Rome and the renaissance, the pontificate of Julius II, from the French of Julian Klaczko;

Chapter I. Page

The Popes of the Renaissance. — Sixtus IV. — Platina and the humanists of the Vatican. — The Nepoti. — Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli . . . . 1

Chapter II

Gigantic design of th & Sepoltura (April, 1505). — Question of its place.— Decision to rebuild S. Peter’s. — The Rovinante . — Laying of the corner-stone of the new Basilica (April iS, 1506). — Michelangelo’s flight from Rome (April 17, 1506) 10

Chapter III

The Mons Vaticanus. — The mediaeval S. Peter’s. — The steps, the atrium , the quadriporticus, and th a'cantkarus. — Construction of the interior. — The Confessio, the Cancelli , and the Cathedra Petri. — The oratories of the four Great Relics. — Tombs of the Popes. — The Sagre Grotte . . 28

Chapter IV

Julius II. ’s first “ crusade,” taking of Perugia and Bologna. — Terrors and hallucinations of Michelangelo. — He talks of taking service with the Sultan. — Is compelled to come to Bologna (Nov., 1506). — Bronze statue of the Pope for the fagade of San Petronio. — Inaugurated Feb. 21, 1508 ; the statue is destroyed in 1511 .

lii

IV

Contents.

chapter v. PAGE

Return of Michelangelo to Rome (March, 1508). —He begins work (May 10th) . — Original relations between the Pope and the artist. — The question of money.— Michelangelo’s family pride. — His portrait.— His character. — Influence of Rome upon his geuius 58

Chapter VI

Michelangelo’s first residence in Rome (1496-1499). — The antique marbles. — The Apollo of the Belvedere. — The Pietà and Savonarola’s downfall (1498-1499). — The three great principles derived by Michelangelo from classic sculpture.

— Discovery of the Laocoon (Jan. 14, 1506) . . .77

Chapter VII. A View Of The Rinascimento

The Genius of Antiquity and the Cinquecento . . . 97

Chapter VIII

Nero’s tomb on the Pincio. — Santa Maria del Popolo. — Andrea Sansovino. — The monuments of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza and Cardinal Girolamo Basso. — Character of these two works. — The mausoleum of the Medici and the Pietà of the Cathedral of Florence 103

Chapter IX

Donato Bramante da Urbino. — His character. — Unreasonably hated by Michelangelo. — Bramante’s Lombard past.— His arrival in Rome (1500).— His new style. — The Tempietto

Contents.

v

PAGE

(1502) . — The cloister of the Pace (1504).— Cardinal Oliviero Caraffa. — Bramante in the service of Julius II. — S. Peter’s,

San Biagio, and the “Belvedere.” — The Court of San Damaso, the Nicchione , and the winding staircase. — Julius II. ’s Viridarium 117

CHAPTER X. mirabilia (1509).

Bulletin from the army of Charles VIII. (1495) — Roman guidebooks in the Middle Ages. — The Mirabilia of Canon Albertini (1509). — The Nova Urbs. — Li Nuptiali of Marcantonio Altieri (1509) 142

Chapter XI

I. The appartamento Borgia and the Camerce superiores. — Perugino’s ceiling. — Arrival of Raffaello. — II. The two great powers of the painter of the Stanze. — The pre-Roman Raffaello. — The Deposizione of the Borghese Gallery and the frescos of the first Stanza 151

Chapter XII

I. The hypothesis of a Library. — The Signatura, a high court of appeal. — The Cambio in Perugia. — Sigismondo de’ Conti and Tommaso Inghirami. — II. The symbolic and synthetic painting of the Trecento. — Raffaello’s innovation. — The four great medallions. — The Disputa.— III. The seven disciplines of the trivimn and quadrivium in Italian Art. — Raffaello’s innovation. — The disciplina discipiinarum. — Aristotle and Plato. — The architecture of the Scuola d' Atene and the future S. Peter’s. — IV. The Parnasso — Mantegna’s picture and Raffaello’s fresco. — The Homer and the Apollo.— The three Cardinal Virtues— Roman Law and Canon Law : Pandects and Decretals.— Restorations in the Camera della Segnatura 170

VI

Contents.

