Architettura scultura e arti minori nel barocco italiano. Ricerche nell'Archivio Spada Minna Heimbürger Ravalli Lionello Neppi

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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

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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, and Florence and Wolfgang Lotz's draw up a scorecard of their respective dis- and because the casino courtyard (unlike the Architecture in 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 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 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 , 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" , 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

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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. It is strikingthat the greatflowering Borromini'sgoes steadilydown. The famous servant,a sterlingcharacter and a disinterested of Spadacommissions coincides with two or projectfor a PamphiljVilla based on antiquity expert who managesto maintain"tendenze three generationsof rapidsocial rise; before and astronomy-the "studyin appliedmath- equilibristiche"in themost difficult situations. that periodone can tracethe familyback into ematics"which once seemedto offera key to Somehow the pictureof the modernexpert the middle ages and not find the slightest Borromini'sarchitectural theory-is given seemstoo simple.Of courseVirgilio was an interestin art,while after it patronagebecame backto Virgilio,who conjuredit up out of his efficientmanager, but the institutions of Roman a sporadicaffair generated mostly by impor- earlyfascination with astronomy and astrology. financeand philanthropythat he manipulated tantweddings. Virgilio may portray his father The whole episodeshows how Virgilioelabo- in the serviceof architecturewere often bizarre as a sympatheticold fool who squandered rated his projects,from the bookish sources and idiosyncratic,and we learn nothing of moneyon architecture,but all the sameit was thatstand behind them through his own crude theirnature or of Virgilio'seconomic thought. Paolowho firstgrasped the basicfact that, if sketchto the finishedrenderings done by pro- He never built anythingfor himself, as the buildingcosts money,it also attractsmoney, fessionals;the plea of the youngVirgilio sub- author stresses; on the other hand he did and that for the familyto put down its roots mittinghis first project at agez4, "Payattention mobilize two great institutions,the Oratory in the aristocracyit had to convert liquid to the idea and not the botched drawing" and the Banco di S. Spirito,to carveout the wealthinto landed property: residences, villas, (page 3z), was to turn into a leitmotifof his Piazzadell'Orologio as a monumentalenviron- above all rural castelli that carried titles. designingcareer. The variousSpada chapels, mentaround his rooms.He was indeeda good Virgilio may have considered his father's which had long sat uneasilyon Borromini's architecturalcritic, but the patternsof reason- buildings rustic, but certainly they had a shoulders,are returned to Virgilio.In the family ing that emergefrom his books and his pareri sophisticatedside: the Brisighellavilla had a chapelin S. Mariadell'Angelo at Faenza,for tend to be a strangemix betweenthe vocabu- circularisland that recallsHadrian's Villa; its example,Virgilio thought up the idea,solicited laryof a mastermason and the grammarof a gardensand deliziewere designed to entertain drawingsfrom Borrominiand his shop, and moral theologian; his language still awaits people like the dukes of Florenceand the entrustedthe executionto a scarpellino,calling exegesis. Much of what Virgiliohad to say legates of Romagna;it was the place where in expertsas theywere needed; in the endone was saidin buildingsor in drawings,and with Paolofirst made contact with thefuture Urban breatheseasier to knowwhat little part Borro- all herliteral fidelity to the writtendocuments VIII,who took kindlyto the familyand later mini played in this drearyprovincial shrine. the authortends to neglectthis other language, madeBernardino's career. After Paolo's death Virgilio'sprojects of 1630-1631 for a Spada often the more eloquentand expressive.For the family'srise became more accelerated and chapelin S. Andreadella Valle in Rome have example,a set of drawingsfor the Casa dei theirpatronage more intense. The great monu- nothingto do with Borrominibut a greatdeal Filippini(Figs. 140-142), which she is too mentto theirsocial ambitions in the 163os is to do with the family'sself-conception, and cautious to attributeor to date, can be as- the