The decoration of the Pauline Chapel: with reference to the works of Giovanni Baglione

The decoration of the Pauline Chapel: with reference to the works of Giovanni Baglione examines the carefully considered role Catholic art played in the doctrinal battle during the later Counter Reformation period of the early seventeenth century. The frame for this discussion is the frescoes Giovanni Baglione contributed to the Pauline Chapel in the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome built by Pope Paul V (1605-1621). Baglione’s frescoes are discussed to challenge the previous labels associated with his artistic style in order to demonstrate how the art of the chapel can be seen as both a symptom of contemporary events, and as the personal chapel can be seen as both a symptom of contemporary events, and as the personal reaction or individual interpretation of those events by one man; the chapel’s creator Paul V. The concepts of art as a symptom and as a reaction are explored by combining a discussion about Baglione’s artistic style, with a discussion about the chapel’s iconography and pictorial programme, in order to reveal how the chapel reflects Pope Paul V’s personal reaction to the theological differences between the Catholic Church and the Protestant reformers at this time.