S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant (whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23, A.D. 79.
Adjoining this church is the Seminario Romano, founded by Pius IV., on a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Borromeo. Eight hundred young boys are annually educated here. In order to gain admittance, it is necessary to be of Roman birth, to be acquainted with grammar, and to wish to take orders. Pupils are held to their first intention of entering the priesthood, by being compelled to refund all the expenses of their education, if they renounce it.
Nearly opposite the church is the Palazzo Altemps, built 1580, by Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque. Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine. Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child. At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix. The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps.
Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediæval Torre Sanguinea, whose name bears witness to the mediæval frays of popes and anti-popes, we reach the German national church of Sta. Maria dell' Anima, which derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the tympanum of the portal. It was originally built c. 1440, with funds bequeathed by "un certo Giovanni Pietro," but enlarged in 1514; the façade is by Giuliano da Sangallo. The door-frames, of delicate workmanship, are by Antonio Giamberti.
The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital.
The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by Giulio Romano. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI., Adrian Florent (1522—23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches, but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we read:—
"Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam quod imperaret, duxit."[301]
and—
The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort, the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat.
"It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is, as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type, appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below, in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues: Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least attached itself to his tomb."—Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste.
Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras.
The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of a fish, by Carlo Saraceni; in the 2nd chapel, the monument of Cardinal Slusius; in the 3rd chapel, an indifferent copy of the Pietà of Michael Angelo, by Nanni di Bacio Bigio. In the 1st chapel of the left aisle is the martyrdom of St. Lambert, C. Saraceni.
The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo Veneziano, 1585—1625. He sought to follow in the steps of Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow which is displayed here.
In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta. Barbara, Mich. Coxcie, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by Salviati.
On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria, nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of Cleves.
Close to this church is that of Sta. Maria della Pace, built in 1487, by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious ex-voto made by Sixtus IV. Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere, 1471—84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular portico under Alexander VII. The interior has only a short nave ending under an octagonal cupola.
Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the Four Sibyls of Raphael.
"This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls, were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by Raphael."—Kugler.
"The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said, from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming evils."—Eaton's Rome.
"The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom, with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in number,—the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of the composition, which is one of the most exquisite as to mere art, they interfere with that inwardly inspired expression which all other art has given to these women.
"The inscription on the scroll of the Cumæan Sibyl gives in Greek the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.' The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova progenies.'"—Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.'
The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget and St. Catherine, by Baldassare Peruzzi; in the front of the picture kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the Adoration of the Shepherds by Sermoneta. The 2nd chapel, the burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola, the Nativity of the Virgin is by Francesco Vanni; the Visitation, Carlo Maratta; the Presentation in the Temple, Baldassare Peruzzi; the Death of the Virgin, Morandi.
Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their new life.
The Cloister of the Convent, entered on the left under the dome, was designed by Bramante for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504.
From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the Via del Governo Vecchio. Here, on the right, is the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio, with a richly-sculptured door-way, and ancient cloistered court.
Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an eminence known as Monte Giordano, supposed to be artificial, and to have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings.
Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now known as the Palazzo Gabrielli, and which has rather a handsome fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that this hillock was chosen in mediæval times as the place where the Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him, on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our Church teaches and preaches."
Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The façade is by Rughesi. The decorations of the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who painted the roof and cupola.
On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous Chapel of S. Filippo Neri, containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold, surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by Guido in the adjoining convent.
On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by Scipione Gaetani; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, Maziano. On the left, in the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, Cesare Nebbia; in the 3rd chapel, the Nativity, Durante Alberti; in the 4th chapel, the Visitation, Baroccio. In the left transept are statues of SS. Peter and Paul, by Valsoldo, and the Presentation in the Temple, by Baroccio. When S. Filippo Neri saw this picture, he said to the painter "Ma come avete ben fatto!—Che vera somiglianza!—E così che mi ha apparato tante volte la Santa Vergine."
The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by Rubens in his youth;—that in the centre represents the Virgin in a glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias; on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus.
The Sacristy, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by Algardi. The ceiling is painted by Pietro da Cortona—the subject is an angel bearing the instruments of the passion to heaven.
