Walks in Rome. Augustus J. C. HareЧитать онлайн книгу.
de bijoux anciens de toutes les époques, depuis les origines de l'Etrurie jusqu'au siècle de Constantin. C'est la source où Castellani puise les éléments d'un art nouveau qui détrônera avant dix ans la pacotille du Palais-Royal."—About, Rome Contemporaine.
"C'est en s'inspirant des parures retrouvées dans les tombes de l'Etrurie, des bracelets et des colliers dont se paraient les femmes étrusques et sabines, que M. Castellani, guidé par le goût savant et ingénieux d'un homme qui porte dignement l'ancien nom de Caetani, a introduit dans la bijouterie un style à la fois classique et nouveau. Parmi les artistes les plus originaux de Rome sont certainement les orfèvres Castellani et D. Miguele Caetani, duc de Sermoneta."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 388.
The Palazzo Sciarra (on left of the Corso), built in 1603 by Labacco, contains a gallery of pictures. Its six celebrated gems are marked with an asterisk. We may notice:—
1st Room.— 5. Death of St. John Baptist: Valentin. 13. Holy Family: Innocenza da Imola. 15. Rome Triumphant: Valentin. 20. Madonna: Titian. 23. Sta. Francesca Romana: Carlo Veneziano.
2nd Room.— 17. Flight into Egypt: Claude Lorrain. 18. Sunset: Claude Lorrain.
3rd Room.— 6. Holy Family: Francia. 9. Boar Hunt: Garofalo. 11. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto. 17. A Monk led by an Angel to the Heavenly Spheres: Gaudenzio Ferrari. 26. The Vestal Claudia drawing a boat with the statue of Ceres up the Tiber: Garofalo. 29. Tavern Scene: Teniers. 33. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael by Giulio Romano. 36. Holy Family with Angels: Lucas Cranach, 1504.
4th Room.— 1. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo.*
"The glow and freshness of colouring in this admirable painting, the softness of the skin, the beauty and sweetness of the expression, the look with which the mother's eyes are bent upon the baby she holds in her arms, and the innocent fondness with which the other child gazes up in her face, are worthy of the painter whose works Raphael delighted to study, and from which, in a great measure, he formed his principles of colouring."—Eaton's Rome.
5. St. John the Evangelist: Guercino. 6. The Violin Player (Andrea Marone?): Raphael.*
"The Violin Player is a youth holding the bow of a violin and a laurel wreath in his hand, and looking at the spectators over his shoulder. The expression of his countenance is sensible and decided, and betokens a character alive to the impressions of sense, yet severe. The execution is excellent—inscribed with the date 1518."—Kugler.
7. St. Mark: Guercino. 8. Daughter of Herodias: Guercino. 12. Conjugal Love: Agostino Caracci. 16. The Gamblers: Caravaggio.*
"This is a masterpiece of the painter. A sharper is playing at cards with a youth of family and fortune, whom his confederate, while pretending to be looking on, is assisting to cheat. The subject will remind you of the Flemish School, but this painting bears no resemblance to it. Here is no farce, no caricature. Character was never more strongly marked, nor a tale more inimitably told. It is life itself, and you almost forget it is a picture, and expect to see the game go on. The colouring is beyond all praise."—Eaton's Rome.
17. Modesty and Vanity: Leonardo da Vinci.*
"One of Leonardo's most beautiful pictures is in Rome, in the Sciarra Palace—two female half-figures of Modesty and Vanity. The former, with a veil over her head, is a particularly pleasing, noble profile, with a clear, open expression; she beckons to her sister, who stands fronting the spectator, beautifully arrayed, and with a sweet seducing smile. This picture is remarkably powerful in colouring, and wonderfully finished, but unfortunately has become rather dark in the shadows."—Kugler.
