Pope Paul III

Vittoria Colonna marquioness of Pescara was involved in the Catholic Reform during the first half of XVI century. She was very close to cardinal Gasparo Contarini and cardinal Reginald Pole. Also she had paintings by Titian and Michelangelo who was one of her best friend. She invested an enormous ammount of money in Venice and her legacy was astonishing. Her poems were very popular and the new holy images invented by Michelangelo for her were diffused all around Europe througouth the "spirituali".

A discussion of the theme of papal primacy in Michelangelo's fresco Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in Rome and how the artist worked to convey this message. Contrary to much published opinion, this fresco cannot be taken merely as expressing a single artist's vision, but instead should be viewed as the culminating statement of papal propaganda in the Sistine Chapel, which continues the message of papal primacy begun by Pope Sixtus IV in the early 1480s. Michelangelo's fresco, together with the chapel's earlier decoration, was commissioned to propagate specific ideas about the Second Coming and the Catholic Church's part in this climactic event. An examination of why a Last Judgment was commissioned and why certain iconographic choices were made in the grand composition's development supports the argument that the fresco conveys an inherently positive and triumphal message, rather than being a gloomy and frightening image that reflects insecurities spawned within the papal court by the Sack of Rome.

Paper published in: T. Weddigen, S. de Blaauw, B. Kempers & A. Roth (eds.), Functions and Decorations: Art and Ritual at the Vatican Palace in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Capellae Apostolicae Sixtinaeque Collectanea Acta Monumenta, 9), Rome (Bibl. Apostolica Vaticana) / Turnhout (Brepols) 2003, 153 – 168

Between 2001 and 2010, the REQUIEM research project explored the Roman papal and cardinal tombs in the context of the history of art and persons. The introductory essay of the anthology summarises the results of the art historical and socio-historical research and gives an outlook on open questions and desiderata.

This article incorporates the first direct transcription and translation of the earliest Latin work from the Americas to be published in Europe: a treatise by Fray Julián Garcés in which the Dominican bishop argued that the peoples of the New World were capable of adopting the Christian faith. The treatise was addressed to Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) and prompted the bull Sublimis Deus affirming that Indians were true human beings. The present study provides a biography of Garcés drawn from primary sources, an account of the problematic transmission of his work, and a survey of its contents. The latter discussion highlights Garcés’ distinctive use of humanist learning, especially in his characterisation of indigenous Mexicans and of their language. By manipulating Antonio de Ne- brija’s explanation of the nature and origins of writing, the bishop showed that Mexicans had long been literate in order to demonstrate that they were not barbarians; he stressed the native students’ competence in Spanish and Latin; and he anticipated Bartolomé de las Casas in citing classical authorities to prove the Indians were no more primitive than the ancient Spaniards had once been. It is suggested that Garcés was appealing to the Pope’s predilections as a humanist and that his emphasis on Spain’s subordination to Rome in antiquity had contemporary political ramifications: an easing of tensions between the papacy and the Spanish monarchy would have been important for the success of the Dominican’s petition.

