FANZAGO, Cosimo

Certain of Fanzago’s decorative features are reminiscent of Borromini, the great Roman master.

Cosimo Fanzago was the most important architect of Naples during the seventeenth century. Like Bernini, he was mainly a master builder and sculptor. His capacity for imaginative juxtaposition and development of architectural features was quite extraordinary. He understood how to combine late Mannerist and High Baroque elements as well as strictly classical and picturesque effects.

The plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca is a true Greek cross and departs altogether from the more traditional plans of Fanzago’s other churches. The plan of this, Fanzago’s finest church, so closed to that of Sant’Agnese in Rome, that a connection must be assumed. In addition, the design of the dome seems to be derived from Bernini’s Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and the convex portico from other Roman models.

The photo shows the fa�ade of the church.

View the section and ground plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, Naples.

Although by training a sculptor and mainly active as an architect, Cosimo Fanzago’s most lasting achievement was probably in the field of semi-decorative art, such as his fountains and pulpits, his splendid bronze gates in San Martino and the Cappella del Tesoro, and his many polychrome altars, where he wedded flourishing sculptural ornament to inlaid marble work.

Cosimo Fanzago was the most important architect of Naples during the seventeenth century. Like Bernini, he was mainly a master builder and sculptor. His capacity for imaginative juxtaposition and development of architectural features was quite extraordinary. He understood how to combine late Mannerist and High Baroque elements as well as strictly classical and picturesque effects.

The plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca is a true Greek cross and departs altogether from the more traditional plans of Fanzago’s other churches. The plan of this, Fanzago’s finest church, so closed to that of Sant’Agnese in Rome, that a connection must be assumed. In addition, the design of the dome seems to be derived from Bernini’s Sant’Andrea al Quirinale and the convex portico from other Roman models.

In the interior, the extreme economy in detail and the emphasis laid on structural parts by painting them slightly off-white (polychromy is reserved for the high altar) help to produce an imposing effect of simplicity, which is entirely un-Roman.

View the section and ground plan of Santa Maria Egiziaca a Pizzofalcone, Naples.

Earlier than any other Italian city, Naples assimilated Roman High Baroque sculpture through the activity of Giuliano Finelli; and in the Lombard Cosimo Fanzago Naples had an autonomous Baroque sculptor. However, the versatile Fanzago was capable of using side by side two idioms which would seem mutually exclusive: Tuscan Renaissance and Roman Baroque. The figure of Jeremiah with its masses of brittle folds, its luminous surface, and strong contrapposto movement is a characteristic Roman statue.

For thirty years Fanzago worked on the decoration of the Certosadi San Martino (Carthusian monastery), where he produced his most highly wrought works.

Seventeenth-century architecture in Naples, under her Spanish rulers with their native love for the plataresque, witnessed the rise of a decorative style of dazzling richness and most intense polychromy produced by inlaid coloured marbles. However, Cosimo Fanzago’s large cloisters of the Certosa di San Martino are close to Florentine architecture, the elegant arcades would not be out of place in fifteenth-century Florence.

Seventeenth-century architecture in Naples, under her Spanish rulers with their native love for the plataresque, witnessed the rise of a decorative style of dazzling richness and most intense polychromy produced by inlaid coloured marbles. However, Cosimo Fanzago’s large cloisters of the Certosa di San Martino are close to Florentine architecture, the elegant arcades would not be out of place in fifteenth-century Florence.

Seventeenth-century architecture in Naples, under her Spanish rulers with their native love for the plataresque, witnessed the rise of a decorative style of dazzling richness and most intense polychromy produced by inlaid coloured marbles. However, Cosimo Fanzago’s large cloisters of the Certosa di San Martino are close to Florentine architecture, the elegant arcades would not be out of place in fifteenth-century Florence.

The Lay Brothers’ Choir in the Certosa was used by the unconsecrated members of the community who provided the physical labour required for housekeeping. Its sumptuous decoration makes it one of the more outstanding of the charterhouse’s common spaces. Striking accents of this room are the frescoes by Domenico Gargiulo covering all the walls with small-figure picture panels and the elegant choir stool made by Francesco d’Arezzo. Contributing to the harmonious impression of the overall space is the stucco decor in muted colours, like the richly adorned lavabo, harkens back to Cosimo Fanzago. It was Fanzago who was also responsible for the architectural arrangement of the space, which simulates a partially open loggia whose imaginary openings are hung with tapestries.

The fresco cycle, complex in its subject matter, is dominated by Old Testament scenes supplemented by small-format events from the New Testament. The six sham tapestries above the choir stool present scenes devoted to specific lay brothers or the role of the lay brothers in the community.