GIORGIO VASARI’S SALA DeI CeNTO GIORNI: A FARNeSe CeLeBRATION LIANA De GIROLAMI CHeNeY THE Palazzo della Cancelleria, or Chancery Palace, was built by Bregno da Montecavallo in 1483 on the ravine of the theater of Pompey for Sixtus IV’s nephew, Cardinal Riario. Later, in 1535, the palace became the new residence of the Farnese family. At the suggestion of Paolo Giovio1 and Bindo Altovito, Car- dinal Alessandro Farnese (1520–1589) in March of 1546 commissioned Giorgio Vasari (Fig. 1) and his assistants to paint the great hall al fresco.2 The purpose of the commission was to celebrate the life of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese, 1468–1549), the cardinal’s uncle, whom he greatly admired and after whom he was named. Two years earlier, Perino del Vaga had executed a commission honor- Figure 1. Giorgio Vasari, Self Portrait. Woodcut, 1568, from Giorgio Vasari’s, Le vite dei più eccellenti pittori, scultori et architettori. 2nd ed. Florence, 1568. (Photo: author) EIRC 40.1&2 (2014): 96–124 96 LIANA De GIROLAMI CHeNeY 97 ing Pope Paul III as the new Alexander the Great in the Sala Paolina.3 Later on, other commissions memorializing the Pontiff’s accomplishments were executed by Francesco Salviati in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani (1552–58) (I. Cheney 791– 820), and in numerous decorative cycles by Taddeo Zuccaro and his assistants— the Anticamera del Concilio and the Sala dei Fasti Farnesi (1560–66).4 None of these commissions, however, so eloquently immortalizes the Farnese Pontiff’s ecclesiastical and secular triumphs as do Vasari’s decorative cycles in the Sala dei Cento Giorni (Figs. 2 and 3). The Sala dei Cento Giorni is a monumental com- mission honoring the temporal and spiritual powers of Pope Paul III Farnese. In his notebook (Lo Zibaldone) and in the autobiographical section of his Le Vite, Vasari discussed the circumstances for this patronage, identified the personi- fications depicted, and explained the subject matter. InLo Zibaldone, under the heading “Cose della Cancelleria 1545,” Vasari first sketchily commented on some ideas concerning the program and the contract for this commission: I remember how on March 29, 1546, the Illustrious, most Reverend Monsi- gnor, Cardinal Farnese, hired me to paint al fresco the second hall of the chan- cery in the Palazzo di San Giorgio. Four walls of this hall should represent historical events and tabernacles, friezes, and ornaments with various figures, Figure 2. Giorgio Vasari, Sala dei Cento Giorni, Entrance View. Fresco, 1546. Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome.(Photo: Archivio Fotografico, Musei Vaticani).
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