PAUL V. (1605-1621)

CHAPTER XIV.

Paul V as a Patron of the Arts—Completion of St. Peter’s—The Pauline Chapel in S. Maria Maggiore—The Palace of the Quirinal—Streets and Fountains—The Borghese Palace and Villa —Transformation of the Eternal City.

 

Fond of building as few of his predecessors had been, and a true Roman, Paul V was the right man to continue, on a large and magnificent scale, the Popes’ traditional patronage of the arts. “The Holy Father”, so we read in an ambassador’s letter of September 23rd, 1605, “meditates building-plans such as befit a prince who to the highest spiritual power unites also the temporal.”

Like Sixtus V, Paul V thought before all else of the completion of St. Peter’s. This gigantic work, whose dome was looked upon as one of the world’s wonders, was at the very heart of all his artistic interests during the whole of his long reign.

Whatever concerned the fabbrica di San Pietro had hitherto been dealt with by a college of prelates which Clement VIII had reorganized—the Congregazione della Rev. Fabbrica de San Pietro. Paul V confirmed these arrangements and appointed as additional members the following Cardinals, Giovanni Evangelista Pallotta, Bernardo Giustiniani, Francesco Maria de’ Monti, Pompeo Arigoni, Alfonso Visconti, Bartolomeo Cesi, Pietro Paulo Crescenzi and Jacopo Serra. On the demise of Visconti (September 19th, 1608) Maffeo Barberini took his place and when Arigoni died (April 4th, 1616) Marcello Lante succeeded him. Giovanni Fontana and Carlo Mademo were retained as architects. Born at Capolago, in the Canton Tessin, Mademo had come to the Eternal City before Sixtus V’s time and had worked for a time with his uncle. In 1603, he had created the lovely façade of St. Susanna, but now tasks of the highest importance were about to be entrusted to him as to the most talented of all contemporary architects.

At the beginning of Paul V’s pontificate, there still stood untouched a considerable portion of the nave of the Constantinian basilica. It was separated from the new church by a wall put up by Paul III. There likewise remained the extensive buildings situate in front of the basilica. The forecourt, flanked on the right by the house of the archpriest and on the right by the benediction loggia of three bays and the old belfry, formed an oblong square which had originally been surrounded by porticoes of Corinthian columns. The lateral porticos, however, had had to make room for other buildings—those on the left for the oratory of the confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament built under Gregory XIII, and the house of the Cappella Giulia and the lower ministers of the church, and those on the right for the spacious palace of Innocent VIII. In the middle of this square, at a small distance from the facade of the present basilica, stood the fountain (cantharus) erected either by Constantine or by his son Constantius, under a small dome supported by eight columns and surmounted by a colossal bronze cone which was believed to have been taken from the mausoleum of Hadrian. From this court the eye contemplated the facade of old St. Peter’s, resplendent with gold and vivid colours and completely covered with mosaics which had been restored in the sixteenth century, and crowned, in the centre, by a figure of Christ enthroned and giving His blessing. To this image millions of devout pilgrims had gazed up during the centuries. Internally the five-aisled basilica, with its forest of precious columns, was adorned with a wealth of altars, shrines and monuments of Popes and other ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries of every century. The roof consisted of open woodwork. The walls of the central nave, from the architrave upwards, displayed both in colour and in mosaic, scenes from Holy Scripture and the portraits of all the Popes.

It is easy to understand Paul V’s hesitation to lay hands on a basilica so venerable by reason of the memories of a history of more than a thousand years, and endowed with so immense a wealth of sacred shrines and precious monuments. On the other hand, the juxtaposition of two utterly heterogeneous buildings, the curious effect of which may be observed in the sketches of Marten van Heemskerk, could not be tolerated for ever. To this must be added the ruinous condition, already ascertained at the time of Nicholas V and Julius V, of the fourth century basilica, a condition of which Paul V himself speaks in some of his inscriptions as a notorious fact. A most trustworthy contemporary, Jacopo Grimaldi, attests that the paintings on the South wall were almost unrecognizable owing to the crust of dust which stuck to them, whilst the opposite wall was leaning inwards. Elsewhere also, even in the woodwork of the open roof, many damaged places were apparent. An earthquake could not have failed to turn the whole church into a heap of ruins. An alarming occurrence came as a further warning to make haste. During a severe storm, in September, 1605, a huge marble block fell from a window near the altar of the Madonna della Colonna. Mass was being said at that altar at the time so that it seemed a miracle that no one was hurt. Cardinal Pallotta, the archpriest of St. Peter’s, pointed to this occurrence in the consistory of September 26th, 1605, in which he reported on the dilapidated condition of the basilica, basing himself on the reports of the experts. As a sequel to a decision by the cardinalitial commission of September 17th, the Pope resolved to demolish the remaining part of the old basilica. At the same time he decreed that the various monuments and the relics of the Saints should be removed and preserved with the greatest care. These injunctions were no doubt prompted by the strong opposition raised by the learned historian of the Church, Cardinal Baronius, against the demolition of a building which enshrined so many sacred and inspiring monuments of the history of the papacy. To Cardinal Pallotta was allotted the task of superintending the work of demolition.

Sestilio Mazucca, bishop of Alessano and Paolo Bizoni, both canons of St. Peter’s, received pressing recommendations from Paul V. to watch over the monuments of the venerable sanctuary and to see to it that everything was accurately preserved for posterity by means of pictures and written accounts, especially the Lady Chapel of John VII, at the entrance to the basilica, which was entirely covered with mosaics, the ciborium with Veronica’s handkerchief, the mosaics of Gregory XI. on the facade and other ancient monuments. On the occasion of the translation of the sacred bodies and relics of Saints, protocols were to be drawn up and graves were only to be opened in presence of the clergy of the basilica. The bishop of Alessano was charged to superintend everything.

It must be regarded as a piece of particularly good fortune that in Jacopo Grimaldi (died January 7th, 1623) canon and keeper of the archives of the Chapter of St. Peter’s, a man was found who thoroughly understood the past and who also possessed extensive technical knowledge. He made accurate drawings and sketches of the various monuments doomed to destruction.

The plan of the work of demolition, as drawn up in the architect’s office, probably under Maderno’s direction, comprised three tasks : viz. the opening of the Popes’ graves and other sepulchral monuments as well as the reliquaries, and the translation of their contents; then the demolition itself, in which every precaution was to be taken against a possible catastrophe; thirdly, the preservation of all those objects which, out of reverence, were to be housed in the crypt—the so-called Vatican Grottos—or which were to be utilized in one way or another in the new structure.

As soon as the demolition had been decided upon, the work began. On September 28th, Cardinal Pallotta transferred the Blessed Sacrament in solemn procession, accompanied by all the clergy of the basilica, into the new building where it was placed in the Cappella Gregoriana. Next the altar of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude was deprived of its consecration with the ceremonies prescribed by the ritual; the relics it had contained were translated into the new church, after which the altar was taken down. On October 11th, the tomb of Boniface VIII was opened and on the 20th that of Boniface IV, close to the adjoining altar. The following day witnessed the taking up of the bodies of SS. Processus and Martinianus. On October 30th, Paul V inspected the work of demolition of the altars and ordered the erection of new ones so that the number of the seven privileged altars might be preserved.

On December 29th, 1605, the mortal remains of St. Gregory the Great were taken up with special solemnity, and on January 8th, 1606, they were translated into the Cappella Clementina. The same month also witnessed the demolition of the altar under which rested the bones of Leo IX, and that of the altar of the Holy Cross under which Paul I had laid the body of St. Petronilla, in the year 757. Great pomp marked the translation of all these relics; similar solemnity was observed on January 26th, at the translation of Veronica’s handkerchief, the head of St. Andrew and the holy lance. These relics were temporarily kept, for greater safety, in the last room of the Chapter archives. So many graves had now been opened in the floor that it became necessary to remove the earth to the rapidly growing rubbish heap near the Porta Angelica.

On February 8th, 1606, the dismantling of the roof began and on February 16th the great marble cross of the facade was taken down. Work proceeded with the utmost speed; the Pope came down in person to urge the workmen to make haste. These visits convinced him of the decay of the venerable old basilica whose collapse had been predicted for the year 1609. The work proceeded with feverish rapidity—the labourers toiled even at night, by candle light.

The demolition of the walls began on March 29th; their utter dilapidation now became apparent. The cause of this condition was subsequently ascertained; the South wall and the columns that supported it, had been erected on the remains of Nero’s race-course which were unable to bear indefinitely so heavy a weight.

In July, 1606, a committee was appointed which also included Jacopo Grimaldi. It was charged by the cardinalitial commission with the task of seeing to the preservation of the monuments of the Popes situate in the lateral aisles and in the central nave of the basilica. The grave of Innocent VIII was opened on September 5th, after which the bones of Nicholas V, Urban VI, Innocent VII and IX, Marcellus II and Hadrian IV were similarly raised and translated.

In May, 1607, the body of Leo the Great was found. Subsequently the remains of the second, third and fourth Leo were likewise found; they were all enclosed in a magnificent marble sarcophagus. Paul V came down on May 30th to venerate the relics of his holy predecessors.

Meanwhile the discussions of the commission of Cardinals on the completion of the new building had also been concluded. They had last nearly two years. This is not at all surprising, for the commission had to solve some exceedingly knotty problems, such as the joining up of the new façade with the Vatican palace and the plan of the façade and the benediction loggia, and opinions were greatly divided. Some were of opinion that the plans of Bramante and Michelangelo should be strictly adhered to, according to which the façade would be immediately connected with the new building, but others were in favour of adding a nave to the rotunda. Nearly every architect of mark whom Italy then possessed was invited to send in plans, before all others Flaminio Ponzio, Carlo Maderno and Giovanni Fontana; then Girolamo Rainaldi, Niccoló Braconio, Ottavio Turriani, all residents in Rome. Among outsiders, Domenico Fontana, of Naples, Giovanni Antonio Dosio, the painter Ludovico Cigoli of Florence, and many others were likewise consulted.

During the reign of Gregory XIII, Tiberio Alfarano had counselled the erection of a nave and in that of Sixtus V, Domenico Fontana had drawn up a plan allowing for a nave divided into three aisles, its breadth equalling the width of the pillars supporting the dome, which would have produced the effect of a vestibule leading up to the rotunda. Fontana still retained Michelangelo’s façade. However, on the occasion of the consecration of the high altar, in 1595, under Clement VIII, the papal Master of Ceremonies, Giovanni Paolo Mucanzio, pointed out that the rotunda, as planned by Bramante and Michelangelo, departed too much from the traditional idea of a church which was supposed to represent the body of Christ on the cross and that it was ill adapted to ecclesiastical functions. A further argument was also urged; it almost amounted to a sacrilege if the whole of the ground covered by the old basilica were not included in the new one.

But the opposite view also found staunch advocates. We still possess two detailed reports of Gian Paolo Maggi and Paolo Rughesi, both determined opponents of a nave. In pleading for the retention of Michelangelo’s rotunda, Gian Paolo Maggi stressed above all else the fact that here the great master had conceived something so beautiful and so perfect in every respect, that any alteration would spoil, nay, destroy its artistic value. Paolo Rughesi defended the retention of Michelangelo’s rotunda no less warmly; the whole world admired it as something unique; the addition of a nave would cost enormous sums, probably half as much as had already been spent; it would prevent a full view of the dome and destroy the light effects. If they wished to add anything, let them create a vast forecourt which would thus include all the hallowed space covered by the old basilica. In this way space would be provided for the holding of processions and the reading of Bulls of excommunication and other important documents.

