Il 
 
 

The Vatican 
 
 Its History— Its Treasures 
 
 Published by 
 
 Letters and Arts Publishing Co. 
 
 New York 
 
Copyright, 1914, by 
 
 Ernesto Begni 
 
 33^4- 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The need of a standard work on the Vatican, as the great centre 
 of ancient and modern culture, suggested the idea of the pres- 
 ent volume. 
 
 The first step of the Editors, when they entered upon their 
 task over two years ago, was to secure for each division of their 
 subject the writer who was peculiarly fitted above all others 
 to do it full justice. Their next care was to arrange with these 
 authors for the illustration of all those important features of 
 the Vatican which arouse the interest and admiration of visi- 
 tors to Rome. A large proportion of the photographs used 
 were taken specially for the present work with the permission 
 of the Vatican authorities, and not a few are of objects never 
 before photographed. 
 
 The large number and inherent value of these illustrations 
 give a unique interest to the present volume. The names of 
 the contributing authors are a sufficient guarantee as to the 
 value of the text. 
 
 Having entrusted the printing of this book to The De Vinne 
 Press — a household synonym for artistic work — the Editors 
 hope to have satisfied the most exacting expectation of beauti- 
 ful book-making. 
 
 October, 1914. 
 
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS 
 
 COMMHNDAroiU-: COIUiADO iUCCI 
 
 Diri'ct()r-(uMH-r;il ol' tlif DipartiiuMil of Aiiticiuilics and Fiiu- Arts inidi r 
 
 the Italian Ciovcrniiuiil, rdiincrly Director of tlu' Brera in Milan. 
 
 COMMEND ATORE OHAZIO MAHUCCHI 
 
 Archa>ol()f<ist of tlu> Saorod Palaces, Diroclor ol' tlir Vatican Egyptian Museum and 
 
 of the Lateran Ciiristian Mnscum, Professor of Ciiristian Arclia-ology 
 
 at the University of Rome and at the Istituto di Propaganda. 
 
 MONSIGXOR PAUL MARIA BAUMGARTEN, J.U.D., S.T.I). 
 
 Member of the Prussian Historical Institute at Rome, Domestic Prelate to the Pope. 
 
 DR. FEDERICO HERMANIN DE REICHENFELD 
 
 Director of the National Gallery, Rome. 
 
 DR. ALESSAXDRO DELLA SETA 
 
 Professor of the Royal University of Genoa. 
 
 DR. LEANDRO OZZOLA 
 
 Inspector of the Royal Gallery of Ancient Art and of the 
 
 National Cabinet of Prints at Rome. 
 
 DR. ANTONIO MUNOZ 
 
 Royal Inspector of Roman Monuments, Professor of the History of Medieval and 
 
 Modern Art at the University of Rome. 
 
 COMMENDATORE LUIGI CAVENAGHI 
 
 Director of the Vatican Picture Gallery, Artistic Director of the Vatican Museums, 
 
 Member of tlie Roman Superior Council of Fine Arts, Member of llu' 
 
 Ambrosian Academy of Fine Arts, Academic Councillor 
 
 of the Royal Academy of the Brera. 
 
 BARON RODOLFO KANZLER 
 Director of the Vatican Christian Museum. 
 
 COMMENDATORE BARTOLOMEO NOGARA 
 
 Director of the Gregorian Etruscan and Profane Museums, Member of the 
 
 Arclueological Connnission of Rome. 
 
 DR. UGO MONNERET DE VILLARD 
 Professor of the Polytechnic of Milan. 
 
 COMMENDATORE CAMILLO SERAFINl 
 
 Director of the Vatican and Capitoline Numismatic Collections, Fellow of the 
 
 Pontifical Acatlemy of Arclueology. 
 
 PROFESSOR SALVATORE NOBILl 
 Director of the Vatican Mosaic Factoi-y. 
 
 E(hti)rs 
 ERNESTO BEGNI. .F.I). .lAMES C. GREY, Ph.D.. B.C.I. 
 
 THOMAS .1. KENNEDY. R..\. 
 
 cvi:i 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Part I 
 HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE VATICAN 
 PALACES AND GARDENS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 History and General Description of the Vatican Palaces . 3 
 
 By PAUL MARIA BAUMGARTEN 
 
 The Vatican Gardens 37 
 
 By UGO MONNERET DE VH.LARD 
 
 Part II 
 THE STATE APARTMENTS AND CHAPELS 
 
 The Chapel of Nicholas V 51 
 
 By UGO MONNERET DE VILLARD 
 
 The Sistine Chapel 61 
 
 By FEDERICO HERMANIN DE REICHENFELD 
 
 The Pauline Chapel 101 
 
 By UGO MONNERET DE VILLARD 
 
 The Appartamento Borgia 107 
 
 By CORRADO RICCI 
 
 The Stanze of Raphael 137 
 
 By ANTONIO MUNOZ 
 
 The Loggie of Raphael 167 
 
 By ANTONIO MUNOZ 
 
 Part HI 
 THE VATICAN MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS AND THE 
 MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
 The New Picture Gallery 189 
 
 By LUIGI CAVENAGHI 
 
 The Gallery of Tapestries 231 
 
 By LEANDRO OZZOLA 
 
 The Egyptian Museum 251 
 
 By ORAZIO MARUCCHI 
 
 C vii 3 
 
Mil 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Gregorian Etruscan Museum ^^'^l 
 
 By BARTOLOMEO NOGARA 
 
 The Museum of Sculpture and Ancient Paintings ... 291 
 
 By ALESSANDRO DELLA SETA 
 
 The Gallery of Inscriptions «^81 
 
 By OHAZIO MARlTCin 
 
 The Christian Museum 399 
 
 By RODOLl-O KANZLER 
 
 The Numismatic Collection 421 
 
 By CAMH.LO SERAFINI 
 
 The Hall of the Geographical Charts 425 
 
 By UGO MONNERET DE VILLARD 
 
 The Vatican Library 431 
 
 By PAIL MARIA BAUMGARTEN 
 
 The Vatican Secret Archives 473 
 
 By PAUL MARL\ BAUMGARTEN 
 
 The Mosaic Factory 499 
 
 By SALVATORE NOBILI 
 
 Part IV 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 507 
 
 By PAUL MARIA BAUMGARTEN 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 OP THE VATICAN PALACES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 General View of the Vatican Palaces 
 
 and Gardens 5 
 
 Part of the Piazza di S. Pietro, show- 
 ing the Vatican Palace .... 7 
 
 Cortile di Belvedere 9 
 
 Cortile di S. Damaso 10 
 
 Scala Pia 10 
 
 Scala Nobile 10 
 
 Bronze Gate 11 
 
 Section of the Ceiling, Sala Concisloria 12 
 
 Sala Concistoria 12 
 
 The Decano 13 
 
 Sala Clementina 14 
 
 Throne Room 16 
 
 Privy Antechamber 16 
 
 Sala del Tronetto 17 
 
 Private Library of the Pope ... 18 
 
 Writing-table of Pope Pius X . . . 19 
 
 Scala Regia 20 
 
 Section of the Ceiling, Sala Regia . . 22 
 
 Section of a Wall, Sala Regia ... 22 
 
 Sala Regia 22 
 
 Section of the Ceiling, Sala Ducale . 24 
 
 Sala Ducale 24 
 
 Medieval Gate leading to the Cortile 
 
 del Papagallo 25 
 
 Cortile delta Pigna, showing the Brac- 
 
 cio Nuovo 26 
 
 General View of the Cortile delta Pigna 27 
 Bas-relief with Warriors, Cortile delia 
 
 Pigna 28 
 
 Apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina, 
 
 Cortile della Pigna 29 
 
 The Pigna 30 
 
 Tower of the Four Winds .... 31 
 
 Tunnel leading to the Vatican Gardens 33 
 
 Exit of Tunnel 33 
 
 Private Chapel of Pope Pius X . . 34 
 
 THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 Corner of the Vatican Gardens and 
 
 Cupola of St. Peter's 38 
 
 Torre Leonina 39 
 
 Grotto of Lourdes 40 
 
 Chalet and Torre Leonina .... 40 
 
 Casino of Leo XIII 41 
 
 Reception Room in the Casino of 
 
 Leo XIII 42 
 
 Sala Rotonda in the Torre Leonina 43 
 
 THE VATICAN GARDENS— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bed-room of Leo XIII adjoining the 
 
 Torre Leonina 44 
 
 Courtyard of the Casino of Pius IV 45 
 
 Loggia or Caffeaos opposite the 
 
 Casino of Pius IV 46 
 
 Casino of Pius IV 47 
 
 THE CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V 
 
 Ceiling of the Chapel of Nicholas V 
 (F"ra Angelico) 52 
 
 St. Thomas Aquinas (Fra Angelico) . 53 
 
 St. Bonaventure (Fra Angelico) . 53 
 
 The Ordination of St. Stephen— St. 
 Stephen Distributes Alms (Fra An- 
 gelico) 53 
 
 The Sermon of St. Steplien — St. Ste- 
 phen Disputes with the Judges (Fra 
 Angelico) 54 
 
 St. Stephen Dragged out of Jerusalem 
 —St. Stephen Stoned to Death (Fra 
 Angelico) 55 
 
 St. Laurence Ordained Deacon (Fra 
 
 Angelico) 56 
 
 St. Laurence Entrusted with the Treas- 
 ures of the Church (Fra Angelico) . 56 
 
 St. Laurence Distributes the Treasures 
 among the Poor (Fra Angelico) . . 57 
 
 St. Laurence before the Emperor 
 
 Decius (Fra Angelico) .... 58 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Laurence (Fra 
 Angelico) 58 
 
 THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 General View of the Sistine Chapel 62 
 
 Moses and Sephorah (Perugino and 
 
 Pinturicchio) 63 
 
 Detail from Moses and Sephorah 
 
 (Perugino and Pinturicchio) . . 64 
 Moses and the Daughters of Jethro 
 
 (Botticelli) 65 
 
 Detail from Moses and the Daughters 
 
 of Jethro (Botticelli) 65 
 
 Details from the Passage of the Red 
 
 Sea (Rosselli and Pupils) .... 66 
 The Passage of the Red Sea (Rosselli 
 
 and Pupils) 66 
 
 The Adoration of the Golden Calf 
 
 (Rosselli) 67 
 
 The Punishment of Korah, Dathan, 
 
 Abiram and On (Botticelli and Si- 
 
 gnorelli) 68 
 
 ix3 
 
X LIST OF 
 
 THE SISTINE CHAPEI.— Ccmtiiuicd 
 
 The Testanu'iit of Moses (SignoriUi) . 
 Dt'tnil from tlio Ti'sl;\mi'nl of Moses 
 
 (SiKiiorilli ) 
 
 I)ct:iil from lliu H:ii)tism of ("lirist 
 
 (I'iiituricchio :m(i I'criiKino) 
 The Baptism of Clirist (Pinturicchio 
 
 and I'erugino) 
 
 The Temptation of Christ (Botficelli) 
 Detail from the Temptation of Christ 
 
 (Botticelli) 
 
 The CalliiiM of Peter and Andrew 
 
 (Domenico (ihirlandaio) .... 
 Detail from the Calling of Peter and 
 
 Andrew (Domenico (ihirlandaio) . 
 The Sermon on the Mount (Rosselli) . 
 Detail from the Sermon on the Mount 
 
 (Rosselli) 
 
 Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter 
 
 (Perugino) 
 
 The Last Sui)per (Hossclli) .... 
 Portrait of Michelangelo (In the Last 
 
 Judgment) 
 
 Section of a Wall showing Popes 
 
 Lucius and Fabianus 
 
 Caryatid (Michelangelo) .... 
 Pope St. Stephen I (Botticelli) . . . 
 Pope St. Soterus (Botticelli) . . . 
 Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel 
 
 (Michelangelo) / 
 
 The Deluge (Michelangelo) .... 
 Drunkenness of Noah (Michelangelo) . 
 Tlie Sacrifice of Noah (Michelangelo) . 
 The Creation of Adam (Michelangelo) 
 The Creation of Eve (Michelangelo) . 
 Original Sin and the Expulsion from 
 
 Eden (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Creation of Light (Michelangelo) 
 The Creation of the Sun and the Moon 
 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Separation of the Land from the 
 
 Water (.Michelangelo) .... 
 The Prophet Zcchariah (Michelangelo) 
 The Prophet Joel (Michelangelo) . . 
 The Delphic Sibyl (Michelangelo). . 
 The Projihet Isaiah (Michelangelo) 
 The (^umiean Sibyl (Michelangelo) 
 The Persian Sibyl (Miclulaiigelo) . . 
 The I'rophet Daniel (Miclulangelo) 
 The Prophet Jeremiah (Michelangelo) 
 The Prophet Ezekiel (Michelangelo) . 
 The Last Judgment (Mi<-helangelo) 
 Figure of the Redeemer (Last 
 
 Judgment) 
 
 Croup of the Blessed around Christ 
 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 Angels Summming the Dead to Rise 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 THE SISTINE CHAPEI.— Continued 
 
 P.\r,E 
 
 68 
 
 G9 
 
 69 
 
 70 
 70 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 77 
 77 
 77 
 
 8 79 
 80 
 81 
 81 
 82 
 82 
 
 83 
 84 
 
 84 
 
 8.-) 
 86 
 8(i 
 8() 
 86 
 87 
 87 
 87 
 87 
 88 
 89 
 
 Angels Bearing the I-2niblems of the 
 
 Passion (Last Judgment ) . 
 Figures of the Damned (Last 
 
 JudgToent) 
 
 Candelabra on Balustrade (Fifteenth 
 
 Century) 
 
 Side View of the Choir-loft (Fifteenth 
 
 Century) 
 
 Balustrade and C^hoir-loft (Fifteenth 
 
 Century) 
 
 The Sistine Cantoria, or Choir-loft 
 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 Portion of .Marble Balustrade (1481^ 
 
 1483) 
 
 Panels of the Balustrade (1481-1483). 
 
 THE PAULINE CHAPEL 
 
 The Conversion of St. Paul 
 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Peter 
 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 00 
 91 
 92 
 
 THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 Hall of the Mysteries (Pinturicchio 
 
 and Pupils) 
 
 David Enthroned (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Door in the Hall of the Mysteries . 
 The Annunciation (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 The Adoration of the Magi 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 
 The Nativity (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 The Ascension (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 The (;oming of the Holy (ihost 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 
 The Assumption (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 The Resurrection (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Details from the Resurrection 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pujiils) 
 The Madonna and Child (Pinturicchio 
 
 and Pupils) 
 
 The Hall of the Saints (Pinturicchio 
 
 and Pupils) 
 
 The Visitation (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 St. Anthony and St. Paul the Hermit 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pui)ils) 
 Detail from St. Anthony and St. Paul 
 
 the Hermit (Pinturicchio and Pupils > 
 Detail from the Martyrdom of St. 
 
 Sebastian (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 
 
 93 
 
 94 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 96- 
 
 97 
 98 
 
 102 
 103 
 
 108 
 
 109 
 109 
 
 110 
 
 11(1 
 
 111 
 
 112 
 
 113 
 
 113 
 
 114 
 
 115 
 
 116 
 
 117 
 
 118 
 
 118 
 
 119 
 
 119 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 XI 
 
 THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . . . 119 
 St. Susanna and tlie Elders 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . . . 120 
 The Flight and Martyrdom of St. 
 
 Barbara (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 121 
 Detail from the Flight and Martyrdom 
 
 of St. Barbara (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 122 
 
 The Disputa of St. Catherine 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) ... 123 
 Details from the Disputa of St. 
 
 Catherine (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 124 
 Death of Osiris (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 125 
 
 Detail from the Ceiling of the Hall of 
 
 the Liberal Arts (Pinturicchio and 
 
 Pupils) 126 
 
 Fireplace in the Hall of the Liberal 
 
 Arts 126 
 
 The Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . . 126 
 
 Grammar (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . 127 
 Geometry (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . 128 
 Dialectic (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 128 
 
 Arithmetic (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . 129 
 Rhetoric (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 129 
 
 ArchjEology (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 129 
 Music (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . 129 
 
 Detail from the Ceiling of the Hall of 
 
 the Credo (Pinturicchio and Pupils) 130 
 Astronomy (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . 131 
 Another Hall in the Appartamento 
 
 Borgia 131 
 
 Frieze in the Hall of the Saints 
 
 (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . . . 132 
 The Hall of the Sibyls (Pinturicchio 
 
 and Pupils) 133 
 
 Frieze showing Portrait of Alexander 
 
 VI (Pinturicchio and Pupils) . . 134 
 
 THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 The Hall of the Signatura (Raphael 
 
 and Pupils) 138 
 
 Fortitude, Prudence and Temperance 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 139 
 
 Theology (Raphael and Pupils) . 140 
 
 Poetry (Raphael and Pupils) . . . 140 
 The Ceiling in the Hall of the 
 
 Signatura (Raphael and Pupils) . . 140 
 Parnassus (Raphael and Pupils) . . 141 
 The School of Athens (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 142 
 
 Detail from Parnassus (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 143 
 
 THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Philosopher (Raphael and Pupils) . 144 
 Francesco della Rovere (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 144 
 
 Raphael and Sodoma (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 144 
 
 Plato and Aristotle (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 144 
 
 Sts. Bernard and Jerome (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 145 
 
 Dante Alighieri (Raphael and Pupils) 145 
 The Disputa del Sacramento (Raphael 
 
 and Pupils) 145 
 
 The Ceiling in the Hall of Heliodorus 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 146 
 
 The Hall of Heliodorus (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 147 
 
 The Mass of Bolsena (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 147 
 
 Detail from the Mass of Bolsena 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) .... 148 
 Detail from the Mass of Bolsena 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) .... 149 
 Detail from the Expulsion of Heliodo- 
 rus from the Temple (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 149 
 
 Expulsion of Heliodorus from the 
 
 Temple (Raphael and Pupils) . . 149 
 The Meeting of St. Leo IV and Attila 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) .... 150 
 The Freeing of St. Peter from Prison 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) .... 150 
 Ancient Mosaic in the Centre of the 
 
 Hall of Heliodorus 151 
 
 The Hall of the Fire in the Borgo and 
 
 Ceiling (Raphael and Pupils) . . 152 
 Details from the Fire in the Borgo 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 153 
 
 Detail from the Fire in the Borgo 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 154 
 
 The Victory of St. Leo IV over the 
 
 Saracens at Ostia (Raphael and Pu- 
 pils) 155 
 
 The Coronation of Charlemagne 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) .... 156 
 The Hall of Constantine (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 157 
 
 Ancient Mosaic discovered near the 
 
 Scala Santa 158 
 
 The Vision of Constantine (Raphael 
 
 and Pupils) 159 
 
 The Battle of the Milvian Bridge 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 160 
 
 Detail from a Door in the Stanza 
 
 (Giovanni Barili) 161 
 
 The Chiaroscuri Hall with Frescoes by 
 
 Giovanni da Udine and P. Maratta . 163 
 The Chiaroscuri Hall 164 
 
XII 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Tin-: I.OGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY— Continued 
 
 PACE 
 
 Door U'luIiiiK to llif Loggiu (Sixtct'iitli 
 
 Century) 
 
 Loggia of RapIiai'I 
 
 'I'iu' l-"ii-st Toil of Man (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Lot and His l''ainily Leaving Sodom 
 
 (Raphael and Pupils) 
 
 Another Loggia 
 
 Isaac and Rebecca (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Jacob and Rachel (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Portion of a Loggia 
 
 Moses saved from the Nile (Rapliael 
 
 and Pupils) 
 
 Candelabra in the Loggia decorated 
 
 by Mantovani 
 
 Detail of the Ornaments in the 
 
 Pilasters (Raphael and Pupils) . 
 Decorations showing the Arms of 
 
 Gregory XIII over a Door in the 
 
 Loggie 
 
 Candelabra (Mascherini, Sermonela 
 
 and Nogari) 
 
 Moses Presenting the Law to the 
 
 People (Raphael and Pupils) 
 David and Bathsheba (Raphael and 
 
 Pupils) 
 
 Door showing the Arms of Clement VII 
 
 (Sixteenth Century) 
 
 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 
 
 (Rai)hael and Pupils) 
 
 Door showing the Arms of Gregory XIII 
 
 (Sixteentli Century) 
 
 The Adoration of the Magi (Raphael 
 
 and Pupils) 
 
 THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 168 
 169 
 
 170 
 
 171 
 172 
 
 17:i 
 
 174 
 17.") 
 
 176 
 177 
 177 
 
 177 
 177 
 178 
 17!) 
 180 
 181 
 182 
 183 
 
 One of the Halls in the Old Picture 
 
 Gallery 100 
 
 The Ceiling of a Hall in the Old 
 
 Picture Gallery (L. B. Albcrti) . . 191 
 The Hall of the Trecento or Primitives l'.)2 
 The Hall of the Trecento .... 1!)3 
 The Hall of the Quattrocento, or 
 
 Melozzo Hall l!).l 
 
 The Ma<lonna and Child, with Saints 
 
 and Angels (I-"ra Angelico) Ifl") 
 
 Episodes from the Life of St. Nicholas 
 
 of Bari (Fra .Vngelico) .... 106 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer 
 
 (l-"rancesco del Cossa) 107 
 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer 
 
 (I'rancesco del Cossa) .... 198 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent I-"errer 
 
 (I'rancesco del Cossa) .... 190 
 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent I'errer 
 
 (Francesco del Cossa) 
 St. Jerome (Leonardo da Vinci) 
 Portrait of I'Yancesco Sfor/a 
 
 (Bernardino de' Conli) . 
 Head of St. Jerome 
 
 (Leonardo da Vinci) .... 
 Pope Sixtus IV and II Platina 
 
 (Melozzo da I'orli) .... 
 Details from Pope Sixtus IV and 
 
 II Platina (Melozzo da Forli) 
 The Hall of tlie School of Umbria and 
 
 the Marches 
 
 Madonna and Child (Francescuccio 
 
 Ghissi) 
 
 The Camerino Triptych (Niccolo 
 
 Alunno) 
 
 The Madonna della Spineta, or the 
 
 Adoration of the Magi (Lo Spagna) 
 The Coronation of the Virgin 
 
 (Pinturicchio) 
 
 The Virgin of the Rota (.\ntoniazzo 
 
 Romano) 
 
 The Madonna Enthroned with Saints 
 
 (Perugino) 
 
 The Coronation of the Virgin 
 
 (Raphael) 
 
 The Madonna of Monteluce (designed 
 
 by Raphael and painted by Giulio 
 
 Romano and Penni) 
 
 The Annunciation (Rai)hael) 
 
 The Adoration of the Magi (Raphael) 
 
 The Presentation in the Temple 
 
 (Raphael) 
 
 The Madonna of F"oligno (Raphael) . 
 Detail from the Transfiguration 
 
 (Raphael) 
 
 The Transfiguration (Raphael) 
 Madonna and Child (Carlo Crivelli) . 
 
