Author of the entry: Augusto Russo
The monument to Raimondo di Sangro marked the culmination of the funerary genealogy of the Sansevero Chapel: by securing his place within it, the Prince ensured that his own remains and his own likeness, also as ‘reconstructor’ and ‘designer’ of the sacello itself, would join those of his ancestors. Set in the small space leading to the sacristy and the underground cavea, lit by the opening of the small elliptical dome, the tomb occupies the full height of the wall, from floor to arch. It faces the side door of the Chapel and thus presents itself as the first object seen by anyone entering from that direction. This privileged position in relation to the entrance is further emphasised by the inscription placed outside, addressed to the passer-by, in which Raimondo is presented as the one who, in 1767, skilfully enlarged the family sacello to house his own ashes and those of his kin.
In the monument’s inscription, presumably dictated by Raimondo himself, his noble and honorific titles are listed, and his exceptional and varied merits and interests are celebrated. By way of summary, one may extract the following passage: ‘SCIENTIA MILITARI MATHEMATICA PHILOSOPHICA CLARUS / IN PERSCRVTANDIS RECONDITIS NATVRAE ARCANIS CELEBERRIMVS’. With the expected rhetorical emphasis, the inscription also notes that the Prince had provided tombs for his forebears and relatives, without having provided one for himself. It further suggests an intention to rehabilitate his own memory, jeopardised by political failures and the accusations that followed the publication of the Lettera apologetica (Cioffi 2019, pp. 38–40). The same inscription records that the monument was erected by Gennaro Ottone, priest and theologian, apostolic protonotary and rector of the Chapel, together with other chaplains who celebrated daily Mass there (see Colapietra 1986b, pp. 144–145 for commentary on various passages).
The slab, fractured in several places, displays a striking technical feature that attracted contemporary attention. The letters, as reported by writers of the time, ‘are in white marble, raised in the manner of a cameo, while the ground is coloured red, although both the raised letters and the surface of the ground are of a single piece; this is rendered still more remarkable by the extremely fine low-relief ornament in white on the same marble, which surrounds the entire slab and represents an interlacing of arabesque vines with their leaves and clusters of grapes’ (Sarnelli 1772, p. 127). The same source also records the dimensions of the slab in Roman palms, namely 7⅓ in height and 8⅓ in width, a level of precision that probably derives from information supplied directly by the Prince’s secretary, Filippo Giunti. The conception was Raimondo’s own, as noted in slightly later periegetic accounts (Sigismondo 1788, p. 38; Celano 1792, p. 87). The red colouring, perhaps evocative of porphyry, is now far less visible, with only traces surviving. The real technical challenge lay in producing the inscription, together with the surrounding decoration in very low relief, in the manner of a refined embroidery, without mechanical incision of the stone, but rather by means of a process akin to casting. Raimondo is said to have achieved this through one of his own devices, namely a chemical solvent capable of eroding the residual spaces between the letters (Marco Bussagli, in Napoli, la Cappella Sansevero 2019, pp. 137, 139).
The date 1759, which appears in the inscription as the year in which Raimondo, then forty-nine, ‘restored’ the Chapel, has generally been taken as the date of execution of the tomb. It should, however, more cautiously be regarded as a terminus ante quem non. What is certain, at least officially, is the identity of the designer, whose name appears incised at the lower right: ‘FRAN.VS M.A RVSSO PICT.R / INVENIT ET DELINEAV.’. According to testimony from just over thirty years ago, the small inscribed fragment was no longer visible and had even been lost (de Sangro 1991, p. 182, no. 13), which suggests a later reintegration. The commission therefore engaged Francesco Maria Russo, who had decorated the Chapel vault in 1749 and worked more or less continuously for the Prince. In 1764 and 1765 he is recorded as ‘painter of ornaments’ and ‘guazzista painter’ in the Sansevero household (Nappi 2010, pp. 125–126, docs. 392–395; Fabrizio Masucci and Leen Spruit, in Raimondo di Sangro 2020, pp. 215, 255). It would seem nevertheless reasonable to suppose that Raimondo himself played a role, perhaps extending beyond anything documented, in the design of the tomb, particularly after the dismissal of Francesco Queirolo in 1759.
It has been observed that the structure of the Di Sangro tomb derives from a funerary apparatus designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena and engraved in his Architetture e prospettive, published in Augsburg in 1740 and dedicated to Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg, for whom Bibiena served as principal theatrical architect in Vienna (Cioffi 1994, pp. 68–69). The comparison should, however, be limited to the base of the catafalque illustrated there for the obsequies of Louis XIV (Bibiena 1740). That such a model, of supra-local taste and of official, even ‘imperial’, character, might have been adopted is entirely plausible, given the series of contacts of the Prince and Antonio Corradini, initially entrusted with the Chapel project. A further channel may have been the Neapolitan sojourn of Giovanni Maria Galli Bibiena (the Younger), brother of Giuseppe, engineer and civil architect in the service of Charles of Bourbon, who was also involved in works for Raimondo, including the refurbishment of the palace at San Domenico Maggiore (Attanasio 2011, pp. 28–37). This context, and especially the possible use of the model mentioned, may have eased Russo’s responsibilities in devising the monument, and could be of help in addressing the reservations expressed in the literature (Cioffi 1994, p. 68) regarding the artist’s claimed authorship, given his ultimately secondary standing.
