Pope Innocenzo IV Visits Santa Chiara (Nicola Monti)

 

The painting depicts the last of two visits made to the Assisi monastery of San Damiano by Pope Innocent IV to the sick Saint Clare, who would die two days later, on August 11, 1253. Only on the 9th of that month, with the papal bull Solet annuere, had the Pope approved the Rule of the Poor Clares, the order founded by Saint Clare and Saint Francis in 1212, the first Rule written by a woman in the history of the Church. The day after the nun's death, Innocent IV, accompanied by the cardinals and the entire Curia, returned to San Damiano to preside over her funeral. Convinced of Clare's sanctity, on October 18th, with the papal bull Gloriosus Deus, the Pope entrusted Bartolomeo Accoramboni, Bishop of Spoleto, with the initiation of the canonization process, which would be concluded two years later, in 1255, by his successor, Alexander IV.

The presence of the Poor Clares in Ripatransone dates back to the time of Saint Clare: as early as 1256, the Bishop of Fermo granted privileges to the nuns of San Damiano of the local monastery of San Francesco. In the 16th century, the nuns had their own church, which was later rebuilt in the mid-18th century and consecrated in 1754 as part of their convent complex. This painting once hung on the high altar: it depicts Innocent IV, accompanied by a cardinal and a large entourage behind him, approaching and blessing the dying woman. She, stretched out on her bed and attended by a fellow nun, turns her suffering face toward him, while, above, a glory of angels alludes to the heavenly environment that will welcome her.

This large altarpiece is a typical work of the devout poetics of Nicola Antonio Monti, born in Ascoli Piceno in 1738. After an initial apprenticeship with Biagio Miniera, the painter went to Rome in 1755, where he studied under Pompeo Batoni, who introduced him to Raphael and classicist painting. Despite several prestigious commissions, the artist chose to return to his homeland, where he began an intense career in the central and southern Marche region, as well as in Abruzzo and Umbria. Constrained by financial difficulties, he found himself undertaking a large volume of work, sometimes at the expense of quality due to the use of thin oils and inadequate stretchers. This led to the premature deterioration of some of his works, such as this one, which, however, has recently been restored to excellent legibility.