Sant’Angelo a Nilo.
The beautiful church of Sant’Angelo a Nilo is dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel. The “a Nilo” part of the name refers to a reclining statue of the river god Nile that is said to have been made in Antiquity for Egyptian merchants from Alexandria. The statue was rediscovered in the fifteenth century, but unfortunately the head was gone. Two centuries later the missing head was replaced with a modern replica. If you want to see the statue, follow the Piazzetta Nilo until you reach a little square called the Largo Corpo di Napoli. The square is named after the alternative name of the statue, “Body of Naples”. This name derives from the fact that the putti next to the Nile were erroneously identified as suckling infants (which is understandable, as the statue was headless). They are in fact personifications of the different branches of the Nile, but the name “Body of Naples” has stuck until the present day.
History
The Sant’Angelo a Nilo was built as a family chapel by cardinal Rainaldo Brancaccio (died 1427). Brancaccio was a scion of an ancient and influential aristocratic family. We have previously met cardinal Landolfo Brancaccio (died 1312), who fitted out a chapel in the San Domenico Maggiore, just opposite the Sant’Angelo a Nilo. Rainaldo Brancaccio had been created a cardinal in 1384, with Santi Vito e Modesto as his title church. The next year he started the construction of the Sant’Angelo, where he would find his final resting place, just like many other members of the Brancaccio family. In the Via Mezzocannone, which starts at the church, we still find the Brancaccio family palazzo. In 1690 the first public library of Naples was opened in this palazzo, the Biblioteca Brancacciana.
Interior of the church.
Over the course of the centuries the Sant’Angelo a Nilo was remodelled and enlarged, turning the chapel into a proper church. Of great importance were the renovations initiated in 1709 under the direction of the Baroque architect Arcangelo Guglielmelli (1648-1723). Cardinal Rainaldo Brancaccio would probably no longer recognise his own creation. The church nowadays has a striking exterior in orange, grey and off-white. Only the side portal of the building, which serves as the main entrance, is an original fourteenth-century element. As is the case with so many other buildings in Naples, the exterior of the Sant’Angelo is defaced by graffiti. The church has a single nave and its interior is dominated by the colour white. The only thing that breaks the monotony is the altarpiece with Saint Michael, signed by the painter Marco Pino (1521-1583) and dated 1573.
Funerary monuments
As was already mentioned, many members of the Brancaccio family were buried in this church. To the left of the high altar we find the double funerary monument of cardinals Francesco Maria (1592-1675) and Stefano Brancaccio (1618-1682), an uncle and nephew. What is remarkable is that the monument was made by two brothers, the sculptors Pietro and Bartolomeo Ghetti, who were originally from Carrara in Tuscany. A much more famous funerary monument can be found in the chapel on the right side of the church: the tomb of cardinal Rainaldo Brancaccio himself. This tomb is generally considered to be one of the first Renaissance works in Naples. The work was a coproduction by Michelozzo (1396-1472) and Donatello (1386-1466), sculpted between 1426 and 1428. At about the same time the two men collaborated on the tomb of Antipope John XXIII in the Baptistery of Florence (ca. 1422-1428).
Tomb of cardinal Rainaldo Brancaccio by Michelozzo and Donatello.
Michelozzo and Donatello did not have to travel all the way to Naples to sculpt the tomb of the cardinal. Their job was much easier than that of fresco painters, who for obvious reasons always had to work in situ. In this case the two artists made the various elements of the tomb in Pisa. The elements were then loaded onto a ship and taken to Naples by sea. Once there, the monument was assembled and set up in the chapel. Unfortunately Rainaldo Brancaccio did not live long enough to admire his own tomb. According to the inscription on the object he had passed away on 27 March 1427. If you look closely, you will notice a second, far less impressive funerary monument, against the left wall. This is the tomb of Pietro Brancaccio, a work by the sculptor Jacopo della Pila from Milan.
The tomb of cardinal Rainaldo Brancaccio is made of white Carrara marble, which has partly been painted and gilded. The monument is a vertical construction. At the top we see a tondo with Christ giving his blessing, flanked by two angels blowing on trumpets. Down one level the Madonna and Child have been depicted in a lunette, flanked by Saint John the Baptist (on the left, pointing at the child) and Saint Michael the Archangel (right, with a sword). Below the lunette two angels are holding a sculpted curtain. They are looking at the effigy of the cardinal, who is lying in state on his deathbed. Below the cardinal the Assumption of the Virgin is sculpted in rilievo stiacciato, shallow relief. To the left and right of the Assumption we see the Brancaccio family coat of arms with the red cardinal’s hat. Three caryatids support the tomb. As they are three women, it is likely they are the three Virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity.
My Capitool travel guide for Naples (2018 edition, p. 73) served as a base for this post. The Sant’Angelo a Nilo has many information panels with detailed information about the church.