Chapter XIII. Page

I, The League of Cambrai and the battle of Aguadello (May 14, 1509).— The absolution of Venice (Feb. 24, 1510) — Louis XII. ’s exasperation. — Fuori i barbari! (May 17, 1510b — II. The camp at Bologna. — Appearance of Julius II. during this war. — Taking of Mirandola (Jan. 21, 1511) — Europe and Italy. — Disapproval of the Pope’s beard. — Revolt of Bologna and defeat of the pontifical army (May 21, 1511). — The assassination of Cardinal Alidosi (May 24, 1511).

— La Magliana. — The Convento dei Penitenzieri.— Conciliabulum of Pisa. — Julius II. ’s return to Rome (June 27, 1511). — III. Bull Sacrosandcs (July 28, 1511). — Secret negotiations and artistic interests of the Pope (July- August).

— His serious illness (Aug. 17). — Pompeo Colonna and the proposal to establish a Republic (Aug. 27th). — Federico Gonzaga, the young hostage. — The recovery of the Pope and proclamation of the Holy League (Oct. 5th). — Gaston de Foix, and the winter campaign of 1512. — Battle of Ravenna (Apr. 11, 1512). — Alarm at Rome and great remonstrance of the cardinals (April 14th). — Descent of the Swiss and expulsion of the French (May-June). — Triumph of Julius II. — Council of the Lateran and Te Deum of Dec. 3, 1512. — The three portraits of Julius II. in the Stanze . 218

Chapter XIV

I. Michelangelo’s “bridge.” — The Tuscan frescanti. — The labour of three years. — Julius II. ’s return to Rome (June 27, 1511). — Partial view of the frescos in the week of the Assumption (1511). — Universal enthusiasm. — The voice of Savonarola. — II. The frieze of the Sistina and the paintings of the vault. — The Old Testament with Michelangelo’s predecessors. — The Jehovite spirit. — Genesis. — The Prophets and Sibyls. — III. The decorative element. — Reliefs, Caryatides, and statues.— The figures in eamaieu, the Putti , and the Ignudi 270

Contents.

VII

Chapter XV. Page

I. The vespers of Orvieto (Sept. 7, 1506). — Programme of the second Stanza (Sept., 1511).— The leading thought of the reign. — II. The four biblical subjects of the ceiling. — Their Michelangelesque aspect and decorative character. — III.

La Messa di Bolsena. — The figure of Julius II. — The sacerdos teutonicus of the year 1512. — IV. La Storia di Eliodoro. — Extraordinary impetuosity of the scene. — The architecture of the temple. — V. Unity of the second Stanza.

— Its dramatic style. — Its colouring.— Collaboration of pupils 318

Chapter XVI

I. The year of terror. — The Congress of Mantua, and the restoration of the Medici to Florence (June-August, 1512). — Letters of Michelangelo during this year. — II. The Ancestors 0/ Christ. — The Capricci. — Vigil of All Saints (1512). —

III. Bitter feeling of Michelangelo. — The Slave of the Louvre (1513) 3H '

Chapter XVII. The Last Carnival (feb., 1513)

Death of Julius II 360

Index 367

ILLUSTRATIONS

NOTE. — The photographs reproduced for this work are (with two exceptions: the “Bound Captive” and the “Portrait of Raffaello”) from the atelier of Messrs. Aliuari, Florence.

Study for Portrait of Julius II.

