THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
The Piazza del Popolo--Obelisk--Sta. Maria del Popolo--(The
Pincio--Villa Medici--Trinità de' Monti) (Via Babuino--Via
Margutta--Piazza di Spagna--Propaganda) (Via Ripetta--SS. Rocco e
Martino--S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni)--S. Giacomo degli
Incurabili--Via Vittoria--Mausoleum of Augustus--S. Carlo in
Corso--Via Condotti--Palazzo Borghese--Palazzo Ruspoli--S. Lorenzo
in Lucina--S. Sylvestro in Capite--S. Andrea delle Fratte--Palazzo
Chigi--Piazza Colonna--Palace and Obelisk of Monte-Citorio--Temple
of Neptune--Fountain of Trevi--Palazzo Poli--Palazzo Sciarra--The
Caravita--S. Ignazio--S. Marcello--Sta. Maria in Via Lata--Palazzo
Doria Pamfili--Palazzo Salviati--Palazzo Odescalchi--Palazzo
Colonna--Church of SS. Apostoli--Palazzo Savorelli--Palazzo
Buonaparte--Palazzo di Venezia--Palazzo Torlonia--Ripresa dei
Barberi--S. Marco--Church of Il Gesu--Palazzo Altieri.
The first object of every traveller will naturally be to reach the
Capitol, and look down thence upon ancient Rome; but as he will go down
to the Corso to do this, and must daily pass most of its surrounding
buildings, we will first speak of those objects which will, ere long,
become the most familiar.
A stranger's first lesson in Roman geography should be learnt standing
in the _Piazza del Popolo_, whence three streets branch off--the Corso,
in the centre, leading towards the Capitol, beyond which lies ancient
Rome; the Babuino, on the left, leading to the Piazza di Spagna and the
English quarter; the Ripetta, on the right, leading to the Castle of St.
Angelo and St. Peter's. The scene is one well known from pictures and
engravings. The space between the streets is occupied by twin churches,
erected by Cardinal Gastaldi.
"Les deux églises élevées au Place du Peuple par le Cardinal
Gastaldi à l'entrée du Corso, sont d'un effet médiocre. Comment un
cardinal n'a-t-il pas senti qu'il ne faut pas élever une église
pour _faire pendant_ à quelque chose? C'est ravaler la majesté
divine." _Stendhal_, i. 172.
It is in the church on the left that sermons are preached every winter
on Sunday afternoons by some of the best Roman Catholic
controversialists, just at the right moment for catching the Protestant
congregations as they emerge from their chapels outside the Porta del
Popolo.
These churches are believed to occupy the site of the magnificent tomb
of Sylla, who died at Puteoli B.C. 82, but was honoured at Rome with a
public funeral, at which the patrician ladies burnt masses of incense
and perfumes on his funeral pyre.
The _Obelisk_ of the Piazza del Popolo was placed on this site by Sixtus
V. in 1589, but was originally brought to Rome and erected in honour of
Apollo by the Emperor Augustus.
"Apollo was the patron of the spot which had given a name to the
great victory of Actium; Apollo himself, it was proclaimed, had
fought for Rome and for Octavius on that auspicious day; the same
Apollo, the Sun-god, had shuddered in his bright career at the
murder of the Dictator, and terrified the nations by the eclipse of
his divine countenance." ... Therefore, "besides building a temple
to Apollo on the Palatine hill, the Emperor Augustus sought to
honour him by transplanting to the Circus Maximus, the sports of
which were under his special protection, an obelisk from
Heliopolis, in Egypt. This flame-shaped column was a symbol of the
sun, and originally bore a blazing orb upon its summit. It is
interesting to trace an intelligible motive for the first
introduction into Europe of these grotesque and unsightly monuments
of eastern superstition."--_Merivale, Hist. of the Romans._
"This red granite obelisk, oldest of things, even in Rome, rises in
the centre of the piazza, with a four-fold fountain at its base.
All Roman works and ruins (whether of the empire, the far-off
republic, or the still more distant kings) assume a transient,
visionary, and impalpable character, when we think that this
indestructible monument supplied one of the recollections which
Moses and the Israelites bore from Egypt into the desert.
Perchance, on beholding the cloudy pillar and fiery column, they
whispered awe-stricken to one another, 'In its shape it is like
that old obelisk which we and our fathers have so often seen on the
borders of the Nile.' And now that very obelisk, with hardly a
trace of decay upon it, is the first thing that the modern
traveller sees after entering the Flaminian Gate."--_Hawthorne's
Transformation._
It was on the left of the Piazza, at the foot of what was even then
called "the Hill of Gardens," that Nero was buried (A.D. 68).
"When Nero was dead, his nurse Eclaga, with Alexandra, and Acte the
famous concubine, having wrapped his remains in rich white stuff,
embroidered with gold, deposited them in the Domitian monument,
which is seen in the Campus-Martius under the Hill of Gardens. The
tomb was of porphyry, having an altar of Luna marble, surrounded by
a balustrade of Thasos marble."--_Suetonius._
Church tradition tells that from the tomb of Nero afterwards grew a
gigantic walnut-tree, which became the resort of innumerable crows,--so
numerous as to become quite a pest to the neighbourhood. In the eleventh
century, Pope Paschal II. dreamt that these crows were demons, and that
the Blessed Virgin commanded him to cut down and burn the tree ("albero
malnato"), and build a sanctuary to her honour in its place. A church
was then built by means of a collection amongst the common people;
hence the name which it still retains of "St. Mary of the People."
_Sta. Maria del Popolo_ was rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli for Sixtus IV. in
1480, and very richly adorned. It was modernized by Bernini for
Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi, 1655-67), of whom it was the family
burial-place, but it still retains many fragments of beautiful fifteenth
century work (the principal door of the nave is a fine example of this);
and its interior is a perfect museum of sculpture and art.
Entering the church by the west door, and following the right aisle, the
first chapel (Venuti, formerly Della Rovere[3]) is adorned with
exquisite paintings by _Pinturicchio_. Over the altar is the
Nativity--one of the most beautiful frescoes in the city; in the
lunettes are scenes from the life of St. Jerome. Cardinal Christoforo
della Rovere, who built this chapel and dedicated it to "the Virgin and
St. Jerome," is buried on the left, in a grand fifteenth century tomb;
on the right is the monument of Cardinal di Castro. Both of these tombs
and many others in this church have interesting and greatly varied
lunettes of the Virgin and Child.
The second chapel, of the Cibo family, rich in pillars of nero-antico
and jasper, has an altarpiece representing the Assumption of the Virgin,
by _Carlo Maratta_. In the cupola is the Almighty, surrounded by the
heavenly host.[4]
The third chapel is also painted by _Pinturicchio_. Over the altar, the
Madonna and four saints; above, God the Father, surrounded by angels. In
the other lunettes, scenes in the life of the Virgin;--that of the
Virgin studying in the Temple, a very rare subject, is especially
beautiful. In a frieze round the lower part of the wall, a series of
martyrdoms in grisaille. On the right is the tomb of Giovanni della
Rovere, ob. 1483. On the left is a fine sleeping bronze figure of a
bishop, unknown.
The fourth chapel has a fine fifteenth century altar-relief of St.
Catherine between St. Anthony of Padua and St. Vincent. On the right is
the tomb of Marc-Antonio Albertoni, ob. 1485; on the left, that of
Cardinal Costa, of Lisbon, ob. 1508, erected in his lifetime. In this
tomb is an especially beautiful lunette of the Virgin adored by Angels.
Entering the right transept, on the right is the tomb of Cardinal
Podocanthorus of Cyprus, a very fine specimen of fifteenth century work.
A door near this leads into a cloister, where is preserved, over a door,
the Gothic altar-piece of the church of Sixtus IV, representing the
Coronation of the Virgin, and two fine tombs--Archbishop Rocca, ob.
1482, and Bishop Gomiel.
The choir (shown when there is no service) has a ceiling by
_Pinturicchio_. In the centre, the Virgin and Saviour, surrounded by the
Evangelists and Sibyls; in the corners, the Fathers of the
Church--Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. Beneath are the tombs
of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and Cardinal Girolamo Basso, nephews of
Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere), beautiful works of _Andrea di
Sansovino_. These tombs were erected at the expense of Julius II.,
himself a Della Rovere, who also gave the windows, painted by _Claude
and Guillaume de Marseilles_, the only good specimens of stained glass
in Rome.
The high-altar is surmounted by a miraculous image of the Virgin,
inscribed, "In honorificentia populi nostri," which was placed in this
church by Gregory IX., and which, having been "successfully invoked" by
Gregory XIII., in the great plague of 1578, has ever since been annually
adored by the pope of the period, who prostrates himself before it upon
the 8th of September. The chapel on the left of this has an Assumption,
by _Annibale Caracci_.
In the left transept is the tomb of Cardinal Bernardino Lonati, with a
fine fifteenth century relief of the Resurrection.
