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- - PALAllO ME RUSPOLI FONDAZIONE MEMMO MINIsTER0 DELL'INTERNO DIPARTTh/IENTO PER LE LIBERTA CIVILI E L'IMMIGRAZIONE
FLEMISH MASTERS AND OTHERS ARTISTS Foreign Artists from the Heritage of the Fondo Edifici di Culto del Ministero dell'Interno
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Rome - Palazzo Ruspoli 1 July - 10 September 2008
MINISTERO FONDAZIONE COMITATO TECNICO Exhibition designer DELL'INTERNO MEMMO Giuseppe Mario Scalia Rosalia Lilly D'Amico Dipartimento per le liberta Cape dell'Ufficio Pian/icazione eAffari Generali della civili e l'immigrazione Direzione Centrale per l'Amministrazione Graphic design del Fonda Ed/Ici di Cu/to Rosalia Lilly D'Amico Ministro dell'Interno Presidente Onorario with the collaboration of Roberto Maroni Roberto Memmo Ugo Righini Sandro Pisello
Gapo delDIartimento Dirigente dArea della Direzione Centrale per Presidenti per le Libertà Civili Daniela Memmo lAmministrazione del Fonda Edfci di Culto Photographic co-ordination
l'Immzgrazione d'Amelio Sandro Pisello
Mario Morcone Patrizia Memmo Ruspoli Milvia Caminiti Fondo Edfici di Culto Dirigente d'Area della Direzione Centrale per Direttore Centrale per Vice Presidenti l'Amministrazione del Fonda Edfici di Culto Restorers l'/lmminiotrazione Salvatore Italia Abacus s.n.c. dc/ Fonda Edfci di Culto Claudio Strinati Allegra Getzel Artis s.n.c. Lucia Di Maro Responsabile coordinamento generale mostre Fondazione Studio Biavati IViemmo Luigi Coletta curated by CO.R.ART. di Antonio Isoletta e M. Grazia de Feo & C. Direzione Centrale per l'Amministrazione del Fondo Rosetta Benzi s.o.s. Edifici di Culto Capo della segreteria di direzione della Fondazione Momma Deiphica Restauri S.r.l. Teresa Donadio with the collaboration of the Giulia Paniccia Emmebi diagnostica artistica - Studio di Restauro Giulia Soprintendenza Speciale per ii Patrimonio Storico Artistico Fonda Edfci Cu/to Silvia Ghia ed Etnoantropologico e per ii Polo Museale della CittI di Marina Furci Roma Rosalia Lilly D'Amico Ditta 2GR di Giuliano Guerri Soprintendenza per il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Collaboratrice del Fonda Edfci di Culto Kromo s.n.c. di Laura Ferretti & C. Etooantropologico per il Lazio Laboratorio Restauro Donatella Magnani Caterina Abramo Giovanni Marzano Fonda Edflci di Culto Francesca Matera Claudio Palma Davide Barucca Carla Raffaeli COMITATO SCIENTIFICO Fonda Edfici di Culto Angelo Romano Lucia Di Maro Paola Tollo Direttore Centrale per l'Amministrazione Ditta Francesco Virnicchi Restauro Dipinti del Fonda Edfici di Culto General co-ordination and comunication Giuseppe Mario Scalia Exhibition arranged by Claudio Strinati with the collaboration of Pcogetto Artiser soc Soprintendente Speciale per ilPatrimonio StoricoArtistico ed Rosetta Benzi, Allegra Getzel, Giulia Paniccia with the collaboration of Etnoantropologico eper il Polo Museale della Cittb di Roma Andrea Pesce Delilno Organization Rossella Vodret Giulia Paniccia Lighting Soprintendenteper ilPatrimonio Storico Artistico with the collaboration of Miano Elettroimpianti s.r.l edEtnoantropologico per ilLazio Caterina Abramo, Davide Barucca Transport Montenovi SrI. Anna d'Amelio Research and documentation Art Historian, member of the Fondazione Memmo Maria Arcidiacono Insurance Executive Committee INA Assitalia spa
Fernando Rigon In collaboration with Art Historian, Director of the Museums ofBassano and Vicenza atac
Hotlier Group Maria Arcidiacono Eiifi IsociaIe Co//aba ratorfrom the Fonda Edfici di Cu/to
BANCA ROPOLARE ID! \FER(31'JA We would like to thanks the following collaborators A special vote of thanks goes to the following employees of CATALOGUE the Soprintendenze of Roberto Cecchi General co-ordination Direttore Generale per i ReniArchitettonici StoriciArtistici ed ROMA Fernando Rigon Etnoantropologici - Ministero per i Beni e leAttività Culturali Maria Pia D'Orazio, Andreina Draghi,Laura Gigll, in collaboration with Giorgio Leone. Mariella Nuzzo, Anna Maria Petrocchi, Maria Arcidiacono, Giulia Paniccia Claudio Strinati Gianfrancesco Solferino, Claudia Tempesta Soprintendente Speciale per ii Patrimonio Texts Storico Artistico edEtnoantropologico eper il NAPOLI Maria Arcidiacono, Giulia Aurigemma, Anna d'Amelio, Polo Museale della Città di Roma Marina Cantucci, Ida Maietta, Anna Pisani Giorgio Leone
