The sources
The analysis
Other considerations
Bibliography and Credits

 

The purpose of this study is to re-order the various information available on the matter obtained from many  texts: we will try to do it by the light of further documents recently collected, some of which still unpublished.
The completion of the Assunta Hall is set at the beginning of the century XVIII, during the pontificate of Clemens XI, Gian Francesco Albani, who was pope from November 23rd 1700 to March 19th 1721.

THE SOURCES
Find here below the texts of the documents we are referring to for our analysis (all the texts are quoted in their original Italian language as reference sources):

A) The 1699 apostolic visit

Accanto al Chiostro del Convento e a mano sinistra, entrando dal Portone del medesimo è situato l'Ospedale, che non è compreso nella clausura [...]; consiste questo di una grande sala a piano terra, però sollevata, e ben asciutta fatta a volta, con alcune pitture adornata; ha tre porte [...]. La terza porta è nel chiostro e di rimpetto a questa v'è eretto nel medesimo Ospedale un Altare ben adornato, dove si celebra ogni giorno [...] la santa messa [...]

B) Francesco Valesio: "Diario di Roma" [Rome diary] 1700-1742

B1) February 1702
Martedì 28. Alle 22 hore S. Santità, servito in carrozza dalli cardinali, si portò all'ospedale de' padri Benfratelli, dove servì a quelli ammalati, havendo udite le confessioni d'alcuno e lasciati diversi buoni ordini per quell'ospedale e distribuì a ciascheduno di quelli una medaglia d'argento con la benedizione in articulo mortis.

B2) February 1705
Martedì 24. Festa dell'apostolo Mattia. S. Santità questa mattina, servito in carrozza dalli cardinali Rubini e Ottoboni, si portò alla basilica di S. Maria Maggiore, dove si venera il corpo di quel santo apostolo e di lì passò all'ospedale de' padri Fatebenefratelli, dove con grande esemplarità servì gli ammalati di quell'ospedale".

B3) August 1705
Venerdì 14. Havendo gli padri de' Fate ben fratelli a S. Bartolomeo all'Isola intenzione d'accrescere d'altrettanta fabbrica il loro ospedale per farvi l'aggiunta d'altri cinquanta letti per servizio de gl'infermi, havendoli donato S. Beatitudine il sito, hanno posto fuori notificazione per invitare gli fedeli a concorrere con elemosine ad opera così pia".

C) Bro. Tommaso Mongai (Prior of the FBF hospital in Florence): "note di cronaca dal 1692" [Chronicle notes from 1692] - Historic municipal archive of Florence

C1) February 28th 1702
Successe al defunto Innocenzo Clemente XI d'Urbino della famiglia Albani, e l'ultimo giorno del Carnevale dell'anno 1702 andò al Nostro Spedale con tutta la Sua Corte a ore 22 a servire gl'Infermi e dispensare la cena a' medesimi, e concesse al nostro Spedale la Piazzetta che resta dietro lo Spedale, acciò potesse la Religione stendere la fabbrica del medesimo.

C2) February 24th 1705
Del 1705 pure dell'ultimo giorno di Carnevale andò e mandò il pranzo per gl'Infermi, gli servì, diede a tutti una medaglia di argento con la Benedizione, fece alcune grazie, discorrendo familiarmente col nostro Padre Rev.mo Generale Bonelli suddetto sempre che vi stette, finalmente ammettendo tutti i Religiosi al bacio del piede, si partì.

D) Raffaele Meyer "Cenni biografici dei Superiori Generali dell'Ordine Ospedaliero di S. Giovanni di Dio (Fatebenefratelli)", Vatican Typ., Rome - 1925

page 66
Clemente XI [...] si degnò visitare in persona l'ospedale del Calibita. I Religiosi, a memoria di un tal'onore e favore, ne fecero fare, da un religioso francese, Fr. Gaspare de Palver, un quadro rappresentante al naturale una sì memoranda Visita (2). Questo quadro si trova ancora nel Refettorio dei Religiosi in Roma. Dietro codesto quadro si può leggere quanto segue: "Fra Gaspar de Palver a Gratianopoli, Religiosus S. Ioannis Dei professus pingebat, in occasione quod Clemens XI, Pontifex Maximus, ex nimia caritate motus pauperibus inservienti, ad praefata religionis xenodochium se contulit, die I martii 1702, Ad perpetuam rei memoriam posuere"....
(nota 2): si consulti il Diario di Roma di quel giorno

E) Egilberto Martire "L'isola della salute - dal tempio romano di Esculapio all'ospedale di S.Giovanni di Dio" - Rassegna Romana - Rome - 1934-XII

E1) page 53
Un avvenimento ricordato anche da opere d'arte che si conservano nelle case di Roma e di Milano rendeva più illustre l'ospedale tiberino: ad inaugurare un nuovo locale di esso, la Sala Assunta, Clemente XI onorava di sua presenza la sede romana della Ospitalità, il 1 marzo 1702.