Of all the architects consulted, Carlo Maderno was the most ardent advocate of the abandonment of the plan of a Greek cross in favour of lengthening the fourth arm of the cross into a nave. Only in this way, he insisted, would the hallowed site of the old basilica be preserved from profanation and those spaces be created, the absence of which in Michelangelo’s plan the cardinalitial Congregation had criticized from the beginning, namely, a choir for the canons, a sacristy, a baptistery, a spacious vestibule and a loggia for the ceremony of the papal blessing.

In view of the importance of the solemn functions at which the Pope officiates as head of a Church which embraces all peoples and countries, a good solution of the problem of space by lengthening Michelangelo’s rotunda into a nave, was bound to weigh decisively in the scales. It was chiefly for this reason, without doubt, that not only Cardinals Pallotta, Arigoni and Cesi, but the Pope himself, were all inclined to support Maderno’s idea.

Paul V refused to swerve from this decision even when it was opposed by a man of such artistic feeling as Cardinal Maffeo Barberini. Herrera’s life of Urban VIII alone gives some account of the discussions of that time, in the course of which the Cardinal suggested that the missing choir of the canons should be put into a crypt near the Confession. One can only rejoice that the Pope refused to entertain such a project.

On March 8th, 1607, in presence of the architects of St. Peter’s and the Governor of Rome, the work was begun on the foundations for the extension of the basilica, under the present chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Work was pushed on so rapidly that already on May 7th, after he had said Mass in the Cappella Gregoriana, Cardinal Pallotta was able to perform the solemn laying of the foundation stone which the Pope had previously blessed at the Quirinal. In the meantime, Giuseppe Bianchi had completed a model in wood of Mademo’s plan which showed every detail of the scheme. On September 15th, the Pope came to St. Peter’s from the Quirinal, to study the model. He was extraordinarily pleased with it and gave orders for the completion of the vestibule within six years; at the same time he supplied the sums required to meet the considerable cost of the work.

It is wholly in keeping with the spirit of the baroque age that Paul V commanded that work should begin with the facade, for this was deemed the most important part. On November 5th, 1607, work was begun on the foundations of the facade and the portico, to the joy of the pilgrims and the Romans who had begun to despair of St. Peter’s ever being completed. February 10th, 1608, was fixed for the laying of the first stone of the facade. The Pope blessed it after his Mass in the Quirinal and on the same day it was fixed in the foundation with appropriate ceremony. Soon after, on Laetare Sunday (March 16th) the Pope bestowed the Golden Rose on the basilica of the Prince of the Apostles.4

So far no final decision had been arrived at as to whether Mademo’s plan for St. Peter’s should be carried out also in respect to its breadth, in consequence of the inability of the commission of Cardinals to agree; but unanimity was hoped for as soon as Cardinal Arigoni should have arrived in Rome. The decisive meeting took place on June 16th, 1608. The result was communicated to the Pope on the following day. Mademo’s plan had prevailed at last.

On June 15th, 1608, the first travertine block of the new façade appeared above ground; all the bells of St. Peter’s were rung to hail the event. People recalled to mind that on the same day Sixtus V had begun the completion of the dome.

Demolition and new construction now intermingled more than ever. On November 13th, 1608, the graves of Pius II, Pius III, and Julius III were opened. The Pope had at first thought of transferring the great marble monuments of the two Piccolomini Popes to the new St. Peter’s, but eventually, in 1614, they were taken to St. Andrea della Valle. At the beginning of 1609, work began on the demolition, in front of the slowly rising façade, of the great palace of Innocent VIII which had housed the Rota and other administrative offices. Nearly three hundred labourers were continuously at work. Cart after cart of tufa was arriving from the quarries near Porta Portese and whole forests of wood were dragged to the site for the scaffolding. Such masses of travertine from the quarries of Tivoli were landed near St. Angelo, that the road from Santo Spirito to St. Peter’s had to be repaired.

In the floor of the old church the remains of Nero’s race­course and numerous graves were laid bare, among the latter the tomb of the German Pope, Gregory V, on January 15th, 1609. When the summer heat set in, the workmen were protected by a huge tent. In July the construction of the portico was so far advanced that the clamps for the travertine facing could be inserted. On the twenty-fourth of that month, the Pope inspected the work. He also studied with admiration an antique sarcophagus bearing representations of the rape of Helen, which had been brought to light in the course of the excavations. Three days later, Paul V repeated his visit in order to look at some newly discovered graves; on August 31st, the Persian envoy, who had visited the Vatican the day before, came to St. Peter’s where the organ restored by Giuseppe Bianchi was played in his honour. On September 19th, the Pope again stood in admiration before the rapidly rising façade.

Soon nothing remained of the old church except Sixtus IV’s choir. On November 15th, 1609, Mario Altieri celebrated the last Mass in it. On the following day the altar was deprived of its consecration and its demolition begun. Parts of Perugino’s paintings, which adorned the sanctuary, were given to Cardinals Borghese and Montalto. The magnificent bronze monument of Sixtus IV, beneath which Julius II likewise reposed, was removed for safety to the sacristy in 1610, as well as Michelangelo’s Pietà. which Gregory XIII had placed in the choir of Sixtus IV: both were subsequently destined to adorn the new basilica of St. Peter.

As the demolition of the buildings which still stood in front of the new facade approached, Paul V, as at every other decisive moment, arrived on the site on July 27th, 1610. He was received by Cardinals Pallotta and Cesi and other members of the fabbrica. On this occasion he ordered that Giotto’s mosaic, known as the Navicella, which Cardinal Giacomo Gaetano Stefaneschi had had executed at the end of the thirteenth century, should be taken down with every precaution from the archpriest’s palace adjoining the fore­court. The Pope at the same time gave orders for the demolition of the aforesaid palace and the benediction loggia. He confirmed this order on August 30th and once more urged all concerned to speed up the construction of the façade.

The columns of the benediction loggia were set aside by the Pope for the adornment of the Acqua Paola, but he had to pay the fabbrica, like everyone else who obtained fragments of the old basilica.

The taking down of Giotto’s famous mosaic of the Navicella began on October 20th; after a none too successful restoration by Matteo Provenzale it was placed near the entrance to the Vatican, in 1618. October, 1610, witnessed the opening of the grave of the Emperor Otto II and the beginning of the demolition of the belfry, the remains of which collapsed of themselves.

Work on St. Peter’s was pushed forward with greater ardour than ever. More than seven hundred workmen were employed day and night in filling in the foundations, piling up blocks of travertine, and demolishing the old façade. At the beginning of 1611, all that remained of the old church was a heap of stones. This feverish activity went on also during the following years so that the immense building advanced with giant strides towards its completion.

About Lady-day, 1612, the mosaics of the great dome, which had been executed from the cartoons of Cesare d’Arpino, were completed amid the jubilation of the artists who had been at work on them since 1598 and on 29th of the same month the facade also could be considered as completed. Already in May, Cardinal Cesi had given a commission for the thirteen colossal statues (Christ, John the Baptist and eleven Apostles) which were to be placed on its upper balustrade; however, this fresh adornment could only be unveiled two years later. The cardinalitial commission took care to have plaster models erected on the balustrade, by way of trial, so as to make sure that they were of the right proportions. In like manner, the Congregation had submitted to it a model of the huge papal coat of arms for the facade as well as the design of the inscription which it was to bear. The inscription was thus worded: In honour of the Prince of the Apostles Paul V, Sovereign Pontiff, of the Roman family of Borghese, in the seventh year of his reign. (In honorem Principis Apostolorum Paulus V. Borghesius Romanns Pont. Max. Anno Domini MDCXII Pont. VII.)

The considerable sums of money which the Pope once more contributed, showed how much he had at heart the completion of the basilica. On September 2nd, 1612, after a fresh inspection of the façade, he gave definite instructions for the erection of a belfry on either side. These corner structures, designed by Maderno, were mainly intended to bring into relief the longitudinal arm, to make it stand out at least when beheld from the piazza of St. Peter’s and so to eliminate, as regards the external appearance, the disturbing disproportion between the rotunda and the nave. The towers are indispensable if we are to grasp the artistic purpose of the master, for only by their means “is the grouping of the structure made clear, the silhouette enlivened, the dome artistically pushed back, the breadth attenuated, the preponderance of the attic diminished and a new artistic harmony generated”.

Notwithstanding that work went on day and night the towers did not rise above the attics in Maderno’s lifetime. It was nevertheless granted to him to bring the gigantic work of the nave to completion within a relatively short time. In the summer of 1613, the structure had reached the spring of the arches of the chapels; a year later, when Giovanni Fontana died, the wooden framework of the vaulting already spanned the central nave. In September, 1614, at a sitting of the cardinalitial Congregation, Maderno promised to complete the whole colossal tunnel vault within a year. Not only was the promise kept, but the time limit was even considerably shortened. Jacopo Grimaldi attests that the inner side of the wonderful, richly gilt tunnel vault, the caissons of which were decorated with roses, was completed by November 22nd, and the outer side by December 12th, 1614. The ringing of bells and the thunder of cannon from the castle of St. Angelo celebrated the achievement. In February, 1615, a start could be made with the removal of the wall erected by Paul III, which still separated the two buildings; with it fell the last bit of old St. Peter’s. On Palm Sunday, April 12th, it was possible, for the first time, to behold the whole length of the greatest and most magnificent church of the Eternal City, which reflects in unique fashion the world power of the Church now renewed by the Catholic reformation. With justifiable pride the Romans gazed at the wonderful work which a Pope, whose cradle had stood in their city, had at last brought to completion. The inscription within the basilica, which records the fact, gives the year 1615; however, the work was only completely terminated in 1617, when new steps were laid down and the statues of the Princes of the Apostles dating from the time of Pius II, were re-erected by their side.

It needed a personality like Paul V to call into being, within a space of ten years, such gigantic creations. But not alone the name of Paul V, but that also of Maderno is linked for all time with the most colossal building of Christendom. Yet the architect’s work has been rewarded with more blame than praise. However, he does not bear alone the responsibility for the departure from Michelangelo’s plan; that burden is shared by the Congregation of Cardinals and by Paul V. That which decided it was the exigencies of the liturgy and ecclesiastical tradition.

After all the blame so long heaped upon Maderno’s head, his work has been more justly appraised in recent times. Unprejudiced critics recognize that he solved with great ability the exceedingly difficult problem set to him. It is, of course, regrettable that in consequence of the addition of the nave, the dome is not completely visible from outside, except from a distance, and that within the building the full majesty of the edifice is not revealed as soon as one enters. But Maderno did his best to remedy these unavoidable defects by introducing variety as well as movement into the vast structure. The piercing of the tunnel vault by great upper windows—an attempt none too happy in itself—has resulted in an illumination which greatly contributes to the effect of the interior; in conformity with the principle applied at the Gesu, the moderately illuminated anterior part of the nave is followed by a dark section which stands in sharpest contrast with the flood of radiant light which falls in streams from the dome into the central space and so redoubles the impressiveness of Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

The façade comes in for most blame, and to a large extent deservedly so. Three hundred and fifty-seven feet broad and one hundred and forty feet high, it is adorned with eight magnificent columns, four pilasters, six half-pilasters of the Corinthian order, and surmounted by a balustrade. To appraise it aright it is necessary to bear in mind the belfries planned for the two comers, the absence of which causes the attics to appear excessively heavy and increases the contrast between the division into two storeys with an intermediary half-storey and the colossal masses. However, here Maderno was in a tight comer for he had to allow for a benediction loggia which Michelangelo had left out of his plan. The portico is universally recognized as a masterpiece. It is 468 feet in length, 50 feet wide and 66 feet in height. Five entrances lead into it just as the same number of doors give access from it into the basilica. The three largest outer entrances are each adorned with four antique columns; the two columns of the central gate, of pavonazzetto and African breccia, formerly stood at the entrance to the principal nave of the old basilica. Two antique columns of pavonazzetto were likewise set apart to adorn three of the doors leading from the porch into the church. For the main entrance, the bronze doors of old St. Peter’s made by Filarete, in the reign of Eugene IV, were used, though it was necessary to add to them at top and bottom. On the wall, between the doors that bear his name, Paul V. caused to be affixed three venerable inscriptions from old St. Peter’s: viz. the Jubilee Bull of Boniface VIII, Charlemagne’s funeral inscription for Hadrian I, and an act of donation of the year 720 for the upkeep of the lamps at the tomb of the Prince of Apostles.