 Pieta (Carlo Crivelli) 
 
 The Madonna of St. Nicholas dei I'rari 
 
 (Titian) 
 
 St. George Slaying the Dragon (Paris 
 
 Bordone) 
 
 Mary Magdalen Anointing the Dead 
 
 Christ (Montagna) 
 
 The Deposition (Caravaggio) . 
 Detail from the Last Conununion of 
 
 St. Jerome (Domenichino) . 
 The Last Communion of SI. Jerome 
 
 (Domenichino) 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Laurence 
 
 (Ribera) 
 
 St. Margaret of (^ortona (II Guercino) 
 .\ Rest during the Flight into Egypt 
 
 (Baroccio) 
 
 200 
 201 
 
 201 
 
 202 
 
 203 
 
 201 
 205 
 206 
 206 
 207 
 207 
 208 
 200 
 210 
 
 210 
 211 
 212 
 
 213 
 21-4 
 
 21.') 
 217 
 218 
 210 
 
 220 
 
 220 
 
 222 
 222 
 
 223 
 
 221 
 
 oo 
 
 ;) 
 
 226 
 226 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Xlll 
 
 THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Espousals of St. Catherine 
 
 (Murillo) 227 
 
 THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 The Miraculous Draught of Fishes 
 (Designed by Raphael) .... 
 
 Detail from the Horizontal Frieze of 
 the Miraculous Draught of Fishes 
 (Designed by Raphael) .... 
 
 "Feed my Sheep" (Designed by 
 
 Raphael) 
 
 Detail from the Lateral Frieze of St. 
 Paul before the .\reopagus (De- 
 signed by Raphael) 
 
 Detail from the Lateral l*"rieze of "Feed 
 my Sheep" (Designed by Raphael) . 
 
 The Healing of the Lame Man (De- 
 signed by Raphael) 
 
 The Death of Ananias (Designed by 
 Raphael) 
 
 The Stoning of St. Stephen (Designed 
 by Raphael) 
 
 The Conversion of St. Paul (Designed 
 by Raphael) 
 
 Elymas Stricken with Blindness 
 
 (Designed by Raphael) .... 
 
 The Sacrifice of Lystra (Designed by 
 Raphael) 
 
 St. Paul in Prison (Designed by 
 
 Raphael) 
 
 St. Paul before the Areopagus 
 
 (Designed by Raphael) .... 
 
 The Adoration of the Magi (Designed 
 by Raphael and Pupils) .... 
 
 The Adoration of the Shepherds 
 
 (Designed by Raphael and Pupils) . 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents 
 
 (Designed by Raphael and Pupils) . 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents. Two 
 Sections (Designed by Raphael and 
 Pupils) 
 
 The Apparition of Christ to the Mag- 
 dalen (Designed by Raphael and Pu- 
 pils) 
 
 The Supper at Emmaus (Designed by 
 Raphael and Pupils) 
 
 The Resurrection (Designed by 
 
 Raphael and Pupils) 
 
 The Presentation in the Temple 
 
 (Designed by Raphael and Pupils) . 
 
 The Ascension (Designed by Raphael 
 and Pupils) 
 
 The Descent of the Holy Ghost 
 
 (Designed by Raphael and Pupils) . 
 
 The Three Virtues (Designed by 
 Raphael and Pupils) 
 
 232 
 
 233 
 
 233 
 
 234 
 234 
 235 
 230 
 237 
 238 
 23!) 
 240 
 241 
 242 
 243 
 243 
 244 
 
 245 
 
 245 
 245 
 246 
 246 
 247 
 247 
 248 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 P.\CB 
 
 Red Granite Statue of Ptolemy II 
 
 Philadclphus (285-247 is.c.) ... 253 
 Statue of Arsinoe, Wife of Ptolemy 
 
 Philadclphus 254 
 
 Statue of an Unknown Princess . 257 
 
 Statue of Queen Tuaa (Fourteenth 
 
 Century h.c.) 258 
 
 Sandstone Head of Mentuhotep (Elev- 
 enth Dynasty; between 3000 and 
 
 2000 B.C.) 259 
 
 Statue of Seti I (1366-1333 B.C.) . . 260 
 Green Basalt Statue of the Priest 
 
 Ut-a-hor-resent (Sixth Century B.C.) 261 
 Naophorus, or Shrine-bearing Statue . 262 
 Naophorus, showing the Carved Figure 
 
 of Osiris 263 
 
 Opisthographic Sandstone Stele 
 
 (Fourteenth Century B.C.) . . . 264 
 Mummy Cover (Third Century after 
 
 Christ) 266 
 
 Table of Offerings (Eighteenth 
 
 Dynasty) 267 
 
 Funeral Carving of Nineteenth 
 
 Dynasty (Fourteenth Century b.c.) . 268 
 Funeral Stele of Apa (Sixth Dynasty; 
 
 Twenty-sixth Century h.c.) . 270 
 
 Stele of Hori (Eighteenth Century B.C.) 271 
 Hieratic Papyrus of the "Book of the 
 
 Dead," belonging to Neskem 
 
 272-273 
 
 Statue of Antinous, or the "Egyptian 
 Apollo" 275 
 
 Princess holding a Table of Offerings, 
 and two Canopic Vases .... 276 
 
 Lion from the Monument of Nectanebo 
 II, last of the Pharaohs (Fourth Cen- 
 tury B.C.) 278 
 
 THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 
 
 Objects found in the Regolini-Galassi 
 Tomb (Seventh Century B.C.) . . 282 
 
 Golden Armlet from the Regolini- 
 Galassi Tomb 283 
 
 Golden Rere-piece from the Regolini- 
 Galassi Tomb 284 
 
 Amphora made by Exechias (Sixth 
 
 Century B.C.) 285 
 
 Amphora with Full-length Figure of 
 Achilles 285 
 
 The Vulci Bowl, showing Hermes, 
 
 Dionysus, Silenus and Nymphs . . 286 
 
 Terra-cotta Objects, including Frieze 
 in Bold Relief 286 
 
 Bronze Statuettes of Boys with Bullae 
 and Inscriptions 287 
 
 Statue of Mars 288 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST 01- ILLUSTHATIOXS 
 
 THE MUSHIM OF SCrLI'TlHI': AM) 
 ANCIKNT I'AlNTl.N'dS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Gallfry of Statues 292 
 
 The Gallery of Statues 293 
 
 Tlie ("lallery of Statues 294 
 
 Tlie Sala della Hotonda 295 
 
 The Hall of the Creek Cross . . . 290 
 
 Portico of the (tortile Oltagouo . . 297 
 
 The Cortile Otiagono 1^98 
 
 The Hall of the Muses 299 
 
 The Hall of the Animals .... :i(Ml 
 
 The Hall of the Animals .... liUl 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra . . . 302 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra . . . 303 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra ... 304 
 
 The Museo Chiaranionti .... 305 
 
 Part of the Braecio Nuovo . ' . . . 300 
 
 Part of the Braecio Nuovo .... 307 
 
 The Braecio Xuovo 308 
 
 One End of the Braecio Nuovo . . 309 
 
 Part of the Braecio Nuovo .... 310 
 Seated Apollo Citliar.Tdus (Archaic 
 
 Period) 311 
 
 Nude Figure of Apollo (Archaic 
 
 Period) 311 
 
 The Three Graces (Archaic Periotl) . 312 
 
 Girl Runner (Archaic Period) ... 313 
 
 Penelope (Archaic Period) . . . . 313 
 Young Gymnast and his Slave (Archaic 
 
 Period) 313 
 
 Discobolus (Myron, Classical Period). 313 
 Doryphorus (Polycletus, Classical 
 
 Period) 314 
 
 .Amazon (Polycletus, Classical Period) 314 
 
 Amazon (Cresilas, Classical Period) 315 
 
 Amazon (Phidias, Classical Period) . 315 
 
 Pericles (Cresilas, Classical Period) 31(5 
 Demeter (School of Phidias, Classical 
 
 Period) 317 
 
 .\rleinis (School of Phidias, Classical 
 
 Period) 317 
 
 Caryatid (School of Phidias, Classical 
 
 Period) 317 
 
 Athena (School of I'iiidias, Classical 
 
 Period) 317 
 
 Discobolus Preparing for the Throw 
 
 (Classical Period) 318 
 
 Boeotian Belief of Ilorsiinaii (Classical 
 
 Period) 319 
 
 Harberini Hera (l"ourth Century n.c.) . 320 
 .\phrodite of Cnidiis (Praxiteles, 
 
 Fourth (A-ntury B.C.) 320 
 
 Apollo Sauroctonus (Praxiteles, 
 
 Fourth Century b.c.) 320 
 
 Torso of an Eros (Praxitelic School, 
 
 I'ourth Century n.c.) 320 
 
 Antinf)us del Belvedere (Praxitelic 
 
 School, I'ourth (>entury ii.c.) . . 322 
 
 THE Mrsi;i M OF SCULPTLBE AND 
 
 ANCIENT PAINTINGS-Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Apollo del Belvedere (Eeochares[?], 
 
 Fourth Century ii.c.) 323 
 
 Ai)ollo (^itharu'dus (I'Ourlh 
 
 Century n.c.) 324 
 
 Meljjomene, Muse of Tragedy (F'oiirtli 
 
 Century n.c.) 325 
 
 Thalia, Muse of Comedy (P'ourtli 
 
 Century li.c.) 325 
 
 ,\rtemis (Fourth Century h.c.) . . 320 
 
 Zeus of Otricoli (Fourth (Century n.c.) 327 
 Meleager (Scopas[?], Fourth 
 
 Century n.c.) 328 
 
 Headless Statue of a Niobid (I'ourth 
 
 Century n.c.) 328 
 
 Ganymede Carried up by the I-:agle 
 
 (Fourth Century n.c.) .... 329 
 Apoxyomenus (Lysippus, I'ourth 
 
 Century b.c.) 329 
 
 Crouching Figure of Aphrr)dite 
 
 (I)a'dalus[?i, Hellenistic Period) . 329 
 Jupiter Serapis (Bryaxis, Hellenistic 
 
 Period) 329 
 
 Personification of Antiochia 
 
 (Eutychides, Hellenistic Period) . 330 
 The Nile (Alexandrian School, 
 
 Hellenistic Period) 331 
 
 Marine Centaur (Hellenistic Period) . 332 
 Centaur or Triton (School of 
 
 Pergamos, Hellenistic Period) . . 333 
 Centaur Crowned with Vine Leaves 
 
 (Hellenistic Period) 333 
 
 Silcnus with Infant Dionysus 
 
 (Hellenistic Period) 334 
 
 Young Satyr Carrying Dionysus 
 
 (School of Lysippus, Ilcllcnislic 
 
 Period) 334 
 
 I''aun in rosso antico (Hellenistic 
 
 Period) 335 
 
 336 
 336 
 337 
 338 
 339 
 
 341 
 
 Ma-nad (Hellenistic Period) 
 l-'ugitive Niobid (Hellenistic Period) 
 Ulysses (Hellenistic Period) 
 Ariadne (Helleiiislic Period) . 
 .Menelaus (Hellenistic Period) . 
 I.aocoon (Agesander, Polydorus and 
 
 Athenodorus, Hellenistic Period) 
 Torso del Belvedere (.\pollonius' ? , 
 
 Hellenistic Period! 343 
 
 I-'isherman (Hellenistic Period) 344 
 
 Demosthenes (Polyeuclus, Hellenistic 
 
 Period) 314 
 
 Semo Sancus (Gra-co-Roman Period) . 345 
 Juno Sospes Lanuvina (GraM-o-Romaii 
 
 Period) 3(5 
 
 Sacrifice of Mithra (Graco-Ronian 
 
 Period) 347 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 XV 
 
 THE MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AM) 
 ANCIENT PAINTINGS— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Isiac Procession (Gra;co-Roman 
 
 Period) 348 
 
 Procession of Sacrificers to Artemis 
 
 (Painting, Gra>co-Ronian Period) . 349 
 Charioteer (Gra-co-Roman Period) . 350 
 Pasipiiae (Painting, Gra-co-Roman 
 
 Period) 351 
 
 Nozze Aldobrandini (Painting, Grseco- 
 
 Roman Period) 352 
 
 Detail from the Nozze Aldobrandini . 353 
 Detail from the Nozze Aldobrandini . 354 
 Detail from the Nozze Aldobrandini . 355 
 Head of Athena (Mosaic, Grseco- 
 
 Roman Period) 350 
 
 Sarcophagus showing the Slaughter of 
 
 the Niobids (Gr.-cco-Roman Period) 357 
 Augustus (Grseco-Roman Period) . . 358 
 Caius, Nephew of Augustus (Grseco- 
 
 Roman Period) 359 
 
 Claudius (Grseco-Roman Period) . 361 
 
 Titus (Graeco-Roman Period) . 361 
 
 Julia ['?] (Grseco-Roman Period) . . 363 
 Hadrian (Grseco-Roman Period) . 363 
 
 Faustina the Elder (Graco-Romau 
 
 Period) 363 
 
 Venus Empress (Grreco-Roman 
 
 Period) 303 
 
 The Antinous Braschi (Groeco-Roman 
 
 Period) 364 
 
 Head of Dacus (Grseco-Roman Period) 364 
 Sepulchral Tablet of Lucius Vibius 
 and his Wife and Son (Grseco-Ro- 
 man Period) 366 
 
 Bas-relief from the Ara Pacis Augustse 
 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) .... 369 
 Honorary Relief showing the Figure 
 
 of Rome (Grteco-Roman Period) . 371 
 Sarcophagus depicting the Triumph 
 of some General (Grseco-Roman Pe- 
 riod) 372 
 
 Painting from the Tomb of Farnaces 
 
 (Grseco-Roman Period) .... 373 
 Sarcophagus of St. Helena (Grseco- 
 Roman Period) 375 
 
 Sarcophagus of St. Constantia 
 
 (Grseco-Roman Period) .... 377 
 
 THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 Inscription found near the Site of the 
 
 Ancient Temple of Mars .... 382 
 Inscription in Hexameter Verse with 
 
 Letters in Relief 383 
 
 Procope's Protest against her Early 
 
 Death 384 
 
 Fragment of Column giving the Names 
 
 and Numbers of Roman Legions . 385 
 
 GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Inscription giving the Names and 
 
 Birthplaces of Soldiers .... 386 
 Stele of Titus Flavins Julius (Eqiies 
 
 singitlaris) 388 
 
 Tablet erected in Honor of .\nicius 
 
 Auchenius Bassus 390 
 
 Pedestal of Statue of Postumius 
 
 Julianus 393 
 
 Fragment of Inscription from the 
 
 Temple of Trajan 394 
 
 Arvalian Fragment, with Restorations 
 
 (239 A.D.) 396 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 Entrance to the Christian Museum 400 
 
 Interior of the Christian Museum . 401 
 
 F'rench Cross of Silver Gilt (Four- 
 teenth and Fifteenth Centuries) 402 
 
 French Cross of Silver Gilt (Back) 
 (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centu- 
 ries) 402 
 
 Italian Cross of Bronze Gilt (Fifteenth 
 
 Century) 402 
 
 Crosses of Wood, Metal and Enamel 
 (Sixteenth Century?) .... 402 
 
 Enamel Triptych from Limoges, with 
 Scenes from the Passion (Jean Peni- 
 caud. Sixteenth Century) . . . 403 
 
 Byzantine Triptych with Christ, the 
 Virgin and Saints (circa 1000) . . 403 
 
 Bronze Medallion with Portraits of 
 
 Sts. Peter and Paul (Third Century) 404 
 
 Italian and German Silver Chalices 
 
 and Paten (Fifteenth Century) . . 405 
 
 Silver Capsella found at Carthage 
 
 (Sixth Century) 405 
 
 Polychrome Greek Triptych, witli Ma- 
 donna and Child and Scenes from 
 the Life of the Virgin .... 406 
 
 Enamelled Gold Cross with Scenes 
 from the Life of Christ (Sixth or 
 Seventh Century) 407 
 
 French Diptych with Scenes from the 
 Life of Christ (Fourteenth Century) 407 
 
 Cemetery Glass, representing St. Peter 
 as Moses Striking the Rock (Fourth 
 Century) 408 
 
 Reliquary Casket with Painted Figure 
 of St. John Chrysostom (Eleventh 
 Century) 409 
 
 Bronze Reliquary showing the Cruci- 
 fixion (Eleventh Century) ... 409 
 
 Silver Reliquary in which the Head of 
 St. Praxedes was preserved (Tenth 
 Century) 410 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST 01' ILLUSTHATIOXS 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MUSEl'M— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reliquary Casket (sliowin^! C.lii-ist, Vir- 
 gin and Saints) and (^ovit (showing 
 the (j-urilixion) (Eleventh ("enliiry) 11(1 
 
 Reliijuary Capsella* (Sixth and 
 
 Eleventli (k^ntiiries) -Ill 
 
 I'ragnient of Clotli dating from the 
 
 Pre-(>arolingian Epoch .... 412 
 
 Ivory Cover of the Eor.sch Evangeliary 
 
 (Ninth Century) 413 
 
 Silver Meli(iuary with luigraved 
 
 I-"igures l\'.\ 
 
 Erench Diptych with Scenes from the 
 New Testament (Eourteenth (Cen- 
 tury) 414 
 
 The Hambona Diptych (Eighth 
 
 Century) 414 
 
 Eragment of Silk Material (Seventh 
 
 Century) 415 
 
 Armor of Pope Julius II, which he is 
 said to liave worn at the Capture of 
 Bologna in 1506 41G 
 
 Armor of the Connetable de Bourbon, 
 who fell during the Siege of Rome 
 in 1525 410 
 
 Tablet showing the Man Born Blind 
 and Capsella with Bacchic Scene 
 (Sixth and Third Centuries) . . 417 
 
 Upper Surface of Engraved Silver 
 
 Heliciuary Casket (Ninth Century) . 417 
 
 Tablet showing the Madonna and 
 
 Saints (Sixteenth (A'Utury) . 417 
 
 Side View of Engraved Silver 
 
 Reliciuary Casket (Ninth Century) . 418 
 
 Byzantine Triptych with Cross, Orna- 
 ments and Saints (Tenth Century) . 418 
 
 THE XCMISMATIC COLLECTKXN 
 Ancient Papal Coins 423 
 
 THE HALL OE Till-; (lEOGRAPIHCAL 
 CHARTS 
 
 The Hall of tlie Geographical Charts . 427 
 
 THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 The Vatican Library (I). Eonlana, 
 
 Architect) 433 
 
 Left Wing of the Vatican Library . 434 
 
 .\notlier View of the Vatican Library . 435 
 Painting of Pope Sixtus \' approving 
 
 the Plan of tlie New Library . . 437 
 Creek Manuscri|)l of the Bible (Fourth 
 
 Century) 43!) 
 
 Manuscrijjt of Virgil (Filth Century) . 441 
 livangeliary with Glorious Miniatures 
 
 (Seventh Eighth Century) . . . 443 
 
 THE VATICAN LIBRARY— Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Palimpsest showing Page of Cicero's 
 lost "De republica" (I'ourlh Cen- 
 tury) 443 
 
 Psalter with Glosses, Liturgical Pray- 
 ers and a Tract of Boetius (Ninth- 
 Tenth Century) 444 
 
 Manuscript of Terence's Comedies 
 
 (Tenth Century) 445 
 
 Silver Binding of the Evangeliary of 
 S. Maria in Via Lata (Eleventli Cen- 
 tury) 447 
 
 Polyglot Psalter (Thirteenth Century) 449 
 
 Breviary of King Matthias Corviiuis of 
 Hungary (Fifteenth Century) . . 450 
 
 Another Page of the Breviary of King 
 Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (Fif- 
 teenth Century) 451 
 
 Map on which Pope .Alexander VI 
 (1492-1503) marked the Boundary 
 between Spanish and Portuguese 
 Discoveries in America .... 453 
 
 Map of Europe of the Year 150(1 454 
 
 Manuscript Letter of King Henry VIH 
 of England to Anne Boleyn . 457 
 
 Petition for the Loan of some Manu- 
 scripts from the Library (Sixteenth 
 Century) 458 
 
 De Luxe Binding from the Bibliotheca 
 Palatina (1577) 459 
 
 Procession of Sixtus V (1585-1590) to 
 St. John Lateran 4(11 
 
 Fresco showing the Plan for the Re- 
 building of a Large Portion of Rome 
 begun by Sixtus V 402 
 
 De Luxe Binding, .showing the .\rms 
 of Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592- 
 1005) 403 
 
 Manuscript sliowing Mexican Figures 
 with Explanatory Inscriptions and 
 Comments 404 
 
 De Luxe Binding, showing the .\rms 
 of Paul V Horghese ( l(;o5-1021) . . 405 
 
 The "Purgatorio" of Dante (Ferrarcse 
 
 School, Sixteenth (Century) . . 400 
 
 Bronze Bust of Emperor John VHl 
 
 Paheologus (1421-1448) .... 407 
 
 The Famous Farnese Clock .... 469 
 
 Tin; VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 First Mention of Greenland in Papal 
 
 Registers (February 13, 1200) . . 475 
 
 Lower Part of One of the Rouleaux of 
 Cluny (July 13, 1245) 477 
 
 Papal BulUe of the Thirteenth, 
 
 Fourteenth and I-"ifteenlh Centuries 48(1 
 
 Reverse of these Papal BulUe ... 481 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 xvii 
 
 THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES— 
 Continued 
 
 Letter of Three Cardinals to King 
 Charles of Sicily (August 16, 1316) 
 
 Cedula of the Papal Surgeon, Robertus 
 de Chingalo (April, 1369) . . . 
 
 Leaden Bulla of Paul II (1464-1471) . 
 
 Reverse of the Bulla of Paul II . 
 
