pilaster of marble, called the Colonna dei Francesi, adorned with
bas-reliefs and inscriptions, raised in 1557 by the President of the
Romagna, Pier Donato Cesi, on the right bank of the Ronco, some three
miles from the city. We may recall Ariosto's verses:
"Io venni dove le campagne rosse
eran del sangue barbaro e latino
che fiera stella dianzi a furor mosse.
"E vidi un morto all' altro si vicino
che, senza premer lor, quasi il terreno
a molte miglia non dava il cammino.
"E da chi alberga fra Garonna e Reno
vidi uscir crudelta, che ne dovria
tutto il mondo d'orror rimaner pieno."
The League of Cambray had succeeded in breaking the real security and
confidence of Venice; the death of Gaston de Foix, "the hero boy who
died too soon," destroyed the energy of her ally, the French army, in
Italy; and the battle of Novara, as I have said, in 1513, inducing
that ally to withdraw from the peninsula, left the republic to be
menaced by Cardona, who failed only to take Venice itself.
Nor was that great government more fortunate in the long struggles
which followed between Francis I. and Charles V. In 1523, seeing that
the French were failing, Venice came to terms with the emperor, by
that time the real arbiter of Italy. In 1527, though then in alliance
with pope Clement VII, she seized once more Ravenna and the Romagna,
but the emperor intervened, and by the peace of Cambray in 1529, which
on payment of a fine confirmed Venice in her Lombard possessions as
far as the Adda, she was compelled to restore Ravenna and the Romagna
to the pope.
The treaty of Cambray had so far as Ravenna was concerned a certain
finality about it. Thenceforth the popes ruled the city through a
cardinal legate, and an era of a certain social and artistic splendour
began; the city was adorned with at least one new church, S. Maria in
Porto, with many monuments and palaces, and some great public works
were undertaken.
So Ravenna in the arms of the Church slumbered till, in 1797, the
great soldier of the Revolution descended upon Italy in that
marvellous campaign which so closely recalls the achievement of
Caesar. Ravenna then became a part first of the Cispadan and later of
the Cisalpine republic. Then, as we know, came the Austrians who took
Ravenna from the French, but were in their turn expelled in 1800, when
the city was incorporated into the short-lived kingdom of Italy. But
it was again attacked by the Austrians, and later restored once again
to the pope. A period of uncertainty and confusion followed in which
various provisional governments were established for Ravenna, but at
last in 1860 the city and its province were, by a vote of the people,
included in the kingdom of United Italy.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF GASTON DE FOIX]
XVIII
RENAISSANCE RAVENNA
CHURCHES AND PALACES
The period of the Renaissance which saw the papal government
re-established in Ravenna in 1529, has left its mark upon the city in
many a fine monument, indelibly stamped with the style of that
fruitful period. Among such monuments we must note the beautiful tombs
of Guidarello Guidarelli, by Tullio Lombardi, erected in 1557, now in
the Accademia, and of Luffo Numai by Tommaso Flamberti in S.
Francesco, erected about fifty years earlier (1509). Above all,
however, must be named the great church of S. Maria in Porto (1553)
and the palaces of Minzoni, Graziani, and others, with the Loggia del
Giardino at S. Maria in Porto. And there is, too, the work of the
painters Niccolo Rondinelli, Cotignola, Luca Longhi and his sons,
Guido Reni, and others.
Later the papal government undertook many great public works. The
Venetians had, as we shall see, re-fortified Ravenna; these
fortifications the papal government enlarged, and in the middle of the
seventeenth century undertook the digging and construction of the
Canale Pamfilio, so named in honour of Innocent X., and in the
following century of the Canale Corsini. These works were necessary,
it is said, not only for the maritime commerce of the city, which one
may think was scarcely large enough to have excused them, but for the
preservation of Ravenna from inundation consequent upon the silting up
of the rivers.
But the earliest work done in Ravenna after the close of the Middle
Age was that undertaken by the Venetians. It was in 1457 that they
began to build the really tremendous fortification or Rocca, the ruins
of which we may still see. They were engaged during some ten years
upon this great fortress, the master of the works being Giovanni
Francesco da Massa. They employed as material the ruins of the church
of S. Andrea dei Goti, built by Theodoric, which they had been
compelled to destroy to make room for the fortress, as well as the
materials of a palace of the Polentani. The Rocca with its great
citadel played a considerable part in the battle of 1512, and the
subsequent sack of the city. But when Ravenna came again into the
government of the Holy See, though the fortifications of the city as a
whole were enlarged, the Rocca itself soon fell into a decay and was
indeed in great part destroyed in the middle of the seventeenth
century, the monastery and the church of Classe being repaired and
enlarged with its ruins and the Ponte Nuovo over the Fiumi Uniti,
according to Dr. Ricci, being also constructed from its remains, as
were other buildings in Ravenna. Then like the Rocca Malatestiana at
Rimini it came to be used as a mere prison, and when it failed to
prove useful for that purpose it was allowed to become the picturesque
ruin we see.