Returning by the left aisle, the last chapel but one is that of the
Chigi family, in which the famous banker, Agostino Chigi (who built the
Farnesina) is buried, and in which _Raphael_ is represented at once as a
painter, a sculptor, and an architect. He planned the chapel itself; he
drew the strange design of the Mosaic on the ceiling (carried out by
_Aloisio della Pace_), which represents an extraordinary mixture of
Paganism and Christianity, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (as
the planets), conducted by angels, being represented with and
surrounding Jehovah; and he modelled the beautiful statue of Jonah
seated on the whale, which was sculptured in the marble by _Lorenzetto_.
The same artist sculptured the figure of Elijah,--those of Daniel and
Habakkuk being by _Bernini_. The altarpiece, representing the Nativity
of the Virgin, is a fine work of _Sebastian del Piombo_. On the pier
adjoining this chapel is the strange monument by _Posi_ (1771) of a
Princess Odescalchi Chigi, who died in childbirth, at the age of twenty,
erected by her husband, who describes himself, "In solitudine et luctu
superstes."
The last chapel contains two fine fifteenth century ciboria, and the
tomb of Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini, 1507.
On the left of the principal entrance is the remarkable monument of Gio.
Batt. Gislenus, the companion and friend of Casimir I. of Poland (ob.
1670). At the top is his portrait while living, inscribed, "Neque hic
vivus"; then a medallion of a chrysalis, "In nidulo meo moriar";
opposite to which is a medallion of a butterfly emerging, "Ut Phœnix
multiplicabo dies": below is a hideous skeleton of giallo antico in a
white marble winding-sheet, "Neque hic mortuus."
Martin Luther "often spoke of death as the Christian's true birth,
and this life as but a growing into the chrysalis-shell in which
the spirit lives till its being is developed, and it bursts the
shell, casts off the web, struggles into life, spreads its wings,
and soars up to God."
The Augustine Convent adjoining this church was the residence of Luther
while he was in Rome. Here he celebrated mass immediately on his
arrival, after he had prostrated himself upon the earth, saying, "Hail
sacred Rome! thrice sacred for the blood of the martyrs shed here!"
Here, also, he celebrated mass for the last time before he departed from
Rome to become the most terrible of her enemies.
"Lui pauvre écolier, élevé si durement, qui souvent, pendant son
enfance, n'avait pour oreiller qu'une dalle froide, il passe devant
des temples tout de marbre, devant des colonnes d'albâtre, des
gigantesques obélisques de granite, des fontaines jaillissantes,
des _villas_ fraîches et embellies de jardins, de fleurs, de
cascades et de grottes. Veut-il prier? il entre dans une église qui
lui semble un monde véritable, où les diamants scintillent sur
l'autel, l'or aux soffites, le marbre aux colonnes, la mosaïque aux
chapelles, au lieu d'un de ces temples rustiques qui n'ont dans sa
patrie pour tout ornement que quelques roses qu'une main pieuse va
déposer sur l'autel le jour du dimanche. Est-il fatigué de la
route? il trouve sur son chemin, non plus un modeste banc de bois,
mais un siège d'albâtre antique récemment déterré. Cherche-t-il une
sainte image? il n'aperçoit que des fantaisies païennes, des
divinités olympiques, Apollon, Vénus, Mars, Jupiter, auxquelles
travaillent mille mains de sculpteurs. De toutes ces merveilles, il
ne comprit rien, il ne vit rien. Aucun rayon de la couronne de
Raphaël, de Michel-Ange, n'éblouit ses regards; il resta froid et
muet devant tous les trésors de peinture et de sculpture rassemblés
dans les églises; son oreille fut fermée aux chants du Dante, que
le peuple répétait autour de lui. Il était entré à Rome en pèlerin,
il en sort comme Coriolan, et s'écrie avec Bembo: 'Adieu, Rome, que
doit fuir quiconque veut vivre saintement! Adieu, ville où tout est
permis, excepté d'être homme de bien.'"--_Audin, Histoire de
Luther_, c. ii.
It was in front of this church that the cardinals and magnates of Rome
met to receive the apostate Christina of Sweden upon her entrance into
the city.
* * * * *
On the left side of the piazza rise the terraces of the Pincio, adorned
with rostral-columns, statues, and marble bas-reliefs, interspersed with
cypresses and pines. A winding road, lined with mimosas and other
flowering shrubs, leads to the upper platform, now laid out in public
drives and gardens, but, till twenty years ago, a deserted waste, where
the ghost of Nero was believed to wander in the middle ages.
Hence the Eternal City is seen spread at our feet, and beyond it the
wide-spreading Campagna, till a silver line marks the sea melting into
the horizon beyond Ostia. All these churches and tall palace roofs
become more than mere names in the course of the winter, but at first
all is bewilderment Two great buildings alone arrest the attention:
"Westward, beyond the Tiber, is the Castle of St. Angelo, the
immense tomb of a pagan emperor with the archangel on its
summit.... Still further off, a mighty pile of buildings,
surmounted by a vast dome, which all of us have shaped and swelled
outward, like a huge bubble, to the utmost scope of our
imaginations, long before we see it floating over the worship of
the city. At any nearer view the grandeur of St. Peter's hides
itself behind the immensity of its separate parts, so that we only
see the front, only the sides, only the pillared length and
loftiness of the portico, and not the mighty whole. But at this
distance the entire outline of the world's cathedral, as well as
that of the palace of the world's chief priest, is taken in at
once. In such remoteness, moreover, the imagination is not debarred
from rendering its assistance, even while we have the reality
before our eyes, and helping the weakness of human sense to do
justice to so grand an object. It requires both faith and fancy to
enable us to feel, what is nevertheless so true, that yonder, in
front of the purple outline of the hills, is the grandest edifice
ever built by man, painted against God's loveliest
sky."--_Hawthorne._
Here the band plays under the great palm-tree every afternoon except
Friday. On Sunday afternoons the Pincio is in what Miss Thackeray
describes as "a fashionable halo of sunset and pink parasols"--when
immense crowds collect, showing every phase of Roman life; and disperse
again as the Ave-Maria bell rings from the churches, either to descend
into the city, or to hear benediction sung by the nuns in the Trinità
de' Monti.
"When the fashionable hour of rendezvous arrives, the same spot,
which a few minutes before was immersed in silence and solitude,
changes as it were with the rapidity of a scene in a pantomime to
an animated panorama. The scene is rendered not a little ludicrous
by the miniature representation of the Ring in Hyde Park in a small
compass. An entire revolution of the carriage-drive is performed in
the short period of three minutes as near as may be, and the
perpetual occurrence of the same physiognomies and the same
carriages trotting round and round for two successive hours,
necessarily reminds one of the proceedings of a country fair, and
children whirling in a roundabout."--_Sir G. Head's 'Tour in
Rome.'_
"The Pincian Hill is the favourite promenade of the Roman
aristocracy. At the present day, however, like most other Roman
possessions, it belongs less to the native inhabitants than to the
barbarians from Gaul, Great Britain, and beyond the sea, who have
established a peaceful usurpation over all that is enjoyable or
memorable in the Eternal City. These foreign guests are indeed
ungrateful, if they do not breathe a prayer for Pope Clement, or
whatever Holy Father it may have been, who levelled the summit of
the mount so skilfully, and bounded it with the parapet of the city
wall; who laid out those broad walks and drives, and overhung them
with the shade of many kinds of tree; who scattered the flowers of
all seasons, and of every clime, abundantly over those smooth,
central lawns; who scooped out hollows in fit places, and setting
great basons of marble in them, caused ever-gushing fountains to
fill them to the brim; who reared up the immemorial obelisk out of
the soil that had long hidden it; who placed pedestals along the
borders of the avenues, and covered them with busts of that
multitude of worthies,--statesmen, heroes, artists, men of letters
and of song,--whom the whole world claims as its chief ornaments,
though Italy has produced them all. In a word, the Pincian garden
is one of the things that reconcile the stranger (since he fully
appreciates the enjoyment, and feels nothing of the cost,) to the
rule of an irresponsible dynasty of Holy Fathers, who seem to have
arrived at making life as agreeable an affair as it can well be.
