The Villa Spada (Rome)

Photo: Philip McDonagh

‘This chapel, renovated after many years, was consacrated on the 4 June 2007 by the Archbishop of Armagh Séan Brady, in the presence of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Traveller, may the happy memory remain of the women who once upon a time brought joy to these halls.’

Fresco by Alessia Scazzuso and Rosanna Di Filippo commemorating the renovation of the chapel in the Villa Spada, Rome, commissioned by the Ambassador of Ireland to the Holy See, Philip McDonagh, in 2007.

See further Carla Benocci, Villa Spada (Rome, 2007), p. 268:

‘The fresco pays tribute to the epigraph placed on the front of the villa in 1639 by Vincenzo Nobili, but with a different greeting. The cornice of the inscription includes various symbols connected to the villa and to the ambassadors Philip and Ana Grenfell McDonagh: the female head in the centre of the upper border resembles the similar decoration of the oval on the vault of the chapel and reflects the female presence that contributed so much to the redevelopment of the villa; the star and the lighted lamp allude to the names of the ambassadors’ two daughters, Tara and Diya, ‘star’ and ‘light’ in Sanskrit, respectively, just as the sun rising out of shadow, in the bottom centre, refers to the Indian goddess Anasuya, faithful wife and protector. The celebration of light and of the rising sun are inspired by the another fresco on the vault of hallway.’