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Triumph and Martyrdom. Counter-Reformation Politics in a Farnese Altarpiece

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 75; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00233600600777219

1651-2294

Laura MacCaskey,

Historical Art and Architecture Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Measuring 8.93×3.79 meters, the dark painting was obscured by the addition of a baldachin in the seven- teenth century. For an idea of the original setting, see Giuseppe Valeriani's painting of the high altar in Armando Schiavo, ≫Veduta di Giuseppe Valeriani del S. Lorenzo in Damaso≪, Studi Romani, Vol. 20, 1972, pp. 228–234. For the history of the basilica, which was immured within the papal chancellery in the late fifteenth century, see Emilio Lavagnino, Il Palazzo della Cancelleria e la Chiesa di S. Lorenzo in Damaso, Roma, 1924; Armando Schiavo, Il Palazzo della Cancelleria, Roma, 1964; and Simonetta Valtieri, La basilica di S. Lorenzo in Damaso nel Palazzo della Cancelleria a Roma, Roma, 1984. 2. The red hat was extended to Alessandro Farnese on 18 December 1534 and one year later he was elevated to the position of Vice Chancellor, which made him, at the age of 16, one of the most powerful men in Rome at that time, a prince of the Church, and second only to the pope; see Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes, From the Close of the Middle Ages. Drawn from the Secret Archives of the Vatican and Other Original Sources, St Louis MO, 1936, Vol. 11, pp. 138–139. See also Konrad Eubel (ed.), Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi, Patavii, 1913 -1968, Vol. 3, p. 25. For the church's remodeling, see Clare Robertson, Il Gran Cardinale: Alessandro Farnese, Patron of the Arts, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992, pp. 162–168. See also John Gere, ≫Two of Taddeo Zuccaro's Last Commissions, Completed by Federico Zuccaro. II. The High Altar-piece in S. Lorenzo in Damaso≪, Burlington Magazine, No 760, Vol. 108, 1966, pp. 341–345; and John Gere, Taddeo Zuccaro, His Development Studied in His Drawings, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1969, pp. 126–129. 3. For the iconography of the Virgin Mary, see Gertrud Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1966, Vol. 4.2. See also Jacqueline LaFontaine-Dosogne, ≫Mary, Blessed Virgin, Iconography of≪, New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1967, Vol. 9, pp. 382–384. 4. See, for example, the comments on his work by Giovanni Battista Armenini (1533?–1609) in Edward J. Olszewski (ed.), On the True Precepts of the Art of Painting. Renaissance Sources of Translation, Burt Franklin & Co., New York, 1977. For a scholarly treatment of Raphael's work as the measure of sixteenth-century painting, see Marcia Hall, After Raphael: Painting in Central Italy in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 1999. 5. For a contextual analysis of Raphael's Foligno Madonna, see Regina Stefaniak, ≫Raphael's Madonna di Foligno: Civitas sancta, Hierusalem nova≪, Konsthistorisk tidskrift, No 2, 2000, 65ff; and Stefaniak, ≫Raphael's Madonna di Foligno, Vergine belle≪, Konsthistorisk tidskrift, No 2, 2000, pp. 169ff. 6. For the history of the Aracoeli and its remodeling, see R. E. Malmstrom, S. Maria in Aracoeli at Rome, Diss., New York, 1983. 7. For the legend, see Roberto Valentini and Giuseppe Zucchetti, Codice topografico della città di Roma, Roma, 1940–1953, Vol. 3, pp. 3–36. 8. For Cavallini's work, see Paul Hetherington, Pietro Cavallini: A Study in the Art of Late Medieval Rome, Sagittarius Press, London, 1979. 9. See John Gere, ≫Two of Taddeo Zuccaro's Last Commis-sions, Completed by Federico Zuccaro. I: The Pucci Chapel in S. Trinita dei Monti≪, Burlington Magazine, No 760, 1966, pp. 286–293; and Gere, 1969, pp. 123–129. 10. See Raphael's Coronation of the Virgin, c.1503, in Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny, Raphael, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1983, pp. 14–16. 