San Simone del Carmine

(1377, much re-modelled)


A church on this site that was dedicated to SS Simon and Jude (SS Simone e Guida) was documented as a parish church in 1285.  In 1296, the Bishop of Perugia gave the church to a community of Carmelites, who moved here from their earlier settlement at Santa Maria della Valle (see Walk II).  They re-dedicated the church to St Simon Stock, [the Englishman who had been their Minister General in the period 1247-65], and rebuilt the adjacent convent in Via Abruzzo to the right. 

The Carmelites rebuilt the church in 1377 using stone from the demolished fortress at Porta Sant’ Antonio (part of the Fortezza di Porta Sole). 

Although the church was re-modelled in 1571, 1636, 1746 and 1852, much of the original exterior survives, as can be seen from the exposed right wall in Via Abruzzo. 






The Carmelites were expelled in 1860:

  • The convent, which extends along Via Abruzzo and behind it along Via XIV Settembre, re-opened as l’Asilo della Santa Croce, the first kindergarten in Umbria, in 1861, on the first anniversary of the liberation of the city from papal forces.  The frescoes (17th century) in the ex-convent have been recently restored.  [Are they accessible ??  The entrance is in Via XIV Settembre.]

  • The church [now belongs to the Knights of San Sepolcro di Gerusalemme] and is usually closed.

Interior

The interior was transformed in 1854-6, when a fresco cycle (ca. 1630) by Anton Maria Fabrizi was destroyed.  Some of the work that he did at this time in the convent survives, including:

  • a fine Baptism of Christ (1630) on the ceiling of what was the Stanza del Vice Priore; and
  • five lunettes depicting scenes from the life of the prophet Elijah in what was the refectory.

Gonfalon (15th century)

This damaged and much-repainted banner, which is attributed to Benedetto Bonfigli, was first recorded in 1648 on the altar of the Madonna del Carmine.  It was recorded in its present location, on the back wall of the apse, in 1822, along with the information that it was taken in procession every five years on the feast of the Madonna del Carmine (16th July).  A date of 1109 on a wooden plaque under the banner  was for a period accepted as the date of execution of the banner, but this can be discounted.

The banner depicts the Madonna and Child with angels.  The Madonna is seated on a cushion in a meadow and wears  cloak decorated with pomegranites, while the baby Jesus holds a finch.  The group of Carmelite friars to the right is led by three figures that have been identified as:

  • St Albert of Jerusalem, the Patriarch of Jerusalem who was claimed to have given the Carmelites their rule shortly before his death in 1214;

  • Pope Innocent III;  and

  • the Emperor Henry VI. 

This choice of characters was probably motivated by an attempt to prove that the Carmelite Order was the oldest of the mendicant orders.

Works Removed from the Church

Triptych (ca. 1365)

The damaged triptych by Bartolo di Fredi was first documented in 1810, when it was in San Simone del Carmine.  The inclusion of the prophet Elijah suggests that the work was commissioned for the church.  (Elijah was regarded as the founder of the Carmelites, and his representation here as a saint wearing the Carmelite habit followed the precedent of the important polyptych (1329) that Pietro Lorenzetti had painted for the Carmelites of Siena).  It is now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 4).

The Perugia triptych is usually dated to the 1360s on stylistic grounds, although it might have been commissioned after the rebuilding of the church in 1377.  There is no record of the artist’s presence in Perugia, and it could have been painted in Siena.

Madonna dell’ Orchestra (15th century)

This small altarpiece, which is attributed to Giovanni Boccati, has been dated on stylistic grounds to the 1450s.  It was documented in 1822 in the Oratorio della Compagnia del Santissimo Sacramento in the convent.  However, this cannot have been its original location since the company was formed only in ca. 1575, and it was probably originally in the church.  The Compagnia del Santissimo Sacramento sold it to the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1856 and it is now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 9).

Holy Family (1520)

This panel, which is dated by inscription and attributed to Pompeo d' Anselmo and Domenico Alfani, came from the high altar of San Simone dei Carmine.  The design of the central figure group is taken from a sketch (ca. 1507) that Raphael sent to Domenico Alfani that is now in the Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille. 

The panel was removed from the altar in 1813 for dispatch to Rome (probably because it was then attributed to Perugino).   However, it was subsequently decided that it should stay in the church, and it was re-installed early in the following year.  It entered the Galleria Nazionale in 1863 and is now in the deposit there.


Return to Walk VI.