"In this pleasant spot the red-trousered French soldiers are always
to be seen; bearded and grizzled veterans, perhaps, with medals of
Algiers or the Crimea on their breasts. To them is assigned the
peaceful duty of seeing that children do not trample on the
flower-beds, nor any youthful lover rifle them of their fragrant
blossoms to stick in his beloved one's hair. Here sits (drooping
upon some marble bench, in the treacherous sunshine,) the
consumptive girl, whose friends have brought her, for a cure, into
a climate that instils poison into its very purest breath. Here,
all day, come nursery maids, burdened with rosy English babies, or
guiding the footsteps of little travellers from the far western
world. Here, in the sunny afternoon, roll and rumble all kinds of
carriages, from the Cardinal's old-fashioned and gorgeous purple
carriage to the gay barouche of modern date. Here horsemen gallop
on thorough-bred steeds. Here, in short, all the transitory
population of Rome, the world's great watering-place, rides,
drives, or promenades! Here are beautiful sunsets; and here,
whichever way you turn your eyes, are scenes as well worth gazing
at, both in themselves and for their historical interest, as any
that the sun ever rose and set upon. Here, too, on certain
afternoons in the week, a French military band flings out rich
music over the poor old city, floating her with strains as loud as
those of her own echoless triumphs."--_Hawthorne._
The garden of the Pincio is very small, but beautifully laid out. At a
crossroads is placed an _Obelisk_, brought from Egypt, and which the
late discoveries in hieroglyphics show to have been erected there, in
the joint names of Hadrian and his empress Sabina, to their beloved
Antinous, who was drowned in the Nile A.D. 131.
From the furthest angle of the garden we look down upon the strange
fragment of wall known as the _Muro-Torto_.
"Le Muro-Torto offre un souvenir curieux. On nomme ainsi un pan de
muraille qui, avant de faire partie du rempart d'Honorius, avait
servi à soutenir la terrasse du jardin du Domitius, et qui, du
temps de Bélisaire, était déjà incliné comme il l'est aujourd'hui.
Procope racconte que Bélisaire voulait le rebâtir, mais que les
Romains l'en empêchèrent, affirmant que ce point n'était pas
exposé, parce que Saint Pierre avait promis de le défendre. Procope
ajoute: 'Personne n'a osé réparer ce mur, et il reste encore dans
le même état.' Nous pouvons en dire autant que Procope, et le mur,
détaché de la colline à laquelle il s'appuyait, reste encore
incliné et semble près de tomber. Ce détail du siége de Rome est
confirmé par l'aspect singulier du Muro-Torto, qui _semble toujours
près de tomber_, et subsiste dans le même état depuis quatorze
siècles, comme s'il était soutenu miraculeusement par la main de
Saint Pierre. On ne saurait guère trouver pour l'autorité temporel
des papes, un meilleur symbole."--_Ampère, Emp._ ii. 397.
"At the furthest point of the Pincio, you look down from the
parapet upon the Muro-Torto, a massive fragment of the oldest Roman
wall, which juts over, as if ready to tumble down by its own
weight, yet seems still the most indestructible piece of work that
men's hands ever piled together. In the blue distance rise Soracte,
and other heights, which have gleamed afar, to our imagination, but
look scarcely real to our bodily eyes, because, being dreamed about
so much, they have taken the aerial tints which belong only to a
dream. These, nevertheless, are the solid framework of hills that
shut in Rome, and its broad surrounding Campagna; no land of
dreams, but the broadest page of history, crowded so full with
memorable events, that one obliterates another, as if Time had
crossed and recrossed his own records till they grew
illegible."--_Hawthorne._
In early imperial times the site of the Pincio garden was occupied by
the famous villa of Lucullus, who had gained his enormous wealth as
general of the Roman armies in Asia.
"The life of Lucullus was like an ancient comedy, where first we
see great actions, both political and military, and afterwards
feasts, debauches, races by torchlight, and every kind of frivolous
amusement. For among frivolous amusements, I cannot but reckon his
sumptuous villas, walks, and baths; and still more so the
paintings, statues, and other works of art which he collected at
immense expense, idly squandering away upon them the vast fortune
he amassed in the wars. Insomuch that now, when luxury is so much
advanced, the gardens of Lucullus rank with those of the kings, and
are esteemed the most magnificent even of these."--_Plutarch._
Here, in his Pincian villa, Lucullus gave his celebrated feast to Cicero
and Pompey, merely mentioning to a slave beforehand that he should sup
in the hall of Apollo, which was understood as a command to prepare all
that was most sumptuous.
After Lucullus--the beautiful Pincian villa belonged to Valerius
Asiaticus, and in the reign of Claudius was coveted by his fifth
wife, Messalina. She suborned Silius, her son's tutor, to accuse
him of a licentious life, and of corrupting the army. Being
condemned to death, "Asiaticus declined the counsel of his friends
to starve himself, a course which might leave an interval for the
chance of pardon; and after the lofty fashion of the ancient
Romans, bathed, perfumed, and supped magnificently, and then opened
his veins, and let himself bleed to death. Before dying he
inspected the pyre prepared for him in his own gardens, and ordered
it to be removed to another spot, that an umbrageous plantation
which overhung it might not be injured by the flames."
As soon as she heard of his death, Messalina took possession of the
villa, and held high revel there with her numerous lovers, with the
most favoured of whom, Silius, she had actually gone through the
religious rites of marriage in the lifetime of the emperor, who was
absent at Ostia. But a conspiracy among the freedmen of the royal
household informed the emperor of what was taking place, and at
last even Claudius was aroused to a sense of her enormities.
"In her suburban palace, Messalina was abandoning herself to
voluptuous transports. The season was mid-autumn, the vintage was
in full progress; the wine-press was groaning; the ruddy juice was
streaming; women girt with scanty fawnskins danced as drunken
Bacchanals around her: while she herself, with her hair loose and
disordered, brandished the thyrsus in the midst, and Silius by her
side, buskined and crowned with ivy, tossed his head to the
flaunting strains of Silenus and the Satyrs. Vettius, one, it
seems, of the wanton's less fortunate paramours, attended the
ceremony, and climbed in merriment a lofty tree in the garden. When
asked what he saw, he replied, 'an awful storm from Ostia'; and
whether there was actually such an appearance, or whether the words
were spoken at random, they were accepted afterwards as an omen of
the catastrophe which quickly followed.
"For now in the midst of these wanton orgies the rumour quickly
spread, and swiftly messengers arrived to confirm it, that Claudius
knew it all, that Claudius was on his way to Rome, and was coming
in anger and vengeance. The lovers part: Silius for the forum and
the tribunals; Messalina for the shade of her gardens on the
Pincio, the price of the blood of the murdered Asiaticus." Once the
empress attempted to go forth to meet Claudius, taking her children
with her, and accompanied by Vibidia, the eldest of the vestal
virgins, whom she persuaded to intercede for her, but her enemies
prevented her gaining access to her husband; Vibidia was satisfied
for the moment by vague promises of a later hearing; and upon the
arrival of Claudius in Rome, Silius and the other principal lovers
of the empress were put to death. "Still Messalina hoped. She had
withdrawn again to the gardens of Lucullus, and was there engaged
in composing addresses of supplication to her husband, in which her
pride and long-accustomed insolence still faintly struggled into
her fears. The emperor still paltered with the treason. He had
retired to his palace; he had bathed, anointed, and lain down to
supper; and, warmed with wine and generous cheer, he had actually
despatched a message to the _poor creature_, as he called her,
bidding her come the next day, and plead her cause before him. But
her enemy Narcissus, knowing how easy might be the passage from
compassion to love, glided from the chamber, and boldly ordered a
tribune and some centurions to go and slay his victim. 'Such,' he
said, 'was the emperor's command'; and his word was obeyed without
hesitation. Under the direction of the freedman Euodus, the armed
men sought the outcast in her gardens, where she lay prostrate on
the ground, by the side of her mother Lepida. While their fortunes
flourished, dissensions had existed between the two; but now, in
her last distress, the mother had refused to desert her child, and
only strove to nerve her resolution to a voluntary death. 'Life,'
she urged, 'is over; nought remains but to look for a decent exit
from it.' But the soul of the reprobate was corrupted by her vices;
she retained no sense of honour; she continued to weep and groan as
if hope still existed; when suddenly the doors were burst open, the
tribune and his swordsmen appeared before her, and Euodus assailed
her, dumb-stricken as she lay, with contumelious and brutal
reproaches. Roused at last to the consciousness of her desperate
condition, she took a weapon from one of the men's hands and
pressed it trembling against her throat and bosom. Still she wanted
resolution to give the thrust, and it was by a blow of the
tribune's falchion that the horrid deed was finally accomplished.
The death of Asiaticus was avenged on the very spot; the hot blood
of the wanton smoked on the pavement of his gardens, and stained
with a deeper hue the variegated marbles of Lucullus."--_Merivale,
Hist. of the Romans under the Empire._
From the garden of the Pincio a terraced road (beneath which are the
long-closed catacombs of St. Felix) leads to the _Villa Medici_, built
for Cardinal Ricci da Montepulciano by Annibale Lippi in 1540. Shortly
afterwards it passed into the hands of the Medici family, and was
greatly enlarged by Cardinal Alessandro de Medici, afterwards Leo XI. In
1801 the Academy for French Art-Students, founded by Louis XIV., was
established here. The villa contains a fine collection of casts, open
every day except Sunday.
Behind the villa is a beautiful _Garden_ (which can be visited on
application to the porter). The terrace, which looks down upon the Villa
Borghese, is bordered by ancient sarcophagi, and has a colossal statue
of Rome. The garden side of the villa has sometimes been ascribed to
Michael Angelo.
