Tiberio Cerasi (1544 – 3 May 1601) was a Roman jurist and Treasurer-General to

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

. He is mainly known for building the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and commissioning

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

and

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

to create three famous paintings there.

Biography

He was born in Rome in 1544 to Stefano Cerasi and Bartolomea Manardi. His father, originally from

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, was hired in Rome around 1522 as a surgeon at the Hospital of Santa Maria della Consolazione, obtaining Roman citizenship in 1530. His mother came from a Florentine family which may explain why Tiberio had important connections to some of the major Florentine personalities residing in Rome. His brother, Giovan Pietro became a doctor, and wrote a medical treatise (Methodo dello spetiale), which was published in Rome in 1574. Tiberio Cerasi studied jurisprudence, and probably acquired a doctorate of both laws. He maintained a close relationship with Santa Maria della Consolazione, where his father had worked, and in August 1583 the hospital leased him a house for life in the Trevi district for an annual fee of 40 scudi. At that time he was already a lawyer in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

, and became a consistorial advocate (avvocato concistoriale) and ''avvocato del fisco'' (attorney general) in 1589. On 22 September 1590, Cerasi donated the medical and philosophical books of his late father to the Consolazione Hospital under the condition that they will be preserved in the institution for the future use of its doctors. At the time he already lived in the

Parione Parione is the 6th of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. VI, and belongs to the Municipio I. Its name comes from the fact that in the area there was a huge ancient wall, maybe belonging to the stadium of Domitianus; the nickname people ...

district. On 31 July 1593 Cerasi was elected rector of the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

for that year and later confirmed for the following year. It was probably towards this period that he embarked on an ecclesiastical career; in September 1595 he also left the post of avvocato fiscale to become a cleric of the Apostolic Camera (he bought this office for 30,000 scudi with special permission of the pope, instead of the usual sum of 40,000 scudi). In July 1596 he became Treasurer-General of the Apostolic Camera (tesoriere generale). When Clement VIII went to

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

in 1598 to take possession of the city, Cerasi was part of his retinue. Caravaggio cerasi contract

Cerasi appears to have been a friend of Cardinal

Federico Borromeo Federico Borromeo (; 18 August 1564 – 21 September 1631) was an Italian cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan, and prominent figure of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. His acts of charity, ...

, a leading intellectual of the Roman Church at the time, to whom he addressed a letter from Rome on 30 September 1595, recalling "with what kindness and affection Your Most Illustrious Lordship has always held me in his protection". A collection of etchings of various hunting scenes by

Antonio Tempesta Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Roman Baroque, Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major ba ...

, which was published in Rome under the title ''Primo libro di caccie varie'' in 1598, was dedicated to him. He died on 3 May 1601 in a villa in

Frascati Frascati () is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, ...

where he had gone to cure his kidney illness and because the air was better there than in Rome. An autopsy found that he had contaminated lungs and a large stone in his intestines. He had made his will in March 1598, adding a codicil on the day before his death. In this he made the Hospital of Santa Maria della Consolazione his universal heir. He left 500 scudi to his employees and 500 scudi to a certain Giacomo, who had accompanied him to Ferrara. His assets consisted a vineyard outside Porta San Pancrazio, rented from Santa Maria in Trastevere, a house inherited from his father in Montecitorio, silverware, furniture and books. He left his collection of juridicial treatises to his auditor, Agostino Dena. He also left a villa in Albano, and a "luogo di Monte" (bond) at the church of Santa Maria di Monserrato, where his paternal grandmother, Bianca Sanchez, was buried. Similarly he left a "luogo di Monte" at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Two small houses at Santi Apostoli, a house and a vineyard in Castelgandolfo, and the small palace where he lived in the Pasquino district, returned to their rightful owners, the Consolazione Hospital, the estate of Castelgandolfo and Ulisse Gallo.

His chapel

As Treasurer-General Cerasi had contacts with the artists and master builders who worked for the Holy See. Almost a year before his death he purchased a chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo from the

Augustinian friars The Order of Saint Augustine (), abbreviated OSA, is a mendicant religious order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine ...

on 8 July 1600 and entrusted Carlo Maderno to rebuild the small edifice in Baroque style. He commissioned

to paint two large

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

panels, ten palms high and eight palms wide, representing the conversion of Saint Paul and the martyrdom of Saint Peter within eight months for the price of 400 scudi. The contract was signed on 24 September 1600. Caravaggio was still working on the paintings at the time when Tiberio Cerasi died. The date when he commissioned the altarpiece from

is unknown but this painting was probably already complete when Cerasi was buried in the chapel.Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Two "Avvisi", Caravaggio, and Giulio Mancini, in: Source: Notes in the History of Art, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Spring 1993), pp. 22–29, pag. 22.

References

Sources

* Franca Petrucci: Tiberio Cerasi in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 23 (1979

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerasi, Tiberio 1544 births 1601 deaths 16th-century Italian lawyers Apostolic Camera People from the Papal States