Owing to its imposing majesty and magnificent perspective the portico is one of the most solemn and inspiring architectural creations of modern times. It forms a worthy preparation for the interior of St. Peter’s. No modem building in Rome equals it.

The splendid stucco ornamentations with which the vault of the portico, like that of the nave, was decorated, according to the drawings of Giovan Battista Ricci, of Novara—dull gold on a white ground—show, besides arabesques and other ornamentations, the coat-of-arms of the Borghese Pope and scenes from the lives of the Apostles. In the tunnel vaulting of the nave, the coat-of-arms of Paul V., made in mosaic by Marcello Provenzale, was similarly affixed. The pictorial decoration of the great benediction loggia situate above the portico, which the Pope intended to entrust to Lanfranco, was not carried out in consequence of the dilatoriness of the Congregation della Fabbrica.

In addition to the mosaics of the dome, the completion of which is due to the Borghese Pope and in which his coat-of- arms appears once more, the basilica of St. Peter also owes to him the Confessio and the Grottos.

There are two kinds of grottos : the grotte vecchie, a name which designates the crypt constructed in 1594 by Clement VIII, between the old and the new floor, and the grotte nuove, which consist of the crypt properly so called and already adorned by the Aldobrandini Pope, of a corridor in the shape of a horse shoe and of several other chapels. Into these underground vaults Paul V, between 1606 and 1617, transferred the most important monuments of Popes, Cardinals and Bishops, as well as various altars, ciboria, statues, mosaics and inscriptions of old St. Peter’s. As early as 1618, Francesco Maria Torrigio composed a guide for pilgrims and visitors through this underground city of the dead which contains more historic monuments than any other cemetery in the world. Torrigio gives some account, unfortunately only a brief one, of excavations carried out in 1615 near the Confession The entrance to the crypt, to which women were at one time only admitted on Whit Monday, was near the Colonna Santa where the altar of St. Helen stands today.

In the case of the greater number of the pieces transferred into the grottos, their meaning and the year of their translation were fixed by means of inscription. Inscriptions drew attention to objects of special interest, as, for instance, to the polyandrium marked with the monogram of Christ, in which were collected all the bones found in the course of the excavations then in progress.4 Unfortunately not by any means all the monuments of the old basilica were saved. Not a few pieces, some of them valuable ones, came into the churches of Rome or were even sent away, for instance to Poli, Assisi, Florence and other places. Quite recently some valuable relics of old St. Peter’s were discovered in the small town of Bauco (Boville Ernica) which the bishop of the place, Giovan Battista Simoncelli, had secured for the adornment of his oratory. The altar of the chapel is surmounted by a large mosaic medallion designed by Giotto and representing the half-bust of an angel, which was part of the Navicella. Other relics also of the Constantinian basilica, such as a cross of porphyry, a large bas-relief and two marble statues of the Princes of the Apostles were secured by bishop Simoncelli for the adornment of his domestic chapel.

However much one must regret such a dispersion, so much has been safely bestowed in the hallowed gloom of the grottos, especially of the great monuments of the fifteenth century, even though it may be scattered and fragmentary, that these may well be styled the most splendid museum of the early Renaissance. Paul V’s merit in connection with this museum can only be fully appraised when one considers the indifference and lack of reverence with which, under Julius II, Bramante, “in the full consciousness of his own creative genius,” dealt with the monuments of antiquity. It will always remain a remarkable thing that a Pope of the baroque epoch gave proof of more understanding and reverence for them than the leading lights of the Renaissance at its height, who mercilessly buried even valuable pieces in the foundations. True, it is most regrettable that even under Paul V the necessary caution and care were not brought to the task of removing the monuments from old St. Peter’s into the grottos, but this can be explained by the fact that the protection and care of monuments are the achievement of a much later epoch.

In view of the fact that the underground chapel near the tomb of the Apostles could not be opened to the general public, Paul V, for the purpose of facilitating approach to the shrine resolved, in 1611, to build a Confessio before the high altar, under the dome, which would communicate immediately with that chapel, as had been done at the Lateran and in the Sistine chapel of St. Mary Major. Martino Ferabosco and Carlo Mademo submitted plans for the scheme. The Pope chose that of Maderno in which the sunken chapel was not circular but in the shape of a horse shoe.

An open balustrade of coloured marble encloses the holy spot to which one descends from the church by a double staircase of white marble. Below, the central niche (the Confessio properly so called) which is embellished with an ancient mosaic of Christ, is closed by a perforated bronze door adorned with scenes from the martyrdom of the Princes of the Apostles as well as their busts; behind this door there is yet another door of the same metal made under Innocent III. Above the niche, on a tablet of black marble, we read the following inscription :—

 

Sacra B. Petri Confessio a Paulo Papa V. eius servo exornata Ann. Dom. MDCXV. Pontif. XI.

 

The pavement with the great papal altar forms the roof of the niche. The vault of the niche is adorned with three frescos of Giovan Battista Ricci representing the oratory of Pope Anacletus I, Pope Silvester I’s altar of St. Peter, and Paul V. in prayer before the new Confessio. In the inscription, the Pope exalts the power of the intercession of the Princes of the Apostles, which he and his predecessors had so often experienced.

On either side of the central niche are two precious alabaster columns whilst the adjoining niches are adorned with the gilt bronze statues of SS. Peter and Paul. For the pavement and the walls of the Confessio everything possible was done in order to give splendour to the holy spot. Wherever one looks, an abundance of precious, many-coloured marbles meets the eye; the large coat-of-arms of the Borghese Pope shines against the sides, and the background, between the alabaster columns, shows the keys and cross of Peter. To the right and the left, iron gates admit to the new grottos, the roof of which is adorned with stucco decorations. In 1618 and 1619, Giovan Battista Ricci executed frescos on the walls depicting favours granted by St. Peter to people who had recourse to him.

To the lamps which had burnt at the tomb of St. Peter from time immemorial and which still further enhance the solemnity of the spot, Paul V. added a seven-branched silver candlestick weighing seventy pounds.

The cost of the decoration of the Confessio, of which the principal elements were only completed by Christmas, 1615, amounted to 12,000 scudi. The bronze statues of the Princes of the Apostles, the work of Ambrogio Bonvicino, were only put up on October 16th, 1616, whilst the bronze door of the niche, the work of a pupil of Sebastiano Torrigiano, was fixed on February 17th, 1617.

The memory of Paul V is kept alive by yet another great church in the Eternal City. The Pope cherished a special devotion to the Mother of God. Whilst still attached to the church of St. Mary Major he had had an opportunity, day by day, to watch the progress of the sumptuous chapel of Sixtus V. As soon as he himself was raised to the supreme dignity, he resolved, as early as June 6th, 1605, to create a counterpart to the Sistine chapel in the left transept of the basilica. It was to be the shrine of the greatly revered picture of the Madonna ascribed to St. Luke, which had been carried in solemn procession through the streets of Rome already in the days of St. Gregory the Great whilst the plague was raging; there also he wished to prepare a tomb both for his predecessor Clement VIII and for himself.

At the beginning of August, 1605, the Pope himself laid the first stone of the building for which a plan had been drawn up by his domestic architect, the Lombard Flaminio Ponzio. As in the chapel of Sixtus V, the dome rises from a short Greek cross, but all else is on a broader and more massive scale. Here also two smaller chapels flank the entrance on either side. They are dedicated to the two heroes of the Church canonized by Paul V, Charles Borromeo and Francesca Romana. The lateral walls were to receive the two sepulchral monuments, the altar, however, was not placed in the middle but against the back wall. No less than 150,000 scudi were set apart for the church—for the proportions of the chapel are those of a church,4 but by the autumn of 1618, twice that amount had been spent. The Pope took the greatest interest in the building. From the start he closely followed the work which was under the direction of Giovan Battista Crescenzi and he assured himself of its progress by repeated visits.

By 1611 the shell was finished, but the internal decoration took still a long time to complete. The Pope’s wish to say Mass in the chapel on Ascension Day, 1611, could not be realized. Much time was taken up in executing the metal work and in procuring the various kinds of precious marbles. To this end not only were the ancient monuments of Rome and its neighbourhood ransacked, but, as we learn from the account books, marble was also procured from Ravenna, from Lake Garda, and even from Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Lucca furnished precious jasper columns. Their fluting was decorated with metal. This new kind of decoration which, as the contemporaries admiringly relate, had remained unknown even to the ancients, was a discovery of the Roman Pompeo Targone whom Paul V had summoned from Flanders. The Pope took so much interest in everything that on one occasion he even paid a visit to Targone’s workshop. Nicolas Cordier, who carved four statues for the chapel, was likewise honoured by a visit of Paul V.

On January 27th, 1613, with much solemnity, St. Luke’s picture was transferred to the sumptuous altar of the new chapel, but the Pope had to wait until the feast of Our Lady’s Nativity (September 8th) for the happiness of saying Mass at the new altar. Even then the rich decoration around the image was not yet completed; it was only unveiled at the beginning of December, 1616. A whole crowd of poets sang the praises of the new sanctuary in the most exuberant language.

It is characteristic of the taste of the period that Baglione, in his Lives of Artists, should say that in the opinion of most people the chapel of Paul V. far surpassed that of Sixtus V. No doubt in the chapel of the Borghese Pope the colour scheme is far more brilliant, the decoration richer and more precious, yet one gets the impression that the general effect suffers from an excess of good things. Above all, the high altar, executed by Pompeo Targone to a design of the Roman Girolamo Rainaldi, displays a superabundance of dazzling splendour and its ornamentation in gold forms a brilliant contrast to the background of brown marble. Plinths of green Sicilian marble, covered with precious agate, support four mighty jasper columns of the colour of blood with ledges in their fluting and composite capitals of gilt bronze. Between the pillars the image of the Madonna, supported by five angels and surmounted by a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, is seen in a small niche set with amethysts and other precious stones, against a background of lapis lazuli. The niche is generally kept closed. Both this decoration as well as the two large and three small angels on the pinnacle are of gilt bronze; they were cast by the Roman Domenico Ferrerio to the design of Camillo Mariani of Vicenza. The same workshop was responsible for the bronze relief of the pinnacle, designed by Stefano Maderno, representing the miracle of the snow to which legend attributes the origin of the basilica.

The niches by the two sides of the altar were filled with large marble statues; on the right that of St. John the Evangelist, by Camillo Mariani, on the left that of St. Joseph, by Ambrogio Bonvicino. Along the lateral walls rise the huge marble monuments of Clement VIII and Paul V. They are so exactly copied from those in the Sistine chapel that here Clement VIII is seated just as Pius V is seated there, whilst the attitude of Paul V reproduces that of the kneeling Sixtus V. Both statues were erected in December, 1611.

The reliefs of these two mural sepulchres refer to the achievements of the dead men. The upper part of Clement VIII’s monument represents the conclusion of peace between France and Spain; it is the work of Ippolito Buzzi; also the canonization of SS. Raymond and Hyacinth, by Antonio Balsoldo, and, in the centre, the Pope’s coronation—a work remarkable for its naturalism. It is due to the chisel of Pietro Bernini. The reliefs by the side of the central niche which is occupied by the statue of Clement VIII, by Silla da Viggiu, celebrate the conquest of Ferrara and the part played in the Turkish war in Hungary by Gian Francisco Aldobrandini—the former is the work of Ambrogio Bonvicino, the latter that of Camillo Mariani.