churchof S. Paolo in Bologna,which was in a revealingway the documentsstress com- signedto Maruscelliand dated 1627 on Vir- unequivocallyviewed by the local nobilityas petition with the neighboringchapels and gilio's own testimony.This project reveals an attemptto usurpstatus; when the fagade homageto the BarberiniChapel opposite. The more than any survivingdocument about the was unveiledtheir reactionhad little to do major family projectoutside Rome was the Oratorians'corporate image and their aspi- with aesthetics:"On what groundsdoes your high altarand fagadeof S. Paolo in Bologna, rationsfor a placein the Romansocial order; house use the corona?" to which Virgilio undertakenin 1634-1636 in anticipationof a by not riskingan interpretationhere the author respondedwith an account of the family's marriagewith the local nobility;Heimbiirger pulls back fromthe brinkof a realdiscovery. castelli. After the family had establishedits Ravallishows that Berninidid the model for Furthermore,it is the drawingsthat could Romanbranch the PalazzoSpada came to be the high altar, but tries to go further and havegiven us some ideaof Virgilio'sdevelop- the fullest embodimentof their pretensions; suggeststhat Virgiliowas the realideatore of ment as a designer,both those executedby HeimbiirgerRavalli's chapter on the building the project.Finally in 1654-1659 Bernardino him and those carriedout underhis super- is full of new discoveries,but for the complete and Virgiliojoined forces to designthe Spada vision.One studiesa conventproject of 1628 treatmentwe mustturn to Neppi'sbook. Chapelin S. Girolamodella Caritain Rome, (Fig.16) andfinds that it borrowsa clevertrick whichquickly evolved into an ancestorgallery (a symmetricalfagade disguising an asymmetri- or apotheosisof the house basedon Bernar- cal plan)from the Filippiniproject of the year Neppi's Palazzo Spada is one of the finest dino's obsessionwith genealogicalresearch. before(Fig. 140); one checksthe date of the monographswe possesson anyRoman build- HeimbiirgerRavalli documents the decorative Bolognafaqade and findsthat it was finished ing.Appearances do not do it justice:it has the traces sculpture, theNeapolitan craftsmen who just a few monthsbefore Borromini's faqade over-lavishlook of an Italianbank publication, did the intarsie,and presents an interpretation makes its appearanceat Virgilio'sOratory; a bindingthat falls immediatelyapart, and a of thechapel as a salottowith family portraits, one looks at the materialon fortifications, plate format that is the devil to use; what a roomof the livingrather than a chamberof and suddenlythe strangegunport metaphors makesit special,on theother hand, is the total the dead. The chapterson these chapelscor- sprinkledthrough the Opus Architectonicum revisionit offersin our pictureof the baroque roboratethe author'smain thesis and in many fall into place. palace,the relentlesserudition on everyfront, waysrepresent the high point of the book. Anotherproblem is that Virgilio'sown ac- the razor'sedge with which the prose cuts, and If new facts and attributionsare the main countof his family'sbuilding activity is on the finallythe way in whichpainting and architec- strengthsof HeimbuirgerRavalli's work, lack shallowside, and by acceptingit without re- tureare traced down the stemof patronageto of a largerhistorical framework is a weakness. serveHeimbiirger Ravalli misses some of their theirroots in socialand economiclife. Neppi Onewades through the flood of ulteriorinotizie deepermotivations. In Virgilio'swords Paolo sees the palaceas an outgrowthof two ecclesi- withthe uneasy feeling that progress in scholar- and Bernardinowere grippedby a "building asticalcareers unfolding about a centuryapart. ship should not be just a cumulativematter, mania,"an "itch,"an "errantwhim" to follow The firstis thatof CardinalGirolamo Capodi- that archivesby themselvesdo not amountto "caprices"and "chimeras"; they move through ferro,who built the originalpalace in 1548- For one history. instance, mighthave wished his accountlike marionettesdriven by some 1550o,and the secondthat of CardinalBernar- for a sharperand more complexportrait of inexplicablecompulsion to designand build. dino Spada, who bought the Renaissance Virgilio,not justmore information on whathe Possiblyso, but what would have been more structurein 1632 and who continuedto alter butsome to did, attempt probehis motivations helpfulis a picturein whichartistic patronage and expandit until his deathin 166i. Before

