GIORGIO VASARI'S §ALA DEI CENTO GIORNI: A F ARNESE 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 Faroese family. At the suggestion of Paolo Giovio 1 and Bindo Altovito, Cardinal Alessandro Faroese (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 Faroese, 1468-1549), the cardinal's uncle, whom he gready admired and after whom he was named. Two years earlier, Perino del Vaga had executed a com­ mission honoring Pope Paul III as the new Alexander the Great in the Sala Pao­ lina. 3 Later on, other commissions memorializing the Pontifl'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).+ None of these commissions, however, so eloquendy immortalizes the Farnese Pontiffs 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 commission honOring the temporal and spiritual powers of Pope Paul III Faroese. 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. In Lo 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 Rever­ end Monsignor, Cardinal Farnese, hired me to paint al fresco the second hall of the chancery in the Palazzo di San Giorgio. Four walls of this hall should represent historical events and tabernacles, friezes, and ornaments with various figures, according to my design shown to his most holy Reverend, in which we agreed that on the wall facing us, which is dark, will be depicted a story dantur iura gentibus [of the laws being given to the people]. All representatives from the Nations of the World come to the Pontiff in Rome for the 121 122 EXPLORATIONS IN RENAISSANCE OJLTURE Fig. 1. Giorgio Vasari, SelfPortrait, 1568. Woodcut. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite deipiu eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori. (Photo: Author) .