Description
The Oratory of the Rosary of San Domenico is a 17th-century prayer hall in Palermo, on Via dei Bambinai, near the Vucciria and next to the church of San Domenico. It holds an altarpiece by Van Dyck and the stuccoes of Giacomo Serpotta, and its beauty has led an art historian to speak of the Rococo.
The piece of honor is the Madonna of the Rosary by Anthony van Dyck, on the altar: the Virgin appears with Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena and the patron saints of Palermo, Rosalia included. It was commissioned after the discovery of Saint Rosalia's remains in 1624, while the plague was fading.
Van Dyck, a painter of European fame, was in the city in those days. The Company of the Rosary seized the chance and retired the painting by Mario Minniti. The painter finished the work in Genoa and delivered it around 1627.
Along the walls run the Mysteries of the Rosary, painted by Flemish, Neapolitan and Sicilian artists. On the right wall are the Sorrowful ones, with the Flagellation by Matthias Stomer. On the others, the Joyful ones, including the Dispute among the Doctors and the Pentecost by Pietro Novelli. Novelli also frescoed the vault, with the Coronation of the Virgin.
Above the paintings, around 1714-17 Serpotta made in stucco and high relief episodes from the Apocalypse, including the devil plunging down, cast out of Paradise. It is his way of anticipating, in sculpture, the meaning of the painted Mysteries.
In the niches, the stucco Virtues wear lace and drapery in the French fashion. The most famous is Meekness: she holds a dove and a putto dressed as a little friar holds out his hand to her. Then there are Charity, Humility, Peace, Purity, Patience, Fortitude and Obedience.
Above the altar dome, winged putti hold up a drape, while ladies and gentlemen lean out from a balustrade. For Rudolf Wittkower perhaps nowhere else in Italy has sculpture come so close to the spirit of the Rococo.
Around the hall run the confraternity members' stalls, supported by brackets carved with animal subjects from the last years of the 17th century. On the counter-façade are the Resurrection, attributed to Valerio Castello, and the Assumption by Luca Giordano.
The piece of honor is the Madonna of the Rosary by Anthony van Dyck, on the altar: the Virgin appears with Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena and the patron saints of Palermo, Rosalia included. It was commissioned after the discovery of Saint Rosalia's remains in 1624, while the plague was fading.
Van Dyck, a painter of European fame, was in the city in those days. The Company of the Rosary seized the chance and retired the painting by Mario Minniti. The painter finished the work in Genoa and delivered it around 1627.
Along the walls run the Mysteries of the Rosary, painted by Flemish, Neapolitan and Sicilian artists. On the right wall are the Sorrowful ones, with the Flagellation by Matthias Stomer. On the others, the Joyful ones, including the Dispute among the Doctors and the Pentecost by Pietro Novelli. Novelli also frescoed the vault, with the Coronation of the Virgin.
Above the paintings, around 1714-17 Serpotta made in stucco and high relief episodes from the Apocalypse, including the devil plunging down, cast out of Paradise. It is his way of anticipating, in sculpture, the meaning of the painted Mysteries.
In the niches, the stucco Virtues wear lace and drapery in the French fashion. The most famous is Meekness: she holds a dove and a putto dressed as a little friar holds out his hand to her. Then there are Charity, Humility, Peace, Purity, Patience, Fortitude and Obedience.
Above the altar dome, winged putti hold up a drape, while ladies and gentlemen lean out from a balustrade. For Rudolf Wittkower perhaps nowhere else in Italy has sculpture come so close to the spirit of the Rococo.
Around the hall run the confraternity members' stalls, supported by brackets carved with animal subjects from the last years of the 17th century. On the counter-façade are the Resurrection, attributed to Valerio Castello, and the Assumption by Luca Giordano.