 First Mention of the Discovery of 
 America in the Papal Registers 
 (June 25, 1493) 
 
 Conclusion of the Bulla of Gregory XV 
 (November 15, 1621), regulating fu- 
 ture Papal Elections 493 
 
 First Page of the Bull of Canonization 
 of St. Rose of Lima (April 12, 1671) 
 
 Bulla of Clement XI, addressed to 
 Franciscus Columna (September 17, 
 1707) 
 
 483 
 
 487 
 488 
 489 
 
 491 
 
 493 
 
 495 
 
 THE MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
 Entrance to the Mosaic Factory . . 500 
 Sample Room where the Enamels are 
 
 kept 500 
 
 Collection of Mosaic Works 501 
 
 Mosaic Artist at Work 501 
 
 Furnace for the Fusion of the Enamels 502 
 
 Manufacture of Enamel Threads . . 502 
 Office of the Director of the Mosaic 
 
 Factory 503 
 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Cortile del Maresciallo (only entrance 
 
 to the Conclave) 509 
 
 Crowds awaiting the Result of the 
 
 Papal Election 510 
 
 The Sistine Chapel Prepared for a 
 
 Conclave 511 
 
 Voting Ballots used at the Papal 
 
 Election 513 
 
 The Interior of the Sistine Chapel 
 
 after the Election of Pius X . . 514 
 
 Papal Decorations 517 
 
 Order of the Holy Sepulchre 518 
 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION— 
 Continued 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Decoration of the Vexillifer or Stand- 
 ard-bearer 519 
 
 Service Medal of Pius IX ... . 519 
 Privy Chamberlain in Spanish 
 
 Costume 520 
 
 Privy Chamberlain in Service Uniform 521 
 Consecration of Hungarian Bishops in 
 
 the Sistine Chapel 523 
 
 Mass according to the Greek Rite in 
 
 the Aula delle Beatificazioni . . . 523 
 
 The Tiara or Triple Crown .... 524 
 Singers of the Sistine Choir with 
 
 Maestro Perosi 525 
 
 Papal Processional Cross .... 527 
 
 Pontifical Mazziere or Mace-bearer 528 
 Prince Orsini, Assistant at the Papal 
 
 Throne 529 
 
 Marchese Clemente Sacchetti, Foriere 
 
 Maggiorc 531 
 
 The Portantina of Pope Leo XIII . . 533 
 Marchese Serlupi, Cavallerizzo 
 
 Maggiorc 534 
 
 Papal State Coach 535 
 
 Prince Massimo, Grand Master of the 
 
 Posts 537 
 
 Platoon of the Swiss Guard in Old 
 
 Uniform 539 
 
 Colonel Commander Repond of the 
 
 Swiss Guard 540 
 
 Captain of the Swiss Guard . 541 
 Sergeant Banner-bearer of the Swiss 
 
 Guard 542 
 
 Sergeant of the Swiss Guard 543 
 
 Swiss Guard 544 
 
 Swiss Guard in Old Uniform . . . 545 
 
 Noble Guard of His Holiness ... 546 
 
 Officers of the Palatine Guard . . 548 
 
 Officer of the Papal Gendarmes 550 
 
 Marshal of the Papal Gendarmes . 550 
 
 Papal Gendarmes in Service Uniform. 551 
 Residence Erected by Pope Pius X for 
 
 the Vatican Servants 553 
 
 Cortile della Stamperia Nuova . . 555 
 
 New Vatican Press 557 
 
 Cortile della Stamperia Vecchia . 559 
 
PIAZZA « 0^» 
 S. PIETRO • • 
 
 1 . Papal Apartments. 
 
 2 . Chapel of Nicholas V. 
 
 3 . Sala dello Spotjlialoio. 
 
 4-7 . (Lower Jloor.) Ai)partaiiiei)l(i Borgia. 
 4-7 . (Upper Jloor.) Stanze of Raphael. 
 
 8 . Torre Borgia (including jjortion ut the Appartanuiito Borgia). 
 
 9 . Chapel of Pius V. 
 
10-14 . (Ground floor.) New Picture Gallery. 
 
 10-2.1 . (Firstfloor.) Halls of the Library, including liie Christian Museum (11) 
 (Cf. pp. 470-473). 
 
 10-25 . (Second floor.) Gallery of Geographical Charts, Gallery of Tapestries, 
 Gallery of the Candelabra. 
 
 26 . (Loiver floor.) Egyptian Museum. 
 
 26 . (Upper floor.) Gregorian Etruscan Museum. 
 
 27 . Cabinet of the Masks. 
 
 28 . Hall of the Busts. 
 
 29 . Scala Bramante. 
 
 The Mosaic Factory is situated under the Gallerj* of Inscriptions. 
 The Numismatic Collection adjoins the Appartamento Borgia. 
 
 Note. — These plans are intended only to show the general location of the most Important 
 portions of the Vatican Palaces. Inasmuch as the arrangement of the rooms differs greatly 
 on the difTerent floors, more than approximate exactness could not be attained here. 
 
Part One 
 
 HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 VATICAN PALACES AND GARDENS 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 OF THE VATICAN PALACES 
 
 il3ra^mi,.u.TraK^< ;i ENTiFic excavations always awaken a special and 
 SF-^S^rS^JS wide-spread interest, when the spade of the digger 
 reaches the ruins of a royal palace or a lordly man- 
 sion, and begins to bring to the light the long-forgot- 
 ten treasures of the past. Schliemann's achievements 
 in this direction, to quote but a single example, held 
 the whole world of culture breathless, and supplied 
 I so much information concerning the earliest periods 
 of civilization that much time was needed for the scientific appraisal 
 and proper coordination of his discoveries. 
 
 Why do such excavations especially arouse our interest? Doubtless 
 the reason is simply that in the palaces of the great the civilization of a 
 period is, as it were, focussed. Whatever valuable apparatus of a scien- 
 tific, cultural, social, or material kind the men of an age possess, wall 
 naturally be represented by their choicest specimens in the mansions 
 of the mighty and the wealthy, in the castles of the nobility, in the pal- 
 ace of the king. It is therefore not remarkable that archaeologists en- 
 gaged in extensive excavations rejoice beyond measure when they are 
 so fortunate as to discover a handsome castle or the palace of a van- 
 ished dynasty. 
 
 And what holds good for relics long buried in the earth, holds also 
 good, mutatis mutandis, for the royal palaces which remain standing 
 to-day. We need only turn over the pages of the guides of the sixteenth 
 century and their successors down to the modern Baedeker and Murray 
 to be convinced of this fact, for we there find that, almost without ex- 
 ception, the seats of the rulers throughout the entire w^orld of pagan 
 and Christian civilization are described in detail as centres of special 
 interest for pilgrims and travellers; and the older such palaces are, the 
 further their history extends back into the past, the richer and more 
 perfect, as a rule, is their equipment. 
 
 That so ancient a dynasty as that of the Popes — who, with a few ex- 
 ceptions, always resided in Rome — needed from the very beginning a 
 large palace for the accommodation of the ecclesiastical court, for the 
 reception of distinguished guests, and for other requirements, is seen 
 
4 THE VATICAN 
 
 from the fact that, at the same time as he removed the sliackles of the 
 Church, Constanline tlie Great assigned such a palace to its Pope. Tills 
 was llie Palace of tlie Lalei'ani, an old Roman family; and from the 
 name of this family the papal residence was briclly named the I^aleran. 
 In the course of the centuries this palace became so equipped with 
 works of art of every kind that Dante declared there was no more beau- 
 tiful residence on earth. 
 
 But when the Popes left Rome for a loni^ interval in the fourteenth 
 century, their palace fell into decay and sulTered considerable damage 
 from lire; and after the return of the Papacy to Rome, subsequent to 
 the Council of Constance (1417), the Lateran never recovered its posi- 
 tion as the centre of ecclesiastical life. The Popes went Orst to S. Maria 
 in Trastevere, then to S. Maria Maggiore (the Quirinal), and linally 
 to the Vatican. Since then the last-named palace has remained, prac- 
 tically without interruption, the residence of the Popes. This does 
 not mean that they dwelt there uninterrui)tedly, especially during the 
 sultry months of the year. Nor does it mean that attempts were not 
 made to transfer elsewhere the chief papal residence permanently — 
 for example, under Paul II, who had destined for this purpose the 
 Palazzo di Venezia, which he erected. Nor, finally, does it mean that 
 occasionally the Vatican did not remain unoccupied for long intervals. 
 Still it is perfectly correct to say that, since the fifteenth century, the 
 world has been accustomed to associate the term Vatican with the chief 
 residence of the Popes. 
 
 All other papal palaces, whether in Rome, Viterbo, Perugia, Anagni, 
 Avignon, Castel Gandolfo, or elsewhere, yield the palm to the Vatican 
 without a protest. 
 
 While situated in a distant corner of Rome, the Lateran residence lay 
 within the city walls and belonged to the city. The spot, however, 
 where Christ's first Vicegerent on earth was martyred and buried lay 
 outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber. Over the grave of St. 
 Peter Constanline the Great erected his glorious basilica. On this iial- 
 lowed spot assembled crowds of pilgrims from all lands, and here the 
 Popes repeatedly held the most glorious ecclesiastical functions. As 
 most of the great feasts began on the Vigil— that is. on the afternoon 
 preceding — the Pope had on such occasions to spend the night at St. 
 Peter's with his whole retinue. Hence arose the urgent necessity of 
 erecting in the vicinity a larger residence for the Pope. Again, in the 
 course of time many ])iinces and kings had to be received and lodged 
 by the Pope near St. Peter's. Thus, under the force of circumstances, 
 the originally modest residence developed into a great palace immedi- 
 ately adjacent to the Basilica Constantini. The Pope only did what the 
 
ns:] 
 
6 THE \' ATI CAN 
 
 Christian nations in Europe did in these early centuries for their sub- 
 jects \ isitinj^ Home. In a small circle around St. Peter's arose pilj^rim- 
 houses for the Anglo-Saxons, the (iermans, Oriental pilgrims, and so 
 on. The grave of the Prince of the Apostles was thus surrounded by 
 a number of more or less pretentious buildings, of whicii all served 
 indirectly to show veneration to St. Peter. And all lay outside the city 
 walls. It was a settlement of a peculiar kind which was there estab- 
 lished. Without any orderly arrangement of streets, houses, number- 
 less churches, and cemeteries were spread in an artistic group over the 
 plain at the foot of Mount Vatican. 
 
 This settlement, however, was exposed to every hostile invasion. 
 The Saracens on one occasion sacked the Basilica and all the adjacent 
 buildings so thoroughly that Leo IV (847-855) determined to surround 
 the Vatican Hill with walls. Of these a small portion, with two power- 
 ful towers, may be still seen in the Vatican Gardens. The settlement 
 thus became a portion of the city, although as yet the municipal admin- 
 istration of Rome exercised no authority over the Vatican district. 
 It was, indeed, not until the sixteenth century that the separate 
 papal administration of the Leonine City (as the district was named, 
 after Leo IV) was merged in the general administration of the City 
 of Rome. 
 
 Architectural History. — Neglecting the maze of conjectures con- 
 cerning the origin of the first dwelling of the Popes near St. Peter's, we 
 meet the certain information that Pope Symmachus (498-514) built a 
 palace immediately adjacent to the Basilica, on the left and right. What 
 further buildings were erected there in the following centuries is not 
 known. Under the Popes from Eugene III to Innocent III, inclusive 
 (1145-1210), fairly extensive buildings grew up around St. Peter's, so 
 that between the Portico of St. Peter and the Vatican Hill a very beauti- 
 ful palace had arisen. 
 
 Pope Nicholas HI (1277-1280) conceived magnificent plans for cov- 
 ering the Vatican Hill with buildings. He began the erection of a very 
 extensive palace there, and this was brought to approximate comj)le- 
 tion by his immediate successors. By extensive purchases of land 
 through his Apostolic Chamber (that is, the Papal Ministry of Finance), 
 Nicholas a.ssured to the Popes the undisturbed possession of the \'ati- 
 can Hill and the surrounding property. The present Vatican Gardens 
 represent a large pf)rtion of Nicholas's |)urchase. 
 
 In so far as the investigations into the history of the building of liie 
 old Apostolic Palace beside St. Peter's extend, and in so far as this 
 history may be deduced froiu the masonry, we may slate that the 
 buildings erected by Nicholas and his successors occupied aj^proxi- 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 7 
 
 mately the site where the western, southern, and eastern boundaries of 
 the Cortile del Papagallo are now situated, and communicated with the 
 buildings which lie around the Cortile del Maresciallo. 
 
 In 1305 — a few years after the completion of this new palace, which 
 stood high on the Vatican Hill and dominated the Rasilica — the Arch- 
 bishop of Bordeaux was elected Pope and took the title of Clement V. 
 Instead of proceeding directly to the Curia and Sacred College at 
 Perugia, he summoned them to meet him in southern France. If he 
 
 
 
 immu n 
 
 >-•*=«• 4a MM* t«.. 
 
 Pari of the- Piazza di S. Pii'tro, showing the Vatican Palace 
 
 ever seriously entertained the thought of going to Rome, he never put 
 this plan into execution. For, after wandering irresolutely for a time 
 in southern France, he finally settled in Avignon. Thus began the 
 Avignon Exile of the Papacy, which lasted until the beginning of 
 the great Western Schism in 1378, when the Anti-Pope Clement VII 
 of Avignon opposed the rightful Pope (Urban VI) in Rome. The 
 schism w^as finally settled by the election of Martin V at the Council of 
 Constance in 1417, after which the Roman Pope (Martin V) was ac- 
 cepted by the whole Catholic world as the only and rightful successor 
 of Peter. Another schism was indeed later caused by the Anti-Pope 
 Felix V (1439-1449), whose name is closely associated with the Council 
 
8 THE VATICAN 
 
 of Basle, but it exercised no appreciable efTect on the general peace of 
 
 the Church. 
 
 The departure of the Popes from Rome to Avignon (l-'JOo) left the 
 Eternal Cily desolate. Churches, streets, and palaces fell into decay; 
 internal feuds caused grievous bloodshed; impoverished Rome sank 
 away into insignificance. The general fate of the cily was shared by 
 the buildings around St. Peter's. The roofs leaked: Ihe rains beat in 
 through the windows; those who desired to pilfer building material 
 from the edifices did so without interference. 
 
 The chief residence of the Popes had hitherto been the Lateran Pal- 
 ace, but a fierce fire had, as already remarked, almost complelely gutted 
 it. And thus il came to pass that the Popes of the fifteenth century 
 adopted as their chief residence the Vatican Palace, wdiich was gradu- 
 ally undergoing a complete restoration. 
 
 Where the visitor beholds to-day with wondering admiration the 
 Loggie of Raphael, the state rooms of the Appartamento Borgia, and 
 the Stanze of Raphael, Nicholas V (1447-1455) undertook to build an 
 extension to the existing buildings. At the end of the same century 
 Alexander VI (1492-1503) erected a strong tower immediately adjacent 
 (the Torre Borgia), which, being now deprived of its militant crown, 
 conveys no longer the impression of a tower. 
 
 The south side of the old palace was beautified by Pius II (1458- 
 1464) and Paul II (1464-1471), while Innocent VIII undertook such a 
 fundamental renovation of the first palace, adjacent to the Portico of 
 St. Peter, that he might be said to have practically rebuilt it. Conse- 
 quently, this portion of the Vatican buildings has been since known 
 as the Palazzo di Innocenzo VI II. For purposes of defence. Pope 
 Nicholas V erected at the foot of the Vatican Hill, in the direction of 
 S. Angelo, a powerful bastion whose mighty walls awaken even to- 
 day the astonishment of every visitor. It was named II Torrione di 
 Niccolo V. 
 
 All these buildings were confined to the eastern and southern sides 
 of the Vatican Hill, and thus lay in the immediate vicinity of St. Peter's. 
 The only exception was a summer-house, which Innocent Mil erected 
 at a distance of about seven hundred melres lo the north of the pal- 
 ace in the Gardens. How Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI 
 (1775-1799) transformed this Casino d'Innocenzo VIll. with its glo- 
 rious ceilings and other princely decorations, into one of Ihe most 
 important portions of the Vatican Museum of Statuary, will be dis- 
 cussed below. 
 
 Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), the gifted founder of the Palatine Li- 
 brary, erected on the ground floor in the northern wing of the buildings 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 9 
 
 enclosing the Cortile del Papagallo the state rooms for his collection 
 of books. 
 
 To this fairly uniform group of buildings Julius II (1503-1513) 
 added a long gallery at right angles. It begins near the Loggie and 
 extends to the Casino of Innocent VIII. This contains to-day the Gal- 
 leria Lapidaria or Corridoio delle Iscrizioni (Gallery of Inscriptions) 
 and the Museo Chiaramonti (a section of the Sculpture Gallery). 
 Parallel to the above and beginning from the Borgia Tower, Pius IV 
 (1559-1565) built a similar long and narrow row of buildings in which 
 are accommodated to-day the Vatican Pinacoteca (Picture Gallery), a 
 
 ('.(irtile ili lU'lvrik-rc 
 
 large portion of the Library' and of the Museum, and also the Secret 
 Archives. As a kind of connecting link between the ends of these 
 parallel buildings, the same Pontiff erected the monumental Loggia 
 known as II Gran Nicchione (the Great Niche). 
 
 Where the above-mentioned row of buildings meets the Borgia 
 Tower, PiusV (1566-1572) established three chapels, one over the other, 
 and all the buildings to the north are to be credited to the same Pope. 
 
 The building connecting the palace and the Torrione di Niccolo V 
 owes its origin to Pius V and his successor, Gregory XIII. The power- 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 (jiiiilc ili S. 1 >amas 
 
 Siiilo Pia 
 
 Scala Nobile 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 which the Popes 
 
 11 
 
 ts lived and 
 
 Bronze Gate 
 
 fill block, in 
 themselves had long 
 still live, runs at right angles to 
 this connecting building and to 
 the Torrione, and covers the last 
 spurs of the Vatican Hill in the 
 direction of S. Angelo. It was be- 
 gun by the great Sixtus V (1585- 
 1590), but was onlv completed 
 under Clement VIII '(1592-1605). 
 Extending along the southern 
 slopes of the hill towards the 
 Piazza di S. Pietro, Julius HI 
 (1550-1555) erected some low 
 buildings upon mighty, almost 
 Cyclopean substructures. These 
 buildings were not quite com- 
 pleted until the reign of Pius IX 
 (1846-1878). 
 
 Sixtus V erected a transverse 
 building joining in the middle the two wings wdiich run to the Gran 
 Nicchione. In this building he established the new library, and the 
 mighty court was now divided into two parts. The upper half of this 
 court was further divided by a transverse wing, known as the Braccio 
 Nuovo, in which Pius VII (1800-1823) placed a number of choice trea- 
 sures of the Sculpture Gallery. All the other buildings about the Gran 
 Nicchione devoted to the Museum were either built or rebuilt under 
 Pius VI and Pius VII (1775-1828). A very small wing, arched over the 
 passage leading to the Museum and containing valuable antiquities, 
 was built by Paul V ( 1605-1621 ) . 
 
 The quarters of the Swiss Guard and the gendarmes lie in front of 
 the Torrione, and date from the nineteenth century. Other smaller 
 scattered groups of buildings may be here passed over, inasmuch as 
 they are without importance in the architectural history of the palace. 
 Leo XIII (1878-1903) erected on the top of the hill in the Vatican Gar- 
 dens a summer-house of modest dimensions, which now serves as the 
 Vatican Observatory. Finally, Pius X has erected a large building near 
 the Palace of Sixtus V for the clerks and servants of the Vatican. Of 
 the last we shall speak further below. 
 
 Papal Apartments. — Visitors crossing the bridge of S. Angelo and 
 hurrying through the Borgo Nuovo to St. Peter's, see to the right a 
 mighty, but rather unsightly palace towering high above the Colon- 
 
12 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Section of tlie Ceiling, Sala Concistoria 
 
 Sala Concistoria 
 
The Decano 
 
 HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 13 
 
 nades of the Piazza di S. Pietro. 
 To the left of the palace lies a 
 courtyard surrounded on three 
 sides by Loggie, which were for- 
 merly open, but are now enclosed 
 by glass windows. The palace is 
 that of Sixtus V. The north side 
 of the open court is bounded by 
 the row of buildings erected by 
 Pius V and Gregory XIII, while 
 the buildings on the west were 
 built by Nicholas V. 
 
 The Pope dwells on the second 
 and third stories of the Palace of 
 Sixtus V, and his Secretary of 
 State occupies the first floor. Vis- 
 itors invited to a private audience 
 enter the palace through the 
 Bronze Gate(Portone diBronzo), 
 the portal at the beginning of the 
 right colonnade, and are directed up a staircase by the non-commis- 
 sioned officer or sergeant-major of the Swiss Guard posted there. This 
 abnormally broad flight, with its massive granite steps and marble bal- 
 ustrade, was erected by Pius IX to provide the Vatican Palace with a 
 monumental stairway, and is consequently known as the Scala Pia. A 
 door on the second landing leads to the office of the Sub-Prefect of the 
 Apostolic Palaces, while the door on the third and last landing leads to 
 the offices of the High Chamberlain of His Holiness, the Maestro di 
 Camera. 
 
 A few steps further on we reach the Cortile di S. Damaso (Court of 
 St. Damasus). Two papal gendarmes guard the entrance, and direct 
 visitors to any part of the palace. This Cortile di S. Damaso is the open 
 court which we see from the Piazza di S. Pietro, and now fills us with 
 wonder and admiration, its quiet majesty being disturbed only by the 
 automobiles awaiting some ambassadors and envoys who are visiting 
 the Cardinal Secretary of State. 
 
 Our way now leads us diagonally across the courtyard to a somewhat 
 unsightly tower before which two gendarmes are on guard. After a 
 careful scrutiny of our invitation to the audience, we are admitted and 
 ascend a few steps to meet some sentries of the Swiss Guard, who are 
 stationed at the Scala Nobile (Noble Staircase) with halberd on arm. 
 This staircase is lighted by two stained glass windows, restored by the 
 
14 THE VATICAN 
 
 late Prince Regent Leopold of Bavaria after those donated by King 
 Louis had been destroyed by the shock of a powder exjihjsion in 
 the neighborhood. Over the staircase itself, the steps of whicii are of 
 wliite marble, arches a colfered roof, while llie walls are lined with 
 yellow artiticial marble. On the first landing are seen the doors lead- 
 ing to the chambers of the Cardinal Secretary of State; one of the Swiss 
 Guards is stationed here also, and directs us to the next landing. Hav- 
 ing reached this landing, we are confronted by a glass door through 
 which we see an immensely high and almost square hall — the Sala 
 
 Siila Clementina 
 
 Clementina (Clementine Hall ), named after its founder, Pope Clement 
 VHI Aldobrandini (1592-1605). Should the visitor be unaware of the 
 family from which this Pope sprang, the arched roof covered willi 
 frescoes, in which the arms of the Aldobrandini appear in every pos- 
 sible combination, (piickly informs him. A picket of Swiss (luards 
 stand on sentry at the end of the hall, and present arms while the Maes- 
 tro di Camera goes to wait on His Holiness. The impression made on 
 the visitor by this wonderful hall, with its gical architectural beauty, is 
 deep and lasting. It is the magnificent antechamber to the reception 
 rooms of the Holy Father, and, on account of its size, is often used for 
 the reception of pilgrims. 
 
