Edward J. Olszewski Dynamics of Architecture in Late Baroque Rome. Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni at the Cancelleria Edward J. Olszewski Dynamics of Architecture in Late Baroque Rome. Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni at the Cancelleria Managing Editor: Monika Michałowicz Published by De Gruyter Open Ltd, Warsaw/Berlin Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license, which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Copyright © 2015 Edward J. Olszewski ISBN 978-3-11-045245-7 e- ISBN 978-3-11-045246-4 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Managing Editor: Monika Michałowicz www.degruyteropen.com Cover illustration: © Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome Contents Preface VIII Abbreviation X 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Origins 1 1.2 Papal Patronage 5 2 Architectural Beginnings 17 2.1 The First Architects 17 2.2 Early Theaters 21 2.3 Ottoboni Holdings 25 2.4 G.F. Pellegrini 31 2.5 Nicola Michetti 33 3 Theater Architecture 36 3.1 Ottoboni Theater & Filippo Juvarra 36 3.2 Juvarra’s Theater Drawings 39 3.3 The Lost Theater 40 3.4 Studies of Juvarra’s Theater Drawings 45 3.5 The Fate of Ottoboni’s Theater 53 3.6 Appearance of the Theater 53 4 Other Cancelleria Spaces 73 4.1 The Sala Riaria 73 4.2 Ludovico Rusconi Sassi 73 4.3 The Arcadian Academy 76 4.4 The Bosco Parrasio 78 4.5 San Lorenzo in Damaso 81 5 Architectural Collaboration 87 5.1 The Lateran Façade Competition 87 6 Fugitive Architecture 92 6.1 The Final Decade 92 6.2 Domenico Gregorini 96 6.3 Ottoboni’s Ephemeral Constructions 101 6.4 Alessandro Mauri 111 6.5 G.B. Oliverio 115 Appendix 120 Bibliography 135 List of Figures 140 Index 142 Figure I: Ottoboni Family Dynastic Portrait, 1690, etching. Preface Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (1667-1740) is well known as a major Roman patron of music, theater, and painting. This study is the first characterization of his architectural patronage. In it, I identify the architects who worked in his court in the Cancelleria, from Filippo Juvarra to Domenico Gregorini, and the dozen in between in the half century from 1690 to 1740. His resident architects included Simone Felice del Lino, Carlo Enrico di San Martino, Giovanni Francesco Pellegrini, Nicola Michetti, Filippo Juvarra, Domenico Gregorini, and G.B. Oliverio. Never entered in the cardinal’s official rolls although given projects from time to time were Ludovico Rusconi Sassi, Alessandro Mauri, and Francesco Ferrari. Ottoboni had brief contacts with Carlo Fontana and Filippo Cesari. I begin this study by discussing the architectural holdings of the Ottoboni family in Venice and Rome. I chronicle the projects of Cardinal Ottoboni in his official residence of the Cancelleria as Vice-Chancellor of the Church, and in the basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso enclosed within the palace grounds. I characterize and suggest locations for his several palace theaters by assembling data never previously considered. For the first time, three permanent theaters are identified in his palace, the initial space by Simmone Felice del Lino on the ground floor as a commercial venture. I locate and reconstruct the cardinal’s lost theater from Filippo Juvarra’s drawings, room measurements, and palimpsests of decorations and architectural details in the palace. The findings are based on extensive documentation from Ottoboni family archives in the Vatican and Lateran holdings, the diary accounts of Francesco Chracas and Francesco Valesio, and the Correspondances of the French Academy in Rome. Ottoboni’s projects for the basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso included chapels by Sassi and by Gregorini, and over the years numerous grand devotional machine by most of his architects. His architectural commissions, both permanent and ephemeral, were almost exclusively official and public. The cardinal’s participation in the competition for the façade of St. John Lateran in the early 1730s was the result of his function as the basilica’s archpriest. His voice was but one of several in the final decision, causing him gradually to lose interest in the process. A National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and a Fulbright Hays Fellowship in support of a sabbatical year project in 1979-1980 on the art patronage of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni produced volumes of intact and unpublished material from the Fondo Ottoboni of the Vatican Library’s Barberini Archives, and the Archivio Ottoboni in the Archivio Storico del Vicariato at St. John Lateran. A second sabbatical campaign in Rome and Venice in 1985-1986 was funded with support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. The Delmas Fellowship enabled me to pursue archival materials in Venice at the Archivio di Stato, Biblioteca Correr, Biblioteca Marciana, the Fondazione Cini, and the Fondazione Stampalia