"La plus grande coquetterie de la maison, c'est la façade
postérieure. Elle tient son rang parmi les chefs-d'œuvre de la
Renaissance. On dirait que l'architecte a épuisé une mine de
bas-reliefs grecs et romains pour en tapisser son palais. Le jardin
est de la même époque: il date du temps où l'aristocratie romaine
professait le plus profond dédain pour les fleurs. On n'y voit que
des massifs de verdure, alignés avec un soin scrupuleux. Six
pelouses, entourées de haies à hauteur d'appui, s'étendent devant
la villa et laissent courir la vue jusqu'au mont Soracte, qui ferme
l'horizon. A gauche, quatre fois quatre carrés de gazon s'encadrent
dans de hautes murailles de lauriers, de buis gigantesques et de
chênes verts. Les murailles se rejoignent au-dessus des allées et
les enveloppent d'une ombre fraîche et mystérieuse. A droite, une
terrasse d'une style noble encadre un bois de chênes verts, tordus
et eventrés par le temps. J'y vais quelquefois travailler à
l'ombre; et le merle rivalise avec le rossignol au-dessus de ma
tête, comme un beau chantre de village peut rivaliser avec Mario ou
Roger. Un peu plus loin, une vigne toute rustique s'étend jusqu'à
la porte Pinciana, où Belisaire a mendié, dit-on. Les jardins
petits et grands sont semés de statues, d'Hermes, et de marbres de
toute sorte. L'eau coule dans des sarcophages antiques ou jaillit
dans des vasques de marbre: le marbre et l'eau sont les deux luxes
de Rome."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._
"The grounds of the Villa Medici are laid out in the old fashion of
straight paths, with borders of box, which form hedges of great
height and density, and are shorn and trimmed to the evenness of a
wall of stone, at the top and sides. There are green alleys, with
long vistas, overshadowed by ilex-trees; and at each intersection
of the paths the visitor finds seats of lichen-covered stone to
repose upon, and marble statues that look forlornly at him,
regretful of their lost noses. In the more open portions of the
garden, before the sculptured front of the villa, you see fountains
and flower-beds; and, in their season, a profusion of roses, from
which the genial sun of Italy distils a fragrance, to be scattered
abroad by the no less genial breeze."--_Hawthorne._
A second door will admit to the higher terrace of _the Boschetto_; a
tiny wood of ancient ilexes, from which a steep flight of steps leads to
the "Belvidere," whence there is a beautiful view.
"They asked the porter for the key of the Bosco, which was given,
and they entered a grove of ilexes, whose gloomy shade effectually
shut out the radiant sunshine that still illuminated the western
sky. They then ascended a long and exceedingly steep flight of
steps, leading up to a high mound covered with ilexes.
"Here both stood still, side by side, gazing silently on the city,
where dome and bell-tower stood out against a sky of gold; the
desolate Monte Mario and its stone pines rising dark to the right.
Behind, close at hand, were sombre ilex woods, amid which rose here
and there the spire of a cypress or a ruined arch, and on the
highest point, the white Villa Ludovisi; beyond, stretched the
Campagna, girdled by hills melting into light under the evening
sky."--_Mademoiselle Mori._
From the door of the Villa Medici is the scene familiar to artists, of a
fountain shaded by ilexes, which frame a distant view of St Peter's.
"Je vois (de la Villa Medici) les quatre cinquièmes de la ville; je
compte les sept collines, je parcours les rues régulières qui
s'étendent entre le cours et la place d'Espagne, je fais le
d'enombrement des palais, des églises, des dômes, et des clochers;
je m'égare dans le Ghetto et dans la Trastévère. Je ne vois pas des
ruines autant que j'en voudrais: elles sont ramassées là-bas, sur
ma gauche, aux environs du Forum. Cependant nous avons tout près de
nous la colonne Antonine et la mausolée d'Adrien. La vue est fermée
agréablement par les pins de la villa Pamphili, qui reunissent
leurs larges parasols et font comme une table à mille pieds pour un
repas de géants. L'horizon fuit à gauche à des distances infinies;
la plaine est nue, onduleuse et bleue comme la mer. Mais si je vous
mettais en présence d'un spectacle si étendu et si divers, en seul
objet attirerait vos regards, un seul frapperait votre attention:
vous n'auriez des yeux que pour Saint Pierre. Son dôme est moitié
dans la ville, moitié dans la ciel. Quand j'ouvre ma fenêtre, vers
cinq heures du matin, je vois Rome noyée dans les brouillards de la
fièvre: seul, le dôme de Saint-Pierre est coloré par la lumière
rose du soleil levant."--_About._
The terrace ("La Passeggiata") ends at the _Obelisk of the Trinità de'
Monti_, erected here in 1822 by Pius VII., who found it near the Church
of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme.
"When the Ave Maria sounds, it is time to go to the church of
Trinità de' Monti, where French nuns sing; and it is charming to
hear them. I declare to heaven that I am become quite tolerant, and
listen to bad music with edification; but what can I do? The
composition is perfectly ridiculous, the organ-playing even more
absurd: but it is twilight, and the whole of the small bright
church is filled with persons kneeling, lit up by the sinking sun
each time that the door is opened; both the singing nuns have the
sweetest voices in the world, quite tender and touching, more
especially when one of them sings the responses in her melodious
voice, which we are accustomed to hear chaunted by priests in a
loud, harsh, monotonous tone. The impression is very singular;
moreover, it is well known that no one is permitted to see the fair
singers, so this caused me to form a strange resolution. I have
composed something to suit their voices, which I have observed very
minutely, and I mean to send it to them. It will be pleasant to
hear my chaunt performed by persons I never saw, especially as they
must in turn sing it to the 'barbaro Tedescho,' whom they also
never beheld."--_Mendelssohn's Letters._
"In the evenings people go to the Trinità to hear the nuns sing
from the organ-gallery. It sounds like the singing of angels. One
sees in the choir troops of young scholars, moving with slow and
measured steps, with their long white veils, like a flock of
spirits."--_Frederika Bremer._
_The Church of the Trinità de' Monti_ was built in 1495 by Charles VIII.
of France, at the request of S. Francesco di Paola. At the time of the
French revolution it was plundered, but was restored by Louis XVIII. in
1817. It contains several interesting paintings.
In the second chapel on the left is the Descent from the Cross, the
masterpiece of _Daniele da Volterra_, declared by Nicholas Poussin to be
the third picture in the world, but terribly injured by the French in
their attempts to remove it.
"We might almost fancy ourselves spectators of the mournful
scene,--the Redeemer, while being removed from the cross, gradually
sinking down with all that relaxation of limb and utter
helplessness which belongs to a dead body; the assistants engaged
in their various duties, and thrown into different and contrasted
attitudes, intently occupied with the sacred remains which they so
reverently gaze upon; the mother of the Lord in a swoon amidst her
afflicted companions; the disciple whom he loved standing with
outstretched arms, absorbed in contemplating the mysterious
spectacle. The truth in the representation of the exposed parts of
the body appears to be nature itself. The colouring of the heads
and of the whole picture accords precisely with the subject,
displaying strength rather than delicacy, a harmony, and in short a
degree of skill, of which M. Angelo himself might have been proud,
if the picture had been inscribed with his name. And to this I
believe the author alluded, when he painted his friend with a
looking-glass near it, as if to intimate that he might recognize in
the picture a reflection of himself."--_Lanzi._
"Daniele da Volterra's Descent from the Cross is one of the
celebrated pictures of the world, and has very grand features. The
body is not skilfully sustained; nevertheless the number of strong
men employed about it makes up in sheer muscle for the absence of
skill. Here are four ladders against the cross, stalwart figures
standing, ascending, and descending upon each, so that the space
between the cross and the ground is absolutely alive with
magnificent lines. The Virgin lies on one side, and is like a grand
creature struck down by a sudden death-blow. She has fallen, like
Ananias in Raphael's cartoon, with her head bent backwards, and her
arm under her. The crown of thorns has been taken from the dead
brow, and rests on the end of one of the ladders."--_Lady
Eastlake._
The third chapel on the right contains an Assumption of the Virgin,
another work of _Daniele da Volterra_. The fifth chapel is adorned with
frescoes of his school. The sixth has frescoes of the school of
_Perugino_. The frescoes in the right transept are by _F. Zuccaro_ and
_Pierino del Vaga_; in that of the Procession of St. Gregory the
mausoleum of Hadrian is represented as it appeared in the time of Leo X.
The adjoining _Convent of the Sacré Cœur_ is much frequented as a
place of education. The nuns are all persons of rank. When a lady takes
the veil, her nearest relations inherit her property, except about
1000_l._, which goes to the convent. The nuns are allowed to retain no
personal property, but if they wish still to have the use of their
books, they give them to the convent library. They receive visitors
every afternoon, and quantities of people go to them from curiosity, on
the plea of seeking advice.
