L'ETÀ DEL BERNINI
È il periodo Barocco (1600 - 1750 circa) che esalta nell’arte, e specialmente nell’architettura, l’elemento decorativo e il movimento, esasperando gli elementi classici, e - pur proponendosi di tradurre in spiritualità religiosa il malessere già espresso dal Manierismo - finisce spesso per esaurirsi in un vitalismo sensuale e violento. Questo movimento raggiunge il suo punto più alto a Roma con i palazzi, le fontane e i gruppi plastici di Bernini, così come con le chiese sue e di Borromini, l’allievo che in architettura lo avrebbe superato.| 1629 - La maledizione di San Pietro |
| 1648 - L'assassinio del vescovo Giarda
1651-'59 Le avvelenatrici di Campo de' Fiori |
In questa pagina:
Papa Gregorio XV
Papa Urbano VIII
Il processo di Galileo
Papa Innocenzo X
Il Giubileo del 1650
Iconografie
Papa Gregorio XV
Papa Paolo V
died in January 1621, two months after the Battaglia
della Montagna Bianca (Lila Hora) which marked a very favourable development for the Holy
Roman Emperor and the Catholic German princes in the Thirty Years' War.
His successor, Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who called himself Pope
Gregory XV, was aged 67 and in poor health. His nephew Ludovico Ludovisi
was appointed cardinal and given great authority over all State affairs.
He was also granted so many benefits that he soon became very
rich.
Both the pope and his nephew protected the Jesuits and in March
1622 Ignazio di
Loyola, the founder of the order, was canonized. On the same occasion
Pope Gregory XV made three other important canonizations: Teresa of Avila,
a reformer of the Carmelite order known for her mysticism and her many
visions; during one of them she saw a seraph drive the point of a golden
arrow through her heart, causing her a pain which was both bodily and
spiritual; Philip Neri,
the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory and Francis Xavier, a
co-founder of the Jesuit Order and the pioneer of the Catholic missions in
Asia.
These canonizations can be seen as the final moment of the Contro-Riforma
process.
Pope Gregory XV financially supported Emperor Ferdinand II in
his fight against the German Protestant princes; the pope is also
remembered for giving in 1622 the cardinal's hat to Armand Jean du Plessis
de Richelieu, bishop of Luçon, who played a key role in French politics as
Prime Minister. Cardinal Richelieu in the following years, notwithstanding
his position in the Catholic Church, did not hesitate to make alliances
with the Protestants to pursue the interests of his country.
(a sinistra) S. Ignazio: particolare dell'iscrizione; (a destra) S. Maria Maggiore: busto di Gerolamo Manili di Giuliano
Finelli
Ludovico Ludovisi aveva appena 25 anni quando fu
nominato cardinale, ma si dimostrò parecchio assennato nell'assistere lo zio;
sebbene il pontificato di Papa Gregorio XV fosse durato solo 29 mesi, il Cardinal
Ludovisi riuscì as accumulare una tale fortuna per gli anni a venire che fu capace di
assemblare una incredibile collezione di statue antiche e di pitture e sculture moderne. I Ludovisi venivano da Bologna
e il cardinale protesse many artists of
that town working in Rome. He also gave the first commissions to
Alessandro Algardi, a young sculptor from Bologna, who became one of the
key artists of the Roman Baroque (see his tre busti nella Cappella Frangipane). Algardi was asked to "complete" ancient statues
which were without an arm or a foot; the cardinal assigned similar
commissions to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, another young, but already famous
sculptor. These statues can now be seen at Museo Nazionale
Romano in Palazzo
Altemps. The collection was originally displayed in the villa the cardinal built
in the area between Porta
Pinciana and Porta
Salaria. While accepting some commissions from Cardinal Ludovisi, Gian
Lorenzo Bernini mainly worked for Cardinal Scipione
Borghese: the following external links show The
Rape of Proserpina (a detail of which is shown in the image used
as background for this page), David
and Apollo and Daphne, three of his works which can be seen
at Galleria
Borghese in Villa
Borghese.
The Jesuits had a very large church which was completed
before the canonization of Ignatius of Loyola and was therefore dedicated
to the order (Chiesa del
Gesù); Cardinal Ludovisi felt the need to dedicate a separate church to
the founder of the order: S. Ignazio, the new church, was again a very
large building which was completed after the death of the cardinal in
1632: it was also called Tempio Ludovisi and both Pope Gregory XV
and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi were buried there in a most lavish monument
(see the portrait of the
cardinal).