Rossella Vodret TRAPANI Catalogue entries Soprintendente per ii Patrimonis Star/co Eleonora Romano Maria Arcidiacono, Gaetano Bongiovanni, Maria Brucato, Artistico edEtnoantropologico per ilLazio Gian Piero Cammarota, Alma Casula, Roberta Chiovaro AGRIGENTO Gabriella Costantino, Maria Pia D'Orazio, Nicola Spinosa Gabriella Costantino Andreina Draghi, Barbara Ghelfi, Laura Gigli, Soprintcndentc speciale per i/Polo ]Vluscalc Giorgio Leone, Ida Maietta, Mariella Nuzzo, Patricia Olivo Napoletano PALERMO Carlo Pastena, Anna Pisani, Eleonora Romano, Giovanna Cassata, Roberta Chiovaro, Marina Cantucci, Gianfrancesco Solferino, Stefano Gizzi Gaetano Bongiovanni, Carlo Pastena Claudia Tempesta Sopri ntendentc per i Beni Architettonici edilPacoaggis eper il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico CAGLIARI Translation di Napoli c Provincia Patricia Olivo Aimee Forster
Enrico Guglielmo SAS SARI Photographers Soprintendente per i Beni Architettonici cper il Pacsaggio di Alma Casula Salvino Aveta, Massimo Baraldi, Mario Berardi Caserta e Benevento Marco Ceraglia, Dario Di Vincenzo, Edizioni l'Orbicolare, PERUGIA Paolo Ficola, Antonio Lombardi, Luciano Pedicini, Lorenza Mochi Onori (ad interim) Francesca Abbozzo, Maria Brucato Francesco Piras, Sandro Pisello, A. Pirrone Soprintendente per i Beni Storici, Artistici edEtnoantropologici per leprovincic di BO, FE, FC, Es! e RN BOLOGNA-FERRARA Giampiero Cammarota, Barbara Ghelfi, Anna Stanzani Maurizio Galletti Sopri ntcndcntc per i Beni Architettonici eper ilPaesaggio eper thanks go to il Patrimonio Storico Artistico edEtnoantropologico dcll'Umbria Fabio Benedettucci, Francesco Benedettucci, Cinzia Celentano, Patrizia Di Maggio, Roberto Middione Salvatore Abira Francesco Petrucci Soprintendente peril Patrimonio Stories Artistico ed Etnoantropologico della Calabria lhamks also go to the personnel of the Lucia Arbace Direzione Centrale per l'Amministrazione Soprintendente per i Beni Storici Artistici cdEtnoantropolsgici del Fondo Edifici di Culto della Sardegna Franca Biason, Cristiana Catalani, Barbara Giovannelli, Claudia Nisi, Maria Giovanna Pastorello, Marco Pirritano, Giuseppe Gini Flavia Polidoro, Giuseppina Ragona, Stefania Santini, Soprintendente per i Beni Cultures/i edAmbientali di Trapani Gregorio Scarmozzino Servizio per i Beni Storico-Artistici cdEtnsantropologici
Gabriella Costantino A special thank you goes to the alle Ecclesiastical Authorities, Soprintendentc diAgrigento to the Rectors and the Parishes of the churches of the Scrvizio per i Beni Storico-Artistici edEtnoantropologici Fondo Edifici di Culto
Adele Mormino Soprintendente Beni Culturali edAmbientali Servizio per i Beni Storici, Artistici ed Etno-Antropologici Palermo <
Chairman Roberto Marcucci
Editors Elena Montani Erik Pender. Dario Scianetti
Graphic designer Rossella Corcione Maurizio Pinto
1td2nical director Massimo Banelli
Public relations Michele Kostov
© Copyright 2008 4 41 <
All right reserved. iç teproduction of the test or illustrations without written permission from the editor is strictly forbidden. Ve
ISBN978-88-8265-504-4
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SUMMARY
I
INTRODUCTION
ROBERTO MARONI Ivfinistrodell'Interno ...... p. 9
CLAUDIO STRINATI Soprintenclenza Speciale per ii Patrimonio Storico Artistico edEtnoantropologico eper ii Polo Museale di Roma...... >> 10
ROSSELLA VODRET Soprintendente per il Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico per il Lazio ...... >> 12
DANIELA MEMMO D'AMELIO, PATRIZIA MEMMO RusPoLI PresidentiFondazione Memmo ...... >> 14
FrenchArtists in the Ethernal City ...... >> 17
Masters from the Iberian Peninsula ...... >> 37
Beyoundthe Alps: the Viennese Masters ...... >> 49 Echoesof the Far East ...... >> 65 The Flemish and the Dutch: Europe in Italy ...... >> 73 From the Treasury of the Palatina Chapel ...... >> 129
ENTRIESINDEX ...... >> 139
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I tctrulyiirdcrstand the meaning1-11 of 'cultural heritage and intercuittiral dialogu&. -
&hind political conflicts and confrontations, 'culturaLheritage' as 'the heritage11 I of humanity' has asumed and stiJ1asuthes a relevant role in the reciprocal understanding betweea different countries.
Qne of these roads,perhaps one of the most difficult but fruitful over time, is lipthat fonnde4 on the knowledge it of culture, that in ftsthostI g, diverse expression often represented through arcbitctixe, jainting and literature pro- motes the meeting betyeen peoples in the name of the intellect of the spirit
Ih inability to live a true and full life without culture is umqne to the human race I 'Byll this we mean all the meti with11 which man rflnes and uses his gifts of body and soul, rendering social life (be it of the famiy or in civil society) rqe humane thrpugh institutional progress, expressing, commumcatin and cbnserving the great expert-
