The Dome of the Pauline Chapel

religious

Numerous artists, such as for example the Giuseppe Cesari (Cavaliere d'Arpino), author of the lunette above the altar and the pendentives of the dome, and Guido Reni, who painted the vaults, contributed to the embellishment of the Pauline Chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore, which in opulence and splendour was meant to exceed every other decoration of the basilica's interior.

Loading map…

About the Artist

Giuseppe Cesari

1568 – 1640

Italian Mannerist painter, also known as Cavaliere d'Arpino, active mainly in Rome. He had an enormous reputation in the first two decades of the 17th century, when he gained some of the most prestigious commissions of the day, most notably the designing of the mosaics for the dome of St Peter's (1603-12). Although some of his early work is vigorous and colourful, his output is generally repetious and vacuous, untouched by the innovations of Caravaggio (who was briefly his assistant) or the Carracci. He was primarily a fresco painter, but he also did numerous cabinet pictures of religious or mythological scenes in a finicky Flemish manner.

View all works →