Restoration of Carlo Maratti’s painting in the Altieri Chapel

The Associazione Mecenati Roman Heritage Onlus has supported the restoration intervention on the precious painting by Carlo Maratta titled “Saint Peter Presents to the Virgin the Five Saints Canonized by Clement X Altieri”.

The work, of great historical and artistic value, is located inside the evocative Altieri Chapel in the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. The painting celebrates the five saints canonized by Pope Clement X Altieri: Luis Beltrán, Rose of Lima, Francis Borgia, Gaetano da Thiene and Filippo Benizi.

The project, promoted and entirely supported by our association, is part of the broader commitment to protecting and enhancing the artistic and cultural heritage of the city of Rome, through concrete and targeted interventions on works of exceptional historical relevance.

The restoration was carried out by Merlini Storti Restauri.

The restoration represents a further step in the process of recovering and enhancing the artistic testimonies preserved in Rome’s monumental churches, in line with the mission that has guided Mecenati Roman Heritage since its foundation.

The cost for the restoration of the painting was of 31,700 euro, entirely supported with Association funds.

Commissioned by Pope Clement X Altieri, Carlo Maratti's painting commemorates the canonization of the five saints in 1671. According to Giovanni Pietro Bellori's biography of the artist, after canonizing the five saints on 12 April 1671, Clement X Altieri commissioned Maratti to paint the altarpiece depicting them being led by Saint Peter toward the Virgin Mary in Heaven.

The altarpiece was installed as early as 1672 in the Altieri family chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the second chapel to the right of the presbytery. Dominican chronicles record that on 26 April 1674 the painting was the target of a serious act of vandalism. It is believed that the damaged work was restored by Maratti himself a few years later.

The painting is currently in poor condition. The surface exhibits significant opalescence caused by the deterioration of old varnishes and/or altered fixatives, which obscure the original chromatic values and diminish the perception of the scene's spatial depth. The paint layer appears uneven and degraded, while the original colours have been compromised by a general darkening that reduces the legibility of the composition's perspectival planes and volumetric forms. The accumulation of successive layers of varnishes and fixatives over time has also contributed to the development of oxidation and opalescent areas across the surface. A preliminary visual inspection carried out from a distance revealed no obvious problems with the canvas's planarity or the tension of its support. However, several unusual depressions are clearly visible across the surface, most likely attributable to the historic act of vandalism in 1674, traces of which previous, undocumented restoration campaigns may have intentionally chosen to preserve as evidence of the painting's history.