The wealthiest Roman families concurred with the
construction of the many churches which were completed between 1575 and
1650 by buying chapels where they buried the members of the family: this
led to the development of several patterns of funerary monuments: the
image above shows some of the typical features of a Baroque monument: the
dead portrayed in the act
of praying and Memento Mori, a
reference to death. It is a work by Giuliano Finelli (a sculptor who was
the first assistant of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and helped him in the
execution of Apollo and Daphne).
Papa Urbano
VIII
Il conclave which
started after the death of Pope Gregory XV in July 1623 was marked by the
fact that many participants fell sick because of malaria: the cardinals
were forced to set aside their differences and elected pope the relatively
young (he was 55) Cardinal Maffeo Barberini who chose to be called Pope
Urban VIII; while the pontificate of Pope Urban
VII is recorded among the shortest ones (13 days), that of Pope Urban
VIII is recorded among the longest ones (21 years). He followed the
tradition of his predecessors and appointed cardinals his brother Antonio
and his nephews Francesco and Antonio; Carlo, another brother, was
appointed commander of the Papal troops and given the fiefdoms of Monterotondo and Palestrina.
The
pope's conduct during the Thirty Years' War was often influenced more by
the desire to expand the Barberini possessions, than by his spiritual
mission or the interests of the Catholic states involved in the
war.
The war took a bad turn in 1630 when Gustavus Adolphus, King of
Sweden, helped by the Dutch and financed by France came to aid the German
Lutherans: in the Battle of Breitenfield he defeated the Imperial troops.
Pope Urban VIII in that same period showed that he too was wary of the
success of the Holy Roman Emperor and in the war for the succession in the
Duchy of Mantua he sided with Cardinal Richelieu in supporting a French
candidate against the claims of Emperor Ferdinand II who was married to
Eleonore of Gonzaga, sister of the last duke. The war was a catastrophe
not only for Mantua, which was sacked by the Imperial army, but for the
whole of Northern Italy which was crossed by mercenary troops sent by
France and by the Duke of Savoy; this led to spreading one of the worst
plagues, which had a severe impact on the economy of the richest Italian
region.
Pope Urban VIII was worried about the defence of Rome and he
built new imposing walls between Porta
Portese and Porta
Cavalleggeri.
(a sinistra) S. Maria Maggiore: busto di Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda detto il Nigrita di Francesco Caporale; (a destra) Palazzo di Propaganda Fide: facciata di Francesco Borromini: particolare di una finestra.
Nel 1622 Papa Gregorio XV fondò la Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, ma fu Papa Urbano VIII who made it an institution which played an important role in the diffusion of Catholicism in Asia, Africa and the Americas: the building where the institution is housed was built in part by Gian Lorenzo Bernini during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII and in part by Francesco Borromini after 1646; Borromini, a nephew of Carlo Maderno, the architect of many buildings for Pope Paul V, started his career assisting Bernini in the completion of Palazzo Barberini and in the design of St Peter's Baldaquin: he then became a rival of Bernini, whom he thought was lacking the technical skills of a professional architect. Bernini started his career as an architect at the request of Pope Urban VIII, who regarded him very highly and protected him in the early stage of his career: it is said that the newly appointed pope, while talking with Bernini about his election, said to him: "You are lucky to see Maffeo Barberini become pope, but we (plural majestatis) are even luckier because Bernini lives at the time of our pontificate".
Cardinal Antonio Barberini built Collegio de' Neofiti to house those who decided (or were forced) to convert; another reminder of the evangelization effort is the 1629 monument to Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda called il Nigrita: He was sent to Rome in July 1604 by Alvaro II, King of Congo as his ambassador: the journey through Brazil and Spain lasted more than three years and the ambassador reached Rome only on January 3, 1608: he was very ill and he passed away just two days later. His monument shows another feature of Baroque sculpture: the use of different stones to achieve a colour effect.
The war for the succession of Mantua had a collateral effect, which showed that Italy was losing importance in the new European context from a political and economic viewpoint and in addition was also starting to lose some of its artistic treasures. King Charles I of England bought in 1627 the whole Gonzaga collection of works of art: by this acquisition the king, a great admirer of Italian paintings, built up an extraordinary collection of Italian masters: it was partially sold during the Commonwealth of England (1649-60), but many paintings were bought back by King Charles II who further enriched the collection. King Charles I was advised by the Flemish painter Anton Van Dyck, who knew Italian art well having spent six years studying the Italian masters; he suggested to the king to commission a bust to Bernini; he then painted a famous triple portrait to allow Bernini to execute the sculpture (see the Triple Portrait in an external link). A few years later also Cardinal Richelieu commissioned a bust to Bernini (see his Triple Portrait by Philippe de Champagne and the bust by Bernini).