From the Trinità the two popular streets--Sistina and
Gregoriana--branch off; the former leading in a direct line (though the
name changes) to Sta. Maria Maggiore, and thence to St. John Lateran and
Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme. The house adjoining the Trinità was that of
Nicholas Poussin; that at the angle of the two streets, called the
_Tempietto_, was once inhabited by Claude Lorraine. The adjoining house
(64 Sistina)--formerly known as Palazzo della Regina di Polonia, from
Maria Casimira, Queen of Poland, who resided there for some years--was
inhabited by the Zuccari family, and has paintings on the ground-floor
by _Federigo Zuccaro_. One of the rooms on the first-floor was adorned
with frescoes by modern German artists at the expense of the Prussian
consul Bartholdy, viz.:--
The Selling of Joseph: _Overbeck._
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife: _Veit._
Meeting of Joseph and his Brethren: _Cornelius._
The Seven Lean Years: _Overbeck._
Joseph interprets the Dreams in Prison: _Schadow._
The Brethren bring Joseph's Coat to Jacob: _Schadow._
Joseph interprets the Dreams of Pharaoh: _Cornelius._
The Seven Plentiful Years: _Veit._
* * * * *
On the left of the Piazza del Popolo, the _Via Babuino_ branches off,
deriving its name from the mutilated figure on a fountain halfway down.
On the right is the Greek _Church of S. Atanasio_, attached to a college
founded by Gregory XIII. in 1580.
"To-day, the feast of the Epiphany, I have witnessed mass according
to the Greek rite. The ceremonies appear to be more stately, more
severe, more significant, and at the same time more popular, than
those of the Latin rite."--_Goethe, Romische Briefe._
Behind this street is the _Via Margutta_, almost entirely inhabited by
artists and sculptors.
"The Via Margutta is a street of studios and stables, crossed at
the upper end by a little roofed gallery with a single window, like
a shabby Bridge of Sighs. Horses are continually being washed and
currycombed outside their stable doors; frequent heaps of
_immondeazzajo_ make the air unfragrant; and the perspective is
frequently damaged by rows of linen suspended across the road from
window to window. Unsightly as they are, however, these obstacles
in no wise affect the popularity of the Via Margutta, either as a
residence for the artist, or a lounge for the amateur. Fashionable
patrons leave their carriages at the corner, and pick their way
daintily among the gutters and dust-heaps. A boar-hunt by Vallatti
compensates for an unlucky splash; and a campagna sunset of
Desoulavey glows all the richer for the squalor through which it is
approached."--_Barbara's History._
In this street also is situated the _Costume Academy_.
"Imagine a great barn of a room, with dingy walls half covered with
chalk studies of the figure in all possible attitudes. Opposite the
door is a low platform with revolving top, and beside it an
_écorché_, or plaster figure bereft of skin, so as to exhibit the
muscles. Ranges of benches, raised one above the other, occupy the
remainder of the room; and if you were to look in at about eight
o'clock on a winter's evening, you would find them tenanted by a
multitude of young artists, mostly in their shirt sleeves, with
perhaps three or four ladies, all disposed around the model, who
stands upon the platform in one of the picturesque costumes of
Southern Italy, with a cluster of eight lamps, intensified by a
powerful reflector, immediately above his or her unlucky head.
The costumes are regulated by Church times and seasons. During Lent
the models were mediæval dresses; during the winter and carnival,
Italian costumes of the present day; and with Easter begin mere
draperies, _pieghe_, or folds, as they are technically called.
Every evening the subject for the next night is chalked up on a
black board beside the platform; for the next _two_ nights rather;
for each model poses for two evenings; the position of his feet
being chalked upon the platform, so as to secure the same attitude
on the second evening. Consequently, four hours are allowed for
each drawing.... The _pieghe_ are only for a single time, as it
would be impossible to secure the same folds twice over.... The
expense of attending the Academy, including attendance, each
person's share in the model, and his own especial lamp, amounts to
2½_d._ an evening, or a scudo and a half (about 6_s._ 6_d._) a
month; marvellously cheap, it most be confessed."--_H. M. B._, in
_Once a Week_.
The Babuino ends in the ugly but central square of the _Piazza di
Spagna_, where many of the best hotels and shops are situated. Hence the
Trinità is reached by a magnificent flight of steps (disgracefully ill
kept), which was built by Alessandro Specchi at the expense of a private
individual, M. Gueffier, secretary to the French embassy at Rome, under
Innocent XIII.
"No art-loving visitor to Rome can ever have passed the noble
flight of steps which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church
of the Trinità de' Monti without longing to transfer to his
sketch-book the picturesque groups of models who there spend their
day, basking in the beams of the wintry sun, and eating those
little boiled beans whose yellow husks bestrew every place where
the lower class Romans congregate--practising, in short, the 'dolce
far niente.' Beppo, the celebrated lame beggar, is no longer to be
seen there, having been banished to the steps of the Church of St.
Agostino; but there is old Felice, with conical hat, brown cloak,
and bagpipes, father of half the models on the steps. He has been
seen in an artist's studio in Paris, and is reported to have
performed on foot the double journey between Rome and that capital.
There are two or three younger men in blue jackets and goat-skin
breeches; as many women in folded linen head-dresses, and red or
blue skirts; and a sprinkling of children of both sexes, in
costumes the miniature fac-similes of their elders. All these
speedily learn to recognise a visitor who is interested in that
especial branch of art which is embodied in models, and at every
turn in the street such a one is met by the flash of white teeth,
and the gracious sweetness of an Italian smile."--_H. M. B._
"Among what may be called the cubs or minor lions of Rome, there
was one that amused me mightily. It is always to be found there;
and its den is on the great flight of steps that lead from the
Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinità de' Monti. In plainer
words, these steps are the great place of resort for the artists'
'Models,' and there they are constantly waiting to be hired. The
first time I went up there, I could not conceive why the faces
seemed so familiar to me; why they appeared to have beset me, for
years, in every possible variety of action and costume; and how it
came to pass that they started up before me, in Rome, in the broad
day, like so many saddled and bridled nightmares. I soon found that
we had made acquaintance, and improved it, for several years, on
the walls of various Exhibition Galleries. There is one old
gentleman with long white hair, and an immense beard, who, to my
knowledge, has gone half-through the catalogues of the Royal
Academy. This is the venerable or patriarchal model. He carries a
long staff; and every knob and twist in that staff I have seen,
faithfully delineated, innumerable times. There is another man in a
blue cloak, who always pretends to be asleep in the sun (when there
is any), and who, I need not say, is always very wide awake, and
very attentive to the disposition of his legs. This is the _dolce
far niente_ model. There is another man in a brown cloak, who leans
against a wall, with his arms folded in his mantle, and look out of
the corners of his eyes, which are just visible beneath his broad
slouched hat. This is the assassin model. There is another man, who
constantly looks over his own shoulder, and is always going away,
but never goes. This is the haughty or scornful model. As to
Domestic Happiness, and Holy Families, they should come very cheap,
for there are heaps of them, all up the steps; and the cream of the
thing is, that they are all the falsest vagabonds in the world,
especially made up for the purpose, and having no counterparts in
Rome or any other part of the habitable globe."--_Dickens._
"Climb these steps when the sun is setting. From a hundred belfries
the bells ring for Ave Maria, and there, across the town, and in a
blaze of golden glory, stands the great dome of St. Peter's: and
from the terrace of the Villa Medici you can see the whole
wonderful view, faintly pencilled Soracte far to your right, and
below you and around you the City and the Seven Hills."--_Vera._
The _Barcaccia_, the fountain at the foot of the steps, executed by
_Bernini_, is a stone boat commemorating the naumachia of
Domitian,--naval battles which took place in an artificial lake
surrounded by a kind of theatre, which once occupied the site of this
piazza. In front of the _Palazzo di Spagna_ (the residence of the
Spanish ambassador), which gives its name to the square, stands a
_Column_ of cipollino, supporting a statue of the Virgin, erected by
Pius IX. in 1854, in honour of his new dogma of the Immaculate
Conception. At the base are figures of Moses, David, Isaiah, and
Ezekiel.
The Piazza di Spagna may be considered as the centre of the English
quarter, of which the Corso forms the boundary.
"Every winter there is a gay and pleasant English colony in Rome,
of course more or less remarkable for rank, fashion, or
agreeability, with every varying year. Thrown together every day
and night after night, flocking to the same picture-galleries,
statue-galleries, Pincian drives, and church functions, the English
colonists at Rome perforce become intimate, and in many cases
friendly. They have an English library where the various meets for
the week are placarded: on such a day the Vatican galleries are
open; the next is the feast of Saint so-and-so; on Wednesday there
will be music and vespers at the Sistine Chapel; on Thursday the
pope will bless the animals--sheep, horses, and what-not; and
flocks of English accordingly rush to witness the benediction of
droves of donkeys. In a word, the ancient city of the Cæsars, the
august fanes of the popes, with their splendour and ceremony, are
all mapped out and arranged for English diversion."--Thackeray,
_The Newcomes._
The Piazza is closed by the _Collegio di Propaganda Fede_, founded in
1622 by Gregory XV., but enlarged by Urban VIII., who built the present
edifice from plans of Bernini. Like all the buildings erected by this
pope, its chief decorations are the bees of the Barberini. The object of
the college is the education of youths of all nations as missionaries.