 Behind the Sala Clementina is the Sala Concistoria (Consistorial 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 15 
 
 Hall), a long but narrow room hung with red damask. The richly cof- 
 fered roof gleams with a lustre of gold. In the background rises a 
 throne, richly caparisoned but exercising not an entirely pleasing 
 effect; this was presented to Pius X by the Catholics of Venice. From 
 the Sala Clementina we proceed to the Anticamera Rassa, where ser- 
 vants in dark red uniforms assist the visitors to remove their overcoats 
 and wraps. The head servant in black dress-coat, who is called the 
 Decano, takes our invitation, leads us through a series of apartments 
 to the Throne Room, and there leaves us to await our turn. The first 
 of the well-lighted rooms through which we pass is known as the Sala 
 (lei Gendarmi, because here on solemn occasions two gendarmes in 
 full uniform with high busbies keep guard. The second apartment 
 traversed is a corner room, and is therefore known as the Sala del Can- 
 tone; it is also called the Sala delta Guardia Palatina, because a division 
 of the Palatine Guard render honorary service here on festivals. In the 
 third room — a room of moderate size — hang three Gobelins; as the 
 lilies conspicuous in the coat of arms decorating these tapestries 
 might suggest, they were presented to the Pope by Louis XV. The 
 fourth room is narrow, and in this members of the Noble Guard are 
 stationed. 
 
 The door in the background leads to one of the private chapels of the 
 Holy Father, who sometimes administers Easter Communion there to 
 the prelates on Maundy Thursday. The floor of the Throne Room, in 
 which we now find ourselves, is entirely covered by a thick carpet 
 manufactured specially for this hall. The carpet is a present from 
 Spain and is of great value. The arms of Leo XIII show that it dates 
 from his pontificate. The walls are hung with red damask. On the 
 longitudinal walls are seen a pair of monumental marble consoles with 
 valuable French chimney clocks from the time of Louis XVI. Two 
 huge windows admit a light softened by white silk curtains and green 
 silk draperies; these windows command a delightful view of S. Angelo, 
 the Pincio, and the city between. The new Palace of Justice, with its 
 steep roof and its obtrusive ornamentation, is a disturbing element in 
 the picture. Opposite the windows stands the plain throne, surmounted 
 by a canopy. 
 
 We have just had time to examine carefully our surroundings, and 
 to allow the glorious simplicity and pure restfulness characterizing the 
 decorations of all the rooms traversed to make their impression, when 
 we hear the voice of the Chamberlain in waiting summoning us to fol- 
 low him. We first enter another corner room, the Anticamera Segreta 
 (Privy Antechamber), which is occupied by the immediate personal 
 attendants of the Pope. The yellow tint of the old and very valuable 
 
16 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Throne Room 
 
 Privy AnlfrliambcT 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 17 
 
 Gobelin carpet which covers the floor is in complete harmony with the 
 quiet but refined decorations. The little table in the corner indicates 
 that some official is regularly stationed there. This Privy Antechamber 
 separates the general reception rooms from those which are used for 
 the various grades of private audience. At the end of this suite lies 
 the large library used by the Holy Father both as a working room 
 and for receptions. We are next led through two small rooms 
 
 Sala i\v\ 'ri'iiiu'tto 
 
 whose atmosphere is one of supreme restfulness. A smaller room 
 is then reached, known as the Sala del Tronetto from the plain throne 
 it contains. 
 
 We now stand before a door hung with red draperies. The Chamber- 
 lain in waiting knocks, genuflects, and then announces us. At a sign 
 from the Chamberlain we enter, make the prescribed triple reverence, 
 and see fixed on us the kindly eyes of an aged, gray-haired man clothed 
 in white. Standing, he greets us, motions us to take our places near his 
 writing-table, and quickly dispels our embarrassment with his kind 
 and reassuring words. 
 
 Three large windows light the lofty and broad room, which serves 
 as the private library of the Pope. A number of book-cases line the 
 walls; a mahogany table of gigantic dimensions runs through the mid- 
 dle of the room, and is littered with books, documents, presents of all 
 
18 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 I'll \ ;ilc l.ibrarv (if tlic 
 
 kinds, a few vases, and other objects. A row of valuable oil paintings, 
 representing wild animals, hangs over the bookcases. Three busts 
 resting on magnificent marble pillars complete the furnishings. On 
 the writing-table ticks a valuable clock, and a number of small presents 
 from all lands fill every space on the table left unoccupied by books 
 and documents. A second door leads from the hall to a vestibule, and 
 thence a stairway leads to the third story. After w^ork is done in the 
 evening, or when meal-time comes, the Pope ascends by this stairway 
 to the living-rooms which he occupies with his two private secretaries. 
 On this upper floor are the bedrooms, the dining-room, the sitting- 
 room, rooms for the servants, the kitchen, and the other rooms pertain- 
 ing to housekeeping. All these rooms are furnished with great sim- 
 plicity, and the houses of many well-to-do burgesses possess much 
 more costly furniture than the private apartments of the Pope. 
 
 From time immemorial it was customary for the Poi)e to take his 
 meals alone. Only when (before 1870) he was on summer holidays 
 (for example, at Castel Gandolfo) or on a journey was he accustomed 
 to dine with the high cf)ui't officers and specially invited guests. Leo 
 XIII observed Ihis rule siriclly, bul Pius X, who is very sociable as com- 
 pared with his more reserved predecessors, could not sentence himself 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 19 
 
 to loneliness at meal-time. After 
 the first few days of his pontifi- 
 cate, he invited his two private 
 secretaries to join him at meals, 
 just as he had done as Patriarch 
 of Venice. He went even fur- 
 ther, and when occasionally he 
 consecrated a bishop he invited 
 the new prelate and his nearest 
 of kin to lunch. He also fre- 
 quently invited to breakfast illus- 
 trious guests to whom he had 
 administered Holy Communion 
 during his Mass. The traditional 
 isolation of the Pope has thus to a 
 great extent ceased since the coro- 
 nation of Pius X, and in this re- 
 spect ceremonial has been greatly 
 modified, at least for the present 
 pontificate. 
 
 Southern and Eastern Sections. 
 black-bordered invitation which entitles us to attend the Solemn Re- 
 quiem in the Sistine Chapel, celebrated each year for the happy repose 
 of the predecessor of the reigning Pontiff. As our invitation informs 
 us, the entrance is through the Bronze Gate, below on the Piazza di S. 
 Pietro. Thence we proceed along the long corridor which leads 
 to St. Peter's, but is also the immediate approach to the Scala Regia 
 (Royal Staircase). This was built by Bernini under Alexander VII 
 (1655-1667), and, owing to a very remarkable arrangement of 
 the pillars supporting the vault, which project further from the wall 
 below than above on the staircase, a very imposing perspective effect 
 is gained. 
 
 At the end of this architecturally striking portion of the staircase we 
 turn to the right and ascend a broad flight of steps to an extraordinarily 
 high door which admits us to the Sala Regia (Royal Hall). This hall 
 has seven doors. Besides that by which we entered, a door in the small 
 wall to the right leads to the Pauline Chapel (Cappella Paolina), the 
 parochial church of the Vatican parish. On the opposite wall the first 
 door leads to the huge Aula, situated over the Portico of St. Peter; the 
 middle door gives access to the Cortile del Maresciallo over a servants' 
 staircase; a huge door in the left corner leads from the Sala Regia to the 
 Sala Ducale. To the left of the door by which we enter is the sixth door, 
 
 Wriliiig-Uible of Pope Pius X 
 
 -Suppose we have received the 
 
20 THE VATICAN 
 
 Icadiiii- to the Sistine Chapel. The seveiiili door, to the lii^ht as we 
 enter, leads to a servants' room. 
 
 The present writer has seen this celebrated chapel when it was pre- 
 pared for the exequies of Leo XIII, for the celebration of great feasts, 
 for the Conclave (when all the canopied seats for the electors lined the 
 walls), for Secret Consistories, and for many other events now regis- 
 tered in the annals of Church history. 
 
 On the present occasion, the Cardinal Deacon celebrates the Re 
 {[uiem, and the 
 the throne. In 
 behind the lat- 
 the cardinals, 
 ingtotheirrank , _., _,. „^^ ^ ts? - 
 
 ,.: -i. 
 
 Behind the car- 
 lioned the arch- 
 ops, the colleges 
 generals of the 
 ders, the judges 
 Courts, and 
 high oflicials. 
 tion of the 
 marble bar- 
 sembled the 
 racy, the diplo- 
 to the Holy See, 
 vited persons 
 land. In the 
 is held the Con- 
 election of a 
 
 Sciila HeRia 
 
 Pope assists on 
 the quadrangle 
 ter are seated 
 ranged accord- 
 and seniority, 
 dinals are sta- 
 l)ishoi)s, bish- 
 of prelates, the 
 religious or- 
 of the Papal 
 many other 
 In the rear por- 
 chapel, behind 
 riers, are as- 
 Roman aristoc- 
 mats accredited 
 and other in- 
 from every 
 Sistine Chapel 
 clave for the 
 new Pope. 
 
 The Sacristan, or Pastor of the Vatican and the Apostolic Palaces, 
 who is always a titular l)ishop, exercises his office in the above-men- 
 tioned Pauline Chajjcl, and has the spiritual care of the many hundred 
 residents of the palace. 
 
 Public Consistories are usually held in the Sala Regia, while the Sala 
 Ducale is especially suilai)le for the reception of bodies of i)ilgrims. 
 From the Sala Ducale a door leads to the Sala dei Paramcnti, in which 
 the Pope ordinaiily assumes the pontifical vestments when he under- 
 takes some function in any of the above-mentioned halls. The assem- 
 bled cardinals await the Pope in the neighboring room, the Sala dello 
 Spogliatoio, in which also the prelates take their i)laces. These halls 
 receive their light from (he I.oggie of Giovanni da Udine, of which 
 more will be said below. The walls of these rooms, access to which is 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 21 
 
 denied the general public, are covered with red damask, and are also 
 adorned with some Gobelins richly ornamented with life-sized figures. 
 After the Holy Father has administered Holy Communion to the spir- 
 itual portion of his family on Maundy Thursday, the communi- 
 cants are by his orders here entertained at breakfast. The Majordomo, 
 or in his absence the Maestro di Camera, does the honors on such oc- 
 casions. 
 
 We are here on the second story of the palace, and, if we step out 
 from the Sala del Paramenti to the Loggie situated before it, we can 
 look down on the Cortile di S. Damaso. The bay windows protect the 
 paintings of the Loggie, which are the work of the great master Gio 
 vanni da Udine. The sketches for the paintings and stucco decorations 
 of these once open halls were made by Raphael himself, as is suggested 
 by the marble bust of the master at the head of the hall. Leaf- and 
 tendril-work border the airy architectonic lines, and the elfect is en- 
 livened by animals of every kind, while the groining of the vaults 
 presents a picture instinct with gaiety and joyous coloring. A few small 
 earthenware figures of great artistic value adorn the sparely orna- 
 mented walls. Among these is a particularly striking figure of Leo 
 
 XIII in full papal vestments. The other portions of the Loggie on this 
 story are furnished in essentially simpler fashion, and offer nothing 
 of special artistic note. 
 
 Near the Loggie of Giovanni da Udine lies the Appartamento Borgia, 
 which receives special treatment elsewhere. Passing the door leading 
 to this Appartamento and ascending a few steps, we reach the Gallery 
 of Inscriptions, an extremely long corridor in which about six thou- 
 sand inscriptions are shown. This collection was begun under Clement 
 
 XIV (1769-1774), continued under Pius \T (1775-1799), and completed 
 under Pius VH (1800-1823). Gaetano Marini, the famous scholar, who 
 has been named the second founder of Latin epigraphy, here applied 
 his great diligence and marvellous learning to the systematic arrange- 
 ment of the inscriptions, the Christian being inserted in the left wall 
 and the pagan in the right. Marini's magnificent work awakens the 
 astonishment of every visitor, and is of incalculable value to the 
 student. 
 
 At the end of the Gallery of Inscriptions we see on the left a huge 
 door on which is written: Bibliotheca Vaticana. Until recently this 
 was the main entrance to the reading-room of the Library. How things 
 are now arranged will be dealt with later. Adjoining the Gallery of 
 Inscriptions is that portion of the Sculpture Gallery which is known 
 as the Museo Chiaramonti. 
 
 As already mentioned, the Holy Father has his reception rooms on 
 
22 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Section (if the Ceiling of the Sala Regia 
 
 Section of a Wall in the Sala Regia 
 
 Sala lU-gia 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 23 
 
 the second floor. If the visitor on entering the Sala Clementina, instead 
 of proceeding to the papal apartments on the right, passes through the 
 opposite door on the left, he arrives at the Loggie of the second floor. 
 Straight before him lie the Slanze of Raphael, and at the entrance 
 thereto, immediately to the left, the Loggie of Raphael. The works of 
 art collected in these comparatively small rooms through the royal 
 liberality of the Renaissance Popes, enjoy a universal celebrity', and 
 are described by expert pens in special chapters of this book. 
 
 Northern and Western Sections. — Should we proceed around St. 
 Peter's to visit the Vatican Collections, we pass through an arched door 
 and encounter a very long wing of the palace, in the middle of which 
 arises a powerful quadrilateral tower. This whole long row of build- 
 ings, erected by Pius IV, is devoted exclusively to art and science. Right 
 before us we see the entrance to the Vatican Picture Gallerj'. It is situ- 
 ated on the ground floor, and the fire-proof arches receive their light 
 from the east. F'urther on, also on the ground floor, lie a number of the 
 rooms devoted to the Vatican Secret Archives. The full length of this 
 wing on the first floor is occupied by the state rooms of the Vatican 
 Library, to which the two huge halls in the cross-building built by 
 Sixtus V and large rooms in the opposite longitudinal wing also belong. 
 On the second story are special portions of the Museum, the Gallery 
 containing the renowned tapestries of Raphael, and the Gallery of 
 Geographical Charts — sections of the Vatican Collections which will be 
 treated fully elsewhere. The buildings of the northern wing, grouped 
 around the Gran Nicchione, are devoted entirely to the Museums of 
 Antiquities and Sculpture. By referring to the plans of the palace, the 
 reader can easily identify the numerous divisions of the palace men- 
 tioned in the preceding sections. They represent practically all the 
 really noteworthy portions of a mighty palace which possesses a deep 
 interest for everybody. 
 
 Courts of the Vatican. — The reader is now requested to return to the 
 Cortile di S. Damaso to undertake, under the writer's guidance, a round 
 of the various courtyards. A passage on the right of the Cortile di S. 
 Damaso leads into the inner court of the Palace of Sixtus V, known as 
 the Cortile di Sisto V. An entrance, recently reopened, leads over some 
 steps and passages to the Cortile del Triangolo, a three-cornered court 
 situated exactly behind the Cortile di S. Damaso but on a much lower 
 level. Passing along the outside wall of this court, we reach the Cortile 
 di Belvedere. A short halt here will repay the visitor. In the middle 
 of this mighty courtyard, which the Swiss Guards formerly used as an 
 exercising-ground, murmurs a magnificent fountain, in the basin of 
 which ducks of numerous fancy breeds disport themselves. Every side 
 
24 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Section of the Ceiling, Sala Ducale 
 
 Snla Ducale 
 
Medieval ('.ate Icailinn to tin- C.irlilc lUl I'.i],: 
 
 HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 25 
 
 of the court is flanked by lofty 
 buildings. From this point the 
 Picture Gallery may be seen on 
 the lofty first floorof the opposite 
 side, the entrance being on the 
 ground floor. Beneath the pow- 
 erful arches which support the 
 Picture Gallery and the other col- 
 lections mentioned above runs a 
 steep carriage-drive. The Library 
 of Sixtus V abuts on the one nar- 
 row side of the court in the right 
 corner, and the other longitudi- 
 nal side accommodates the Gal- 
 lery of Inscriptions. The second 
 short side protrudes in a sharp 
 curve below% and here the Appar- 
 tamento Borgia and the Stanze of 
 Raphael greet us with their small 
 windows. It is a glorious view 
 for visitors who can slowly drink in its beauties and realize that they 
 are here surrounded by the most precious treasures of science and of 
 art. In one corner rises defiantly the Torre dei Quattro Venti (Tower 
 of the Four Winds), in which the scholars engaged by Gregory XIII 
 (1572-1585), under Lilius, Clavius, and Chaconius, worked out their 
 famous reform of the calendar. Great festivals were once celebrated 
 in this court, and even in our days festivities are occasionally held here 
 in the presence of the Holy Father. 
 
 Let us now ascend the above-mentioned covered drive, in the middle 
 of wdiich begins the subterranean passage, constructed specially for 
 Pius X, which leads under the Picture Gallery and the adjoining car- 
 riageway to the Vatican Gardens. We thus reach the Cortile delta Sen- 
 tinella, so called because a sentry of the Swiss Guard here guards the 
 entrance. We can now behold the massive substructure of the Sistine 
 Chapel, wdiich mounts high into the air beside St. Peter's. A plain portal 
 inserted in the buttresses of the building gives access to the Cortile delta 
 Torre Borgia (Court of the Borgia Tower), which was mentioned 
 above. A few steps more and we reach the Cortile del Papagallo (the 
 Parrot's Court). An old story is associated with this strange name. 
 The first parrots w^ere brought to southern Italy after the discovery 
 of the Canary Islands. As it was then customary for the rulers of every 
 land to offer novelties as a present to the Pope, these birds were sent 
 
26 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Cortik' (Ic'lla Pigna, showing the Braccio Nuovo 
 
 to the Vatican. On their arrival they were housed in a separate hall, 
 and were assigned a special attendant. All expenses incurred in con- 
 nection with them may be found detailed in the papal account-books. 
 Later all the papal palaces in Italy, and even that in Avignon, possessed 
 a Sala dei Papagalli (Parrots' Hall). As in the Vatican the hall lay in 
 one of the wings enclosing the court, the name was extended from the 
 hall to the court. 
 
 The ground floor, on the northern side of this court, contains the old 
 library of Sixtus IV. Passing now through a passage on the right, we 
 see facing us the roof of the Colonnade of St. Peter's. This serves as 
 the southern boundary of the Cortile del Maresciallo (the Marshal's 
 Court), which we now enter. When a Conclave is being held in liie 
 Vatican for the election of a new Pope, the hereditary Marshal of the 
 Conclave, Prince Chigi, is stationed here to protect the Conclave from 
 outside interference. A covered passage brings us back to the Cortile 
 di S. Damaso. 
 
 The Cortile delta Stamperia is accessible only through the vestibule 
 of the Torre dei Oualiro \'enti or through the Vatican Library. It 
 owes its name to the (act that the Vatican Press once occupied rooms 
 on this court which are now incorporated in the Vatican Library. 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 27 
 
 The last court to call for mention is the Cortile delta Pigna. As 
 already stated, this and the last-mentioned courts once formed with the 
 Cortile di Belvedere a single gigantic court, which was then divided into 
 three parts by Sixtus V (Library of Sixtus V) and Pius VII (Braccio 
 Nuovo). The Cortile di Belvedere is very low-lying; the Cortile delta 
 Stamperia is several metres higher, while the Cortile delta Pigna lies 
 on a level with the first floor. 
 
 General View of the Cortile della Pigna 
 
 In the Gran Nicchione (Great Niche), which forms the extraordi- 
 narily impressive boundary of this third court, stands a huge bronze 
 pine-cone (pigna), dating from very early times. This has given its 
 name to the court. In the middle of this court, which the gardener's 
 skill has greatly enhanced, rises a high column of precious marble, on 
 the pinnacle of which a figure of St. Peter stands. This was erected in 
 commemoration of the Vatican Council of 1870. Around the foot of 
 the walls lie a large number of antiquities, which can claim no place 
 in the Museum itself, but which are nevertheless well worth attention. 
 The buildings surrounding the court belong almost exclusively to the 
 great Museum, the principal works of art being preserved in the build- 
 ings behind the Gran Nicchione and in the Braccio Nuovo, which lies 
 opposite. 
 
 A view of all the above-mentioned courts may be secured by ascend- 
 
28 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 B;is-relitf with Wnrriors, Cortilc dclla Pigna 
 
 ing to the Cupola of St. Peter's. From there we see far bek)\v us the 
 mighty ashlars of the different palaces; the smaller courts yawn be- 
 neath us like pits, while the larger in their majestic repose bring into 
 sharp prominence the lines of the surrounding buildings. It is a re- 
 markable view for those who meditate that in this palace, peacefully 
 reposing at their feet, have been enacted during a long succession of 
 centuries an endless chain of the important scenes of religious and 
 secular history. This palace, erected by the very side of the grave of 
 the Prince of the Apostles, has been for almost five centuries the chief 
 abode of the Papacy. For forty-three years indeed it has also been the 
 prison of the Popes, who lost practically all their possessions in llic 
 year 1870, and who now possess but this palace and this tiny handlul 
 of earth. From our present position we can survey the \'alican (iar- 
 dens, the only refuge of the white-haired Pope when he wishes to 
 walk in the open air. If fortune favor us, and the day be clear, we 
 may see His Holiness taking his half-hour's outing along the broad 
 I)ath in the Cardens. For a short while the carriage halts in the full 
 suidight at the top of the Gardens near the Leonine Wall, and then the 
 Pope takes a short walk with his attendant. 
 
 Entrances to the Vatican. — The guarding of all the entrances to 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 29 
 
 Apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina — Bas-relief, 
 Cortile della Pigna 
 
 the palace from the city is entrusted to the Swiss Guard. Four gates are 
 under their protection. The main entrance, or Bronze Gate, under the 
 Colonnades on the Piazza di S. Pietro, is known to every Roman and 
 every visitor. Here is stationed the strongest guard, under the com- 
 mand of one of their chief officers, especially during the afternoon. At 
 the approach of all dignitaries, archbishops, bishops, and prelates, 
 when these are recognizable as such by their dress, and at the approach 
 of all officers of the Vatican military or police corps, the picket fall into 
 line at the summons of the sentry. If the visitor does not wear his 
 otTicial dress, but is personally known to the sentry, the latter alone 
 gives the prescribed salute. On solemn occasions, such as the high 
 ecclesiastical feasts, the banner of the Swiss Guards is here suspended, 
 and the sentry wears parade uniform. This gate is closed at night, and 
 all persons then seeking admission, unless they dwell in the Vatican 
 or are personally known to the sentry, must establish their identity 
 fully. They are then admitted through a very small door in one of the 
 wings of the portal. During the night the sentries wear undress uni- 
 form and the appropriate cape. The second entrance is through the 
 Portal of Alexander VI, in the middle of and behind the Colonnades. 
 
