The Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso is easily overlooked by visitors to Rome. Although one side of it faces the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, it blends into the generality of monumental facades lining that busy thoroughfare. There is an inconspicuous entrance on the Corso side but its main entrance is accessed through the courtyard of the massive palazzo in the actual structure of which the church is incorporated. This is the Palazzo della Cancelleria, or Palace of the Chancellery.1 The Church has an interesting history, having been originally built by Pope Damasus I (bishop of Rome from 366 to 384), on the site of a pagan temple. In the sixteenth century it was demolished and rebuilt, and then between 1638 and 1640 subjected to extensive interior modifications. As one of the minor basilicas of Rome it is considered to be of both historical and architectural importance, as well as enjoying a close relationship with the See of Rome to which it belongs and through which it has the status of extraterritoriality.
The elegant interior, wide, spacious and richly decorated, is the result of extensive restoration work following a fire in 1939. On entering San Lorenzo, the visitor’s attention is soon caught by a monument depicting a motioning skeleton holding a portrait of Alessandro Valtrini, Private Chamberlain of Pope Urban VIII. This funerary monument was designed by Bernini and executed by his workshop in 1639. It was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII. Another arresting monument can be seen in the south aisle of the nave. Less flamboyant than the Valtrini, it too was commissioned by the same Cardinal. A small brass plaque identifies it generically as belonging to the “scuola Berniniana.”2 Instead of a skeleton, however, a cherub can be seen holding up a medallion-shaped portrait in marble of the deceased. The lower part of the monument bears the following inscription:
D. O. M.
GEORGIO CONAEO SCOTO ABERDONENSI
PATRICII DOMINI DE ACHRY EX ANTIQVA MAGDONALDI FAMILIA ET ISABELLAE CHYN EX BARONIBVS DE ESSELMONT FILIO QVI INTER CONTERRANEOS ELOQVENTIA ET DOCTRINA DVACI ET ROMAE HAVSTIS LIBRISQUE EDITIS IMMORTALITATI SE COMMENDAVIT. PRVDENTIA VERO ET AGENDI DEXTERITATE SVMMORUM PRINCIPVM AC PRAESERTIM CARDINALIS BARBERINI IN CVIVS AVLA DIV VIXIT CVIVSQVE LEGATIONES GALLICANAM HISPANICAMQVE SECVTUS EST BENEVOLENTIAM PROMERVIT. QVEM
VRBANVS VIII PONTIFEX
INGENIORVM MAXIMVS EXISTIMATOR QVANTI FECERIT ET AD MAGNAE BRITTANIAE REGINAM HENRICHETTAM IN CATHOLICORVM SOLAMEN ALLEGATIONE ET INGENTI IN IPSIVS MORTE QVAE NE IN EDITIORI LOCO POSITVS CLARIVS ELVCESCERET VETVERAT MOERORE TESTATVS EST.
OBIIT DIE X IANVARII AN MDCXL IN AEDIBVS VICECANCELLARII QVI AMICO FVNVS AMPLISSIMVM IN HAC BASILICA
FACIENDVM CVRAVIT ET MONVMENTUM P.
D.O.M.
To: George Con Scotus of Aberdeen,
son of Patrick, Laird of Auchry,3 of the ancient family of MacDonald, and of Isabella Chyn,4 of the barons of Esselmont, who amongst his fellow-countrymen commended himself to immortality by his eloquence and learning imbibed at Douay and Rome, and by his published books. Indeed, by his wisdom and astuteness in negotiation he earned the benevolence of the highest princes and especially of Cardinal Barberini in whose court he lived for a long time and whose missions to France and Spain he accompanied. How greatly Pope Urban VIII, a great judge of the talented, esteemed him is shown both by his dispatching him to Henrietta, Queen of Great Britain as a consolation of the Catholics and by his great grief at his death, a death which prevented him from being placed in a higher position and shining forth even more brightly. He died on the 10th day of January in the year 1640 in the house of the Vice Chancellor5 who for his friend organised a most splendid funeral in this basilica and set up this monument.
And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it.6
Figure 1
Detail of the monument to Alessandro Valtrini in San Lorenzo in Damaso (1639)
Photograph by the author
Figure 2
The monument to George Con in Basilica Minore di San Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome by Ottoni and Giorgetti (1678). Epitaph to Giorgio Coneo by Cardinal Francesco Barberini
Photographs by author
The Palazzo della Cancelleria was the residence of the Vice Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, an important office of the Curia at the service of the Pope, held by a Cardinal who was automatically priest of the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso. Cardinal Francesco Barberini held this post from 1632 to 1679.
More precisely, the portrait medallion was sculpted by Lorenzo Ottoni, and the rest of the monument in collaboration with Giuseppe Giorgetti (1678). About the same time, Ottoni sculpted a fine bust of the octogenarian Francesco Barberini (see Fig. 5, 59). Both sculptors worked extensively for the Barberini. See Montagu, Jennifer. Antonio and Gioseppe Giorgetti: Sculptors to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. The Art Bulletin, 52, no. 3 (1970): 278–298.
The Castle of Auchry was the seat of the Con family. Aberdeenshire Historic Environment Record (HER) – NJ75SE0007 – CASTLE OF AUCHRY. According to HER. it was described in 1721 as “a ruinous old castle.”
In other documentation she appears as Margaret. See Birth Brieves from the Registers of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1637–1705, 334, in The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, Vol. 5. Aberdeen 1852.
Cardinal Francesco Barberini.
John.1.5. DR (Douay-Rheims).