enes d p4itual aspirations in his works so that they can contribute to the progress1. of many, indeed to the entire hump race ¶4'e rediscovery f art, the rereading of the facts and the events that11 have characterised history, remain a cultural operation of great11 impoztance and fascination Tying the past to the present is, at the same time, an operation of
&eafpolitical content. . .. . - ...... Sdying the 'visible culturin -particular the movements and currents of thought in painting, where the spirit • . . of Europe unifies peoples, allovs us to feel a cultural affinity 1-1 . -4The works will be shown, many for, the first time, at this ethibition dedicated to the presence11 of fdreign artists from the, exceptional historic-artistic heritage, that the Ministero dell'Interno, through the Fondo Edifici del Culto has 'the. privilge of curating andII coisrving art as an instrument of cultural integration and social cohesioii. - 11 - - . . . . s - :- - ...... ROBERTOI . MiuiQNI -
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'S • • , - he celebrated maxim of Rome as applicable 'communis patria', is appropriate when referring to the field of figurative art, a maxim that could also easily be used for other, countless Italian centres as this exhibition makes clear. The 'language of art' knows no confines and has no need of translation, unlike literature, yet it is strongly characterised in such a way as to immediately demonstrate its provenance. Moreover, the 'language' of art is that which highlights the diversity of peoples and traditions, but - at the same time - favours reciprocal integration and comprehension. A Flemish painting from the Fifteenth or Sixteenth century is immediately recognisable, just as a Seventeenth century English portrait or an Eighteenth century French landscape. However, there is no doubt, that it is always possible to perceive a Flemish influence in an Italian painting from the Renaissance, a Caraveggesque suggestion in a Spanish painting of the Seventeenth century, a French influence in the Rococo decoration of an Eighteenth century Austrian castle. This is the destiny of art, a destiny just as present and active today. The works by foreign artists from the churches of the F.E.0 are so numerous and important that making the selection for the exhibition required extreme attention and thoroughness. Of course it was not possible to trace and represent all the trends, however, what counts is the ability to give a conclusive image of a cultural reality about which scholars and experts in the field incessantly continue to make new discoveries and carry out new research. The presence of cultures of other nationalities in Italian churches has been acclaimed and well noted for a long time. However this presence is not limited to the many works produced by individual artists. It extends to all cultural aspects, with foreign cultures integrating themselves in natural and spon- taneous ways with the local reality, frequently at the highest level. The fact that in Rome there were many 'national' churches is of great relevance, since it helps us to understand how different mentalities and diverse traditions were able - for centuries - to find productive points of contact in the evolution of the expressive language of the arts. Consider the case of Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. Caravaggio was considered by all to by one of the best painters of all time. So it is proper and necessary to remember how his first masterpiece, which affirmed his style and confirmed his fame, was a series of three solemn canvases in the Contarelli chapel of the national church, San Luigi del Francesi. It was a French family, firmly attached to the Roman environment and culture, which al- lowed Carravaggio (assisted by the Crescenzi family) to achieve such a lofty result. A few years passed and upon the direction of an uncompromising admirer of Caravaggio (the poet Giovanni Battista Marino active in Paris) Nicolas Poussin arrived in Rome to spend the rest of his life becoming a sort of Roman 'ad honorem' and one of the most important artists of the Seventeenth century. On the basis of this integration and continued contact between Italian and French culture, the Roman environment developed for centuries until the French Academy assumed a real and predominantly cultural and organisational role in the eternal city during the course of the Eighteenth century. At the end of this period the painter David arrived in Rome, founder of the new neoclassical style destined to under- mine all the rules and cultural traditions of Nineteenth-century