- Sant'Agostino
:"For the Italian city, see
Sant'Agostino, Ferrara ".Sant'Agostino is a church inRome , not far fromPiazza Navona . It is one of the first Roman churches built during theRenaissance . The construction was funded byGuillaume d'Estouteville ,Archbishop of Rouen and Papal Chancellor. The facade was built up in1483 byGiacomo di Pietrasanta , usingmarble taken fromColosseum . It is a fine, plain work of the early Renaissance style.The most famous work of art presently in the church is the "Madonna di Loreto", an important
Baroque painting byCaravaggio . The church also contains aGuercino canvas of "Saints Augustine, John the Evangelist and Hyeronimus"; afresco of "Prophet Isaiah" byRaphael ; and the statues of "Madonna col Bambino", byAndrea Sansovino and of "Madonna del Parto" by his pupil,Jacopo Sansovino . The latter sculpture is reputed by tradition to work miracles and was, according to a legend, based on an ancient statue of Agrippina holdingNero in her arms. In 1616, the 17th-century Baroque artistGiovanni Lanfranco decorated the Buongiovanni Chapel (in the left transept) with three canvasses and a ceiling fresco of the Assumption. The church also housesMelchiorre Caffà 's sculpture "St Thomas of Villanova Distributing Alms", completed by his mentorErcole Ferrata .Pietro Bracci designed and sculpted the polychromatic tomb of CardinalGiuseppe Renato Imperiali (1741).The church contains the tomb of Saint Monica, mother of St. Augustine, and that of
Fiammetta , lover ofCesare Borgia and a famous "cortigiana".Sant'Agostino was once noted for the presence of a number of courtesans and prostitutes in its congregation.
The "Titulus S. Augustini" is currently held by
Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard since2006
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