Piccolomini library
Coordinates: 43 ° 19 ′ 3.7 ″ N , 11 ° 19 ′ 43.7 ″ E
The so-called Piccolomini Library is located in a side room of the Cathedral of Siena . Located along the left aisle in front of the transept, it was built in 1492 by the Archbishop of Siena, Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini , who later became Pope Pius III. , built to preserve the rich library legacy of his uncle Pope Pius II . to keep. Between 1502 and 1507 it was completely painted out by Pinturicchio and assistants, including the Bolognese Amico Aspertini and the young Raffaelo Sanzio .
history
Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, Bishop of Siena from 1492 to 1502 , has designed a room in some rooms of the rectory, next to the left side of the cathedral, to house the precious library holdings of his uncle, the humanist and later Pope Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II). , died 1464.
From around 1497, Lorenzo di Mariano , called "il Marrina", created the outer marble facade of the library, with the two arches on one side containing the entrance door of the library and on the other side a depiction of the "Evangelist John" from the 17th century . (Of uncertain date, attribution and origin, although it is believed that it was carved by Giovanni di Stefano at the end of the 15th century.)
The picture decoration of the library, one of the greatest sculptures in Italy from the beginning of the 16th century, was entrusted to the Umbrian painter Pinturicchio , who was at the height of fame after his successes in the Roman Curia. The contract was signed on June 29, 1502 and is one of the rare cases of Renaissance contracts with large pictorial cycles that have survived: it was published by Gaetano Milanesi as an appendix to his commentary on the Vita di Bernardino Pinturicchio by Vasari . One can read, for example, how the vault was to be made alive with " grotesques ", a relatively new motif in the artistic panorama, and how the walls were to contain ten stories from the life of Pius II; Pinturicchio was also "obliged to personally draw all the stories on cardboard and on the wall, all the heads in fresco, and the retouches in secco in order to execute them to perfection."
The first phase of construction, with the vault and the architectural grille on the walls, was completed at the end of 1503. On September 22nd of the same year the builder became Pope as Pius III. elected. In the decorations, his coat of arms is therefore still shown in a cardinal's hat. At this point the two large windows must have been finished. Only 26 days later, on October 18, 1503, the Pope died, which interrupted the work. The painter devoted himself to other tasks, but stayed in Siena.
The stories of Pius II were not taken up again until around 1505, probably with a new treaty signed by the heirs, but of which there is no trace. The project must have ended in 1507, as the painter began to take other commissions from Umbria at that time while he stayed in the Tuscan city. The famous Bolognese painter Amico Aspertini and the young Raphael must have been among the many journeymen who were employed in the company , who testify to the importance of the company, which in those years was a true artistic hub in central Italy.
In any case, the payments continued for a few more years. The theme of the library was an unusual iconographic program at the beginning of the 16th century. On the one hand, it elevated the legitimacy of papal power, which had recently been violently challenged by Savonarola , and on the other, it elevated the Piccolomini family with their most famous representative.
Later, during the 16th century, but from an unknown date, Cardinal Francesco Bandini Piccolomini had a monument carved on the left side of the Marrina facade. It is a memorial in which the figure of the risen Savior stands in honor of the brother and nephew of the client, Bandino and Germanico Bandini Piccolomini, who both began their ecclesiastical careers and died prematurely in 1521 and 1569. The artist remains unknown.
Description and style
The library can be seen from the nave through a rich marble portal by Marrina , which consists of two arches with relief decorations (1497). On the right arch there is a small altar with the bas-relief of John the Evangelist, a work by Giovanni di Stefano, and a wooden pieta under the altar table. The entrance to the library is in the left arch, with two bronze doors by Antonio Ormanni from 1497. Above the portal is the fresco of the coronation of Pius III, also by Pinturicchio (1503–1508).
It is a rectangular hall that is covered by a cap vault and illuminated by two high windows. The solemn architecture is accompanied by furniture of the highest quality: wooden cabinets for the books, carved by the famous Barili; Floor tiles in triangular majolica with crescent moons of the Piccolomini (renewed in the 19th century); a stuccoed niche with the expulsion from earthly paradise above the entrance portal, a copy of a relief by Jacopo della Quercia on Fonte Gaia, perhaps by Marrina or an anonymous sculptor of the era.
In addition, the cardinal presented from the Roman palace of the family, the famous ancient marble statue de r Three Graces available, was carved for a base of Giovanni di Stefano. This is a third century Roman copy of a Greek original, possibly from the Hellenistic period. Although the books of Pius II never arrived in Siena, a number of chorales and antiphons are shown today , especially from Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona (sixties and seventies of the 15th century), but also by Sano di Pietro , Pellegrino di Mariano , Guidoccio Cozzarelli , which are owned by the Chapter of the Cathedral and Santa Maria della Scala .
