"Agrippa wished to dedicate the Pantheon to Augustus, but he refused, and only allowed his statue to occupy a niche on the right of the peristyle, while that of Agrippa occupied the niche on the left."—Merivale.
The Interior is a rotunda, 143 feet in diameter, covered by a dome. It is only lighted by an aperture in the centre, 28 feet in diameter. Seven great niches around the walls once contained statues of different gods and goddesses, that of Jupiter being the central figure. All the surrounding columns are of giallo-antico, except four, which are of pavonazzetto, painted yellow. It is a proof of the great value and rarity of giallo-antico, that it was always impossible to obtain more to complete the set.
"L'intérieur du Panthéon, comme l'extérieur, est parfaitement conservé, et les édicules, placés dans le pourtour du temple forment les chapelles de l'église. Jamais la simplicité ne fut alliée à la grandeur dans une plus heureuse harmonie. Le jour, tombant d'en haut et glissant le long des colonnes et des parois de marbre, porte dans l'âme un sentiment de tranquillité sublime, et donne à tous les objets, dit Serlio, un air de beauté. Vue du dehors, la coupole de plomb qui a remplacé l'ancienne coupole de bronze couverte de tuiles dorées, fait bien comprendre l'expression de Virgile, lequel l'avait sous les yeux et peut-être en vue, quand il écrivait:
... 'Media testudine templi.'
En effet, cette coupole surbaissée ressemble tout à fait à la carapace d'une tortue."—Ampère, Emp. i. 342.
"Being deep in talk, it so happened that they found themselves near the majestic, pillared portico and huge black rotundity of the Pantheon. It stands almost at the central point of the labyrinthine intricacies of the modern city, and often presents itself before the bewildered stranger when he is in search of other objects. Hilda, looking up, proposed that they should enter.
"They went in, accordingly, and stood in the free space of that great circle, around which are ranged the arched recesses and stately altars, formerly dedicated to heathen gods, but Christianized through twelve centuries gone by. The world has nothing else like the Pantheon. So grand it is, that the pasteboard statues over the lofty cornice do not disturb the effect, any more than the tin crowns and hearts, the dusty artificial flowers, and all manner of trumpery gewgaws, hanging at the saintly shrines. The rust and dinginess that have dimmed the precious marble on the walls; the pavement, with its great squares and rounds of porphyry and granite, cracked crosswise and in a hundred directions, showing how roughly the troublesome ages have trampled here; the grey dome above, with its opening to the sky, as if heaven were looking down into the interior of this place of worship, left unimpeded for prayers to ascend the more freely: all these things make an impression of solemnity, which St. Peter's itself fails to produce.
"'I think,' said Kenyon, 'it is to the aperture in the dome—that great eye, gazing heavenward—that the Pantheon owes the peculiarity of its effect. It is so heathenish, as it were—so unlike all the snugness of our modern civilization! Look, too, at the pavement directly beneath the open space! So much rain has fallen there, in the last two thousand years, that it is green with small, fine moss, such as grows over tombstones in damp English churchyards.'
"'I like better,' replied Hilda, 'to look at the bright, blue sky, roofing the edifice where the builders left it open. It is very delightful, in a breezy day, to see the masses of white cloud float over the opening, and then the sunshine fall through it again, fitfully, as it does now. Would it be any wonder if we were to see angels hovering there, partly in and partly out, with genial, heavenly faces, not intercepting the light, but transmuting it into beautiful colours? Look at that broad, golden beam—a sloping cataract of sunlight—which comes down from the aperture, and rests upon the shrine, at the right hand of the entrance.'"—Hawthorne.
... "'Entrons dans le temple,' dit Corinne: 'vous le voyez, il reste découvert presque comme il l'était autrefois. On dit que cette lumière qui venait d'en haut était l'emblème de la divinité supérieure à toutes les divinités. Les païens ont toujours aimé les images symboliques. Il semble en effet que ce langage convient mieux à la religion que la parole. La pluie tombe souvent sur ces parvis de marbre; mais aussi les rayons du soleil viennent éclairer les prières. Quelle sérénité; quel air de fête on remarque dans cet édifice! Les païens ont divinisé la vie, et les chrétiens ont divinisé la mort: tel est l'esprit des deux cultes.'"—Mad. de Staël.