E2) page 54
Here is printed the picture of the painting described in the next point G2 with the following caption:
Il Papa Clemente XI visita l'Ospedale dell'Isola il 1° marzo 1702
(da un quadro che si conserva nel Convento Ospedale di Milano)

F) Luigi Huetter and Renzo Uberto Montini "S. Giovanni Calibita" - Collana Le Chiese di Roma illustrate - Marietti, Rome - 1962

page 76
"... ma l'esecuzione dell'opera scenografica [...] va ristretta al primo biennio del pontificato clementino, perché figurava già in essere una tela di anonimo - conservata presso i Fatebenefratelli di Milano e quivi distrutta per bombardamento aereo nel 1943 (vedine la riproduzione in Russotto, op. cit., pag.55) - che rappresentava la visita compiuta da Clemente XI all'ospedale tiberino il 1° marzo 1702. [...] ... per due rampe semicircolari di scala collocate a tergo dell'altare, si accedeva ad un altro vastissimo locale, di livello superiore, eseguito con le elargizioni di papa Albani e da lui inaugurato appunto nella ricordata visita del 1702."

G) The paintings

Finally two paintings exist showing the visit of pope Clemens XI; we will refer to as Painting1 and Painting2:

G1) Painting1 (see pict.1)
It represents the pope while assisting the sick people in an hospital ward.
This painting is kept in Rome, in the hospital at the Tiber Island and, after a restoration carried out in 2006, it is still in the Refectory of the friars, as indicated in 1925 by Meyer (see ref. D). It has been then possible, thanks to the help of Bro Magliozzi, to get a color picture of the painting and, above all, to verify the inscription on the back of the painting itself (pict.1a).

 G2) Painting2 (see pict.2)
It represents the pope while visiting the Assunta Hall, that was already complete with the two semicircular stair flights and the new hall located at a higher level.
This painting, that was kept in the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan, has been destroyed by bombing in 1943.

 

 

THE ANALYSIS
For a better clearness, where necessary, we will refer as a topographic reference to the plan of the hospital shown in the pict.1: it is abstracted from the 1748 Nolli Map of Rome that, even if it is some decades subsequent to the events, offers the benefit of an excellent clearness.

Until the century XVII the hospital consisted of what should have become the Assunta Hall. In the Apostolic Visit of 1699 (see ref.A) it is indicated that its inlet was at the left of the Monastery (pict.3-a). With reference to the present arrangement, the old entrance of the hospital corresponds to the present entrance of the chemistry in front of St. Bartholomew square, while the entrance corridor to the Monastery is that just at the left of the St. Giovanni Calibita church (pict.3-b) once being its left nave.
The hospital hall, located at a level slightly higher than the roadway, is described as vault roofed and adorned with paintings; that corresponds to the structure of the Assunta Hall still visible today, in spite of the deep modifications occurred.
Besides the main entrance the hall had two more doors: one at the opposite end of the hall (visible in the 1676 Falda map shown in pict.4) and a third one that gave access to the cloister and therefore, according to the Nolli map, it was at about one third of the hall (pict.3-c). In front of this door, on the left wall, it was located an altar (pict.3-d).
In 1700 the hospital was restored by Carapecchia and in that occasion he  reorganized and renewed the Assunta Hall, the first modern hospital ward with 50 individual beds.
The completion of the Assunta Hall, and then its opening in the known arrangement, practically  unchanged until the restorations of the century XX, is dated on 28 February 28th 1702, corresponding to the visit of pope Clemens XI (also confirmed by ref.B1 e C1). As the visit occurred at 10 p.m., as quoted in the sources, somewhere we might find the next day date, March 1st, probably considering that in that time the change of date occurred at the sun sunset. Such event is  represented in the Painting 1 (ref.G1) as confirmed by the inscription made by friars on the back of the canvas.
Moreover it is commonly believed that the visit is represented in a painting formerly kept in the Fatebenefratelli in Milan and destroyed by bombing in 1943 (see ref. G2).
In that painting it is visible, behind the pope Clemens XI visiting the hospital, at the end of the hall, the altar with the image of the Assunta, to whom the hall is dedicated, and behind it of two semicircular stair flights that give access to a further elevated hall.