The Monastery, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,—and also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining, is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died, his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, and the portrait by Guercino from which the mosaic in the church is taken. A curious picture in this chamber represents an earthquake at Beneventum, in which Pope Gregory XIV. believed that his life was saved by an image of S. Filippo. When S. Filippo Nero died,—as in the case of S. Antonio,—the Catholic world exclaimed intuitively, "Il Santo è morto!"
The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church.
"It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise, also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend against two saints, and altered his plans."—Wiseman's Life of Leo XII.
"S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials, indulgent in trifles. He never commanded; he advised, or perhaps requested: he did not discourse, he conversed: and he possessed, in a remarkable degree, the acuteness necessary to distinguish the peculiar merit of every character."—Ranke.
"S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians, because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation into a regular community, he preferred several of his young ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent Cæsar Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."—Alban Butler.
"S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince, who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order, that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the work."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.
It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named Trapassi, and was the son of a grocer in the neighbourhood. The Arcadian Academy changed his name into Greek, and called him "Metastasio."
From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the left;—then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino—behind which, and the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented and popular little church—we reach Sta. Maria di Monserrato, built by Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and catechise.
Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492—1503),—the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church. The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455—58), rest in the same grave.
A little further, on the left, is the Church of S. Tommaso degli Inglesi, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt, and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas à Becket, who had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII., in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, and converted them into a college for English missionaries.
"Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be outside the house, and under it was inscribed:
In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.
The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:
"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex. Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes. Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma. Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann. viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.
"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII. MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic, and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain, and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child. Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native country England. Let this plain character, penned by her disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that peruses it."
The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.
At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches—very interesting from their associations. On the right is St. Girolamo della Carità, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude.
In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a Confraternity for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick.
"Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prêtre, il alla se loger à Saint-Jerôme della Carità, où il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la société des pieux ecclésiastiques qui administraient les sacrements dans cette paroisse. Chaque soir, Philippe ouvrait, dans sa chambre qui existe encore, des conférences sur tous les points du dogme catholique; les jeunes gens affluaient à ces saintes réunions: on y voyait Baronius; Bordini, qui fut archevêque; Salviati, frère du cardinal; Tarugia, neveu du pape Jules III. Un désir ardent d'exercer ensemble le ministère de la prédication et les devoirs de la charité porta ces pieux jeunes gens à vivre en commun, sous la discipline du vertueux prêtre, dont le parole était si puissante sur leurs cœurs."—Gournerie.
The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung in this church till carried off to Paris by the French.
Opposite this is the Church of Sta. Brigitta, on the site of the dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of Brahé, and wife of Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved here.[302]
"St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many, as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a Brahé, one of the nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk barefoot over pride, if we would overcome it,' said she, and Brigitta Brahé did so; and, in so doing, overcame those proud hearts, and won them to God."—Frederika Bremer.
We now reach the Palazzo Farnese,—the most magnificent of all the Roman palaces,—begun by Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534—50), and finished by his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Its architects were Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo, and Giacomo della Porta, who finished the façade towards the Tiber. The materials were plundered partly from the Coliseum and partly from the theatre of Marcellus; the granite basons of the fountains in front are from the baths of Caracalla. The immense size of the blocks of travertine used in the building give it a solid grandeur.
This palace was inherited by the Bourbon kings of Naples by descent from Elizabetta Farnese, who was the last of her line, and it has for the last few years been the residence of the Neapolitan Court, who have lived here in the utmost seclusion since their exile. For this reason the palace is now very seldom shown. Its vast halls are painted with the masterpieces of Annibale Caracci—huge mythological subjects,—and a few frescoes by Guido, Domenichino, Daniele da Volterra, Taddeo Zucchero, and others; but there has not been much to see since the dispersion of the Farnese gallery of sculpture, of which the best pieces (the Bull, Hercules, Flora, &c.) are in the museum at Naples. In the courtyard is the sarcophagus which is said once to have held the remains of Cecilia Metella.