"The origin of the Propaganda is properly to be sought in an edict
of Gregory XIII., by which the direction of eastern missions was
confided to a certain number of cardinals, who were commanded to
promote the printing of catechisms in the less known tongues. But
the institution was not firmly established; it was unprovided with
the requisite means, and was by no means comprehensive in its
views. It was at the suggestion of the great preacher Girolamo da
Narni that the idea was first conceived of extending the
above-named institution. At his suggestion, a congregation was
established in all due form, and by this body regular meetings
were to be held for the guidance and conduct of missions in every
part of the world. The first funds were advanced by Gregory; his
nephew contributed from his private property; and since this
institution was in fact adapted to a want, the pressure of which
was then felt, it increased in prosperity and splendour. Who does
not know the services performed by the Propaganda for the diffusion
of philosophical studies? and not this only;--the institution has
generally laboured (in its earliest years most successfully,
perhaps) to fulfil its vocation in a liberal and noble
spirit."--_Ranke, Hist. of the Popes._
"On y reçoit des jeunes gens nés dans les pays ultramontains et
orientaux, où sont les infidéles et les hérétiques; ils y font leur
education religieuse et civile, et retournent dans leur pays comme
missionnaires pour propager la loi."--_A. Du Pays._
"Le collége du Propaganda Fede, ou l'on engraisse des missionnaires
pour donner à manger aux cannibales. C'est, ma foi, un excellent
ragout pour eux, que deux pères franciscains à la sauce rousse. Le
capucin en daube, se mange aussi comme le renard, quand il a été
gelé. Il y a à la Propagande une bibliothèque, une imprimerie
fournie de toutes sortes de caractères des langues orientales, et
de petits Chinois qu'on y élève ainsi que des alouettes
chanterelles, pour en attraper d'autres."--_De Brosses._
In January a festival is held here, when speeches are recited by the
pupils in all their different languages. The public is admitted by
tickets.
* * * * *
The _Via Ripetta_ leaves the Piazza del Popolo on the right. Passing, on
the right, a large building belonging to the Academy of St. Luke, we
reach, on the right, the Quay of the Ripetta, a pretty architectural
construction of Clement XI. in 1707.
Hence, a clumsy ferry-boat gives access to a walk which leads to St.
Peter's (by Porta Angelica) through the fields at the back of S. Angelo.
These fields are of historic interest, being the _Prata Quinctia_ of
Cincinnatus.
"L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the only hope of the Roman people, lived
beyond the Tiber, opposite the place where the Navalia are, where
he cultivated the four acres of ground which are now called the
Quinctian meadows. There the messengers of the senate found him
leaning on his spade, either digging a trench or ploughing, but
certainly occupied in some field labour. The salutation, 'May it be
well with you and the republic,' was given and returned in the
usual form, and he was requested to put on his toga to receive a
message from the senate. Amazed, and asking if anything was wrong,
he desired his wife Racilia to fetch his toga from the cottage, and
having wiped off the sweat and dust with which he was covered, he
came forward dressed in his toga to the messengers, who saluted him
as dictator, and congratulated him."--_Livy_, iii. 26.
The churches on the left of the Ripetta are, first, _SS. Rocco e
Martino_, built 1657, by Antonio de Rossi, with a hospital adjoining it.
"The lying-in hospital adjoins the Church of San Rocco. It contains
seventy beds, furnished with curtains and screens, so as to
separate them effectually. Females are admitted without giving
their name, their country, or their condition in life; and such is
the delicacy observed in their regard, that they are at liberty to
wear a veil, so as to remain unknown even to their attendants, in
order to save the honour of their families, and prevent abortion,
suicide, or infanticide. Even should death ensue, the deceased
remains unknown. The children are conveyed to Santo Spirito; and
the mother who wishes to retain her offspring, affixes a
distinctive mark, by which it may be recognised and recovered. To
remove all disquietude from the minds of those who may enter, the
establishment is exempt from all civil, criminal, and
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and its threshold is never crossed
except by persons connected with the establishment."--_Dr.
Donovan._
Then, opposite the quay, _S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni_, built for Sixtus
V. by Fontana. It contains, near the altar, a striking figure of St.
Jerome, seated, with a book upon his knees.
* * * * *
We will now follow the Corso, which, in spite of its narrowness and bad
side-pavements, is the finest street in Rome. It is greatly to be
regretted that this street, which is nearly a mile long, should lead to
nothing, instead of ending at the steps of the Capitol, which would have
produced a striking effect. It follows the line of the ancient Via
Flaminia, and in consequence was once spanned by four triumphal
arches--of Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Claudius, and Gordian--but all
these have disappeared. The Corso is perfectly lined with balconies,
which, during the carnival, are filled with gay groups of maskers
flinging confetti. These balconies are a relic of imperial times, having
been invented at Rome, where they were originally called "Mœniana,"
from the tribune Mœnius, who designed them to accommodate spectators
of processions in the streets below.
"The Corso is a street a mile long; a street of shops, and palaces,
and private houses, sometimes opening into a broad piazza. There
are verandahs and balconies, of all shapes and sizes, to almost
every house--not on one story alone, but often to one room or
another on every story--put there in general with so little order
or regularity, that if, year after year, and season after season,
it had rained balconies, hailed balconies, snowed balconies, blown
balconies, they could scarcely have come into existence in a more
disorderly manner."--_Dickens._
On the left of the Corso is the Augustine Church of _Gesù e Maria_, with
a façade by _Rinaldi_. Almost opposite, is the Church of _S. Giacomo
degli Incurabili_, by _Carlo Maderno_. It is attached to a surgical
hospital for 350 patients. In the adjoining Strada S. Giacomo was the
studio of Canova, recognizable by fragments of bas-reliefs engrafted in
its walls.
Three streets beyond this (on right) is the _Via de' Pontefici_ (so
called from a series of papal portraits, now destroyed, which formerly
existed on the walls of one of its houses), where (No. 57R) is the
entrance to the remains of the _Mausoleum of Augustus_.
"Hard by the banks of the Tiber, in the grassy meadows where the
Roman youths met in athletic and martial exercises, there rose a
lofty marble tower with three retiring stages, each of which had
its terrace covered with earth and planted with cypresses. These
stages were pierced with numerous chambers, destined to receive,
row within row, and story upon story, the remains of every member
of the imperial family, with many thousands of their slaves and
freedmen. In the centre of that massive mound the great founder of
the empire was to sleep his last sleep, while his statue was
ordained to rise conspicuous on its summit, and satiate its
everlasting gaze with the view of his beloved city."--_Merivale._
The first funeral here was that of Marcellus, son of Octavia, the sister
of Augustus, and first husband of his daughter Julia, who died of
malaria at Baiæ, B.C. 23.
"Quantos ille virûm magnam Mavortis ad urbem
Campus aget gemitus! vel quæ, Tiberine, videbis
Funera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem!
Nec puer Iliacâ quisquam de gente Latinos
In tantum spe tollet avos; nec Romula quondam
Ullo se tantum tellus jactabit alumno.
Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello
Dextera! non illi se quisquam impune tulisset
Obvius armato, seu quum pedes iret in hostem,
Seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos.
Heu, miserande puer! si qua fata aspera rumpas,
Tu Marcellus eris."
_Æneid_, vi. 873.
The next member of the family buried here was Agrippa, the second
husband of Julia, ob. 12 B.C. Then came Octavia, sister of the emperor
and widow of Antony, honoured by a public funeral, at which orations
were delivered by Augustus himself, and Drusus, son of the empress
Livia. Her body was carried to the tomb by Tiberius (afterwards
emperor) and Drusus, the two sons of the empress. Drusus (B.C. 9) died
in a German campaign by a fall from his horse, and was brought back
hither for interment. In A.D. 14 the great Augustus died at Nola, and
his body was burnt here on a funeral pile so gigantic, that the widowed
Livia, dishevelled and ungirt, with bare feet, attended by the principal
Roman senators, had to watch it for five days and nights, before it
cooled sufficiently for them to collect the ashes of the emperor. At the
moment of its being lighted an eagle was let loose from the summit of
the pyre, under which form a senator, named Numerius Atticus, was
induced, by a gift from Livia equivalent to 250,000 francs, to swear
that he saw the spirit of Augustus fly away to heaven. Then came
Germanicus, son of the first Drusus, and nephew of Tiberius, ob. A.D.
