Santa Maria del Popolo
Soon after its transfer to the prestigious Lombard Congregation Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV. This was part of the ambitious urban renovation program of the pope who presented himself as "Urbis Restaurator" of Rome. The medieval church was entirely demolished and a new three-aisled, Latin cross shaped basilica was built with four identical chapels on both sides, an octagonal dome above the crossing and a tall Lombard style bell-tower at the end of the right transept. The result of this reconstruction was an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. In spite of the many later changes the basilica essentially kept its Sistine form until today.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
The monument of a Prussian painter, Franz Ludwig Catel was erected by the pillar between the Della Rovere and Cybo Chapels. Catel was a successful landscape and genre painter who spent most of his career in Rome. He lived nearby in Piazza di Spagna where his home became a favourite meeting place for young artists. He died in 1856 at the age of 78 years and left his estate to a foundation which he had set up to help young German and Italian artists in the city. His monument was designed by a fellow German sculptor, Julius Troschel. The white marble Neo-Classical aedicula is decorated with a frieze of garlands and two wreathes and it is crowned by a pediment and a cross. The realistic bust of the deceased is set in a niche in the middle. The epitaph mentions his noble intention to leave most of his fortune to the artists in need.