Renowned as the site of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s exuberant Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navo... more Renowned as the site of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s exuberant Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona in Rome is one of the most celebrated urban spaces in all of Italy and perhaps Europe. Despite its lasting fame, neither the uninitiated nor the specialist has been fully privy to the history of its remarkable transformation into a magnificent Baroque piazza in the mid-seventeenth century. In this first-ever comprehensive book on the architecture of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Stephanie Leone identifies the construction of this palace, built for Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644-55) and his sister-in-law, Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, as the catalyst for the renovation of Piazza Navona. Previously, misconceptions had hindered an accurate understanding of the palace’s history, architecture, patronage, and urbanism and of its place in architectural history. Based on extensive archival research, an analysis of the architectural drawings, and an examination of the building fabric, Leone presents a fundamentally revised building history that hinges on architectural collaboration between the patrons, architects, and architectural adviser. She explores the relationship between residential architecture and social identity to show that Innocent X sought to insert the Pamphilj physically and metaphorically into the heart of the city as a means of communicating his family’s preeminent position in the competitive world of papal Rome. In analyzing the Pamphilj’s residence in Piazza Navona over the course of two centuries, Leone argues that the Palazzo Pamphilj and its owners were both protagonists and products of their environs. As retold in this book, the story of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona rests at the core of architecture and urbanism in mid-seventeenth-century Rome.
This study employs network analysis and microhistory to challenge the standard narrative about ar... more This study employs network analysis and microhistory to challenge the standard narrative about architecture and patronage in Baroque Rome, that of celebrity patron-artist relationships. It inves- tigates the artists and artisans below this elite team and the plurality of relationships that developed among them. The subject is Innocent X Pamphilj’s monumental works of art and architecture, at the Vatican, Piazza Navona, Campidoglio, Lateran, and Janiculum Hill, commissioned for the 1650 Holy Year. It argues that competent artisans and their relationships influenced the operation of building sites and presents Innocent X as the patron of an industrious architectural enterprise.
Patrizia Tosini, Steven F. Ostrow, Chiara Franceschini, eds. Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome: Form, Function, Meaning. Milan: Officina Libraria., 2020
Entombed in Goa, India in 1554, Francis Xavier’s body was incorruptible and worked miracles as pr... more Entombed in Goa, India in 1554, Francis Xavier’s body was incorruptible and worked miracles as proof of his sanctity. In 1614, Xavier’s arm was amputated and sent to the Gesù in Rome to extend his cult to the Jesuits’ principal church. From 1672-84, the Chapel of Francis Xavier was created for the display of the precious relic. In this chapter, Leone and Fleming present their unique analysis of the function and meaning of the chapel as an integrated spatial environment, comprising the relic, reliquary, altarpiece, fresco paintings, metalwork, architecture, and polychrome stone. They propose that the chapel can only be understood through the analysis of the individual components in relationship to one another and the whole. Centered on the arm relic, the chapel persuasively verifies and celebrates the life, sanctity, and legacy of Francis Xavier.
This study began with the question: In 1866, how could an educated Bostonian have purchased as an... more This study began with the question: In 1866, how could an educated Bostonian have purchased as an original Raphael the painting of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist that now belongs to the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College? Through archival research on the provenance of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist and anthropologist Igor Kopytoff’s “biography of things” theory, the article reconstructs the biography of the painting, made in mid- to late eighteenth-century Verona, Italy, by Giuseppe or Giambettino Cignaroli. In the successive stages of its biography, the painting acquired new cultural “status” and was sold as a masterpiece of celebrated authorship in the nineteenth century. The biography of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist sheds new light on the art world of nineteenth-century Boston, leading to the conclusion that Bostonians lacked the visual resources to study Raphael’s oeuvre and to attribute a painting to this Renaissance master.
This study of Luca Berrettini’s career, testament, and posthumous inventory defines his work rela... more This study of Luca Berrettini’s career, testament, and posthumous inventory defines his work relationship to Pietro da Cortona more precisely and examines his contribution to the building of Baroque Rome more thoroughly than previous sources. Its conclusions expand our understanding of the operating procedures of Pietro da Cortona, the identity and work of Luca Berrettini, and the occupation of scalpellino-merchant. While closely connected to, and dependent upon, his more famous kinsman, Berrettini also acted independently to develop his professional and economic prospects by specializing in the carving of polychrome stone and diversifying into the stone market. His combination of technical acumen and intellectual capability enabled him to collaborate closely and continually in Cortona’s architecture and to design some independent works. The case of Berrettini demonstrates that boundaries between the professions in the building industry could be elided even though in theory the ability to design, which required intellect, separated architects from scalpellini.