"The painting the gallery at the Farnese Palace is supposed to have partly caused the death of Caracci. Without fixing any price he set about it, and employed both himself and all his best pupils nearly seven years in perfecting the work, never doubting that the Farnese family, who had employed him, would settle a pension upon him, or keep him in their service. When his work was finished they paid him as you would pay a house-painter, and this ill-usage so deeply affected him, that he took to drinking, and never painted anything great afterwards."—Miss Berry's Journals.
Behind the Palazzo Farnese runs the Via Giulia, which contains the ugly fountain of the Mascherone. Close to the arch which leads to the Farnese gardens is the church of Sta. Maria della Morte, or Dell' Orazione, built by Fuga. It is in the hands of a pious confraternity who devote themselves to the burial of the dead.
"L'église de la Bonne-Mort a son caveau, décoré dans le style funèbre comme le couvent des Capucins. On y conserve aussi élégamment que possible les os des noyés, asphyxiés et autres victimes des accidents. La confrérie de la Bonne-Mort va chercher les cadavres; un sacristain assez adroit les dessèche et les dispose en ornements. J'ai causé quelque temps avec cet artiste: 'Monsieur,' me disait-il, 'je ne suis heureux qu'ici, au milieu de mon œuvre. Ce n'est pas pour les quelques écus que je gagne tous les jours en montrant la chapelle aux étrangers; non; mais ce monument que j'entretiens, que j'embellie, que j'égaye par mon talent, est devenu l'orgueil et la joie de ma vie.' Il me montra ses matériaux, c'est-à-dire quelques poignées d'ossements jetés en tas dans un coin, fit l'éloge de la pouzzolane, et témoigna de son mépris pour la chaux. 'La chaux brûle les os,' me dit-il, 'elle les fait tomber en poussière. On ne peut faire rien de bon avec les os qui ont été dans la chaux. C'est de la drogue (robbaccia).'"—About.
Beyond the arch is the Palazzo Falconieri (with falcons at the corners), built by Borromini about 1650. There is something rather handsome in its tall three-arched loggia, as seen from the back of the courtyard, which overhangs the Tiber opposite the Farnesina. Cardinal Fesch (uncle of Napoleon I.) lived here, and here formed his fine gallery of pictures.
"The whole of Cardinal Fesch's collection was dispersed at his death, having been vainly offered by him, during the last years of his life, for sale to the English government, for an annuity of 4000l. per annum."—Eaton's Rome.
Further on are the Carceri Nuove, prisons established by Innocent X. (appropriately reached by the Via del Malpasso), and then the Palazzo Sacchetti, built by Antonio da Sangallo for his own residence, and adorned by him with the arms of his patron, Paul III., and the grateful inscription, "Tu mihi quodcumque hoc rerum est." The collection of statues which was formed here by Cardinal Ricci, was removed to the Capitol by Benedict XIV., and became the foundation of the present Capitoline collection.
In front of the Palazzo Farnese, beyond its own piazza, is that known as the Campo di Fiore, a centre of commerce among the working classes. Here the most terrible of the Autos da Fé were held by the Dominicans, in which many Jews and other heretics were burnt alive.
One of the most remarkable sufferers here was Giordano Bruno, who was born at Nola, A.D. 1550. His chief heresy was ardent advocacy of the Copernican system,—the author of which had died ten years before his birth. He was also strongly opposed to the philosophy of Aristotle, and gave great offence by setting forth views of his own, which strongly tended to pantheism. He visited Paris, England, and Germany, and everywhere excited hostility by the uncompromising expression of his opinions. It was at Venice that he first came into the power of his ecclesiastical enemies. After six years of imprisonment in that city, he was brought to Rome to be put to death. His execution took place in the Campo di Fiore on the 17th of February, 1600, in the presence of an immense concourse. It was noted that when the monks offered him the crucifix as he was led to the stake, he turned away and refused to kiss it. This put the finishing touch to his career, in the estimation of all beholders. Scioppus, the Latinist, who was present at the execution, with a sarcastic allusion to one of Bruno's heresies, the infinity of worlds, wrote, "The flames carried him to those worlds which he had imagined."[303]
On the left of this piazza is the gigantic Palace of the Cancelleria, begun by Cardinal Mezzarota, and finished in 1494 by Cardinal Riario, from designs of Bramante. The huge blocks of travertine of which it is built were taken from the Coliseum. The colonnades have forty-four granite pillars, said to have belonged to the theatre of Pompey. The roses with which their (added) capitals are adorned are in reference to the arms of Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.