Situasi Gereja Katolik pada abad XVI ditandai dengan korupsi dan kemerosotan moral. Gereja condong kepada semangat keduniawian sehingga muncul krisis kepercayaan dan perpecahan. Sementara, gerakan reformasi menyebar luas ke pelbagai belahan Eropa. Ignasius memang lahir dan dibesarkan di lingkungan yang amat kental dengan kekatolikan. Namun, dalam sejarah hidupnya, tidak jarang ia berurusan berat dengan otoritas Gereja. Ia pernah ditolak di Yerusalem, dilarang mengenakan jubah, dipenjara, dilarang mengajar, dituduh alumbrados, dan bersitegang dengan Kardinal Gian Pietro Caraffa (Paus Paulus IV). Ia tidak membenci perlakuan Gereja kepadanya. Ia pun justru membentuk kelompok sahabat pembela Gereja yang disahkan oleh Paus Paulus III. Dalam bidang ajaran, meski bukan teolog kenamaan atau pujangga Gereja, Ignasius pun mengajak orang semakin mencintai Gereja Katolik Roma secara mendalam. Pedoman tersebut ditempatkan dalam kerangka Latihan Rohani 30 hari. Dari gaya penulisan dan isinya, Pedoman Kesepahaman dengan Gereja bukanlah ajakan untuk berdoa sebagaimana ditemukan dalam Minggu I, II, III, IV. Teks itu pun bukan katekese tentang Gereja, sebab Ignasius tidak pernah menulis satupun traktat teologi. Lantas, apakah yang dimaksud Pedoman Kesepahaman dengan Gereja, apa makna teologisnya, apa implikasinya bagi LR? Tulisan ini beraksud menjelaskan latar belakang, tujuan, isi, dan makna dari kesepahaman dengan Gereja menurut Ignasius Loyola. Sebagian besar paparan ini akan didasakan pada pemikiran George Ganss dan H. Coathalem.

Nel contributo è pubblicata la prima redazione conosciuta dell’Orazione con cui Giovanni della Casa nel 1549 chiese all’imperatore Carlo V la restituzione di Piacenza ai Farnese, loro sottratta dopo l’uccisione di Pier Luigi nel 1547. L’edizione documenta l’elaborazione d’autore con un apparato evolutivo del testo trasmesso dal manoscritto Vaticano Chigiano O vi 80.

This article provides an edition of the first known version of Giovanni della Casa’s request to the Emperor Charles V (1549) for the restitution of Piacenza to the Farnese family after Pier Luigi’s murder in 1547. This edition documents the Author’s working out with an evolutional apparatus of the text transmitted by the manuscript Chigiano O vi 80.

This article addresses Titian’s altarpiece of c. 1542-52 in the Duomo of Serravalle, near Treviso. It reconstructs the history of this painting by analysing new documents, and connects it to the painter’s commercial interests in the area.  Analysing its quotation of Raphael’s cartoon of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes for the Sistine Chapel tapestries, the article advances a reading of the painting as a critique of the papacy, an interpretation it relates to Titian’s engagement with pope Paul III and the Farnese family, his promotion his son Pomponio to the clergy, and his proximity to the ‘spirituali’.

In the 1540s, Italian princes, lords and cardinals wrote to each other using a secret, highly imaginative language. They were waiting for Emperor Charles V to descend on Italy to cut the papacy and Papal States down to size once and for all. Their letters, which have never before been used by historians, were not literary fantasies; behind the fictitious names, metaphors and the ferocious satire against Pope Paul III, there were weapons, money and power. For years, against the background of the battle between the two giants – the pope and the emperor – the courts of Mantua, Florence, Milan and Ferrara, with their extensive political relations and organized networks of loyalty, pursued a grand plan of containing the pope’s power by allying with men of Charles V such as Diego Hurtado de Mendoza in Italy and Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle at the Habsburg court. This history of Italy differs greatly from the one we are usually taught. The epoch-making conflict between the ‘Italy of the Emperor’ and the ‘Italy of the pope’, which then involved leading figures of the Italian ruling class, was not merely political: it was mixed with religious problems, it developed in the sphere of communication, and left traces in Italian cultural life, on the frescoed walls of palaces and in the pages of books. But the daring project drawn up by the Italian princes in the shade of the imperial eagle failed, and failed forever, as the Counter-Reformation advanced and the sun began to set on the Europe of Charles V.

The most celebrated woman writer of the Italian Renaissance, Vittoria Colonna was known for her elegant poetry and use of the sonnet form to explore pressing religious questions. The selection of Colonna’s letters presented here for the first time in a translated edition, written to and from writers, artists, popes, cardinals, employees, and family members, place Colonna at the center of intersecting epistolary networks as a political actor, a theological thinker, a literary practitioner, and a caring friend. Revealing a historical woman speaking and acting with force in the world, they constitute a vital tool for anyone seeking to understand Colonna’s literary works.