"In the ancient Pantheon, when the music of Christian chaunts rises among the shadowy forms of the old vanished gods painted on the walls, and the light streams down, not from painted windows in the walls, but from the glowing heavens above, every note of the service echoes like a peal of triumph, and fills my heart with thankfulness."—Mrs. Charles.
"'Where,' asked Redschid Pasha, on his visit to the Pantheon, 'are the statues of the heathen gods?' 'Of course they were removed when the temple was Christianized,' was the natural answer. 'No,' he replied, 'I would have left them standing to show how the true God had triumphed over them in their own house."—Cardinal Wiseman.
Some antiquarians have supposed that the aperture at the top of the Pantheon was originally closed by a huge "Pigna," or pine-cone of bronze, like that which crowned the summit of the mausoleum of Hadrian, and this belief has been encouraged by the name of a neighbouring church being S. Giovanni della Pigna.
The Pantheon has become the burial-place of painters. Raphael, Annibale Caracci, Taddeo Zucchero, Baldassare Peruzzi, Pierino del Vaga, and Giovanni da Udine, are all buried here.
The third chapel on the left contains the tomb of Raphael (born April 6, 1483; died April 6, 1520). From the pen of Cardinal Bembo is the epigram:
"Raphael mourut à l'âge de 37 ans. Son corps resta exposé pendant trois jours. Au moment où l'on s'apprêtait à le descendre dans sa dernière demeure, on vit arriver le pape (Leon X.) qui se prosterna, pria quelques instants, bénit Raphael, et lui prit pour la dernière fois la main, qu'il arrosa de ses larmes (si prostrò innanzi l'estinto Rafaello et baciogli quella mano, tra le lagrime). On lui fit de magnifiques funérailles, auxquelles assistèrent les cardinaux, les artistes, &c."—A. Du Pays.
Taddeo Zucchero and Annibale Caracci are buried on either side of Raphael. Near the high altar is a monument to Cardinal Gonsalvi (1757—1824), the faithful secretary and minister of Pius VII., by Thorwaldsen. This, however, is only a cenotaph, marking the spot where his heart is preserved. His body rests with that of his beloved brother Andrew in the church of S. Marcello.
During the middle ages the pope always officiated here on the day of Pentecost, when, in honour of the descent of the Holy Spirit, showers of white rose-leaves were continually sent down through the aperture during service.
"Though plundered of all its brass, except the ring which was necessary to preserve the aperture above; though exposed to repeated fire; though sometimes flooded by the river, and always open to the rain, no monument of equal antiquity is so well preserved as this rotunda. It passed with little alteration from the pagan into the present worship; and so convenient were its niches for the Christian altar, that Michael Angelo, ever studious of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a model in the Catholic church."—Forsyth.
In the Piazza della Rotonda is a small Obelisk found in the Campus Martius.
"At a few paces from the streets where meat is sold, you will find gathered round the fountain in the Piazza della Rotonda, a number of bird-fanciers, surrounded by cages in which are multitudes of living birds for sale. Here are Java sparrows, parrots and parroquets, grey thrushes and nightingales, red-breasts (petti rossi), yellow canary-birds, beautiful sweet-singing little cardellini, and gentle ringdoves, all chattering, singing, and cooing together, to the constant splashing of the fountain. Among them, perched on stands, and glaring wisely out of their great yellow eyes, may be seen all sorts of owls, from the great solemn barbigiani, and white-tufted owl, to the curious little civetta, which gives its name to all sharp-witted heartless flirts, and the aziola, which Shelley has celebrated in one of his minor poems."—Story's Roba di Roma.
(Following the Via della Rotonda from hence, in the third street on the left is the small semicircular ruin called, from a fancied resemblance to the favourite cake of the people, Arco di Ciambella. This is the only remaining fragment of the baths of Agrippa, unless the Pantheon itself was connected with them.)
Behind the Pantheon, is the Piazza della Minerva, where a small Obelisk was erected 1667 by Bernini, on the back of an elephant. It is exactly similar to the obelisk in front of the Pantheon, and they were both found near this site, where they formed part of the decorations of the Campus Martius. The hieroglyphics show that it dates from Hophres, a king of the 25th dynasty. On the pedestal is the inscription:
One side of the piazza is occupied by the mean ugly front of the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, built in 1370 upon the ruins of a temple of Minerva founded by Pompey. It is the only gothic church in Rome of importance. In 1848—55 it was redecorated with tawdry imitation marbles, which have only a good effect when there is not sufficient light to see them. In spite of this, the interior is very interesting, and its chapels are a perfect museum of relics of art or history. The services, too, in this church were, under the papal government, exceedingly imposing, especially the procession on the night before Christmas, the mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, and that of "the white mule day." Some celebrated divine generally preaches here at 11 A.M. every morning in Lent.
Hither, on the feast of the Annunciation, comes the famous "Procession of the White Mule," when the host is borne by the grand almoner riding on the papal mule, followed by the pope in his glass coach, and a long train of cardinals and other dignitaries. Up to the time of Pius VI., it was the pope himself who rode upon the white mule, but Pius VII. was too infirm, and since his time they have given it up. But this procession has continued to be one of the finest spectacles of the kind, and has been an opportunity for a loyal demonstration, balconies being hung with scarlet draperies, and flowers showered down upon the papal coach, while the pope, on arriving and departing, has usually been received with tumultuous "evivas."
On the right of the entrance is the tomb of Diotisalvi, a Florentine knight, ob. 1482. Beginning the circuit of the church by the right aisle, the first chapel has a picture of S. Ludovico Bertrando, by Baciccio, the paintings on the pilasters being by Muziano. In the second, the Colonna Chapel, is the tomb of the late Princess Colonna (Donna Isabella Alvaria of Toledo) and her child, who both died at Albano in the cholera of 1867. The third chapel is that of the Gabrielli family. The fourth is that of the Annunciation. Over its altar is a most interesting picture, shown as a work of Fra Angelico, but more probably that of Benozzo Gozzoli. It represents Monsignore Torquemada attended by an angel, presenting three young girls to the Virgin, who gives them dowries: the Almighty is seen in the clouds. Torquemada was a Dominican Cardinal, who founded the association of the Santissima-Annunziata, which holds its meetings in this chapel, and which annually gives dowries to a number of poor girls, who receive them from the pope when he comes here in state on the 25th of March. On this occasion, the girls who are to receive the dowries are drawn up in two lines in front of the church. Some are distinguished by white wreaths. They are those who are going to "enter into religion," and who consequently receive double the dowry of the others, on the plea that "money placed in the hands of religion bears interest for the poor."
Torquemada is himself buried in this chapel, opposite the tomb, by Ambrogio Buonvicino, of his friend Urban VII., Giov. Battista Castagna, 1590,—who was pope only for eleven days.
The fifth chapel is the burial-place of the Aldobrandini family. It contains a faded Last Supper, by Baroccio.
"The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement VIII. (1594), is remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who was not eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch reverted to the ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind Judas, whispering in his ear, and tempting him to betray his master. The pope expressed his dissatisfaction,—'che non gli piaceva il demonio se dimesticasse tanto con Gesù Christo,'—and ordered him to remove the offensive figure."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 277.
Here are the fine tombs erected by Clement VIII. (Ippolito Aldobrandini) as soon as he obtained the papacy, to his father and mother. Their architecture is by Giacomo della Porta, but the figures are by Cordieri, the sculptor of Sta. Silvia's statue. At the sides of the mother's tomb are figures emblematical of Charity, by that of the father, figures of Humility and Vanity. Beyond his mother's tomb is a fine statue of Clement VIII. himself (who is buried at Sta. Maria Maggiore), by Ippolito Buzi.
"Hippolyte Aldobrandini, qui prit le nom de Clément VIII., était le cinquième fils du célèbre jurisconsulte Silvestro Aldobrandini, qui, après avoir professé à Pise et joui d'une haute autorité à Florence, avait été condamné à l'exil par le retour au pouvoir des Médicis ses ennemis. La vie de Silvestre devint alors pénible et calamiteuse. Dépouillé de ses biens, il fut, du moins, toujours ennoblir son malheur par la dignité de son caractère. Sa famille présentait un rare assemblage de douces vertus et de jeunes talents qu'une forte éducation développait chaque jour avec puissance. Appelé à Rome par Paul III., qui le nomma avocat consistorial, Silvester s'y transporta avec son épouse, la pieuse Leta Deti, qui, pendant trente-sept ans, fut pour lui comme son bon ange, et avec tous ses enfants, Jean, qui devait être un jour cardinal; Bernard, qui devint un vaillant guerrier; Thomas, qui préparait déjà peut-être sa traduction de Diogène-Laërce; Pierre, qui voulut être jurisconsulte comme son père; et le jeune Hippolyte, un enfant alors, dont les saillies inquiétaient le vieillard, car il ne savait comment pourvoir à son éducation et utiliser cette vivacité de génie qui déjà brillait dans son regard. Hippolyte fut élevé aux frais du cardinal Farnèse; puis, tous les emplois, toutes les dignités vinrent successivement au-devant de lui, sans qu'il les cherchât autrement qu'en s'en rendant digne."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 238.
The sixth chapel contains two fine cinque-cento tombs; on the left, Benedetto Superanzio, bishop of Nicosa, ob. 1495; on the right, a Spanish bishop, Giovanni da Coca, with frescoes. Close to the former tomb, on the floor, is the grave of (archdeacon) Robert Wilberforce, who died at Albano in 1857.
Here we enter the right transept. On the right is a small dark chapel containing a fine Crucifix, attributed to Giotto. The central, or Caraffa Chapel, is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, and is covered with well-preserved frescoes. On the right, St. Thomas Aquinas is represented surrounded by allegorical figures, by Filippino Lippi. Over the altar is a beautiful Annunciation, in which a portrait of the donor, Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa, is introduced. Above is the Assumption of the Virgin. On the ceiling are the four Sibyls, by Raffaelino del Garbo.
Against the left wall is the tomb of Paul IV., Gio. Pietro Caraffa (1555—59), the great supporter of the Inquisition, the patron of the Jesuits, the persecutor of the Jews (whom he shut up with walls in the Ghetto),—a pope so terrible to look upon, that even Alva, who feared no man, trembled at his awful aspect Such he is represented upon his tomb, with deeply-sunken eyes and strongly-marked features, with one hand raised in blessing—or cursing, and the keys of St. Peter in the other. The tomb was designed by Pirro Ligorio; the statue is the work of Giacomo and Tommaso Casignuola, and being made in marble of different pieces and colours, is cited by Vasari as an instance of a sculptor's ingenuity in imitating painting with his materials. The epitaph runs:
"To Jesus Christ, the hope and the life of the faithful; to Paul IV. Caraffa, sovereign pontiff, distinguished amongst all by his eloquence, his learning, and his wisdom; illustrious by his innocence, by his liberality, and by his greatness of soul; to the most ardent champion of the catholic faith, Pius V., sovereign pontiff, has raised this monument of his gratitude and of his piety. He lived eighty-three years, one month, and twenty days, and died the 14th August, 1559, the fifth year of his pontificate."[312]
On the transept wall, just outside this chapel, is the beautiful gothic tomb of Guillaume Durandus, bishop of Mende,[313] with a recumbent figure guarded by two angels, the background being occupied by a mosaic of the Virgin and Child, by Giovanni Cosmati.
The first chapel on a line with the choir—the burial-place of the Altieri family—has an altar-piece, by Carlo Maratta, representing five saints canonized by Clement X., presented to the Virgin by St. Peter. On the floor is the incised monument of a bishop of Sutri.
The second chapel—which contains a fine cinque-cento tomb—is that of the Rosary. Its ceiling, representing the Mysteries of the Rosary, is by Marcello Venusti; the history of St. Catherine of Siena is by Giovanni de' Vecchi; the large and beautiful Madonna with the Child over the altar is attributed to Fra Angelico. Here is the tomb of Cardinal Capranica of 1470.
Beneath the high altar, with lamps always burning before it, is a marble sarcophagus with a beautiful figure, enclosing the body of St. Catherine of Siena. In it her relics were deposited in 1461, by Antoninus, archbishop of Florence. On the last pillar to the right is an inscription stating that, "all the indulgences and privileges in every church, of all the religious orders, mendicant or not mendicant, in every part of the world, are granted especially to this church, where is the body of St. Catherine of Siena."