Paris. These are just several examples, among many that could be made, and not only in relation to France. The exhibi- tion, in fact, presents a myriad of artists, of diverse nationalities, all united by the common denominator of having worked in our country for the glory of the Church and the enhancement of our artistic heritage. Paradoxically we proclaim the concept, complex and sacrosanct, of 'national artistic heritage'. However this con- cept, due to an apparent paradox, is in reality "transnational'. In fact Italian artistic heritage is the result of a secular process that has seen the continued transit of different traditions in our country, all assimilated and metabolised to the point of allowing them to become integral parts of our consciousness and of our tradition. A phenomenon which began with the fall of the Roman Empire. Even during the Imperial triumph, from the First to the Fifth century A.D, Rome had assisted in the slow but unstoppable phenomenon of cultural integration. The affirmation 'Graecia capta ferum victorem coepit' was well used and referred to the extraordinary assimilat- ing capacity of the Roman ruling class compared to the refinement and complexity of the Greek tradition. Con- quering Greece meant conquering and absorbing its art, religion and philosophy. Roman culture became substan- tially 'Greek' without renouncing ancient and native structures that connected them to the Etruscan myth and to
The exhibition dedicated to the works of foreign artists present in Italy, organised by the Fondo Edifici per it Culto del Ministero dell Interno and with the collaboration of the Soprintendenza Speciale per it Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per it Polo Museale delta città di Roma and the Soprintendenza per it Patrimonio Storico Artistico ed Etnoantropologico per it Lazio, is an important event. Not only because the ex- hibition reunites and presents works of noteworthy artistic significance which are held in Italy for various historic reasons or realised here by foreign painters who, especially in the modern age, came to study in Italy, sojourning for a relatively long period, or establishing themselves definitively, but also through the particular provenance of arte- facts belonging to the F.E.C, which represents a moment of reflection on a very important moment in the history of art. The presence of foreign artists in Italy, in fact, made popular the interesting debate on their contribution to Italian art and, vice versa, on how much Italian art influenced their practice and production. The presence of works of art from other geographic areas, European and extra-European, allowed for the deepening of the role that these manufactured goods had in Italian culture, becoming at times a reference point for local artists or starting the dif- fusion of a particular production and of singular decorative models. A number of these works are present in Italy due to the diverse denominations that adopted its territories, for example the Syrian and Islamic ivory caskets which came from the Palatina di Palermo Chapel, gained through contacts and ties with those areas established under the reign of the Normans. Others, however, throu gh the monas- teries and great aristocratic families, should be seen in a European context, culturally united under the Benedictine network. The Farfa sculpture should be remembered at this point, which shows an enigmatic Madonna with Child recently restored. Certainly richer and open to new (more detailed historical and stylistic study) is the heritage which clings to the modern age, of which its most wide diffusion came in the age of the Counter Reformation, converging above all on the presence of the Flemish, from the south to the north, between the last 'Maniera' and the first signs of naturalism. The Dutch, as noted, took part in an interesting aspect of Roman artistic culture, firstly Caravaggesque and then, joined by the French and Spanish, Baroque. There are certainly many names and circumstances that may be considered important. Among the Flemish, a true colony of painters established mostly in Rome and Naples, one must not forget Denijs Calvaert - who unusu- ally stopped in Bologna - Marteen De Vos, Frans van de Casteele, known as Francesco da Castello, Dirck Hen- dricksz known as Teododo d'Errico and Wenzel Cobergher, Among the Dutch of the Fifteenth century we must certainly note Gerrit Honthorst, of the finally restored, historically debated painting Concezione dei Cappuccini Church on via Veneto, depicting Christ Mocked. The contact between Italians and Flemish, as we know, dates far back