The Church and Monastery of Santa Maria di Castello

(XI century)

The Spinola Chapel is also called the All Saints Chapel and is part of the Church of Santa Maria di Castello. In 1499 it was conceded in ‘giuspatronato’ to Teodorina Lomellini, the widow of Domenico Spinola,  son of Eliano. The latter was a great exponent of the family, who went down in history for his entrepreneurial qualities and great magnanimity. He is also remembered for his love for art.
The Spinola Chapel ‘Ognissanti’ (all saints) was placed externally with respect to the body of the Church, near the right hand door of the facade appeared as a separate building, presumably with a square plan and a vertical development equal to the current side aisles. Its image was immortalized in the painting Ex Voto, dated 1684 and preserved in a room of the convent mentioned, the outside had the traditional Genoese decoration of bicrome stripes, while the interior was finely decorated with marble, most probably set alongside gilding. It seems that some of these sculptured masterpieces were transferred to the Chapel of St Thomas Aquinas, where they can be still be seen today.
Teodorina Lomellini saw to its construction, decoration and furnishings. The chapel survived for a long time, until the second half of the Nineteenth century, when it was unfortunately demolished in 1847.
Today, in memory of its existence, a few but significant testimonies are preserved. These include the famous painting Pala di Ognissanti of 1513, also known as the Coronation of the Virgin or Paradise or Vocation of the Righteous by the artist Ludovico Brea.

The Spinola Chapel “Ognissanti”

The Spinola Chapel ‘Ognissanti’ (all saints) was placed externally with respect to the body of the Church, near the right hand door of the facade.It appeared as a separate building, presumably with a square plan and a vertical development equal to the current side aisles. Its image was immortalized in the painting Ex Voto, dated 1684 and preserved in a room of the convent. As mentioned, the outside had the traditional Genoese decoration of bicrome stripes, while the interior was finely decorated with marble, most probably set alongside gilding. It seems that some of these sculptured masterpieces were transferred to the Chapel of St Thomas Aquinas, where they can be still be seen today.
Teodorina Lomellini saw to its construction, decoration and furnishings. The chapel survived for a long time, until the second half of the Nineteenth century, when it was unfortunately demolished in 1847.Today, in memory of its existence, a few but significant testimonies are preserved. These include the famous painting Pala di Ognissanti of 1513, also known as the Coronation of the Virgin or Paradise or Vocation of the Righteous by the artist Ludovico Brea.
This was transferred to the Museum and is still present therein. Meanwhile, the Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas now holds a commemorative plaque to the transfer of the giuspatronato to its upkeep, along with some marble fragments from the original Spinola Ognissanti chapel.
Brea’s ‘Pala di Ognissanti’ masterpiece highlights Teodorina Spinola along with his two sons, Giovanni and a girl, whose name is unknown. These figures stand out among the crowd of over two hundred depicted. The evocative supposition is that the famous Tommasina Spinola, the protagonist of the tragic story of ‘amor perfect’ with Louis XII, was the daughter of Domenico Spinola and Teodorina Lomellini. She is  portrayed in profile, immediately behind her alleged mother, but unfortunately this supposition is untrue. Tommasina Spinola was born around 1475 to Ambrose Lomellini, and as such her baptismal name was Tommasina Lomellini. She became a Spinola because she married the Doge Battista Spinola, son of Tommaso.(This information found in the assay of Mary Cross Bellentani entitled ‘Intendyo’ of Tommasina Spinola and the King of France, Savona 1982). Vigna (ibidem 1864) found the transcription of a plaque placed in the chapel, in a manuscript of the convent. This contained information about its restoration and beautification, work undertaken in 1653 by the descendants, namely Mario Spinola, son of Augustine and Anna Doria. On the tombstone the following is inscribed:

Marius Agostini Spinule et Anne Dorie Fil.
Sacellum hoc a Maioribus Antiquitus erectum
elegantiori forma exornandum curavit
Anno Salutis MDCLIII.

The chapel survived for a long time, up until 1847, when it was demolished. In this regard, Vigna (ibidem 1864) wrote “In this place the Chapel of Ognissanti stood until the 7th of January 1847, (the) date in which the Fathers decided to tear it down as it was a sight for sore eyes, and transferring the title and the gius honorific of the Spinola  family to the Chapel of S. Thomas Aquinas; and displaying, on the left wall, a commemorative epigraph of the occasion:

Aram et Lud. Breae tabulam quae in
sacello ab Eliano f. Carrocii Spinula ubi
loci nunc templi dextrorsum patet adi-
tus iam ab anno MCCCCLXXIII constructo
extiterant successori annventi iurepa-
tronatus servato D. Dom. Frates huc
transferri curarunt anno MDCCCXLVII».

The Latin inscription is of great importance for two reasons. Firstly, because it is the last concrete surviving testimony of the history of the Spinola Chapel and secondly, because it describes what happened. The giuspatronato was passed on to the Chapel of St Thomas Aquinas in 1847, that was concurrently entitled ‘Ognissanti’ and remained so until 1874. After only twenty-seven years, the chapel of ‘Ognissanti’ was again devoted to the original Saint.
In fact, in 1874, the last heirs, Anna Spinola daughter of Massimiliano, together with her son, Carlo Giuseppe Cambiaso, a Mauritian Knight and doctor of law, left the giuspatronato in favour of the then pastor of the Church, Thomas Campo Antico. He implemented numerous changes within the Christian temple, in particular regarding the Chapel of Ognissanti, which not only lost its title, but was also completely reworked. In the process, it also lost both the altar and the painting by Ludovico Brea. The Spinola Altar was probably demolished, while the Ognissanti altarpiece was most likely transferred to a different chapel.
A last observation concerns the Spinola tombs that were present in Santa Maria di Castello, for which the main source of information remains the text of Vigna (ibidem 1864). There was a Spinola family tomb in the Old Chapel, dated 1500, the same year of its construction. Here, Vigna noted the existence of the tomb of Mario Spinola, who was buried on 8 April 1661 and assumes that more personalities are entombed here, in particular Teodorina.  The author describes other tombstones present in the Church. These include Battista Spinola of Luccoli son of Giovanni, dated 1469, Bartolomeo Spinola son of Benedict, dated 1528, and Ambrogio Spinola and his wife Brigida, dated 1565. Vigna also affirms that buried in the castle is Senator Felice Spinola, the father of Doge Agostino, and descended from the same branch of the family (see Genealogy).

For the history of Santa Maria di Castello Http://www.santamariadicastello.it
Https://www.google.en/#q=santa+maria+di+castello+genova
La Pala di Ognissanti di Ludovico Brea, il mondo in un dipinto

Freely drawn from a text of Silvia Melogno published on the 22nd of February 2015
photo www.wikipedia.org