Architettura Scultura E Arti Minori Nel Barocco Italiano. Ricerche Nell'archivio Spada Minna Heimbürger Ravalli Palazzo Spada Lionello Neppi
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Architettura scultura e arti minori nel barocco italiano. Ricerche nell'Archivio Spada Minna Heimbürger Ravalli Palazzo Spada Lionello Neppi The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Connors, Joseph. 1979. “Architettura Scultura e Arti Minori Nel Barocco Italiano. Ricerche nell’Archivio Spada Minna Heimbürger Ravalli Palazzo Spada Lionello Neppi.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 38 (2) (May): 193–196. doi:10.2307/989441. Published Version 10.2307/989441 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32947660 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA 193 Ligorio's visual translations of ideas he later (his word) tries to argue for some interdepen- lished an important dialogue by Virgilio on put into a manuscript. dence of the pagan world in the exterior por- the construction of the Oratory. But the situ- Not surprising either are those five themes, tions of the casino and the ecclesiastical and ation could not really change until 1971, when for they are topoi in Renaissance garden papal imagery inside: "The gifts of the first of the private archives of the Spada family passed design. Smith barely considers this aspect of the gods are therefore transformedinto the gift into the public domain. Suddenly an immense the casino. Its architectural sources, briefly of the true God." I imagine that more sub- quarry was opened, a kind of archival Pompeii canvassed as a prelude to the iconographical stantiation of this fascinatinghypothesis would which began to yield informationon everything chapters, are far less satisfactory. Elling's yield some interesting perspectives on the role from the heights of Spada patronage to the belief that the casino was a miniature recon- of Christian imagery in Renaissance garden dusty trivia of everyday life. Neppi and Heim- struction of an antique naumachia is rejected design, usually considered to be minimal. biirger Ravalli were the first to sink exploratory by Smith because there is no support from Several studies of Pius and his casino, as well trenchesinto this material.Naturally they came Ligorio, because the present casino was an as catalogs of 1975 Barocci exhibitions in up with many common finds, and one could expansion of an already existing structure, Bologna and Florence and Wolfgang Lotz's draw up a scorecard of their respective dis- and because the casino courtyard (unlike the Architecture in Italy 1400-1600, where the coveries; but it would seem more interesting to Palazzo Pitti courtyardin 1589) could not have casino's connection with Pliny's Laurentina examine the two books from the point of view been flooded and used for mock sea battles! villa is mooted, are cited as being too recently of method, and to say something about the None of these objections removes the strikingly published for Smith to consider. One wonders kinds of questions art historians currently visual similarity between the casino and nau- why a book printed in 1977 has to relegate think are worth asking. machiae in Ligorio'sown map of Rome of 1561 works of 1972 and 1974 to brief footnotes. Heimbiirger Ravalli sets out to present a (contemporary with work on the decorations) Some of this "recent" material might have broad overview of Spada patronage from 16oo or the relevance of the pervasive aquatic enabled Smith to expand his horizons and to 166o. She has three specific goals: first, to imagery which Smith stresses elsewhere. In- consider the casino in more ambitious con- identify and attribute as many of the drawings stead Smith advances a far less plausible model texts. Some suggestion of "iconography" in in the Vatican volumes as possible; second, to in Peruzzi's Palazzo Massimo delle Colonne. his title would have announced not only the flesh out what we know of various careers and Most disappointing is the absence of any subject of the major part of his book, but also of important buildings with new archival facts, attempt to place the casino in the context of the material he knows best. ulteriori notizie; and third, to advance a broad Renaissance reworkings of antique villa, gar- JOHN DIXON HUNT theory to the effect that the baroque patron den, nymphaeum, and diaeta, and to relate the University of London "knew what he wanted," or as she puts it, meanings of its decoration to the function of (Bedford College) that a patron with a strong personality and the the building. Several cited sources tell of Pius to formulate ideas in the "new in the of the ability precise about the being building grove execution of a work (and possibly endowed but the uses of this retreat- garden," private with native inventivenessand artisticsensibility apart