Duomo

Cappella di San Bernardino

The dedication to St Bernardino of Sienna was switched to this chapel at the corner of the right wall and counter-facade from what is now the Cappella del Sant' Anello opposite in 1486.  The Collegio della Mercanzia acquired the chapel in 1515, and their arms can be seen in the iron grill that encloses it. 

The College embarked on a major programme of redecoration in 1559:

• Hendrik van den Broeck (Arrigo Fiammingo da Malines) designed the scene of San Bernardino preaching for the stained glass window in 1565, which was restored by Francesco Moretti in 1863.

• Ludovico Scalza seems to have executed a new stucco altar (1567) that replaced Agostino di Duccio's Altare di San Bernardino.  (The earlier altar had been moved here from the Cappella del Sant' Anello in 1486).   The new altar provided the original setting for Federico Barocci's altarpiece (1569) depicting the Descent from the Cross (see below).

Descent from the Cross (1569)

The Collegio della Mercanzia commissioned this magnificent altarpiece by Federico Barocci.  Napoleon's commissioner, Jacques-Pierre Tinet selected it for confiscation  in 1797, and it was sent to Paris.  Antonio Canova recovered it in 1815 and it was returned to its original location.

In the upper part, Joseph of Arimathea and others struggle to remove the dead Christ from the Cross, while the Virgin swoons into the arms of her ladies below.  The composition reflects the promptings of the Council of Trent that religious paintings should be realistic and express emotion so that they both inform the viewer and move him or her to devotion.

Works of Art Removed from the Chapel

Altare di San Bernardino (1567)

As noted above, the College commissioned this stucco altar, probably from Ludovico Scalza, to replace Agostino di Duccio's earlier Altare di San Bernardino.  Vincenzo Danti sculpted the 13 marble figures that adorned it.

This altar was destroyed in 1797, and is now known only from a drawing (1793) that still belongs to the Collegio della Mercanzia.  Two fragments attributed to Vincenzo Danti (a mutilated head of the Risen Christ and the head of a bearded man) in the Museo Capitolare (Room 20) might have come from the decoration of this altar.  (The Museum also attributes a small head of the Virgin and three tiny cherubs to this altar, although there are no comparable figure shown on the drawing.)

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