La controriforma in Santa Maria di Collemaggio a L’Aquila: un contratto e un inventario inediti per Giacomo della Porta e Flaminio Boulanger

In Giacomo della Porta’s Roman house, the Abbot of the Celestins and the French woodcarver Flaminio Boulanger signed the contract for the new high altar of the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila. This unpublished doc- ument of 1582 attributes to Giacomo della Porta the drawing for this important altar (destroyed during the earthquake in 1703). While illustrating the outstanding activity of Flaminio Boulanger – with observations on the Studiolo Farnese in the Musée National de la Renaissance d’Ecouen – the essay investigates the possi- ble support coming from the governor of L’Aquila, Margaret of Austria and her brother-in-law Alexander Farnese, as far as the commission of the altar. The hand- iwork for L’Aquila, indeed, was one among the rst monumental altars planned according to the instruction by the Council of Trent. Finally, in the essay the in- ventory of Flaminio Boulanger’s house and studio was published, it was drawn up in 1584, when the artist died.