Study Tour to Rome:Rome, St. Peter’s & the Sistine Chapel

Part One: Rome and St. Peters

ROMAN HISTORICAL PERIODS

MONARCHY 753-509 BCE

REPUBLIC 509-27 BCE

EMPIRE 27 BCE-337 CE

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Temple of Portunus (Temple of “Fortuna Virilis”), Rome, Italy, ca. 75 BCE.

Roman temple forms--rectangular

Influence Greeks & Etruscans

Clear front,stairs

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Temple of Vesta (?), Tivoli, Italy, early first century BCE.

Roman temple forms—round

SmallerSpecial purposeMark sacred site(later baptistries)

Figure 10-7 Head of an old man, from Osimo, mid-first century BCE. Marble, life-size. Palazzo del Municipio, Osimo.

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Roman verismRepublican period

Interest in portraiture(vs Greek idealism)

Ancestor veneration

Portrait Bust, Republican Period (Met Museum)

Roman Patriarch with Busts of his Ancestors, Republican Period, 1st century CE

Figure 10-8 Portrait of a Roman general, from the Sanctuary of Hercules, Tivoli, Italy, ca. 75-50 BCE. Marble, 6’ 2” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

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Roman verism (portrait head)combined with Greek idealism (body)Very odd

The Apollo Belvedere, once considered the most beautiful statue on earth

Roman copy of Greek original of c. 330

Augustus, adopted son and heir to Julius Caesar the first Roman Emperor & a master of

propaganda

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Figure 10-27 Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta, Italy, early-first-century CE copy of a bronze original of ca. 20 BCE. Marble, 6’ 8” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

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Figure 10-29 Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace looking northeast), Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE.

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Female personification (Tellus?), panel from the east facade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE. Marble, 5’ 3” high.

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Procession of the imperial family, detail of the south frieze of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE. Marble, 5’ 3” high.

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Aerial view of the

Colosseum (Flavian

Amphitheater), Rome,

Italy, ca. 70–80 CE.

Concrete vaulting

Roman: arch & concrete

Figure 10-6 Roman concrete construction. (a) barrel vault, (b) groin vault, (c) fenestrated sequence of groin vaults, (d) hemispherical dome with oculus (John Burge).

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Nîmes, France

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Pont-du-Gard, Nîmes, France, ca. 16 BCE.

The Roman World

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Arch of Titus, Rome, Italy, after 81 CE.

TRIUMPHAL ARCH

made by Emperor Domitian in honor of his brother TItus

18th century engraving of a Roman military procession

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On edge of Roman forum, near the Colosseum

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Artist reconstruction of the Arch of Titus

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Triumph of Titus

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Arch of Titus, Rome, Italy, after 81 CE.

Arc de Triomphe, Parisbuilt 1831—here 1944 Liberation of Paris

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Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 – 125 CE

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Figure 10-50 Restored cutaway view (left) and lateral section (right) of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118–125 CE.

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Figure 10-51 Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118–125 CE.

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Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, from Rome, Italy, ca. 175 CE..

Marcus Aurelius—the last “Good Emperor” & alsostoic philosopher

gesture like Augustus of Prima Porta--originally stomping on a barbarian?

Moved to Capitoline Hill—Michelangelo design

Not destroyed in the medieval period because it was mistakenly thought to be a sculpture of Constantine (the first Christian Emperor)

Titian, Charles V on Horseback, 1548

Anthony van Dyck, Charles I with Mo Anthony van Dyck, Charles I with Monseigneur de St. Antoine, 1633. Post-restoration. Oil on canvas, 12 ft x 8 ft 8 in..

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Figure 10-64 Portrait of Caracalla, ca. 211–217 CE. Marble, 1’ 2” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Figure 10-70 Battle of Romans and barbarians (Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus), from Rome, Italy, ca. 250–260 CE. Marble, 5’ high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Altemps, Rome.

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Figure 10-73 Portraits of the four tetrarchs, from Constantinople, ca. 305 CE. Porphyry, 4’ 3” high. Saint Mark’s, Venice.