But in the same source C1 it is indicated that the pope, in that occasion, granted the small square behind the Hospital, (visible in the pict.4 map) in order to expand the hospital itself: it's just about the elevated hall (the future Amici Hall; see pict.3-e), that therefore was not yet built and cannot be represented in the painting.
This common mistake comes from the ignorance of the second papal visit in February 1705, event testified by the sources B and C (in particular see ref.B2 and C2) just recently recovered by the Author and Bro. Giuseppe Magliozzi (2005).
The painting should then refer, in all probability, to the second visit of Clemens XI, that on February 24th 1705 when the two semicircular staircases leading to the second hall, that frame the Assunta's altar, could be already completed (pict.3-f).

However in the ref.B3 it is indicated that in the August of the same year the Brothers of the  Fatebenefratelli invited the faithful to a contribute with charities for the building of the new hall in the area that the pope donated them for the purpose: this means that in that time the works for the Assunta Hall were not yet completed or, at least, those relevant to the second hall.
Moreover, comparing the Painting2 to the still visible elements in the hall (angels, drapery and, especially, the Assunta picture), one can noted remarkable differences that lead to doubt that the it was painted from life.
The most probable conclusion is therefore that the painting has been realized, on the basis of the sketch of the project, before the restoration of the hall, as thanks for the pope's donation in 1702, and shown to the pontiff in the occasion of his second visit in 1705.

In conclusion the restoration by Carapecchia of the main ward of the Hospital (the Assunta Hall in the strict sense of the word) can be considered completed in the very first years of century XVIII while it is still unknown the completion date in its final arrangement with the arch sustained by the angels, the Assunta's altar, the access flights to the new hall en the elevated hall itself. This event, anyway, can be dated not later than a few years after 1705.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
With reference to the other sources, the above information are then accurate up to the Meyer's text (ref.D - 1925) that quotes "... un quadro rappresentante al naturale ..."  [... a painting representing life-size ...] and "Questo quadro si trova ancora nel Refettorio dei religiosi in Roma" [This painting is still in the Brother's refectory in Rome] , two right assertions that refer to the Picture1 (ref.G1). Meyer himself, however, wrongly quotes both the name of the author and the inscription on the back of the painting.
Here below is the real text (with the relevant translation) checked on the original, still located in the refectory of the Fatebenefratelli hospital

 Fra Gaspar David de Lahier a Gratianopoli
Religionis S. Ioannis Dei professus pingebat
in occasione quod
Clemens XI Pontifex Maximus ex Sua nimis Charitate motus
Pauperibus inserviendi ad praefat[ae] Religionis
Xenodochium se contulit die prima martii 1702
Ad perpetuam rei memoriam Patres posuere

Bro. Gaspar David de Lahier from Grenoble
professed of the Order of St. John of God painted [this]
on the occasion when
Clemens XI Pontifex Maximus moved by His immense Love
to serve the Poor went to the Hospital
of the above Order in the day first of March 1702
The Fathers put [this inscription] for eternal memory of the event

Martire (ref.E - 1934) wrongly refers both the paintings to the same event of March 1st 1702.
Finally Huetter and Montini (ref.F - 1962) combining the date 1702 indicated on the back of the Painting1 and the image of the Painting2 in which are represented the arch of the Assunta Hall already completed and on the background the two semicircular staircases and the new hall, concluded that also the completion of the Assunta Hall was to be "... ristretta al primo biennio del pontificato clementino ..." [... limited to the first two years of the Clementine pontificate ...] 

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CREDITS
[1] Visita apostolica 1699
[2] Francesco Valesio: "Diario di Roma 1700 - 1742" edited by Gaetana Scano - Longanesi - Milano, 1977-79
[3] Fra Tommaso Mongai (Prior of the FBF hospital in Florence): "note di cronaca dal 1692" - Archivio Storico Comunale di Firenze
[4] Raffaele Meyer "Cenni biografici dei Superiori Generali dell'Ordine Ospedaliero di S. Giovanni di Dio (Fatebenefratelli) , Tip. Vaticana, Roma - 1925
[5] Egilberto Martire "L'isola della salute - dal tempio romano di Esculapio all'ospedale di S.Giovanni di Dio" - Rassegna Romana - Roma - 1934-XII
[6] Luigi Huetter and Renzo Uberto Montini "S. Giovanni Calibita" - Collana Le Chiese di Roma illustrate - Marietti, Roma - 1962
[7] Bruno Leoni and Bro. Giuseppe Magliozzi - 2005

Images:
- 1 and 2 by courtesy of Fatebenefratelli hospital