19, at Antioch, where he was believed to have been poisoned by Piso and
his wife Plancina. Then, in A.D. 23, Drusus, son of Tiberius, poisoned
by his wife, Livilla, and her lover, Sejanus: then the empress, Livia,
who died A.D. 29, at the age of 86. Agrippina, widow of Germanicus (ob.
A.D. 33), starved to death, and her two sons, Nero and Drusus, also
murdered by Tiberius, were long excluded from the family sepulchre, but
were eventually brought hither by the youngest brother Caius, afterwards
the emperor Caligula. Tiberius, who died A.D. 37, at the villa of
Lucullus at Misenum, was brought here for burial. The ashes of Caligula,
murdered A.D. 41, and first buried in the Horti Lamiani on the
Esquiline, were transferred here by his sisters. In his reign, Antonia,
the widow of Drusus, and mother of Germanicus, had died, and her ashes
were laid up here. The Emperor Claudius, A.D. 54, murdered by Agrippina;
his son, Britannicus, A.D. 55, murdered by Nero; and the Emperor Nerva,
A.D. 98, were the latest inmates of the mausoleum.
The last cremation which occurred here was long after the mausoleum had
fallen into ruin, when the body of the tribune Rienzi, after having hung
for two days at S. Marcello, was ordered to be burnt here by Jugurta and
Sciaretta, and was consumed by a vast multitude of Jews (out of flattery
to the Colonna, their neighbours at the Ghetto), "in a fire of dry
thistles, till it was reduced to ashes, and no fibre of it remained."
There is nothing now remaining to testify to the former magnificence of
this building. The area is used in summer as an open-air theatre, where
very amusing little plays are very well acted. Among its massive cells a
poor washerwoman, known as "Sister Rose," established, some ten years
ago, a kind of hospital for aged women (several of them centagenarians),
whom she supported entirely by her own exertions, having originally
begun by taking care of one old woman, and gradually adding another and
another. The English church service was first performed in Rome in the
Palazzo Correa, adjoining this building.
Opposite the Via de' Pontefici, the _Via Vittoria_ leaves the Corso. To
the Ursuline convent in this street (founded by Camilla Borghese in the
seventeenth century) Madame Victoire and Madame Adelaide ("tantes du
Roi") fled in the beginning of the great French revolution, and here
they died.
_The Church of S. Carlo in Corso_ (on right) is the national church of
the Lombards. It is a handsome building with a fine dome. The interior
was commenced by _Lunghi_ in 1614, and finished by _Pietro da Cortona_.
It contains no objects of interest, unless a picture of the Apotheosis
of S. Carlo Borromeo (the patron of the church), over the high altar, by
_Carlo Maratta_, can be called so. The heart of the saint is preserved
under the altar.
Just beyond this on the left, the _Via Condotti_--almost lined with
jewellers'-shops--branches off to the Piazza di Spagna. The Trinità de'
Monti is seen beyond it. The opposite street, Via Fontanella, leads to
St. Peter's, and in five minutes to the magnificent--
_Palazzo Borghese_, begun in 1590 by Cardinal Deza, from designs of
Martino Lunghi, and finished by Paul V. (Camillo Borghese, 1605-21),
from those of Flaminio Ponzio. The apartments inhabited by the family
are handsome, but contain few objects of interest.
"In the reign of Paul V. the Borghese became the wealthiest and
most powerful family in Rome. In the year 1612, the church
benefices already conferred upon Cardinal Scipione Borghese were
computed to secure him an income of 150,000 scudi. The temporal
offices were bestowed on Marc-Antonio Borghese, on whom the pope
also conferred the principality of Sulmona in Naples, besides
giving him rich palaces in Rome and the most beautiful villas in
the neighbourhood. He loaded his nephews with presents; we have a
list of them through his whole reign down to the year 1620. They
are sometimes jewels or vessels of silver, or magnificent
furniture, which was taken directly from the stores of the palace
and sent to the nephews; at other times carriages, rich arms, as
muskets and falconets, were presented to them; but the principal
thing was the round sums of hard money. These accounts make it
appear that to the year 1620, they had received in ready money
689,627 scudi, 31 baj; in luoghi di monte, 24,600 scudi, according
to their nominal value; in places, computing them at the sum their
sale would have brought to the treasury, 268,176 scudi; all which
amounted, as in the case of the Aldobrandini, to nearly a million.
"Nor did the Borghese neglect to invest their wealth in real
property. They acquired eighty estates in the Campagna of Rome; the
Roman nobles suffering themselves to be tempted into the sale of
their ancient hereditary domain by the large prices paid them, and
by the high rate of interest borne by the luoghi di monte, which
they purchased with the money thus acquired. In many other parts of
the ecclesiastical states, the Borghese also seated themselves, the
pope facilitating their doing so by the grant of peculiar
privileges. In some places, for example, they received the right of
restoring exiles; in others, that of holding a market, or certain
exemptions were granted to those who became their vassals. They
were freed from various imposts, and even obtained a bull, by
virtue of which their possessions were never to be
confiscated."--_Ranke, Hist. of the Popes._
"Si l'on peut reprocher à Paul, avec Muratori, ses libéralités
envers ses neveux, envers le cardinal Scipion, envers le duc de
Sulmone, il est juste d'ajouter que la plupart des membres de cette
noble famille rivalisèrent avec le pape de magnificence et de
générosité. Or, chaque année, Paul V. distribuait un million d'écus
d'or aux pélerins pauvres et un million et demi aux autres
nécessiteux. C'est à lui que remonte la fondation de la banque du
Saint-Esprit, dont les riches immeubles servirent d'hypothèques aux
dépôts qui lui furent confiés. Mais ce fut surtout dans les
constructions qu'il entreprit, que Paul V. déploya une royale
magnificence."--_Gournerie._
"The Palazzo Borghese is an immense edifice standing round the four
sides of a quadrangle; and though the suite of rooms, comprising
the picture-gallery, forms an almost interminable vista, they
occupy only a part of the ground-floor of one side. We enter from
the street into a large court surrounded with a corridor, the
arches of which support a second series of arches above. The
picture-rooms open from one into another, and have many points of
magnificence, being large and lofty, with vaulted ceilings and
beautiful frescoes, generally of mythological subjects, in the flat
central parts of the vault. The cornices are gilded; the deep
embrasures of the windows are panelled with wood-work; the doorways
are of polished and variegated marble, or covered with a
composition as hard, and seemingly as durable. The whole has a kind
of splendid shabbiness thrown over it, like a slight coating of
rust; the furniture, at least the damask chairs, being a good deal
worn; though there are marble and mosaic tables which may serve to
adorn another palace, when this has crumbled away with
age."--_Hawthorne._
The Borghese Picture Gallery is the best private collection in Rome, and
is open to the public daily from 9 to 2, except on Saturdays and
Sundays. The gallery is entered from the side of the palace towards the
Piazza Borghese. It contains several gems, which are here marked with
an asterisk; noticeable pictures are:--
_1st Room._--Schools of Milan and Perugia.
1. Holy Family: _Sandro Botticelli_.
2. Holy Family: _Lorenzo di Credi_.
3. Holy Family: _Paris Alfani Perugino_.
4. Portrait: _Lorenzo di Credi_.
5. Vanity: _School of Leonardo da Vinci_.
27, 28. Petrarch and Laura.
32. St. Agatha: _School of Leonardo_.
33. The Young Christ: _School of Leonardo_.
34. Madonna: _School of Perugino_.
35. Raphael as a boy: _Raphael?_
43. Madonna: _Francesco Francia?_
44. Calvario: _C. Crivelli_.
48. St. Sebastian: _Perugino_.
49, 57. History of Joseph: _Pinturicchio_.
59. Presepio: _Sketch attributed to Raphael when young_.
61. St. Antonio: _Francesco Francia_.
66. Presepio: _Mazzolino_.
67. Adoration of the Child Jesus: _Ortolano_.
68. Christ and St. Thomas: _Mazzolino?_
69. Holy Family: _Pollajuolo_.
_2nd Room._--Chiefly of the school of Garofalo.
6. Madonna with St. Joseph and St. Michael: _Garofalo_.
9. The mourners over the dead Christ: _Garofalo_.*
18. Portrait of Julius II.: _Giulio Romano, after Raphael_.
22. Portrait of a Cardinal: _Bronzino? called Raphael_.*
23. 'Madonna col divin' amore': _School of Raphael_.*
26. Portrait of Cæsar Borgia: _Bronzino, attributed to Raphael_.*[5]
28. Portrait of a (naked) woman: _Bronzino_.
36. Holy Family: _Andrea del Sarto_.
38. Entombment: _Raphael_.*
This picture was the last work of Raphael before he went to Rome.
It was ordered by Atalanta Baglioni for a chapel in S. Francesco
de' Conventuali at Perugia. Paul V. bought it for the Borghese.
The 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' at the Vatican, formed a predella
for this picture.