239--Diocletian established the

Tetrarchy:

the rule of four: two of east & two of west

Roman Empire Divided

20 BCE, Rome 305 CE, Constantinople

• 312 Constantine I defeats his rival Maxentius; he is said to have attributed his victory to the Christian God

•Arch of Constantine, 312-315

• 313 Constantine ends persecution of Christians

• 325 Christianity becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire

•Colossus of Constantine, c. 315-330

• 330 Constantine leaves Rome for his new capital, Constantinople

• 337 Constantine baptised on his deathbed

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Arch of Constantine (south side), Rome, Italy, 312–315 CE

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Portrait of Constantine, from the Basilica Nova, Rome, Italy, ca. 315–330 CE. Marble, 8’ 6” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.

Christian tradition—Paul martyred Rome c.

67Peter martyred Rome c.

64 (reign of Nero)

313 Constantine ends persecution of Christians325 Christianity becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire

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Christianity grew rapidly Apostles to Rome

Persecution Christians in Rome—their refusal to worship Emperor

Old St. Peter’s Basilicamagnificent but in need of repair (leaning)

1200 years old-- patron: Constantine

Old St. Peter’s Basilica, ca. 1450 according to a reconstruction by H.W. Brewer, 1891

Huge forecourt with fountain & giant pinecone

Marbles, mosaics, frescoes

Raphael, Portrait of Julius II, 1511-12“the Warrior Pope” r. 1503-13most important patron of the High Renaissance

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CHRISTOFORO FOPPA CARADOSSO, medal showing Bramante’s design for the new Saint Peter’s, 1506. 48

Major artists of the Renaissance worked on St. Peters—Bramante, Raphael, MichelangeloStill unfinished in the 17th century

CARLO MADERNO, facade of Saint Peter’s, Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1606–1612.

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Bernini, Self-Portrait as a Young Man, 1623

Sculptor, architect, painter, poetSociable & successful; large workshop

Son of a Florentine sculptor Pietro Bernini

Proficient sculptor age eight

First papal commission only 26 years old

Urban VIII: “you are made for Rome and Rome is made for you”  

Bernini designed exterior plaza & interior of the crossing

for Pope Urban VIII Barberini, 1506-1666

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Bernini said that he intend the colonnade to reach out like the motherly arms of the Church “which embrace Catholics to reinforce their belief, heretics to reunite them with the church and unbelievers to enlighten them with the true faith”

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The Egyptian obelisk had already been erected in front of St. Peter’s in the 16th century

Bernini created a second fountain to match one already present

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The markings on the plaza make the obelisk act as a huge sundial

Bernini, Plan for St. Peter’s Piazza, Rome, 1656-67—intended it to be enclosed

surprise of coming out of the narrow streets of Rome to the huge open space

Via della Conciliazionebegun in 1936 as part of Mussolini’s

reconstruction of Rome—propagandistic effects

Huge space looking towards the crossing and the baldacchino

on right is Michelangelo’s Pieta

PIETA BEHIND BULLET PROOF GLASS

1972 Attack on the Pieta by geologist Laszlo Toth

“I am Jesus Christ, risen from the dead”

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GIANLORENZO BERNINI, Baldacchino, Saint Peter’s, Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 1624–1633. Gilded bronze, approx. 100’ high.

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The Pantheon—a source for the bronze“what the barbarians didn’t do, the Barberini

did”

Twisted columns associated with old Saint Peters and the Temple of SolomonBarbarini emblem: bees

Bernini, Cathedra Petri, St. Peter’s, 1657-66a multi-media encasing of relic: cathedra (throne) of St.

Peter(small wooden stool inside the bronze construction—can

see through grill)authority of the Popes—St. Peter

Bernini, Four Rivers Fountain, Piazza Navona, 1648-51

Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Plaza NavonaWe will see & discuss

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17th century graffiti: “We want bread more than obelisks and fountains—

bread, bread, bread.”

Voice of the people vs these propagandistic displays of the elites

• By the author of • The DaVnci Code

• Focus on Bernini & Rome

• Fun reading for plane

Onto the Sistine Chapel!