Upon the Torre del Ponte of old were set two great reliefs; on high
the Madonna and Child and beneath the Lion of S. Mark. The Madonna and
Child, a mediocre work, remains, but when Venice was turned out of
Ravenna the Lion was taken down and behind it were carved the papal
arms. Both Madonna and Lion would seem to have been the work of Marino
di Marco Ceprini.
Another work undertaken and achieved by the Venetians was the
enlargement and the adornment of the Piazza Maggiore. There in 1483,
when their work was finished, they raised two columns which still
stand before the Palazzo del Comune. They stand upon circular bases in
three tiers, sculptured in relief by Pietro Lombardi with the signs of
the Zodiac and other symbols and ornaments. The capitals of both the
columns are beautiful. Upon the northern column of old stood a statue
of S. Apollinaris, the true patron of the city, while upon the
southern column stood the Lion of S. Mark. But when in 1509 Ravenna
came into the hands of Julius II. the Lion was removed and in 1640 the
statue of S. Apollinaris from the northern column took its place,
while there, where of old S. Apollinaris had stood, a statue of S.
Vitalis was set as we see to-day. The Palazzo del Comune was entirely
reconstructed in 1681, while the Palazzo Governativo was built in 1696
by the Cardinal Legate Francesco Barberini and the Orologio Pubblico,
originally dating from 1483, was transformed, as we see it, in 1785 Of
the Portico Antico I have already spoken.[1]
[Footnote 1: See _supra_, p. 192.]
One of the most interesting and accessible fifteenth-century houses in
Ravenna is to be found in the Albergo del Cappello, with its fine
original windows in the Via Rattazzi, not far from S. Domenico; it may
stand as an example of many other old houses in the Via Arcivescovado,
but I must especially name that beautiful Venetian house in the Via
Ponte Marino--it is No. 15--the Casa Graziani with its lovely balcony,
the Casa Baldim (Via Mazzini, 31) with its double loggia in the
_cortile_, the Casa Fabbri next door (No. 33), the Casa Zirardini (Via
Belle Arti, No. i), the Casa Baromo (Via Romolo Gessi, Nos. 6 and 16),
and the Casa Ghigi with its lovely door and portico (No. 7 of the same
street).
[Illustration: THE CLOISTER OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA]
Undoubtedly the greatest monument which the sixteenth century has left
us in Ravenna is the church of S. Maria in Porto. This was built by
the Canons Regular of the Lateran, the most ancient community of
canons still extant, in the year 1553, when for about fifty years they
had been compelled to abandon the church of S. Maria in Porto fuori
outside the city, in the marsh. They not only furnished their new
church, but to a considerable extent built it, out of the materials of
S. Lorenzo in Cesarea, which they thus destroyed.
[Illustration: Colour Plate PORTA SERRATA]
S. Maria in Porto as we see it has suffered from restoration, and the
facade is a work of the eighteenth century, but the church itself
remains a noble sixteenth-century building divided within into three
naves by huge pilasters and columns and covered at the crossing with a
great octagonal cupola. There is, however, little that is very
precious to be seen, a few fine marbles and the beautiful marble
relief of the Madonna in prayer in the transept, called the Madonna
Greca, a Byzantine work probably brought to Ravenna, according to Dr.
Ricci, at the time of the crusades. It was originally in S. Maria in
Porto fuori. The noble choir should also be noticed and the beautiful
ciborio.
Close by the church is the Monastero of the Canons, within which there
remains the lovely cloister which should be compared with those at S.
Vitale and S. Giovanni Evangelista of the same period. This of S.
Maria in Porto, however, is the finest, having doubled storied logge.
Above all the exquisite Loggia del Giardino should not be missed. It
was built in 1508, and looks on to a piece of the sixth-century wall
of Ravenna.
Not far away in the Via Girotto Guaccimanni near the Hotel Byron is
the church of S. Maria delle Croci, founded in the tenth century, but
entirely rebuilt in the sixteenth. The rose in terracotta of the
facade is a work of this time, as is the exquisite baldacchino over
the high altar within, upheld by two pilasters and two columns of
Greek marble. The picture, too, of the Assumption over the altar is by
a master, perhaps Gaspare Sacch' of Imola, of the sixteenth century.