into the history of Italian art, initially in Florence where, as historians have learned, it contrasted not only two painting methods but two different 'concepts of the world'. It continued beyond the Fifteenth century, through the Baroque period and into the Sixteenth century when the arrival and stay in Italy of Guglielmo Borremans is ascribed. In the beginning Borremans was strongly anchored to the painting tradition of Rubens as attested by the canvas from Cosenza, later added to by the Roman and Neapolitan examples created on his move to Sicily, where he later demonstrated the local affiliation to the late Baroque. Extraordinary, certainly among the masterpieces of the Fifteenth century is the splendid painting by Pierre Sub- leyras from the Santa Maria Nova Church in Rome. It is also important to recognise the relevant French contribu- I
French Artists in the Ethernal City
When documenting the presence of works by French artists nately shattered during the sack of 1527). It has been further noted in the churches of the Fondo Edifici di Culto one sees a relation- that Raphael supported Marcillat, unlike Michelangelo, who was an ship of continuity and extremely diversified artistic production that extreme critic and against foreign artists, particularly the Flemish.' runs from the precious Fourteenth century alabaster slabs held in In the mid-Sixteenth century, the Confraternita dei Virtuosi al the church of Santa Maria delta Consolazione at Altomonte (in the Pantheon was established, gathering together a number of foreign province of Cosenza) to the suggestive Miracle of Saint Benedict in artists such as the Lorrainese Cordier, known as the Franciosino.5 Santa Francesca Romana in Roma, painted in 1744 by Subleyras. Nicolas Cordier was the artist of sculp rks, expressly com- Recent studies have dedicated much time to the presence of missioned by Pope Clement VIII, such as :al monuments for French artists in various periods, with an emphasis on Roma, since it the parents of Pope Sylvester Aldobrandini and Luisa Deti in the represented the destination of half of the spiritual pilgrimages until Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the statue of Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Sylvia, in the Church of Sant'Andrea the Medieval period and constituted (in the course of the centuries) at an ideal for artists in search of fame and prestigious patronage. 1 e Gregorio Cello. The Cardinal Scipione Borghese, celebrated In fact, apart from some exceptions (Venice as a stop in Poussin's art enthusiast, wanted the works of Cordier in his collection and outgoing voyage or on returning to the homeland, in the case of those of the sculptor Guillaume Berthélot. This demonstrates the Vouet) the true sojourn is realised in the eternal city, where one fame attained by two artists at the start of the Seventeenth century.6 could observe in real life the works of the "ancients" - the principal The Parisian Berthélot set up a workshop in Languile. He practised goal of these journeys of study and cultural enhancement. 2 In Roma the art of wood carving and made the sculpture of the polychrome (even from the beginning of the Sixteenth century) there was a wooden cruxifix on the high altar of the Church of Santa Maria in community that, other than the Confraternity and its own notaries, Vallicella. also owned its own national church.' Due to the Parisians, Bretons, Burgandians and Lorrainese the Under the pontificate of Julius II, Guillaume de Pierre de artists in Roma all felt French; they were united separately from Marcillat realised the splendid stained glass windows depicting the the Romans, but they did not feel like strangers in the 'ecumenical' story of Jesus' infancy and the life of the Virgin in the Church of context of the Urbe. The French academies and that of San Luca Santa Maria del Popolo. Marcillat remained in Italy, working in were provided for their needs. The Accademia di San Luca founded, Cortona and Arezzo where he eventually died in 1529, leaving a in 1627, the office of the curatori deforastieri, which would occupy number of frescoes. We know that, other than the important papal itself with the poorest artists, providing them with lodgings and an- patronage of Santa Maria del Popolo in 1508-1509, he was em- nual registration in the book of relative notes on artists, including ployed to create the stained glass windows for the Vatican (unfortu- their addresses.7