The stories of Pius II marked the apotheosis of the narrative style of the 15th century, in its most elegant version, steeped in Flemish proposals. The effect is that of a rational and stable order, made up of certainties, which still reflects the way of thinking that would be brought into crisis by the dramatic decline of Landsknechte .
The result was grandiose, but already at the moment of completion threatened by the pursuit of innovations in art, which, albeit a long way off, would soon become disruptive and irreversible. In 1507, Raphael created the Entombment of Christ and Michelangelo prepared to sign the contract for the ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel .
Vault
The vault consists of a long central rectangle that divides the ribbed vault with segments (or caps ) and corner gussets , which is architecturally defined as the cap vault . The decoration is inspired by the square vaults of the Domus Aurea , rediscovered in those years and often imitated among the artists of the generation, but it transfers the model to a medieval architectural typology with the crosses. The long sides have four gold and yellow background sails and three blue background flags, while the short sides have one yellow and two red sails. The bright colors are then covered by dense ancient grottesques .
The central rectangle is divided into friezes and geometric fans, inspired by the golden vault and the stucco vault of the royal palace of Nero, with the Piccolomini coat of arms in the center within a garland. In the fields ascribed to Girolamo del Pacchia in the painting , there are the virtues and pagan myths inspired by the reliefs on the sarcophagi . The miniaturist Littifredi Corbizi, who came to Siena in 1494 and may have already worked alongside Pinturicchio in the Appartamento Borgia , was suggested for four of the virtues .
The sketch of the rape of Proserpina was certainly taken from a drawing by Amico Aspertini of a Roman sarcophagus, today in Codex Wolfegg (fol. 36v-37r). Aspertini actually added a male figure on a chariot pulled by two snakes at the point where the relief of the sarcophagus was broken (it can be seen today in the Louvre ), where instead Proserpina's mother , Ceres, was. Pinturicchio, or who saw and copied the drawing for him, interpreted it as Saturn , and ascribed the unusual pulling of snakes instead of the usual black horses to him.
In those years the vault was one of the most complex testimonies to the new edition of ancient themes, under the sign of a real Renaissance, in contrast to the captivating scholarship and fantastic new edition of the early 15th century.
walls
The walls are divided into ten arches, with a picture frame that simulates the arches in a shortened perspective. The false columns, decorated in a grotesque style, form a kind of loggia, which rests on an artificial marble parapet with antique reliefs and explanatory inscriptions in golden capital letters on a blue background of high aesthetic quality.
The theme of the fresco decoration was a painted chronicle of the life of Pius II from the biography of Giovanni Antonio Campano and from the comments written by Enea Silvio Piccolomini himself . In the drawings, the scenes are accompanied by a large crowd, which from time to time reinforce the protagonist's actions and are located both indoors and outdoors, where the pleasant landscapes alternate with monumental city scenes.
It is now certain that Pinturicchio made use of a young man from the Petri ( Perugino ) school , who was the young Raffaelo Sanzio , in the design phase . Vasari wrote in the life of Pinturicchio that the pupil had painted "some" of the drawings and cardboard, while in Raphael's biography he contradicted himself by assigning him sketches and cardboard of "all the stories". One of these boxes was kept in Siena at the time of the Arezzo writer, while other sketches remained in Raphael's personal drawing book. Today, after the initial resistance, art critics tend to put them in two small boxes (one from the Sienese Baldeschi family, which they received from Piccolomini in 1586 , the other in the Uffizi drawing and prints cabinet ) and some drawings ( Ashmolean Museum , Uffizi and Louvre ) Recognize the hand of Raphael in relation to this project.
The execution of the frescoes comes from Pinturicchio and his assistants (perhaps also from the Sienese Girolamo del Pacchia and Giacomo Pacchiarotto ), because after 1504 Raphael, after a short stay in Siena, could be dated 1502–1503 and after a probable trip to Rome in Florence .
The style is similar to that of miniatures : sharp, rich in brilliant colors, skillfully coordinated, full of decorations and three-dimensional applications in gold tablets, on weapons, jewelry, surfaces, etc.
Enea Silvio Piccolomini takes part in the Council of Basel
The elegant knight in the center of the composition, who turns towards the viewer, is the 26-year-old Enea Silvio Piccolomini. The difficulties on the voyage to the Council of Basel are mentioned in the comments , in which a storm hit his ship between the island of Elba and Corsica and drove it south. This event is announced in the dark cloud on the left, but the rainbow also reminds of the successful landing between Porto Venere and Genoa , and the peaceful return.