Of the same period is the massive Porta Serrata at the north end of
the Corso Garibaldi.
The best monument of later times left in Ravenna is the fine Palazzo
Rasponi in Via S. Agnese (No. 2) built in or about 1700.
XIX
THE GALLERY AND THE MUSEUM
Ravenna isolated in her marsh and altogether, both geographically and
politically, out of the Italian world that began to flower so
wonderfully in Tuscany, then in Umbria, and later still in Venice in
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, is the last city
in which to look for pictures. Nevertheless a few delightful pieces
among much that is negligible are to be found in the Accademia delle
Belle Arti in the Via Alfredo Baccarini. The collection was begun
about 1827, and though what is to be seen there is never of the first
importance it is certainly more than we had the right to expect.
The first two rooms upon the upper floor are devoted to the Romagnuol
and Bolognese painters, the best of them here pupils or disciples of
the one master Ravenna can boast, Niccolo Rondinelli.
We have seen Rondinelli's organ shutters in S. Domenico, here we have
something better. This really fine pupil of Giovanni Bellini was born
it seems in Ravenna in the middle of the fifteenth century. Vasari
tells us that "there also flourished in Romagna an excellent painter
called Rondinello.... Giovanni Bellini, whose disciple he had been,
had availed himself to a considerable extent of his services in
various works. But after Rondinello had left Giovanni Bellini he
continued to practise his art and in such a manner that, being
exceedingly diligent, he produced numerous works which are highly
deserving of and have obtained considerable praise.... For the altar
of S. Maria Maddalena in the cathedral of Ravenna this master painted
a picture in oil, wherein he portrayed the figure of that saint only;
but in the predella he executed three stories, the small figures of
which are very gracefully depicted. In one of these is our Saviour
Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen in the form of the gardener; another
shows S. Peter leaving the ship and walking upon the waves of the sea,
and between them is the Baptism of Christ. All these representations
are executed in an exceedingly beautiful manner.[1] Rondinello
likewise painted two pictures in the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista
in the same city. One of these portrays the Consecration of the church
by S. Giovanni[2] and the other exhibits three martyrs, S. Cancio, S.
Canciano, and S. Cancianilla, all very beautiful figures.[3] For the
church of S. Apollinare also in Ravenna this master painted two
pictures, each containing a single figure, S. Giovanni Battista and S.
Sebastiano, namely, both highly extolled.[4] There is a picture by the
hand of Rondinello in the church of S. Spirito likewise; the subject,
Our Lady between S. Jerome and the virgin martyr S. Catherine.[5] In
S. Francesco, Rondinello painted two pictures, in one of which are S.
Catherine and S. Francesco; while in the other our artist depicted the
Madonna accompanied by many figures, as well as by the apostle S.
James and by S. Francesco.[6] For the church of S. Domenico,
Rondinello painted two pictures; one is to the left of the high altar
and exhibits Our Lady with numerous figures; the other is on the
fagade of the church and is very beautiful.[7] In the church of S.
Niccolo, a monastery of Augustinians, this master painted a picture
with S. Lorenzo and S. Francesco, a work which was most highly
commended, in so much that it caused Rondinello to be held in the
utmost esteem for the remainder of his life, not in Ravenna only, but
in all Romagna.[8] The painter here in question lived to the age of
sixty years, and was buried in S. Francesco at Ravenna."[9]
[Footnote 1: This picture would seem to be lost.]
[Footnote 2: This picture is now in the Brera at Milan, No. 452.]
[Footnote 3: This picture would seem to be lost. Milanesi says it was
taken to Milan. _Vas_. v. 254, n. 2.]
[Footnote 4: There is a Sebastian by this master in the Duomo at
Forli; the S. Giovanni panel seems to be lost.]
[Footnote 5: This is now in the Accademia of Ravenna, No. 6.]
[Footnote 6: This would seem to have disappeared; but cf. Brera, 455.]
[Footnote 7: The first of these remains in S. Domenico, the other is,
I think, now in the Accademia, No. 7.]
[Footnote 8: This picture, too, seems to be lost.]
[Footnote 9: Vasari (trs. Foster), vol. III. pp 382-384.]
In another place, Vasari tells us that the pupil who copied Giovanni
Bellini most closely and did him most honour was "Rondinello of
Ravenna, of whose aid the master availed himself much in all his
works.... Rondinello painted his best work for the church of S.