Querini. Swann Foundation funding Preface IX supported my pursuit in Rome of satirical papal medals and caricature drawings by Pier Leone Ghezzi at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana and the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe. My gratitude goes to deans of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University for sabbatical leaves dedicated to the various Ottoboni projects, particularly Samuel Savin and Cyrus Taylor. The prefects of the Vatican Library, Alfonso Stickler, S.D.B. and Leonard Boyle, O.P. provided a pleasant facility and productive environment, and a staff that was ever helpful. My many extended visits to the Bibliotheca Hertziana were made comfortable and useful thanks to Ernst Gulden and Elizabeth Kieven, Head Librarians, and their competent personnel. I extend special thanks to this magnificent institution sponsored by the Max Planck Institut of Germany for its support of this invaluable research resource. Work and study were always a pleasure in this setting. Early studies of Ottoboni patronage and family history included the detailed and comprehensive reports by Flavia Matitti and her early research which she shared with me most graciously. During several visits to Rome, she served as a kindly host and unselfish guide to important sources touching on the cardinal’s paintings, library, and decorative arts. The late architect, Armando Schiavo, provided useful information on the Cancelleria during Ottoboni’s tenure as Vice-Chancellor, and made available photographs and diagrams, and shared gracious hospitality. Giulia Fusconi of the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe offered assistance with Ottoboni family graphic art, and invaluable aid in securing photographs. Between visits to Rome and Venice, much research was conducted in the Ingalls Library of The Cleveland Museum of Art. I am grateful to Ann B. Abid, Head, and her successor, Betsy Lantz, and their cordial and efficient staffs of Louis V. Adrean, Christine Edmonson, Matthew Gengler, and Stacie A. Murray for the time and interest they gave to my many requests. My thanks to Henry A. Millon for his reading of an early draft of this study, and to Vernon Minor for his reading of the finished draft. I am indebted to Monika Michałowicz for her editing skills, efficiency, care, alertness, and tactful suggestions. Abbreviation Arch. Ottob.: Archivio Ottoboni, ASV AS: Archivio di Stato, Rome AS-M: Archivio di Stato, Modena ASV: Archivio Storico del Vicariato, St. John Lateran, 3 Via Amba Aradam, Rome AS-V: Archivio di Stato, Venice BAV: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana BC: Biblioteca Correr, Venice BM: Biblioteca Marciana, Venice BNC: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome BQS: Biblioteca Querini Stampalia, Venice Comp. Ottob.: Computisteria Ottoboni, BAV GNS: Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome MEA: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects 1 Introduction 1.1 Origins The Ottoboni family established itself in Venice in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through loyal service to the Serenissima.1 Many of its members earned distinction in sea battles against the Ottomans. For their particular successes at the Battle of Lepanto in 1572, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II honored the Ottoboni by allowing them to add the Imperial double-headed eagle to their coat of arms. Three members of the family had served as Grand Chancellors of the Venetian state, the highest official level of service allowed to those who were not members of the Venetian nobility. The third of these, Marco Ottoboni (1554-1649), corrected this limitation on family ambition by buying entry into the Venetian nobility for 100,000 ducats in 1646.2 This enterprising individual was the father of Pietro Vito Ottoboni whose election to the papacy in 1689 as Alexander VIII made him the first Venetian pope in 200 years. The Ottoboni palace in Venice was in the hands of Antonio, the son of Alexander VIII’s brother (Figure I), and the father of another Pietro (1667-1740) whom his great-uncle quickly nominated cardinal and appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Church (see Family Tree, Table 1). Their palace still stands in the parish of San Zaccaria (Figure 1.1), no. 4250.3 It had been in the contrada di San Severo until the church of San Severo was demolished in 1830 for a political prison. Little remains of the original palace to capture the flavor of its late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque history. Traces of the old ogive arches can be seen embedded in an exterior wall, trapped in the amber of modern renovations.4 1 ������������������������������������������������������������������� A summary of Ottoboni family history can be found in Schiavo, 1964���������������������������� Baroni, P. (1969). Un con- formista del secolo diciottesimo (pp. 21-27). Bologna: Ponte Nuovo.