Decorazione della facciata di Casa Serodine

The façade of Casa Serodine is richly decorated with valuable stucco work by Giovanni Battista Serodine, son of Cristoforo, owner of the palace, and brother of the painter Giovanni.
With a likely moral intent (see the inscription on the tympanum of the central window: ‘VIRTUTE DUCE’), the artist wanted to develop three different themes: in the centre, in the round, the figure of the Madonna and Child dominates; on her right Adam and Eve with bas-reliefs of the story of Adam's sin in the friezes; on the left David and Bethsheba with bas-reliefs of David's sin. Particularly noteworthy are the scenes of the Earthly Paradise and the Sin of Adam, where the figures take shape thanks to a very fine modelling in which light and shadow blend together in an admirable and harmonious manner.
In the lower band, at the base of the main floor, allegories of the ages of man or perhaps of the seasons are depicted in a beautiful ‘Roman-style’ frieze.
A pre-Baroque style pervades all of Giovan Battista Serodine's work, both in terms of the plastic-architectural decorative motifs and the taste in composition; he can therefore rightly be considered a disciple of Carlo Maderno - (1556-1629), from Ticino, working in Rome, known above all for the façade of St. Peter's - and perhaps also a participant in the formative age of the young Bernini.