(. Raffaello ) ..... Frontispiece

Corsini Gallery, Florence

FACING

PAGE

Sixtus IV. Giving Audience to Platina (Afe-

lozzo da Forli ) ....... 4

Vatican Gallery

Detail of Fresco : Cardinal della Rovere . 8

Statue of Moses ( Michelangelo ) .... 16

Church of San Pietro in Vincoli

Bound Captive (. Michelangelo ) .... 22

Museum of the Louvre, Paris

A Victory ( Michelangelo ) ..... 26

Bargello, Florence

Tapestry from Cartoon by Raffaello . . 36

Galleria degli Arrazzi, Vatican

Portrait of Michelangelo ( artist unknown ) . 48

Gallery of the Capitol

Vatican Palace

ix

X

Illustrations

FACING

PAGE

Portrait op Cardinal Bibbiena ( Raffaello ) . 66

Pitti Gallery, Florence

Statue of Apollo 78

Vatican Museum

La Pietà (. Michelangelo ) ..... 82

Basilica of San Pietro

Statue of David (. Michelangelo ) ... 88, 94

Accademia, Florence

Laocoon IOO

Vatican Museum

Church of Santa Maria del Popolo . . 104

Monument of Cardinal Pallavicini . . 108

Church of Santa Maria del Popolo

Monument of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza ( Sansovino) . . . . . . . .112

Church of Santa Maria del Popolo

Detail of La Disputa: Bramante {Raffaello) . 118

Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican

La Tempietto 128

Cortile of San Pietro in Montorio

Detail of II Parnasso, i ( Raffaello ) . .140

Vatican Palace

Portrait of Raffaello (by himself ) . . . 162

Gallery of the Louvre, Paris

Illustrations

XI

FACING

PAGE

Ceiling of the Stanza della Segnatura {Raffaello) . . . . . . . .170

Detail of Ceiling : La Theologia . . .176

La Disputa del Sacramento (. Raffaello ) . . 182

Detail of La Disputa, 2 188

Detail of La Disputa, 3 194

La Scuola d’ Atene (. Raffaello ) . . . .196

Detail of La Scuola, i 198

Detail of La Scuola, 2 202

Detail of La Scuola, 3 204

Il Parnasso (. Raffaello ) 206

Detail of II Parnasso, 2 210

The Cardinal Virtues {Raffaello) . . .212

Detail of the Cardinal Virtues: LaTemper-

antia 216

Detail of La Scuola: Francesco Maria della

Rovere, 4 226

Gregory IX. Proclaiming the Decretals

The Erythraean Sibyl {Michelangelo) . . 244

Illustrations xii

FACING

PAGE

The; Prophet Ezekiel (. Michelangelo ) . . . 256

The Eibyan Sibyl (. Michelangelo ) .... 264

The Prophet Daniel ( Michelangelo ) . . . 274

The Delphic Sibyl (. Michelangelo ) . . . 284

Detail of Creation of Adam ( Michelangelo ) . 294

The Prophet Isaiah ( Michelangelo ) . . . 304

One op the Ignudi ( Michelangelo ) . . . 312

The Mass of Bolsena (. Raffaello ) . . . 326

Stanza di Eliodoro, Vatican Palace

The Punishment of Heliodorus . . . 332

Stanza di Eliodoro

Detail of Deliverance of S. Peter . . . 338

Stanza di Eliodoro

The Ancestors of Christ (. Michelangelo ) . . 348

Portrait of Julius II. {Raffaello) . . . 358

Pitti Gallery, Florence

Tomb of Sixtus IV 362

Basilica di San Pietro

CHRONOLOGY

1496=1500. First residence of Michelangelo in Rome.

1498. (May 23). Death of Savonarola.

1498=99. Michelangelo’s Pietà for Cardinal Villiers de la Groslaie.

1500. Michelangelo’s return to Florence.

“ Bramante at Rome.

1502. The Tempietto , Bramante’s first work in Rome.

•SOS- (November). Julius II. elected Pope.

“ The portico of the Pace by Bramante.

1505. Michelangelo enters the service of Julius II.

“ (March). Plan of the Sepoltura.

“ (April-November). Michelangelo at Carrara.

“ “ Decision to rebuild S. Peter’s.

“ Bramante undertakes San Biagio, the Belvedere, and the rebuilding of S. Peter’s.

“ (December). Michelangelo’s return from Carrara.

1506. (January 14). Discovery of the Laocoon.

“ (April 17). Michelangelo’s flight to Florence.

“ (April 18). Laying of corner-stone of the new S. Peter’s.

“ Andrea Sansovino employed for the monument of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza.

“ (August 26). Julius II. marches against the Baglioni and Bentivogli.

“ (September 7). The vespers of Orvieto.

