Chiesa degli Eremitani

The Church of Saints Philip and James, better known as the Eremitani, is a thirteenth-century friars’ church in Padua. Its Ovetari Chapel preserves surviving fragments of Andrea Mantegna’s fresco cycle, painted between 1448 and 1457 and damaged during the Second World War.

Why it matters

The church and former convent were built by the Eremitani fraternity in the thirteenth century. The complex is part of Padua’s UNESCO-listed fourteenth-century fresco site, and its Ovetari Chapel is a major work of the Paduan Renaissance. Mantegna’s frescoes demonstrate the perspective experiments of an artist still in his twenties. Their wartime destruction and painstaking reconstruction also make the chapel a record of both artistic ambition and the loss suffered by Italian cultural heritage.

What to notice

The interior walls are painted with white, red and yellow bands that imitate courses of brick, a characteristic Paduan treatment. The wooden roof of the nave is shaped like an inverted hull; built by Fra Giovanni degli Eremitani, it was reconstructed after the wartime bombing. In the right transept, the Ovetari Chapel retains surviving episodes from the life of Saint Christopher and fragments of the Assumption. Reassembled original fresco fragments appear alongside modern fills, making the extent of the damage legible within the restored work.

Context and history

The complex grew alongside the convent through the thirteenth century and became one of Padua’s principal religious buildings. Between 1448 and 1457 Mantegna painted the Ovetari Chapel for the Ovetari family, including scenes from the life of Saint Christopher. Bombing during the Second World War destroyed much of the cycle. Conservators recovered thousands of fragments and reassembled the portions that could be saved; the nave roof was rebuilt according to its earlier design. The church’s former convent now houses part of Padua’s civic museum complex.