The first nucleus of
the Vatican Palaces was built halfway through the 15th
century, after the popes, the Avignonese Captivity at an
end, decided to transfer their residence from the
Lateran to the Vatican. The first residence, of square
design, had a quadrangular central courtyard (the
courtyard of the parrot) to which the other buildings
were slowly added.
The Vatican Museums; which, besides the art gallery,
hold priceless works; were built from the 1700's on,
arranging the papal collections started in the
Renaissance period.
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The Deposition of Christ, painted
between 1602 and 1604was originally housed in the church of
St. Mary in Vallicella, headquarters of the Congregation of
the Oratorio founded by San Filippo Neri. Here, it was
placed on the second altar of the right hand nave, in the
chapel dedicated to the Pieta (where there is, now, a copy
by the Tyrolese painter, Michele Koeck). in relation to the
rest of the still existing decoration of the chapel,
glorifying the Holy Shroud. |
The client of the painting was
Girolamo Vittrici.The foreshortened stone, besides being an
important part of the composition, can be interpreted as "angular
stone'; a metaphor for Christ himself.
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