11. For the prophecy, see Josephine Jungi, ≫Joachimist Prophesies in Sebastiano del Piombo's Borgherini Chapel and Raphael's Transfiguration≪, in Majorie Reeves (ed.), Prophetic Rome in the High Renaissance Period, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992, pp. 321–334. See also Bernard McGinn, Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages, New York, 1979, pp. 186–195. 12. For the meaning of papal primacy in this period, see Paolo Prodi, The Papal Prince: One Body and Two Souls: the Papal Monarchy in Early Modern Europe, New York, 1987. See also Charles Stinger, The Renaissance in Rome, Bloomington IN, 1985, esp. pp. 156 ff. 13. For a history of conciliarism, see J. H. Burns and Thomas M. Izbicki, Conciliarism and Papalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge–New York, 1997. 14. For Titian's work, see Elisabetta Querino et al. (eds.), Titian. Prince of Painters, Venice, 1990, pp. 308–313. 15. These debates resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Catholics and Protestants in the sixteenth century. See Lee Palmer Wandel, Voracious Idols and Violent Hands: Iconoclasm in Reformation Zurich, Strasbourg and Basel, Cambridge and New York, 1995; and Alfred Soman, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew: Reappraisals and Documents, The Hague, 1974. 16. For the Paradise wall competition in the Palazzo Ducale, see Juergen Schulz, ≫Tintoretto and the First Competi- tion for the Ducal Palace ‘Paradise’≪, Arte Veneta, 1980, Vol. 44, pp. 112–126. 17. Gere, 1969, p. 127. 18. For the final drawing, see E. J. Mundy et al. (eds.), Renaissance Into Baroque: Italian Master Drawings by the Zuccari 1550–1600, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 192–195. 19. While the Cardinal's principle iconographer in his early years had been Annibale Caro (1507–66), the elderly scholar had already retired to his villa in 1563, although he must have devised several of the decorative programs for the Cardinal's villa at Caprarola; see Loren Partridge, ≫Divinity and Dynasty at Caprarola: Perfect History in the Room of Farnese Deeds≪, Art Bulletin, No 3, Vol. 60, 1978, pp. 494ff. See also Robertson, 1992, pp. 215–219; and Clare Robertson, ≫Annibal Caro as Iconographer: Sources and Method≪, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 45, 1982, pp. 160–183. For Panvinio's life, see David A. Perini, Onofrio Panvinio e le sue opere, Roma, 1899; and Jean-Louis Ferrary, Onofrio Panvinio et les antiquites romaines, Roma, 1996. 20. See Partridge, 1978, No 3, esp. notes 1, 2, 3 and 4. 21. The work was published posthumously in Rome in 15 70. See Onofrio Panvinio, De praecipuis urbis Romae, sanctioribusque basilicis, quas septem Ecclesias vulgo vocant, liber, Coloniae, 1584, pp. 27-28. 22. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Bari by its patron, Pope Calixtus II (1119–24) the chapel was destroyed in the eighteenth century. For the chapel, see Gerome Ladner, ≫I mosaici e gli affreschi ecclesiastico-politici nell-antico Palazzo Lateranese≪, Rivista di archeologia Christiana, 1935, Vol. 12. See also Christopher Walter, ≫Papal Political Imagery in the Medieval Lateran Palace≪, Cahiers Archéologiques, 1970, Vol. 20, pp. 11–176. See also John Gardner, ≫Pope Nicholas IV and the decoration of S. Maria Maggiore≪, Zeitschrift fur Kunst-geschichte, 1973, pp. 1–50; and William Tronzo, ≫Apse Decoration, The Liturgy and the Perception of Medieval Rome: S. Maria in Trastevere and S. Maria Maggiore≪, in Italian Church Decoration of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. Functions, Forms and Regional Traditions, Villa Spelman Colloquia, Bologna and Baltimore, 1989, pp. 167–193. 23. For the theological meaning of the Sponsa Christi, see Gertrud Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 94–105; and ≫Braut≪ in Marienlexikon, 6 vols, St Ottilien, 1988-94, Vol. 5, pp. 561–571. The medieval debate over the doctrine of Mary's immaculacy was initiated primarily between the Dominican and other orders, turning essentially on the nature and timing of the sanctification of Mary in her mother's womb. For the history of the doctrine, see E. D. O'Connor, The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. History and Significance, Notre Dame, IN, 1958. 