30 THE VATICAN 
 
 It is immediately adjacent to the quarters of the Swiss Guard. The 
 use of this door by slrani^crs is prohibited, unless they are i^oing to the 
 canteen of liie Swiss (luard or wish to visit some one in the vicinity. 
 The tiiird entrance is from tlie street lo tiie \'atican Press and the dis- 
 pensary, both of which are situated in the immediate neighborhood 
 of the Torrione di Niccolo V. Tln'ough this door passes the brisk busi- 
 ness trafiic with the dispensary and printing oPIices. It serves as the 
 general lamily entrance to the new building which has been erected by 
 Pius X for the Vatican employes and their families. Behind St. Peter's, 
 at the foot of the Sistine Chapel, is the fourth entrance, situated on the 
 
 The Pigna 
 
 public road leading to the Vatican Collections. The guarding of this 
 entrance is especially important, since all cars and automobiles pro- 
 ceeding to the Cortile di S. Damaso enter this way. The guards must 
 possess an excellent memory for persons so as to give the appropriate 
 salute to each cardinal, ambassador, envoy, and prelate as he passes. 
 
 Exterior of the Vatican Palaces. — Persons who make a complete 
 tour of the Vatican, and view the exterior of the palace from the various 
 courts, are in a certain sense disa|)pf)inted. If we leave out of consid- 
 eration certain individual features and several poetical corners, and 
 regard the palace as a whole, we receive the impression of vastness, 
 solidity, and magnificence, but for architectural beauties we seek in 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 The Popes, who all contrib- 
 
 31 
 
 Tower nf the Four Winds 
 
 quite 
 
 vain. 
 
 uted their share to the erection of 
 this mass of buildings, devoted re- 
 markably little attention to the 
 external appearance of the palace. 
 The Cortile di S. Damaso, the main 
 wall of the Cortile della Pigna, and 
 a few other portions of the palace 
 do indeed possess architectural 
 charm. But, taking the palace as 
 a whole and passing over per- 
 haps the buildings of Sixtus V, 
 we see only buildings erected for 
 a definite purpose and walls 
 constructed only in the plainest 
 way. 
 
 That only very few visitors are 
 conscious of this fact may be sim- 
 ply explained, because visitors as 
 a class desire chiefly to become 
 
 acquainted with the treasures of the interior, and are usually 
 content with a leisurely survey of the Palace of Sixtus V and the Cortile 
 di S. Damaso from the Piazza di S. Pietro. The picture which thus pre- 
 sents itself to the gaze of the visitor is so intimately associated with the 
 front of St. Peter's owing to the aspiring bare gable of the Sistine 
 Chapel, that the eye loses, as it were, all details in the grandeur of the 
 picture as a whole. 
 
 The quiet court lying at the foot of the Palace of Sixtus V and 
 bounded on the right by the Torrione di Niccolo V and on the left by 
 the wall which connects the palace with the Castle of S. Angelo, is acces- 
 sible only to very few. In this quiet retreat some huge elms wave softly 
 in the breeze. The garden behind the Museum, with its glorious view 
 and ancient associations, is known only to the elect. How many of the 
 thousands who hurry from the Museum to the Appartamento Borgia 
 pause to admire the view from the window of the Gallery of Inscrip- 
 tions obliquely across the Cortile di Belvedere towards the Torre dei 
 Quattro Venti? It is of a rare beauty, and it recalls the times of Greg- 
 ory XIII, when there in the tower above Christianity recovered its cor- 
 rect chronology. Of such charming views there are many, and they all 
 deserve a visit. 
 
 If, on the other hand, we proceed around St. Peter's to the Museum, 
 we have on our right a bare interminable wall whose monotony is 
 
32 THE VATICAN 
 
 broken only by large windows. The carriage-road leading from the 
 Cortile di S. Damaso assumes a forbidding if impressive air when we 
 look up at Ihe walls of the narrow courts. A few traces of earlier 
 frescoes remaining in the Cortile del Papagallo show that in times long 
 vanished the decoration of the external walls of the palace was begun. 
 If we now proceed from the Vatican Press to the Cortile di Belvedere, 
 we sec facing us a great wall several hundred metres long, whose sur- 
 face seems scarcely broken by a few windows. Even the extraordinary 
 inscription, formed of huge letters of cut marble, can give no life to 
 this wall. All this, however, does not alter the fact that the general 
 impression made by the Vatican Palace, viewed either from a distance 
 or close at hand, is deep and lasting. 
 
 TiiK Rri.KR OF THE Vaticax. — In his mode of life Pius X is extraordi- 
 narily, in fact astonishingly simple. Life could scarcely be simpler in 
 the home of a burgess in moderate circumstances. In so far as the 
 doctors allow him, he adheres in his diet to Venetian cooking, to which 
 he has been accustomed all his life. He partakes of his chief meal in 
 the middle of the day, and afterwards rests for a little while. His bed- 
 room, sitting-room, and dining-room are rather cold in appearance. 
 The Pope insists on one of his private secretaries sleeping in the next 
 room, with only the wall between, so that at any moment he may have 
 within reach the consolations of religion. 
 
 Of the numerous rooms on the third story occupied by the Pope, only 
 one half are fitted for occupancy. The remainder are provided with 
 shelves and presses and are used by the Pope as store-rooms. In the 
 latter the Pope keeps, for example, all the vestments for poor or needy 
 churches that are presented to him, so that he may always have those 
 objects at hand when he requires them. Two of the sisters of the Holy 
 Father live in the Palazzo Rusticucci, situated in the immediate vicinity 
 of the Colonnades of St. Peter's. Together with a younger sister re- 
 cently deceased, these kept house for the Pope while he was Bishop of 
 Mantua and Patriarch of Venice. When he became Pope, Pius X 
 brought his sisters to Rome and assigned to them a sim|)le but com- 
 fortable residence and a modest but suflicient pension. On Thursdays 
 and Sundays the sisters are admitted into his presence for an hour's 
 conversation. When he was seriously ill they naturally spent a long 
 period daily eithei* in the Antechamber or in his sick-room. 
 
 Vov several hundred years it has been customary for the Popes to 
 raise their lelatives to the rank of Roman princes or to grant them 
 othei- distinctions. Leo Xlll. foi" instance, raised his family to the lank 
 of counts, although they had previously been simjjle country s<]uii-es. 
 Pius X completely ignored this custom, and left his relatives in the 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 33 
 
 r "I 
 
 Tunrul loading to the Vatican Gardens 
 
 M' 
 
 .■»i=,V--i; j* . 
 
 ^%n 
 
 - ^aT 
 
 .-^'L'i, 
 
 fwKa^'jk' 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ~-,->^ '<»-'^^- 
 
 Exit of Tunnel 
 
34 THE VATICAN 
 
 very simple and iiiodcsl circle in \vliieli lliey were born. He rii>litly 
 l)elieves that men whose lives have been spent cultivating their fields 
 with their own hands cannot easily mix, and have no desire to mix, in 
 fashionable circles. ^Yhen individual members of his family come to 
 attend great festivities at Rome, a special platform near the throne or 
 the altar is assigned to them and his sisters. In his intercourse with 
 his relatives, his private secretary, or Venetian pilgrims, Pius X prefers 
 to use his native Venetian dialect. From his pronunciation of Italian 
 one can readily deduce that he comes of Venetian stock. 
 
 In manner Pius X is very sympathetic and unaffected. Despite the 
 
 Private Chapel of Pope Pius X 
 
 exalted position of his host, the visitor feels quickly at ease, how- 
 ever agitated or nervous he may have been when he entered the pres- 
 ence of the Holy Father. With his paternal kindness he unites an iron 
 will which refuses to be diverted from its goal when, after constant 
 prayer and ripe consideration, he has decided on a definite course of 
 action. 
 
 Besides the pontifical garments and liturgical vestments in general, 
 the distinctive dre.ss of the Pope consists of a white soutane of fine 
 woolen material wilh double sleeves and cape. The cuffs are of white 
 moire silk, and a broad cincture of the same material with gold tassels 
 encircles his waist. A white skull-cap completes the distinctive 
 
HISTORY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 35 
 
 papal dress. Outside the palace the Pope wears a red hat with gold 
 string and tassels and a red mantle with a very narrow gold border. 
 The large hood of red velvet lined with a narrow strip of swanskin, 
 called the camaiiro (the ancient camelaiiciim), is never used by Pius X, 
 although Leo XIII wore it fairly frequently. This head-dress is seen in 
 numerous pictures of the Renaissance Popes. 
 
 Advice to Visitors.— In the summer months the Vatican Palace is 
 almost deserted. Strangers are very few, while in the Collections 
 and Galleries, the Loggie and Stanze, the Appartamento and Chapels 
 only isolated visitors may be seen. The staff of the Antechamber is 
 reduced to a minimum. The heads of the legations are all on vacation, 
 and what little diplomatic business there is is discharged by the 
 younger agents. For two months the Secretary of State lives in the 
 country in the neighborhood of Rome, but comes at regular intervals 
 to the city to attend to pressing atfairs. 
 
 But when the winter months arrive the stream of strangers begins to 
 flood the palace. Towards Easter a visitor to the Museums may be 
 almost said to take his life in his hands. There the crowds push and 
 pull one another; the air is tilled with the most banal opinions of the 
 artistic treasures: the dust rises in clouds, and one wonders what brings 
 so many thousands of people to view the works of art, for enjoyment 
 of them is absolutely out of the question. The mercenary drone of the 
 guides mingles with the loud conversation of the crowd, suggesting to 
 the listener the murmur and buzzing of a gigantic hive. Tlie hunt for 
 an invitation to an audience reaches its climax as Palm Sunday draws 
 near, since the Antechamber is closed and no audiences are granted in 
 Holy Week. Every imaginable reason is made to do service in the hope 
 of securing this privilege, and the patience and endurance of the Maes- 
 tro di Camera are put to a hard test. As the result of extended experi- 
 ence, the writer may offer one suggestion to intending visitors: Never 
 visit Rome at Easter, if you wish to enjoy properly and peacefully the 
 works of art in the city and especially those of the Vatican Palace. The 
 writer remembers well the time when admission to the Vatican Collec- 
 tions was free, as was admission to most of the State Museums in Rome. 
 When, however, the reasonable regulation of charging a lira to visitors 
 was introduced for the State Museums, this example was followed by 
 the Curia. The budget of the Holy See was thereby relieved of no in- 
 significant burden, since, owing to the extraordinary number of visi- 
 tors, a sufficient sum is realized annually to pay for the administration 
 and proper maintenance of the Museums. As entrance to the Museums 
 is free on Sundays, the crowds of visitors on that day are naturally 
 uncomfortably large. 
 
36 THE VATICAN 
 
 Bill whcihcr it is winter or summer; whether the business to l)e done 
 is nuuh or little; whether the Vatican Palace is overflooded with visi- 
 tors ol" every nation and tongue, or seems to rest in contemplation 
 under the August sun; whether his highest advisers or his humblest 
 servants enjoy some relaxaiion and the fresh breezes of the country or 
 sea, there is little or no variation in the general life of the Pope, the 
 supreme lord of all. He may not go fortli, however greatly he himself, 
 and more especially his physicians, may desire it. He must remain 
 where he is; for him there now remains but one change, and that will 
 come when he is borne forth in his cofhn from the \'atican Palace, 
 which (luring his life as Pope he may never leave. When he is then 
 solemnly carried to the Throne Room, when all the impressive cere- 
 monies are enacted about his corpse, when his last earthly dwelling, the 
 small wooden house, has received his remains, then, amid the solemn 
 lamentations for the dead, the Pope will at last leave his palace to iind 
 a temporary resting-place near the choir chapel in St. Peter's, within 
 sight of the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, the first of his line. 
 There still lie the remains of Leo XIII, since the authorities do not dare 
 to run the risk of carrying them through the streets of Rome to their 
 final and long-prepared resting-place in the Lateran. 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 ^HE Vatican Gardens lie to the west of the palace, be- 
 
 tween it and the walls of the ancient Leonine City. 
 They are irregular in shape and of an extensive area. 
 Important traces of the old Leonine Wall still remain; 
 there is, for instance, at the highest point of the Gar- 
 dens a battlemented circular tower of the usual medi- 
 eval character (Torre Leonina). Fortifications of this 
 nature were built under Leo IV between 848 and 852, 
 xslicii Ihc Saracens, who held the Tyrrhenian Sea and terrorized the .sea- 
 coast, made frequent incursions into the Papal States, laying waste the 
 country up to the very gates of Rome. Thus originated the Leonine 
 City, which included not only St. Peter's but the entire Borgo. The old 
 walls were often demolished— especially in 1084, w^hen Robert Guiscard 
 drove the Emperor, Henry IV, from Rome, and again in 1379, when the 
 Roman people seized the Castel S. Angelo. A notable enlargement took 
 place during the sixteenth century, under various Popes from Julius 
 II to Pius IV, when the fortifications were completely rebuilt and 
 extended under the best military advice, but the old wall remained 
 even after Michelangelo had rebuilt the bastion of the Belvedere, and 
 served as a boundary for the Vatican Gardens. It was about this'time 
 that the Vatican Gardens began, and the print published by Falda in 
 his work on Roman gardens shows them as they existed in 1683. By 
 comparing the print with the present gardens we see that the changes 
 that have taken place are very slight. 
 
 While the Vatican Gardens do not compare in beauty with the gar- 
 dens of many Roman villas (for instance, with those of the Villa Fal- 
 conieri or of the Villa d'Este at Tivoli), they are a very good example 
 of Italian landscape art in the sixteenth century. Two main alleys 
 at right angles divide them into four sections, which are subdivided 
 by many minor walks, and buildings of various shapes have been set 
 up in different parts of the gardens. Near the above-mentioned Torre 
 Leonina stands the Casino of Leo XIII; both of these buildings, as well 
 as a second tower of the old fortifications, are now occupied by the 
 Vatican Observatory. Not far distant may be seen a copy of the 
 Lourdes Basilica, and a little below a copy of the Lourdes Grotto, set up 
 
38 THE VATICAN 
 
 ill 1905 as a gift of the Catholics of France. These very modern con- 
 structions have little artistic merit. 
 
 The Casino of Pope Pius is un(h)ul)le(liy liie most important build- 
 ing in the gardens, and (k'ser\es special attention, (iiovanni Pietro 
 CaralTa, who succeeded Marcellns 11 and took the name of Paul IV, be- 
 gan the "fabbrica del boschetto" ("building in the wood"), or "Bosca- 
 reggio," a small house in the Vatican Gardens beyond the broad Belve- 
 dere alley. It had a fountain, as we learn from a letter written in 1558 
 
 Corner of the Vatican Gardens and Cupola of St. Peter's 
 
 by an envoy of the Signory of Florence, and a print by Marius Kartarus, 
 dated 1574, showing the Belvedere Garden. In the |)apal registers for 
 15r)0 there appears a payment to a stone-cutter, Domenico Rosselli, for 
 work done on the new papal building. 
 
 In December, 1559, the Milanese Gian Angelo Medici became Pope, 
 and look the name of Pius IV. In the words of the Venetian ambas- 
 sador, "he was very fond of building, spent liberally, took great 
 pleasmx" in hearing his work praised, and was wont to say that the 
 Medici House was a house of builders." In 15(50 work on the (Casino 
 was renewed with vigor, and among the papal bills we find payments 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 39 
 
 f**^ 
 
 The Torre Leonina 
 
 to the architects Pirro Ligorio and 
 Salustio Periizzi, to the superin- 
 tendent Bernardino Manfredi, to 
 the foreman mason P'rancesco da 
 Como, and to a host of stone-cut- 
 ters, carpenters, and plasterers. 
 Rocco da Montefiascone worked 
 at the stucco work of the facade 
 and the vault of the portico. 
 Nicolo Bresciano had charge of 
 the marble pavement. Battista da 
 Frasino worked on the roof within. 
 Among other artists at work were 
 the sculptor Tommaso del Bosco 
 of Montepulciano, Giovanni di S. 
 Agata, who made the marble basin 
 in the middle of the piazza, and 
 Jacobo da Casignola and Bene- 
 detto Schella, who took part in the 
 decorations. The first of the paint- 
 ers came in 1561. This was Pietro Venale. Then came Giovanni da 
 Cherso Veneziano. Santi di Tito (or Santi del Borgo), Pier Antonio 
 Alciati da Como, Federico Zuccaro da S. Angelo in Vadis, Pierleone da 
 Giulio, Genga da Urbino, and, greatest of all, Federico Barocci da 
 Urbino, who appears to have w^orked at the Casino from November, 
 1561, till June, 1563. Much of the work was still unfinished when Pius 
 IV died and was succeeded by the Ghisleri Pope, St. Pius V, whose coat 
 of arms may be seen in many parts of the Casino, as are also the arms 
 of the Castagna Pope, Urban VII, and the Barberini Pope, Urban VIII. 
 Under Pope Clement XI Albani the work was redone, and additions 
 were made by Benedict XIII, Clement XIII, and Leo XII. 
 
 Chief credit for this exquisite building belongs to Pirro Ligorio, the 
 architect, a man who has a sorry record in other ways. Ligorio was 
 not satisfied to be an architect, but dabbled in archaeology, the history 
 of ancient monuments, and particularly in epigraphy. In this last 
 field he is famous as a bold forger. He was born in Naples: Lancianl 
 gives the year as 1527, while Hiilsen says 1510. At any rate, we find 
 him in Rome in 1542 doing some fresco work on the palace of the 
 Archbishop of Benevento, Francesco delta Rovere. Between 1549 and 
 1555 he was in the service of Cardinal Ippolito da Ferrara as an anti- 
 quarian with a salary of seven scudi sixty-three baiocchi a month. 
 Under Paul IV he became official architect of the Papal Court at a 
 
40 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Cirofto of I-()iir(ies 
 
 The Chalet and T<iin l.,.iniri;, 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 41 
 
 .r I.e.. Mil 
 
 salary of twenty-five golden scudi 
 a month. He held this post also 
 under Pius IV in association with 
 Salustio Peruzzi, son of the famous 
 Baldassarre. From this period 
 dates his work in the Cortile di 
 Belvedere, the Gran Nicchione,and 
 the Casino of Pope Pius. In 1566 
 he made a design for the tomb of 
 Pope Paul IV, which is adorned by 
 a statue of Giacomo Casignola, 
 now in S. Maria sopra Minerva. In 
 1567 he was at Tivoli in the service 
 of the d'Estes, working on their 
 magnificent gardens, which are 
 among the most beautiful ever 
 planned. Afterwards he accom- 
 panied Duke Alfonso d'Este to 
 Ferrara, where he resided until 
 his death in October, 1583. 
 
 Ligorio was not a great architect, and his work in the Vatican Gar- 
 dens is said to be a copy from the antique. In 1766 Venuti wrote: "This 
 Casino is a copy from the antique made by Pirro Ligorio, a Neapolitan 
 antiquarian and architect. The original stood near the Lake of 
 Gabinio, and was built by the Romans so that they might enjoy the 
 pleasant view of the waters. Ligorio copied its plan, and as recently 
 as sixty years ago the ruins of the original were still to be seen." There 
 is probably some exaggeration here. The Casino does not differ con- 
 siderably from many other summer houses built at the close of the 
 Renaissance period, the chief of which are Caprarola and the Villa of 
 Pope Julius. These were all light and gracious but not over-pretentious 
 structures, and very pleasant places to spend a day in. 
 
 The interior plan consists of a somewhat elongated oval courtyard. 
 Arched entrances reached by steps lie at the ends; on one side is a 
 Loggia overlooking a fountain, while on the other is the vestibule 
 proper of the Casino. A simple balustrade runs round the courtyard; 
 behind this balustrade, on each side of the Casino, is a wall with deco- 
 rative arches. The arched entrances form two rectangular rooms 
 adorned with niches. The walls are covered with graceful multicol- 
 ored mosaics in classic style, and the barrelled vaulting is covered with 
 stucco work. In the centre of the courtyard stands a fountain, at either 
 end of which is a boy riding a dolphin. 
 
42 THE VATICAN 
 
 Tlie two most important architectural features are the facades of 
 the Logi^ia and the Casino, whicli are symmetrical, and have on the 
 grounci lloor the same architeclurai arrangemenls — a Doric portico 
 witli four columns. Hanked hy heavy masonry. The Loggia has no 
 upper lloor, but consists of a single hall and terminates on each side in 
 an apse. In front, above the ground floor, runs a great stucco frieze, 
 and above this a triangular tympanum. The Casino, on the other hand, 
 has two upper lloors separated by (Jreek cornices. The facade also is 
 
 UtLtpliou UoDiii in tlif Casino of Leo XIII 
 
 over-decorated with stuccos, alto-reliefs, and statues in niches. The 
 interior of the Casino proper is very simple. Beyond the vestibule lie 
 two rooms, one leading into the other. On one side of the second room 
 is a small hall, and on the other a staircase which leads both to the story 
 above and to the basement. The upper floor is laid out in the same 
 manner. This simple architectural plan lends itself to tiie sum|)tuous 
 I)ictorial decoration. The stucco work by Uocco, the gilding by Venale. 
 and the paintings by Zuccaro are in the Loggelta. The two rooms on 
 the ground door were decorated by Barocci, (ienga, and their pupils. 
 Above the staircase are paintings by Santi di Tito, who also decorated 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 43 
 
 one of the rooms above; the other room of the upper floor was done 
 by Zucchero and Giovanni da Clierso. 
 
 Barocci's work enjoys a great celebrity to-day, and calls for par- 
 ticular notice. Barocci was born in 1526 at Urbino, and there painted 
 his earliest works: St. Margaret in the Confraternit}^ Chapel of the 
 Corpus Domini, and the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian and St. Cecilia in 
 the Cathedral. According to Bellori, his biographer, he fell early under 
 the influence of Correggio, and from him learned that "smoky man- 
 
 The Sala Rotunda in the Torre Leonina 
 
 ner" which is one of the chief characteristics of his paintings. In 1561 
 he was at work on the Boscareggio with Federico Zuccaro. In 1569 he 
 painted one of his masterpieces, the Descent from the Cross, at 
 Perugia; and in later years he produced the Madonna di S. Simone and 
 the Louvre Madonna. 
 