The upper part of the central relief on Paul V’s tomb also represents his coronation, whilst the lateral reliefs recall the canonization of St. Frances of Rome and St. Charles Borromeo and the reception of some Asiatic envoys. The reliefs about the statue of the Pope perpetuate the memory of the support he gave to Rudolph II in his war against the Turks and the construction of the citadel of Ferrara.

The statues of Paul V and Clement VIII are both the work of Silla da Viggiu, whilst Stefano Maderno is responsible for the reliefs representing the Pope’s coronation and his support of Rudolph II. The remaining reliefs are the work of Giovan Antonio Valsoldo, Cristoforo Stati, Ambrogio Bonvicino and Francesco Mochi. To these artists from upper Italy must be added the highly gifted Nicola Cordieri (Cordier), a Lorrainer, who carved the beautiful statues for the niches near the monuments; they represent Aaron and St. Bernard near Clement VIII’s tomb and David and St. Denis near that of Paul V.

It is worthy of notice that the female caryatids on both monuments are draped. Here we have a proof that Paul V’s decree of 1603, in his capacity as Cardinal Vicar, in regard to the application of the strict injunctions of the Council of Trent concerning pictorial representations in churches, was then operative. As a matter of fact the decree was published anew in 1610 and 1619.

The marble decoration of the chapel, which is closed by a magnificent grate of gilt bronze, was completed by paintings and gilt stucco ornamentation on the ceiling : here a pupil of Prospero Bresciani, the Milanese Ambrogio Bonvicino, Cristoforo and Francesco Stati and Prospero Ferrucei have executed some noble work.

The Mother of God is the theme of all the paintings; their artistic value is very unequal. Ludovico Cigoli’s frescos in the dome, representing Mary’s glory in heaven, are the weakest; much better are the frescos of D’Arpino; the figures of the four prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel, with which he adorned the pendentives of the dome, are distinguished by gravity and grandeur. The fresco in the principal lunette above the altar, which shows St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, is an able piece of work, and yet, how far from the frescos of Guido Reni whom D’Arpino himself is said to have summoned to Rome as a counterpoise to the naturalistic tendency of Caravaggio!

In the right-hand lunette, divided by a window, above the monument of Clement VIII, Guido Reni glorifies two miracles: at Mary’s prayers an angel restores to St. John Damascene his amputated right hand and St. Ildephonsus is rewarded for his defence of the Mother of God by the gift, at her hand, of a chasuble. In the left lunette, above the monument of Paul V, the gifted pupil of the Caracci perpetuates the confidence which two captains, viz. the emperor Heraclius in his struggle with the Persians, and Narses, Italy’s deliverer from the Goths, placed in the protection of the Queen of heaven. The circle of the arches on both sides of the lunettes Reni likewise decorated with pictures of Fathers of the Church and Saints, as well as the vaulting of the arches themselves. On the epistle side the Holy Ghost is seen, on the gospel side God the Father to whom the great founders of Orders, Francis and Dominic—both magnificent figures and full of expression—offer supplication.

Though they are not seen in a good light, Guido Reni’s frescos—which well deserved to be celebrated in a poem by Maffeo Barberini, the future Urban VIII—constitute the most beautiful and valuable ornament of the Cappella Paolina, as the new sanctuary was named, after its founder, and which, like the chapel of Sixtus V, gives an idea of the great magnificence of the churches of the period of the Catholic restoration. Paul V gave proof of true artistic understanding when he refused to be deprived of Reni’s co-operation in the pictorial decoration of his chapel. The irritable master—it is related—having fallen out with the Pope’s treasurer, dropped his work and returned post haste to Bologna, his native town, where, in San Domenico, he painted the half­dome of the mortuary chapel of St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominicans, and, in 1616, created a monumental work of deep religious conception in the great Pieta with the five Patron Saints of Bologna (SS. Petronius, Dominic, Francis of Assisi, Proculus and Charles Borromeo). Paul V, however, would not rest until he had succeeded in persuading the artist to come back to Rome.

Besides the above-mentioned painters, Lanfranco and Domenico Passignano were also employed by Paul V. at S. Maria Maggiore. Passignano adorned both the small sacristy of the Pauline chapel and the great sacristy which the Pope had newly erected—the most beautiful of all Roman sacristies—with frescos from the life of Our Lady.

The Pope seemed unable to do enough for the glorification of the heavenly Queen. In 1613, news was spread that the magnificent column of white marble which still stood on the site of the basilica erected by Maxentius—the so-called temple of Peace—was to be erected in front of the main entrance of St. Mary Major. To Carlo Maderno was entrusted the execution of a task which was far from easy, in view of the technical resources of the time. Maderno followed the course already adopted by Fontana for the erection of the obelisk of Sixtus V. In October the gigantic column was laid low; in April, 1614, it was successfully re-erected in its new position. The Pope crowned it with a bronze statue of the Most Blessed Virgin. The sculptor Guillaume Berthelot had been summoned from Paris for the purpose of making a model of the statue; the casting was carried out by two Romans, Domenico Ferrerio and Orazio Censore.

The statue, richly gilt, was erected on July 18th, 1614. The inscription affixed to the pedestal, which bears the Borghese coat-of-arms in bronze, shows that Paul V’s action was inspired by the same thought as that which had prompted Sixtus V: a monument of paganism was to serve Christian worship; for this reason an exorcism was first pronounced over the column, as had been done on a former occasion, over the obelisks.

To the munificence of Paul V the church of Our Lady on the Esquiline also owes a big new bell and a house for the canons who serve it. The Lady altar of the Pauline chapel was endowed with rich indulgences and for the worthy discharge of the divine service, chaplaincies were erected which were to be in the gift of the Borghese family. The members of that family were to find their lasting resting place in the crypt of the chapel. In token of their gratitude for all the benefits lavished on the Liberian basilica, the canons erected a large bronze statue of the Pope; it is the work of Paolo San Quirico and was put up in the new sacristy in 1621.

Other Roman churches also testify to the munificence and the passion for building of Paul V, in which he was emulated by his Cardinals, especially by his art-loving nephew, Scipio Borghese.

Shortly after his election, Paul V remembered his former titular church of St. Crisogono in the Trastevere. At his prompting, Cardinal Scipio Borghese had the venerable old basilica adorned with paintings, a new high altar, and a ceiling decorated with richly gilt carvings. The new façade, designed by Gianbattista Soria, was only completed after the Pope’s death. The Pope likewise gave the first impulse to the restoration of St. Gregory’s on the Coelian hill. Soria was commissioned by Scipio Borghese to build the flight of steps which lead up to the church, the forecourt and the noble facade which also was only completed under Urban VIII.

In the chapels east of S. Gregorio, on which Cardinal Baronius had bestowed his solicitude, Scipio Borghese continued the work of the learned historian of the Church when, after his death on June 30th, 1607, he succeeded him as commendatory abbot. In the middle chapel, that of St. Andrew, the cardinal had executed in 1608 the two famous frescos in which Domenichino and Guido Reni competed for the palm. To the right of the entrance, Domenichino painted the martyrdom of St. Andrew who, stripped and tied with ropes to a bench, is about to be scourged by the rough executioners; in well arranged groups, deeply moved spectators stand around the realistic scene of horror. Reni’s corresponding picture on the left shows the Saint on his way to the place of execution, to which he gave a beautiful rural background. It is a more refined and deeply felt painting. Nothing could be more profoundly moving than the figure of the aged Saint, surrounded by his executioners, falling upon his knees to thank God for the grace of martyrdom as soon as he beholds on a hill-top the cross on which he is to die.

Unfortunately both frescos have been very much restored. In the apse of the chapel of St. Silvia, the colouring of the graceful concert of angels over whose joyous group the heavenly Father spreads His hands from on high in a gesture of blessing, is almost completely destroyed. This glorification of Church music, instinct with the spirit and beauty of Melozzo da Forli, was painted by Guido in 1609, also by commission of Cardinal Scipio. To this Prince of the Church, possessed of so much understanding of art, are likewise due the roofs of the chapels, the beauty of which lies in their simplicity.

Not alone here, but at St. Sebastian’s outside the Walls also, Scipio Borghese’s name appears repeatedly. The Cardinal entrusted the restoration of this sanctuary, which had become ruinous, to Flaminio Ponzio, and, after the latter’s death, to Jan van Santen. He completely modernized the church; unfortunately in the course of the work many ancient remains of great value were destroyed. The same happened when, in 1620, Cardinal Millini undertook the restoration of the venerable old church of SS. Quattro Coronati, on the Coelian. Cardinal Torres restored S. Pancrazio before the Gate of the same name; Cardinal Lena, S. Giorgio in Velabro, and Cardinal Lancellotti, S. Simeone.

In 1617, the richly gilt ceiling of S. Maria in Trastevere, the gift of Cardinal Aldobrandini, was unveiled. It had been designed by Domenichino. An oil painting by the master, in the centre of the ceiling, represents Mary’s Assumption. For the same Cardinal, Domenichino painted the “Communion of St. Jerome” a picture famous throughout the world which is now in the Vatican gallery. St. Ephrem gives the holy Viaticum to the dying Saint. Its virtue revives for the last time the former energy of the old man. This picture “in which by the side of human frailty the greatness of God appears growing into infinitude” adorned at one time the high altar of S. Girolamo della Carita.

In St. Agnes’ outside the Walls, Leo XI, when still a Cardinal, had done much for the restoration and adornment of the church. Cardinal Sfondrato continued the work with all the more zeal as in its course the relics of the titular Saint and those of St. Emerentiana, had been found. Paul V had a large silver reliquary made, and he himself officiated when the shrine was placed beneath the high altar. Nicolas Cordier was commissioned by Sfondrato to make the statue of St. Agnes which stands above the high altar of oriental alabaster.

Paul V likewise carried out restorations and embellishments in the basilica of the Lateran, Sant’Angelo in Pescaria, S. Marta, Santi Quirico e Giulitta, San Niccolo de’ Lorenesi  and San Sisto on the Via Appia. The convent of St. Magdalen, for penitents, on the Corso, was rebuilt at the Pope’s expense. Paul V also contributed to the erection of the convent of Santa Susanna.

Work on the great new churches went on throughout the pontificate of the Borghese Pope. Cardinal Montalto was especially keen on completing Sant Andrea della Valle on which he spent considerable sums of money. At the time of the Pope’s death Maderno’s magnificent dome of that church, the most beautiful after that of St. Peter’s, was nearly completed. In the years 1611-1614, the tribune and the high altar of Santa Maria della Pace underwent alterations and the ceiling of the tribune was adorned with paintings by Francesco Albani. Between 1616-1617, Domenichino painted his scenes from the legend of St. Cecilia for San Luigi de’ Francesi. In 1620, Faustolo Rughesi completed the façade of the church of the Oratorians, Santa Maria della Vallicella, to the designs of Martino Longhi. In 1608, Rubens had adorned the high altar of this church with three magnificent pictures.

