Description
The Oratory of the Rosary of Santa Cita is a small prayer hall in Palermo, next to the church of Santa Cita, and it holds one of the masterpieces of the sculptor Giacomo Serpotta: a white stucco decoration that fills every wall. Outside it is modest, inside it is a celebration.
Putti climb on the window frames, sleep, cry, peek out from among garlands or turn their backs with an irreverent air. Some clasp their hands around their knees, lost in thought. Angels and putti seem to play among themselves, with expressions and poses of surprising freedom.
The author is Giacomo Serpotta, who decorated the hall between 1686 and 1718. The Company of the Rosary, founded in 1570, wanted to celebrate the Virgin's help to Christians in their struggle against the "infidels," and Serpotta pleased them, in his own way.
On the entrance wall an enormous drape, held up by a joyful crowd of putti, shows the Battle of Lepanto. At the sides two emaciated young men recall the horrors of war.
Along the walls, in small theaters, the Mysteries of the Rosary can be read. The Joyful ones are on the left, the Sorrowful on the right, the Glorious at the back. On the altar is the canvas of the Madonna of the Rosary by Carlo Maratta, from 1695, surrounded by Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Rosalia and others.
At the end, in 1717-18, Serpotta also decorated the altar area and added two statues, Judith and Esther, to set off the painting. Around the hall run the confraternity members' stalls, in ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl. A restoration brought to light on the walls some autograph drawings by Serpotta.
To reach it you climb a flight of steps to a majolica-tiled landing, onto which two late Renaissance marble portals open. Then a wide ante-oratory with portraits of the company's superiors leads to the hall. Across from the oratory stood the Conservatory of Lost Children, an early music school for orphans.
Putti climb on the window frames, sleep, cry, peek out from among garlands or turn their backs with an irreverent air. Some clasp their hands around their knees, lost in thought. Angels and putti seem to play among themselves, with expressions and poses of surprising freedom.
The author is Giacomo Serpotta, who decorated the hall between 1686 and 1718. The Company of the Rosary, founded in 1570, wanted to celebrate the Virgin's help to Christians in their struggle against the "infidels," and Serpotta pleased them, in his own way.
On the entrance wall an enormous drape, held up by a joyful crowd of putti, shows the Battle of Lepanto. At the sides two emaciated young men recall the horrors of war.
Along the walls, in small theaters, the Mysteries of the Rosary can be read. The Joyful ones are on the left, the Sorrowful on the right, the Glorious at the back. On the altar is the canvas of the Madonna of the Rosary by Carlo Maratta, from 1695, surrounded by Saint Dominic, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Rosalia and others.
At the end, in 1717-18, Serpotta also decorated the altar area and added two statues, Judith and Esther, to set off the painting. Around the hall run the confraternity members' stalls, in ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl. A restoration brought to light on the walls some autograph drawings by Serpotta.
To reach it you climb a flight of steps to a majolica-tiled landing, onto which two late Renaissance marble portals open. Then a wide ante-oratory with portraits of the company's superiors leads to the hall. Across from the oratory stood the Conservatory of Lost Children, an early music school for orphans.