The Herrera Chapel Exhibit

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Photo courtesy of Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya

In the first years of the 17th century, the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci made a commitment with the noble Spanish banker Juan Enríquez de Herrera to paint a fresco in the chapel of his family, founded by Diego de Herrera, in the church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Rome. The artist conceived the whole work, dedicated to the Franciscan saint Saint Didacus of Alcalà, and began the design of all the preparatory panels. Due to an illness, from 1605 onward the project had to be delegated to Francesco Albani.

During the decade of the 1830s, the frescoes were taken down and transferred to canvas, and shortly afterwards were sent to Spain.  Seven of the fragments were deposited in the Museo del Prado and the other nine, the ones that can currently be seen in the Museu Nacional, in the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi. The location of the other three fragments that would make up the whole work is unknown, even though at that time it seems that they were deposited in the church of Santa Maria de Montserrato, in Rome.

The exhibition will be completed with a selection of drawings attributed to Carracci or to his studio, which came from the Acadèmia de Sant Jordi and from Europe, and the altar table from Santa Maria de Montserrato, another work by Carracci and his disciples.

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