New churches were still rising. Thus in 1605, Giovanni Guerra, of Modena, began Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. The same year witnessed the consecration of the national church of the Lombards, del Santo Sudario,6 and in 1612 the foundation stone was laid of the church of the Barnabites, San Carlo ai Catinari. The plan of this perfectly homogeneous building was drawn up by Rosato Rosati after motifs from Bramante’s plan for St. Peter’s. The interior, a Greek cross with a lofty cupola, makes a powerful impression by reason of its spaciousness. In 1612, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato laid the first stone of the new national church of the Lombards, San Carlo al Corso, the construction of which was supervised by Onorio Longhi, and, when he died (1619), by his son Martino. The plan differs substantially from that of the Gesu: the wide central nave is flanked by two lateral aisles so that, in consequence, the transepts also are wider and a spacious ambulatory surrounds the semi-circular main choir. Paul V contributed to the building fund. By 1614, part of the nave was completed. A small church of St. Charles arose near Quattro Fontane, in 1612, in honour of the recently canonized Saint. Cardinal Bandini helped the building. In 1612, San Salvatore in Cacaberis underwent alterations and was thereafter known by the name of Santa Maria del Pianto. A year earlier, San Niccold de Calcarario had undergone a similar process. In 1618, the new chapel near the Monte di Pieta was opened. In 1615, through the liberality of Cardinal Sfondrato, the church of St. Frances of Rome, near the Forum, received a richly gilt ceiling and a new facade, designed by Carlo Lombardo of Arezzo, the first façade in Rome to have pilasters.

In 1614, the Trinitarians erected a small church, dedicated to Francesca Romana, in the Via Sistina. In 1615, the people of Lucca resolved to build a church and hospital on the Lungara; the church of the confraternity of Santa Maria del Suffragio arose in 1616, in the Via Giulia; in 1617, Santa Maria Liberatrice, in the Forum, underwent a process of alteration and rebuilding at the hands of Onorio Longhi, and San Dionisio delle Quattro Fontane was erected in 1619.

Splendid chapels were likewise erected in the Pope’s summer palace on the Quirinal which, in view of the fact that the Vatican was very much exposed to malaria, was more and more frequently chosen by the Pope for his residence during the hot season. In May, 1605, Paul V gave orders for the prosecution of the constructions which his predecessor had begun. At the same time he ordered the erection of a spacious chapel to enable him to carry out there, with the Cardinals, all the solemn functions, during the hot season. The work was directed by the Lombard Flaminio Ponzio and, after his early death, by Carlo Maderno who, since the completion of St. Peter’s, had become the most famous artist of Rome. He drew up the plans for the great chapel and the new portal of the Quirinal.

To gain space for the enlargement of the Quirinal palace, it became necessary to pull down the small church of San Saturnino and to acquire the adjoining summer residence of the Benedictines. In course of time a small Capuchin church  and many houses had to make room for the new building. The Pope often visited it and never failed to urge everyone concerned to make haste. In 1609, it was said that 200,000 scudi were to be spent on the work. To secure tranquillity during the summer sojourn, orders were given that work on the Quirinal should be done only in winter, and on the Vatican in summer. For the laying out of a more commodious approach to the Quirinal, which had been contemplated since 1610, more houses had to be bought. Medals of the years 1611 and 1612 record the extension of the palace, in the great hall of which it was possible to hold a consistory, by August, 1611. However, the work was only comparatively completed by 1618. The cost amounted to 364,142 scudi.

The new residence on the Quirinal was worthy, in the words of a contemporary, of a sovereign whose dominion spread over the whole world. The main portal, facing the piazza of the Quirinal, which, according to its inscription, was completed in 1615, must certainly be attributed to Ponzio. It was adorned with two columns of cipollin marble and the statues of the Apostles Peter and Paul by Guillaume Berthelot and Stefano Maderno; between them stood the Madonna with the Child by Pompeo Ferrucei, which was subsequently used by Bernini to crown the benediction loggia built by him.

The gems of the palace arc the gorgeous rooms facing the Via Pia of which the one was to serve for secular, the other for religious festivities.

The Sala Paolina vied with the Sala Clementina in the Vatican both in size and splendour, and like the latter it provided accommodation for the Swiss Guard. The floor is of many-coloured marbles. The richly gilt, magnificent wooden ceiling exhibits three times a huge coat-of-arms of the Borghese Pope whose heraldic animals, the eagle and the dragon, appear repeatedly as a decorative motif. A painted frieze with allegorical figures and biblical scenes runs along beneath the ceiling. This richly coloured and sumptuous decoration was the work of Giovanni Lanfranco, Carlo Saraceni, Agostino Tassi and Orazio Gentileschi. Over the great entrance door of the Cappella Paolina, Paul V placed Taddeo Landini’s marble relief which was not in a good light in the Cappella Gregoriana.

The scene “Christ washing the feet of the disciples” was most appropriate in the palace of the Popes who style themselves the servants of the servants of God. The pinnacle above the relief is adorned with two angels holding the papal coat-of-arms; the one on the right is the work of Pietro Bernini, the one on the left that of Guillaume Berthelot.

The Cappella Paolina, which in size and appearance resembles the Sistine in the Vatican, is justly famous especially for its ceiling of gilt stucco which, according to the account books, was designed and carried out by Martino Ferabosco, between 1616-1618. The magnificent work in which religious subjects (in the centre an angel holds a monstrance) alternate with the arms of Paul V, is an excellent example of the transition from the cinquecento to pure baroque. In the comers of the vault views of Paul V’s chief constructions are shown in gilt stucco reliefs. The sanctuary was divided from the body of the building by eight columns of Pietra Santa. These rose from white marble pedestals and carried an entablature on which stood eight candelabra of gilt metal. The singers were accommodated in a special tribune. On the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, January 25th, 1617, the Pope himself consecrated the new shrine of the Mother of God for whom he cherished so tender a devotion. Whereas former Popes were accustomed to date the Bulls and Briefs issued from the Quirinal either as from this hill or as from “near S. Marco”, Paul V, in 1614, began to date them as from “near Saint Mary Major”. Each of the three great patriarchal basilicas now had its respective palace.

Since the Cappella Paolina was only meant for the greater solemnities, Paul V had another chapel prepared, on the West side of the palace, facing the garden, which, though much smaller, was just as sumptuously decorated. This chapel of the Annunciata, erected in 1610, forms a Greek cross surmounted by a cupola. The most famous artist of the time, Guido Reni, was commissioned to decorate the sacred edifice. He had already painted for the Pope “The Descent of the Holy Ghost”, the “Transfiguration” and the “Ascension”, and for Cardinal Scipio Borghese three scenes from the life of Samson. To these he added the famous “Annunciation”, which Paul V destined for the marble altar of his private chapel. In the chapel itself Guido Reni depicted, on the arc of triumph, God the Father surrounded by angels; in the cupola, the Assumption of the most holy Virgin, in the corners, Moses, David, Solomon, and Daniel; in the lunettes, scenes from the life of Our Lady, in a genre-like manner, and on the arches, on the inner side of the pilasters, the ancestors of Mary. Besides Guido Reni, Francesco Albani also worked in the chapel; his best known picture is “Mary’s presentation in the Temple”.

For the Cardinals and prelates living at the palace, Paul V erected the Cappella del Presepio which was also richly decorated with stucco and frescos. The altar piece showed the adoration of the shepherds; it was flanked by a representation of the slaughter of the Innocents and the adoration of the Magi. The dome was adorned with angels in glory and the lunettes with the four evangelists. Yet another chapel was fitted up beneath the Pauline chapel; it was no doubt here that Baldassare Croce executed the frescos mentioned by Baglione. Other painters, such as Pasquale Cati and Antonio Caracci, were also employed in decoration work in the various rooms of the palace.

Paul V paid particular attention to the garden of the Quirinal for which Cement VIII had already done much but which owes to him its finished beauty and its rounding off as a complete whole. An engraving by Giovanni Maggi, of 1612, gives a vivid picture of the state of this place of recreation at that time, with its fountains, water jets, flower beds, orange trees and three small groves in the part facing the Via Pia. Paul V, who took special delight in the palace, derived no less pleasure from the garden, from which the visitor enjoys one of the most magnificent views of Rome.

Several poets vied with one another in exalting all that the Borghese Pope had accomplished on the Quirinal Hill. It was thought that here the famous Villa Medici was left far behind. The extensions of the Quirinal destined to accommodate the Court were chiefly towards the old city. Hence it was there also that the new building of the Dataria arose in 1611. Its construction was necessitated by the demolition of the palace of Pope Innocent VIII.

In the Vatican, Paul V also carried out several works of restoration and embellishment, in particular the frieze in the hall of consistories was beautifully decorated with landscapes. Part of the old palace of Innocent VIII, facing St. Peter’s, still remained, together with its entrance gate. But in view of the fact that this remainder as it were crushed the new façade of St. Peter’s, and was not in harmony with the adjoining palace, Paul V, in 1617 reduced the entrance and eliminated the irregularity by the construction of a corridor destined for the Swiss Guard, the external wall of which was adorned with a fountain and the mosaic of the Navicella. The so-called Porta di Bronzo with its lovely marble columns, by which one enters the Vatican to this day, represents the last remnant of the palace of Innocent VIII. Paul V’s additions, his coat-of-arms and the inscription, have disappeared, but there still remains, in the centre, the image of the Mother of God with the two Princes of the Apostles which had been executed in mosaic to a design of Giuseppe Cesare d’Arpino. To this day the bronze door shows the Borghese coat-of-arms. However, a tower-like structure, with a clock and a graceful, open belfry surmounted by a cross, at one time erected by Paul V, were removed at a later period. The whole scheme was carried out between 1616-1617, after the plans of Martino Ferabosco, assisted by Giovanni Vasanzio. The Vatican was given another monumental entrance behind St. Peter’s 4; it is known to all Rome pilgrims as the present day entrance to the archives, the library and the museum.

New offices were prepared in the Vatican for the Apostolic Secretariate. The rooms of the Pope and those of his nephews were embellished with paintings among which those by Guido Reni were the most admired.

Two new rooms were added to the Vatican library. The Pope had the adjoining corridors embellished with decorative paintings, whilst the pictures of his buildings and other important events of his reign, were to be seen in the lunettes. Additions to the library in the form of valuable manuscripts and the assignment of new revenues are here perpetuated by means of inscriptions.

A newly constructed staircase enabled the Pope freely to enter the Vatican gardens. By his order Carlo Maderno built there three magnificent fountains: the small Fontana degli Specchi, surrounded by water jets, and the great Fontana delle Torri, so called because it is flanked by two towers, and lastly the extraordinarily picturesque Fontana dello Scoglio (the cliff fountain), which consists of three rocky caves built round a semi-circular basin and surmounted by an eagle. The spectacle of the water tumbling all over the piled up rockery is described by Bzovius as unique. In 1609, the court of the Belvedere was also adorned with a large fountain for which use was made of an enormous basin which Julius II.had removed from the baths of Titus. Other fountains besides these were erected in the Vatican. Paul V also commissioned Maderno to restore the graceful fountain near Bramante’s steps, called La Galera, because the basin carried a ship dressed all over. In September 1611, the Pope purposely came from the Quirinal to the Vatican to judge for himself of the impression created by the waters of the fountain in the court of the Belvedere which had been carried thither by the new conduit of the Acqua Paola.

Acqua Paola was the name given in honour of its restorer to the ancient aqueduct of the emperor Trajan which carried the water collected near the lake of Bracciano as far as the Trastevere. The Acqua Trajana had become utterly dilapidated. As early as November, 1605, Paul V conceived the project of repairing it, though work only began in 1607, under the supervision of two eminent architects, Giovanni Fontana and Pompeo Targone. In August, 1608, the Pope bought the springs which were the property of Virginio Orsini, duke of Bracciano. It soon became evident that the restoration would demand sums far larger than those the experts had foreseen, for most of the ancient arches could not be put to any use.

Since here there was question of a work of public utility, the Pope was justified in demanding the co-operation of the Roman municipality; he was, nevertheless, obliged to contribute 400,000 scudi of his own, which were only partially recovered from the sale of the water—200 scudi the uncia—owing to the fact that the Pope largely renounced his claim to compensation.