“ (September 16). Occupation of Perugia.

“ (November 10). Taking of Bologna.

xiii xiv Chronology

1506. (end of November) . Michelangelo goes to Bologna to ask

pardon from the Pope.

“ Begins statue of the Pope for fajade of San Petronio.

1507. (March 28). Julius II. ’s triumphal return to Rome.

“ Andrea Sansovino employed for the monument of Cardinal Basso della Rovere.

“ (November 26). The Pope occupies the Upper Rooms of the Vatican.

1508. Perugino, Sodoma, Peruzzi, and others are engaged for the

decoration of the Upper Rooms.

“ (February 21). Inauguration of the statue at Bologna.

“ (end of March). Michelangelo’s return to Rome.

“ (May 8). He begins painting in the Sistina.

*509' (January?) Arrival of Raffaello in Rome.

“ (March). Julius II. dismisses the artists employed in the Upper Rooms and commits the decoration to Raffaello. “ (March 23). The Pope joins the League of Cambrai against Venice.

“ (April 14). Battle of Agnadello, and humiliation of Venice.

“ The Mirabilia of Canon Albertini (finished June 5, 1509,

and printed in 1510).

1510. (February 24). Absolution of Venice and rupture with

France.

“ (August 7). Julius II. goes to his headquarters at Bologna. “ (October). Michelangelo at the Pope’s headquarters. (He goes thither a second time near the close of the year).

1511. (January 21). Taking of Mirandola.

“ (May 21). Revolt of Bologna, and defeat of the pontifical army.

“ (May 24). Assassination of Cardinal Alidosi by the Duke of Urbino.

“ (May). Announcement of a schismatic council at Pisa.

“ (June 27). Julius II.’s return to Rome.

“ (July 18). The bull Sacrosanct cs convokes a council at the Lateran for April 9, 1512.

Chronology xv

1511. (July). Julius II. negotiates for the forming of the Holv

League, and poses for his portrait in the fresco of the Decretals.

“ (August, week of the Assumption). Opening of the Camera della Segnatura, and partial unveiling of the Sistine vault.

“ (August 17). Serious illness of the Pope.

“ (August 27). Attempt at a Republic made by Roman nobles.

“ (September). Raffaello begins the decoration of the Second Stanza, and Michelangelo resumes his work in the Sistina.

“ (September 23). Florence laid under interdict.

“ (Octobers). Proclamation of the Holy League.

1512. (January to July?) The Mass of Bolsena, fresco of the

Second Stanza.

“ (April 1 1). Battle of Ravenna.

“ (April 14). Remonstrance of the Sacred College in favour of Peace.

“ (May to). First session of the Lateran Council.

“ (May 17). Second session, and adjournment to November.

“ (May-June). Arrival of the Swiss, and expulsion from Italy of the French.

“ (July 4-9). Alfonso of Ferrara in Rome.

“ ( July-December ?) Punishment of Heliodorus, fresco of

the second Stanza.

“ (August). Congress of Mantua and restoration of the Italian princes

“ (August 29). Sack of Prato, and return of the Medici to Florence.

“ (August-October). Completion of Michelangelo’s frescos on the Sistine ceiling.

“ (November 2). Feast of All Saints, and definitive opening of the Sistine Chapel.

“ (November 4). The bishop of Gurk in Rome.

“ (December 3). Third session of the Lateran Council; the Te Deum.

1513. (February 3). Carnival and grand procession in Rome.

“ (February 20). Death of Julius II.

Chapter I

This fresco by Melozzo da Porli — Sixtus IV., Founder of the Vatican Library 1 — is a great page of history, as well as a great page of painting. It helps us marvellous^ to understand those Popes of the Renaissance, with all their qualities and their faults, their political rather than religious turn of mind, their humanist predilections, their passion for building and beautifying the city of Rome, their nepotism.

