Basso Della Rovere Chapel (Santa Maria del Popolo)
Coordinates: 41°54′41.02″N 12°28′35.29″E / 41.9113944°N 12.4764694°E
The Basso Della Rovere or Saint Augustine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Basso Della Rovere or Cappella di Sant'Agostino) is located in the south aisle of the basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. This is the third side chapel from the counterfaçade and was dedicated to St. Augustine. The cycle of beautiful quattrocento frescoes was executed by Pinturicchio and his workshop.
The chapel was built by Bishop Girolamo Basso della Rovere after his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV had started the total reconstruction of the basilica from 1471 to 1484. The architecture shows a certain Lombard influence and it is attributed to Andrea Bregno. The painted decoration is attributed to Pinturicchio and his workshop, who worked here in an unspecified period between 1484, when the chapel was fitted, and 1492, when his patron received the bishopric of Palestrina instead of that of Recanati, which is mentioned in the dedicatory inscription on the monument of his father, Giovanni Basso.
Compared to the nearby Chapel of the Nativity, frescoed by the same Pinturicchio, the Basso Della Rovere Chapel has a greater decorative fervour. The small chapel is hexagonal with a sexpartite ribbed vault and the entrance is protected by a slim balustrade. Fake porphyry columns with Corinthian capitals support an entablature of white and gilded marble. They are placed on a pedestal which is decorated with painted benches and illusionistic monochrome reliefs. Two books were painted on one of the benches in perfect perspective, deceiving the viewer. The pedestal has remarkable similarities to the inlays of the small study of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro originally at Gubbio but now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The panels of the vault are covered by a lush floral decoration on a golden background with images of prophets in medaillons.
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