Bufalini Chapel

Bufalini Chapel
View of the chapel
41°53′37.57″N 12°28′58.46″E / 41.8937694°N 12.4829056°E / 41.8937694; 12.4829056Coordinates: 41°53′37.57″N 12°28′58.46″E / 41.8937694°N 12.4829056°E / 41.8937694; 12.4829056
Location	Rome, Italy
History
Founded	1484
Architecture
Architectural type	Chapel
Completed	1486

The Bufalini Chapel is a side chapel of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, Italy. The first chapel on the right after the entrance, it houses a cycle of frescoes executed c. 1484-1486 by Pinturicchio depicting the life of the Franciscan friar St. Bernardino of Siena, sainted in 1450.

The chapel was commissioned by Niccolò dei Bufalini (~1450 - 1506) for his mortuary chapel in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Bufalini was a prelate, citizen of Città di Castello, who worked as abbreviator di parco maggiore and consistorial lawyer in Rome. His family coat of arms (a bull with a flower) appears widely in the chapel. Several important painters, including Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and Pinturicchio, had finished the wall decoration of the Sistine Chapel (1482), and had returned to their hometowns, with the exception of Pinturicchio, who had formed a workshop including some of the collaborators in that work. Pinturicchio, who had been so far outshone by Perugino's fame, could exploit his presence in Rome to obtain the commission of his first great work, the Bufalini Chapel, also favored by the common origin with Riccomanno Bufalini. The painter had already executed at least one work for the latter's family, a Madonna now in the Municipal Gallery of Città di Castello (c. 1480).

No documents about the works' execution exist, but they are generally dated to around 1484-1486. The frescoes suffered some damage and repainting, and were subsequently restored in 1955-1956 and 1981-1982.

The chapel has a rectangular plan, with a cross-vault and a pavement decorated by Cosmatesque mosaics. The frescoes occupy three walls and the vault, and portray the life and miracles of Bernardino of Siena, a Franciscan Friar recently canonized. The church was in fact held by this monastic order at the time, and the frescoes also include two scenes of St. Francis of Assisi's life. The Bufalini family had strong ties with Bernardino, since the latter had resolved disputes between them and the Baglioni and Del Monte families.