In the haughty old man seated there, nothing recalls the Francesco della Rovere of earlier days, the humble monk of the Order of the Minor Brethren, born of obscure parentage in Ligurian Savona. He sits like a king, in a splendid hall, surrounded by high dignitaries of Church and State, all very young,— all, furthermore, his nearest kinsmen. His profile is singularly clear-cut, and singularly hard, also — as is not unsuited to the all too clearly

1 Picture gallery of the Vatican, Hall III. Melozzo’s fresco was transferred to canvas early in the last century. Up to that time it had remained in its original place in the Latin Hall of Sixtus IV.’s Vatican Library (now the Floreria). See Paul Fabre, La Vaticana de Sixte IV (. Melanges de l' E cole frangaise à Rome, voi. xv.).

proven accomplice of the Pazzi. It is 1475, 1 and but three years later came that fatal conspiracy which was to remain the ineffaceable blot upon his pontificate. I am well aware that indulgent historians plead extenuating circumstances here: in reply to his nephew, Girolamo Riario, who had said that every endeavour would be made to prevent bloodshed, but that in enterprises of this kind there could be no certainty about this, the Pope is said to have exclaimed: “ Tice ^ma bestia! I tell you I will have nobody killed in Florence, I only will have a change of government.” 2 I confess this defence produces but little effect on me. ‘‘We cannot govern a state with paternosters,” old Cosimo, the Father of his Country, loved to say, as the excuse of certain acts of violence in his rule on the banks of the Arno: Sixtus IV. must have known that it was not with paternosters that a mutazione dello stato could be brought about in Florence.

With the aristocratic, shrewd, cold profile of the old Rovere is ingeniously contrasted in Melozzo’s picture the plebeian, square, wrinkled, sensual, and rather sly face of Platina who receives, kneeling, his investiture as Librarian, and represents here in masterly fashion that humanist tribe of the Quattrocento which had become so important and so importunate. They filled the courts, the academies and the chanceries of the peninsula; they were the official poets and publicists of governments, the

1 Date of the foundation of the Library. The fresco was painted in 1477.

2 Deposition of Montesecco. Capponi, Storia di Firenze, voi. ii-, p. 552.

accredited “orators” of all illustrious embassies; and from among them the Roman Curia also drew the Ciceronian pens judged indispensable for the proper preparation of briefs and bulls. In 1464, the Vatican had no less than seventy of these abbreviatores, all richly paid; and when Paul II. (Barbo) felt that he must reduce their number there was a general outcry. Making himself the spokesman of his dispossessed colleagues, Bartolommeo Platina addressed an insolent letter to the pontiff, threatening him with a Council if he did not recall the decree. Nothing could equal the pride and audacity of these rhetoricians and phrase-makers who believed themselves to be the great justiciaries of history, the sole and sovereign dispensers of fame and immortality. “ It was Homer who made Achilles known to the world ; it was the authors of the Gospels who made known the Christ,” the excellent Bartolommeo wrote, in 1468, to the Pope; he wrote from a dungeon of Sant’ Angelo, charged with a capital crime and undergoing the most humiliating and degrading of punishments. It would be difficult to deny that the leaders of the Academy, Pomponius Leto, Platina, Buonaccorsi and their like, were Epicureans and free-thinkers in the full force of the term, worshipping only antiquity and the Genius of Rome, forming among themselves, as has so well been said, a sort of Free-Masonry, profoundly hostile to the Christian dogma and, in fact, to every form of revealed religion.

In a moment of frankness, or of prostration, Platina himself avowed to Pomponius that, as Head of the Church, Paul II. could not but be displeased at their underhand proceedings. Nevertheless, the successor of Paul II. made haste to conciliate the good will of this world of lettered men, as formidable then as the world of journalists is now. Sixtus IV. fixed the number of abbreviatores at seventy-two, he reopened the Academy, reinstalled in his chair the famous Pomponius, and conferred on Platina the double duty of historiographer of the Popes and superintendent of the Vaticana. The entente cordiale between the Papacy and Humanism, for a moment compromised by Barbo, “ the Barbarian,” was renewedly affirmed by the former general of the Franciscans, and it was destined to last till the Council of Trent.