Seldom has an atmospheric event in Italian Renaissance painting, here dictated by the need to narrate, been resolved with large black clouds that spread out to the sea in the form of invisible rain and are illuminated by golden lightning bolts. A similar effect can be found in the fresco of the passage through the Red Sea in the Sistine Chapel . The effect of the storm on the ships is well illustrated on the left, while the clear weather and pleasant views of a walled city dominate on the right. The equestrian society moving to the right shows a wide variety of figures and characters, both in clothing and posture. The selection of characters, which was inspired by the iconographic tradition of the procession of the Magi, shows both knights and people on foot and numerous symbols of the respective rank: from the clothing of a cardinal to the halberdier with his brightly colored shoulders, from the knight left, who keeps a greyhound on a leash, to the exotic white horse with long ears, to the curious traveler with a bandaged face and a kind of umbrella as a cap.
There are preparatory drawings by Raphael for this scene, especially as far as the equestrian party is concerned.
detail
Detail, the storm
Enea Silvio as Ambassador to the Court of Scotland
The following scene shows Enea Silvio Piccolomini who, following Cardinal Niccolò Albergati , is traveling to James I of Scotland on behalf of the Council of Basel to enter into an alliance. The scene, which focuses on the monarch's throne, is set in a magnificent architecture with a wide-angle view that allows both the floor with geometric patterns white on white and a valuable oriental carpet , as well as the coffered ceiling with golden rosettes see.
A grandiose loggia, decorated in the old style, opens up behind the main characters (from the Corinthian capitals on the columns to the medallions and the spirals in the pendentives ), creating an extraordinary landscape. Typical of Pinturicchio, the landscape is enlivened by some bizarre elements, such as the rock spur on the left and the boat-criss-cross city on the river, which has a Nordic touch. Traditionally Umbrian, on the other hand, are the slowly sloping hills, which in the distance turn into shades of blue due to the effect of the fog, and the numerous green trees that are enlivened by golden lights in the foliage.
Enea Silvio is the figure clad in red to whom the monarch turns his gaze to the left.
detail
Enea Silvio Piccolomini is from Emperor Friedrich III. crowned as a poet
Enea Silvio Piccolomini was sent to Aachen by the antipope Felix V to meet the newly elected Emperor Friedrich III. to pay homage to Habsburg . Piccolomini enjoyed great esteem at his court and received the post of protonotary in addition to the prestigious laurel coronation as a poet and other privileges . The scene shows the coronation, in profile with Enea Silvio Piccolomini in the center, facing the emperor's throne to the left, and is in a crowded square dominated by a pink and white building in the background that is arcaded on the ground floor is crossed and with a great barrel vault on the first floor. This is a development of the theme of the central building that dominates the panorama, and for the first time by Pietro Perugino in the handover of the keys in the Sistine Chapel and already by Pinturicchio in scenes of the Bufalini Chapel (approx. 1484–1486) and the Baglioni Chapel (1500–1501) was developed. The arched corridor of the Piano Nobile was an execution from the architectural experiments of the late Renaissance, in which Giuliano da Sangallo acted as protagonist for such forms and anticipated the results of the Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano at the time of Leo X. (around 1505), so that it was thought that the plans were already seen by Pinturicchio.
The central servants can be found in a drawing in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford .
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Enea Silvio Piccolomini submits to Pope Eugene IV.
As a representative of Frederick III. Enea Silvio Piccolomini submitted to Pope Eugene IV and swore obedience. The scene, although it actually took place in the bedroom of the sick Pope, is set in a stately throne room, with the main action cleverly organized in the middle of the cardinals' circle. Enea Silvio Piccolomini, dressed in yellow, kisses the feet of the Pope, who lovingly blesses.
Beyond the loggia there is a view of a city with the scene of the investiture of Enea Silvio Piccolomini as Bishop of Trieste in 1447.
Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Archbishop of Siena, presents Eleonora of Portugal to Emperor Frederick III. in front
Enea Silvio Piccolomini was already Archbishop of Siena when he Friedrich III. introduced his future wife, Eleonora of Portugal , Infanta of Portugal. The bishop took care of the marriage negotiations and welcomed them to his city on February 24, 1452. The background shows the real location of the action with a wealth of details, i.e. outside the walls at Porta Camollia . In the middle is the column with the coats of arms of the two spouses, which was erected on this occasion by the Republic of Siena and still exists. The Antiporto di Camollia , the Colonna del Portogallo , the former church of San Basilio, the cathedral and the "Facciatone" are all recognizable.