'Bertolotti A., Artistifrancesi in Roma nei secoli XV, XVI, XVII Mantova 1886; 30 November 2005). an Bousquet Jacques, Recherches sur le sejour despeintresfrancais a Rome XVIDme siecle Cfr. Strinati Claudio, Roma Capolavori efabbriche del Cinquecento, in: Lazio Una Montpellier 1980; MICHEL OLIVIER, Vivre etpeindre a Rome au XVIIIe siicle, Ecole Regione da scoprire, Roma 2001, pp. 36-37 "Michelangelo lo dichiarô espressamente al Française de Rome, Palais Farnèse 1996; Bonfait Olivier (a cura di), Maesth di Roma. pittore portoghese Francisco de Hollanda che era venuto a conoscerlo e a intervistarlo. Da Napoleone all'Unità d'Italia. Da Ingres a Degas. Artistifrancesi a Roma. Milano, Disse che ciô che temeva maggiormente era l'imbarbarimento dell'arte italiana, cor- Electa, 2003. rotta dalla pittura fiamminga, buona a suo giudizio solo a far piangere di commozione 2 le donne, e cercava in ogni modo di arginare questa pericolosa apertura verso forme e Bousquet 1980, p.62 n. 13. The church of SS. Trinità dei Monti, ordered by Carlo VIII and Luigi )GI of tradizioni non nostre". France (Sanfilippo Matteo, Migrazioni a Roma tra eta moderna e contemporanea, in Bousquet 1980, p. 83. 6 Studi Emigrazione 166,2007, pp .19-32; Sanfihippo Matteo, Roma Città aperta: luogo di Bousquet 1980, p. 135. accoglienza, di incontro culturale, di religiosita... contributo al Convegno: "Costruttori di 'The academy worried for a long time about the difficulties the young artists would società. Diverse appartenenze, una cittl" Roma, Sala Pietro da Cortona in Campidoglio meet upon arriving in Rome and created the office of the curatori deforastieri which, ac- 18 Flemish Masters and others Artist. Foreign Artists from the Heritage of the Fondo Edt1ci di Cu/to del JV[inistero dell'In tern o
Unfortunately this document has never been found, but evidence choice of the dark background reflects the Caravaggesque lessons of of equal interest was conserved, useful in documenting the artistic his master Vouet.12 and human fortunes of these relatively noteworthy artists. The artist of the three canvases from Santa Maria della Vittoria In this regard the progressive intensification of French influ- Church in Roma, featuring episodes relative to the figure of Saint ence that accumulated in 1624 with the election of Simon Vouet John of the Cross, François Nicolas de Bar (who was known as Nicola (a French disciple of Caravaggio) as the prince of the Accademia di Lorenese) was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in November San Luca has been recorded. This artist, in the same year, completed 1657. 13 His pictorial production, believed to show the prevalent in- the works in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina; the contract, fluence of Pierre Mignard,'4 has been investigated above all through stipulated in the Autumn of the previous year with Paolo Alaleoni, the documentation of the Roman and Lorrainese archive from provided for the fresco decoration of the upper level and of the vault which emerges the picture of a painter established in the artistic in the fifth chapel on the left, it also provided for the realisation of environment of Roma, where he lived until his death in 1695. At two canvases and retouching of the central painting, if necessary' the age of 27 he married Agnese Leoni (who may have been the The two beautiful canvases (depicting the life of Saint Francis) granddaughter of the portrait artist Ottavio)' 5 Lorenese is noted to attest to the originality of Vouet, synthesising the novelty of have written and signed his work in Italian.'6 Caravaggio and the lessons of the Carracci. There is a question over The brothers Jacques and Guillaume Courtois, registered at the the exclusive intervention of Vouet in the frescoes of San Lorenzo Accademia di San Luca with the Italianised name of "Cortese", in Lucina, with more recent studies suggesting the participation of both married Roman women and never returned to Saint- his collaborators.' Hippolyte, their home town. 17 In the Collegio Internazionale del Among these, Charles Mellin (partly overlooked in studies) Gesuu, near the church of SS. Nome di Gesui in Roma, Andrea Pozzo seems to have finally found his role in the art of the Seventeenth integrated a number of frescoes executed by Jacques Courtois, plac- century, thanks to the meticulous research of a few art historians ing them in a corridor. The artist, known as Borgognone like his who have attempted to restore a number of his masterpieces to him, brother Guillaume, perfected scenes of battle and entered into the ultimately redefining his biography.'