 It is difficult to describe in detail the paintings in the first room, 
 where Barocci did so much, and the arabesques and the figures which 
 compose them. Besides the Boys and the Virtues grouped in the cor- 
 ners, which are well executed, the Holy Family in the central panel 
 is noteworthy, as also are the surrounding paintings representing the 
 
44 THE VATICAN 
 
 Baptism of Christ, the Meeting with the Samaritan Woman, and the 
 Woman taken in Adultery. In the second room the central medallion 
 of the Annunciation is also the work of Barocci. The staircase decora- 
 tions have in the middle the arms of Pius IV, and around these are 
 grouped four medallions with figures and fo-ar views: the whole is the 
 
 Bid-rooin of Leo XHl ailjoining tlu' Torre Lconina 
 
 work of Santi di Tito. The views introduced in the decorations are: 
 one of (he Casino itself, one of Monte Cavallo, one of the \'ia Flaminia, 
 and one of the Gran Nicchione. 
 
 The paintings in the following room are also by Santi di Tito. The 
 central medallion shows Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the 
 four paintings on the four walls are the Way to Calvary (on the north 
 wall ), the Last Supper (on the south), the Ascension (on the west), and 
 Christ appearing to a Monk (on the east). In the corners, among other 
 decorations, are some very beautiful female figures. The gallery is 
 decorated with arabesques, like those executed by Giovanni da Udine 
 in the \'alican Loggie. 
 
 Besides the main garden there are other smaller ones within the 
 precincts of the Vatican. One of these is known as Ihe Pigna Garden, 
 and was formerly pari of the old Cortile di Belvedere. .\n important 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 45 
 
 Courtyard of the Casino of Pius IV 
 
 feature of this garden is the Gran Nicchione built by Bramante; in 
 front of this is set up the bronze pine-cone which has given its name to 
 the Cortile. Its preservation is due to Pope Symmachus, who set it up 
 as an ornament in the middle of the quadri-porticus in front of old 
 St. Peter's. Here it was seen bv Dante, who refers to it in Canto xxi of 
 his "Inferno": 
 
 "La faccia sua mi parea lunga e grossa 
 Come la pina di San Pietro a Roma." 
 
 When St. Peter's was rebuilt, the gigantic pine-cone was brought to the 
 garden near the Palace of Innocent VIII in the Belvedere, and there it 
 remained until it was erected near the Nicchione in the seventeenth 
 century. It is the work of Publius Cincius Salvius Libertus, and rests 
 on a capital, on which is represented the coronation and acclamation 
 of a victorious prize-fighter. 
 
 The Vatican Palaces were joined together by Bramante in the days 
 of Julius II. "That Pontiff had an idea," says Vasari, "to make use of 
 the space between the Belvedere and the Palace." The small valley 
 lying between the buildings of the old palace was to be formed into a 
 rectangular court, flanked by two long corridors through which one 
 
TlIK VATICAN 
 
 Loggia or CafTeaos opposite thf Casino of Pius IV 
 
 could proceed from the palace to the Belvedere. The work was begun 
 in 1503, and Vasari gives us a description of the Cortile, the Nicchione, 
 the fountains, the stairs, and the strange inscriptions with which the 
 famous architect decorated the l)uildings. Besides the pine-cone, of 
 which \vc have just spoken, this garden is decorated with various other 
 anti(iuitics. It is suflicient to state here tiial Ihc work on tiic Pigna 
 Garden was brought to a close by Pirro Ligorio, the architect who had 
 charge of the Casino of Pope Pius. The Cortile lias a rather mean 
 appearance to-day, but formerly it was an imposing place, as is shown 
 by the above-mentioned print of Falda. (Cf. p. 2S. ) 
 
 The second Vatican Cortile of note from an artistic point of view is 
 the Octagonal Court, so called from its shape. An octagonal peristyle 
 on aniicpie columns was erected for Clement XIV by the architect 
 Michelangelo Simoneiti, and in it were gathered many coi)ies of an- 
 ticpies. Inscriptions and bas-reliefs were placed on the walls, and 
 outside the porticoes in the open air many ancient sarcophagi are cov- 
 ered by the clinging ivy. In the centre is a small fountain, and on the 
 four shorter sides of the octagon are four little rooms in which are 
 contained the more precious objects of art. 
 
THE VATICAN GARDENS 
 
 47 
 
 The Casino of Pius IV 
 
 Famous in history were the old Roman gardens, the Horti Agrip- 
 pinse, along the Via Cornelia, which contained a portico and a circus 
 known as the Gaianus, after its builder. All that remains of it is the 
 obelisk which formerly adorned the circus, but is now in front of St. 
 Peter's. Traces of these gardens were found when St. Peter's was being 
 rebuilt, and both then and on other occasions many pagan and Chris- 
 tian tombs were discovered along the line of the okl Via Cornelia to 
 the north of the Horti Agrippinse. A large part of these old gardens 
 was enclosed within the wall erected by Leo IV to protect the Leonine 
 City against the invasions of the Saracens. The length of the wall was 
 about three thousand metres, and its height varied from fifteen to 
 twenty-two. Two inscriptions on the arch of the Via di Porta Angelica 
 give us some information concerning the troops that defended Rome 
 in those days. There were three gateways and two postern doors in 
 the wall of the Leonine City. The first was St. Peter's Gate, which 
 opened on the Elio Bridge under the bastion of Castel S. Angelo; the 
 second was the Postern of S. Angelo, which agreed more or less wath 
 the modern Porta Castello; the third was the Porta Sancti Peregrini, 
 which coincided with the Porta Angelica; the fourth was the Porta in 
 Turrione, which coincided with the Porta Cavalleggeri; finally, there 
 
48 THE VATICAN 
 
 was the Postern of the Saxons, which Antonio da SangaUo changed into 
 the monumental Porta di Santo Spirito. 
 
 When Anionio (hi Sangallo, under Paul HI, extended and rebuilt the 
 precinct of Rome near the Vatican, the Vatican (jardens took their 
 present shape and area. They date from an era of prosperity in the 
 Roman Court — a happy epoch when art flourished, and when every- 
 where in Italy gardens wei"e being made Dial were to be models for all 
 lands. And, though to-day they ai"e more often passed over and for- 
 gotten by visitors, they still bear traces of their former beauty and 
 greatness. 
 
Part Two 
 THE STATE APARTMENTS AND CHAPELS 
 
THE CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V 
 
 ^s^?5^^^1x the year 1445, Fra Angelico, already famous, was 
 -: : ■ r ' ,0 ! i»ijK»'*>w-f 'tfe;'| called to Rome. His delightful artistic creations in 
 the Convent of St. Dominic at Fiesole had been fol- 
 lowed by the frescoed visions with which he adorned 
 the walls of the Convent of St. Mark, Florence, and 
 his success there, as Vasari says, had won him fame 
 , throughout all Italy. But Vasari is mistaken when he 
 
 ^^S^^ s^:!^ tells us that to Nicholas V belongs the credit of having 
 called Fra Angelico to Rome, and he is likewise mistaken when he says 
 that the Pope offered the artist the archbishopric of Florence, which 
 was modestly refused. It was Eugene IV who called Fra Angelico to 
 Rome to paint the Sacrament Chapel, which was pulled down later by 
 Pope Paul III and redecorated by Michelangelo. According to Vasari, 
 Fra Angelico painted in the Sacrament Chapel a few scenes from the 
 life of Christ, into which he introduced portraits of many famous 
 contemporaries. A year after the coming of the painter to Rome, Pope 
 Eugene died, but his successor, Nicholas V, equally appreciative of 
 Angelico's work, called on him to decorate the private oratory which 
 he used as a workroom and study, and which is now known as the 
 Cappella Nicolina. When P'ra Angelico went to Rome, he did not go 
 alone. With him went Benozzo Gozzoli, who had helped him at St. 
 Mark's in Florence, and who accompanied him in 1447 to Orvieto, 
 where they painted the Chapel of St. Brigit in the Cathedral, in accor- 
 dance with an agreement with Messer Enrico Monaldeschi, Lord of 
 Orvieto. It was after September 28, 1447, that Angelico undertook the 
 decoration of the Chapel of Nicholas V, and, in spite of all that the 
 people of Orvieto could do, the painter refused to leave Rome again 
 and return to their city. Why, we do not know. In the registers of the 
 Vatican Treasury, which have been carefully investigated by Miintz, 
 there is a record of all payments made to the artist up to 1449. On 
 January 10, 1450, we find Angelico prior of his convent at Florence; 
 and in 1452 the head of the Commune of Prato called on Archbishop 
 Antonino to use his influence to persuade the artist to undertake the 
 decoration of the principal chapel in their cathedral. Fra Angelico 
 refused, and the work was carried out by Fra Filippo Lippi. It is prob- 
 
 i 51 3 
 
52 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Ceiling of the Chapel of Nicholas V 
 (Fra Angelico) 
 
 able that Fra Angelico did some work in Rome after 1449, but the 
 records make no mention of it. 
 
 In the Chapel of Nicholas V Fra Angelico has painted the Calling, 
 the Apostolate, and the Martyrdom of St. Stephen and of St. Lau- 
 rence. The chapel, as Venturi tells us, is painted to resemble a 
 room decorated for a feast-day. Garlands of laurel leaves and red flow- 
 ers divide the ceiling into four sections, separate the ditferent scenes 
 in the lives of the saints, and serve as the frame for the two arcades 
 which lie respectively above the window and the door. In the vaultings 
 above the door and the window are Sts. Ambrose and Augustine, and 
 Gregory and Leo respectively; on the pilasters beside the door and the 
 window are Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, Chrysostom and 
 Athanasius. On the roof, in a starry blue sky, are the Evangelists, 
 enthroned on clouds, and on the walls the stories of Sts. Stephen and 
 Laurence are told in two parallel series of paintings, the series dealing 
 with St. Stephen being above and that dealing with St. Laurence below. 
 
 In the first picture St. Stephen is ordained priest. The interior of a 
 church is shown; St. Peter, to the left, is standing on the altar steps, in 
 a green robe with a yellow cape, handing the chalice and paten to St. 
 Stephen, who kneels before him. Behind the Saint, six persons assist 
 
THE CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V 
 
 53 
 
 SI. TllMllKls .\.|"il 
 
 (I'l-a Aiigc'lko) 
 
 St. Bonaventur*-' 
 (Fra AilKt'lioo) 
 
 The Ordination of St. Stephen St. Stephen Distributes Alms 
 
 (Fra Angelico) 
 
54 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Soirnnn of St. Stephen 
 
 (Fra Angelico) 
 
 W i . i* I ' W ill ■ - ^ ^■^^ ■^f*! 
 
 St. Steplien Disputes with the Judges 
 
 at the scene. The whole has neither the solemnity of Giotto nor the 
 force of Masaccio, but it expresses an ardent spirit of brotherly love 
 and deep religious fervor. 
 
 In the second scene the Saint is distributing alms. He is standing in 
 a gray robe and yellow mantle, and is giving a coin to a woman who 
 extends her hand. Beside him stands a deacon, and before him are 
 seen some beggars and other persons against a background showing a 
 dim Oriental landscape. 
 
 The third picture contains two distinct events. To the left, the Saint 
 is seen preaching on a public square to a group of women seated on the 
 ground, while the picture to the right shows him disputing with the 
 judges in the synagogue. The two events are kept distinct in the pic- 
 ture by means of intervening architectural features, a plan employed 
 by Angelico in the Brancacci Chapel and in a fresco at St. Mark's where 
 Christ is shown in the (larden. 
 
 The last scene in the history of the Protomartyr shows his death: he 
 has been dragged outside Jerusalem, and is being stoned by two false 
 witnesses in the presence of a crowd of curious onlookers. 
 
 Beautiful as are these scenes, they are not quite so well balanced or 
 construcledas thescenes from thelifeofSt.Laurencein the panels below. 
 
THE CHAPP:L of NICHOLAS V 55 
 
 In the first the Saint is ordained Deacon. In the centre aisle of a large 
 basilica, Pope Nicholas V is represented as Sixtus II, wearing the tiara 
 and a blue dalmatic. He is seated surrounded by priests, and is giving 
 the chalice to Laurence. The heads in this painting are marvellously 
 executed, and seem to be portraits of earnest, deeply religious men. 
 
 In the second picture the Pope is entrusting to Laurence the treasures 
 of the Church for distribution in alms. The scene is laid in the court- 
 yard of a palace. The Pope comes from a large door and blesses Lau- 
 
 St. Stephen Dragged out tt( .Teni.salem 
 
 St. Stephen Stoned to Deatli 
 
 (Fra Angclico) 
 
 rence, who is kneeling before him, while servants bear the treasures in 
 trays. One of the Pope's companions turns suddenly in surprise at the 
 noise of the soldiery who are trying to break in the door of the Pope's 
 dwelling. The whole scene is graphic and thrills with life. 
 
 In the third scene Laurence is shown distributing the treasures to 
 the poor. Through an open door you see a spacious basilica with three 
 naves; on the door-step stands Laurence in gorgeous priestly robes, 
 holding a purse in his hands from which he is in the act of giving alms. 
 Around him are grouped the afflicted in the most natural of poses: a 
 blind man taps the ground with his stick; an old man with a long beard 
 bends over to hold out his hand; a mother clasps her babe to her bosom, 
 and a lame man leans on his crutch. The faces of all are lighted up 
 with joy at sight of the Saint's charity. 
 
56 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE CHAPEL OF NICHOLAS V 
 
 the Saint is 
 
 57 
 
 sti il.utfs the Tm 
 among the Poor 
 (Fra AngeHco) 
 
 In the next scene 
 dragged before the Emperor. De- 
 cius, clad in a rich robe, sits on his 
 throne; at his feet are the instru- 
 ments of torture, to which he 
 points imperiously. Laurence is 
 held by a soldier, while a crowd of 
 frightened people listen to the sen- 
 tence. The background shows an 
 architectural design behind which 
 rise the tops of exotic trees. The 
 study of ancient art is very marked 
 in this scene. In the architecture 
 we discern beautiful Classical 
 motives — leaf-work, capitals, and 
 friezes in the architraves. The 
 architectural detail is correct in 
 every way, the soldiers' armor is 
 just as accurately drawn, and the 
 bust of Decius seems to have been 
 copied from an ancient statue. 
 A breath of the greatness that was Rome pervades the whole work. 
 
 The last scene depicts the Saint's martyrdom. Behind the window 
 bars of his prison we see Laurence consoling his jailer, while on a 
 terrace without the Emperor and his retinue assist at the execution. 
 In the foreground the executioners are lighting the lire under the grate 
 on which the Saint is stretched, and three assistants laugh at his torture. 
 Venturi was right when he considered this picture the most powerful 
 in the chapel. He points out that the artist, to bring out his figures, 
 heightened his tints and displays a vigor quite unusual in his work. 
 Here also the influence of Classical art is clear. The tribune is deco- 
 rated with niches between the pilasters, and there are statues in the 
 niches; one of the statues carries a column, a symbol of strength. The 
 whole scene is beautified by that historical sentiment which the saintly 
 artist had imbibed from his study of Roman monuments. As Venturi 
 says, Laurence on the Gridiron is like a fallen gladiator; from Byzan- 
 tine times, indeed, we see the martyrs represented raising up their right 
 hands towards the tyrant who looks down on them from his tribune. 
 
 These paintings must be placed among the last works of Fra An- 
 gelico. After them we have nothing but the painting of St. Bonaven- 
 ture in the Wood in the Osservanza Church near Mugello, although he 
 was perhaps the guiding mind behind the Armadi (cupboards) in the 
 
58 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE CHAPEL OE NICHOLAS V 59 
 
 Annunziata Chapel built by Pietro de Medici. These paintings, then, 
 that make up the last testament of the artist, are one of the most inter- 
 esting pages in the history of art. All the qualities that go to make up 
 the Angelic painter's art are here in their entirety, together with others 
 of which he had previously given no sign. The accent of pure truth 
 which characterizes all his creations is here enhanced by a freshness 
 of minute observation which shows us the good monk in a new light, 
 reveals him as a gifted observer of realities, and links him with the 
 naturalistic school which was then in vogue in Elorence, but from 
 which he had previously kept aloof. We see him also as a close student 
 of Classical antiquity and a restorer of ancient beauty in so far as his 
 deep-rooted faith allowed him to dwell on secular things. This phase 
 of his development we might least have expected to find in the painter 
 of Paradise. 
 
 The influence of Benozzo Gozzoli has been seen by some in these 
 changes in Angelico's art. Gozzoli may have had a hand in the deco- 
 rative portions of the paintings, particularly in the finely executed 
 borders wherein beautiful roses appear at intervals among the intri- 
 cacies of the leaves, and also in the garlands which rest on the charming 
 heads of the boys, and in the medallions showing the tiara and keys 
 of Nicholas V. Furthermore, Gozzoli may have had charge of certain 
 details, and there is a likeness between the background of his Assump- 
 tion in the Vatican Picture Gallery and the background of the scene 
 where Laurence appears before the Emperor Decius. It is, however, 
 a very far cry from Gozzoli, as we see him at Montefaico, to Angelico. 
 If by any chance he does for a moment grasp the movement of the 
 master's figures, the result in his hands is rough and gross; the exter- 
 nals only have been caught, for the soul of Angelico always escapes 
 him. In the matter of color the difference is equally great. The colors 
 of Angelico are pure and spiritual; those of Gozzoli are heavy, full and 
 realistic. To explain the change in Angelico's later style it is not neces- 
 sary to introduce the influence of Gozzoli. It was a natural change in 
 the style of a mystical artist forced by the very nature of his subject 
 to deal with realities and reacted on by the things he saw. We have 
 here, then, the fully developed Angelico — Angelico in the fullest con- 
 trol of his genius and with the serenity of his vision unimpaired. 
 His ecstatic soul had previously found no outlet as full and free as in 
 this chapel. In the Coronation at the Llffizi, in the tabernacle of the 
 Linaiolo, in the paintings at St. Mark's, the artistic dreamer had free 
 rein, his subject lending itself naturally to his ecstatic visions. But in 
 the paintings of this chapel the mystic is face to face with the realities 
 of daily life, and a new^ phase of his soul is lighted up, showing him to 
 
60 THE VATICAN 
 
 be the greatest of all religious painters — namely, a mystic who remains 
 a mystic even when recording with his brush the humble happenings of 
 earth. Who can forget the look on the faces of the women in prayer 
 listening to the words of St. Stephen, or the gesture of the blind man 
 poking his way along the road with the aid of his stick, or the children 
 quarrelling, or the mother clasping her babe in her arms? When we 
 remember the age of the artist at the time he wrought these master- 
 pieces, we can hardly refrain from the astonishment which we feel in 
 the Pauline Chapel when we stand before the wonders executed there 
 by Michelangelo. Both artists show that they retained to the end the 
 power of execution and the creative gift. 
 
 If Angelico is the last of the idealists of the Florentine School (and 
 the few who follow, follow indeed afar off), his work is precious not 
 alone because it perpetuates a type of ideal vision in an age of realism 
 and naturalism, but because of the lessons which it transmitted to ages 
 far removed from his own. When Melozzo da Forli, in 1477, painted 
 Pope Sixtus IV in the act of creating Bartolomeo Sacchi, known as II 
 Platina, Prefect of the Vatican Library, he did nothing but call up to 
 memory the scene painted by Fra Angelico in this chapel, depicting the 
 ordination of St. Laurence by Sixtus 11. 
 
 It was to Rome that Angelico left his last work, and it was in Rome, 
 the heart of Christendom, that he died, in 1455, at the age of sixty-eight 
 years. He lies buried in S. Maria sopra Minerva, in the convent of his 
 Order, and on the slab of his tomb his ascetic figure is carved together 
 with an epitaph said to be the work of Pope Nicholas himself: 
 
 "Non mihi sit laudi, quod eram velut alter Apelles, 
 Sed quod lucra tuis omnia, Christe, dabam; 
 Altera nam terris opera extant, altera coelo. 
 Urbs me lohannem Flos tulit Etriiria'." 
 
 "Say not in my praise that I was a second Apelles; my only glory, 
 Christ, is that I gave to my brethren what my works brought to me. 
 Thus earth keeps one portion of my work, but the rest is laid up in 
 heaven. John was my name, and my native town was the Flower of 
 Etruria." 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 ^!^s it stands to-day, the Sistine Chapel difTers somewhat 
 ="- from the work begun about 1493 by Giovannino de' 
 Dolci {Dominiis et vir honorobilis), at the request of 
 Pope Sixtus IV. For instance, the end wall, where 
 the famous Last Judgment of Michelangelo now 
 stands, held originally a pair of windows, and the 
 roof where the giant figures of the Sibyls and the 
 Prophets are to be seen was once a blue-tinted sky 
 dolled witii gold stars. Of the original Palatine Chapel, which was 
 built at the order of Nicholas III in 1278 near the Vatican Palace and 
 gave wajf eventually to the Patriarchio Lateranense, we know very lit- 
 tle; but at least we may picture it as having been rich in painting and 
 sculpture. It was then the heyday of the arts in Rome. The Cosmati, 
 the Vassalletti, and Pietro Cavallini and his school were bringing about 
 a renaissance which anticipated the wondrous flowering of the arts in 
 Tuscany. In that ancient chapel took place the canonization of St. 
 Brigit of Sweden on October 7, 1391, and on Christmas night, 1468, 
 Pope Paul II invested there with cap and sword Frederick III, Emperor 
 of the Holy Roman Empire. Mention is made of the Chapel of Nicho- 
 las III in 1473, and again in 1477 in a document which hints at the build- 
 ing of a new chapel by Sixtus IV. This latter Pope consecrated a new 
 sanctuary to Our Lady of the Assumption on August 15, 1482, and his 
 historian, Giacomo da Volterra, tells us that the new building gave him 
 such joy that he went there at all hours to fulfil his devotions and that 
 he was never weary of praising the beauty of its decorations. 
 
 If we dwell a little on these things it is because most of them have 
 come down to our day and help to complete one of the most glorious 
 pages in the story of Italian painting in the period of the Renaissance. 
 There was nothing in the interior of Pope Sixtus IV's Chapel to bear out 
 the sternness it wore outside — a sternness which it ow^ed to its builder, 
 Giovannino de' Dolci (the man who had fortified Ronciglione and Civi- 
 tavecchia), and which is still to be found in that part of the Vatican 
 Palace that looks out on the Cortili del Papagallo and del Maresciallo. 
 The roof, with its lunettes and corbels, had much the same shape as it 
 has to-day, and the side walls w^ere more or less the same, being divided 
 into three zones, each zone being subdivided by pilasters and windows. 
 
62 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 General View of the Sistine Chapel 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 63 
 
 Very probably in the early days the painted curtains between the pilas- 
 ters in the first zone were replaced by precious stuffs whose tints har- 
 monized with the colors of the frescoes in the second zone. The third 
 zone held the windows and little niches painted with figures. Such a 
 division of walls into zones by pilasters was quite usual in Rome in 
 ancient and medieval Christian monuments, and it is probably safe 
 to say that it w^as adhered to in the original Chapel of Nicholas HI. 
 