24. For Origen's sermon, see ≫The Song of Songs: Commentary and Homilies≪ trans. R. Lawson, Ancient Christian Writers, Westminster, MD, 1957, Vol. 26, pp. 21, 37 and 52. 25. For example, Saint Augustine (354–430) Bishop of Hippo, argued that the Church's purity is based on that of the Virgin Mary; see Sermo CXCII in De magnifica[n]do merito[r]ie. festu[m] sancte persentac[i]o[n]is bestissime semp[er] marie virginis in te[m]plu[m]: sermo Incipit perutilis, Cologne, 1470, 1472? Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (339–397) argued that the Virgin Mary was symbolic of the Church, as both were immaculate; see Sancti Ambrosii Mediolanensis Episcopi Opera, exeditione Romana…Parisiis, 1632, p. 98. Honorius of Autun (fl. 1106–1135) argued that the Virgin Mary represented the Church which was both virgin and mother; see Honorius of Autun, Expositio in Cantica Canticorum, in J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia cursus completus. Series Latina, 221 vols, in 223, Parisiis, 1844–91; Vol 172, p. 494. 26. The Virgin's life, which was one of the most common hagiographic narratives in both Eastern and Latin sacred representation, was derived from both the Gospels and Apocryphal scriptures. The apocryphal literature evolved from the fourth-century Protoevangelium of James and the seventh- to eighth-century Latin translations called the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew, which focus primarily on Mary's early life, and is sometimes supplemented with the Pseudo-Thomas (addressing Christ's childhood). In the ninth century, Paschias Radbertus (786–c.860) adapted the Pseudo Matthew into the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary, which was widely disseminated throughout Europe in the thirteenth century following its incorporation into the Legenda aurea, or Golden Legend of Jacopo de Voragine (Arch-bishop of Genoa c.1229–c.1298), which became the standard hagiographic compendium for theologians, scholars and artists. By 1500, over 74 Latin editions of Voragine's Golden Legend had been published, including one produced in Basel in 1470 and another Italian translation by Nicholas Malerbi in 1475. For English translations of these works, see M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford, 1924; and Grange Ryan and Helmut Ripperger (eds.), The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine, New York, 1969. 27. The image of the Coronation developed concurrently with the doctrine of the Assumption. Despite the liturgical celebration and its numerous representations, the Assumption was not made dogma, or even placed in the Roman Catholic calendar, before 1950. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the Coronation has never been officially recognized as a feast and is regarded within the liturgical framework of the Assumption. See Ludwig Eisenhofer and Joseph Lechner, The Liturgy of the Roman Rite, trans. A. J. and E. F. Peeler, New York, 1961, pp. 232–234. 28. For the letter, see the Pseudo-Jerome, ≫Letter IX, To Paula and Eustochim on the Assumption≪, in Patrologia latina, Vol 30, pp. 123–24; however, by 1566, the authenticity of the letter and its attribution to Saint Jerome were in serious doubt. 29. See, for example, the lauds of Albert the Great (c.1206–80) in his Mariale, edited by Martin Schott in Strasbourg, 1485-89. For Jean Gerson's (1363–1429) meditation on the life of Mary and Christ that involves the idea of a deeper, richer, interior life, see Henri Jadart, Jean de Gerson (1363–1429): recherches sur son origine son village natal etsafamille …, Reims, 1880,1881. See also the work of the Parmesian poet, Antonio Cornaz-zano (c. 1430–84) who combined the narrative of the Golden Legend with the literary model of Petrarch (1304–47) in Antonio Cornazzano, ≫Due poemettri sacri quattrocenteschi: Le ‘Vite’ della Vergine e di Christo di Antonio Cornazzano≪, in Rivista di Storia e letteratura religiossa, 1974, Vol. 10, pp. 319–21 and 326–327. 30. For the imagery, see R. W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk. Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation, Cambridge, 1981, pp. 171–174. 31. For the development of the Marian cult, see Otto Semmelroth et al (eds.), Mary, Archetype of the Church, Dublin, 1964; Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: the Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary, New York, 1986; and Michael P. Carroll, The Cult of the Virgin Mary: Psychological Origins, Princeton NJ, 1986. 32. For the paper, see Peter Canisius, De Maria Vergine Incomparabili, Et Dei Genetrice Sacrosancta, Libri Quinque … Ingolstadii exeudebat David Sarbrius, 1577. 33. See, for example, Origen of Alexandria's conflation of Yahweh, the husband of Israel from Isaiah 1:8, with the idolatrous and adulterous, non-virginal wife of the Canticles, and the perfected Bride derived from Ephesians 5:27–28 of Saint Paul as a way of explaining the Church's shortcomings; Origen, The Song of Songs, 21, 37, 91, 93, 106, 107, 109 and 276. 34. For the events leading to the Council of Trent, including the Fifth Lateran Council, see Hubert Jedin, Storia del Concilio di Trento, 26 vols, Brescia, 1949. 35. For the sermon, see Joannes Domenicus Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 54 vols in 59, Graz, 1960, 1901, Vol 32, pp. 719d–727b, 720a–b, 725d, 724e–725a, 725c–d and 726b. For Tommaso da Vio, see J. Wicks, Cajetan Responds: A Reader in Reformation Controversy, Washington, DC, 1978; and Peter G. Bienholz et al (eds.), Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance andReformation, Toronto and Buffalo, 1985-1987, Vol. 1, pp. 239–242. 36. See, for example, the sermon of Claudius Jaius and Alphonse Salmeron, delivered in November 1547, which associates the militant, imperfect Church with Canticle 1:4 and Ephesians 5: 27; as well as the triumphant, perfect Church with Canticle 4:7, in the Compendiosa responsio ad articulos de sacrificio missae [Bononiae, mensibus Augusto–Novembri 1547] Concilium Tridentinum Actorum of the Concilium Tridentinum. Diariorum, Actorum, Epistularum, Tractatuum, Friburgi Brisgoviae, 1964, Vol. 3, p. 400: ≫Because of Ephesians 5:27 … it is understood that the militant church is imperfect; concerning the church triumphant, the church is perfected, as indicated in Canticle 1:4 … and Canticle 47.≪ See also sermon delivered on 6 August 1547 by Ricardi Cenomani, Concilium Tridentium Actorum, Vol. 2, p. 482: ≫in Ephesians 5:27 the apostle said: >that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish< it is understood that the church militant is imperfect; as far as good men are concerned, according to Canticle 4:7, >Thou art beauti- ful, my love, and there is no stain in thee,’ the church triumphant is perfect< and the sermon delivered to the Council on 24 March 1551 by Cornelius Mussus, Concilium Tridentinum Actorum, Vol. 6, p. 70: ≫Finally, Saint Paul, who made the church so beautiful, washed, decorated, without stain and without wrinkle, proposed nothing other than the idea of the church which triumphs in heaven, from which she descends, and does battle on earth … this great field is never without discord, this circle not without wolves, this net without rotten fish, this house without false brothers.≪ For the history of the Council of Trent, see Hubert Jedin, Geschichte des Konzils von Trient, 4 vols in 5, Freiberg, 1951–75. 37. For the historic equation of stain to sexual impurity, adultery and defilement, see Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, Harper and Rowe, Boston, 1967, pp. 25–46. 38. Jedin, 1951–1975, Vol. 4, p. 2. 39. Von Pastor, 1936, Vol. 15, pp. 328ff. 40. For the decrees of the twenty-fifth session, see Henry J. Schroeder, Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, St Louis MO, 1941, pp. 214–219. 41. Peter is also referred to as princeps apostolorum, apostolorum primus, apostolorum maximus and apostolorum principis; see Oscar Cullman, Peter, Disciple, Apostle, Martyr: An Historical and Theological Study, Philadelphia, 1953, pp. 17–21. The Aramaic word for rock was later transliterated into the word Cephas, which in Greek means rock; see J. J. Castelot, ≫Peter, Apostle, St.