The Chapel of San Girolamo in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. New Evidence for the Discovery of the Domus Aurea

Abstract

The writer considers evidence in the Chapel of San Girolamo in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, for the date of the discovery of Nero's Domus Aurea in Rome. She asserts that since the grottesche painted on an altarpiece in the chapel are clearly inspired by those in the semi-dome of the Domus Aurea's Room of Achilles on Skyros, the Domus was evidently known by the time of the chapel's decoration. She proposes that the decoration was no later than 1479, which allows a slightly earlier and more secure terminus ante quem for the discovery of the Domus Aurea.