The monument is described in detail in the inventory of Raimondo’s estate drawn up at his death in 1771 (fols. 84v–85r; cf. Attanasio 2011, pp. 135–137). Among other details, the document lists the various marbles employed, including giallo di Verona, bardiglio, verde di Calabria, breccia di Francia, black marble, and Sicilian stone. A marble drapery falling in folds to the sides establishes the customary theatrical arrangement of the memorial, clearly recalling solutions associated with temporary display and scenography, fields in which Russo worked as a decorator.
The identity of the sculptor responsible for the tomb’s construction remains unknown. The central marble carvings, comprising a laurel wreath around the Prince’s portrait, a shell motif above, and volutes and festoons with leaves and fruit to either side, reflect the language of the local Baroque tradition, refined to Rococo taste. Of a different character is the sculptural display, also in white marble and approaching full relief, at the very top of the monument. Here, pomp is displayed through an all’antica repertoire of trophies and insignia, arranged in an apparently dense assemblage around a bust pierced by a mace and surmounted by a helmet shown in profile. The selection of objects is carefully calibrated rather than generic. The ensemble, which includes instruments for study and research, is described in the inventory as follows: ‘there are trophies, banners, shields, lances, arquebuses, sabres, maces, swords, trumpets, axes, books, compasses, set-squares, papers, leadholders, and a globe. On the other side is the royal mantle with the column of its collar, and above it a staff, a sword, and a key with a tassel. There are also further banners with drums and drumsticks; there is also a grenadier’s cap with a trumpet and torch; beside the said bust is a fully worked sword, and beside that the device of the House’ (Inventario 1771, fols. 84v–85r; cf. Attanasio 2011, p. 137). The reference to the Prince’s military strengths and inclinations, as well as his interest in the sciences, is explicit. There is also an allusion to his membership of the knightly Order of San Gennaro, conferred in 1740. One of the guides already cited remarks that ‘the marble trophies’ are ‘executed with such delicacy as to rival nature itself, a result truly worthy of admiration’ (Sarnelli 1772, p. 127). The assemblage of arms and armour has even been seen as reflecting ‘a Mantegnesque taste’ (Crocco and Guarino 1964, p. 49), an implicit reference to a model such as the Triumphs of Caesar.
It is worth noting that, by virtue of the presence of the panoply, there are few eighteenth-century funerary monuments in Naples that can be meaningfully compared with that of Raimondo. One such example is the slightly earlier monument to Nicola di Sangro in the Chapel of the Crucifix in the nearby church of San Domenico Maggiore (Cioffi 1994, p. 69; on this see Michalsky 2008; Saggiomo 2022, with documents attesting to the direction of the work by the architect Luca Vecchione). Another is the late seventeenth-century Brancaccio monument in the nearby church of Sant’Angelo a Nilo, work of the Carrara-born sculptors Pietro and Bartolomeo Ghetti, who arrived from Rome with essentially Berninian ideas.
Visitors and scholars of the Sansevero Chapel are accustomed to observing the half-length portrait of the Prince, painted on copper and now in poor condition, with extensive losses in some areas and others relatively intact. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the portrait has been reliably attributed to Carlo Amalfi. The most accomplished part of Amalfi’s production (he was born in Sorrento in 1707 and probably trained with the late Solimena and the emerging Francesco De Mura before adopting a form of Roman–Neapolitan classicism) is portraiture, whose quality and historical significance stand somewhat below that of Giuseppe Bonito. The attribution, though unsupported by specific payment records, has long been accepted and has been confirmed by more recent studies, such as the Serra di Cassano portrait series (Porzio 2015). The work should be dated close to 1759, or at any rate before 1771. The hypothesis that it corresponds to a painting executed for the Chapel by Nicola Russo in 1745 is untenable (Nappi 2010, p. 98; ibid., p. 118, doc. 369).
Where preserved, the pictorial and chiaroscuro handling allows the mature physiognomy of Raimondo, portrayed from life, to emerge from the background with remarkable naturalism, together with the bent elbow brought forward into the light. The psychological characterisation is equally striking: the reflective and almost worn face of a resolute – but not arrogant – man. Due to these qualities of realism and introspection, Amalfi’s work as a portraitist has been associated with that of Gaspare Traversi (Mostra 1954, p. 42; Picone 1959, pp. 97–99), and the present effigy, despite its damaged condition, remains among his most accomplished works. Conversely, the earlier portrait, also by Amalfi and known through an engraving by Ferdinando Vacca, in which Raimondo appears younger, aspires, through his pose and attributes, to a more courtly manner, in keeping with contemporary international taste. For his own tomb, however, the Prince did not shrink from presenting himself without mediation, relatively free from the constraints of official representation, allowing the remainder of the composition to convey the full resonance of his distinction.