≪ in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, pp. 173–176. The Golden Legend explains that Peter had several names including the reference to Christ's gift of the keys, as his name means, »one who loosens«, as Peter had the power to loosen the fetters that bind the sins of mankind (Matthew 16:19); Ryan and Ripperger, 1969, pp. 330–331. 42. The date 29 June was, not coincidentally, the day of the Rome's foundation by Romulus. For Leo's sermons, see Cunibert Mohlberg et al (eds.) Sacramentarium Veronense (Leonianum) Cod. Bibl. Capit. Veron. LXXXV [80]), Roma, 1956, fontes 1. For their festival celebration, see Johann Peter Kirsch, Der stadtrömische christliche festkalendar im altertum; textkritische untersuchungen zu den romischen ≫Depositiones≪ und dem Martyryologium Hieronymianum, 7 vols in 8, Munster in Westfahlen, 1924. See also the Peristephanon of Prudentius, XII, 1–4 in Patrologia latina, Vol. 60, pp. 556–A; and the Martyrology hieronymien in Patrologia latina, Vol. 54, pp. 422–428. 43. For Damasus’ life, see L. Duchesne and Cyrille Vogel, Le Liberpontificalis, Paris, 1955–57, Vol. 2, p. 212; and Orazio Marucchi, Il pontificato del Papa Damaso: e la storia della sua famiglia …, Roma, 1905. 44. Many of these were published in the Antonia Ferrúa (ed.), Epigrammata Damasiana recensuit et adnodavit Antonius Ferrua, Roma, 1942. 45. For the letters, see Joannes Domenicus Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, Vol. 3. 46. For the synodal records, see Monumenta germaniae historica, inde ab anno Christi quingentesimo usque ad annum millesimum et quingentesimum, Vol. XII, Part II: ≫Acta Synhodorum habitarum Romae,≪ Theodor Mommsen (ed.), Societas Aperiendis Fontibus Rerum Germanicarum Medii Aevi, Berolini, 1894, p. 414. See also L. Duchesne and C. Jenkins, Early History of the Christian Church. From its Foundation to the End of the Fifth Century, London, 1909, Vol. 2, p. 364, note 1. For the archeological findings on this claim, see Richard Krautheimer, Corpus basilicarum Christianarum Romae: the Early Christian Basilicas of Rome (IV–IX cent.), Citta del Vaticano, 1937, Vol. 2, pp. 145–151. See also Cristoph L. Frommel, ≫Neue Funde≪, Kunstchronik, Vol. 41, 1988, pp. 649–658. 47. For this association, see Martin Rade, Damasus, Bischof von Rom, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Anfange des Romischen primats, Freiburg, 1882, p. 6. 48. For an excellent English translation of the Peristephanon, see Prudentius, trans. H. J. Thomson, Cambridge, 1969–79 Vol. 2. See also Ryan and Ripperger, 1969, pp. 437–445. 49. See Murphy and Dicharry, ≫Martyr≪, in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 312. 50. For Saint Augustine's sermon, see Augustine, Sermo 316 In solemnitate Stephani martyris, III, in Patrologia latina, Vol. 38, p. 1432. 51. Isidore of Seville, ≫Epistle to Leudfredus≪, in Patrologia latina, Vol. 82, p. 895. 52. See L. R. Hennessey, ≫Diakonia and Diakonoi in the PreNicene Church≪, in Diakonia, pp. 60–86. 53. See Miranda, ≫Cardinal≪, in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 103–108. 54. For the list of his charities, see Matizia Maroni Lumbroso and Antonio Martini, Le Confraternite romane nelle loro chiese, Roma, 1963, p. 90. See also Robertson, 1992, pp. 184f. 55. For the Cardinal's enormous wealth, see Barbara Hallman, Italian Cardinals, Reform and the Church as Property, 1492–1563, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1985, p. 39 and 62. 56. Von Pastor, 1936, Vol. 17, pp. 46–97. He intended to make the Gesú the Farnese family mausoleum and was eventually interred before the high altar in 1589; Robertson, 1992, pp. 160–161. 57. Von Pastor, 1936, Vol. 17, pp. 46–97. See Cardinal Farnese's letter to his brother-in-law explaining the Pope's special request concerning his role, in Robertson, 1992, pp. 160–161. 58. Von Pastor, Vol. 14, pp. 1–11; Vol. 14, pp. 56 ff; Vol. 15, pp. 6–65; Vol. 17, pp. 1–45; Vol. 19, pp. 11–15; and Vol. 21, pp. 7–22. 59. For this cycle, see Stefania Macioce, Undique splendent: aspetti della pittura sacra nella Rome di Clemente VIII Aldobrandini (1592–1605), Roma, 1990.