With the index finger of his right hand, Platina calls the spectator’s attention to an inscription placed at the bottom of the frame; they are distichs of his own composition which, in elegant Latin, celebrate the other Roman creations of the Rovere : churches, hospitals, aqueducts, and bridges; broad streets, extensive squares, convenient harbours, and walls.1 None of the Popes preceding or following Sixtus IV. did as much as he for the restoration, the sanitation, and the enlargement of the Eternal City; and it was with good reason that Albertini dates from this reign the Nova Urbs of his Mirabilia. To these great building operations, of a kind that the Seven

Sixtus IV. Giving Audience to Platina (Melozzo da Forli)

iv ■■ * Renaissance

tholes*, the successor of '.rood will of this

.tvred taet then as the wor

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n ex finger of his right hand, Platina cab-* ttention to an inscription placed at the c rame: they are distichs of his own com hkSh, in elegant I.atin, celebrate the other : cations of the Ro ere ; churches, hospitals, aqueducts, ai . bridges broa streets, extensive squares.

None of the Popes pr

' sag or following S- - ;.c* i V dH as much as he for th«

. i aas the enlargement of the

id it was with good reason that Ali -, reign the Nova Urbs of his Mirabilia. To operations, of a kind that the Seven

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Hills had not seen since the time of the Caesars, were added the artistic splendours of the Quattrocento: it is enough to name the magnificent cycle of frescos executed in the palace chapel by Ghirlandajo, Signorelli, Botticelli, Rosselli, Perugino, and Pinturicchio. Only one complete work of Melozzo da Forli, unfortunately, remains in Rome, this picture of the Vaticana , of which we have been speaking; but it is very much to the honour of Sixtus IV. that he was able to distinguish above the rest this strong genius, perhaps the most original and innovating painter of the epoch.1 We must do him also the justice to remember that the Vaticana was the first public Library, the Capitoline collection of bronzes the first public Museum that Italy had known, and that, while setting the example of a deplorable nepotism, the old Franciscan monk did not fail to communicate his passion for embellishing Rome to more than one of these Rovere and Riarii, who had flocked with all haste to the city that they might bask in the sunshine of their kinsman, the Ligurian Pope.

In this fresco of Melozzo, which contains in all but six figures, there are four of these “nephews”; and that alone is a sign of the times.2

The showy youth with slender figure and aquiline nose

1 The tribune of the church of the Santi Apostoli in Rome, with Melozzo’s paintings, was destroyed in 1711 ; there remain to us of them only a few admirable fragments, now in the sacristy of S. Peter’s and above the stairway of the Ouirinal Palace. Melozzo’s chapel at Loretto is still almost entire. This is most unjustly attributed by Cavalcasene to Palmezzauo.

2 Schmarzow, Melozzo, pp. 42 et seq.

who stands behind Platina, wrapped in a rich cloak and wearing a heavy gold chain around his neck, is Girolamo Riario, the all-powerful favourite of the Pope and the evil genius of his reign. A petty tradesman at first or a custom-house clerk in his native city of Savona, then Count of Imola and Forli, and husband of the famous Caterina Sforza, Girolamo was the soul of the Pazzi conspiracy and of many other violent and unfortunate enterprises of Sixtus IV. The sworn enemy of the Medici during his whole life, he was destined to perish, ten years later, by the hands of his Forli vian subjects, and to be avenged by his widow in a frightful carnage. But vain are our strifes here below, our loves as well as our hatreds: this avenging virago nevertheless married, for fourth or fifth husband, one of the most obscure of the Medici, and became the mother of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, the grandmother of Cosmo I., lo stampo 1 of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany !

A commonplace, thick-set figure, but with a very intelligent face, Giovanni della Rovere wears also rich dress, and a gold chain around his neck. He is “ prefect of Rome,” Lord of Sinigaglia, and will later be the ancestor of sovereigns. Thanks to the celebrity which came to him through his uncle, he was soon after to marry the heiress of the Montefeltri, and his son, Francesco Maria, will presently reign over the duchy of Urbino.

The two other nepoti belong to the Church. Raffaello

1 A me rimane lo stampo per farne altri ! is the traditional reply of Caterina Sforza when the Forlivians threatened, in 1488, to put to death her children if she did not surrender the castle.