from glances at the island nymphaeum at as well) plays a dominant role in determining Hadrian's Villa-are not discussed. There is Minna Heimbiirger Ravalli, Architettura scul- the definitive aspect of a work, while the artist much research to be done on how garden and tura e arti minori nel barocco italiano. Ricerche who executes it "is limited" to technical and villa space were used. In such a detailed study as nell'Archivio Spada, Florence: Leo S. Olschki, artistic elaboration (p. xvi). this of a building's decorative imagery I would 1977, 362 pp., 199 illus. L zz.ooo. On all three counts the book is a success. It have the author could have related its thought offers a complete inventory of the Vatican more to its function. iconography closely Lionello Neppi, Palazzo Spada, Rome: Editalia, drawings, and although one might object to A footnote note ac- (page 88, 35) briefly 1975, 304 pp., about z8o illus. and z4 color pls. some of the Berniniand Borrominiattributions this when the con- L knowledges problem study 32.ooo. (such as Figs. z5, 39, 67, 90, 109, 11o, 115- siders the interior frescoes: emphasis upon 117), simply sorting out the mass of material is Eucharistic that imagery "suggests" Zuccaro's Ever since a famous article of 1928 by Franz a distinct accomplishment, and many of the stanza have been a The grande may chapel. Ehrle, students of the Roman Baroque have dull neglected drawings for provincial projects of these often iconographical explanations had to reckon with the Spada family. The man are identified for the first time. Paolo Spada, are extraordinary images again persuasive, whom Ehrle brought into the limelight was the founding father, emerges from obscurity but the method of in analysis employed this Virgilio Spada, an Oratorian priest of con- as an energetic and rambunctious builder in section as Smith admits is, (page 99), quite siderable diplomatic skill and financial acumen Romagna, responsible for the design of a different. Instead of Ligorio's manuscripts who was also an amateur of architecture; number of interesting villas and convents. the central text of providing explanation, Virgilio supposedly discovered Borromini, A new light is shed on Virgilio's youth, on his various church fathers (Jerome, Augustine) steered the Oratory and many of the major education in mathematics and military science, are quoted extensivelyto support a complicated commissions of Innocent X in his direction, and on his training as superintendent of many of the reading interior imagery that links it to composed the Opus Architectonicum in his of his father's buildings. There are ulteriori Pius IV's larger endeavors in the Council of name, and later acted as a buffer between this notizie galore. Two new volumes of documents Trent. Smith "would have liked to trace the difficultgenius and the outside world. Cardinal are mined to retell the story of Borromini's immediate sources of the exegetical tradition" Bernardino Spada, Virgilio's brother, was a Lateran reconstruction: the author establishes employed by the person who drew up these more shadowy figure best known for an in- secure attributionsfor most of the stucco reliefs interior programs, but feels equally that "rep- genious architecturaltrick: his palace featured and gives us fascinatingglimpses into the life of resentative" texts serve equally well and may a perspectival colonnade that everyone attrib- a major workyard, where rival artisans fought even have been the sources used. Such fuzziness uted to Borromini and considered a corner- it out with swords and Virgilio constantly of at a crucial argument point is somewhat stone of the Baroque. Little was known of maneuvered to hold Borromini's antagonisms worrying, as is the rather odd identification other members of the family. For decades this in check. There is new information on the of a in the second room figure frescoes as was the accepted picture: here and there a new affair of the St. Peter's campanile, on the Romana "Ecclesia administering the waters of document emerged; there was some progress Palazzo Pamphilj, on the town plan of S. true baptism"; the figure is pouring water in sorting out the two volumes of drawings in Martino al Cimino, and on the Fortezza into cups for people to drink! the Vatican known as the Spada papers; and in Urbana at Castelfranco, built under Bernar- In his conclusion Smith bravelyand fancifully 1967 Giovanni Incisa della Rocchetta pub- dino's supervision in 1628-I634. There is This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Fri, 22 Aug 2014 14:06:11 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 194 ampleevidence to vindicatethe thesis of the and to measurehis innergrowth. Heimbiirger was moreclosely tied to the imageand status patron-designer,and as Virgilio's stock increases Ravallisees him as a kind of baroquecivil of a clan.