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Abstract
Richly decorated with mosaics and constructed to house the tomb of its patron, the oratory of Pope John VII was without precedent among papal burial monuments. The focus of the decoration was a large image of the pope offering the oratory to a regal figure of the Virgin Mary. Christological scenes surrounded this panel while, on the adjacent wall, apocryphal events from the life of St. Peter were represented. The oratory was torn down in the early seventeenth century. Fragments of the decoration survive; however, the chapel is known today primarily through drawings and descriptions made at the time of its destruction.
The dissertation opens with an analysis of this documentary material and shows how, as a product of the Counter Reformation, it both contributes to and obscures knowledge of the monument.
Chapter 2 provides a reconstruction of the oratory. Among other things, it determines the dimensions of the chapel, identifies a previously unrecognized christological scene and discusses the probable date of the problematic Peter cycle.
The following chapter discusses iconography. In its broad outlines the oratory's decoration evokes the earlier Roman churches of Sta. Maria Maggiore and St. Peter's. At the same time, the narrative cycles contain scenes not found in their prototypes and show the influence of eastern traditions of iconography and church decoration.
Chapter 4 examines the relationship between the oratory's pictorial decoration and its function as John VII's burial monument. The two narrative cycles constitute a project of self-definition by which the pope presented his personal and political virtues to viewers with the aim of gaining their sympathy, support and prayers. Moreover, the images above the altar supplement the text of the mass and express a conception of Mary's soteriological role that extends to the sacramental heart of the eucharistic celebration and, therefore, to the oratory's function as site of masses for the salvation of its patron's soul.
The final chapter assesses the chapel's significance to the history of church decoration, analyzing its relation to both earlier Roman and later Byzantine tradition, as well as to a prescription for church decoration in the near contemporary Vita S. Pancratii.
