Oratorio degli Angeli Custodi

The Oratory of the Guardian Angels in Lucca preserves a Baroque ensemble of nine canvases within a small seventeenth-century chapel. The paintings and illusionistic decoration were created for a lay congregation devoted to the guardian angels.

Why it matters

The congregation was founded in 1627 by the priest Bonaventura Gasparini and built the oratory in 1638. Its decoration is a unified work of local religious art, and its themes reflect the brotherhood's devotion and charitable purpose.

What to notice

The canvases depict episodes involving guardian angels, including Hagar in the desert, Jacob's ladder and Saint Michael overcoming the dragon. One painting shows the Volto Santo amid angels entrusting children to its care, with Lucca's skyline behind them. Giovan Domenico Lombardi's painted architecture plays against the chapel's real windows and columns, blending the room and its decoration.

Context and history

The oratory was designed by Vincenzo Paoli for the Congregazione degli Angeli Custodi. The brotherhood was suppressed in 1808, and the building later suffered water infiltration. A restoration begun in 2017 repaired the structure and recovered its wooden and stone elements; seven of the nine canvases were restored. The oratory reopened in 2020.