Scenes from the Life of St Januarius

The exquisite painted decoration of the chapels of the church in the Certosa di San Martino, done both in fresco and in oils, was executed by prominent representatives of the younger Neapolitan school of painting, who were greatly influenced by Caravaggio. Of the works in fresco painting, the most outstanding example is the vault of the San Gennaro chapel, painted by Caracciolo in 1632 with four scenes from the life of the patron saint of Naples. His highly compressed compositions with their wealth of figures and drapery almost threaten to burst through the frames of the relatively small picture panels