Giovanni Battista in Ravenna. The church belongs to the Carmelite
Friars and in the painting, besides a figure of Our Lady, Rondinello
depicted that of S. Alberto, a brother of their order;[10] the head of
the saint is extremely beautiful, and the whole work very highly
commended."[11]
[Footnote 10: Now in the Accademia, unnumbered; it represents the
Madonna between S. Alberto and S. Sebastian.]
[Footnote 11: Vasari (trs. Foster), vol. II. pp. 171-172.]
Of all the works thus named by Vasari as painted by Rondinelli in
Ravenna only four remain, three in the Accademia and one in S.
Domenico. I have already spoken of the tempera pieces in S.
Domenico.[12] Of the three pieces in the Accademia, the Madonna and
Child between S. Catherine and S. Jerome (No. 6) comes from S.
Spirito; the Madonna and Child between SS. Catherine, Mary Magdalen,
John Baptist, and Thomas Aquinas comes from S. Domenico, and is, I am
convinced, the picture spoken of by Vasari rather than the
sixteenth-century work that still hangs there, which is, according to
Dr. Ricci, perhaps the mediocre work of Ragazzini. The third picture
by Rondinelli in the Accademia, the Madonna and Child between S.
Alberto and S. Sebastian, comes from the church of the Carmelites, S.
Giovanni Battista.
[Footnote 12: See _supra_, p. 246.]
Beside these three fine works of Rondinelli hangs the work of a man he
strongly influenced, Francesco Zaganelli da Cotignola. When Vasari
tells us that Rondinelli was buried in S. Francesco at Ravenna, he
goes on to say that "after him came Francesco da Cotignola, who was
also greatly esteemed in that city and painted numerous pictures
there. On the high altar of the church which belongs to the Abbey of
Classe, for example, there is one from his hand of tolerably large
size, representing the Raising of Lazarus with many figures[1].
Opposite to this work in the year 1548 Giorgio Vasari painted another
for Don Romualdo da Verona, the abbot of that place. This represents a
Deposition of Christ from the Cross, and has also a large number of
figures[2]. Francesco Cotignola painted a picture in S. Niccolo,
likewise a very large one, the subject of which is the Birth of
Christ, with two in S. Sebastiano exhibiting numerous figures[3]. For
the hospital of S. Caterina, Francesco painted a picture of Our Lady,
S. Caterina, and many other figures[4]; and in S. Agata, he painted a
figure of our Saviour Christ on the Cross, the Madonna being at the
foot thereof, with a considerable number of other figures; this work
also has received commendation[5]. In the church of S. Apollinare in
the same city are three pictures by this artist, one at the high altar
with Our Lady, S. Giovanni Battista, S. Apollinare, S. Jerome, and
other saints; in the second is also the Madonna with S. Peter and S.
Catherine[6]; and in the third and last is Jesus Christ bearing his
Cross, but this Francesco could not finish having been overtaken by
death before its completion[7]. Francesco coloured in a very pleasing
manner, but had not such power of design as Rondinello; he was
nevertheless held in great account by the people of Ravenna. It was
his desire to be buried in S. Apollinare, where he had painted certain
figures, as we have said, wishing that in the place where he had lived
and laboured his remains might find their repose after his death."
[Footnote 1: This is in the ex-church of S. Romuald in Classe in the
sacristy, now part of the Museo]
[Footnote 2: This is now in the Accademia, No 40]
[Footnote 3: The first of these is in the Accademia (No. 10), as I
suppose are the two other undescribed pictures]
[Footnote 4: Is this a Marriage of S. Catherine in S. Girolamo in
Ravenna?]
[Footnote 5: Now in the Accademia, No 13.]
[Footnote 6: Of these I know nothing]
[Footnote 7: Now in the canonica of S. Croce in Ravenna]
To-day in Ravenna there remain the three works described by Vasari,
one in the ex-church S. Romualdo di Classe, the other, as I think,
once in the Hospital of S. Catherine and now in S. Girolamo, and
another at S. Croce. In the Accademia there are nine of his works, of
which the S. Niccolo Presepio (No. 10) and the S. Agata Crucifixion
(No. 13) are the better. A S. Sebastian (No. 12) and a S. Catherine
(No. 11) should also be noticed. By his brother and assistant,
Bernardino, there is one picture in the Accademia, the Agony in the
Garden (No. 194).
Another master of the Romagnuol school, Marco Palmezzano, the pupil of
Melozza da Forli, a contemporary of Rondinelli, who influenced him to
some small extent, is represented in the Accademia by two works in
Sala II., the Nativity and the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin
(Nos. 189 and 190); in the Vescovado there is a Madonna and Child with
four saints from his hand. Vasari says nothing of him, but only
mentions his name, yet he has a good deal to tell us of perhaps a
lesser man, Luca Longhi (1507-1580), who was born in Ravenna.
