Breslau Cabinet of Natural and Artificial Curiosities

both Silesias. And this chapel was founded and opened on September 5, 1700, in honor of Saint Elisabeth, who was the daughter of Andrew, King of lower Hungary, born in the year 1207; married to Louis, Landgrave of Hesse, in 1221; died in 1231; and enrolled by Pope Gregory IX in the number of the Saints in 1235. For this reason, above the altar, kneeling on her knees, she is seen in a cloud, having a stature of just size, surrounded by six Cherubim and three Angels, presenting the appearance of boys as ministers, one of whom carries a purse in his right hand and bread in his left, to signify her mercy toward the poor; another displays a Ducal cap together with a Royal scepter; the third holds a book with a double crown, to indicate the laying down of royal status. All these, indeed, like the following statues, were sculpted from the most beautiful white Genoese marble, or Carrara mass. On either side of the altar, tall marble columns of blue color stand out, from which hang two flying Angels of remarkable size: all these works were fashioned in Rome by the most celebrated artist, Hercules Ferreti. And under the altar, the bones of Saint Clement the Martyr are shown, which are publicly venerated with solemnly lit lamps immediately after the feast of Saint Elisabeth, on the namesake day of Clement himself.

The sepulchral monument is adorned with the following things and reasons: above it, the aforementioned Cardinal is seen kneeling on his knees, with raised and clasped hands, dressed in cardinalitial purple, depicted with wonderful resemblance. Above him hang his insignias, and even higher, that red and genuine hat made of silk, the Cardinal's hat. To the right, below, stands a woman, far above human size, holding the sun in her right hand and a mirror in her left, signifying Truth. She treads underfoot Envy, fashioned in the likeness of an old woman, whose hair is entangled with many serpents, and who holds several books in her hands. On the other side, in the same manner, stands a woman of the same size. She carries a serpent in her right hand, its head and tail joining in a circle, and in her left, ripe ears of barley; by this woman, Eternity is shadowed forth.

Above the sepulchral inscription, in the middle, stands a crowned Calvary, under which a stone coin made of most beautiful gold-colored marble is seen; this is held by two marble lions fashioned from the same kind of stone; and in it, Faith in the form of a woman sits on a lion, holding a chalice in her right hand and a cross in her left, with the Cardinal's symbol inscribed: "For God and the Church." Nearby hang ornaments made of ophite serpentine or green marble; and on both sides sit two boys, one of whom holds the Cardinal's hat, the other the biretta. (This work was fashioned by the notable sculptor Domenico Guidi.)