This is the research report for my Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advan... more This is the research report for my Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Secular/Sacred: 11th–16th Century Works from the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Nancy Netzer, ed. Mc Mullen Museum of Art, Boston College and University of Chicago Press, 2006
Renowned as the site of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s exuberant Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navo... more Renowned as the site of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s exuberant Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona in Rome is one of the most celebrated urban spaces in all of Italy and perhaps Europe. Despite its lasting fame, neither the uninitiated nor the specialist has been fully privy to the history of its remarkable transformation into a magnificent Baroque piazza in the mid-seventeenth century. In this first-ever comprehensive book on the architecture of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Stephanie Leone identifies the construction of this palace, built for Pope Innocent X Pamphilj (1644-55) and his sister-in-law, Donna Olimpia Maidalchini, as the catalyst for the renovation of Piazza Navona. Previously, misconceptions had hindered an accurate understanding of the palace’s history, architecture, patronage, and urbanism and of its place in architectural history. Based on extensive archival research, an analysis of the architectural drawings, and an examination of the building fabric, Leone presents a fundamentally revised building history that hinges on architectural collaboration between the patrons, architects, and architectural adviser. She explores the relationship between residential architecture and social identity to show that Innocent X sought to insert the Pamphilj physically and metaphorically into the heart of the city as a means of communicating his family’s preeminent position in the competitive world of papal Rome. In analyzing the Pamphilj’s residence in Piazza Navona over the course of two centuries, Leone argues that the Palazzo Pamphilj and its owners were both protagonists and products of their environs. As retold in this book, the story of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona rests at the core of architecture and urbanism in mid-seventeenth-century Rome.
This study employs network analysis and microhistory to challenge the standard narrative about ar... more This study employs network analysis and microhistory to challenge the standard narrative about architecture and patronage in Baroque Rome, that of celebrity patron-artist relationships. It inves- tigates the artists and artisans below this elite team and the plurality of relationships that developed among them. The subject is Innocent X Pamphilj’s monumental works of art and architecture, at the Vatican, Piazza Navona, Campidoglio, Lateran, and Janiculum Hill, commissioned for the 1650 Holy Year. It argues that competent artisans and their relationships influenced the operation of building sites and presents Innocent X as the patron of an industrious architectural enterprise.
Patrizia Tosini, Steven F. Ostrow, Chiara Franceschini, eds. Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome: Form, Function, Meaning. Milan: Officina Libraria., 2020
Entombed in Goa, India in 1554, Francis Xavier’s body was incorruptible and worked miracles as pr... more Entombed in Goa, India in 1554, Francis Xavier’s body was incorruptible and worked miracles as proof of his sanctity. In 1614, Xavier’s arm was amputated and sent to the Gesù in Rome to extend his cult to the Jesuits’ principal church. From 1672-84, the Chapel of Francis Xavier was created for the display of the precious relic. In this chapter, Leone and Fleming present their unique analysis of the function and meaning of the chapel as an integrated spatial environment, comprising the relic, reliquary, altarpiece, fresco paintings, metalwork, architecture, and polychrome stone. They propose that the chapel can only be understood through the analysis of the individual components in relationship to one another and the whole. Centered on the arm relic, the chapel persuasively verifies and celebrates the life, sanctity, and legacy of Francis Xavier.
This study began with the question: In 1866, how could an educated Bostonian have purchased as an... more This study began with the question: In 1866, how could an educated Bostonian have purchased as an original Raphael the painting of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist that now belongs to the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College? Through archival research on the provenance of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist and anthropologist Igor Kopytoff’s “biography of things” theory, the article reconstructs the biography of the painting, made in mid- to late eighteenth-century Verona, Italy, by Giuseppe or Giambettino Cignaroli. In the successive stages of its biography, the painting acquired new cultural “status” and was sold as a masterpiece of celebrated authorship in the nineteenth century. The biography of the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist sheds new light on the art world of nineteenth-century Boston, leading to the conclusion that Bostonians lacked the visual resources to study Raphael’s oeuvre and to attribute a painting to this Renaissance master.
