Compared to the nearby
Chapel of the Nativity, frescoed by the same Pinturicchio, the Basso Della Rovere Chapel has a greater decorative fervour. The small chapel is hexagonal with a sexpartite
ribbed vault and the entrance is protected by a slim 15th-century
balustrade. On the side walls, fake
porphyry columns with Corinthian capitals support an entablature of white and gilded marble. They are placed on a pedestal which is decorated with painted benches and illusionistic monochrome reliefs. Two books were painted on one of the benches in perfect perspective, deceiving the viewer. The pedestal has remarkable similarities to the inlays of the small study of
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro originally at
Gubbio but now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York. The monochromes were restored in the 19th century by Vincenzo Camuccini. The panels of the vault are covered by a lush floral decoration on a golden background with images of prophets in medaillons. The profusion of polychrome decoration is complemented by the
maiolica floor tiles, and contemporary works from
Deruta, which show heraldic devices, Della Rovere trees, animals, and other decorative motifs. The five lunettes are decorated with
Stories from the Life of the Virgin, now much damaged and repainted. The tomb is surmounted by a lunette fresco of the
Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels attributed to
Antonio da Viterbo. The marble
Pietà above the altar is the work of
Gian Cristoforo Romano. The complex painted decoration, although in general following the Umbrian style, has the characteristics of multiple hands with very different individual accents. In addition to the assistants from the workshop of Pinturicchio and
Perugino, the Bolognese
Amico Aspertini may have participated in the stories of the martyrs on the false reliefs of the base, because he stayed in Rome in those years. One of the hands notably present in the main scenes, if not Pinturicchio himself, is assigned to a generic „Master of the Basso Della Rovere Chapel”, perhaps recognizable even in the frescoes of the
Piccolomini Library in the
Cathedral of Siena. ==Gallery==