° order of the Jesuits after the death of his wife.' 8 The scene, realised However, the attribution to Mellin of the painting SaintAntonio by Courtoius with the technique of dry tempera, shows different of Padua washes the feet of a youth and the depiction of the Miracle episodes of the life of Saint Ignatius, among which features that of of the Mule in the church of Santa Maria all'Aracoeli in Roma, has the Battle ofPamplona. recently been re-examined. The works, made with the unusual tech- As a student of Pietro da Cortona (around 1647), Guillaume nique of oil on wall, could be interpreted (according to Malgouyres) Courtois collaborated with Gian Lorenzo Bernini during the pon- as those of Nicolas Labbé, student of the painter, born in Besançon tificate of Alexander VII Chigi 19 and thanks to the sculptor, he at- in 1608 and certainly in Roma twenty years later, where he worked tained diverse commissions for the decoration of the churches in until 1635. Roma and the surrounding area. He soon separated himself from Mel]in was responsible for the canvas destined for the church his Cortonesque beginnings to draw upon the experience ofMaratta of Santa Maria di IDonnaregina Nuova in Napoli: the Immaculate and Gaulli. Furthermore, he made some copies of works by Andrea Conception and the Annunciation which (signed and dated in 1647) Sacchi and Lanfranco, but he was also attracted to the large and are also from the Neapolitan period and, at the moment, the last voluminous brush strokes of Charles Mellin: some engravings that known work of the artist, who died two years later. The chosen ico- reproduce particular aspects of the Annunciation in San Luigi dei nography conforms to the Spanish canon visible in the Immaculate Francesi in Roma confirm this.21 Conception, where it is possible to distinguish a compositional con- The works in the Cesi chapel in the church of Santa Prassede in struction similar to the method of Cavalier D'Arpino, above all no- Roma date to the beginning of the 1660s: the fresco decoration of ticeable in the figure of the demon whilst - in the Annunciation - the the vault with Benedicting Cod and the Saints and three oil canvases,
cording to the statute of 1627, "procureranno allipoveripittori e scultori che di 11 Malgouyres 2007, pp. 234-239. in Roma afin che habbino sufficiente recap ito, eper questo terranno an libro, dove notati siano 12 Ibidem, pp. 202ss. tutti lipittori e scultori habitanti in Roma per meg/is proverderli, consegnando quello psi in capo 13 Choné Paulette, François Nicolas de Bar < French Artists in the Ethernal City 19 one of which, the Saint Giovanni Gualberto crushes a two headed mon- Pierre Le Gros the younger, in 1703, made the funeral monument of ster and receives the attributes of a bishop, made for the altar of the Saint Stanislao Kostka, for the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, chapel, is now in the sacristy Again in Roma, the altar piece for the where the balanced movement of polychrome marbles marries with church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale; realised between 1668 and 1671 the virtuous treatment of the rendering of the fabric. Le Gros also depicting the Crucifixion of SaintAndrew, clearly signals the role of took part in the monumental installation for the altar ofSant'Ignazio Borgognone as interpreter in painting the Bernini's project.2' in the church of the Gesü, he sculpted the Triumph of religion over As evidence of the collaboration between French decorators and heresy, to the right of the altar in a symmetrical position to the group local workshops, the artist Jacques Sarrazin is worthy of note: the by Jean-Baptiste 'Ihéodon. Among the artists travelling to Roma in sources point to his presence in Roma in 1625 (in via del Maroniti) their training periods and later returning to France, was the sculp- where he lived with Jacques Létin and Charles Mellin. 22 It is pos- tor Michel Renè Slodtz. He reached Roma in 1726 and was later sible that, in this period, he was involved by Domenichino in the known as Michel-Ange after having realised - in 1736 - a copy stucco decoration of the presbytery and the apse basin of the Roman of the Christ by Michelangelo Buonarroti now held at the Hotel church, Sant'Andrea della Valle.23 Born in Noyon in 1592, he con- des Invalides in Paris; 26 he worked on the relief depicting the The cluded his career in Paris, where he died in 1660. Ecstasy of Saint Theresa ofAvila in the right transept of the church of Guillaume Courtois mentioned Jean Dc La Borde to the Rector Santa Maria della Scala in Roma later located in the chapel dedi- of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale. De La Borde painted the entire group cated to the saint in 1738. of frescoes in the sacristy of the church where the central paint- The French Academy, founded in 1666 by Colbert, provided (at ing, depicting the Glory of SaintAndrew is surrounded by six mono- the King's expense) for the preparation of pensionnaires who, apart chrome scenes with Stories of Saints, each enclosed in an oval. from the study of works from antiquity and making copies of mas- Noted only for this work, which was completed in 1670, De La terpieces from Renaissance and Seventeenth century painters, were Borde was certainly active in Roma from 1669 to 1671. 