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Neppi, Capodiferro's story was the better a minor i8th-century revivalist of his style; known. When he attributes the architectureto the footnotes in which Neppi sets the matter Giulio Merisi da , or analyzes how straight, though merciless, are an indication the older foundations influencedthe design, or of the degree to which his book supersedes ~44" discusses the complex legal arrangementssur- previous scholarship. rounding the building, Neppi covers familiar The thread of continuity that runs through in Frommel's is of courseBernardino's ground, reinforcing particular these complex changes i :.:ii6~xL$ Z recent work; but he also adds important docu- own personality. The cardinal's active career ments, like the one in which Julius III concedes was short and his retirement long: the 6 years permission for a piazza, and he is able to chart as nunzio in Paris and legate in Bologna were the mercantile origins of the Capodiferro clan followed by 30 restless years in which Bernar- and to trace their patterns of settlement in the dino was left to pursue his interests in poetry, area. Neppi appears to be fascinated by the astronomy, architecture, genealogy, and the relationship between art and a public career; procurement of noble titles for his nephews. therefore he introduces the fresco cycles in the We learn of a long-standing interest in per- Fig. I. FrancescoRighi, possibly revisedby palace with an account of Capodiferro's dip- spective, evident in the frescoes of the sala Borromini,project for the Piazza Spada, Rome, lomatic missions to ,of Frenchinfluences grande; and we meet two interesting math- 165 (Albertinaii61). on his thought, and of his ambiguous stance ematicians among the cardinal'sfriends: Padre toward various currentsof the Catholic reform. Bitonto, the designer of the colonnade, and turnedto it in 1650 it was not to cleara new The appendix in which he interprets the icon- PadreEmmanuel Maignan of the Minimi order urbanspace but to createa scenicbackdrop ography of the frescoes in terms of a neo- at the Trinita ai Monti, the man who designed for one thatalready existed, in effectto painta Platonic theology is rough going, but there are the meridian gallery in 1644 and who illus- stageset in the spiritof the Renaissancegraffiti also passages in which he treats matters of trated the workings of the elaborate solar facadesthat stood in the area.An earlydesign style with great finesse, such as his discussion clock in his book Perspectiva Horaria, pub- for the piazzais preservedin a drawingthat of Giulio Mazzoni's development in the con- lished in 1648. Neppi follows these monks somehow slipped throughNeppi's fine net text of Roman mannerismor of Fontainebleau into a world where architecture and math- (Fig.i): it seemsto be by Righiand it showsa influence (proven among other things by new ematics overlap; at times his analysis becomes blindgateway made of diamond-cutblocks and graffiti that show French artisans at work) on technical and immenselydifficult, but it throws a generalscheme distantly related to the Villa what is still the first Roman galleria. light on the milieu which was about to pro- Giulia.The finaldesign was still morerustic, Before Neppi no one knew much about the duce the greatest mathematician-architect of combining medieval crenellationswith an baroque palace, and most scholars were con- the age, Guarini, then a theological student in Abbondanzafountain derived from the Far- tent to date the perspectival colonnade to Rome. Neppi also shows just how complex nesina;not muchsurvives, but Neppi publishes 1632-1636 and leave it at that. The real chro- the matter of attribution can be. The famous a rareprint which shows what the fountain nology turns out to be far more complex. For prospettiva,for instance,is partlyBernardino's, lookedlike. the first 17 years Bernardino's architect was since he was the one so fascinated by perspec- Thegarden wings are shown in a Borromini not Borromini but Maruscelli, the man who tive; but Borromini should not be forgotten, planof 165o whichboth authors publish with- enlarged the entrance atrium in 1633-1634 since he whetted the Cardinal's interest with a out quite squeezingit dry (Neppi,pages 149 and who laid out the garden with its carriage perspectival apparatus designed for a Forty and 248; HeimbfirgerRavalli, Fig. ioi). The road from the , its representations Hours' devotion in about 1646, nor should featurewhich immediately catches the eye is the of the six major fortresses of Italy, and its lizza Righi, who did the drawings and led the con- salonevestibule with threesmall cupolas, "tre or tilting ground for the chivalrous exercises struction crew. On the other hand Bitonto was lanterniniper dar luce," as thoughMaderno's of the nephews. In 1636-1637 Maruscelli the real