This study of Luca Berrettini’s career, testament, and posthumous inventory defines his work rela... more This study of Luca Berrettini’s career, testament, and posthumous inventory defines his work relationship to Pietro da Cortona more precisely and examines his contribution to the building of Baroque Rome more thoroughly than previous sources. Its conclusions expand our understanding of the operating procedures of Pietro da Cortona, the identity and work of Luca Berrettini, and the occupation of scalpellino-merchant. While closely connected to, and dependent upon, his more famous kinsman, Berrettini also acted independently to develop his professional and economic prospects by specializing in the carving of polychrome stone and diversifying into the stone market. His combination of technical acumen and intellectual capability enabled him to collaborate closely and continually in Cortona’s architecture and to design some independent works. The case of Berrettini demonstrates that boundaries between the professions in the building industry could be elided even though in theory the ability to design, which required intellect, separated architects from scalpellini.
This is the research report for my Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advan... more This is the research report for my Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Secular/Sacred: 11th–16th Century Works from the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Nancy Netzer, ed. Mc Mullen Museum of Art, Boston College and University of Chicago Press, 2006
The history of art and architecture in baroque Rome has essentially been told through singular re... more The history of art and architecture in baroque Rome has essentially been told through singular relationships between powerful patrons and great artists, with Urban VIII Barberini and Bernini as the paradigm. The patronage of Urban’s successor, Innocent X, has traditionally been perceived as paling in comparison, largely because it fails to fit this pattern. But Innocent X accomplished a great amount of building in a short amount of time, including the nave decoration of St. Peter’s, nave of San Giovanni in Laterano, Palazzo Nuovo on the Campidoglio, Palazzo Pamphilj in Piazza Navona, Four Rivers Fountain, and Villa Pamphilj. I propose a new model for understanding his contribution to the arts in mid-17th-century Rome by focusing on how he accomplished these building projects: rather than privileging a single artist, Innocent relied on a reliable network of artists and artisans across multiple sites. To exemplify Innocent’s patronage, this paper will examine the process of building the Pamphilj residential sites of Piazza Navona and Villa Pamphilj from designers to executants.
Nessun conoscitore della storia dell’arte europea prenderebbe la versione della Madonna della seg... more Nessun conoscitore della storia dell’arte europea prenderebbe la versione della Madonna della seggiola del McMullen Museum of Art a Boston College per un’originale di Raffaello e neppure per una copia di bottega. Anche solo con rapido sguardo ci si accorge della composizione invertita e di altri cambiamenti: è il bambino Gesù, non il Giovannino, che sta adorando. Invece nel XIX secolo due ricchi uomini d’affari americani hanno comprato il dipinto come un Raffaello. Il new yorkese John Hunter l’ha acquisato tramite un commerciante a Parigi, dopo la rivoluzione francese nel 1830; e nel 1866, il bostoniano Peter Chardon Brooks l’ha comprato nella svendita dei beni di Hunter. Per chiarire la storia complessa del dipinto e quanto ha significato per la fama di Raffaello nella Boston dell’Ottocento, cioè prima che Isabella Stewart Gardner portasse in America alcuni dipinti autentici di Raffaello, ho esaminato: il quadro stesso, la sua provenienza e i primi expertises del dipinto. Ho poi ricostruito il contesto storico in relazione alle possibilità di vedere Raffaello nella Boston del XIX secolo. Il mio studio porta alla seguente conclusione: anche se Raffaello è stato universalmente adorato e le riproduzioni grafiche delle sue opere si trovavano per ogni dove, vedere Raffaello nella Boston del XIX secolo non era facile, e autenticare un dipinto era proprio difficile.
This symposium is organized on the occasion of Tod A. Marder’s retirement from active teaching. A... more This symposium is organized on the occasion of Tod A. Marder’s retirement from active teaching. A generous and insightful scholar, mentor, and colleague, Tod has been a significant influence on the fields of Baroque architecture, Bernini studies, and architectural history and criticism for over forty years. To celebrate Tod’s scholarship and to reflect on the current state and historiography of architectural history and Bernini studies, this symposium brings together colleagues, mentees, and former students who will speak on a range of topics inspired by Tod’s work and example.
