#sansevero chapel

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Find more great places to visit here and nearby with our list of the top tourist attractions in Naples.

Find more great places to visit here and nearby with our list of the top tourist attractions in Naples.

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The Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1753

Giuseppe Sanmartino, The Veiled Christ, 1753, Sansevero Chapel

In the nave of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples is the Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino. This is a sculpture of Jesus after his crucifixion, lying on his back, covered with a thin shroud edged with intricate embroidery. The shroud, although carved from the same marble slab as the statue is so transparent and thin, you can make out the tiniest details in the sculpture such as the nail holes in his feet and hands, his ribs, a swollen vein in his forehead, and his facial expression. Some claim that the shroud was created from alchemy.

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Veiled Truth (also called Modesty or Chastity) (1750) by Antonio Corradini in Sansevero Chapel Museum, Naples.

Photographs by Atlante dell’arte itliana.

“Veiled truth” is one of the masterpieces of Venetian sculptor Antonio Corradini (1688-1752), which he created for Naple’s Cappella Sansevero (formally known as Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà, and nicknamed by the locals  “Pietatella”).

The iconography of the chapel, located near Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, stemmed from the exoteric fancy of Raimondo di Sangro (1710-1771), an alchemist, freemason and intellectual of the Age of Enlightenment.

The nobleman’s plan was to renovate a church from the early 17th century into his family’s burial chapel, to celebrate the valor, virtue, and aristocratic standing of his stock. Moreover, he used the sacred building to convey his secret message, sparking a wide range of interpretations.

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Cristo velato (The Veiled Christ, 1753) by Giuseppe Sanmartino in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples.

Even Antonio Canova expressed his admiration for this masterpiece, saying he wished it had been his creation. With his words, the “new Phidias” paid a great compliment to the humble “stone cutter” Sanmartino, who had been entrusted with the project only as second choice, after the death of artist Antonio Corradini.

Sanmartino envisioned a lifeless Jesus, enshrouded in a fine fabric. He was able to “find” that image inside a block of marble, discovering its beauty with what Michelangelo called “a hand that obeys the intellect”.

The great writer Matilde Serao caught “a glimpse of a smile, an indefinite hope” on the lips of Sanmartino’s Christ. She commented the work saying, “pain, it’s true, has passed from the body to the soul; the soul is saddened, but not desperate nor desolate. The soul has been given gall to drink, but has had a taste of consolation. The whole figure of Christ expresses the highest pain, but also the highest hope”, in such a way that “the only thing the faithful can do is fall to the ground weeping his death, and cover his feet with tears and kisses”.

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The Sansevero Chapel Museum in the historic heart of Naples is a jewel of the world’s artistic heritage. Here, baroque creativity, dynastic pride, beauty and mystery blend to create a unique and almost timeless atmosphere.

With its masterpieces such as the famous Veiled Christ, renowned world over for the remarkable tissue-like quality of the marble, feats of virtuosity such as Disillusion, and enigmatic creations such as the Anatomical Machines, the Sansevero Chapel is one of the most impressive monuments that the human mind has ever conceived.

A noble mausoleum, a temple of initiation, which admirably reflects the multi-faceted personality of its ingenious architect, Raimondo di Sangro, seventh Prince of Sansevero.

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Don’t touch: Surface Value? Pennacchio Argentato, May Hands and the Sansevero Chapel in Naples