LA PERDITA DELLA LEADERSHIP NELLE ARTI
| 1648 - L'assassinio del vescovo Giarda
1651-'59 le avvelenatrici di Campo de' Fiori |
In questa pagina:
Papa Alessandro VII
Bernini a Parigi
Papa Clemente IX
Papa Clemente X
Papa Innocenzo XI
Papa Alessandro VIII
Iconografia
Papa Alessandro VII
Il conclave che seguì alla morte di Papa Innocenzo
X on January 7, 1655 was a very lengthy one; it started on January 18
and it ended on April 7 with the election of Cardinal Fabio Chigi. He was
born in Siena and he chose to be called Pope Alexander VII as a tribute to
Pope
Alexander III, who was born in Siena too.
His election was favoured
by Spain and opposed by France: the hostility of Cardinal Jules
Mazarin, the French Prime Minister, and after his death in 1661, that
of King Louis XIV marked the whole pontificate of Pope Alexander
VII.
La famiglia Chigi acquistò grande ricchezza quando Agostino Chigi divenne il banchiere di
Papa Giulio II:
the two were on very friendly terms and the pope allowed the banker to add
to the mountains of his
coat of arms the oak which was the pope's heraldic symbol. At first
Pope Alexander VII refrained from assigning positions to his relatives,
but in 1656 he changed his mind: the Romans saw so many relatives of the
pope come to Rome that Pasquino, one of the talking statues of
Rome, spoke of a procession.
On Christmas Day 1655 the pope
welcomed outside Porta del
Popolo the arrival of Queen Christina of Sweden: she was the daughter
of King
Gustavus Adolphus who led the Protestant armies in the Thirty
Years' War and died in 1632 at the Battle of Lutzen; she came to Rome
to convert to Catholicism: although she had abdicated the throne of
Sweden, the pope hoped this event could lead to more important
developments. He was soon disappointed by the Queen because she plotted
with Cardinal Mazarin to acquire Naples for herself to the detriment of
Spain, the country who had supported the election of the pope.
In 1659
Pope Alexander VII issued a bull which reserved access to the highest
positions of the ecclesiastical career to those who could claim a noble
origin: this decision favoured in the long run the election of popes
coming from minor noble families of the Papal State: eight out of ten
popes between 1740 and 1903 belonged to the provincial aristocracy. It is
estimated that 60% of the cardinals during that period were relatives of
another cardinal.
S. Maria della Pace:
particolare del ritratto del papa e dei suoi simboli araldici
Pope Alexander VII underlined his links with the
Della Rovere popes (Sixtus IV and
Julius II) by adding a Baroque finishing to two churches founded by Pope
Sixtus IV inside which the Chigi had a family chapel: Bernini modified the
façade of S. Maria del
Popolo, renovated its interior and completed the family chapel
following Raphael's original design; Pietro da Cortona worked at providing
S. Maria della Pace
with an easier access by enlarging the square in front of the church and
by designing a new façade; he also designed a new façade for S. Maria in Via
Lata.
Bernini had during the pontificate of Alexander VII the same
artistic supremacy he enjoyed during that of Pope Urban
VIII; the pope asked him to assist Carlo Rainaldi in designing S. Maria in Montesanto and S.
Maria dei Miracoli and to supervise a group of sculptors in erecting
monuments to the popes from Siena in the cathedral of that town. Bernini
was also commissioned the family palace now known as Palazzo Odescalchi and
churches at Ariccia
(S. Maria dell'Assunzione and S. Maria di Galloro) and at Castelgandolfo
(S. Tommaso da Villanova). Other tasks given to Bernini were the clearing
of Piazza del Pantheon
from adjoining buildings, new portals in Spedale di S. Spirito in
Sassia, the enlargement of Palazzo del Quirinale
along Strada Pia and the monument for the obelisk in Piazza della
Minerva. The Jesuits were highly regarded by the pope and for them
Bernini designed S. Andrea al
Quirinale.
Francesco Borromini, the other leading architect of this
period built the Chapel
of the Magi in Collegio di Propaganda Fide and he completed his
restoration of Battistero
Lateranense; apart from the small chapel called S. Giovanni in Oleo and
Cappella Spada he did
not receive other important commissions and this played a role in his
decision to commit suicide in 1667.