The conduit, in part underground, is extolled by a contemporary as an undertaking comparable to the works of the imperial epoch. The poet Tarquinius Gallutius wrote a poem in praise of the blessing which Paul V had conferred upon his native city, and medals were struck in commemoration of the event.

In 1611, the first trial of the new aqueduct was made near S. Pietro in Montorio. A little above this church, at a spot where the spectator gets one of the finest views of the city and the hills, Paul V, in 1612, caused Giovanni Fontana and Carlo Maderno to construct in travertine the splendid water castle of the Fontana dell’ Acqua Paola of whose charm Gothe and Platen have left inimitable descriptions. The inscription states that the Pope had brought the water from the excellent springs near the lake of Bracciano, over a distance of thirty-five miglias (about 50 km.) by repairing the ancient aqueduct and adding a new conduit. The decorative structure of monumental proportions, with six granite columns of the Ionian order standing on a lofty base, is the first of Rome’s fountains in which a huge volume of water gushes forth with a roaring noise and in a cloud of spray. The granite columns, which derive from old St. Peter’s, form a framework for three large, semi-circular vaulted niches and for two small niches at the sides. The pediment is surmounted by a colossal inscription and the whole is finished off by Paul V’s coat-of-arms supported by two angels, above which rises a cross. The comers are adorned with the heraldic animals of the Borghese, the eagle and the dragon. Originally the water fell in rushing cascades from the three central niches into as many basins in which huge dragons spat up powerful jets of water. These heraldic animals were removed under Alexander VIII and replaced by a large basin of white marble.

The new aqueduct was intended, in the first instance, to relieve the shortage of water in the Trastevere and the Borgo, but by means of leaden pipes laid across the Ponte Sisto, the water was also made to serve the districts on the other side of the Tiber. Hence, between 1612-1613, Paul V commanded Giovanni Fontana and Jan van Santen to erect, at the spot where the Via Giulia joins the Ponte Sisto, and adjoining the home of the poor erected by Sixtus V, a second arch, on the model of a triumphal arch, but with only one niche. The water falls from above into a first basin from which it rushes into a lower one in which two dragons shoot up water jets that cross each other.

The restoration and extension of Hadrian’s aqueduct, the upkeep and administration of which was entrusted to a special Congregation under the presidency of Cardinal Borghese, made it possible to provide water for the many new fountains with which Paul V. enriched his residence. The most beautiful of them all adorns the piazza of St. Peter’s beside the Vatican. Here Maderno has created a work of magnificent simplicity which splendidly realizes a bold conception. In a pyramid about 25 feet high, the water is shot upwards in powerful jets; then, hitting the mushroom­like body of the spout, it falls back into a gracefully shaped granite shell from which it overflows into the octagonal basin. The mass of water powerfully shot upwards only to glide down from basin to basin, like an enfolding veil, imparts to the whole work its fascination and materially helps to give life to the piazza. “From the topmost point,” Fontana writes, “ the waters rise in thick masses into the air; then they rush down like rivers from the shells into the basins, with such a roar that they call forth the greatest admiration. The mass of water appears even more magnificent when powerful winds sweep it beyond the basins so that it spreads like clouds on which the sun paints the colours of the rainbow : such a spectacle provokes wonder and admiration.”

In 1614, the Pope commissioned Carlo Maderno to erect two more isolated fountains, in the centre of the Piazza Scossa Cavalli and the Piazza di Castello. To these must be added a number of small, graceful fountains built into walls, as in the Borgo, in the Via de’ Banchi and the Lungara, as well as a fountain in the convent of San Francesco a Ripa. The piazza of S. Maria Maggiore and that of the Lateran, were also adorned with fountains. A fountain was erected in the Via Cemaia, “for the thirsty country people and the dust-covered carriers.”

The Pope’s solicitude extended itself also to the Jews who lacked good water in the Ghetto; they were given a fountain in the piazza of the synagogue; its decoration includes, in addition to the customary dragon, the seven-branched candlestick.

To Paul V the Romans also owe the restoration of the salubrious well of the Acqua Acetosa, and the baths of the Acqua Santa, near the Via Appia Nuova.

Not content with having given to the Eternal City her foaming fountains and her gushing wells which constitute an embellishment as attractive and distinctive as it is useful, Paul V also improved the network of Rome’s streets, by paving existing roadways and creating new ones. The Trastevere, thanks to the work done there, developed in a most gratifying degree. By the correction of the street from San Benedetto towards San Francesco a Ripa and beyond, towards the Porta Portese, the Pope wished to foster devotion towards the Poverello of Assisi and at the same time create a better perspective. Religious as well as aesthetic motives prompted the drawing of a rectilineal street between the newly erected column of the Madonna in front of St. Mary Major and the Lateran, thereby creating a beautiful perspective which gladdens the eye to this day. The via della Scrofa underwent improvements because the envoys who came in by the Porta del Popolo, rode over it as they went to the Vatican. The Pope took extraordinary trouble to create better roads of approach to the Quirinal; but he saw to it that the owners of expropriated houses were given a just compensation. The street leading towards San Giuseppe a Capo le Case also owes its origin to Paul V. The difficult ascent of the Aventine was likewise corrected. The City’s well-being was also served by the maintenance of the aqueducts and public fountains, the establishment of a special timber-yard near the harbour of Ripetta, the restoration of the bridge of the Quattro Capi and the bridges of the Anio, the cleaning and improvement of the sewers, the removal of the filthy stalls near the Portico of the Pantheon and the enlargement of the grain stores.

The difficult problem of the correction of the Tiber, which had left its banks anew on January 25th, 1606, caused the Pope much anxiety. Discussions on the subject began in February, 1606, and a number of memorials with old and new suggestions, were sent in. Maderno and Ponzio gave their opinion on one of these schemes which had been submitted by Giovanni Paolo Maggi. Not alone the difficulty of the task, but the enormous cost and the Roman engineers’ jealousy of Pompeo Targone, also proved serious hindrances. Fresh inundations at the end of December, 1607, and in the beginning of 1608 demonstrated the urgency of the work, but once again the high cost and the opposition of the Romans to further taxation prevented anything being done. For the time being an attempt was made to stem the evil by forbidding to build on the banks of the Tiber and to throw rubbish into the stream, and by dredging its bed. After 1610 this was all that was done except that ah effort was made at one moment to alter the course of some of the tributary rivers, a work for which a Spanish architect was called in.

In an inscription of 1611, which may be seen to this day on the outer wall of San Francisco a Ripa, the Senate and people of Rome recount how Paul V had adorned the Eternal City with new churches and other buildings; how he had provided the Trastevere with a plentiful supply of water, made it healthier and more prosperous, and enriched it with new streets; how he had repaired the Ponte Fabricio and provided it with steps leading down to the edge of the stream. There still exists a number of similar inscriptions recording Paul V’s works of public utility, though many of them have disappeared, as may be gathered from a comparison with old collections.

The contemporaries cannot sufficiently praise, in verse and prose, that which Paul V.did for Rome. “All over the city,” we read in a contemporary biography of the Pope, “he has lowered the hills; where there were comers and twists in the streets, he opened wide vistas, laid out extensive squares, and further enhanced their beauty by the erection of new buildings ; the water which he brought into the town is no longer subject to the whim of a pipe, it bursts forth like a stream. The splendour of his palaces is contrasted and emulated by the gardens laid out by him. The interior of his private chapels sparkle with gold and silver; they are not so much adorned, as filled, with jewels.” The biographer concludes on a note of that admiration for the splendid and the colossal which characterizes the period: “The public chapels rise like basilicas, the basilicas like temples, the temples like mountains of marble.”

How extensive were the alterations and new constructions of the Borghese Pope may be gathered from a letter of Bentivoglio. When, in 1616, he returned to Rome from Flanders where he had lived since 1607, the Cardinal not only found the entire court altered, but the city itself completely transformed in its buildings and streets. The Pope’s passion for building had communicated itself to the cardinals, the nobles and the private citizens, so that the city had grown in size and the general prosperity had risen to an extraordinary degree. The population grew steadily. At the beginning of Paul V’s reign, Rome numbered 99,647 inhabitants; in the year of his death there were 118,356.

The Venetian envoys who came to Rome in 1621, to do homage to Gregory XV, could scarcely find words with which to describe the splendour of the papal residence. Paul V had adorned it with marvels, they write, which challenge those of the ancients. These works of art and the palace itself, they justly remark, constitute an incomparable whole. How much the city, over which lay the spell of the centuries, still bore that unique, soul-stirring character which it only lost in the seventies of the nineteenth century, appears from the views, plans and descriptions of the city dating from that period.

In the “views”, the remains of antiquity play a most important role. The artists of the seventeenth century reproduced them with greater realism than their predecessors. In this respect the vedutas of Aid Giovannoli, 146 sheets of which were published between 1615-1619, together with a plan of the city, are justly famous. Though roughly executed they are nevertheless most accurately drawn so that they constitute a real treasure-house of information on the monuments of Rome at the time of Paul V. This was followed up, in 1618, by a series of copper plate reproductions, by the Roman Giovanni Maggi, of the buildings and ruins of Rome. This work is entirely devoted to the antiquities, with the exception of views of the Castle St. Angelo, the island of the Tiber and S. Stefano Rotondo. In the same year this artist also published a set of views of the chief fountains of Rome. To him we likewise owe the magnificent copper plates in which he perpetuated, in 1612, the splendour of the new Quirinal palace, and in 1615 that of St. Peter’s and the Vatican.

Paul V’s activity in the sphere of art prompted the publication of monographs on St. Mary Major and St. Peter’s. In 1615, the Servite Pietro Martire Felini, published his treatise on the marvels of the Eternal City. This book, which marks a further development of the Guide to Rome of Franzini published in the years 1588 and 1600, was likewise printed by the house of Franzini, by then the leading firm in the production of Guide Books. In the preface of his pioneer publication, the author justly criticizes the inaccuracies that disfigured the previous Guide Books. He adopted the material collected by his predecessors and gave it a new shape which was destined to become classical. Interest in monuments, which until then had been sporadic, comes definitely to the surface in his book which, by its numerous new data rendered all the old guides obsolete.

Giulio Mancini, a native of Siena, who worked for a number of years as a physician at the hospital of Santo Spirito, produced an entirely original work. His Viaggio di Roma, begun under Paul V. and completed in 1626, is utterly different from the usual Rome guides, though the writer confines his attention to paintings. This work, which has only recently become known, constitutes a source of the first rank for the history of art and one in every way unique by reason of the abundance of the material examined. Mancini’s chief interest lies in the churches of which he describes nearly a hundred, whereas the palaces, about fifteen in number, and the villas, are very much kept in the background. Mancini is the first writer to neglect completely, in his description of churches, that on which other Guides had until then laid the greatest stress, namely, the relics, Indulgences, and legendary accounts of their foundation, in order to concentrate exclusively on their monuments, and in so doing, he confines himself to paintings, in keeping with the limits he had laid down for himself. But here he supplies an astonishing amount of information though in concisest form. Whereas previous Guides concern themselves exclusively with “more recent painters”, that is, with the art of the Renaissance, starting with Giotto, he includes many of the more important monuments of early Christian and medieval art. The number of works described by him and the artists mentioned by name, is so considerable, that he surpasses all his predecessors. For the first time an attempt is made in these pages to give a survey of all existing works of art. Mancini is so reliable an authority that although a number of mistakes have crept into his book, most of his data stand the test of modern criticism.

How greatly Mancini, who observed with the eye of the sensitive connoisseur and who sought exact information, excelled his contemporaries is best seen by a comparison with the descriptions supplied by Rome pilgrims of the period. One is astonished to see how little the greatness and beauty of the Eternal City was appreciated both by Italians and non­Italians. A classical proof of the fact is furnished by the travel notes of Gian Vincenzo Imperiale, of 1609, on the one hand, and, on the other, by the account of the journey of the prince-bishop of Bamberg, Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen, 1612-13, drawn up by his travelling companions. A much higher standard is attained in the still unpublished travel notes of Dr. Kaspar Stein, a physician of Konigsberg, who though by no means an unconditional admirer of Italy, was nevertheless powerfully impressed by this “paradise”. What most surprised him in Rome was the vast number of churches (over a hundred) and the excellent hospitals and hospices. He praises the wonderful attention which the poor and the sick received in them, whether Romans or strangers. He also mentions the numerous orphanages. Among the sights of the city, Dr. Stein assigns the first place to the new St. Peter’s in the sacristy of which, besides the gifts formerly presented by Henry VIII of England and the king of Portugal to Gregory XIII, he greatly admired those which the duke of Tuscany had recently bestowed on Paul V. In the Vatican, besides the Sala Regia, the frescos of Raphael and Michelangelo and the collection of antique statues, the traveller from Konigsberg likewise admired the Pope’s private apartments decorated with royal magnificence, and the garden which, he says, was famous throughout the world. The Swiss Guard, according to Stein, was usually 200, and at times 300 men strong. In the summer palace of the Quirinal the traveller was able to visit all the rooms; he describes the splendour of their furniture, nor does he forget to add that, after the election of the emperor Ferdinand II, Paul V himself said the Mass of thanksgiving in the Cappella Paolina. In the garden of the Quirinal, Stein, as on a previous occasion Heinrich Schickhardt, the companion of the duke of Württemberg, was struck by the clever hydraulic works, especially by the hydraulic organ and by the aquatic practical jokes which would give the guileless visitor an unexpected soaking. In his description of the Castle of St. Angelo, he mentions the magnificent display of fireworks which took place there on the great feasts, such as Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi and St. Michael.

The Konigsberg physician saw the Pope on his way to the Villa Borghese, when he travelled in a sedan-chair covered with red silk and drawn by two mules. The solemn cortege, at whose approach everybody fell on their knees, made a deep impression on him too. The Cardinals, of whom nearly forty were then in Rome, seemed like kings to Stein.

Besides the churches, Dr. Stein did not fail to visit the palaces. He examined all the principal ones, especially the newly erected Palazzo Mattei, the palazzo Farnese with the gigantic statue of the Farnese bull which happened to be boarded off just then, and the two Borghese palaces of whose artistic treasures he writes with enthusiasm. The stranger from the North was particularly delighted with the magnificence of the gardens attached to the villas. He singles out, in particular, the villa of Sixtus V, that of the grand­duke of Tuscany on the Pincio, where the youth of Rome was wont to play in those days, the gardens of the Farnese on the Palatine and, lastly, the new Villa Borghese. Stein also visited the Catacombs on the Via Appia. Here a monk acted as his guide, but everywhere else he had for guide a certain Johann Hoch, of Lucerne, with whom he had fallen in at the Sword Inn: Albergo della Spada, at which, as well as the old Albergo dell’Orso, most Germans were wont to put up at that time.

We can best realize the immense building activity which marked the reign of Paul V, by comparing two great contemporary plans of the city which have been preserved to this day. The one, by the Florentine Antonio Tempesta, dates from the year 1601; the other is the work of Matthaus Greuter, of Strassburg, and dates from the year 1618.

Greuter’s perspective plan of Rome, which served as a model for Falda’s masterpiece, gives, as it were, an account of the stupendous activity of Paul V, which reached its climax in the completion of St. Peter’s. “The considerable aggrandizement of Rome,” Greuter writes, “by means of so many and such large buildings, especially by the construction, now nearly completed, of St. Peter’s, and that of the magnificent Chapel of Paul V. at S. Maria Maggiore, the levelling of the hills and their enrichment with commodious dwellings, the laying out of new streets near the Quirinal, Via Felice (Sistina), Capo le Case, Arco de’Patani, in the quarter de’ Monti, in the Suburra, in the Borgo, in the Trastevere and in many other places, as well as the many new churches, have prompted me to undertake this work, in order to place the new Rome before the eyes of the world. Since this City rose anew, so to speak, under Paul V, it gives me particular satisfaction that my work sees the light during the reign of that Pope.”

Greuter’s plan of Rome, the artistic finish of which is most pleasing, is dedicated to Cardinal Medici. It shows the Eternal City at a moment when the efflorescence of a characteristically Roman art, due to the Borghese pontificate, had begun to assume definite form. The plan exhibits, on the upper left hand margin, together with the arms of Paul V, the figure of Rome, flanked by the Prince of the Apostles, whilst the lower, right-hand margin shows the seven principal churches. The Strassburg artist has succeeded in fixing with greatest accuracy and with fine artistic feeling the image of Rome as transformed by Paul V, with its churches, its palaces, most of them two-storied, its houses, squares and fountains. One gets a bird’s-eye view of the labyrinth of Rome’s streets and alleys where History sits at every comer with well-covered tablets in her hand. One sees how the sinuous course of the Tiber was framed by numerous, picturesque houses which have all been sacrificed to the correction of the river banks, and one observes how many remains from the times of the old Romans—the aqueducts, the temple of Minerva Medica, the amphitheatrum castrense, the baths of Diocletian and Caracalla, were then in a far better state of preservation than they are today. One specially attractive feature of a former Rome, the breath of the rural Campagna wafted into the city from all sides, is most admirably suggested by Greuter’s plan.

Many exceedingly picturesque features enliven the plan, as for instance the mills at anchor near San Giovanni de’ Fiorentini and near the island of San Bartolomeo, and the charming garden of the palazzo Bentivoglio (Mazarin-Rospigliosi), and similar striking details. Behind St. Peter’s may be seen the yard for the work of demolition of the old basilica and the construction of the new, the stacks of materials near Santa Marta and the still smoking lime kilns of the fabbrica of St. Peter’s. Greuter shows the basilica of St. Peter completed, the great palaces of the Borghese also finished and the Villa Borghese in its original aspect.

The Borghese palace, in the low-lying part of the field of Mars, had been built by Martino Longhi for Cardinal Deza. After the death of that prince of the Church, Cardinal Camillo Borghese bought it, in February, 1605, for the sum of 42,000 scudi. When shortly afterwards he became Pope, Paul V bestowed it on his brothers and had it completed by Flaminio Ponzio and Maderno, on a truly Roman scale. Longhi had created the courtyard, magnificent in its severity, encircled on the ground and the first floor with a portico, the arcades of which are supported by close on a hundred antique granite columns. Ponzio, who was the family architect of the Borghese, nearly doubled the size of the palace by lengthening it in the direction of the Ripetto. In this way it acquired an irregular shape, the ground plan of which was not unlike a piano—hence it came to be popularly called il clavicembalo Borghese.

The exterior of the Borghese palace, with its long facade, presents a severe and sober appearance 1 ; the decoration of the portal and the windows is sternly restricted; but when the visitor enters the splendid courts surrounded by rows of columns and from there goes up the broad stairs to the upper rooms, he feels that he enters a building which can stand comparison with many a royal castle. The rooms, decorated with frescos and stucco, with the Borghese arms on the ceiling, have a spaciousness such as is only found in Rome; thus the State room could easily accommodate a small house.

So as to be within easy reach of the Pope during the latter’s stay at the Vatican, Cardinal Scipio Borghese bought from the Campeggi the palace which Bramante had erected for Cardinal Adriano Castellesi, in the Borgo. From there a wooden passage was erected to link up with the corridor which connects the Castle of St. Angelo with the Vatican. However, it was also necessary for the Cardinal nephew to be by the side of the Pope during the Pontiff’s stay at the Quirinal, in the hot season. Hence Flaminio Ponzio, and after his death, Jan van Santen and Maderno were commissioned by Scipio Borghese to construct for him, facing the papal residence, a new palace, complete with garden and casino, or summer house. This work entailed the removal of the ruins of the baths of Constantine and those of Aurelius’ temple of the Sun.

The third Borghese palace in Rome, which was bought in 1621 from Cardinal Bentivoglio, and at a later period passed into the hands of Mazarin, until it finally became the property of the Rospigliosi, was richly adorned with frescos. Lodovico Cigoli, Antonio Tempesta, Paul Bril and Guido Reni, were all engaged on the work. Their creations, such as the statues and fountains of the garden, with its myrtles, hyacinths and narcissi, were extolled by the poet Gregorius Portius. In the graceful garden house, the entrance to which is adorned with four antique pillars—two of them of rosso antico, the only ones of the kind in Rome—Guido Reni painted, in 1609, his masterpiece, the world-renowned, highly poetical “Aurora”. The goddess advances scattering flowers before the chariot of the sun god which is surrounded by the dancing hours; four dappled horses draw the chariot over which hovers winged Hesperus, torch in hand. Far below the first streaks of dawn fall upon the still slumbering earth. An exacting critic has given it as his opinion that this wonderful fresco is the most perfect Italian picture of the last two centuries. Guido’s “Aurora” retains all its fame. The “incomparable charm of the picture is largely due to its warm colour of gold”. Close by, Guido was busy carrying out yet another commission of Scipio, in a small loggia, on the frieze of which Antonio Tempesta painted the triumph of Love and Fame, according to Petrarch’s well-known poem. Paul Bril filled the lunettes with landscapes representing the four seasons; he also gave a most graceful decoration to the ceiling; the spectator beholds an arbour thickly festooned with vine branches and enlivened by all manner of creatures—birds, butterflies, bees and rich, luscious bunches of grapes. The charming putti who also give life to the bower, are by Guido Reni—they display all the grace of the Master. Another garden house, which was sacrificed when the Via Nazionale was widened, contained a cycle of frescos with four scenes from the story of Amor and Psyche which Cigoli executed in the year of his death—1613. These frescos, to which Francesco Bracciolini refers in the introduction to his Psiche, where he ascribes to Cigoli the credit of having inspired the poet, were transferred to the gallery on the Capitol. For a long time they were erroneously described as the work of Annibale Caracci. These frescos were only part of the decoration of Cardinal Scipio Borghese’s palaces; he also lavishly enriched them with paintings by old and new masters, antique and modem statues, bronzes, gobelins, majolicas and other smaller works of art.

Not for a long time had Rome seen so sensitive and so liberal a patron of the Arts as this papal nephew. He was no less enthusiastic for music than he was for the plastic arts. Like the Pope who, in 1609, bought the famous collection of statues of the sculptor Tommaso della Porta, the nephew collected, both unwearyingly and with exquisite taste, all over Italy, works of art which reached him from all sides, either as gifts or as purchases. He had excavations made both within and without the city. From Paris and Brussels he obtained, with the assistance of the nuncios, a number of valuable gobelins which were considered as the essential foundations of a sumptuous, truly princely decoration of a house. Mosaics, among them the picture of his uncle, were made for him by Marcello Provenzale. Besides Christian and classical antiques, the Cardinal was above all bent on acquiring valuable pictures, so much so that his gallery rivalled that of the emperor Rudolph II. Among his pictures were works by masters of the first rank. Great was the joy of the art-loving prelate when he succeeded, in 1608, in acquiring for his collection the “Burial of Christ” which Raphael had painted in his twenty-fifth year for Atalante Baglioni, at San Francesco in Perugia. This picture became henceforth the jewel of his collection in which one also admired a “St. John” by Raphael, a Madonna by Fra Bartolomeo, Domenichini’s “Sibyl of Cumae” and “Diana’s Chase”, “The Burning of Troy”, by Barocci, a “Roma” by D’Arpino, a “Nativity of Christ” by Salviati, a “Judith” by Baglioni, a “David with the head of Goliath” by Caravaggio, Titian’s “Venus recumbent”, as well as pictures by Cigoli, Lavinio Fontana, Pordenone, Paolo Veronese, Passignano and Bril. The enthusiastic art collector over­looked the fact that representations of Venus were hardly suitable for the rooms of a Cardinal. Scipio Borghese admired these scenes inspired by ancient mythology with the unembarrassed enjoyment of the man of the Renaissance. Among modem sculptures, his collection included works by Cordier, Berthelot, Prospero Bresciano, Guidotti and the young Bernini. Mention is also made of a piece by Michelangelo.