Riario, at the right of Sixtus IV., is a boy scarcely sixteen, and wears merely the robe of the apostolic prothonotary; in two years he will wear the purple and will be known as the Cardinal di San Giorgio, will be the papal legate in Florence, and on Sunday, April 27, 1478, will be present in the Cathedral at “the bloody mass” of the Pazzi. Not at all aware of the plot, he will, however, be kept a prisoner for nearly two months by Lorenzo the Magnificent, will expect from moment to moment to be hung like his colleague, Archbishop Salviati, and from these days of anguish his face will contract a livid pallor lasting through life. It is he to whom will be sold in 1496, as an antique marble, a statue of Cupid, the work of the young Michelangelo, and this will bring the sculptor to Rome for the first time; we have still Buonarroti’s letter, in which he speaks of the molte belle cose shown him by his Eminence, in the cardinal’s Casa Nuova'

By a singular fatality the end of the career of this Prince of the Church will be marked by the same sinister complication as was its beginning. The 29th of May, 1517, the people of Rome were to learn with amazement of the arrest of Cardinal di San Giorgio, so well known for the last forty years for his wealth, his ostentation, his cavalcades through the streets at the head of three hundred horsemen, his scenic representations, his collections of anticaglie , and his magnificent palace of San Lorenzo in Damaso. The accusation against this dean of the Sacred College was of having plotted, with the young Cardinal Alfonso Petrucci, the assassination of the Pope, Leo X., 1 Letter of Michelangelo, ed. Milanesi, p. 375.

by poison and poignard. Petrucci was strangled in prison; Raffaello Riario was set free from the castle of Sant’ Angelo only after having paid an enormous ransom in gold and given up to the treasury the ownership of his palace, the finest in Rome.1 He survived this catastrophe but a short time, dying in Naples (1521), deserted by every one.

The last of the group to be named is Giuliano della Rovere, now thirty-one years of age, originally, like his uncle, a Franciscan monk, and since 1471 Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli. It is upon this figure that Melozzo has concentrated all the vigour of his brush, with a presentiment, it would seem, of the great place that history was to give to his subject. What energy in the face, already so deeply marked by ambition! What fire in the glance! And, withal, a certain veiled sadness, and that unsatisfied look which comes to the elect of destiny when their star too long delays its coming.

Standing, and with face turned towards the founder of the Vaticana , the Cardinal holds in his hands a roll, doubtless the address which he is about to delivér to the Pope,2 congratulating him upon the completion of a work which we may boldly affirm was common to them both. Kept out of politics by the superior influence, as jealous

1 The palace received from that time the distinction of being the official residence of the Vice-Chancellor of the Church, and hence is called the Cancellaria. From this confiscation date the Medici arms, to be seen in many parts of the palace.

2 The other roll, in the hand of Raffaello Riario, may have been supposed to contain the reply which was to be delivered by Sixtus IV.

Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli (Melozzo da Forli)

; ‘ ■ ne and the Renaissa ;

• e ts rd. Petrucci was s

»: in

a rio was set free from :

:r having paid an emoni

u in Rome.1 He survived ’

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. ■ Ay-one years of age, or.:

, like his

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vincoli. It is upon this figure

■ i elozzo

•.ted all the vigour of his ' - ' a pre-

it would seem, of the great ]> . :.• in<*tory

ive to his subject. What enei •: ’ the lace,

> deeply marked by ambition! What lire in the And, withal, a certain veiled sad tie** *>» that look which comes to the elect of destiny when too long delays its coming.

. y. and with face turned toward* the fcmuder *i "ina, the Cardinal holds in hi* -, \ • •. 4 roll,

the address which he is about to den / t the • ’ atu'ating him upon the completion <ii a work may boldly affirm was common to them loth.

, oli ties by the superior influence dous

• ' . v ■ ■ ceived from that time the distinct «os T bein* ikr • £• of the Vice-Chancellor of the Chore!», and brnea .ancellaria. From this confiscation dL*i.t the Medici . a iu many parts of the palace.

: ’■oil, in the hand of Raffaello Rian >, j ■ i . ntu ■on tain the reply which was to he ch-'ivrn ' 's'stus