (I)’, in Napoli nobilissima, ser. III, XXV, 1986a, pp. 62–79, esp. p. 67.
Colapietra Raffaele, ‘Raimondo di Sangro e il Templum sepulcrale della Cappella Sansevero (II)’, in Napoli nobilissima, ser. III, XXV, 1986b, pp. 142–154, esp. p. 143.
de Sangro Oderisio, Raimondo de Sangro e la Cappella Sansevero, Rome 1991, pp. 200–201, no. 19.
Cioffi Rosanna, La Cappella Sansevero. Arte barocca e ideologia massonica, first edition: Salerno 1987; edition cited: Salerno 1994, pp. 39–40, fig. 11.
Attanasio Sergio, In casa del Principe di Sansevero. Architettura, invenzioni, inventari, Naples 2011, pp. 44, 46, 80, 148.
Comparative bibliography
Iconologia del cavaliere Cesare Ripa perugino, notabilmente accresciuta d’immagini, di annotazioni e di fatti dall’abate Cesare Orlandi, patrizio di Città della Pieve accademico augusto. A Sua Eccellenza don Raimondo di Sangro…, I–V, Perugia, Piergiovanni Costantini, 1764–1767, IV, 1765, pp. 24–25.
DOI: 10.82049/CATALOGO12