This chapel was constructed in about 1570, when it was decided to prolong the church. The chapel was ceded in 1574 to Marc-Antonio Borghese, then the legal counsellor of the convent of Trinità-dei-Monti.

The cycle of frescoes which decorates the chapel was commissioned by the son of Marc-Antonio Borghese from Cesare Nebbia in 1589. The theme is the Passion of Christ. To begin with, there was in the place where the Pietà now stands a representation of the Crucifixion that you can now see in the choir.

The statue which now stands in the centre of the chapel is a plaster copy offered by the German sculptor Theodor Wilhelm Achtermann, sculptor of the original statue. The latter had been made for the cathedral of Munster, where it was destroyed in 1945 by a bombardment. This plaster copy was placed here at the request of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the congregation then in charge of Trinità-dei-Monti, during the restoration campaign of the church in the nineteenth century.

This sculpture shows the Virgin Mary holding in her arms her son Jesus. The latter has just died on the cross and is in a position of total abandon. His body is relaxed, totally abandoned in the arms of his mother. Mary places her head against that of Jesus, witnessing in this way the bond which unites them. They both have their eyes closed and a peaceful face, testifying a blind trust in the plan of God the Father.

The statue is fairly realistic – notably, one sees the drops of blood that come out of the wounds of Jesus – which invite us to be conscious of how Christ has really suffered in his body, and the blood that truly gushes from his side.

The “proprietor of the chapel”, Marc-Antonio Borghese, belonged to one of the most influential and powerful families in Italy. He was also the father of Pope Paul V, in whose pontificate the construction of the new basilica of St Peter was completed.

Many illustrious members of the family were buried here, among whom were Marc-Antonio himself and his wife, the mother of Pope Paul V, etc.

The arms of the Borghese family, composed of a crowned eagle and a dragon, are familiar in the Roman landscape, since they are found in many places: on the facade of St Peter’s Basilica, on Paul V’s fountain, etc. One finds them again in the chapel, on the floor and on the altar, as well as on the two sides of the central sculptural group.