The third room of the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, former refectory

As you enter, you can admire the 19th century Pietà between St Francis and Santa Chiara. Placed on the back wall, you can’t miss the fresco of the Last Supper painted in the late 15th and early 16th century. The vault is dominated by 17th century scenes in Mannerist style depicting the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and Jesus in the House of the Pharisee, which are also in line with the purpose of the large room.

Much of the silverware on display comes from the Treasury of the Cathedral of San Panfilo, which, despite the thefts and dispersions it suffered over time, in addition to the valuable 14th century artefacts of Sulmonese origin exhibited in the former inner chapel, still boasts a notable collection of mainly Neapolitan Baroque furnishings. These came to the city’s largest church through bequests and donations made by high-ranking personalities and wealthy families of the local nobility.

Display case no. 2 houses a silver thurible with accompanying incense boat from the parish of Pacentro, signed with the corporate mark of Naples pertaining to the year 1696. Display case no. 3 hosts a ‘sun’ monstrance with a sphere supported by a pair of angels standing side by side, bearing the stamp of the Chamber of Commerce of Naples. In display case no. 9, should be highlighted the presence of a wooden stationary cross with silver foil applications, which can be identified with the wooden altar cross with silver crucifix, title and death recorded in a Cathedral inventory of 1727. Display case no. 7 houses the magnificent silver trunk with two angels in the round and Saints Thomas Aquinas and Catherine of Siena on either side of the small door, with foils authenticated by the stamp NAP 1730. Also this piece was acquired from the Dominican convent. The initials DM, already found on some silverware from Campania and in a 1729 aspergillum belonging to the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Roccaraso, apparently refer to master Domenico Manzone. Display case no. 4 presents one of the monstrances, once again of Neapolitan origin and of fairly good workmanship, from the Monastery of St Catherine. A wheel symbolising the Martyr Saint of Alexandria, engraved on the foot of another chalice dated 1761, still seems to indicate the Sulmonese monastery, while the initials FDG allow us to identify the goldsmith Filippo Del Giudice. Among the various chalices, in display case no. 3 should be highlighted the presence of a specimen with sober and elegant lines offered to the Patron Saint in 1769 by Canon Sebastiano Alicandri, while in display case no. 6, the chalice donated by the D’Emilio family in 1903, crafted in 1866 and marked with the Naples stamp. In display case no. 5, the elegant parade of six candlesticks by an anonymous bidder from 1910 is worthy of note. It bears the ADL stamp of master Angelo De Luca, already known for his work in the areas of Molise and Salerno. In display case no. 6, the two 19th-century chalices with the Partenope stamp are also from the Neapolitan school.

The collection of sacred vestments, which is arranged chronologically, covers a long time span from the 15th to the 19th century. The presence of 18th century works is conspicuous.

The 15th century is characterised by the presence of a green-coloured velvet chasuble from the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rocca Pia. The velvet of this vestment, which is called ‘ad inferriata’, displays the characteristic pomegranate design, mostly popular between 1420 and the first half of the 16th century. The fortune of this decorative type in the religious sphere can be traced back to the preservation of the symbolic meaning of immortality and fertility it had in Eastern religions.

In the back of the showcase with 15th century vestments are displayed a number of manuscripts, including the Missale fratrum minorum: an illuminated 13th century membranous codex on two columns written in Italian Gothic, possibly from the Marche region. It presents two miniatures: the Madonna Enthroned with Child at the top and the Last Supper at the bottom. There are two more illuminated compartments: at the top the Crucifixion and at the bottom the Consecration scene. The literature refers the missal to the first half of the 14th century, but it should instead be traced back to the previous century, namely between 1255, due to the presence of the feast of Santa Chiara, who was canonised in that year, and 1264, due to the absence of the Proprium de Tempore in the Corpus Christi Officium, which was introduced later. The missal from Sulmona is one of the oldest Franciscan codices to have escaped the destruction of the Legendae relating to the figure of Saint Francis, which was established in the Paris Chapter of 1266, following disagreements caused by the reform of the Order by Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.

The paintings displayed in this room are of considerable artistic and historical interest. The 17th century Birth of the Virgin, coming from the Church of San Gaetano, is the only one attributed to Giuseppe Cesari, known as Cavalier d’Arpino. It remained in Sulmona after the altarpiece was stolen from the Church of Santa Maria della Tomba. The painting seems to belong to a phase in which the artist’s style evolved towards a broad and imposing presentation of the figures, thus favouring a composition based on symmetry, centrality and order despite the multiplicity of characters represented.

Continuing along the exhibition route, it is possible to observe the canvas of the Visitation painted by Ignatius Montella in the 18th century, placed next to the 17th century Crucifixion, which was acquired from the Church of San Domenico in Sulmona.

If you proceed you can see the painting of the Madonna and Child with Devotees or dell’Avvocata, a 17th century canvas attributed to the Sulmonese Alessandro Salini, whose hometown preserves some works in the Churches of Santa Chiara and Santissima Annunziata.

Continuing along the itinerary of wall hangings, the 16th century is also present with different fabrics such as brocatelle and damask and is characterised by the dominance of the compositional structure of large oval double-pointed meshes with on the inside amphora motifs bearing flowering racemes, often surmounted by crowns.

The end of the 16th century and the beginning of the next century marked the arrival of new structures and compositional elements, such as the peculiar ‘S’ shaped plant motifs known as ‘truncated clubs’.

The 17th century was characterised by less heavy fabrics with weaves such as satin, damask, gold and silver cloths with liserées and/or brocade decorations. The floral element became increasingly important and was proposed in different ways within ordered compositional structures that at the same time were made dynamic by the changes in orientation. This century also offers embroidered wall hangings, a beautiful example of which is the chasuble in silk embroidered in gilded metal foil from the Cathedral of San Panfilo. This technique was known and executed during the 17th century and skilfully produced by Neapolitan master embroiderers, with a design of flowering branches and fruits.

The 18th century is much more richly documented in all its styles, which made this century the richest in technical and design typologies. The 18th century fabrics in this section are damasks, taffetas, satins, lampas, gros, cannetillè, pékin, with countless decorations of thrown and brocaded weaves made of silk, silver and gold.

The exhibition, which aims to be a synthesis of the most representative values of textile art in the Diocese of Sulmona, concludes with a chasuble that is part of the 19th century revival of the varied Baroque and Rococo typologies, here resolved with grace and gracefulness.