This palace was the seat of the Tribunal of the Cancelleria Apostolica. In June, 1848, the Roman Parliament, summoned by Pius IX., was held here. In July, while the deputies were seated here, the mob burst into the council-chamber, and demanded the instant declaration of war against Austria. On the 16th of November, its staircase was the scene of the murder of Count Rossi.
"C'était le 16 Novembre, 1848, le ministre de Pie IX., voué dès longtemps à la mort, dont la presse séditieuse disait: 'Si la victime condamnée parvient à s'échapper, elle sera poursuivie sans relâche, en tout lieu, le coupable sera frappé par une main invisible, se fût-il réfugié sur le sein de sa mère ou dans le tabernacle du Christ.'
"Dans la nuit du 14 au 15 Novembre, de jeunes étudiants, réunis dans cette pensée, s'exercent sans frémir sur un cadavre apporté à prix d'or au théâtre Capranica, et quand leurs mains infâmes furent devenues assez sûres pour le crime, quand ils sont certains d'atteindre au premier coup la veine jugulaire, chacun se rend à son poste—'Gardez-vous d'aller au Palais Législatif, la mort vous y attend,' fait dire au ministre une Française alors à Rome, Madame la Comtesse de Menon: 'Ne sortez pas, ou vous serez assassiné!' lui écrit de son côté la Duchesse de Rignano. Mais l'intrépide Rossi, n'écoutant que sa conscience, arrive au Quirinal. A son tour le pape le conjure d'être prudent, de ne point s'exposer, afin, lui dit-il, 'd'éviter à nos ennemis un grand crime, et à moi une immense douleur.'—'Ils sont trop lâches, ils n'oseront pas.' Pie IX. le bénit et il continue de se diriger vers la chancellerie....
" ... Sa voiture s'arrête, il descend au milieu d'hommes sinistres, leur lance un regard de dédain, et continuant sans crainte ni peur, il commence à mouter; la foule le presse en sifflant, l'un le frappe sur l'épaule gauche, d'un mouvement instinctif, il retourne la tête, découvrant la veine fatale, il tombe, se relève, monte quelques marches, et retombe inondé de sang."—M. de Bellevue.
Entered from the courtyard of the palace is the Church of SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, removed by Cardinal Riario in 1495, from another site, where it had been founded in 560 by the sainted pope Damasus. It consists of a short nave and aisles, and is almost square, with an apse and chapels. The doors are by Vignola. At the end of the left aisle is a curious black virgin, much revered. Opening from the right aisle is the chapel of the Massimi, with several tombs; a good modern monument of Princess Gabrielli, &c. Against the last pilaster is a seated statue of S. Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, taken from that at the Lateran. His relics are preserved here, with those of S. Giovanni Calabita, and many other saints. The tomb of Count Rossi is also here, inscribed "Optimam mihi causam tuendam assumpsi, miserebitur Deus." The story of his death is told in the words: "Impiorum consilio meditata cæde occubuit." He was embalmed and buried on the very night of his murder, for fear of further outrage. St Francis Xavier used to preach in this church in the sixteenth century.
Standing a little back from the street, in the Via de' Baullari, is a pretty little palace, carefully finished in all its details, and attributed to Baldassare Peruzzi. It is sometimes called Palazzetto Farnese, sometimes Palazzo Linote, and is now almost in a state of ruin.
Turning to the left, in front of the Palazzo Farnese, we reach the Piazza Capo di Ferro, one side of which is occupied by the Palazzo Spada alla Regola, built in 1564, by Cardinal Capodifero, but afterwards altered and adorned by Borromini. The courtyard is very rich in sculptured ornament The palace is always visible, but has a rude and extortionate porter.