'The sources obliged, from 1754, to annually send back studies of antiquity to include him among the students of Pierre Mignard.24 prove that the mastery of drawing was still of fundamental impor- Between the end of the Seventeenth and the beginning of the tance in the training of artists. 27 The institution was brought great Eighteenth century, the Roman artistic environment saw the emer- prestige in the first half of the Eighteenth century, thanks to the gence of a small group of French sculptors who perfected, after hav- efficiency of the director Nicolas Vleughels who turned Palazzo ing assimilated, the Baroque lessons of Bernini who died in 1680. Mancini into a kind of diplomatic seat, a salon for the French in Among these, Michel Maille, known as Michele Maglia (active be- Roma. tween 1657 and 1703), initially trained as an ivory carver and later Jean François de Troy was elected Prince of the Accademia di became student of Ercole Ferrata. Maglia translated these experi- San Luca in 1744 and was Director of the French Academy until ences into works of great expressive intensity, such as that seen in 1752 when he died. the chapel of San Pietro d'Alcantara in Santa Maria all'Aracoeli A frequent visitor to the noble houses, he wanted to establish in Roma, considered his best work. This expressive intensity is also himself in the Roman artistic scene by realising portraits and paint- visible in Roma, in the statue of the Religion from the funeral monu- ings inspired by the elegant life of the salons, but he left works of ment of Cardinal Carlo Boneli at Santa Maria sopra Minerva. a sacred character, such as the Saint Gerolamo Emiliani presents the 'The sculptors Pierre Le Gros the younger, Pierre-Etienne orphans to the Madonna for the altar installation in the church of Monnot, Jean-Baptiste lihéodon and Michel Renè Slodtz also es- Danti Bonifacio e Alessio, a painting in which the use of a soft brush tablished their place in the politics of international expansion en- accompanies a certain realistic effect. couraged by Pope Clement XI Albani. Albani, elected in 1700, was a The painter Jean-Baptiste van Loo from Aix-en-Provence ar- promoter of projects such as the sculptural group for the central nave rived in Roma in the first decade of the Seventeenth century. He of San Giovanni in Laterano in Roma, involving economically the worked both in Turin and Roma; here he was student to Benedetto rulers of Lorraine, Bavaria and Portugal .21 'lliéodon, participated in Luti and made a number of works, such as the great canvas depict- the realisation of the monumental altar dedicated to Saint Ignatius ing the Flagellation in the church of Santa Maria in Monticelli. in the church of SS.Nome di Gesi with the depiction of the group Destined to develop a role as a protagonist of the late Roman the Triumph offaith over paganism and the Angels holding the mono- Baroque (in which he knew how to express the classical compo- gram of Christ, in the chapel of the right transept of Santa Maria nents) Pierre Subleyras, gained a pension in 1728 to Roma where della Vittoria, is instead attributed to Monnot. he settled for the rest of his life, marrying the Roman artist Maria Born and trained in Paris at the end of the Seventeenth century, Felice Tibaldi. He was so appreciated by Benedict XIV, he was corn- 21 It has been noted that, in regards to a draft now in a private collection, where he also Coliva Anna, Sant'Andrea della Valle in: Domenichino 1581-1641, Roma, Palazzo appears dead, in the altarpiece the saint is depicted alive, an undeniable sign of a 'regia Venezia, 10 October 1996 - 14 January 1997, Milano, Electa 1996, pp. 284ss. del Bernini che trasforma tutta la chiesa in una esaltazione teat rale del martirio e gloria di 24 Entry OA SBAAS 12/00258095 (Lombardi 1993) with bibliography. sant'Andrea', Fagiolo dell'Arco 2001, pp. 139s. 25 Lo Bianco Anna e Negro Angela (edited by), I/ Settecento a Roma,M1ano 2005, p. 56. 26 22 Malgouyres 2007, p. 15. Ibidem, p. 172. 23 On the decoration of Sant' Andrea della Valle and intervention by Sarazin, see 27 Ibidem, pp.75s.