Borromini and Bernini are household names in Baroque studies, and their respective roles in Innoc... more Borromini and Bernini are household names in Baroque studies, and their respective roles in Innocent X’s transformation of Piazza Navona into a dynastic seat have been much discussed. Yet large-scale building sites were complex endeavors, which required technical and managerial skills that often went beyond the purview of designing architects. Execution, instead, lay in the hands of the capomastro muratore (master mason). This was the case with Ludovico Bossi, who played a critical role in realizing the Palazzo Pamphilj and the Fountain of the Four Rivers where he erected the obelisk atop Bernini’s seemingly unstable rocky base. Furthermore, Innocent X gave Bossi the court position of “reparatori tectus” (responsible for maintaining the apostolic palaces) and the construction of the Palazzo Nuovo on the Campidoglio. This paper will investigate the collaborative nature of palace building in Baroque Rome through Ludovico Bossi’s relationship and interactions with Innocent X, Borromini, and Bernini.
Signorelli’s Coriolanus fresco has suffered the fate of many works of art: physical and conceptua... more Signorelli’s Coriolanus fresco has suffered the fate of many works of art: physical and conceptual detachment from its original context. The scene was one of eight paintings embellishing a reception room in Palazzo Petrucci, Siena, furnished for the 1509 marriage between Borghese Petrucci and Vittoria Piccolomini. Art historians have interpreted the scene as exemplifying civic virtue and the role of marriage and family in society. I will use the methods of cultural biography and reception theory to argue that although this interpretation has merit for the original function, the painting’s biography changed over time. I will highlight two moments: while the painting remained in situ but the Petrucci’s fortunes shifted dramatically and its audience changed to include the couple’s daughter, Aurelia, a poet and dedicatee of humanist writings; and when the painting was removed from the palace and transformed into a commodity for sale.
The paintings in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj have become synonymous with the identity of the Pamp... more The paintings in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj have become synonymous with the identity of the Pamphilj, the family that rose to the heights of Roman society upon the election of Pope Innocent X (1644). A look at the GDP website (www.doriapamphilj.it) suggests that the Pamphilj are renowned for a handful of works, Raphael’s Double Portrait, Titian’s Salome, Annibale Carracci’s Flight into Egypt, Caravaggio’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Velázquez’s Innocent X, and a few others. However, this monolithic impression obscures the fact that the collection was formed through the activities of several family members across generations and that paintings were frequently moved between the family properties. I will examine the early modern inventories to demonstrate that individuals created unique identities through the paintings they collected and through choosing which inherited paintings to display where. I will show that the individual expressions of identity merged over time, largely through dispersals, into today’s homogeneous impression of Pamphilj collecting habits.
Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome, 2020
Just out with Officina Libraria!
Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome... more Just out with Officina Libraria!
Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome, edited by Chiara Franceschini, Steven F. Ostrow, and Patrizia Tosini, Milano: Officina Libraria, 2020
Nine studies of early modern private chapels as multimedia “laboratories” for social and devotional display and for artistic invention and innovation in 16th- and 17th-century Rome.
Roman church interiors throughout the Early Modern age were endowed with rich historical and visual significance. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in anticipation of and following the Council of Trent, and in response to the expansion of the Roman Curia, the chapel became a singular arena in which wealthy and powerful Roman families, as well as middle-class citizens, had the opportunity to demonstrate their status and role in Roman society. In most cases the chapels were conceived not as isolated spaces, but as part of a more complex system, which involved the nave and the other chapels within the church, in a dialogue among the arts and the patrons of those other spaces. This volume explores this historical and artistic phenomenon through nine examples involving the patronage of prominent Roman families such as the Frangipane, Spadas, Caetanis, Cybos and important artists and architects such as Federico Zuccari, Annibale Carracci, Giacomo della Porta, Francesco da Volterra, Carlo Maderno, Alessandro Algardi, Carlo Maratta.