The author of the composition was Raphael, as can be seen in Baldeschi's cardboard from approx. 1502–1503 ( New York , Pierpont Morgan Library ), then reinterpreted in his 1504 Marriage of Mary .
Among the many spectators were well-known personalities of contemporary Siena, such as Alberto Aringhieri , cathedral builder and Johanniter , Andrea Piccolomini , brother of Pius III. , and his wife Agnese . The escorts of Friedrich III. instead they all have unfamiliar faces.
detail
Enea Silvio Piccolomini receives the cardinal's hat
The nomination of Enea Silvio Piccolomini as cardinal with the title Santa Sabina by Kalixt III. dates back to 1456. This scene is also like the others in a gorgeous interior with a wide angle perspective. In the foreground, on the left, the Pope holds the cardinal's hat over the head of the kneeling Piccolomini. Among the many spectators, two people stand out in the foreground, marking the focus of the scene with a gesture.
In the middle of the backdrop is the altar of the chapel, adorned with an altarpiece Holy Conversation with the Madonna and Child between Saints James the Elder and Andrew , both protectors of the Piccolomini family.
Pius II enters the Vatican as crowned pontiff
The arrival of Pius II, the new Pope, in San Giovanni in Laterano on September 3, 1458, is dynamically organized, with the papal sedan chair moving in from the left, the Pope sitting in profile and solemnly blessing. The climax of the ceremony is shown when a wool is lit in front of the new Pope to commemorate the transience of earthly life.
A row of white bishop's hats in the middle of the nave leads the view into the depths, in the direction of the representation, which, despite the necessary adjustments and inaccuracies, shows the appearance of the basilica before the later renovations.
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Pius II convenes the Council of Mantua
One of the priorities of the pontificate of Pius II was to halt the advance of the Ottomans and retake Constantinople after the conquest of 1453 . In this logic, he arranged for a meeting of the Princes of Mantua (also known as the Council of Mantua ) in 1459, at the court of Ludovico Gonzaga . The scene is rather unusually organized: if the portico, which allows a view of the landscape, belongs to the Umbrian tradition created by Perugino , and the throne, this time on the right, is also present in other scenes in the library, then the view is on the curtain separating the group of cardinals in the middle from a large group of spectators, more original. In the foreground, around a table covered by a carpet of books and other tools of knowledge, there are a number of dignitaries among whom one recognizes Gennadio the Patriarch of Constantinople in the old man standing before the Pope .
detail
Pius II canonize Catherine of Siena
The long process that led to the canonization of Catherine of Siena ended on June 29, 1461. The scene is arranged frontally on two main overlapping levels: one with the papal tribune, with the throne of Pius II covered in elegant grotesques is (one can read the mysterious name "Bimbo"), and the body of the saint at the foot of the stairs, and the lower one with a number of bystanders, between prelates and lay people, holding lit candles. The two gentlemen on the left stand out in this last group for their refined clothing and slightly conspicuous pose, in keeping with the tradition of the portraits of Raphael and Pinturicchio : the latter resembles the self-portrait in the Baglioni Chapel in Spello .
The architectural backdrop behind the canopy, with a gloomy and demolished part of the Alt-St. Peter in Rome .
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Pius II comes to Ancona to begin the crusade
Pius II finally wanted to declare a crusade against the Turks, in which he wanted to participate personally in order to overcome the resistance of the Italian princes. For this reason, now old and sick, he went to Ancona in June 1464, where he saw the arrival of the Venetian fleet just in time.
The scene obviously has a solemn tone that goes beyond the failure of the endeavor, with the Pope in the center on the throne as he appears to be giving orders. Various people can be recognized in the fresco: the Doge Cristoforo Moro kneeling to the left, the Eastern dignitaries Hassan Zaccaria, prince of depopulated Samos, Tommaso Paleologo , deputy of the Peloponnese , and Cem , the son of the Sultan as hostage of Rome .
Some say that Pinturicchio copied the oriental garments from the drawings Gentile Bellini made during one of his trips to Constantinople ; in fact, the papal court could have inspired Pinturicchio at this time through the presence of numerous exotic guests.
The view of Ancona in the background, with the Venetian galleys, is very faithful and you can see the city walls from the fourteenth century, the Arch of Trajan and the Cathedral of San Ciriaco , which the painter has however reworked in a Renaissance sense and thus robbed it of its Gothic style Has.
detail
Detail, view of Ancona
The three graces
The sculpture in the center of the library depicts the Three Graces. This is an ancient Roman copy of a Hellenistic original (4th-2nd centuries BC) that was in the possession of Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini . The base and basin, which form the basis of the sculpture, were created by Giovanni di Stefano during the last twenty years of the 15th century.