Il libro ricostruisce in modo nuovo un momento cruciale della storia italiana tracciando il quadro delle aspettative e delle speranze con le quali principi ed esponenti dei ceti dirigenti della penisola guardarono all’imperatore. Prende in considerazione i disegni elaborati dagli uomini di Carlo V in Italia e da gruppi di potere filoimperiali seguendo da vicino corrispondenze inedite e preziose di cardinali e principi. L’obbiettivo è portare in primo piano un’“Italia dell’imperatore” – tenacemente e assolutamente opposta all’“Italia del papa” – sinora poco studiata nella sua fisionomia complessiva e nel peso politico che rivestì durante gli anni trenta e quaranta del Cinquecento, in un quadro reso sempre più́ instabile e incerto dall’aggravarsi del conflitto tra Carlo V e il papa Paolo III.

Published at https://promenadesdansrome.ch/Edina-Eszenyi , this paper is the outline of my contribution to the "Promenades dans Rome: Assembly Practices between Visions, Ruins and Reconstructions" summer school's closing conference at the Swiss Institute in Rome (Istituto Svizzero di Roma) on 23 July 2021. Please note that the paper itself was also published in the conference proceedings and is available among the book chapters on my profile above.
Through the example of the Castel Sant’Angelo, this publication analyses the way interior decoration expresses ideological change in case of a (semi-)permanent architectural function.

Collective memory quite often lies in the nexus where social beliefs can be interwoven with legitimacy claims advanced by authority, while ideology customarily emerges to provide symbolic models and suasive images through which power is justified. The image of Alexander the Great persisted long after his passing and was disseminated over a large area, especially with the assistance of the means of coinage. Even more, the figure of Alexander transcended the Hellenistic Age and continued to have a significant impact, haunting the metallic fields of coins and coin-shaped artefacts. The appeal of the great campaigner was employed on occasion to draw attention to cities as ‘lieux de mémoire’, to evoke identity pieces from a glorious past, as well as to flatter ambitions of Roman emperors. As Alexander was transformed after a fashion into a model of chivalry, his images travelled through time surviving into the Renaissance and beyond.
Building upon essays that take a broader approach, the present paper focuses on a few somehow neglected case studies, in an attempt to offer a more thorough analysis of the selected material. Such a case is constituted by coin issues of Smyrna with the representation of the local legend relating the ‘dream of Alexander’ (first emission appearing in the name of Marcus Aurelius; a couple more were minted just before the middle of the 3rd century AD). Another intriguing example is traced on ‘medallions’ of Abydos depicting the crossing of the Hellespont by Alexander; the query about the raison d’être of the initial appearance on an issue for Commodus as caesar leads to a rather revealing insight; quite interestingly this coin type was later re-used by Septimius Severus, Caracalla (as caesar), Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax.
The lasting impression made by the numismatic portrait of Alexander the Great moves to another level as the discussion comes to certain Renaissance medallions. The focus is turned particularly on the reputed meeting of Alexander with the Jewish High Priest, illustrated on medals produced for Pope Paul III by the engraver Alessandro Cesati (1545/46), a subject rich in connotations.

Die folgenden Ausführungen sind Reflexion und Ausblick zugleich. Zum einen resümieren sie die mittlerweile neunjährige Forschungsarbeit des Requiem-Projekts. Zum anderen wird der Versuch unternommen, aus den Ergebnissen eine Theorie des frühneuzeitlichen Grabmals und seiner gesellschaftlichen Rolle als Beitrag zur Gedächtnis- und Memoriaforschung zu entwickeln. Ausgehend von der Tatsache, dass Grabmäler gesellschaftlicher Eliten rückwärtsgewandte Erinnerung und vorwärtsgewandte Identitätsstiftung sozialer Gruppen sind, wurde für die römischen Papst- und Kardinalsgrabmäler untersucht, aus welchen mikropolitischen Mechanismen Grabmalsstiftungen hervorgehen und welche Auswirkungen der soziohistorische Hintergrund auf Form und Ikonographie der Erinnerungsmonumente besitzt. Diese Integration mikropolitischer Kontexte kann der Kunstgeschichte neue Impulse geben, ebenso wie die objektreiche Langzeitstudie quantitativ verlässliche und bisweilen überraschende Daten für eine Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte des Grabmals liefert.