"Maestro Luca de' Longhi of Ravenna," he says, "a man of studious
habits and quiet reserved character, has painted many beautiful
pictures in oil, with numerous portraits from the life in his native
city and its neighbourhood. Among other productions of Longhi are two
sufficiently graceful little pictures which the reverend Don Antonio
da Pisa, then abbot of the monastery, caused him to paint no long time
since for the monks of Classe; many other works have also been
executed by this painter. It is certain that Luca Longhi, being
studious, diligent, and of admirable judgment as he is, would have
become an excellent master had he not always confined himself to
Ravenna where he still remains with his family; his works are
accomplished with much patience and study; and of this I can bear
testimony since I know the progress which he made during the time of
my stay in Ravenna both in the practise and comprehension of art. Nor
will I omit to mention that a daughter of his, called Barbara, still
but a little child, draws very well and has begun to paint also in a
very good manner and with much grace."
There are five pictures by Luca Longhi in the Accademia besides three
portraits. In Sala I. we have an early work painted at the age of
twenty-two, the Marriage of S. Catherine (No. 14); a Madonna and Child
with S. Benedict, S. Apollinaris, S. Barbara, and S. Paul (No. 23). In
Sala II. the Dead Christ between S. Bartholomew and Don Antonio da
Pisa, abbot of the monastery of Classe (No. 17), and two pictures of
the Adoration of the Shepherds (Nos. 15, 16). Here, too, are the three
portraits from his hand which represent Raffaele Rasponi (No. 22),
Giovanni Arrigoni (No. 21), and Girolamo Rossi (No. 20). By Luca's son
Francesco there is a feeble Crucifixion (No. 29) in Sala I.;[1] and
happily in Sala II. three pictures by Barbara, Luca's daughter, of
whom Vasari speaks; a S. Catherine, which is really a portrait of the
painter (No. 81), a Madonna and Child (No. 27), and a Judith (No.
28).[2]
[Footnote 1: There is another work, an Annunciation, by Francesco
Longhi in S. Croce.]
[Footnote 2: Another work by Barbara Longhi, S. Peter visiting S.
Agata in Prison, may be seen in S. Maria Maggiore.]
Only one picture by a Bolognese master is really worthy of much notice
here; I mean the S. Romuald of Guercino (No. 33) in Sala I. In the
floor of this first room there is set a fine mosaic from S. Apollinare
in Classe which should be noted.
The third room in the Accademia, filled with various works of little
merit of the sundry schools of Italy, may be neglected. The fourth
room, however, is devoted to the beautiful tomb of Guidarello
Guidarelli, the very glorious work of Tullio Lombardi. Of old this
exquisite tomb stood in the Cappella Braccioforte at S. Francesco.
Guidarello of Ravenna was killed in battle at Imola in 1501, and
Tullio Lombardi, the son of Pietro, was employed to make his tomb. "I
doubt," says M. de Vogue, "whether, apart from the work of Donatello,
the early Renaissance produced anything more beautiful." Guidarello
the knight is represented in marble, a life-size figure, lying on his
back, his body encased in armour, his helmet on his head, his visor
raised, his gloved hands crossed over his sword which lies along his
body. He seems, weary of fighting at last, to be sleeping, but the
sweet expression upon the tired face makes us think rather of a monk
than a soldier. In truth he was a knight of the olden time.
We leave the room in which he sleeps for ever in his marble,
reluctantly, and, passing Sala V., which is full of late pictures of
no interest, come to Sala VI. where there are several delightful early
Italian works. One would not certainly expect to find in Ravenna a
picture of the most exquisite school in Tuscany, the school of Siena.
Yet here is a delightful Madonna and Child with S. Peter and S.
Barbara (No. 191) by Matteo di Giovanni (1435-1495); and a
fourteenth-century Annunciation (No. 176) from Tuscany. In the
Crucifixion (No. 225) we seem to have an early Venetian work, and
another Crucifixion (No. 181) might almost be from the hand of Lorenzo
Monaco. It is probable that we see a work of Antonio da Fabriano in
the S. Peter Damiano (No. 188), and certainly an Umbrian work in the
S. Francis receiving the Stigmata (216). But the most remarkable
Umbrian picture here is the Christ with the Cross between two angels
(No. 202), the work of Niccolo da Foligno. A few early works by the
mediocre masters of the Romagnuol school (Nos. 174, 171, 172, 182) are
to be seen here also.
Sala VI. is entirely devoted to an immense number of pictures in the
Byzantine manner, of considerable interest and much beauty, but not
yet to be discussed.