These treasures, which he loved to show to distinguished visitors, as, for instance, in 1613 to the ambassador of the emperor, the Cardinal distributed between his Roman palaces; a large part also went to his country house outside the Porta Pinciana and some he took to his villa amid the hills of Frascati.

In the Tusculum of antiquity Paul V had begun by buying for his nephew the villa of Cardinal Galli, and there he resided during the summer months between 1607-1614. In 1613, he acquired, together with the possessions of duke Gian Angelo Altemps, the Villa Mondragone, and to this he soon afterwards added the Villa Taverna. In view of the fact that from 1614 until the end of his life, the Pope resided for a considerable period at the Villa Mondragone, both in spring and in the autumn, it became necessary considerably to enlarge and embellish that country house. It was thus that the immense terrace came to be built, as well as the great fountain, with three basins supported underneath by four dragons and above by four eagles. The alterations at the Villa Mondragone were directed by Jan van Santen, a native of the Netherlands, who since the death, in 1613, of Ponzio, had become architect of the pontifical palaces. To him also fell the task of erecting the garden house of the town villa which Cardinal Scipio planned for himself on the North side, just outside the gates of Rome. In 1606, he began buying the hilly stretch of country between the Porta Flaminia and the Porta Pinciana on which subsequently arose the garden house and the park of three miles circumference. Succeeding centuries have so profoundly altered this estate that its primitive aspect can only be visualized by means of old prints and travellers’ descriptions.

The park, laid out by Domenico Savino and Girolamo Rainaldi, included about three-fifths of the present shady recreation ground known to every visitor to Rome. Entirely enclosed by a double wall, it was adorned with pyramids, summer houses and towers, so that, when seen from a distance, it presented the appearance “of a small town in itself”.

The main entrance, “a gunshot” north of the Porta Pinciana, the cardinal adorned with his own and the Pope’s coat-of-arms and the inscription Villa Burghesia. By it one entered the first section of the villa, the so-called Giardino Boscareccio. At the end of a long, gently rising and shady avenue of elm trees, the visitor beheld a fountain in a rocky cave surmounted by an eagle and flanked by four lofty plane trees. This entrance way, by the side of which ran three lateral walks, was crossed, in the middle, by the main avenue to which again corresponded two lateral ones. Only at the crossing did one get the first glimpse of the garden house of the Villa.

The Giardino Boscareccio was divided into square bosquets surrounded by hedges and planted with laurels, cypresses, planes, pines and oaks. On both sides of the main alley, at the points where it crossed the lateral alleys, plain yet beautiful fountains were erected in circular spaces and surrounded with circular seats and a great many statues: the whole of Olympus was represented here. Near the enclosure wall, but completely hidden, a small round temple of the Doric order rose above an ivy-clad cave which served as a wine cellar. In the summer heat this temple was used as a dining room, as, for instance in July, 1614, on the occasion of the Spanish ambassador’s visit to the villa.

Behind the garden house the second section of the villa, nearly as large as the first, which it rivalled with its babbling fountains and its statues, stretched away in an eastern direction. In the centre stood an obelisk surmounted by the Borghese eagle. In the southern section stood a building with stables, coach-houses and rooms for the domestic staff. The northern enclosure wall was decorated like a stage and its columns, statues of gods, and ancient inscriptions presented a most picturesque spectacle. In the centre, on a marble tablet, the visitor read the much discussed inscription: “Whoever thou art, so long as thou art a free man, fear not here the bonds of the laws! Go where thou wilt, ask whatever thou desirest, go away whenever thou wishest. More is here provided for the stranger than for the owner. In this golden age, which holds the promise of universal security, the master of the house wishes to lay no iron laws upon the well-bred. Let seemly enjoyment be the guest’s only law. But let him who with malice aforethought offends against the golden law of urbanity fear lest the irate custodian bum for him the sacred emblems of hospitality.” From two windows one had a view of the adjoining open hunting grounds which, owing to the fact that they had been left in their natural state, constituted a most effective contrast to these lavishly ornamental pleasure grounds.

The third section of the villa consisted of a large animal preserve. Here meadow land, valleys and forest-clad hills joined together all the beauties of a natural landscape and a southern vegetation. All over the varied ground and harmonizing with it, there were scattered special small shelters for ostriches, peacocks, tortoises, a lake with two tiny islands and enlivened by swans, ducks and other aquatic creatures, thickets for deer and doc, cages for a lion and a leopard which a merchant of Tunis had presented to the Cardinal together with two camels. There were also to be found bird-decoys, small summer-houses, tiny ornamental gardens and fountains. The eye was charmed by a shady wood of majestic pines, long alleys of ilexes and elms, groups of decorative cypresses, evergreen hedges of rare shrubs, broad-leaved fig trees and miniature vineyards. In the direction of the muro torto a garden was laid out with rare flowers, fruit trees, fountains and statues. A fairly large garden house adjoined it. This part was approached from the first by a gateway bearing the Borghese arms surmounted by two dragons and an eagle. A long alley of ilexes opened here. The other gateway, towards the muro torto, though much altered, remains to this day.

This magnificent park, in which nature and art joined forces and by which Scipio Borghese and the Pope, who provided the funds, vied, as genuine Romans, with their forefathers, soon became the theme of the poets’ songs, was described by all travellers, and admired as one of the world’s wonders. It constituted a worthy setting for Jan van Santen’s garden house, a typical baroque building  which was not intended for a dwelling place, but solely as a resort where the Cardinal could retire, mostly for short periods, for the purpose of recreation or to receive his visitors.

A picture by Johann Wilhelm Baur (1610-1640), shows the original appearance of the subsequently greatly altered two- storied house, the centre of which was adorned with two towers. Here one sees with what ingenuity the Dutch master turned the front of the house into a stone tablet, which one had never done reading: the niches are occupied by great ancient statues, the wall space is systematically covered with a mass of antique fragments, so as completely to hide the heavy structural lines of the building ; busts of emperors alternate with reliefs, architectural fragments, festoons, garlands and inscriptions.

Baur’s picture also shows the busy life of which the spacious, quadrangular court in front of the garden house was the scene. The drive is framed by a splendid travertine parapet with seats, at the crossings pedestals support antique statues, the lower ones being skilfully made to serve as fountains. In the somewhat smaller court, at the back of the house, there are splendid hermae and antique statues surrounded by laurel and oleander bushes ; the centre is occupied by the basin of a fountain with a statue of Narcissus.

In keeping with the usual custom, small gardens (giardini segreti) were laid out on either side of the house, in which the fragrance of orange blossom mingled with that of rare flowers and plants. Bentivoglio had procured the tulips from Holland. The North garden is adorned with two aviaries richly decorated with statues, busts and stucco, similar to those in the Farnese gardens on the Palatine. On the pedestals of the statues and everywhere else the dragon of the Borghese appears as a decorative motif.

A beautiful vestibule leads into the interior of the house. Here three doors open into the great central reception hall; by the side of it are two smaller rooms; at the back there is a gallery connected with two rooms, a large and a small one. By a modest winding staircase the visitor reaches the upper storey which is similarly divided. Here also all the rooms are inter-connected, spacious, and designed from the beginning for the display of valuable works of art and, accordingly, richly adorned, especially the gallery, which is a masterpiece of marble incrustation. To this must be added bright-hued frescos on the ceilings and in the loggia of the upper storey by Lanfranco. The contemporaries cannot find words to express their admiration of the art treasures preserved in the garden house. The antique pieces, in part displayed in niches, the pillars of oriental alabaster and other kinds of valuable stone adorned with statuettes, the tables of porphyry and Florentine mosaics of semi-precious stones, were rivalled by a number of expensive and valuable pictures, among them being works by Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Pordenone, Pomarancio, D’Arpino and Palma Vecchio. Mention is also made of an ingenious musical instrument, a rare set of chessmen and a surprise chair which held fast the person who sat in it.

Not content with the masterpieces of ancient sculpture (the “Wrestler” of Agasias of Ephesus, the dying Seneca, a Venus and a Hermaphrodite), Cardinal Borghese had a scene from Virgil carved in marble by Pietro Bernini and his son Lorenzo. The group represents Aeneas rescuing his aged father Anchises, who holds his domestic gods (Penates) in his hands, from the sea of flames which devour Troy. The genius of the young artist which here still appears fettered by the mannerism of his father, reached its full development in the statue of “David with the sling” which was finished in 1619. Even more famous than this work, which was exposed in the South lateral corridor of the ground floor, is another and later group which also owes its origin to a commission of Scipio Borghese. It represents Daphne, pursued by Apollo, meta­morphosed into a laurel tree, in such vase that her feet grow into the ground as roots and laurel leaves sprout from the hair of her head and from the hands which she rings in her mortal anguish.

Pope and Cardinal frequently sought an escape from the tumult of affairs among these works of art. They found refreshment in the summer house and the garden which, in the words of an English traveller, had not their equal in the whole world. The Eternal City, with its never ceasing traffic, seemed far away, for one could neither see nor hear it. From the windows one could look out over the green park into the silent campagna and contemplate the incomparable ring of blue mountains, from jagged Soracte to the lofty chain of the Apennines and the smiling Alban hills.

Lorenzo Bernini has immortalized his patron in two wonderful portrait busts. Baldinucci tells a charming anecdote in connection with the work. He relates that before the first bust was completed the artist discovered, on the forehead and temples, a disfiguring vein in the marble which gave the countenance an unpleasing expression. Bernini, who wanted above all things to gratify his noble patron, decided to make a new bust, which he completed within a fortnight of feverish work. When the Cardinal came to the studio, Bernini began by showing him the first bust, at the sight of which Scipio Borghese only hid his disappointment with difficulty. His pleasure was all the greater when Bernini uncovered the second bust. All the same, from the artistic point of view and notwithstanding the flaw in the marble, the first bust is by far the most successful and the most characteristic. Here Scipio Borghese appears extraordinarily life-like, in all the vigour of his mature manhood, his countenance expressive of energy and enterprise and radiating joy in the possession of his art treasures, so much so that the beholder almost imagines he lives and breathes—the bust is an instantaneous photograph in marble.

After many wanderings, both busts have once more found in the summer house a most appropriate home. In conjunction with Bernini’s small bust of Paul V, they remind the visitor that the Cardinal’s patronage of the arts attained its climax in the sumptuous villa outside the Porta del Popolo, in the same way as that of the Pope in the completion of the basilica of St. Peter. Whilst the art lover admires these masterpieces, they remind the historian that nepotism which, from the ecclesiastical standpoint was so blameworthy, substantially helped to uphold the best tradition of the Renaissance, viz. the fostering of the arts.

No other family, perhaps, has left so many splendid and lasting monuments of itself in Rome, as the Borghese : churches, chapels, palaces, aqueducts, fountains, streets, villas and gardens loudly proclaim what the Borghese have done for the arts and for the common good. The Pope and his nephew deemed it one of their most weighty duties to embellish the Eternal City. They acted thus, as true Romans, not only for the good of their native city, but they likewise sought to shed still greater lustre upon the papacy. Their names, like those of Julius II and Sixtus V, are written for all time in letters of gold in the annals of art and civilization.