"St. Catherine was one of twenty-five children born in wedlock to Jacopo and Lupa Benincasa, citizens of Siena. Her father exercised the trade of dyer and fuller. In the year of her birth, 1347, Siena reached the climax of its power and splendour. It was then that the plague of Bocaccio began to rage, which swept off 80,000 citizens, and interrupted the building of the great Duomo. In the midst of so large a family and during these troubled times, Catherine grew almost unnoticed, but it was not long before she manifested her peculiar disposition. At six years old she already saw visions and longed for a monastic life: about the same time she used to collect her childish companions together and preach to them. As she grew her wishes became stronger; she refused the proposals which her parents made that she should marry, and so vexed them by her obstinacy that they imposed on her the most servile duties in their household. These she patiently fulfilled, at the same time pursuing her own vocation with unwearied ardour. She scarcely slept at all, and ate no food but vegetables and a little bread, scourged herself, wore sackcloth, and became emaciated, weak, and half delirious. At length the firmness of her character and the force of her hallucination won the day. Her parents consented to her assuming the Dominican robe, and at the age of thirteen she entered the monastic life. From this moment till her death we see in her the ecstatic, the philanthropist, and the politician combined to a remarkable degree. For three whole years she never left her cell except to go to church, maintaining an almost unbroken silence. Yet, when she returned to the world, convinced at length of having won by prayer and pain the favour of her Lord, it was to preach to infuriated mobs, to toil among men dying of the plague, to execute diplomatic negotiations, to harangue the republic of Florence, to correspond with queens, and to interpose between kings and popes. In the midst of this varied and distracting career she continued to see visions, and to fast and scourge herself. The domestic virtues and the personal wants and wishes of a woman were annihilated in her; she lived for the Church, for the poor, and for Christ, whom she imagined to be constantly supporting her. At length she died (at Rome, on the 29th of April, 1380, in her 33rd year) worn out by inward conflicts, by the tension of a half-delirious ecstasy, by want of food and sleep, and by the excitement of political life."—Cornhill Mag. Sept. 1866.
On the right of the high altar is a statue of St. John, by Obicci,—on the left is the famous statue of Christ, by Michael Angelo. This is one of the sculptures which Francis I. tried hard to obtain for Paris. Its effect is marred by the bronze drapery.
Behind, in the choir, are the tombs of two Medici popes. On the left is Leo X., Giovanni de Medici (1513—21). This great pope, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was destined to the papacy from his cradle. He was ordained at seven years old, was made a cardinal at seventeen, and pope at thirty-eight, and at the installation procession to the Lateran, rode upon the same white horse, upon which he had fought and had been taken prisoner at the battle of Ravenna. His reign was one of fêtes and pleasures. He was the great patron of artists and poets, and Raphael and Ariosto rose into eminence under his protection. His tomb is from a design of Antonio di Sangallo, but the figure of the pope is by Raffaello da Montelupo.
Near the foot of Leo X.'s tomb is the flat monumental stone of Cardinal Bembo, his friend, and the friend of Raphael, who died 1547. His epitaph has been changed. The original inscription, half-pagan, half-Christian, ran:
On the right of the choir is the tomb, by Sangallo, of Clement VII., Giulio de Medici (1523—34), son of the Giulio who fell in the conspiracy of the Pazzi,—who in his unhappy reign saw the sack of Rome (1527) under the Constable de Bourbon, and the beginning of the separation from England under Henry VIII. The figure of the pope is by Baccio Bandinelli. Among other graves here is that of the English Cardinal Howard, ob. 1694. Just beyond the choir is a passage leading to a door into the Via S. Ignazio. Immediately on the left is the slab tomb of Fra Angelico da Fiesole. It is inscribed:
"Fra Angelico was simple and most holy in his manners,—and let this serve for a token of his simplicity, that Pope Nicholas one morning offering him refreshment, he scrupled to eat flesh without the licence of his superior, forgetful for the moment of the dispensing authority of the pontiff. He shunned altogether the commerce of the world, and living in holiness and in purity, was as loving towards the poor on earth as I think his soul must be now in heaven. He worked incessantly at his art, nor would he ever paint other than sacred subjects. He might have been rich, but cared not to be so, saying that true riches consisted rather in being content with little. He might have ruled over many, but willed it not, saying there was less trouble and hazard of sin in obeying others. Dignity and authority were within his grasp, but he disregarded them, affirming that he sought no other advancement than to escape hell and draw nigh to Paradise. He was most meek and temperate, and by a chaste life loosened himself from the snares of the world, ofttimes saying that the student of painting hath need of quiet and to live without anxiety, and that the dealers in the things of Christ ought to live habitually with Christ. Never was he seen in anger with the brethren, which appears to me a thing most marvellous, and all but incredible; his admonitions to his friends were simple and always softened by a smile. Whoever sought to employ him, he answered with the utmost courtesy, that he would do his part willingly so the prior were content.—In sum, this never sufficiently to be lauded father was most humble and modest in all his words and deeds, and in his paintings graceful and devout; and the saints which he painted have more of the air and aspect of saints than those of any other artist. He was wont never to retouch or amend any of his paintings, but left them always as they had come from his hand at first, believing, as he said, that such was the will of God. Some say that he never took up his pencil without previous prayer. He never painted a crucifix without tears bathing his cheeks; and throughout his works, in the countenance and attitude of all his figures, the correspondent impress of his sincere and exalted appreciation of the Christian religion is recognisable. Such was this verily Angelic father, who spent the whole time of his life in the service of God and in doing good to the world and to his neighbour. And truly a gift like his could not descend on any but a man of most saintly life, for a painter must be holy himself before he can depict holiness."—Lord Lindsay, from Vasari.
In the same passage are tombs of Cardinal Alessandrino, by Giacomo della Porta; of Cardinal Pimentel, by Bernini; and of Cardinal Bonelli, by Carlo Rainaldi.
Beyond this, in the left transept, is the Chapel of S. Domenico, with eight black columns, appropriate to the colour of the Order, and an interesting picture of the saint. Here is the tomb of Benedict XIII., Vincenzo-Maria Orsini (1724—30), by Pietro Bracci. This pope, who had been a Dominican monk, laboured hard in his short reign for the reformation of the Church, and the morals of the clergy.
Over a door leading to the Sacristy are frescoes representing the election of Eugenius IV. in 1431, and of Nicholas V. in 1447, which both took place in this church. The altar of the sacristy has a Crucifixion, by Andrea Sacchi.
Returning down the left aisle, the second chapel, counting from this end, is that of the Lante family, which contains the fine tomb of the Duchess Lante, ob. 1840, by Tenerani, with the Angel of the Resurrection, a sublime upward-gazing figure seated upon the sarcophagus. Here is a picture of St. James, by Baroccio.
The third chapel is that of S. Vincenzo Ferreri, apostle of the Order of Preachers, with a miracle-working picture, by Bernardo Castelli. The fourth chapel—of the Grazioli family—has on the right a statue of St. Sebastian, by Mino da Fiesole, and over the altar a lovely head of our Saviour, by Perugino. This chapel was purchased by the Grazioli from the old family of Maffei, of which there are some fine tombs. The fifth chapel—of the Patrizi family—contains the famous miraculous picture called "La Madonna Consolatrice degli afflitti," in honour of which Pope Gregory XVI. conceded so many indulgences, as we read by the inscription.
"La santità di N. S. Gregorio Papa XVI. con breve in data 17 Sept. 1836. Ho accordato l'indulgenzia plenaria a chiunque confessato e communicato visiterà divotamente questa santa imagine della B. Vergine sotto il titolo di consolatrice degli afflitti nella seconda dominica di Luglio e suo ottavo di ciascun anno: concede altresi la parziale indulgenza di 200 giorni in qualunque giorno dell' anno a chiunque almeno contrito visiterà la detta S. Immagine: le dette indulgenze poi sono pure applicabili alle benedette anime del purgatorio."
The last chapel, belonging to a Spanish nobleman, contains the picture of the Crucifixion, which is said to have conversed with Sta. Rosa di Lima.
Near the entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Giacomo Tebaldi, ob. 1466, and beneath it that of Francesco Tornabuoni, by Mino da Fiesole. It was for the tomb of the wife of this Tornabuoni, who died in childbirth, that the wonderful relief of Verocchio, now in the Uffizi at Florence, was executed. In the pavement is the gravestone of Paulus Manutius, the printer, son of the famous Aldus Manutius of Venice, with the inscription, "Paulo Manutio Aldi Filio. Obiit CIƆIƆLXXIV."
The great Dominican Convent of the Minerva, lately suppressed, was the residence of the General of the Order. It contains the Bibliotheca Casanatensis (so called from its founder, Cardinal Casanata), the largest library in Rome after that of the Vatican, comprising 120,000 printed volumes and 4500 MSS. It is open from 8 to 11 A.M., and 1½ to 3½ P.M. This convent has always been connected with the history of the Inquisition. Here, on June 22, 1633, Galileo was tried before its tribunal for the "heresy" of saying that the earth went round the sun, instead of the sun round the earth, and was forced to recant upon his knees, this "accursed, heretical, and detestable doctrine." As he rose from his humiliation, he is said to have consoled himself by adding, in an undertone, "E pur si muove." When the "Palace of the Holy Office" was stormed by the mob in the revolution of 1848, it was feared that the Dominican convent would have been burnt down.
The very beautiful cloister of the convent, which has a vaulted roof richly painted in arabesques, contains grand fifteenth century tombs,—of Cardinal Tiraso, ob. 1502, and of Cardinal Astorgius, ob. 1503. S. Antonino, archbishop of Florence, who lived in the reigns of Eugenius IV. and Nicholas V., was prior of this convent.
From the Minerva, the Via del Piè di Marmo, so called from a gigantic marble foot which stands on one side of it, leads to the Corso.[315]
Via Tordinona—S. Salvatore in Lauro—House of Raphael—S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini—Bridge and Castle of S. Angelo—Sta. Maria Traspontina—Palazzo Giraud—Piazza Scossa-Cavalli—Hospital of Santo Spirito—Piazza and Obelisk of the Vatican—S. Peter's; its portico, tombs, crypts, dome, and sacristy—Churches of S. Stefano and Sta. Marta—Il Cimeterio dei Tedeschi—Palazzo del Santo-Uffizio—S. Salvatore in Torrione—S. Michaele in Sassia.
CONTINUING in a direct course from the Piazza Borghese, we pass through a series of narrow dirty streets quite devoid of interest, but bordering on one side upon the Tiber, of which—with its bridge, S. Angelo and St. Peter's—beautiful views may be obtained from little courts and narrow strips of shore, at the back of the houses.
A short distance after passing (on left) the Locanda dell' Orso, where Montaigne used to stay when he was in Rome, and beneath which are some curious vaulted chambers of c. A.D. 1500, the street, which repeatedly changes its name, is called Via Tordinona, from the Tor di Nona, which once stood here, but was destroyed in 1690. It was used as a prison, as is shown by the verse of Regnier:
"Qu'un barisel vous mit dedans la tour de Nonne."
One of the narrow streets on the left of the Via Tordinona debouches into the Via dei Coronari, close to the Church of S. Salvatore in Lauro, built on the site of a laurel-grove, which flourished near the portico of Europa. It contains a picture of the Nativity, by Pietro da Cortona, and a modern work of Gagliardi, representing S. Emidio, S. Nicolo da Tolentino, and S. Giacomo della Marina, the three protectors of Ancona. In a side chapel, opening out of the cloisters, is the rich tomb of Pope Eugenius IV. (Gabriele Condolmieri, ob. 1439), with his recumbent figure by Isaia da Pisa. Francesco Salviati painted a portrait of this pope for the adjoining convent, to which he had belonged, as well as a fine fresco of the Marriage of Cana.[316]
(There are several other fine monuments in the same chapel with the tomb, which in 1867 was given up as a barrack to the Flemish zouaves, at the great risk of injury to its delicate carvings.)
Passing the Apollo Theatre, the Via Tordinona emerges upon the quay of the Tiber, opposite S. Angelo. Hence several streets diverge into the heart of the city.
(At the corner of the Via di Banchi is a house with a frieze, richly sculptured with lions' heads, &c. On the left is the Church of San Celso in Banchi, in front of which Lorenzo Colonna, the protonotary, was murdered by the Orsini and Santa Croce, immediately after the death of Sixtus IV. (1484); and where his mother, finding his head cut off, and seizing it by the hair, shrieked forth her curses upon his enemies. On the right, further down the street, is the Church of Sta. Caterina da Siena, which contains an interesting altar-piece by Girolamo Genga, representing the return of Gregory XI. from Avignon, which was due to her influence.)
The house joining the Ponte S. Angelo is said to have been that of the "Violinista," the friend of Raphael, who is familiar to us from his portrait in the Sciarra Palace. Some say that Raphael died while he was on a visit to him. But the best authorities maintain that he died in a house built for him by Bramante, in the Piazza Rusticucci, which was pulled down to enlarge the Piazza of St. Peter's. No. 124, Via Coronari, not far from the Ponte S. Angelo, is shown as the house in which the great painter lived previously to this, and is that which he bequeathed to the chapel in the Pantheon in which he is buried. It was partly rebuilt in 1705, when Carlo Maderno painted on its façade a portrait of Raphael in chiaro-scuro, now almost obliterated. The house at present belongs to the canons of Sta. Maria Maggiore.
(The Via S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini leads to the Church of that name, abutting picturesquely into the angle of the Tiber. This is the national church of the Tuscans, and was built at the expense of the city of Florence. In the tribune are tombs of the Falconieri family. Here are several fine pictures; a St. Jerome writing, by Cigoli, who is buried in this church; St. Jerome praying before a crucifix, Tito Santi[317] (1538—1603); St. Francis, Tito Santi; SS. Cosmo and Damian condemned to martyrdom by fire,—a grand work of Salvator Rosa.