In 1544, converso Hebraist and Hebrew professor Alfonso de Zamora (d. ca. 1545) wrote two drafts of Hebrew letters on behalf of his Alcalá de Henares (Complutensian) University's rector and senate addressing Pope Paul III Farnese and Cardinal Pier Paolo Parisio, cardinal-protector of the University at Rome. The letters conveyed Alcalá's grievance against Toledan archbishop Juan de Tavera and his vicar at Alcalá, Gaspar de Quiroga. As far as it is known, these letters are the only example of institutionally sponsored official Hebrew letters in sixteenth-century Spain, during the first generation after the 1492-1498 cycle of legal uprooting of the once vibrant Jewish Hebraic culture on Iberian soil.
The text I present here is my Spanish annotated translation of the original letters, now found in ms. Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, cod. Or. 645, E, f. 275v = 1r (dig. 007v)-269r (dig. 001r). The translation was made out of the original Hebrew texts and after direct examination of the manuscript in Leiden in November 2010. It is to be published as an appendix in an article to be published within an edited volume by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

Il 6 dicembre 1538 Vittoria Colonna inviava a Carlo V una lunga lettera in spagnolo,
rimasta sinora dimenticata dagli studiosi, perorando con ardore la causa della
propria casata. Il documento, di grande rilievo nel panorama politico di quegli anni,
racconta la difficile situazione in cui si trovava Casa Colonna, schiacciata da un lato
dalle continue angherie di papa Paolo III, volto a diminuirne il potere; dall’altro
dall’indifferenza imperiale riguardo alla sua sorte.

On December 6, 1538, Vittoria Colonna sent a long letter to Charles V. In the letter,
written in Spanish and hitherto forgotten by scholars, she offered an impassioned
plea for the cause of her house. The document, of great importance to the political
landscape of those years, is a witness to the difficult situation of the Colonna family,
oppressed on one hand by the continuing vexations of Paul III, who intended to
reduce its power, and on the other by the Emperor’s indifference to its fate.

Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment' (1536-1540) was intentionally made on an inclined wall: an unusual, laborious preparation which modern art history has discussed almost exclusively in terms of the perspectival perception of the beholder. Taking as a point of departure Vasari's reasoning that the wall is actually leaning forward "in order that no dust (polvere) might be able to settle upon it," this paper contextualizes the question of such small dust particles in relation to a discourse on the visibility, preservation and durability of artworks in the early modern period. It suggests that the fastidious preparation for the fresco in the Sistine Chapel is in fact very much indebted to the artist's struggle to master the technique of mural painting.
Scholars have long noted Michelangelo's technical difficulties during his work on the ceiling decoration (1508-1512), which led to immediate damage and to a change in painterly technique in the course of execution. A second report by Vasari ‒ dealing with Sebastiano del Piombo's proposal to change the technique for painting the 'Last Judgment' ‒ is confirmed by technical analyses and is intrinsically linked to the discussion of durability. This paper suggests that Vasari's special mention of dust is, on the one hand, related to actual concerns about the effect of solid aerosols on artworks, a conservation problem resolved in the Cinquecento in various ways: in the case of the Sistine Chapel and other liturgical spaces, the office of a cleaner or de-duster of the mural paintings was created. On the other hand, Vasari's phrasing is indebted to frequent considerations that material objects necessarily "turn into dust" just like any other form of life. These issues, therefore, not only evoke ideas about the "life" and "death" of artworks. They also raise the question of how to gain immortality or an afterlife, a theme epitomized in the subject of Michelangelo's fresco in the Sistine Chapel: as happens with people, art can withstand oblivion independently from its material condition, and thus overcome the inevitable destruction by dust and time.

The Rome of Paul III (1534-1549) Art, Ritual and Urban Renewal IV+259 p., 30 b/w ill. + 120 colour ill., 220 x 280 mm, 2020 ISBN: 978-1-912554-43-0 Languages: English, Italian Hardback The publication is available. Retail price: EUR 100,00 excl. tax How to order? This book sheds new light on a key stage in the development of the tightly knit urban fabric of early-modern Rome, adopting an innovative, multidisciplinary approach. During his reign (1534-1549), Pope Paul III transformed Rome from a derelict town to a dignified and even triumphal city. This richly illustrated book uses mainly unpublished documentation to investigate a range of multi-media urban, architectural and artistic projects promoted by Paul III. It adopts a multidisciplinary approach to deepen our knowledge of Rome's visual culture after the Sack of 1527, providing a nuanced and fresh understanding of the social, economic and political conditions underpinning the creation of celebrated masterpieces, like Michelangelo's Last Judgement or his design of the Campidoglio. This study-the first entirely dedicated to Rome during the pontificate of Paul III-re-conceptualizes the periodization of Rome's early-modern history, which is traditionally polarized between the High Renaissance and the Baroque, and establishes Paul III's reign as the hinge between these two, seemingly disconnected, periods. In addressing these topics, artworks and urban spaces are analyzed as a means to engage with themes intensely discussed in recent scholarship, such as the creation of space, the inhabited urban environment and the intersection of art, politics and propaganda.

Scholarship on Michelangelo's frescoes of the Conversion of Saul and the Crucifixion of Peter in the Cappella Paolina prioritized his agency in their creation, leaving aside a pivotal question: how did Paul III's prerogatives as the papal patron figure into their selection? This paper argues that Vasari's misidentification of the second fresco indicates an intentional change in the papacy's conventional representation of authority after the 1544 Papal Admonition to Emperor Charles V was leaked by Philip of Hesse to the Elector John Frederick of Saxony. An international firestorm ensued as multiple translations spread through the Holy Roman empire, prompting Luther's Contra Papatum Roma and Jean Calvin's The Necessity of Reforming the Church. These events forced the papacy to abandon the hallmark traditio claves, and find a strategy within Matthew 16:18 that promoted a new rhetoric of authority, and subsequently structured the post-Tridentine pictorial interventions by Gregory XIII.

Title: Pope Paul III and the Cultural Politics of Reform: 1534-1549
Author: Bryan Cussen
Series: Renaissance History, Art & Culture
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

When Paul III was elected in 1534, hopes arose across Christendom that this pope would at last reform and reunite the Church. During his fifteen-year reign, though, Paul's engagement with reform was complex and contentious. A work of cultural history, this book explores how cultural narratives of honour and tradition, including how honour played out in politics, significantly constrained Pope Paul and his chosen reformers in framing strategies for change. Indeed, the reformers' programme would have undermined the culture of honour and weakened Rome's capacity to ward off current threats of invasion. The study makes a provocative case that Paul called the Council of Trent to contain reform rather than promote it. Nevertheless, Paul and the Council did sow seeds of reform that eventually became central to the Counter-Reformation. This book thus sheds new light on a pope whose relationship to reform has long been regarded as an enigma.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Note on Transcriptions
Note on Money
Introduction
Chapter 1 Humanism and Honour in the Making of Alessandro Farnese
Chapter 2 Pathways to Honour
Chapter 3 Tradition and Reform
Chapter 4 The Consilium and Reform Constrained
Chapter 5 Pax et Concordia – Politics and Reform
Chapter 6 The Ottoman Threat
Chapter 7 The Council of Trent
Chapter 8 Reform in the Twilight Years
Index

Book information: https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463722520/pope-paul-iii-and-the-cultural-politics-of-reform