Pope Alexander VII promoted the
construction of S. Maria in
Campitelli designed by Carlo Rainaldi and S. Rita da Cascia,
designed by Carlo Fontana, a young architect whose early career was
favoured by Bernini. The pope took care of restoring several fountains: in
Piazza
dell'Aracoeli, near Palazzo
Mattei and at Acqua
Acetosa. Other initiatives taken by the pope were related to the
enlargement of Via del Corso where he pulled down Arco di Portogallo, the
institution of Biblioteca
Alessandrina e lo scavo e il restauro della Piramide di Caio
Cestio, forse il primo scavpo archeologico della storia.
Bernini a Parigi
Cardinal Mazarin did not send a
French ambassador to Rome, as a sign of hostility towards the pope; after
the cardinal's death, King Louis XIV decided to make a gesture of good
will and sent to Rome the Duke of Crequy who established his residence in
Palazzo Farnese, which
belonged to the Duke of Parma, a traditional ally of France. In June 1662
the ambassador came with a large retinue of assistants and servants,
escorted by 200 guards; he requested diplomatic immunity not only for his
residence, but also for a large area around it: in August a brawl between
papal and French soldiers broke out near Palazzo Farnese: it soon
developed into a fight during which gunshots were discharged: a French
page was killed.
The papal government apologized for the incident, but
King Louis XIV recalled his ambassador and in retaliation occupied Avignone and
the other papal possessions in France. Pope Alexander VII regained Avignon
only after accepting the humiliating terms of the 1664 Peace of Pisa,
which provided for the erection in Rome of a monument with an inscription
apologizing for the killing of the page (it was removed a few years
later). The hard stance of King Louis XIV had deeper political objectives
than retaliating for an incident; at the request of Venice Pope Alexander
VII asked the Christian nations to help the Republic in the defence di Candia,
which was under siege by the Ottomans. These appeals caused embarrassment
to King Louis XIV, because France, although being a traditional ally of
Venice, relied very much on the Ottomans to contain the expansion of the
Austrian Empire: the event at Palazzo Farnese gave the king the
opportunity for watering down the papal requests.
The support the pope
gave to Venice was not entirely disinterested: in 1665 the Republic had to
accept the return of the Jesuits, who had been banned in
1607.
Piazza S. Pietro on Palm
Sunday 2007 (early morning): (left) entrance to the colonnade; (right)
central part of the square.
Verso la fine del XVII secolo la Francia divenne the leading European country in artistic and more broadly
cultural matters. A symbol of this change of leadership from Rome to Paris
can be seen in Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 1665 journey to Paris: he was called
there by King Louis XIV who wanted him to design the main façade of the
great carrè du Louvre of which three sides had already been completed. It
was an offer Bernini, then aged 67, could not refuse: the invitation to
Paris seemed to Pope Alexander VII an occasion to improve relations which
could not be missed.
Bernini was very well received; among those who
felt honoured to meet him and to have the opportunity to eye his plans
there was Christopher Wren, a young architect who was to play a great role
in the artistic development of his country. Bernini had already proposed
two projects for the Louvre façade and while in Paris he developed a third
one. Once back in Rome he further modified it to take into account
comments from French architects and from Jean Baptiste Colbert, the
powerful minister of the king. During his stay in Paris, Bernini had to
show also his skills as a sculptor: in addition to an extraordinary bust
of the king, he designed an equestrian statue of Louis XIV portrayed as a
Roman emperor: he indicated that the statue should be placed on high
ground.
Bernini spent five months (June - October) in Paris; upon his
return to Rome he learnt that the king's interest for the Louvre was
fading, as he became keener on developing his new residence in Versailles:
Bernini's project for the Louvre was shelved, his equestrian statue ended
up in the gardens of Versailles and was regarded as portraying Marcus Curtius, a
mythological hero of ancient Rome.
King Louis XIV was determined to
promote French architects and artists: several initiatives went in the
same direction: in 1666 the king founded in Rome the French Academy where
young French artists were sent to study the monuments of ancient Rome; a
few years later he ordered two plaster casts of the reliefs of Colonna Traiana, one for the students of the academy in Rome and one to be
brought to Paris again for study reasons. The king promoted the
development of a national music by supporting Jean-Baptiste Lully, an
Italian-born composer who is regarded as the founder of French opera.
Strong economic reasons were behind the decline of Rome and the growth
of Paris: the popes had drained all the resources of their state to pour
them into the embellishment of Rome: Pope Alexander VII left to his
successors a very difficult financial situation which led to a dramatic
containment of all expenditures. King Louis XIV started in Versailles a
similar cycle of great investments, thus laying down the basis for the
cultural supremacy France enjoyed in the following centuries.