Pope Urbanus VIII set his countryside residence in Castelgandolfo in a palace which the popes still use in summer.
Il Processo di Galileo
Pope Urban VIII was determined to restore direct papal rule on some territories of the state which were controlled by local dynasties; his first target was Urbino which was ruled by the Della Rovere, the family of Pope Sixtus IV and Pope Julius II; the sudden death of the heir to the Duchy in 1623 allowed the pope to convince the old duke to bequeath his possessions to the Papal State. In the northern part of Latium the Farnese, the family of Pope Paul III, had several possessions: some of them were grouped in the Duchy of Castro under the rule of Odoardo Farnese who was also the Duke of Parma. Pope Urban VIII tried to arrange a marriage between Odoardo's heir and a Barberini: this plan having failed, the pope decided to economically boycott the Duchy of Castro: this soon led to a military confrontation and the papal troops occupied Castro. Odoardo Farnese however with the indirect support of France and with the help of the Republic of Venice and of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany invaded the papal possessions in Romagna so that Pope Urban VIII was forced to ask for a truce and eventually had to sign the 1644 Peace of Ferrara which returned the Duchy of Castro to the Farnese.
During the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII the Thirty Years' War which had begun as a German war of religion turned into a general European conflict about national supremacy on the continent; this was caused by the direct intervention of France in the war on the side of the Protestants and in the consequent war with Spain: the pope had little authority over the two Catholic nations at war and was unable to bring peace between them.
The pope hoped to see England return to Catholicism: he relied on the influence which the Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria had on her husband: the Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed by King Charles I, introduced changes in the liturgy of the Church of England which made it very close to the Catholic one. The reaction of Parliament led to a civil war which ended in defeat for Charles.
Overall the long pontificate of Pope Urban VIII weakened the papal role in Europe; it also marked a divorce between the Roman Church and scientific developments which had long lasting effects on how Catholicism was perceived in the following centuries. The heliocentric theories supported by Copernicus were condemned in 1616 by the Inquisition: it is debated whether on that occasion Cardinal Bellarmino, a member of the Inquisition panel, warned Galileo Galilei, a prominent Tuscan scientist, against supporting the theory that the Sun stands still and the planets move around it. Galilei was on friendly terms with both the pope and Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany; he decided to revive the scientific debate by publishing in 1632 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems where the two theories were discussed in the form of a dialogue between advocates of the two systems. The book however was regarded by the Inquisition as ridiculing the geocentric theory and in 1633 Galilei was summoned to Rome. Under the threat of torture, the seventy year old scientist offered to rewrite some chapters of the book; the sentence was issued in Convento di S. Maria sopra Minerva: Galilei was ordered to publicly abjure his beliefs, his book was declared heretical and banned and he was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. This part of the punishment was turned into a sort of house arrest in his villa at Arcetri, near Florence.
Galileo was formally rehabilitated by the Church in 1741 when the ban on his books was lifted and in 1992 Pope John Paul II expressed regret at how his trial was handled.
(a sinistra) Iscrizione celebrante i miglioramenti apportati dal Cardinal Antonio Barberini alla strada che collega Via Urbana a S. Maria Maggiore; (a destra) S. Maria sopra Minerva: monumento a Ottaviano Ubaldini della Gherardesca di Giovan Battista Calandra
Pope Urban VIII's association with Gian Lorenzo Bernini lasted throughout the whole long pontificate: it did not have an impact on the design of the streets of Rome (the pope's brother improved the access to S. Maria Maggiore and to Bernini's first workshop near Palazzo Imperiali Borromeo). Their focus was on the decoration of S. Pietro: Bernini was appointed head of Fabbrica di S. Pietro and he took care (in addition to the baldaquin) of the design and decoration of the central octagon: he became a manager who had to coordinate the work of a large group of artists, an aspect which will characterize the rest of his career: this explains the title given to this page because Bernini had ample decision making authority.
In 1624 the bodies of SS. Bibiana, Dafrosa and Demetria were found by chance under the altar of an old church which was falling apart. It was an event similar to that which occurred during the pontificate of Pope Clement VIII in S. Cecilia; Pope Urban VIII immediately thought to celebrate it by commissioning a statue of S. Bibiana to Bernini; he then widened the scope of the commission by asking Bernini to rebuild the old church: so S. Bibiana was the first church designed by Bernini. It was also the church where Pietro da Cortona, another key artist of that period, started his Roman career by painting episodes of S. Bibiana's life. In the same way that Bernini was "discovered" by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, Cortona was "discovered" by his nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini.