Table of Contents:
Chapels: An Introduction Chiara Franceschini, Steven F. Ostrow, and Patrizia Tosini
Map of the Churches
The Frangipani Chapel in San Marcello: Farnesian Devotion, Antiquarian Taste, and Municipal Pride Patrizia Tosini
Between all’Antica and Acheiropoieton: The Cappella Gregoriana in the Ekphrases of Lorenzo Frizolio (1582) and Ascanio Valentino (1583) Fabio Barry
Caetani’s Blood: Magnificence, Lineage, and Martyrdom in the Family Chapel of Santa Pudenziana Enrico Parlato
“A Gem Set in Most Resplendent Gold”: Girolamo Rusticucci’s Confessio Chapel in Santa Susanna Steven F. Ostrow
A Splendid Shrine for an Ugly Image: Visual Interactions in the Salviati Chapel at San Gregorio al Celio Chiara Franceschini
Carving Out Identity: The Boncompagni Family, Alessandro Algardi, and the Chapel in the Sacristy of Santa Maria in Vallicella Guendalina Serafinelli
The Angelic Balustrade of the Spada Chapel in San Girolamo della Carità Louise Rice
The Arm Relic as Index of the Body: The Chapel of Francis Xavier in the Gesù Alison C. Fleming and Stephanie C. Leone
A Chapel in Dialogue: The Cybo Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo Fabrizio Federici
identifier. citation: Fentress, Elizabeth, Caroline J. Goodson, Margaret L. Laird, and Stephanie ... more identifier. citation: Fentress, Elizabeth, Caroline J. Goodson, Margaret L. Laird, and Stephanie C. Leone. Walls and Memory: The Abbey of San Sebastiano at Alatri (Lazio) From Late Roman Monastery to Renaissance Villa and Beyond. Disciplina Monastica Vol. 2. ...
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Chapels of the Cinquecento and Seicento in the Churches of Rome, edited by Chiara Franceschini, Steven F. Ostrow, and Patrizia Tosini, Milano: Officina Libraria, 2020
Nine studies of early modern private chapels as multimedia “laboratories” for social and devotional display and for artistic invention and innovation in 16th- and 17th-century Rome.
Roman church interiors throughout the Early Modern age were endowed with rich historical and visual significance. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in anticipation of and following the Council of Trent, and in response to the expansion of the Roman Curia, the chapel became a singular arena in which wealthy and powerful Roman families, as well as middle-class citizens, had the opportunity to demonstrate their status and role in Roman society. In most cases the chapels were conceived not as isolated spaces, but as part of a more complex system, which involved the nave and the other chapels within the church, in a dialogue among the arts and the patrons of those other spaces. This volume explores this historical and artistic phenomenon through nine examples involving the patronage of prominent Roman families such as the Frangipane, Spadas, Caetanis, Cybos and important artists and architects such as Federico Zuccari, Annibale Carracci, Giacomo della Porta, Francesco da Volterra, Carlo Maderno, Alessandro Algardi, Carlo Maratta.
Table of Contents:
Chapels: An Introduction
Chiara Franceschini, Steven F. Ostrow, and Patrizia Tosini
Map of the Churches
The Frangipani Chapel in San Marcello: Farnesian Devotion, Antiquarian Taste, and Municipal Pride
Patrizia Tosini
Between all’Antica and Acheiropoieton: The Cappella Gregoriana in the Ekphrases
of Lorenzo Frizolio (1582) and Ascanio Valentino (1583)
Fabio Barry
Caetani’s Blood: Magnificence, Lineage, and Martyrdom in the Family Chapel of Santa Pudenziana
Enrico Parlato
“A Gem Set in Most Resplendent Gold”: Girolamo Rusticucci’s Confessio Chapel in Santa Susanna
Steven F. Ostrow
A Splendid Shrine for an Ugly Image: Visual Interactions in the Salviati Chapel at San Gregorio al Celio
Chiara Franceschini
Carving Out Identity: The Boncompagni Family, Alessandro Algardi, and the Chapel in the Sacristy of Santa Maria in Vallicella
Guendalina Serafinelli
The Angelic Balustrade of the Spada Chapel in San Girolamo della Carità
Louise Rice
The Arm Relic as Index of the Body: The Chapel of Francis Xavier in the Gesù
Alison C. Fleming and Stephanie C. Leone
A Chapel in Dialogue: The Cybo Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo
Fabrizio Federici
List of abbreviations
Bibliography
Contributors
Index of Names
Index of Places
Photo Credits