Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71) and "Rainstopping" S. Lindgren1 and J. Neumann2

Abstract ping, at least on one occasion, was the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71; see Fig. 1), whose Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), the renowned goldsmith and sculptor talent was highly appreciated by such a great artist as Miche- of the late Renaissance in Italy, claimed in his autobiography that he langelo—for example, see his letter to Cellini (Michelangelo, directed artillery fire at rain clouds, thus stopping the rain. The occa- 1907, p. 223; Cellini, 1949, p. 370). The EncyclopaediaBritan- sion was the festive entrance into Rome (on 3 November 1538) of the nica (Macropaedia, vol. 3, 1975) says the following: "As an Duchess Margaret of Austria, natural daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, who was also King of Spain Charles V. She came to Rome artist. . . Cellini was not only a craftsman of surpassing taste to be wedded to the grandson of the reigning Pontiff, Paul III. and skill but a sculptor of great significance." Since Cellini tended to be boastful, we checked three independent Though Cellini had no previous training in gunnery, he contemporary sources describing Margaret's reception. None of the distinguished himself as an excellent marksman (Cellini, three mentions firing at clouds; they do not even say that there was rain on that day. It must be added, however, that all three accounts 1949, pp. 63-74) in the defense of Castel Sant' Angelo, the are very brief, and that in the past, records of events usually put em- fort of the Papal Court, during the siege and sack of Rome phasis on actions of rulers and other important personages, paying by troops of the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain little attention to environmental (and even to social) conditions. Charles V in 1527. The Pope of the time (Clement VII), several Thus, the most that we can say in regard of Cellini's claim is that we cannot corroborate his assertion of firing at clouds. cardinals, the ambassadors of France and England, officers Attention is drawn also to Cellini's excellent description of a phe- of the Papal Court, etc., took refuge in the Castel (Pastor, nomenon in atmospheric optics, viz. that of the "Heiligenschein" 1950a, p. 394). It would thus appear that Cellini had the (of the "wet" type). Cicely M. Botley points out that this phenome- prowess to train the guns at the clouds. non was described by Cellini 250 years before the first scientific pre- sentation of the observation.

1. Gunfire and rain

During and after the Napoleonic Wars, there was a wide- spread belief in Europe that battles were followed by rain. The rationale suggested for this sequence of events was that the explosion of gunshells stimulated rainfall. Subsequently this belief spread to America. Byers (1974, p. 5) cites a book by Edward Powers, War and Weather, first published in 1871, in which the author relates Civil War "experiences" indicat- ing that rain fell battle after battle. His ideas won so much support in the U.S. Congress that in 1890-91 the latter ap- propriated $10 000 (a considerable sum at the time) for field experiments.3 It was somewhat of a surprise to learn that in the 16th cen- tury the opposite belief, viz., that gunfire stops the rain, was held by some. It was no less of a surprise to find that one indi- vidual claiming to have been engaged actively in rainstop-

1 Institute of History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 2 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusa- lem, Israel. 3 A reviewer of this paper drew the authors' attention to a recent book by Clark C. Spence, The Rainmakers, American Pluviculture to World War II, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, X + 181 pp., 1980. Spence devotes Chapter 3 (pp. 22-51) to a discus- sion of". . . Rainmaking by Concussion." We have not been able to consult this book, but the chapter title is relevant inasmuch as Cel- lini's idea of firing at clouds with guns should have an effect on FIG. 1. Portrait of Benvenuto Cellini, a copy of a painting by the clouds through concussions (if at all). French painter-engraver Paul-Edme Le Rat (1849-92) (see Thieme- Becker, 1929, vol. 23, p. 110). In all probability, it was prepared on 0003-0007/81/101496-01 $04.25 the basis of a painting dating to the 16th century. See frontispiece in © 1981 American Meteorological Society Plon (1883).

1454 Vol. 62, No. 10, October 1981

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 11:39 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society 1455

2. Cellini's claim at all, is supported further by the fact that in the paragraph of his autobiography (Cellini, 1949, p. 211) where Cellini de- According to Cellini, the occasion on which he fired guns at scribes the alleged gun discharges at rain clouds, he mentions clouds (Cellini, 1949, p. 211) to stop the rain was the cere- the "castellan," that is, the Castel's Governor. So if he did monious entrance into Rome of the Duchess Margaret of fire at rain clouds, he did so at a time when he was a prisoner Austria (1522-86), natural daughter of the Emperor Charles in the Papal fort. V, and her retinue. The entrance took place on 3 November 15384 (Forcella, 1885, p. 65). At the time, Margaret was 16 years of age and a widow of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of 3. A search for independent evidence Florence, whom she married in 1536 and who was assassi- nated in 1537. She came to Rome to be wedded to the 14-year- Did Cellini indeed fire at rain clouds? We were able to inspect old Duke Ottavio Farnese, grandson of the incumbent three contemporary "records" of Margaret's reception. Two Pope Paul III (pontificated 1534-49), the former Cardinal documents are in the form of unpublished diaries kept by two Alessandro Farnese. The Pope was greatly interested in high-office bearers of Paul Ill's Court, which are preserved the match, hoping that it would improve his relations with in the Vatican Secret Archives and the Vatican Apostolic Li- Charles V, with whom he was frequently in conflict.5 It is brary; the third is a diplomatic dispatch by Charles V's Am- natural that the Pope wished to make Margaret's entrance a bassador to the Papal Court. One of the diaries is by Peter festive occasion. The importance he attached to the event is Paul Gualterius, Paul Ill's Secretary, and the other is by Bla- shown by the fact that in October 1538 he issued a bull ("Uni- sius (Biagio) de Martinellis, the Pope's Master of Ceremo- versis subditis") ordering a worthy reception for the Duchess nies.7 Photocopies of some sheets from Gualterius's (1538) (Pastor, 1950b, p. 324, footnote 4). Rain would have spoiled Diarium were kindly made available by Prefects of the Vati- the reception at the Porta del Popolo, where Margaret was can Secret Archives and the Vatican Apostolic Library, while awaited by cardinals, bishops, foreign ambassadors, noble- de Martinellis's notes form the basis for Forcella's (1885) ac- men, and a crowd of Roman plebeians (Gualterius, 1538, count of the reception. The diplomatic dispatch is by Mar- Folio 362R6; Forcella, 1885, p. 66). And rain would have quis Juan Fernandez Manrique de Aguilar, Charles V's Am- spoiled the procession that took her first to the Pope and then bassador, addressed to his Sovereign. His letter is conven- to the palace where she was to stay until the wedding the next iently reprinted in English in Calendar of Letters, etc. (1890, day. p. 55). Cellini (1949, p. 211) describes the act of firing as follows: Both Gualterius's and de Martinellis's diary entries for 3 November 1538 are very short, especially that of the first; de ... I have pointed several large pieces of artillery in Aguilar's reference to the reception is even shorter.8 None of the direction where the clouds were the thickest, and the three mentions any firing at rain clouds. They do not even whence a deluge of water was already pouring; then, say that there was rain on that day. The only reference to when I began to fire, the rain stopped, and at the guns is by de Martinellis (Forcella, 1885, pp. 65-67), who fourth discharge the sun shone out; and so I was the says that when the "triumphal" procession passed by the sole cause of the festival succeeding to the joy of Castel, a gun salute was fired in honor of the Duchess. everybody. We have checked some of Margaret's recent biographies: Assuming that the firing did take place (and that the story one by de Iongh (1965, p. 109) and an earlier one by van Len- is not a figment of Cellini's imaginative boasting), there can nep (1952, p. 72). However, as their sources on the reception be little doubt that it was carried out from Castel Sant' An- are essentially the same as ours, they mention neither firing at gelo (see Fig. 2), the Pope's fortress mentioned earlier, which rain clouds nor rain. was equipped with guns. It will be recalled that it was in the Does the fact that none of these three contemporary inde- Castel that Cellini served as a gunner at the time of the siege pendent records makes any mention of firing at rain clouds and sack of Rome in 1527. Moreover, on 16 October 1538, he mean that we must consider Cellini's story to be just another was arrested (Plon, 1883, p. 40) and put in prison in the Cas- manifestation of his boastful character? We cannot be sure, tel on the charge of having illegally retained gold, etc., en- but one would have expected that the action claimed by Cel- trusted to him by Pope Clement VII, Paul Ill's predecessor. lini would have caused a stir among the organizers and par- The assumption that the firing took place from the Castel, if ticipants of Margaret's reception had they believed in his success to stop the rain, and that the matter would not have been glossed over by all three sources mentioned previously. Autobiographies should, in general, be treated critically. It is far from unusual that the proportions of actions and events described in autobiographies greatly differ from the picture 4The data is in New Style, i.e., according to the Gregorian calendar. 5 Not only did Charles's troops sack Rome in 1527, but at a later stage the Emperor threatened the Pope with another sack of the Eternal City. 6The classmark quoted by Pastor (1950b), applied at the time when the manuscript was in the Vatican Secret Archives. The manu- 7 Gualterius's office is stated in Vaccari (1946, p. 406); that of de script now is in the Vatican Apostolic Library, where its classmark is Martinellis in Pastor (1950b, index) and Forcella (1885). Cod. Vat. lat. 12310. The pagination number of the folio on which 8 The Ambassador's dispatch relates mainly to state and financial Gualterius describes the event of concern in this paper is 362R. matters.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 11:39 PM UTC 1456 Vol. 62, No. 10, October 1981

FIG. 2. Castel Sant'Angelo, the Papal fort in Rome. Copy of engraving by the Italian artist (and book- seller) Antonio Salamanca (born about 1500, died 1562) about 1530, i.e., eight years before Cellini's alleged firing at rain clouds with guns to "stop" the rain. It is almost certain that, if the firing took place at all, it was from the Castel where Cellini was held a prisoner in 1538-39. A copy of the engraving will be found in S. Alexander's translation and editing of F. Guicciardini's The History of Italy (1969).

given in other types of records. The most we can assert, there- 259) points out, Cellini must be credited with having de- fore, is that we cannot corroborate the truth of Cellini's scribed the Heiligenschein some 250 years before its scientific claim. treatment.

Acknowledgments. The writers are pleased to thank the following 4. An early observation in atmospheric optics by individuals and institutions for their assistance with literature: The Cellini Prefects, Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Apostolic Library, for copies of several sheets from Gualterius's Diarium, for a copy of the draft bull "Universis subditis," and for a reference to Gualterius; Dr. Apart from bequeathing to the history of meteorological G. A. Dalu, Istituto di Fisica dell'Atmosfera, C.N.R., Rome; ideas the (probably wrong) notion that rain can be stopped H. Darnajoux, Librarian, Meteorologie Nationale, Paris; Francine by firing gun shells into rain clouds, Cellini (1949, p. 240) left Marchant, Librarian, Service d'Aeronomie du C.N.R.S., Verrieres le Buisson, France; and H. W. van Asten, Librarian, History Seminar, to posterity one of the earliest, if not the earliest, recorded University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Finally, we thank A. Le- observation of the "Heiligenschein": the halo surrounding cluyse, Brussels, and Dr. M. R. O'Donohoe, Cambridge, England, the shadow of an observer cast on a lawn wet with dew drops for their efforts in searching for literature, and Mrs. Maija-Liisa Myl- (or on some other rough surface) illuminated by a low sun. lynen, Helsinki, for typing the paper. Cellini's brief and excellent description of the phenomenon is as follows: "This halo can be observed above my shadow in the morning from the rising of the sun for about two hours, References and far better when the grass is drenched with dew." The backscatter of sunlight towards the observer from the drop- Botley, C. M., 1976: Benvenuto Cellini as a meteorological observer. lets (and, often, from rough surfaces) makes the shadow ap- J. Meteorol., 1, 259-260. (This Journal of Meteorology is a British pear lined by light to the observer. The phenomenon is some- publication started in 1975.) times called Cellini's halot Huschke, 1970, p. 276; Tricker, Byers, H. R., 1974: History of weather modification. In Weather and 1970, p. 25). According to Perntner and Exner (1922, p. 464), Climate Modification, edited by W. N. Hess, John Wiley & Sons, the first detailed description of the phenomenon was put New York, pp. 1-44. forward by Winterfeld in 1804. As Cicely M. Botley (1976, p. Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and State Papers, Relating to the Ne-

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 11:39 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society 1457

gotiations between England and Spain. Preserved in the Archives at Michelangelo, B., 1907: Die Briefe des Michelangelo Buonarroti. Simancas, Vienna, Brussels, and Elsewhere, Vol. 6, Part 1, 1538— Translated into the German by K. Frey. J. Bard, Berlin, 345 pp. 1542, 1890: Eyre and Spottiswoode for HMSO, London, 659 pp. Pastor, L. 1950a: The History of the Popes from the Close of the Mid- Cellini, B., 1949: The Life ofBenvenuto Cellini Written by Himself dle Ages, Vol. 9 (4th ed.). Edited by R. F. Kerr, Routledge & Kegan Translated by J. A. Symonds, introduced and illustrated by J. Paul, London, 524 pp. Pope-Hennessy, Phaidon Publishers, London, 498 pp. , 1950b: The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle de Iongh, J., 1965: Madama Margaretha van OostenrijkHertogin van Ages, Vol. 11 (3rd ed.). Edited by R. F. Kerr, Routledge & Kegan Parma en Piacenza 1522-1586. Queridu Uitgivereij, Amsterdam, Paul, London, 615 pp. 454 pp. Perntner, J. M., and F. M. Exner, 1922: Meteorologische Optik {2nd Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975: Macropaedia, vol. 3, Encyclopaedia ed.). W. Braumiiller, Wien and Leipzig, 907 pp. Britannica, Inc., Chicago, 111., 1186 pp. Plon, E., 1883.Benvenuto Cellini, Orfevre, Medailleur, Sculpteur. E. Forcella, V., 1885: Tornei e Giostre, Ingressi Trionfali e Feste Carne- Plon et Cie, Paris, 414 pp. valesche in Roma sotto Paolo III. Tipografia Artigianelli, Roma, Thieme-Becker, 1929: Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler 117 pp. von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. 23. Edited by H. Vollmer, Gualterius, P. P., 1538: Diarium. Manuscript in the Vatican Apos- E. A. Seemann, Leipzig, 608 pp. tolic Library, classmark Cod. Vat. lat. 12310. Tricker, R. A. R., 1970: Introduction to Meteorological Optics. Mills Guicciardini, F., 1969: The History of Italy. Translated, edited, and & Boon, London, 285 pp. with notes and an Introduction by S. Alexander. Macmillan, Lon- Vaccari, A., 1946: Note tridentine. Biblica (Commentarii Editi Cura don, 457 pp. (The original Italian was first published in 1561.) Pontifici Instituti Bibliae), 27, 404-411. Huschke, R. A., (Ed.), 1970.Meteorological Glossary. American Me- van Lennep, S. A., 1952: Les Annates Italiennes de Marguerite d'Au- teorological Society, Boston, Mass., 638 pp. triche Duchesse du Parma. Labor et Fides, Geneve, 147 pp. •

announcements (continued from page 1453)

NCAR Research Aviation Facility Advisory from operation in known icing conditions. The normal operating Panel meeting ceiling is approximately 14 000 meters above sea level. The Electra is a large, low wing, long range, four engine turboprop aircraft. The The Advisory Panel for the Research Aviation Facility (RAF) of the cockpit and passenger compartments are pressurized for high alti- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) will meet in tude operation. The Electra can operate in known icing conditions; Boulder, Colo., in April of 1982 to consider requests for flight however, external instrumentation installations may limit opera- support using UCAR's four aircraft instrumented for atmospheric tions in icing conditions. The operating ceiling of the NCAR Electra research. At its April 1982 meeting the Advisory Panel will recom- is approximately 8000 meters above sea level. The size and operating mend to NCAR the allocation of aircraft concentrating on those cost of the Electra are such that principal investigators are encour- programs requesting operations commencing during the period aged to plan cooperative use whenever feasible. Generally, all the August 1982 through July 1983. Requests for the long-range Electra aircraft are equipped to measure state parameters including temper- aircraft will be considered for the period November 1982 through ature, pressure, dewpoint, and winds, etc. Also, a large variety of October 1983 to allow sufficient time to organize joint use of the equipment can be specified by users for a particular project, includ- aircraft among several investigators, thereby making each flight ing cloud and hydrometeor particle spectrometers, aerosol spec- hour as useful as possible. Programs requesting NCAR flight sup- trometers, shortwave and longwave optical radiometers, and remote port within the context of National Science Foundation (NSF) radiometric surface temperature instrumentation. Considerable grants should include the NCAR aircraft requirements in the total freedom is permitted in mounting user-supplied instrumentation on NSF proposal. Internal NCAR flight requests and proposals not these aircraft. The RAF assumes responsibility for installing and part of NSF programs should submit sufficient justification so that a maintaining all requested instrumentation. In addition, the RAF meaningful comparison with NSF supported programs can be will supervise the installation of all user-supplied instrumentation to made. ensure compatibility with existing RAF instrumentation systems The Advisory Panel is composed of atmospheric scientists from and to ensure aircraft safety for normal flight operations and for universities, government agencies, and NCAR. They ordinarily meet crash-load specifications. twice each year, in April and October, to consider the scheduling of In order to be considered by the Panel at the April 1982 meeting, NCAR aircraft. requests must be submitted in completed form to the Manager, The NCAR Research Aviation Facility operates four aircraft in Research Aviation Facility, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colo. support of field projects in the areas of air chemistry, cloud physics, 80307, not later than 5 February 1982. The precise dates of the April air motion (including mass flow and turbulent flux measurements), meeting will be established at the October 1981 meeting of the radiation, oceanography as it relates to boundary layer processes, Advisory Panel. Additional information is available at 303-494-5151 and other programs within the atmospheric sciences. The two Queen Ext. 7827 or through correspondence with the RAF. Interested Airs are twin-engined supercharged unpressurized aircraft. The scientists, who may not have earlier completed their requests, are Queen Air is approved for both Visual and Instrument Flight Rules invited to call the same number after 1 November 1981 to obtain the and for flight into known light to moderate icing conditions. The exact dates of the April 1982 meeting. normal operating ceiling of the NCAR Queen Airs is approximately 6000 meters above sea level. The Sabreliner is a low-wing, twin jet aircraft pressurized for high altitude flight. The NCAR Sabreliner is not equipped with a pneumatic de-icer boot system and is restricted (icontinued on page 1485)

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 11:39 PM UTC