The fresco in the main vault is also by da Cortona, painted in 1664-1665.
According to tradition, during construction of the Chiesa Nuova, the Vallecellian Madonna appeared to Philip Neri in a dream, warning him to replace a rotting wooden beam. Cortona's nave-vault fresco shows the Virgin holding up the perilous rafter, thus saving workers and worshippers from a terrible catastrophe.
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