Odoardo Farnese (Cardinal)

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Cardinal Odoardo Farnese
Coat of arms of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

Odoardo Farnese (born December 8, 1573 in Parma , † February 21, 1626 in Parma ) was cardinal of the Roman Church .

biography

Origin and youth

Odoardo Farnese was the third child and second son of the Duke of Parma and Piacenza Alessandro Farnese and the Infanta Maria d'Alviz de Guimarães of Portugal (1538–1577). He was a direct descendant of Pope Paul III. and great-nephew of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese .

For Odoardo as the younger son, the church career, or the succession in the event of the death of his older brother Ranuccio, was intended. His great uncle Cardinal Alessandro Farnese took him into his care during his youth. As early as 1580 he was brought to Rome, where the librarian Fulvio Orsini was entrusted with his education. The efforts of the Farnese family to secure his successor as Cardinal for Odoardo after the death of the Great Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1589) and to transfer his lucrative ecclesiastical benefices to him were largely hindered by Pope Sixtus V. Only the rather modest coming of the Abbey of Grottaferrata and a few smaller benefices in Portugal could be secured for him in 1589. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese had installed Ranuccio I, the Duke of Parma, as the sole heir in his will. Odoardo only accounted for half of the movable property, with the condition that the Farnese art collections had to remain in the Palazzo Farnese . In addition, he was granted the usufruct of the Villa Farnesina , the Farnesian Gardens on the Palatine Hill , the Castello dell'Isola , the courts of Pino and Torrevergata and the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola . Sixtus V also prevented the desired elevation to cardinal.

career

It was not until 1591 Odoardo was under the pontificate Gregory XIV. As Cardinal Deacon of Sant'Adriano al Foro in the College of Cardinals received. In addition to the additional benefices, Odoardo was still dependent on maintenance payments from his brother Ranuccio. In 1600 Pope Clement VIII appointed Cardinal Odoardo protector of England. He was related to the House of Lancaster through his mother, Maria of Portugal . In view of the poor health of Queen Elizabeth I of England, he had hopes for the successor to the English throne. The claim was based on the relationship between his father Alessandro Farnese and the Spanish Habsburgs. Alessandro was a nephew of King Philip II of Spain , who was also King of England and Ireland between 1554 and 1558 through his marriage to Queen Maria I of England iure uxoris . He also hoped for a reintroduction of Catholicism in England. Despite a veto by France and the resistance of the Pope, Odoardo continued secret negotiations with the Catholics of England. He used his close relationships with the English Jesuit Robert Parsons for this purpose . The accession of James I to the throne in 1603 put an end to these efforts.

From 1605 fears increased that the marriage between Ranuccio I and Margherita Aldobrandini could remain without male descendants. In this case, with the Duke's death, the fiefdom of the Duchy of Parma would revert to the Pope. In order to avoid this, Odoardo repeatedly urged his brother to transfer the duchy to him - who intended to renounce the cardinal's hat and enter into a suitable marriage. Because of this suggestion, there was considerable tension between the brothers Ranuccio and Odoardo. The problem was only solved with the birth of the legitimate heir Odoardo , and the cardinal - now with no prospect of succession - accepted the priestly ordination in 1621 and thus the obligation to celibacy on himself. After the death of his brother, the Duke of Parma Ranuccio I, in 1622, Cardinal Odoardo took over the reign of the duchy for the heir, who was still underage, until his death.

The relationship between the Farnese and the Jesuit order , which was founded in 1540 by Pope Paul III, was particularly close . had been approved. Paul III's nephew, Cardinal Alexander Farnese, commissioned the construction of the church Il Gesù in 1575 . Odoardo, Alexander's great-nephew, continued good relations with the order. In 1599 he had the architect Girolamo Rainaldi build the Casa Professa for the order at his own expense . He dedicated a splendid (later, however, demolished) tomb with the sculptures Religion and Science by the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini to his friend Cardinal Robert Bellarmin in the church Il Gesù .