Pope Urban VIII took care of restoring several old churches and of building a few new ones: S. Sebastiano al Palatino, S. Anastasia, S. Maria ad Martyres (Pantheon), Battisterio Lateranense and S. Giacomo alla Lungara, all show a reference to the bees and the sun, his heraldic symbols.
Cardinal Antonio Barberini financed the construction of Chiesa dei Cappuccini near the family palace: between the two buildings Bernini placed Fontana del Tritone and Fontana delle Api (a fountain designed by Bernini's father - la Barcaccia - was placed in Piazza di Spagna).
Cardinal Francesco Barberini commissioned Francesco Borromini the small church of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane where the architect first showed his innovative talent. The same cardinal asked his protégé Pietro da Cortona to test his skill as an architect by designing SS. Luca e Martina.
Bernini, in addition to taking care of the pope's monument in S. Pietro, was involved in the design of many smaller funerary monuments: it is worth mentioning Cappella Raimondi and the monuments to Maria Raggi and Agostino Chigi which both show the portrait of the dead inside a medallion, a characteristic of many other Baroque monuments.
Pope Innocent X
The long pontificate of Pope Urban VIII was followed by a conclave during which the two Barberini cardinals were unable to obtain the election of their candidate because of the hostility of Spain; eventually an agreement was reached for electing a "pope of transition" i.e. a pope who because of his age was expected to lead the Church for a relatively short period of time. The choice fell on Cardinal Giovan Battista Pamphilj (aged 70), who owed his career to the Barberini and was well accepted by Spain where he had been nuncio. The veto on his name by the French Cardinal Jules Mazarin arrived too late. Cardinal Mazarin (of Italian origin) after the death of Cardinal Richelieu in 1642 replaced him as Prime Minister (the king - Louis XIV - was only a child).
The new pope, who called himself Pope Innocent X, immediately charged the Barberini with misappropriation of funds and the two cardinals fled to France, where Cardinal Mazarin granted them protection; the pope however needed the help of Cardinal Mazarin to ensure the Church had a say in the peace agreements which ended the Thirty Years' War. The Barberini were allowed to return to Rome and they were given back their benefits; in addition the pope gave the cardinal's hat to Mazarin's brother.
The Peace of Westphalia which in 1648 put an end to the war saw the birth of the modern European sovereign-states: it confirmed that each prince would have the right to determine the religion (Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism) of his own state (cuius religio, eius religio, a principle stated in 1555 at the Peace of Augsburg), but it allowed those who practiced a faith different from the chosen one to do this in private and to some extent in public. This meant that the European states were moving in the direction of becoming impartial towards their subjects' beliefs, something which in Europe was new after Emperor Theodosius declared in 392 the Christian faith (in its Nicene creed) the sole religion of the Roman Empire.
The outcome of the Peace of Westphalia was very disappointing for Pope Innocent X who vainly condemned the parts of the agreements which stated the end of the universal role of the Church.
In 1645, profiting by the conflict among the European powers, Sultan Ibrahim sent an army to invade Crete: the Ottomans rapidly occupied most of the island and in 1647 they laid siege to its capital Candia. Venice was left alone in the fight to retain its possession.
(a sinistra) Cupola di S. Ivo alla Sapienza; (a destra) SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio: particolare della facciata.
Bernini era così strettamente associato a Papa Urbano VIII e in generale ai Barberini che egli cadde in disgrazia col nuovo papa: la maniera in cui aveva condotto la costruzione del primo dei due campanili di S. Pietro fu la causa della sua rimozione da capo della Fabbrica di S. Pietro. La costruzione del campanile dovette essere interrotta per lo sprofondamento del terreno: Bernini fu accusato di non avere le necessarie competenze tecniche e dovette pagare i costi di demolizione.
Il favore del papa cadde su Francesco Borromini e Alessandro Algardi: the former decorated S. Ivo alla Sapienza with the dove, the heraldic symbol of the Pamphilj (but the very unusual dome and spire of the church are said to represent the lower part and the sting of a gigantic Barberini bee), the latter was entrusted with the design of Villa Pamphilj. Bernini turned to private commissions and he designed Cappella Cornaro, where he personally portrayed St Teresa in her most dramatic vision.
Cardinal Mazarin commissioned a new façade for SS. Vincenzo e Anastasio, where he wanted his gigantic coat of arms to be placed, as if to highlight his power.
In 1649 King Philip IV of Spain sent Diego Velazquez, his court painter, to Italy to buy paintings done by the Italian masters: after travelling through Genova, Venice, Milan and Modena the painter arrived in Rome where the pope commissioned him a portrait which is regarded as the masterpiece of the Doria-Pamphilj collection.
Il Giubileo del 1650
As a reaction to the disappointing results of the Peace of Westphalia, Pope Innocent X thought to at least fully restore papal authority in his own state: he reopened the confrontation with the Farnese and sent an army to occupy the Duchy of Castro: to cancel even its memory the town of Castro was levelled to the ground: this time the Farnese did not find support from France or from the other Italian states and they had to give up their rights on the Duchy.
Pope Innocent X favoured his relatives but he did not find among them the person who could help him in running the state: he ended up by relying on the advice of Olimpia Maidalchini, widow of one of his brothers. Her son Camillo was appointed cardinal but he was not prepared to lead an ecclesiastical life and he asked his uncle to allow him to return to lay condition: he then married Olimpia Aldobrandini who brought to the Pamphilj the palace now known as Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj. The two Olimpias did not get along and the pope had to intervene to stop their quarrels: it was because of a quarrel with the pope that Olimpia Maidalchini retired for a while to S. Martino al Cimino, a small town she entirely renovated. She became the subject of many satires posted on the talking statues of Rome.
According to the tradition she was so greedy that at the death of the pope on January 7, 1655 she was so busy plundering the papal apartment of its treasures that she did not care of arranging his burial.
(a sinistra) S. Giovanni in Laterano: decorazione a stucco di Francesco Borromini; (a destra) Fontana del Moro particolare della statua di Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Il Giubileo del 1625 was a low key event because of the Thirty Years' War; Pope Innocent X was determined to take advantage of the restored peace to ensure the success of the 1650 Jubilee: he therefore asked Francesco Borromini to restore the nave of S. Giovanni in Laterano, while Carlo Rainaldi, a young architect who played a major role in the second half of the XVIIth century, completed Michelangelo's design for Piazza del Campidoglio.
The pope combined the objective of embellishing Rome for the Jubilee with his family's interest. The Pamphilj owned most of the buildings surrounding Piazza Navona, the site of the fruit and vegetables market: the pope ordered the relocation of the market to Campo de' Fiori and planned the redesign of the whole area: Borromini was involved in the renovation of the existing church and of the family palace. During the pontificate of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-85) Piazza Navona was provided with three fountains for the needs of the market; their design was very simple and Pope Innocent X wanted something more imposing for his piazza. Bernini was not invited to submit a project, but he managed to have a silver model shown to Olimpia Maidalchini, who in turn showed it to the pope who immediately approved it. The fountain is now known as Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi; Bernini thought to add three dolphins in one of the other fountains, but Donna Olimpia (as she was usually called) wanted them for her villa and Bernini replaced them with a very dramatic statue portraying a naked black man (il Moro = the Moor). Bernini was also commissioned by the pope a palace for his niece who had married a Ludovisi: the palace, which was completed many years later by Carlo Fontana, is now known as Palazzo di Montecitorio.
Pope Innocent X provided Rome with a very modern prison: Carceri Nuove replaced the infamous prison of Tor di Nona, near Ponte degli Angeli. During his pontificate Francesco Borromini worked also at Oratorio dei Filippini, Palazzo Falconieri and S. Maria dei Sette Dolori.
(a sinistra e al centro) S. Agnese in Agone:
cupola e campanile; (a destra) S. Andrea delle Fratte
punta del campanile. Furono entrambe progettate da Francesco Borromini
durante il pontificato di Papa Innocenzo X, ma furono completate dopo la morte del papa.
Iconografia
I seguenti link a pagine esterne al sito mostrano opere d'arte che ritraggono
personaggi ed eventi menzionati in questa pagina:
Papa Urbano VIII, ritratto di Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1632) - Palazzo Barberini
- Rome.
Galileo
Galilei sketch by Guido Reni (1575-1642).
Galileo
Galilei al tribunale dell'Inquisizione di Nicolò Barabino (1832-91) - Palazzo Celesia- Genova.
Cardinal
Mazarino di Philippe de Champagne (1602-74).
Olimpia
Maidalchini busto di Alessandro Algardi (1647) - Galleria Doria Pamphilj - Roma.
Papa Innocenzo X
ritratto di Diego Velazquez (1650) - Galleria Doria Pamphilj - Roma.