In a picturesque and dimly-lighted hall on the first-floor, partially hung with faded tapestries, is the famous statue believed to be that of Pompey, at the foot of which Julius Cæsar fell. Suetonius narrates that it was removed by Augustus from the Curia, and placed upon a marble Janus in front of the basilica. Exactly on that spot was the existing statue found, lying under the partition-wall of two houses, whose proprietors intended to evade disputes by dividing it, when Cardinal Capodifero interfered, and in return received it as a gift from Pope Julius III., who bought it for 500 gold crowns.
"I saw in the Palazzo Spada, the statue of Pompey: the statue at whose base Cæsar fell. A stem, tremendous figure! I imagined one of greater finish: of the last refinement: full of delicate touches: losing its distinctness in the giddy eyes of one whose blood was ebbing before it, and settling into some such rigid majesty as this, as Death came creeping over the upturned face."—Dickens.
"Cæsar was persuaded at first by the entreaties of his wife Calpurnia, who had received secret warning of the plot, to send an excuse to the senate; but afterwards, being ridiculed by Brutus for not going, was carried thither in a litter.... At the moment when Cæsar descended from his litter at the door of the hall, Popilius Læna approached him, and was observed to enter into earnest conversation with him. The conspirators regarded one another, and mutually revealed their despair with a glance. Cassius and others were grasping their daggers beneath their robes; the last resource was to despatch themselves. But Brutus, observing that the manner of Popilius was that of one supplicating rather than warning, restored his companions' confidence with a smile. Caesar entered; his enemies closed in a dense mass around him, and while they led him to his chair kept off all intruders. Trebonius was specially charged to detain Antonius in conversation at the door. Scarcely was the victim seated, when Tillius Cimber approached with a petition for his brother's pardon. The others, as was concerted, joined in the supplication, grasping his hands, and embracing his neck. Cæsar at first put them gently aside, but, as they became more importunate, repelled them with main force. Tillius seized his toga with both hands, and pulled it violently over his arms. Then P. Casca, who was behind, drew a weapon, and grazed his shoulder with an ill-directed stroke. Cæsar disengaged one hand, and snatched at the hilt, shouting, 'Cursed Casca, what means this?'—'Help,' cried Casca to his brother Lucius, and at the same moment the others aimed each his dagger at the devoted object. Cæsar for an instant defended himself, and even wounded one of his assailants with his stylus; but when he distinguished Brutus in the press, and saw the steel flashing in his hand also, 'What, thou too, Brutus!' he exclaimed, let go his hold of Casca, and drawing his robe over his face, made no further resistance. The assassins stabbed him through and through, for they had pledged themselves, one and all, to bathe their daggers in his blood. Brutus himself received a wound in their eagerness and trepidation. The victim reeled a few paces, propped by the blows he received on every side, till he fell dead at the foot of Pompeius' statue."—Merivale, ch. xxi.
The collection of pictures in this palace is little worth seeing. Among its other sculptures are eight grand reliefs, which, till 1620, were turned upside down, and used as a pavement in Sant' Agnese fuori Mura; and a fine statue of Aristotle.
"Aristote est à Rome, vous pouvons l'aller voir au palais Spada, tel que le peignent ses biographes et des vers de Christodore sur une statue qui était à Constantinople, les jambes grêles, les joues maigres, le bras hors du manteau, exserto brachio, comme dit Sidoine Apollinaire d'une autre statue qui était à Rome. Le philosophe est ici sans barbe aussi bien que sur plusieurs pierres gravées; on attribuait à Aristote l'habitude de se raser, rare parmi les philosophes et convenable à un sage qui vivait à la cour. Du reste, c'est bien là le maître de ceux qui savent, selon l'expression de Dante, corps usé par l'étude, tête petite mais qui enferme et comprend tout."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 547.
A little further, on the right, is the Church of the Trinità dei Pellegrini, built in 1614; the façade designed by Francesco de' Sanctis. It contains a picture of the Trinity by Guido.
