Walks in Rome. Augustus J. C. HareЧитать онлайн книгу.
century, by Martin V., and continued at various later periods. Julius II. at one time made it his residence, and also Cardinal (afterwards San Carlo) Borromeo. Part of it is now the residence of the French ambassadors. The palace is built very near the site of the ancient fortress of the Colonna family—so celebrated in times of mediæval warfare with the Orsini—of which one lofty tower still remains, in a street leading up to the Quirinal.
The Gallery is shown every day, except Sundays and holidays, from 11 to 3. It is entered by the left wing. The first room is a fine, gloomy old hall, containing the family dais, and hung with decaying Colonna portraits. Then come three rooms covered with tapestries, the last containing a pretty statue of a girl, sometimes called Niobe. Hence we reach the pictures. The 1st Room has an interesting collection of the early schools, including Madonnas of Filippo Lippi; Luca Longhi; Botticelli; Gentile da Fabriano; Innocenza da Imola; a curious Crucifixion, by Jacopo d'Avanzo; and a portrait by Giovanni Sanzio, father of Raphael.
The ceiling of the 3rd Room has a fresco, by Battoni and Luti, of the apotheosis of Martin V. (Oddone Colonna, 1417—24). Among its pictures, are St. Bernard, Giovanni Bellini; Onuphrius Pavinius, Titian; Holy Family, Bronzino; Peasant dining, Annibale Caracci; St. Jerome, Spagna; Portrait, Paul Veronese; Holy Family, Bonifazio.
Hence we enter the Great Hall, a truly grand room, hung with mirrors and painted with flowers by Mario de' Fiori, and with genii by Maratta. The statues here are unimportant. The ceiling is adorned with paintings, by Coli and Gherardi, of the battle of Lepanto, Oct. 8, 1571, which Marc-Antonio Colonna assisted in gaining. The best pictures are the family portraits:—Federigo Colonna, Sustermanns; Don Carlo Colonna, Vandyke; Card. Pompeio Colonna, Lorenzo Lotto; Vittoria Colonna, Muziano; Lucrezia Colonna, Vandyke; Pompeio Colonna, Agostino Caracci; Giacomo Sciarra Colonna, Giorgione. We may also notice an extraordinary picture of the Madonna rescuing a child from a demon, by Niccolo d'Alunno, with a double portrait, by Tintoret, on the right wall, and a Holy Family of Palma Vecchio at the end of the gallery. Near the entrance are some glorious old cabinets, inlaid with ivory and lapis-lazuli. On the steps leading to the upper end of the hall is a bomb left on the spot where it fell during the siege of Rome in 1848.
(Through the palace access may be obtained to the beautiful Colonna Gardens; but as they are generally visited from the Quirinal, they will be noticed in the description of that hill.)
"On parle d'un Pierre Colonna, dépouillé de tous ses biens en 1100 par le pape Pascal II. Il fallait que la famille fût déjà passablement ancienne, car les grandes fortunes ne s'élèvent pas en un jour."—About.
"Si n'etoit le différent des Ursins et des Colonnois (Orsini and Colonna) la terre de l'Eglise seroit la plus heureuse habitation pour les subjects, qui soit en tout le monde."—Philippe de Comines. 1500.
"Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s' appoggia
Nostra speranza, e'l gran nome Latino,
Ch'ancor non torte del vero cammino
L'ira di Giove per ventosa pioggia."
Petrarca, Sonnetto X.
Adjoining the Palazzo Colonna is the fine Church of the Santi Apostoli, founded in the sixth century, rebuilt by Martin V., in 1420, and modernized, c. 1602, by Fontana. The portico contains a magnificent bas-relief of an eagle and an oak-wreath (frequently copied and introduced in architectural designs).
"Entrez sous la portique de l'église des Saints-Apôtres, et vous trouverez là, encadré par hasard dans le mur, un aigle qu'entoure une couronne d'un magnifique travail. Vous reconnaîtrez facilement dans cet aigle et cette couronne la représentation d'une ensigne romaine, telle que les bas-reliefs de la colonne Trajane vous en ont montré plusieurs; seulement ce qui était là en petit est ici en grand."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 168.
Also in the portico, is a monument, by Canova, to Volpato, the engraver. Over the sacristy door is the tomb of Pope Clement XIV. (Giov. Antonio Ganganelli, 1769–74), also by Canova, executed in his twenty-fifth year.
"La mort de Clément XIV. est du 22 Septembre, 1774. A cette époque, Alphonse de Liguori était évêque de Sainte-Agathe des Goths, au royaume de Naples. Le 22 Septembre, au matin, l'évêque tomba dans une espèce de sommeil léthargique après avoir dit la messe, et, pendant vingt-quatre heures, il demeura sans mouvement dans son fauteuil. Ses serviteurs s'étonnant de cet état, le lendemain, avec lui:—'Vous ne savez pas, leur dit-il, que j'ai assisté le pape qui vient de mourir.' Peu après, la nouvelle du décès de Clément arriva à Sainte Agathe."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 362.
In 1873 the traditional grave of St. Philip and St. James, the "Apostoli" to whom this church is dedicated, was opened during its restoration. Two bodies were found, enclosed in a sarcophagus of beautiful transparent marble, and have been duly enshrined. In the choir are monuments of the fifteenth century, to two relations of Pope Sixtus IV., Pietro Riario, and Cardinal Raffaelo Riario. To the right is the tomb of the Chevalier Girard, brother-in-law of Pope Julius II., and maître d'hôtel to Charles VIII. and Louis XII. of France. The tomb of Cardinal Bessarion was removed from the church, in 1702, to the cloisters of the adjoining Convent, which is the residence of the General of the Order of "Minori Conventuali" (Black Friars). The altar-piece represents the martyrdom of SS. Philip and James, by Muratori.
The heart of Maria Clementina Sobieski (buried in St. Peter's), wife of James III., called the First Pretender, is also preserved here, as is shown by a Latin inscription.
"Le roi d'Angleterre est devot a l'excès; sa matinée se passe en prières aux Saints-Apôtres, près du tombeau de sa femme."—De Brosses, 1739.
In 1552 this church was remarkable for the sermons of the monk Felix Peretti, afterwards Sixtus V.
"Suivant un manuscrit de la bibliothèque Alfieri, un jour, pendant qu'il était dans la chaire des Saints-Apôtres, un billet cacheté lui fut remis; Frère Félix l'ouvre et y lit, en face d'un certain nombre de propositions que l'on disait être extraites de ses discours, ce mot écrit en gros caractères: Mentiris (tu mens). Le fougueux orateur eut peine à contenir son émotion; il termina son sermon en quelques paroles, et courut au palais de l'Inquisition présenter le billet mystérieux, et demander qu'on examinât scrupuleusement sa doctrine. Cet examen lui fut favorable, et il lui valut l'amitié du grand inquisiteur, Michael Ghislieri, qui comprit aussitôt tout le parti qu'on pouvait tirer d'un homme dont les moindres actions étaient empreintes d'une inébranlable force de caractère."—Gournerie.
In this church is buried the young Countess Savorelli, the story of whose love, misfortunes, and death, has been celebrated by About, under the name of Tolla (the Lello of the story having been one of the Doria-Pamfili family).
"The convent which Tolla had sanctified by her death sent three embassies in turn to beg to preserve her relics: already the people spoke of her as a saint. But Count Feraldi (Savorelli) considered that it was due to his honour and to his vengeance to bear her remains with pomp to the tomb of his family. He had sufficient influence to obtain that for which permission is not granted once in ten years: the right of transporting her uncovered, upon a bed of white velvet, and of sparing her the horrors of a coffin. The beloved remains were wrapped in the white muslin robe which she wore in the garden on the day when she exchanged her sweet vows with Lello. The Marchesa Trasimeni, ill and wasted as she was, came herself to arrange her hair in the manner she loved. Every garden in Rome despoiled itself to send her its flowers; it was only necessary to choose. The funeral procession quitted the church of S. Antonio Abbate on Thursday evening at 7.30 for the Santi Apostoli, where the Feraldis are buried. The body was preceded by a long file of the black and white confraternities, each bearing its banner. The red light of the torches played upon the countenance of the beautiful dead, and seemed to animate her afresh. The piazza was filled with a dense and closely packed but dumb crowd; no discordant sound troubled the grief of the relations and friends of Tolla, who wept together at the Palazzo Feraldi. …
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