The third room is a small area of connection between  the former Chapel of the Baptistery and the one dedicated to Saint Onuphrius . It exhibits the works of Pasquale Bellonio, an Ortonese artist of the 18th century.  “San Tommaso d’Aquino e San Vincenzo Ferrer davanti al Crocifisso San Domenico Maggiore”, comes from San Domenico Church, currently seat for the Diocesan library, while “L’estasi di Santa Teresa”, was originally placed in the Chiesa del Carmine.

 

3.1 Pasquale Bellonio, Nativity of the Virgin, 1780,  coming from  San Domenico Church in Ortona.

Pasquale Bellonio was born in  Ortona in  1698. He worked in Ortona and other cities of Chieti province. Many of his paintings are kept in the Diocesan Museum of Lanciano. In the land register of 1751 he results to be the only Ortonese to be registered as painter. Even if he isn’t particularly remarkable for his abilities in the painting field, he had for sure a lot of commissions and he is significant for his mastery in the iconographical connotation of the figures of the Virgin and the Saints. In the Cathedral, within Saint Thomas’ Chapel , there is another work of his, a painting portraying the Crucifixion dated to 1762.