The hospital attached to this church was founded by S. Filippo Neri for receiving and nourishing pilgrims of pious intention, who had come from more than sixty miles' distance, for a space of from three to seven days. It is divided into two parts, for males and females. Here, during the Holy Week, the feet of the pilgrims are publicly washed, those of the men by princes, cardinals, &c., those of the women by queens, princesses, and other ladies of rank. In this case the washing is a reality, the feet not having been "prepared beforehand," as for the Lavanda at St Peter's.
An authentic portrait of S. Filippo Neri is preserved here, said to have been painted surreptitiously by an artist who happened to be one of the inmates of the hospital. When S. Filippo saw it, he said, "You should not have stolen me unawares."
The building in front of this church is the Monte di Pietà, founded by the Padre Calvo, in the fifteenth century, to preserve the people from suffering under the usury of the Jews. It is a government establishment, where money is lent at the rate of five per cent. to every class of person. Poor people, especially "Donne di facenda," who have no work in the summer, thankfully avail themselves of this and pawn their necklaces and earrings, which they are able to redeem when the means of subsistence come back with the return of the forestieri. Many Roman servants go through this process annually, and though the Monte di Pietà is often a scene of great suffering when unredeemed goods are sold for the benefit of the establishment, it probably in the main serves to avert much evil from the poorer classes.
A short distance further, following the Via dei Specchi, surrounded by miserable houses (in one of which is a beautiful double gothic window, divided by a twisted column), is the small Church of Sta. Maria in Monticelli, which has a fine low campanile of 1110. Admission may always be obtained through the sacristy to visit the famous "miracle-working" picture called "Gesù Nazareno," a modern half-length of Our Saviour, with the eyelids drooping and half-closed. By an illusion of the painting, the eyes, if watched steadily, appear to open and then slowly to close again as if falling asleep,—in the same way that many English family portraits appear to follow the living bystanders with their eyes; but the effect is very curious. In the case of this picture, the pope turned Protestant, and disapproving of the attention it excited, caused its secret removal. Remonstrance was made, that the picture had been a "regalo" to the church, and ought not to be taken away, and when it was believed to be sufficiently forgotten, it was sent back by night. The mosaics in the apse of this obscure church are for the most part quite modern, but enclose a very grand and expressive head of the Saviour of the World, which dates from 1099, when it was ordered by Pope Paschal II.
A little to the left of this church is the Palazzo Santa Croce. This palace will bring to mind the murder of the Marchesa Costanza Santa Croce, by her two sons (because she would not name them her heirs), on the day when the fate of Beatrice Cenci was trembling in the balance, which brought about her condemnation—the then pope, Clement VIII., determining to make her terrible punishment "an example to all parricides."
Prince Santa Croce claims to be a direct descendant of Valerius Publicola, the "friend of the people," who is commemorated in the name of a neighbouring church, "Sancta Maria de Publicolis."
This is one of the few haunted houses in Rome: it is said that by night two statues of Santa Croce cardinals descend from their pedestals, and rattle their marble trains about its long galleries.
Hence a narrow street leads to the Church of S. Carlo a Catinari, built in the seventeenth century, from designs of Rosati and Soria. It is in the form of a Greek cross. The very lofty cupola is adorned with frescoes of the cardinal virtues by Domenichino, and a fresco of S. Carlo, by Guido, once on the façade of the church, is now preserved in the choir. Over the high altar is a large picture by Pietro da Cortona, of S. Carlo in a procession during the plague at Milan. In the first chapel on the right, is the Annunciation, by Lanfranco; in the second chapel, on the left, the Death of St. Anna, by Andrea Sacchi. On the pilaster of the last chapel on the right is a good modern tomb, with delicate detail. The cord which S. Carlo Borromeo wore round his neck in the penitential procession during the plague at Milan, is preserved as a relic here. The Catinari, from whom this church is named, were makers of wooden dishes, who had stalls in the adjoining piazza, or sold their wares on its steps. The street opening from hence (Via de Giubbonari) contains on its right the Palazzo Pio; at the back of which are the principal remains of The Theatre of Pompey, which was once of great magnificence. In the portico (of a hundred columns) attached to this theatre, Brutus sate as prætor, on the morning of the murder of Julius Cæsar, and close by was the Curia, or senate-house, where: