Alfonso Chacón

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Alfonso Chacón (Latinized Alphonsus Ciacconius ; * December 15, 1530 in Baeza ( Andalusia ), † February 14, 1599 in Rome ) was a Spanish Dominican , antiquarian (antiquarian), church historian and draftsman. He is considered a pioneer of Christian archeology .

Alfonso Chacón began studying in Baeza in 1544. After joining the Dominican Order in 1547, he continued it in Jaén and Seville . In 1566 he received his doctorate in theology . In October 1566 he received a call from Pope Pius V as a Spanish confessor ( penitentiary ) to St. Peter in Rome, where he traveled in April 1567. In 1569 he was appointed Magister (professor) by his order . After Pius V had given confession to St. Peter to the Franciscans in May 1570, Chacón was free for his scientific interests.

Title page of Vitae et res gestae pontificum romanorum from 1677

Chacón had two main areas of work. On the one hand, he devoted himself to church history, in particular the biographies of popes and cardinals , on the other hand, he dealt intensively with ancient studies. He began his studies in iconography and epigraphy . He tried to combine texts and images and contrast parallel examples from other genres. Most of his work remained unprinted and is only available as manuscripts. They were based, for example, on the work of Pirro Ligorio . The publication on the Trajan Column in Rome is considered to be the first antiquarian treatise on the Roman state relief. The inclusion of Christian monuments was of particular importance. Although Chacón was subject to various misunderstandings, as Giovanni Pietro Bellori pointed out, the studies of the early Christian legacies that made him a “pioneer of Christian archeology” are of particular importance. He devoted himself to the wall paintings, sarcophagi and mosaics from the catacombs and early Christian churches. His preparatory work in this area became fundamental for dealing with these monuments in the 17th century, for example Cassiano Dal Pozzo often refers to Chacón in his work. Thanks to his drawings, we now know, for example, the appearance of the mosaics of Santa Pudenziana , before they were trimmed during baroque renovations. His corpus work Antiquitatum Romanarum was unfinished at his death.

His manuscripts, including the Historica descriptio urbis Romae and De coemeteriis vetustis urbis Romae with the description of more than 300 early Christian works of art, were in part distributed to various European libraries after his death and have now been partially reconstructed. Today they form an important building block in the reconstruction of late antique works.

Publications

  • Historia utriusque Belli Dacici a Traiano Caesare gesti ex simulachris quae in columna eiusdem Romae visuntur collecta. Rome 1576.
  • Historia seu verissima a columnijs multorum vindicatia quae refert M. Ulipii Traiani animam precibus divi Gregorii pontificis Romani a Tartareis cruciatibus ereptam. Rome 1576.
  • De signis sanctissimae crucis. Rome 1591.
  • De martyrio ducentorum monachorum S. Petri a Cardegna ordinis s. Benedicti Hispaniarum Burgensis diocesis commentarius. Rome 1594.
  • De ieiuniis et varia eorum apud antiquos observantia. Rome 1599.
  • Vitae et res gestae summorum Pontificum a Christo domino usque ad Clemente VIII nec non SRE Cardinalium cum eorumdem insignibus. Rome 1601.

literature

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Commons : Alfonso Chacón  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Chacón, Alfonso
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ciacconius, Alphonsus (Latinized); Ciaconius, Alonso
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish Dominican, archaeologist, church historian, Christian archaeologist and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1530
PLACE OF BIRTH Baeza
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1599
Place of death Rome