Rebecca Gill, Ax:son Johnson Morgan Fellow at the Centre, recently published a new article on the architect Galeazzo Alessi and his design of the church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano in Genoa. Through an examination of the patronage of the project by the private Sauli family, and the social and religious context in which this church was built, Rebecca demonstrates the ways in which Alessi’s design was truly innovative, particularly in the arrangement of the interior and placement of the high altar and Eucharistic Tabernacle. Alessi is shown to be someone who was very aware of current theological debates surrounding early Catholic Reform and who translated these ideas into architecture, and as such acted as a bridge between the work of two great reforming bishops: Gian Matteo Giberti and Carlo Borromeo.
This research closely relates to Rebecca’s current work at the Centre, which focuses on Galeazzo Alessi and his contribution to Catholic Reformation architecture.
Rebecca M. Gill, ‘Early Experiments in Catholic Reformation Architecture: Galeazzo Alessi and the Church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano, Genoa’, in Howard, Terpstra and Saccenti (eds), Renaissance Religions: Modes and Meanings in History, Europa Sacra, vol. 26, Brepols, pp. 277-299.