"Raphael's picture of 'Bearing the Body of Christ to the
Sepulchre,' though meriting all its fame in respect of drawing,
expression, and knowledge, has lost all signs of reverential
feeling in the persons of the bearers. The reduced size of the
winding-sheet is to blame for this, by bringing them rudely in
contact with their precious burden. Nothing can be finer than their
figures, or more satisfactory than their labour, if we forget what
it is they are carrying; but it is the weight of the burden only,
and not the character of it, which the painter has kept in view,
and we feel that the result would have been the same had these
figures been carrying a sack of sand. Here, from the youth of the
figure, the bearer at the feet appears to be St. John."--_Lady
Eastlake._
40. Holy Family: _Fra Bartolomeo_.
43. Madonna: _Fr. Francia_.
44. Madonna: _Sodoma_.
51. St. Stephen: _Francesco Francia_.*
59. Adoration of the Magi: _Mazzolino_.
60. Presepio: _Garofalo_.
65. The Fornarina: _Copy of Raphael, Giulio Romano?_
69. St. John Baptist in the Wilderness: _Giulio Romano_.
_3rd Room._--Chiefly of the school of Andrea del Sarto. (The works of
this painter are often confounded with those of his disciple, Domenico
Puligo.)
1. Christ bearing the Cross: _Andrea Solario_.
2. Portrait: _Parmigianino._
5. 'Noli me tangere': _Bronzino?_
11. The Sorceress Circe: _Dosso Dossi_.
13. Mater Dolorosa: _Solario?_
22. Holy Family: _School of Raphael_.
24. Madonna and Child with three children: _A. del Sarto_.
28. Madonna, Child, and St. John: _A. del Sarto_.
29. Madonna, Child, St. John, and St. Elizabeth: _Pierino del
Vaga_.
33. Holy Family: _Pierino del Vaga_.
35. Venus and Cupids: _A. del Sarto_.
40. Danae: _Correggio_.*
In the corner of this picture are the celebrated Cupids sharpening an
arrow.
42. Cosmo de' Medici: _Bronzino_.
46. The Reading Magdalene: _School of Correggio_.
47. Holy Family: _Pomarancio_.
48. The Flagellation: _Sebastian del Piombo_.*
49. St. M. Magdalene: _A. del Sarto_.
_4th Room._--Bolognese school.
1. Entombment: _Ann. Carracci_.
2. Cumæan Sibyl: _Domenichino_.*
18. St. Francis: _Cigoli_.
20. St. Joseph: _Guido Reni_.
23. St. Francis: _Ann. Carracci_.
29. St. Domenic: _Ann. Carracci_.
36. Madonna: _Carlo Dolce_.
37. Mater Dolorosa: _Carlo Dolce_.
38, 41. Two heads for an Annunciation: _Furino_.
42. Head of Christ: _Carlo Dolce_.
43. Madonna: _Sassoferrato_.
_5th Room._--
11, 12, 13, 14. The Four Seasons: _Fr. Albani_.
"The Seasons, by Francesco Albani, were, beyond all others, my
favourite pieces; the beautiful, joyous, angel-children--the Loves,
were as if creations of my own dreams. How deliciously they were
staggering about in the picture of Spring! A crowd of them were
sharpening arrows, whilst one of them turned round the great
grindstone, and two others, floating above, poured water upon it.
In Summer, they flew about among the tree-branches, which were
loaded with fruit, which they plucked; they swam in the fresh
water, and played with it. Autumn brought the pleasures of the
chase. Cupid sits, with a torch in his hand, in his little chariot,
which two of his companions draw; while Love beckons to the brisk
hunter, and shows him the place where they can rest themselves side
by side. Winter has lulled all the little ones to sleep; soundly
and fast they lie slumbering around. The Nymphs steal their quivers
and arrows, which they throw on the fire, that there may be an end
of the dangerous weapons."--_Andersen, in The Improvisatore._
15. La Caccia di Diana: _Domenichino_.
25. The Deposition, with Angels: _F. Zuccari_.
_6th Room._--
5. Return of the Prodigal Son: _Guercino_.
7. Portrait of G. Ghislieri: _Pietro da Cortona_.
10. St Stanislaus with the Child Jesus: _Ribera_.*
12. Joseph Interpreting the Dreams in Prison: _Valentin_.
13. The Three Ages of Man. _Copy from Titian by Sassoferrato_.[6]
18. Madonna: _Sassoferrato_.
22. Flight of Æneas from Troy: _Baroccio_.
_7th Room._--Richly decorated with mirrors, painted with Cupids by
_Girofiri_, and wreaths of flowers by _Mario di Fiori_.
_8th Room._--Contains nothing of importance, except a mosaic portrait of
Paul V. by _Marcello Provenzali_.
_9th Room._--Containing several interesting frescoes.
1. The Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana.
2. The Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona.
3. 'Il Bersaglio dei Dei.'
These three frescoes were brought hither from the Casino of
Raphael, in the Villa Borghese (destroyed in the siege of Rome in
1849), and are supposed to have been painted by some of Raphael's
pupils from his designs. The other frescoes in this room are by
_Giulio Romano_, and were removed from the Villa Lante, when it was
turned into a convent.
_10th Room._--
2. Cupid blindfolded by Venus: _Titian_.
4. Judith: _School of Titian_.
9. Portrait: _Pordenone_.
13. David with the head of Goliath: _Giorgione_.*
14. St. John the Baptist preaching (unfinished): _Paul Veronese_.
16. St. Domenic: _Titian_.
19. Portrait: _Giac. Bassano_.
21. 'Sacred and Profane Love': _Titian_.*
"Out of Venice there is nothing of Titian's to compare to his
Sacred and Profane Love. It represents two figures: one, a heavenly
and youthful form, unclothed, except with a light drapery; the
other, a lovely female, dressed in the most splendid attire; both
are sitting on the brink of a well, into which a little winged Love
is groping, apparently to find his lost dart.... Description can
give no idea of the consummate beauty of this composition. It has
all Titian's matchless warmth of colouring, with a correctness of
design no other painter of the Venetian school ever attained. It
is nature, but not individual nature: it is ideal beauty in all its
perfection, and breathing life in all its truth, that we
behold."--_Eaton's Rome._
"Two female forms are seated on the edge of a sarcophagus-shaped
fountain, the one in a rich Venetian costume, with gloves, flowers
in her hands, and a plucked rose beside her, is in deep meditation,
as if solving some difficult question. The other is unclothed; a
red drapery is falling behind her, while she exhibits a form of the
utmost beauty and delicacy; she is turning towards the other figure
with the sweetest persuasiveness of expression. A Cupid is playing
in the fountain; in the distance is a rich, glowing
landscape."--_Kugler._
30. Madonna: _Giov. Bellini_.
34. St. Cosmo and Damian: _Venetian School_.
_11th Room._--Veronese school.
1. Madonna with Adam (?) and St. Augustine: _Lorenzo Lotto_, MDVIII.
2. St. Anthony preaching to the Fishes: _P. Veronese?_
3. Madonna: _Titian?_
11. Venus and Cupid on Dolphins: _Luc. Cambiaso_.
14. Last Supper: _And. Schiavone_.
15. Christ and the Mother of Zebedee's Children: _Bonifazio_.*
16. Return of the Prodigal Son: _Bonifazio_.*
17. Samson: _Titian_.
18. Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery: _Bonifazio_.
19. Madonna and Saints: _Palma Vecchio_.
In this picture the donors are introduced--the head of the man is
grandly devout and beautiful.
25. Portrait of Himself: _Titian?_
27. Portrait: _Giov. Bellini_.
31. Madonna and St. Peter: _Giov. Bellini_.
32. Holy Family: _Palma Vecchio_.
33. Portrait of the Family of Licini da Pordenone: _Bart.
Licini da Pordenone_.
_12th Room._--Dutch and German school.
1. Crucifixion: _Vandyke_.
7. Entombment: _Vandyke_.
8. Tavern Scene: _Teniers_.
9. Interior: _Brouerer_.
19. Louis VI. of Bavaria: _Albert Dürer?_
21. Portrait: _Holbein_.
21. Landscape and Horses: _Wouvermann_.
22. Cattle-piece: _Paul Potter_.
24. Portrait: _Holbein_.
26. Skating (in brown): _Berghem_.
27. Portrait: _Vandyke_.
35. Portrait: _Lucas von Leyden?_
44. Venus and Cupid: _Lucas Cranach_.
The _Palazzetto Borghese_ on the opposite side of the piazza, originally
intended as a dower-house for the family, is now let in apartments. It
is this house which is described as the "Palazzo Clementi," in
_Mademoiselle Mori_.
At the corner of the Via Fontanella and the Corso is the handsome
_Palazzo Ruspoli_, built by Ammanati in 1586. It has a grand white
marble staircase erected by Lunghi in 1750. Beyond this are the palaces
_Fiano_, _Verospi_, and _Teodoli_.