"Some of the altar-pieces of Salvator-Rosa (1615-1673), are well conceived and full of effect, especially when they represent a horrible subject, like the martyrdom in S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini."—Lanzi, ii. 165.
The Chapel of the Crucifix is painted by Lanfranco: the third chapel on the right has frescoes by Tempesta on the roof, relating to the history of S. Lorenzo.
The building of this church was begun in the reign of Leo X. by Sansovino, who, for want of space, laid its foundations, at enormous expense, in the bed of the Tiber. While overlooking this, he fell from a scaffold, and being dangerously hurt, was obliged to give up his place to Antonio da Sangallo.[318] Soon after Pope Leo died, and the work, with many others, was suspended during the reign of Adrian VI. Under Clement VII. Sansovino returned, but was driven away, robbed of all his possessions in the sack of Rome, under the Constable de Bourbon. The church was finished by Giacomo della Porta in 1588, but Alessandro Galileo added the façade in 1725.
"En 1488, une affreuse épidémie décimait les malheureux habitants des environs de Rome; les mourants étaient abandonnés, les cadavres restaient sans sépulture. Aussitôt quelques Florentins forment une confrérie sous le titre de la Pitié, pour rendre aux pestiférés les derniers devoirs de la charité chrétienne: c'est à cette confrérie qu'on doit la belle église de Saint-Jean des Florentins, à Strada Giulia."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.
The Ponte S. Angelo is the Pons Elius of Hadrian, built as an approach to his mausoleum, and only intended for this, as another public bridge existed close by, at the time of its construction. It is almost entirely ancient, except the parapets. The statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, at the extremity, were erected by Clement VII., in the place of two chapels, in 1530, and the angels, by Clement IX., in 1688. The pedestal of the third angel on the right is a relic of the siege of Rome in 1849, and bears the impress of a cannon-ball.
These angels, which have been called the "breezy maniacs" of Bernini, are only from his designs. The two angels which he executed himself, and intended for this bridge, are now at S. Andrea delle Fratte. The idea of Clement IX. was a fine one, that "an avenue of the heavenly host should be assembled to welcome the pilgrim to the shrine of the great apostle."
Dante saw the bridge of S. Angelo divided lengthways by barriers to facilitate the movement of the crowds going to and from St Peter's on the occasion of the first jubilee, 1300.
From the Ponte S. Angelo, when the Tiber is low, are visible the remains of the bridge by which the ancient Via Triumphalis crossed the river. Close by, where Santo Spirito now stands, was the Porta Triumphalis, by which victors entered the city in triumph.
Facing the bridge, is the famous Castle of S. Angelo, built by the Emperor Hadrian as his family tomb, because the last niche in the imperial mausoleum of Augustus was filled when the ashes of Nerva were laid there. The first funeral here was that of Elius Verus, the first adopted son of Hadrian, who died before him. The emperor himself died at Baiæ, but his remains were transported hither from a temporary tomb at Pozzuoli by his successor Antoninus Pius, by whom the mausoleum was completed in A.D. 140. Here, also, were buried, Antoninus Pius, A.D. 161; Marcus Aurelius, 180; Commodus, 192; and Septimius Severus, in an urn of gold, enclosed in one of alabaster, A.D. 211; Caracalla, in 217, was the last emperor interred here. The well-known lines of Byron:
seem rather applicable to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius than to this mausoleum.
The castle, as it now appears, is but the skeleton of the magnificent tomb of the emperors. Procopius, writing in the sixth century, describes its appearance in his time. "It is built," he says, "of Parian marble; the square blocks fit closely to each other without any cement. It has four equal sides, each a stone's throw in length. In height it rises above the walls of the city. On the summit are statues of men and horses, of admirable workmanship, in Parian marble." Canina, in his "Architectura Romana," gives a restoration of the mausoleum, which shows how it consisted of three storeys: 1, a quadrangular basement, the upper part intersected with Doric pillars, between which were spaces for epitaphs of the dead within, and surmounted at the corners by marble equestrian statues; 2, a circular storey, with fluted Ionic colonnades: 3, a circular storey, surrounded by Corinthian columns, between which were statues. The whole was surmounted by a pyramidal roof, ending in a bronze fir-cone.