At the
time of Bernini's journey to Paris, however, few thought Rome was going to
lose its leadership: Pope Alexander VII was close to seeing the
accomplishment of his most cherished project: the square in front of St
Peter's, Bernini's masterpiece as an architect: even in the late XVIIIth
century, when this artist was regarded as the champion of decadent bad
taste, Neoclassicist critics praised the solemn yet simple design of
Piazza S. Pietro. The image which appears in the background of this page
is a XVIIth century sketch of a medal celebrating the event and showing
that the original project foresaw just one fountain and the partial
closure of the square by a third colonnade.
Bernini's involvement in St
Peter's during the pontificate of Alexander VII included also Scala Regia
and the Chair of St Peter (the decoration of the apse).
Pope Clement IX
The
cardinals who met in conclave in June 1667 to elect the successor
of Pope Alexander VII looked for a man who could restore good relations
with France, without upsetting Spain: their choice fell on Cardinal Giulio
Rospigliosi from Pistoia, a town near Florence. He became Pope Clement IX
and he showed his clement attitude by reducing taxation, visiting the
sick, helping the poor and sparing the Jews from having to race during the
Roman Carnival.
Pope Clement IX was moderate in helping his relatives;
the Rospigliosi did not became one of the most important Roman families;
they managed however to acquire the fief of Zagarolo e Palazzo Rospigliosi.
Relations with France improved and King Louis XIV
agreed to send some troops to Candia; Pope Clement IX was able to
negotiate a peace agreement in the War of Devolution which involved
France, Spain, England, Sweden and the United Provinces (Netherlands). He
also eased the tensions within the French church.
It is said that the
death of the pope was caused by his grief over the surrender of Candia in
September 1669.
Ponte S. Angelo:
details
Papa Clemente IX praised a project by Bernini for
building a new gigantic
apse in S. Maria Maggiore, but he preferred to delay a decision in the
light of the poor financial situation of the Papal State.
The pope's
name is mainly associated with the ten statues of angels by Bernini and
his associates which were placed on Ponte S. Angelo. Durante il suo
pontificato Pietro da Cortona progettò S. Carlo al Corso, suo ultimo lavoro.
Papa Clemente X
Il conclave which followed the
death of Pope Clement IX was again a very long one because Spain and
France were not prepared to accept a pope other than their candidate: four
candidates were vetoed by the ambassadors of the two countries; after more
than four months of debates, the cardinals decided to elect Cardinal
Emilio Altieri: he was 80 and he had spent many years in Poland without
being involved in one way or another with France and Spain so the
ambassadors of these two countries had no reason to oppose his election.
He took the name of Pope Clement X as a sign of gratitude for his
predecessor who appointed him cardinal just before his death.
The new
pope's poor health soon forced him to leave the administration of the
Papal State to Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi; a niece of the pope had married
Paluzzo Albertoni, a nephew of the cardinal; the Paluzzi-Albertoni added
to their name that of the pope and the palace they built near il Gesù was called Palazzo Altieri, as were
their Roman villa and
their palaces at Oriolo
Romano and at (Canale)
Monterano.
Papa Clemente X was snubbed by King Louis XIV, who in the
light of a forthcoming new conclave put pressure on the pope to
appoint cardinals designated by him; the pope concentrated his attention
on Poland and the Ottoman threat; he financially supported John Sobiesky,
a Polish commander who in 1673 defeated the Ottomans on the Dniester River
and who was elected king in 1674. Another indication of the pope's
attitude was the canonization of Pope Pius V,
the pope of the Christian victoria Cristaiana a Lepanto.
Gian Battista Gaulli, il Baciccio:
(a sinistra) particolare del dipinto nella Cappella Albertoni in
S. Francesco a Ripa; (a destra) particolare del soffitto de il
Gesù.
The 1675 Jubilee Year was a minor event when
compared to those of the past: the project Bernini had made for the apse of S. Maria
Maggiore was abandoned in favour of a much less expensive one by Carlo
Rainaldi.
Bernini worked for the pope by designing the pavement of St Peter's
portico and at Monterano: his most important commission during this
period was Cappella Albertoni, where he availed himself of the assistance
of Giovan Battista Gaulli, a young Genoese painter known as il
Baciccio; il Baciccio (supported by Bernini) was commissioned
the ceiling of il Gesù, one of the most remarkable Baroque paintings.
Pope Innocent XI
On August 2, 1676 the cardinals met to elect the
successor to Pope Clement X; a large majority of them were in favour of
Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi who became Pope Innocent XI only on
September 21, when France lifted the veto on his name which had stopped
his election in the previous conclave.
The new pope was
determined to reduce the large budget deficit he had inherited from his
predecessors: in a matter of few years he achieved his objective and even
managed to have a budget surplus.
Relations with France soon
deteriorated: King Louis XIV put pressure on the French clergy to issue a
declaration stating that the pope had only a vague spiritual authority
over the Church: the pope refused to confirm the appointment of bishops
chosen by the king; the conflict grew to such a point that in 1688 French
troops occupied again Avignon and the nearby papal territories.
Spain
was gradually losing ground in the European political scene, so the pope
looked elsewhere to show the Catholic Church had still a political role to
play. In 1682 some Hungarian noblemen who nourished strong anti-Habsburg,
anti-Catholic feelings sought Ottoman help in establishing an independent
Hungarian kingdom under the sultan's suzerainty. France acted behind the
scenes to support the revolt and the Ottoman intervention. Pope Innocent
XI was able to financially support the Habsburgs: l'assedio di Vienna by the
Ottomans ended in defeat: the event marked the beginning of a strong
alliance between the popes and the Austrian emperors.
In 1684 the
Holy League promoted by the pope (Austrian Empire, Poland and the
Republic of Venice) attacked the Ottoman possessions north of the Danube
and in the Peloponnese (read a short
account of the Venetian role in the war); in 1686 the Russian Empire
joined the alliance; the Ottoman Empire never recovered from the
territorial losses suffered during this war.
S. Marcello:
details.
L'austero stile di vita di Papa Innocenzo XI meant that
he was not willing to promote the embellishment of Rome as much as his
predecessors; his coat of arms can be found only on very minor initiatives
(Cappella dell'Arco
Oscuro, an addition to Collegio de' Neofiti, a
restoration of Ponte
Quattro Capi).
The main works of art of his pontificate are due to
rich families and to religious orders; in 1678 Bernini completed for the
Chigi the Monument to
Pope Alexander VII, his last work; Andrea Pozzo painted the cupola di S. Ignazio; Carlo Fontana became the leading architect: he built the
facciata di S.
Margherita e quella di S.
Marcello che è considerata il suo capolavoro.
Pope Alessandro VIII
At the 1689 conclave the cardinals had to
take into account the views of the Austrian Emperor's ambassador in
addition to those of the French and Spanish ones; after two months of
debate they elected Cardinal Alessandro Ottoboni, who chose to be called
Pope Alexander VIII, maybe because Cardinal Flavio Chigi, nephew of Pope
Alexander VII, favoured his election.
His pontificate lasted only 16
months, enough however to abandon the austere lifestyle introduced by his
predecessor: he reopened the theatres and the traditional Carnival
celebrations.
He appointed cardinal his nephew Pietro who was just 22;
this young man was fond of gambling and parties, but his uncle had no
reservations about providing him with large amounts of money taken from
the public finances.
As a gesture of good will King Louis XIV withdrew
his troops from Avignon, but Pope Alexander VIII did not greatly soften
the hard stance taken by Pope Innocent XI; he also continued to support
the Republic of Venice in the war in Greece.
Papa Alessandro VIII did not have enough time to make his
contribution to the embellishment of Rome; a parte l'acquisizione della biblioteca che
la Regina Christina di Svezia aveva nella sua residenza a Palazzo Riario (Corsini),
è ricordato solo per l'incarico dato a Carlo Fontana di ridisegnare la vasca dell'Acqua Paola.
Iconografia
I seguenti link a pagine esterne al sito mostrano opere d'arte che ritraggono
personaggi ed eventi menzionati in questa pagina:
King
Louis XIV by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1665) - Musée National de
Versailles - Versailles.
King Louis
XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) - Louvre - Paris.
Pope
Alexander VII by Gian Battista Gaulli il Baciccio (1639 - 1709).
Gian
Lorenzo Bernini by Gian Battista Gaulli il Baciccio (1665) - Galleria
di Palazzo Barberini - Rome.
Pope
Clement IX by Gian Battista Gaulli il Baciccio (1639 - 1709) -
Galleria di Palazzo Barberini - Rome.
Garbo as Queen
Christina of Sweden.
La Regina Christina di
Svezia di Sebastien Bourdon (1652) - Nationalmuseum - Stockholm.