designer, and it was to him that Ber- cupolasin theside aisles of St.Peter's had been closed the street along the left side of the nardino turned when he wanted to build takenand reducedto domesticscale. But still palace and built the cardinal's picture gallery another prospettiva in the choir of S. Lorenzo more interestingis the way the plan can be over it. The sale grande was frescoed and the in Lucina, while Borromini expressed a mild readas a sociologicaldocument, particularly staircaserenovated in 1633-1635; the meridian skepticism of the idea. Attributions are com- by emphasizingthe contrastswhich it shows galleryoutfitted in 1644; and an early unknown plex because the working relationshipbetween between ceremonialpatterns of circulation version of the prospettiva was painted on the these men was close, and here and there a and those encounteredin everydaydomestic garden wall on Maruscelli's design in 1640- document lights up the kinds of personal con- life.A straightscale grande for visitors of rank 1642. Borromini came onto the scene in an tacts which existed between the cardinal and coexistswith spiralstaircases for normaluse. active way in about 165o, when he submitted his architect. One shows the two men going Corridorscoexist with grandenfilades: on the projects for the piazza and the renovation of through Palladio in the hunt for precedents to one handthe whole famigliawing is serviced the rearwings of the palace, which were carried justify some motif (page 168, n. 153); another by a corridorthat insuresthe privacyof the out in altered form by his assistant Righi in records Bernardino'ssense of loss when Borro- individualrooms; on the otherhand no such 1652-1660. The prospettiva as we know it mniniabandoned the works in 1657: "Show privacyexists in the main apartment,where was built in 1652, but on the designs of an this note to Cavaliere Borromini,"he writes to roomsare linkedin sequenceand an enfilade Augustinianpriest, GiovanniMaria da Bitonto, Righi, "and tell him that my building needs an of vision cuts through the entire building. who along with Borromini and his assistant architect, a man with whom I can confer day Virgilio later claimed that Bernardinohad Righi supervised its execution. After Bemrnar- by day, and whose drawings I can vary to some ruinedthe apartmentmerely for the sake of dino's death in i66i there were two important extent as they are put into execution .... I "grandezzae splendore,"but he neglectedto additions: the garden teatro, built by Camillo repeat, I need an architect; the building is not mentionthe fact that the enfiladeserved an Arcucci in 1665, and the terrace over the well..." (page 283). importantfunction: in baroquedecorum the prospettiva, built by Tommaso Mattei in Two important features that bear Borro- rankof a visitorwas expressedby the number I700-1702. Both of these works used to be mini's stamp are the piazza and the garden of roomsthrough which the hostaccompanied attributed to Borromini, even though one was wings of the palace. The piazza had already him upon takingleave, and palaceswith an really by a weak competitor and the other by been opened up in 1550, and when Bernardino extensivelineup of roomsin successionallowed

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should be understood as a composite image made up of several pieces assembled to impart magnificence; to make the meaning clearer Bernardino inscribed a poem over the colon- nade which treatedit as a metaphor for worldly grandezza (Neppi, Doc. 37). It is the current fashion to disassociate the Spada prospettiva from the Vatican Scala Regia, to see one as a childish perspectival w trick and the other as a noble anti-perspectival - statement. Perhaps the concept of outfitting ?:- Fig. 3. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Pa- offers a way to bring the two works back lazzo Farnese, Rome, entrance to main stair- together again and to underline their funda- of a case (Maguire). mental similarity.Both were part campaign i: to update an older palace by outfitting it with motifs that brought a borrowed grandeur, with pieces of the Farnese, so to speak, cut up and reassembled. Both are composite images: when Bernini built the stairs between the Scala .. Regia landing and the portico of St. Peter's he ?;,?: ?:?:.? - added two semicircular cavalcatori in a place Fig. z. Giovanni Maria da Bitonto, Francesco where there can be no question of function; Borromini and Francesco Righi, colonnade at operatingalmost below the thresholdof percep- the Palazzo Spada, 1652 (Richter). tion these details reinforce the impression of grandeur created by the larger image of the colonnade. In the