 Before Michelangelo painted iiis Last Judgment on the end wall, that 
 wall also was divided into three sections. Above, there were two win- 
 
 Muses and Sephorah 
 (Pcrugino and Pinturicchio) 
 
 dows and four painted niches, and there were two large frescoes on the 
 middle section. The entrance wall was also adorned with two frescoes. 
 It was Giovannino de' Dolci's plan to add a choir, a screen, and a pave- 
 ment in opus Alexandrinum. Whereas the decorations of the choir 
 and the screen show the artistic output of the schools of Giovanni 
 Dalmata and Mino da Fiesole, the splendid pavement is Roman work- 
 manship following the lines of old Roman traditions. Among the 
 broken marbles that go to make it up there are scraps of all kinds — 
 bits of pagan inscriptions side by side with Christian ejaculations — and 
 there are even whole patches of old pavements, the work of the Cos- 
 mati and probably belonging to the Chapel of Nicholas HI which had 
 been pulled down. 
 
64 THE VATICAN 
 
 But we must hasten on to give an account of the decorations for 
 which on October 27, 1481, a contract was agreed to by Cosimo Rosselli, 
 Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino, in which 
 the decorators undertook to paint ten scenes for Giovannino de' Dolci, 
 the architect. Later we mean to particularize the various artists and 
 their assistants on each particular piece of the work, but for the mo- 
 ment our explanation must be more general. 
 
 The wall on the left contains the following scenes from the life of 
 
 Journey, Moses 
 raoh Engulfed 
 the Adoration of 
 the Destruction 
 Korah, and the 
 The wall to the 
 the Baptism of 
 Temptation of 
 
 Moses: Moses's 
 in Egypt, Pha- 
 in the Red Sea, 
 the Golden Calf, 
 of the Family of 
 Death of Moses, 
 right contains 
 Christ, also the 
 Christ, the Call- 
 Andrew, the Ser- 
 Mount, the Giv- 
 to Peter, and the 
 the end wall, 
 Judgment isnow 
 frescoes show- 
 of Moses and the 
 Magi. The en- 
 frescoes, show- 
 for the Body of 
 Resurrection of 
 were lost when 
 
 ing of Peter and 
 
 mon 
 
 mg 
 
 Detail from Moses and Sephorah 
 (Perugino and Pinturicchio) 
 
 on the 
 of the Keys 
 Last Supper. On 
 where the Last 
 seen, there were 
 ing the Finding 
 Adoration of the 
 trance wall has 
 ing the Struggle 
 Moses and the 
 Christ; these 
 the wall went to 
 
 ruin in the time of Adrian VI, about 1522, and some time later their 
 places were taken by two paintings of the Michelangelo school from 
 the brushes of Matteo da Lecce and Arrigo Fiammingo. 
 
 The very list of subjects shows that the old idea of correlating scenes 
 from the Old and New Testaments in churches — the Law of Concor- 
 dance, as it was called — held sway here in all its force. As a matter of 
 fact, many stories from Genesis — e.g., the story of Isaac, Abram, and 
 Jacob, in whom early theologians found precursors of Christ — were all 
 discarded and the figure of Moses dominates everything as sufficing in 
 himself to symbolize the Old Testament face to face with the New, in 
 which the redemption took place. The Child Moses Saved from the 
 Waters balances the Adoration of the Magi; the Circumcision of Moses's 
 Sons stands out against the Baptism of Christ; the Adoration of the 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 65 
 
 ■ .■■..■■.■.■■«■■■■■■■■»...■..... I '. ..'■■.'.,■ ■■) ■ J.l.l] I.I 1 .l.-i.-^-TriiHWH,^ 
 
 iUUUt.Ui 
 
 Moses and the Daughters of Jethro 
 (Botticelli) 
 
 Detail from Moses and the Daughters of Jethro 
 (Botticelli) 
 
66 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Details from the Passage of tin- lied Se^ 
 (Rosselli and Pupils) 
 
 The Passage of the Bed Sea 
 (Rosselli and Pupils) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 67 
 
 Golden Calf finds itself opposite the Sermon on the Mount; the Strug- 
 gle for the Body of Moses faces the Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 Thus we find in this Palatine Chapel of the Roman Pontiff at the 
 close of the Quattrocento a matured and theological expression of those 
 
 The Adoration of the Gokk-n Calf 
 
 (Rosselli) 
 
 wordless sermons in colors which for centuries had cheered the dark- 
 ness of the Catacombs and lighted up the severe coldness of the Chris- 
 tian churches; pictures which, as St. Paulinus of Nola so elegantly said, 
 served as silent teachers to the poor who could not read: rusticitas 
 indocfa legend i. 
 
 Now if we pass from the pictures themselves to the artists who 
 painted them, it is instructive to observe that not one artist of note is a 
 Roman. Antoniazzo, it is true, did some work of a very minor char- 
 acter in the chapel, but the great Lorenzo of Viterbo is not found there 
 at all. There was an era of blossoming for art in Rome at the end of 
 the Middle Ages, but the blossoms were nipped when the Popes went 
 to Avignon. Art waned in the Eternal City, and Roman artists, among 
 them the great Pietro Cavallini, to whom Giotto owed so much, were 
 scattered throughout the cities of Italy. When the Popes returned to 
 Rome about the middle of the Trecento and bethought them of deco- 
 rating the Vatican Palace, they had to fall back on Tuscany, and Tus- 
 cans and Umbrians came to decorate the Sistine Chapel. Together with 
 
68 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Punishment of Korah, Dathan, Abirani and On 
 (Botticelli and Signorelli) 
 
 The 'I'e.slanient of .Moses 
 (Signorelli) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 69 
 
 Detail from the Te^tanu:i! .,i M.jms 
 (Signorelli) 
 
 DiUiil fium the Baptism of Christ 
 t Pinturicchio and Pcrugino) 
 
 Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Cosimo Rosselli came 
 Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, and Luca Signorelli, in whom the 
 schools of Umbria and Tuscany blended so harmoniously. These great 
 masters were aided in their works by assistants of all kinds, so that it is 
 no easy matter to say whether a fresco from one painter's design has not 
 been actually painted by another. As we go along from picture to pic- 
 ture, it will be our endeavor to point out, as far as we know it and as far 
 as space allows, who were the collaborators in each masterpiece. Begin- 
 ning, then, as usual, on the left wall, we will go round towards the right. 
 The first painting we come to shows us Moses together with Sephorah 
 (Zipporah) and their sons and servants and handmaidens halted by an 
 angel of God who forbids them to proceed because Sephorah's sons have 
 not been circumcised. The caravan halts and the sacramental rite is per- 
 formed. Here both design and coloring reveal the hand of Pietro Peru- 
 gino, the great Umbrian master. It was one of the earliest works 
 painted in the chapel, and was once looked upon as the gem of the 
 whole decoration. Perugino painted four of the frescoes on the walls 
 as well as the two on the end wall that were destroyed later. Moreover, 
 the painting on the altar, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, 
 is also his. In these w^orks he was assisted principally by Pinturicchio, 
 Andrea d'Assisi (known as LTngegno), Luca Signorelli, and Piero Dei. 
 
70 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Baptism of Christ 
 (Pinturicchio and Perugino) 
 
 '"■'Tj-^T^'^'^^ .;'",'Sji? 
 
 Till- I tiiiphition of Clirist 
 (Botticelli) 
 
Detail from the Temptation of Christ 
 (Botticelli) 
 
 THE SISTINE CHAPEL 71 
 
 On the first fresco above re- 
 ferred to he was assisted by Pintu- 
 ricchio, whose lovely flowerlike 
 coloring is to be seen in the figures 
 his master designed. It was the 
 wondrous skill he showed in a 
 hundred ways on those paintings 
 that won for Pinturicchio the 
 honor of being chosen to decorate 
 the Appartamento Borgia. How- 
 ever the design neither of the 
 splendid figure of the angel with 
 the sword coming forward to meet 
 Moses nor of the virile heads of 
 those who assist at the circumci- 
 sion can be attributed to him. They 
 speak too truly of Perugino. But 
 the landscape is exclusively by 
 Pinturicchio, and it was also he 
 who painted the fresco of the Bap- 
 tism of Christ, to which Perugino's sole contribution w^as the meek 
 figure of the Redeemer. 
 
 In the fresco showing the works of Moses in the land of the Midian- 
 ites we have a real example of the beauty and skill of Sandro Botticelli's 
 art — an art that knew so well how to link breadth of movement and 
 idyllic peace. Following the custom which was so dear to medieval 
 painters, he tells within the frame of a single fresco the whole 
 life story of the leader of the chosen people. From the fullness of his 
 own concept of the theme, he chose as central figure Moses with the 
 daughters of Jelhro near the well. And so sweet is the charm of these 
 fair-haired maidens and so modest their bearing that they absorb the 
 attention of the visitor, who thus has no eyes for the story of Moses set 
 all around them. In one corner Moses is to be seen slaying the Egyp- 
 tian and taking flight to Midian; in another he is pulling off his shoes 
 to adore God in the burning bush. In this as in the two other frescoes 
 Botticelli was assisted by the youth Filippino Lippi. 
 
 A work of less importance, by Cosimo Rosselli and his pupils, is the 
 fresco of the passage of the Red Sea and the engulfing of Pharaoh. The 
 attention to details and the accuracy of the drawing of the people w^ho 
 accompany Moses do not save the fresco from criticism as a badly con- 
 ceived and inorganic work. 
 
 It is thus with genuine relief that we turn our eyes to the painting 
 
72 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Calling of Peter and Andrew 
 (Domenico Ghirlandaio) 
 
 iJilail iKiiu the Calling of Peter and Andrew 
 (Domenico Ghirlandaio) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 73 
 
 The Sermon on the Mount 
 (Rosselli) 
 
 Detail lium the Sermon on the Mount 
 (Head of Rosselli to the left) 
 
74 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 that comes next — the work of Sandro Botticelli and Luca Signorelli. 
 Never had the souls of these two artists, so unlike in many ways, met so 
 graciously as in this picture. The tigures of the followers of Korah, 
 Dathan, Abiram, and On, who have just been struck down by divine 
 wrath, resemble nothing so much as the souls of the followers of anti- 
 christ and the damned painted by Luca in the Chapel of St. Brigit in 
 the Duomo of Orvieto. To add to the magnificence of the scene, the 
 artists have brought into the background, among other Roman ruins, 
 the Arch of Constantine, and written on it we read: "Nemo sibi assumat 
 
 Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter 
 (Perugino) 
 
 honorem nisi vocatus a Deo tanquam Aaron" — a patent allusion to the 
 rights and privileges of the Pope. 
 
 Concerning the fresco of the Testament of Moses, there was at one 
 time a dispute among art historians, but Adolfo Venturi has banished 
 every doubt and shown beyond debate that the design is by Luca 
 Signorelli, that it was not included in the original contract drawn up in 
 1481, that he was called in to assist at it, and that the painting was actu- 
 ally done by Piero Dei, one of Luca's staff, with some slight assistance 
 from Pinturicchio, who, being one of the least in that fair company of 
 masters, was glad to lend a hand here and there as occasion otTered. 
 
 The composition of the picture divides itself into episodes. In the 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 75 
 
 foreground to the riglit Moses is reading the law, in the centre appears 
 a naked Levite, and to the left Aaron is receiving his rod. In the back- 
 ground are shown the angel pointing out to Moses the Promised Land 
 that his feet were never to touch, then Moses coming down tired from 
 the mountain, and, last scene of all, the people of Israel weeping over 
 their dead patriarch. There is an old tradition to the effect that the 
 splendid figure of the Levite is the portrait of Luca's son, who was done 
 to death by jealous painters. This glorious figure, which seems to 
 herald the mighty works of Michelangelo, is a miracle of drawing for 
 the time when it was done. 
 
 Thf Last Supper 
 (Cosimo Rosselli) 
 
 The series of frescoes on the right wall begins with the Baptism of 
 Christ, the work throughout of Pinturicchio save for the masterful 
 central figure of the Redeemer, which was designed by Pietro Peru- 
 gino. Another gracious figure, recalling the Allegory of Springtime, is 
 that painted by Sandro Botticelli in the Temptation of Christ, which is, 
 on the whole, a feeble work overcrowded with characters and details. 
 The sacrifice of the leper, with its background showing the Hospital 
 of Santo Spirito restored by Pope Sixtus IV, the weird altar with its 
 rising flames, and the curious crowd of onlookers, take the eye com- 
 pletely away from the little scene in which the demon appears vainly 
 tempting the Saviour. 
 
76 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The series of stories taken from the New Testament begins, as we 
 have said, on the right wall with the Baptism of Christ, which balances 
 the Circumcision of the Children of Israel on the opposite wall. We 
 next pass on to the Calling of Peter and Andrew, in the execution of 
 which Domenico Ghirlandaio was assisted by his young brother, David. 
 The method of grouping his subjects, so distinctive of the great Floren- 
 tine, is clearly in evidence here. To the right, in the group of men, aged 
 and youthful, he has painted for us, with all the accuracy he learned 
 from studying the designs of the Dutch masters, the portraits of the 
 
 tines in Rome at 
 for instance, 
 tonio Vespucci, 
 spokesman to 
 the whole com- 
 what theatrical, 
 various charac- 
 have their por- 
 and were bent 
 as good an ap- 
 sible. 
 
 all painters in 
 to was Cosimo 
 of the mediocre 
 di Bicci. He 
 lacked original- 
 picked up a bit 
 there, but dis- 
 f or himself. The 
 his Sermon on 
 the landscape, 
 
 great Floren- 
 the time. There, 
 stands Guid'an- 
 Florence's 
 the Pope. But 
 position is some- 
 as though the 
 ters had come to 
 traits painted 
 on making 
 
 pearance as pos- 
 Weakest of 
 the Quattrocen- 
 Rosselli, pupil 
 school of Neri 
 seems to have 
 ity, and to have 
 here and a bit 
 covered nothing 
 best feature of 
 the Mount is 
 
 Portrait of Michelangelo 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 which was painted by Piero di Cosimo, a pupil who modelled himself 
 largely on the style of Leonardo and the Dutch school. To the left Jesus 
 is addressing the crowds, and on the right he is healing the leper boy. 
 Steinmann, in his great work on the Sistine Chapel, has successfully 
 shown that the figure to the right in the first row is Giacomo d'Almedia, 
 Knight of Rhodes, and that beside him stands his brother, the Portu- 
 guese ambassador in Rome. On the left side also, and a little behind 
 these two, the painter has placed Carlotta of Lusignan, formerly Queen 
 of Cyprus, together with her husband, Louis of Savoy. 
 
 A fresco of peculiar importance comes next, its subject being Christ 
 Delivering the Keys to St. Peter. In the centre stands Christ, giving the 
 symbolical keys to the kneeling Apostle. The lower portion of the pic- 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 77 
 
 Section of a Wall showing Popes Lucius and 
 I'abianus 
 
 Caryatid 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 Pope St. Stephen I 
 (Botticelli) 
 
 Pope St. Soterus 
 (Botticelli) 
 
78 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 ture is so painted as to stand out strong and dark against tlie pavement 
 glowing witli light; in the background rises a large octagonal building 
 with porticoes, supposed to be the Temple of Solomon and typifying 
 the Old Law, and a pair of triumphal arches, clearly Roman in archi- 
 tectural style. Six Apostles in various attitudes follow Christ, while 
 five stand near Peter. On both sides are various personages in medi- 
 eval robes, and one with brownish hair is said to be the painter himself. 
 The background is fdled in with figures of men in various costumes. 
 
 
 The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 In this great fresco Pietro Perugino, who up to this had been working 
 in Florence, gives us a new revelation of himself. The figures, never- 
 theless, have much of that Umbrian charm and sweetness which at 
 times grow so wearisome in the works of this great master. But the 
 whole work breathes so much power and majesty that it enables us 
 to see the vivid impression the atmosphere of Rome had made upon 
 him. There is no truth in the assertion that Luca Signorelli helped 
 Perugino on this painting. His only helper was Piero Dei, who, 
 as Adolfo Venturi has so clearly shown, designed and painted the 
 figures of the two bearded Apostles who are seen one on either side of 
 Christ. 
 The last fresco on the right is the work of Cosimo Rosselli, as empty 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 79 
 
 and feeble as anything he ever did. Not even the charming group of 
 the cat and dog at play, nor the excellent roof perspective he gives us, 
 nor all his pains at painting in the spaces on which the large windows 
 open scenes showing Christ in the Garden, the Betrayal of Christ, and 
 Christ on the Cross, can make us forget how mean and feeble the whole 
 composition is. 
 
 Even to-day, after the marvellous unity of this series of Quattrocento 
 frescoes has been broken, we cannot help feeling how beautiful and 
 eloquent it all is. Sixtus IV enjoyed this noble work but a short time. 
 
 The Ceiling of the Sistine Cliapel 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 for he died on August 12, 1484, almost a year after he had solemnly 
 consecrated the chapel on August 25, 1483. The chapel remained 
 untouched till 1508. In the meantime Innocent VIII had called Andrea 
 Mantegna to Rome to decorate his private chapel (which no longer 
 exists), and Alexander VI had enjoined Pinturicchio to decorate the 
 Appartamento Borgia. 
 
 When in May, 1508, Michelangelo Buonarroti set his hand to the 
 mighty task of decorating the roof of the Sistine, he had perforce to 
 give up work on the monument of Julius II which was the curse of his 
 life. He had already completed for Bologna a statue of the great Pon- 
 tiff, which was smashed by the infuriated people in 1511. Michel- 
 
80 THE VATICAN 
 
 angelo's first contract with the Pope for the decoration of the Sistine 
 roof was drawn np May 10, 1508, and in putting his name to it the great 
 master signed himself "a sculptor," as though to emphasize the pain 
 it caused him to he ohliged to cease work on the monument to which 
 he desired to give up all the strength of his mind and hody. It may well 
 have been that, out of jealousy, Bramante had long been plotting to 
 have the Sistine decorated so as to thwart the great Tuscan master 
 whose recent works had so put him in the shade. However that may 
 
 The Deluge 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 be, it is quite certain that Michelangelo was sincerely sorry to have to 
 go to work as a painter, and he showed his disappointment openly. 
 
 His first plan for the roof was very ditferent from what we now 
 see, and studies for it are preserved in the British Museum. The design 
 was a geometric one, cut up into squares of various sizes with sides run- 
 ning parallel to the walls of the chapel. In his preparations Michel- 
 angelo was assisted bj' his faithful friend, Francesco Granacci, who 
 selected many painters to help in the great work. Among them were 
 Jacopo di Sandro, Agnolo di Domino, Bastiano da Sangallo, Giuliano 
 Bugiardini, and Jacopo, surnamed LTndaco. They were all excellent 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 81 
 
 The lJruiik(_'niicss ol Au;ili 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Sacrifice of Noah 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
82 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 lln- (j'calicjii of Aihtin 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Creation of Eve 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 83 
 
 fresco painters who had come lo Rome, and were all very eager for a 
 chance of showing what they could do. For a time Michelangelo looked 
 at them, let them talk, and then one day they found the chapel door 
 locked against them. He could do no work with five painters around 
 him, he said, and so he set about the mighty work all alone. 
 
 For four continuous years ending on October 31, 1512, he worked up 
 there on his high scaffold, alone with his own creations, while down 
 below the ceremonies in the church, changing from festivals of joy to 
 
 Origin;tl Sin 
 
 tlu' I'^xiiuisii 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 periods of mourning, marked the flight of time for common men. Day 
 by day new visions came to fill his great mind, and, cut off as he was 
 from the mass of men and rapt in superhuman ecstasy, he passed his 
 time with the mighty children of his fantasy. Wounded by the endless 
 plotting of his enemies, sorrowful over the infelicities of his home life 
 that he could never forget, and suffering physical torture from being 
 forced to draw and paint that roof with his head in a strained position, 
 he found no relief save in ever-increased exertion and in the thought of 
 the mighty work he was engaged on for the honor of God and the 
 uplifting of the sons of man. Now and again Julius II unwillingly 
 allowed him to recruit himself with a few days' brief rest. And on 
 August 14, 1511, when the first part of the frescoes was uncovered, we 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 The Creation of Light 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 irr 
 
 The Creation of the Sun and the Moon 
 (Miehelangelo) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 85 
 
 find a brief mention of the fact in the diary of Paride de' Grassi, papal 
 master of ceremonies, who forgot to mention the name of the great 
 artist. The remainder of the work was completed and uncovered on 
 October 31, 1512, at which time Julius II was on his death-bed. 
 
 Let us run over the subjects painted on the roof, beginning at the 
 door where Michelangelo began to paint and where we lind the Deluge 
 — one of the earliest in point of time, and also one of the few subjects 
 in which we can fmd any points of similarity between the master and 
 the various painters or schools he had come in touch with. 
 
 Tlie Separation of the Land from the Water 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 Between the Deluge of Paolo Uccello, in the Green Cloister of S. 
 Maria Novella, and this Deluge the links are ideal rather than real, but 
 nevertheless they are there if one knows where to look for them. 
 Around his vision of the horrible spectacle of Death, Michelangelo, as 
 if to mitigate the view, has introduced two scenes from life — the Drunk- 
 enness of Noah and the Sacrifice on Leaving the Ark. In these two 
 paintings the nudes and the draperies make us believe for an instant 
 that Michelangelo is displaying his love for classical antiquity. If you 
 look well into these paintings you will find that the figures are smaller 
 than in the others. This was his first attempt, and he quickly found out 
 that owing to the height and size of the roof he had to enlarge them. 
 
86 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Prophet Zechariah 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Prophet Joel 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Delphic Sibyl 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Prophet Isaiah 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 87 
 
 The Cum^an Sibyl 
 (iMichelangelo) 
 
 The Persian Sibyl 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Prophet Daniel 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 The Prophet Jeremiah 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
88 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Prophet Ezekiel 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 Let us pass on from the Noah 
 scenes to the Adam and Eve group 
 in the centre of the roof. Here the 
 very pinnacle of art has been 
 scaled. The figure of Adam stands 
 out against a solitary peak, alone 
 with God, who comes forward 
 from a crowd of angels through 
 the calm sky. The limbs that 
 spring into life at the divine touch, 
 the fair body that seems, in its 
 inertia, to be still a part of the very 
 earth, are at once one of the great- 
 est symbols and easiest lessons that 
 the human mind has imaged to 
 teach us that it is ever our tragic 
 lot to struggle between the ma- 
 terialism of our bodies and the 
 efforts of our imprisoned souls to 
 wing their way to their divine Cre- 
 ator. In the pictures showing the birth of Eve and the first sin the mind 
 of the artist is more within our ken; and as we look on these scenes, our 
 souls are not drowned in the infinite ocean of allegory which the mas- 
 ter has known how to depict in his vision of man's first appearance on 
 this earth. In representing God without crown or halo, Michelangelo 
 introduced a conception, which was imitated by Raphael and others. 
 