Cardinal Odoardo, like members of the Farnese family before him, was also active as an art patron, commissioner of important artists and as a collector. Between 1594 and 1595 he called the painter Annibale Carracci and his brother Agostino from Bologna to Rome. In 1595 he commissioned Annibale to decorate the Salon Camerino d'Ercole in the Palazzo Farnese with frescoes. These were supposed to represent the virtues of Odoardo Farnese . The most important follow-up commission was the fresco painting of the Galleria Farnese in the Palazzo Farnese from 1597. The subject of these pictures was the universal rule of love , which Annibale Carracci with the help of his brother and his students, including Domenichino , Giovanni Lanfranco and Sisto Badalocchio between 1597 and 1597 Executed in 1607. These paintings represent the first high point of Italian baroque painting. The rooms of the so-called Palazzetto on the banks of the Tiber were also decorated by Annibale Carracci and his students on behalf of Odoardo. Odoardo further enriched the extensive collection of ancient sculptures. From the Cesarini collection he bought marble sculptures such as the Venus Kallipygos , the Crouching Venus and many others. He had the two Venus figures displayed with 18 busts of ancient philosophers - also from the Cesarini collection - in the Sala dei Filosofi (Salone Rosso).

death

Cardinal Odoardo Farnese died in Parma in 1626. His remains were brought to Rome and buried in the Jesuit church Il Gesù . The porphyry tombstone is in the front of the nave of the church.

Services

Between 1602 and 1603 Cardinal Odoardo had a small palace ( palazzetto ) built for himself on the other side of Via Giulia in the gardens of the Palazzo Farnese sloping down towards the Tiber, next to the church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte . The building was surrounded by a small garden ( Giardino segreto ) and was intended as a private retreat for the cardinal. It was therefore also called Eremo del cardinale (hermitage of the cardinal). From the Palazzo Farnese he could get to the Palazzetto undisturbed via the terrace built around 1603 and the Passetto via Via Giulia. The terrace, the Passetto and also the Palazzetto can be seen on the version of the city map of Rome, corrected in 1645 (Fig.) . In summer he used to take baths in the river unobserved, although this pleasure was forbidden to a member of the college of cardinals due to the strictest regulations of Pope Clement VIII. The interior of the rooms was decorated with frescoes by Annibale Carracci and his students Domenichino and Giovanni Lanfranco . The complex including the frescoes fell victim to the regulation of the banks of the Tiber after 1870. Parts of Domenichino's frescoes were saved; they are preserved today in the Salone delle firme in the piano nobile of the palace: The death of Adonis , Apollo and Hyacinth , and Narcissus , looking at his reflection . More of the rescued frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco are now in the church of Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte: Paul of Thebes , Symeon Stylites and Antonius the Great .

gallery

  • Coat of arms of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

  • Portrait by A. Carracci

  • Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

  • Detail of the city map Tempesta 1593 vers. 1645

  • Il Gesù; Grave slab for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

  • Il Gesù; Grave slab for Cardinal Odoardo Farnese

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ daughter of Duarte d'Alviz, 4th Duke of Guimarães and Isabella of Bragança
  2. ↑ King John I of Portugal had with Philippa of Lancaster married
  3. ↑ Inscription on the facade: ALEXANDER CARDINALIS FARNESIUS S R E VICECAN FEC MDLXXV
  4. ↑ today in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples
  5. ^ Illustration of the grave slab of Odoardo Farnese
  6. ↑ Inscription: ODOARDO SRE CARD · FARNESIO · EPISCOPO TVSCVLANO · ALEXANDRI PARMAE AC PLACENTIAE · DUCIS · ET PRINCIPIS MARIAE LVSITANAE · FILIO (Odoardo Farnese, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Bishop of the Holy Roman Church, Bishop of Piacenza and Duke of Tusculum and Piacenza, son of Alessandro., Princess Maria of Lusitania)
  7. ^ Roberto Zapperi: Odoardo Farnese, Principe e Cardinale.
personal data
SURNAME Farnese, Odoardo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Farnese, Duarte
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian Roman Catholic clergyman, cardinal and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1573
PLACE OF BIRTH Parma
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1626
Place of death Rome