The three graces are a symbol of legality and bring benefits. With the end of the Renaissance and attachment to classical art, sculpture had a difficult time. A 17th century rector wrote that the three sculptures were indecent and not very suitable for a holy place. In the 19th century it was Pope Pius IX. , while visiting the cathedral, noticed and said it was insulting to see three naked women in the sacristy of a church. In reality the Piccolomini library was not a sacristy, but the Pope's observation could not be ignored and so began a long odyssey until it arrived at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . At the end of the same century, thanks to the warm request of a Russian artist to the Prince of Naples, Vittorio Emanuele, she returned on the occasion of his visit to Moscow. With the rise of fascism was back to Pius IX. thought and put the work back in the museum. In this regard, the article by Ugo Ojetti in Corriere della Sera of February 25, 1934, entitled The Graces in Prison, became famous. It was Enzo Carli who brought the Three Graces back to the library in 1972 and anchored their fifteenth-century plinth to the floor, perhaps to prevent further changes.
Expulsion from Paradise
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The stucco niche with the scene of the expulsion of Adam and Eve above the library door is the work of an artist whom many identify with Marrina (the artist of the marble facade outside the library), even if there is doubt and the artist is more likely to be his master, Giovanni di Stefano , was. The date of its completion is unknown, but it can be assumed to be at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century.
While the architectural niche is original, the scene of the expulsion from earthly paradise is a copy of one of the marble plaques of Fonte Gaia by Jacopo della Quercia . Of little artistic value, however, the tabernacle radiates a human and religious message: on the architrave is the inscription: DEUM MAXIMUM ET POSTEROS OF / FENDI UTRIUSQUE DEBEO NEWTER MIHI ( I have offended God and the descendants. I owe both of them, but none me ). These were the words that Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) uttered on his deathbed. It was an act of humility and repentance for a sin or series of unspecific sins that offended God and posterity and therefore related to the original sin and expulsion of Adam and Eve . Above the inscription, in the center of the tympanum, is the emblem of the Savior by Bernard of Siena .
Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini , who commissioned the entire library, wanted to remember the last words of his uncle and his extreme repentance in a small memorial, almost hidden above the inner portal, with a smaller and higher (and therefore less legible) inscription than the numerous captions that are found under each fresco by Pinturicchio . A way to give these words and the spirit with which they were spoken an intimate and discreet touch that can only be read by relatives, friends, and attentive visitors. In addition, the Pope speaks in the first person, not the third person as in the captions on the frescoes, which underscores the human and spiritual aspect of this phrase. The ancestral expulsion integrates and conveys this feeling, while the Savior's emblem offers redemption and salvation even for the terrible and offensive sins against God and all human beings.
literature
- Cristina Acidini , Pintoricchio , in Pittori del Rinascimento , Scala, Florence 2004. ISBN 88-8117-099-X
- Roberto Guerrini, Libreria Piccolomini , in Le sculture del duomo di Siena , Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009, pp. 162-165
- Barbara Tavolari, Liberaliter agere , in Le sculture del duomo di Siena , Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009, pp. 166–170
- Annalisa Pezzo, Il Monumento a Bandino e Germanico Bandini , in Le sculture del duomo di Siena , Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009, pp. 171–173
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Acidini, p. 217.
- ↑ a b Acidini, p. 230.
- ↑ a b Annalisa Pezzo, pp. 171–173.
- ↑ a b Acidini, p. 232.
- ↑ a b c Acidini, p. 219.
- ↑ See Mina Gregori 1984.
- ↑ a b c d e f Acidini, p. 220.
- ↑ a b c d Acidini, p. 221.
- ↑ a b c Acidini, p. 222.
- ↑ a b Acidini, p. 224.
- ↑ a b c d Acidini, p. 225.
- ↑ a b c Acidini, p. 226. "Bimbo" could be the reference to "Francesco Bembo, Bishop of Castellano" (that is S. Maria in Castello in Venice), who in 1411 in Venice a decree for the veneration of the Virgin Catherine of Siena enacted even before it was canonized. See "Narrazione delle gesta di Enea Silvio Piccolomini poi Pio II rappresentate nelle pareti della libreria corale del Duomo di Siena dal Pinturicchio con gli schizzi ed i cartoni di Raffaelo d'Urbino in dieci gran quadri con le rispettive iscrizioni. In Siena MDCCL'anno ". (Fabio Tonelli)
- ↑ a b c Acidini, p. 227.
- ↑ a b c Acidini, p. 228.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Barbara Tavolari, pp. 166–170.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Roberto Guerrini, pp. 162–165.