Essential bibliography on the work
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, fols. 84v–85r.
Sarnelli Pompeo, Nuova guida de’ forestieri…, Naples, at the expense of Saverio Rossi, 1772, p. 127.
Sigismondo Giuseppe, Descrizione della città di Napoli e suoi borghi, II, [Naples,] presso i fratelli Terres, 1788, pp. 38–40.
Celano Carlo, Delle notizie del bello, dell’antico e del curioso della città di Napoli per gli signori forastieri… Quarta edizione, in cui si è aggiunto tutto ciò che si è di nuovo fatto in Napoli ne’ nostri tempi…, Giornata Terza, Naples, Salvatore Palermo, 1792, p. 87.
Picone Marina, La Cappella Sansevero, Naples 1959, pp. 97–99.
Mostra del ritratto storico napoletano, exhibition catalogue, Gino Doria and Ferdinando Bologna (eds) (Naples, Palazzo Reale, October – November 1954), Naples 1954, p. 42.
Crocco Augusto and Guarino Mario, La Cappella Sansevero e il suo mecenate, Naples 1964, pp. 48–49.
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. 72.
Colapietra Raffaele, ‘Raimondo di Sangro e il Templum sepulcrale della Cappella Sansevero (II)’, in Napoli nobilissima, ser. III, XXV, 1986b, pp. 142–154, esp. pp. 144–145.
Aiello Immacolata, Carlo Amalfi, pittore del ‘700, Sorrento 1989, pp. 79–81.
de Sangro Oderisio, Raimondo de Sangro e la Cappella Sansevero, Rome 1991, pp. 181–184, no. 13.
Cioffi Rosanna, La Cappella Sansevero. Arte barocca e ideologia massonica, first edition: Salerno 1987; edition cited: Salerno 1994, pp. 68–70, 154–155.
Nappi Eduardo, Dai numeri la verità. Nuovi documenti sulla famiglia, i palazzi e la Cappella dei Sansevero, Naples 2010, pp. 98–99.
Attanasio Sergio, In casa del principe di Sansevero. Architettura, invenzioni, inventari, Naples 2011, pp. 135–137.
Porzio Giuseppe, Carlo Amalfi per i Serra di Cassano. Un contributo alla ritrattistica napoletana del Settecento, exhibition catalogue (Florence, Palazzo Corsini, Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, 26 September – 4 October 2015), Rome, Galleria Carlo Virgilio & C., 2015.
Cioffi Rosanna, ‘Storie e leggende di un principe e della sua cappella. Da Raimondo di Sangro a Benedetto Croce’, in Napoli nobilissima, ser. VII, V, 2019, pp. 36–47, esp. pp. 38–40.
Napoli, la Cappella Sansevero e il Cristo velato. Naples, Sansevero Chapel and the Veiled Christ, texts by Marco Bussagli, photographs by Carlo Vannini, Bologna 2019, pp. 137, 139.
Comparative bibliography
Architetture e prospettive dedicate alla maestà di Carlo Sesto imperador de’ Romani da Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, suo primo ingegner teatrale ed architetto, inventore delle medesime, Augustae, under the direction of Andrea Pfeffel, MDCCXL.
Michalsky Tanja, ‘The Local Eye: Formal and Social Distinctions in Late Quattrocento Neapolitan Tombs’, in Art History, XXXI, 2008, 4, pp. 484–504, esp. pp. 489–492.
Nappi Eduardo, Dai numeri la verità. Nuovi documenti sulla famiglia, i palazzi e la Cappella dei Sansevero, Naples 2010, pp. 98, 118, 125–126, docs. 369, 392–395.
Attanasio Sergio, In casa del principe di Sansevero. Architettura, invenzioni, inventari, Naples 2011, pp. 28–37.
Porzio Giuseppe, Carlo Amalfi per i Serra di Cassano. Un contributo alla ritrattistica napoletana del Settecento, exhibition catalogue (Florence, Palazzo Corsini, Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, 26 September – 4 October 2015), Rome, Galleria Carlo Virgilio & C., 2015.
Raimondo di Sangro. Cronaca di vita e opere, Fabrizio Masucci and Leen Spruit (eds), Naples 2020, pp. 215, 255.
Saggiomo Mariano, ‘Due aggiunte al catalogo di Francesco Liani ritrattista’, in Paragone. Arte, LXXIII, 2022, 871–873, pp. 43–67, esp. pp. 57–59.
DOI: 10.82049/CATALOGO24