Description
The Church of San Barnaba looks onto the small Piazza Bazzani, where Via Chiassi meets Via Carlo Poma, in the centre of Mantua: a Baroque church full of large canvases, where in 1546 Giulio Romano, the artist of Palazzo Te, was buried.
It is dedicated to Saint Barnabas, remembered by tradition as the first bishop of Milan. The 18th-century façade, designed by Antonio Bibiena, completed a rebuilding finished in 1737; inside there is a single nave with three side chapels and a deep apse.
The most spectacular piece is the large canvas of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes by Lorenzo Costa the Younger, painted between 1582 and 1583. Also from the late 16th century is the Wedding at Cana by Alessandro Maganza, another large painting.
The church also keeps the Stations of the Cross by Giuseppe Bazzani. On the wall of the presbytery hangs the Salvator Mundi by Teodoro Ghisi; among the altarpieces is a Madonna and Child by Girolamo Bonsignori.
Two canvases commemorate Saint Philip Benizi: one by Bernardino Malpizzi, from the late 16th century, and one by Giuseppe Orioli from 1730. The Death of Saint Juliana Falconieri by Siro Baroni dates from 1732. A Saint Sebastian painted by Benedetto Pagni in 1559 for the Boldrini family's altar, on the other hand, has moved to the Museo diocesano Francesco Gonzaga.
Among the oldest pieces is a detached fresco from the late 15th century showing Blessed Elisabetta of Mantua, born Bartolomea Picenardi. The first church in fact dated from around 1263, and in 1397 Francesco I Gonzaga entrusted it to the Servants of Mary.
Of Giulio Romano's tomb, however, nothing remains: it was desecrated and lost during the 18th-century works. Of the Servite convent, suppressed in 1797, part of the Gothic cloister survives; the rest was partly demolished in the early 20th century to make room for the city prison.
It is dedicated to Saint Barnabas, remembered by tradition as the first bishop of Milan. The 18th-century façade, designed by Antonio Bibiena, completed a rebuilding finished in 1737; inside there is a single nave with three side chapels and a deep apse.
The most spectacular piece is the large canvas of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes by Lorenzo Costa the Younger, painted between 1582 and 1583. Also from the late 16th century is the Wedding at Cana by Alessandro Maganza, another large painting.
The church also keeps the Stations of the Cross by Giuseppe Bazzani. On the wall of the presbytery hangs the Salvator Mundi by Teodoro Ghisi; among the altarpieces is a Madonna and Child by Girolamo Bonsignori.
Two canvases commemorate Saint Philip Benizi: one by Bernardino Malpizzi, from the late 16th century, and one by Giuseppe Orioli from 1730. The Death of Saint Juliana Falconieri by Siro Baroni dates from 1732. A Saint Sebastian painted by Benedetto Pagni in 1559 for the Boldrini family's altar, on the other hand, has moved to the Museo diocesano Francesco Gonzaga.
Among the oldest pieces is a detached fresco from the late 15th century showing Blessed Elisabetta of Mantua, born Bartolomea Picenardi. The first church in fact dated from around 1263, and in 1397 Francesco I Gonzaga entrusted it to the Servants of Mary.
Of Giulio Romano's tomb, however, nothing remains: it was desecrated and lost during the 18th-century works. Of the Servite convent, suppressed in 1797, part of the Gothic cloister survives; the rest was partly demolished in the early 20th century to make room for the city prison.