Due to the scarcity of documents the original function of Saint Peter's chapel in the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Naples has long remained uninvestigated.
As this article aims to demonstrate, the iconographical significance of the earliest frescoes suggests that, before being converted into the burial place of the noble Minutolo family, the construction was initially reserved for the exclusive use of the archbishop. If the chapel is considered within the broader context of the church's presbyterial area, the whole transept appears to incorporate a unitary iconographic project aimed at celebrating the apostolic foundations of the Neapolitan episcopal chair.
The presence of the tomb monument of the cathedral's founder, the archbishop of Naples Filippo Minutolo (1288-1301), and the existence of an underlying pseudo-crypt are not enough in themselves to prove that the chapel was originally conceived as a burial place for Neapolitan archbishops. It is clear, however, that it did not originally house the spoils of the Minutolo family members. In fact, strong evidence of a change in patronage and function for this space emerged no earlier than 1333, when canon Orso Minutolo's tomb monument was put in place there.
As for the dating of the chapel building, this paper's stylistic analysis of the earliest frescoes is in line with the most recent hypotheses, based instead on documentary or iconographic evidence, attributing the actual realization of the project to Filippo Minutolo's successor, Giacomo da Viterbo (1303-1308). The mural paintings are derived largely from the model of decoration of the Upper Basilica at Assisi, and should therefore be regarded as a rare southern Italian example of the propagation of Giotto's innovations in painting, before the Neapolitan sojourn of Pietro Cavallini (1308). Furthermore, a more careful examination of the artist's cultural background suggests he was closely related to the Roman school painters, particularly Jacopo Torriti, in parallel with figures like Filippo Rusuti.
The article proceeds with a re-examination of the catalogue traditionally attributed to the painter of Saint Peter's chapel, whom Ferdinando Bologna believed could be identified as Montano d'Arezzo, a painter documented at the service of the Angevin court between 1305 and 1310. It is, for the most part, a stylistically harmonious group of works. Nonetheless, it appeared necessary to revoke the imputation of two works from the artist: 'The Death of the Virgin' in the church of San Lorenzo in Naples, and the 'Maestà' exhibited in the museum of the same name. The former shows significant stylistic differences compared to the 'Nativity of Jesus' it faces, whereas the latter is far from the manner of Roman painters, resembling instead Tuscan works from the turn of the 14th century.
This last observation led to a reconsideration of the documentary link between Montano d'Arezzo and the 'Maestà' in the royal chapel of the abbey of Montevergine (Avellino). Although our conclusion must necessarily be cautious, it would seem convincing to separate the stylistic group created by Bologna from the documented figure of Montano. The profile of a Tuscan painter close to the manner of Cimabue, on the other hand, might well match that of the author of the 'Maestà' in the Museo di San Lorenzo in Naples.