end the differencesbetween rather fine nuances in this matter (F. Sestini, II the two works are largelydifferences of psycho- maestro di camera, Venice, 1664 ed., pages Fig. 4. FrancescoBorromini, Casa dei Filippini, logical effectiveness. Bernardino's colonnade 69ff. and 87). In any case a network of secret Rome, entrance steps, 1641 (Gabinetto Foto- is taken in at a glance, and furtherexploration staircases and suspended galleries running grafico Nazionale). proves that its length, like all worldly gran- along the outer walls provided private circu- dezza, is illusory. The Scala Regia offers no lation to anyone who wanted it. These elevated such irony; one moves through it without de- passages are a major forgotten feature of the the curio collections of the older nobility: "In lusions and experiences simultaneously what baroque palace, and they form a curious link other palaces you will see assorted wonders usually would have been experienced in se- with the old Capodiferro settlements in the and marvel at the wealth of the orbs and the quence, namely ceremonial entrance into a area, once connected by elevated bridges that urbs. But when here you see the sun itself run palace and ceremonial ascent. spanned public streets;it is as though the escape its course and mark the hours you will say, If historians of the Italian family of the sort routes of the Rome of the Sack had been trans- 'Who could bring the Sun down from heaven? now operating in Renaissance Florence ever formed into means of escape from polite O prodigy of genius and of art'." (Inscription push on to baroque Rome and stumble across "If the ladies want ... to society: slip furtively quoted in Neppi, page 19o.) The Grandelement the Spada Archives, they will find that two art away.. ." is the note on which Bernini begins came from many sources: from fasti, luxurious historians have been there before them to map a letter of advice in 166o (page z84). furnishings, antiquities, paintings; also from the way. One, Heimbiirger Ravalli, has pro- great size or the appearance of size produced vided a fine guide to the labyrinth, and in so III by long enfilades. But there was also grandeur doing come up with many surprising new The lesson of the Palazzo Spada is that there of another sort that came from using architec- answers to the time-honored questions of who were some baroque palaces which were not so tural motifs that were taken from a prestigious did what and when. The other, Neppi, has much designed in an aesthetic sense as out- context and brought a kind of borrowed aura written the definitive history of the Spada fitted, that is, equipped with a number of with them. For example, many motifs from Palace, a book which solves a great number of features that brought prestige, nobility, and the find their way into early conventional art historical problems but also an up-to-date look. Naturally it helps to know 17th-century palaces, as though dismantling rises above the usual pursuits of the discipline how much the patron contributed, but it the great Renaissance model and reassembling to a level where architecture, urbanism, icon- would be more helpful still to have a general its parts had become a general theme of ography, social history, and mathematics fuse typology of the outfitting process, or in simpler baroquepalace design. As Neppi demonstrates, in the self-conception of a family of great terms, a list of the kinds of features society had the Spada colonnade represents an atrium of patrons. come to expect from a modem aristocratic the Farnese type, compressed to fit a narrow JOSEPH CONNORS residence. To judge from the Spada example space, and equipped with a set of steps (now University of Chicago such a list would have three major headings: gone) and semicircular blocks called caval- the Rustic, the Curious, and the Grand. The catori (mounting blocks), which were a com- Rustic element at the Palazzo Spada was pri- mon feature of palace stairs modelled on the marily the piazza, which took the form of a Farnese (Figs. 2, 3). Details like this no longer castello in the countryside, as though one of served their original function, but were taken the frescoes in the Sala dei Feudi had been over simply to confer a borrowed dignity on brought outdoors to testify to the family's roots the new building, to "impart magnificence" as in the land and their right to use the coronet. Borromini explained when outfitting the Casa The Curious element was the meridian gallery, dei Filippini with a similar detail (Fig. 4; cf. a modern meraviglia that was thought to rival Opus Arch., ix). Thus the Spada colonnade

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