19. Magdalen: Guido Reni. 24. Family Portrait: Titian. 25. Portrait: Bronzino. 26. St. Sebastian: Perugino. 29. Bella Donna: Titian.*
Sometimes supposed to represent Donna Laura Eustachio, the peasant Duchess of Alphonso I. of Ferrara.
"When Titian or Tintoret look at a human being, they see at a glance the whole of its nature, outside and in; all that it has of form, of colour, of passion, or of thought; saintliness and loveliness; fleshly power, and spiritual power; grace, or strength, or softness, or whatsoever other quality, those men will see to the full, and so paint, that, when narrower people come to look at what they have done, every one may, if he chooses, find his own special pleasure in the work. The sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find thought; the saint, sanctity; the colourist, colour; the anatomist, form; and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone consulted, as that the qualities which would ensure their gratification shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the presence of the other qualities, which ensure the gratification of other men. … Only there is a strange undercurrent of everlasting murmur about the name of Titian, which means the deep consent of all great men that he is greater than they."—Ruskin's Two Paths, Lect. 2.
31. Death of the Virgin: Albert Durer. 32. Maddalena della Radice: Guido Reni.*
"The two Magdalens by Guido are almost duplicates, and yet one is incomparably superior to the other. She is reclining on a rock, and her tearful and uplifted eyes, the whole of her countenance and attitude, speak the overwhelming sorrow that penetrates her soul. Her face might charm the heart of a stoic; and the contrast of her youth and enchanting loveliness, with the abandonment of grief, the resignation of all earthly hope, and the entire devotion of herself to penitence and heaven, is most affecting."—Eaton's Rome.[11]
Near the Piazza Sciarra, the Corso (as Via Flaminia) was formerly spanned by the Arch of Claudius, removed in 1527. Some reliefs from this arch are preserved in the portico of the Villa Borghese, and though much mutilated are of fine workmanship. The inscription, which commemorated the erection of the arch in honour of the conquest of Britain, is preserved in the courtyard of the Barberini Palace.
On the right of the Piazza Sciarra is the Via della Caravita, containing the small but popular Church of the Caravita,[12] used for the peculiar religious exercises of the Jesuits, especially for their terrible Lenten "flagellation" services, which are one of the most extraordinary sights afforded by Catholic Rome.
"The ceremony of pious whippings, one of the penances of the convents, still takes place at the time of vespers in the oratory of the Padre Caravita and in another church in Rome. It is preceded by a short exhortation, during which a bell rings, and whips, that is, strings of knotted whipcord, are distributed quietly amongst such of the audience as are on their knees in the nave. On a second bell, the candles are extinguished—a loud voice issues from the altar, which pours forth an exhortation to think of unconfessed, or unrepented, or unforgiven crimes. This continues a sufficient time to allow the kneelers to strip off their upper garments; the tone of the preacher is raised more loudly at each word, and he vehemently exhorts his hearers to recollect that Christ and the martyrs suffered much more than whipping. 'Show, then, your penitence—show your sense of Christ's sacrifice—show it with the whip.' The flagellation begins. The darkness, the tumultuous sound of blows in every direction—'Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!' bursting out at intervals—the persuasion that you are surrounded by atrocious culprits and maniacs, who know of an absolution for every crime—so far from exciting a smile, fixes you to the spot in a trance of restless horror, prolonged beyond bearing. The scourging continues ten or fifteen minutes."—Lord Broughton.
"Each man on entering the church was supplied with a scourge. After a short interval the doors were barred, the lights extinguished; and from praying, the congregation proceeded to groaning, crying, and finally, being worked up into a kind of ecstatic fury, applied the scourge to their uncovered shoulders without mercy."—Whiteside's Italy in the Nineteenth Century.
Beyond the Caravita is the Church of S. Ignazio, built by Cardinal Ludovisi. The façade, of 1685, is by Algardi. It contains the tomb of Gregory XIV. (Nicolo Sfondrati, 1590—91), and that of S. Ludovico Gonzaga, both sculptured by Le Gros.