 It is usual to call attention here to the relief of the Creation with 
 which Jacopo della Querela has adorned the facade of S. Petronio's 
 at Bologna, There is, indeed, no denying points of contact between the 
 two works, but one might search Bologna with lamps before finding 
 one simple sculptured scene to equal that of the Creation of Adam. The 
 synthetic quality which is so necessary for every great work of art — 
 that synthetic quality which taught Giotto to build on the realism of 
 the Roman and Sienese Schools of the Duecento the monumental sim- 
 plicity of his compositions, in which not the passing events of a day 
 but the eternal commerce of the human race with its Deity is set forth 
 — that synthetic quality led Michelangelo to compose the Creation of 
 Man and to place around it, as companion pictures, the Creation of 
 Light, Land and Water. 
 
 The face of the Creator, which seems to lack all emotion in the first 
 picture, is lighted up with paternal tenderness in the third, where he 
 broods over the wide expanse of the seas that know not yet the shock 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 89 
 
 The Last Judgment 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
90 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Figure of the Redeemer 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 91 
 
 of the storm. In the lunettes above Michelangelo has painted in the 
 purest types of human heroism: David slaying Goliath; the story of 
 Judith; Esther and Haman; Moses and the Brazen Serpent. Next come 
 the pictures of the Seven Prophets and the Five Sibyls, whose inner 
 symbolical significance leads us to think that, from the very first touch 
 of color Michelangelo put to the Sistine roof, he always entertained the 
 idea of completing the decoration of the chapel by the Last Judgment 
 — a work he did not reallv undertake until 1535. 
 
 Ciroup of till' Blc'ssi'd around Clirisi 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 Throughout the whole period of the Middle Ages the imposing fig- 
 ures of the Prophets and Sibyls had been used in decorations side by 
 side with the Apostles and Saints of the New Law. The law of pro- 
 phetic concordance between the Old and the New Testament is clearly 
 manifest in the case of the Prophets, wnth whom were associated the 
 legendary Sibyls as a proof of the spiritual union of the worlds of 
 paganism and Christianity in their expectation of the new dispensation 
 which was to knit them together in the bonds of its great love. 
 
 The Sibyl who on the Capitoline Hill foretold the Christ to Augustus 
 is not here in person, but her spirit is here and speaks to us in the 
 figures of her five companions. The Prophets and the Sibyls have each 
 a deep meaning often transcending the historicity of the person or the 
 
92 THE VATICAN 
 
 legend, and the manner in which they are treated is an index to the 
 meaning the artist wonld convey. 
 
 Zechariah, as a learned old man, seems to he seeking for light in the 
 books of the old wisdom. Joel is reading there the dread prophecy of 
 the great jndgment day in the Valley of .lehoshaphat. Between them 
 stands the Delphic Sibyl, calling up to the mind in this Christian church 
 the temples of Apollo and the secrets of pagan worship. Lost in the 
 very greatness of her vision, the Pythoness seems to be hearkening to 
 
 Angels Summoning the Dead to Rise 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 a voice that tells her of the coming union of men of all times and climes 
 in the great idea of a Supreme Deity. The Erythraean Sibyl is a more 
 sympathetic figure, and recalls Zechariah, as he turns over the pages 
 of Holy Writ. She seems to be carefully reading by the light of a 
 lamp. The rapt attention of her attitude has been skilfully shown by 
 the master in the unconscious grace of the left arm, hanging loosely 
 by her side, while the right seems to have paused in the act of turning 
 over a page whereon her ej^es have caught the passage that she sought. 
 The plump servant, who seems in the act of renewing the oil in the 
 lamp, adds to the intimate charm of this scene. 
 
 Lost in deep interior vision, the youthful Isaiah hardly turns his head 
 or lifts his eyelids, almost closed over the thoughtful eyes, at the eager 
 call of the curly-headed youth by his side. 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 93 
 
 Angels bearing the Emblems of the Passion 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 Angels bearing the I^inhkius (jf the Passion 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
94 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Figures of the Damned 
 (Last Judgment) 
 
 How much more alert is the fig- 
 ure of Ezekiel at the words of the 
 maiden near him, wlio seems as if 
 she were describing to him the 
 many-eyed animals around the 
 throne of the King of Glory. He 
 is surely here the prophet of the 
 Resurrection, impetuous as a tor- 
 rent and filled with faith in hisGod. 
 
 The Cumaean Sibyl that talked 
 with JEneas, Evander, and Pallas 
 has all the strength of ancient 
 Rome and with placid mien traces 
 the events of history in the great 
 book. Wrapped in her ample robes 
 from head to foot and with face 
 almost hidden, the Persian Sibyl is 
 in the act of writing. In conform- 
 ity with the traditions handed 
 down in the symbolism of the 
 Middle Ages, Daniel is there, the type of an upholder of the faith 
 against all threats. Jeremiah seems to brood over his Lamentations — 
 his attitude expressing the sorrow of his thoughts, and sorrow, too, is 
 written on the faces of his young followers. 
 
 Remarkable rather for corporeal than for symbolical beauty are the 
 Libyan Sibyl and Jonah. Jonah seems as if still confused by his deten- 
 tion within the belly of the leviathan, as stretched out under the tradi- 
 tional gourd he gazes at the Lord while he tells off on his fingers his 
 foolish reasons for doubting. The Preacher of Nineveh, the last type 
 of the Resurrection, closes the series of Prophets in the roof above the 
 Judgment which the Divine Judge pronounces over those risen from 
 the dead. 
 
 From the representation of the universal flood down to Jonah, the 
 figurej seem to take on more life and dignity, and this is not only the 
 case in the scene pieces and in the Prophets and Sibyls, but even in 
 the nudes seated on the pilasters and holding the shields on which the 
 master has depicted the symbolic cycle based on Dante's Purgatory. 
 
 It was Carlo Rorinski who discovered the meaning of these shields 
 whereon the personages bear the names of the various ancestors of 
 Jesus as given in the genealogy of St. Matthew's Gospel, and whom 
 Michelangelo, overcoming all difficulty and fatigue, has placed as 
 adornments for the eight beams of the roof and the corresponding 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 
 
 95 
 
 Candelabrum on the Balustrade 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 Candelabrum on the Balustrade 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 Side View of the Choir-loft 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 Balustrade and Choir-I'iit 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
96 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 twelve lunettes of the windows. Guided by a similarity between those 
 figures and characters in Dante, Borinski has succeeded in showing 
 that the figures typify certain moral and religious maxims in Dante's 
 poem. Thus, in the composition to which the names Eleazar and 
 Nathan have been added, we find reference to the Dantean nurse and 
 the happy parents (Paradiso, xv, 121); that named Jacob and Joseph 
 calls up the father who is worried over his daughter's dowry and mar- 
 riage (Paradiso, xv, 1031. Achim and f^liud remind us of the lines 
 where he tells how bitter is the bread in the house of a stranger (Para- 
 diso, xvii, 58). Ozias, Joatham, and Achaz call up the story of Caccia- 
 
 The Sistine Cantoria, or Choir-loft 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 guida as Dante tells it (Paradiso, xv, 17 ) . Rehoboam and Abiah remind 
 us of the wife alone while her husband lies dead in France (Paradiso, 
 XV, 19). 
 
 The two lunettes of the end wall once held Abram and Isaac with his 
 load of wood, and Jacob and Judah, but these Michelangelo destroyed 
 together with the Perugino frescoes twenty-three 3'ears later, when 
 he came to paint the mighty vision of the Last Judgment. The subject 
 was chosen by Clement VII, and Michelangelo made some early studies 
 for it which were approved by Paul III. The choice of such a subject 
 is quite in keeping with the spirit of the times, which was wont to pass 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 97 
 
 lightly from the pagan joy of the Renaissance to the rigid orthodoxy 
 of the Council of Trent and the asceticism of the Counter Reform. We 
 must remember, too, that Rome had endured the dread sack of 1527, 
 and Florence had fallen under the blows of her own citizens, who had 
 formed an alliance with the Imperial party. 
 
 Michelangelo was sixty years old when he began this great work, 
 which was to occupy him seven years. It was at one time intended to 
 decorate the entrance wall with the Fall of Lucifer, but nothing ever 
 
 
 
 
 ii«^.eT^:v^>^ 
 
 
 --^ 
 
 r..i1i..n 
 
 .1' llic M;irlili' ll.ihi^lr.nk' 
 
 (1481-1483) 
 
 came of the idea. Moreover, by placing the Judgment on the wall fac- 
 ing the entrance door, an old tradition was broken which held that it 
 should be on the entrance wall to the east whence the Judge was to come 
 and facing the altar in the apse. It is so at Torcello, and at S. Angelo 
 in Formis, and thus too it was painted by Pietro Cavallini in S. Cecilia 
 in Trastevere and by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel at Padua. But the 
 giant imagery of Michelangelo for the Sistine was not to be chained by 
 an iconographic tradition. He retained the Christian idea, indeed, but 
 he altered its form. 
 
 Michelangelo's masterpiece has come down to us darkened here and 
 there bv the smoke from the altar candles and repainted by Daniele da 
 
98 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 A Panel of the Balustrade 
 (1481-1483) 
 
 A I'ancl of the BalustradL 
 (1481-1483) 
 
THE SISTINE CHAPEL 99 
 
 Volterra, who, at the request of Paul H, whose feelings were shocked 
 by so much nudity, dared to throw veils across the beauty of the limbs 
 his master had painted. 
 
 Of its original form we can gain some conception from a copy 
 painted by Venusti for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, now preserved 
 in the Museo Nazionale in Naples, and from a few engravings. 
 
 The figure of Jesus is not, as in other medieval Judgments, en- 
 throned in glory and indicating with a gesture of his hand his approval 
 or condemnation. Here he seems not to be concerned with the elect 
 who are on his right hand, but to turn the wrath of his face towards the 
 lost, who try to climb the mount of Paradise, struggling with the 
 demons who drag them towards the eternal fire. Creation trembles 
 before its Judge, and even Marj% the gentle adviser of mercy, turns 
 aside as though in fright. Among the blessed around Christ are Eve, St. 
 Peter, St. Stephen, St. Laurence, St. Bartholomew, and, lower down, 
 St. Catherine of Alexandria with a broken piece of her martyr's wheel 
 and St. Sebastian about to bend the bow of his own murderers. 
 
 In the centre of the lower portion of the picture angels with trumpets 
 call on the dead to rise. Tombs open wide, and those about to be judged 
 come forth heavy after their sleep of ages, and are either hurried on 
 high by God's messengers or dragged down below by demons. 
 
 Charon is there as a black fiery-eyed demon, driving ashore with his 
 oar those who have crossed in his accursed boat, and who now struggle 
 to the shore, where one of the damned stands upright, bound about 
 twice by the coiled tail of Mino, the judge of the infernal regions. 
 
 There is not in the whole work a single smile, a single trace of mercy; 
 even the Virgin is afraid and dares not turn her eyes towards the awful 
 sight. From the demons hurled headlong on the shores of Acheron to 
 the giant angels on high who bear the emblems of Christ's passion, 
 everything speaks of woe, pain, and terror. 
 
 The whole theme represents the state of mind of Michelangelo dur- 
 ing the last portion of his life, and the gloom with which he gave him- 
 self up to that dark problem of life and death. 
 
 And so with the final Judgment the chain of pictures in the Sistine 
 closes: a chain the first link of which was the charming idyl of Moses 
 and Sephorah painted so joyously by Peruginoand Pinturicchio among 
 the green trees of a land smiling with the joy of springtime and joyous 
 with the laughter of beautiful children. 
 
m^h^^ 
 
 THE PAULINE CHAPEL 
 
 HE Pauline Chapel, so called after Pope Paul III, was 
 built according to plans made by the architect An- 
 tonio da Sangallo on the site where the Sacrament 
 Chapel, decorated originally by Fra Angelico, had once 
 stood. The decorations of the new chapel were the 
 work of many artists. Lorenzo Sabbatini, known also 
 
 i^itHkJ^' it work oi many artists. Lorenzo Sabbatmi, known also 
 p^x-&*™-t. %,. At ,^j5 Lorenzino da Bologna (died about 1577), did the 
 t' ^':; ". n.. ... :ri§ Stoning of St. Stephen and the Baptism of St. Paul. 
 Fcdciico Zuccari painted the Fall of Simon Magus and the Baptism of 
 Cornelius the Centurion, works of little importance and calling for 
 slight attention from either visitor or critic. There are, however, two 
 masterpieces in the chapel — the Conversion of St. Paul and the Mar- 
 tyrdom of St. Peter, painted by Michelangelo in his last years. 
 
 Anxious to rival Pope Sixtus W, the restorer of Rome, who had given 
 his name to the Sistine Chapel, Paul III could entrust the decorations 
 of his new chapel to none but the greatest living artist — the artist who 
 had immortalized his titanic soul in the tomb of Julius II and a year 
 before had finished the Last Judgment. So, in the year 1542, Michel- 
 angelo was called to decorate the new building. 
 
 The master was now an old man. The winters of sixty-eight years 
 were weighing upon him, and twice, in 1544 and 1546, did illness beat 
 him down and halt his labors. Fire caused an interruption in 1545, 
 and it was not until 1550 that he completed his work. The ailments of 
 the master w^ere not all of the body: his soul, too, was wounded. The 
 woes of his fallen city; the lack of appreciation of his own work; the 
 profanation of his Last Judgment by Daniele da Volterra, whose med- 
 dling with its nudes won him for succeeding centuries the nickname of 
 "Braghettone" (Breeches-maker) ; the taunts of Aretino in 1545, backed 
 up even by Cardinal Biagio de Cesena, Papal Master of Ceremonies — 
 all these oppressed his mighty soul. He had, however, but one real 
 regret, and this regret finds an echo in the writings of Vasari: he was 
 growing old, and his hand no longer answered true to fix in color the 
 creations of his brain. "Fresco work was beyond the power of an old 
 man," writes Vasari. In the sorrow of this giant mind there is some- 
 thing sublimely tragic that recalls the saying of the modern poet who 
 speaks of "the anger of a god overcome by matter." 
 
 cion 
 
102 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Conversion of St. Paul 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 Michelangelo has depicted on the walls two of the fundamental 
 scenes of nascent Christianity — Paul on the Way to Damascus and the 
 Crucifixion of St. Peter. No more heroic themes could have been 
 chosen than these, which may be regarded as the two culminating 
 points in the history of the Apostles. 
 
 In the Conversion of St. Paul the master has once more grappled 
 with the most difficult problems of aerial perspective. Christ, sur- 
 rounded by a glory of angels, seems to swoop down on the Apostle 
 with the same power that the Angel has in the canvas by Tintoretto in 
 Venice. At the sight of the marvel, the affrighted Apostle cannot con- 
 trol his horse, which rears and unseats him. The legionaries gather 
 around their fallen leader, while one of their number holds by the 
 
THE PAULINE CHAPEL 
 
 103 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Peter 
 (Michelangelo) 
 
 bridle the wonderful white horse, the only thing Stendhal had eyes for. 
 The majesty of Christ and the attitude of Paul are, as Burckardt has 
 pointed out, among the happiest things Michelangelo ever did. But it 
 is not fair to say, as the German critic does, that the whole subject fails 
 through a sort of wilfulness which, even in Michelangelo, he does not 
 hesitate to call mannerism. Nor can we agree with Blanc, who sees 
 nothing in the choice of attitudes but an excuse to overcome drawing 
 difficulties, and in the employment of nudes for the figures in the sky 
 sees only a deliberate excuse of the artist to show his knowledge of 
 anatomy and the infinite attitudes and poses into which the human 
 body may be tortured. 
 
 Far different was Michelangelo's idea. Just as in the Sistine Chapel 
 his vision went beyond the affairs of our daily life to a deeper and 
 eternal reality, so was it here. Had he merely wanted to show off his 
 skill as a draughtsman, it would have been easy for him to choose fan- 
 tastic scenes like those revelled in by contemporary dwarfs. His use 
 of the nude has a deeper meaning. By disrobing Paul's legionaries 
 he meant to rid them of at least a part of their concreteness, and, as 
 
104 THE VATICAN 
 
 in the famous battle cartoon, make them stand less for the individual 
 soldier than as an expression of human strength and vigor. The reality 
 of the human body is for Michelangelo an ideal thing — a network of 
 lines and curves suggesting the loftiest thoughts. His motives in paint- 
 ing the Conversion of St. Paul were the same as those that moved him 
 when at work on the end wall of the Sistine; and, as Vasari tells us, — 
 perhaps repeating what the master told him, — he was attracted only 
 by the perfection of his art, caring nothing about such accessories as 
 landscape, trees and houses, as though fearful lest such minor things 
 should distract his genius. The whole motive of Michelangelo's art 
 may be summed up in this phrase of Vasari's: "the triumph of the 
 human body over every other form in creation — the body of man as 
 the mirror of the world in which all else is reflected and through which 
 all else may be shown." 
 
 The second picture is not quite so interesting as the first, as the artist 
 seems to have confined himself more to the actual happenings. In the 
 centre the executioners are raising the cross on which St. Peter is 
 nailed head downwards in deference to his declared unworthiness to 
 die exactly as Christ did. A newly dug hole has been prepared to re- 
 ceive the cross. To the right a group of women are awe-stricken wit- 
 nesses, and foot-soldiers and men on horseback move around as though 
 amused at the horrible sight. There is a blurred landscape of hills in 
 the distance. The head of the martyred Peter is marvellously drawn. 
 His is the same figure that in the Last Judgment gives back, with a 
 noble gesture, the keys to the Saviour, and his face here is the face at 
 once of a stoic and of one inspired. He looks bej^ond the moment's 
 pain to the eternity of the Church which is built on his tomb. 
 
 One might almost take this figure as a symbol of Michelangelo him- 
 self. Racked and tortured as he was and weighed down by years, he 
 must certainly have looked forward beyond his present bitterness to 
 the eternal triumph of his art, all the more so as at that verj^ time he 
 was planning to raise into the sky the loftiest cupola in Christendom. 
 It w^as, in fact, in 1547 that, after a delay of twenty years, he was re- 
 called to resume the building of St. Peter's. At the age of seventy-three 
 he took up Bramante's idea and planned the four mighty pillars that 
 were to hold the wondrous cupola. What matter if the Fates cut short 
 his life, and he never saw his work finished? He saw it complete in his 
 own mind and more actual than it is even now, when it hangs in the 
 clouds above Rome. 
 
 It was in such mighty thoughts that the giant's last days were spent. 
 These two frescoes in the Pauline Chapel are the last ])aintings from 
 his bi'iish, the crowning works of a life spent in noting every move- 
 
THE PAULINE CHAPEL 105 
 
 ment and every gesture so as to fix it faithfully on his painted walls. 
 From the calm triumph of the youthful David he had arrived at the 
 awful majesty of Christ the Judge; and now, like his own dying Peter, 
 he could face death unafraid, convinced that it would lead from this 
 world of reality to the realm of the divine ideal of which he had more 
 than once caught a glimpse. 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 |\ August 11, 1492, Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope by 
 the Conclave which had assembled upon the death of 
 Innocent VIII, and took the name of Alexander VI. 
 He was not far past his sixtieth year, so that he could 
 not be called, for a Pope, an old man; but he knew 
 only too well that he lived in an age when the termi- 
 nation of life did not depend exclusively upon age 
 and natural ailments. Very intelligible, therefore, was 
 his desire that his plans be promptly executed. A nephew of Calixtus 
 HI and raised to the Cardinalate at the age of twenty-five, he had found 
 himself at an early age in possession of wealth which enabled him to 
 indulge his taste for worldly pleasures and the Spanish temperament 
 which inclined him to luxury. He could now freely indulge his luxuri- 
 ousness with something like approval on the part of the ecclesiastical 
 world, because, even before coming to the pontifical throne, he had 
 broken through all ecclesiastical bounds, and, not yet a priest, had 
 called down on himself the stern reproof of Pius II for his orgies in 
 Siena. It was not until a much later period, however, that public indig- 
 nation was aroused against him, and then not so much because of his 
 own vices as because of the crimes of his son, Cesare. These crimes, 
 with which he had no connection and which were indeed perpetrated 
 to his exceeding sorrow, brought upon him more hatred than his earlier 
 dissolute and immoral life. The victims of Cesare cast a darker shadow 
 over the reputation of Alexander than his own amours with Vannozza 
 and Giulia Farnese. 
 
 Alexander, then, had barely entered the Vatican when he resolved 
 to prepare for himself a suite of apartments that would be a marvel 
 of splendor, rich in reliefs, in gilding, in marbles, in majolica, in furni- 
 ture, in hangings; a suite so magnificent that not a hand's breadth of 
 ceiling or of walls should be left untouched. The eye and the mind 
 w^ere to find no repose. In the tiniest unoccupied space memory might 
 lurk to awaken remorse or painful recollections. Everywhere, there- 
 fore, splendor and gaiety must prevail. Alexander summoned the artist 
 who at that time gave the most satisfactory proof of his ability to com- 
 prehend his patron's disposition and satisfy his desires — Bernardino 
 
 no?:] 
 
108 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 riic ll:ill of the Mysteries 
 
 di Betto, called II Pinturicchio, a little decrepit creature, hard of hear- 
 ing (and thus sometimes known as II Sordicchio), frequently ailing, 
 and yet working indefatigably all his life to bring joy into the lives of 
 others, only to end in the claws of a worthless wife who paraded her 
 shame in the market-place of Siena. Pinturicchio had already worked 
 in Rome — in the Sistine Chapel with Perugino, and then in the Palazzo 
 dei Penitenzieri, and had also executed the frescoes of the Bufalini 
 Chapel in the Church of Ara Coeli and decorated the Belvedere of the 
 Vatican and various chapels in S. Maria del Popolo. He was, there- 
 fore, much in vogue as a decorator, — all the more so because, if not the 
 first to employ grotteschi, he had been the most enthusiastic cultivator 
 of that method, and had enriched the art with a variety of new and 
 lively forms. His attempts were at first confined to chiaroscuro, like 
 bas-relief, but by degrees, as the craze for excavations grew and new 
 forms of ancient pictorial decoration were revealed, he abandoned 
 himself to a grand revel of colors and gilding. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the fever for research and for the fan- 
 tastic then in vogue. The animal and vegetable kingdoms were com- 
 
THE APPAHTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 109 
 
 David Enthroned 
 
 Door in the Hall of the Mysteries 
 
 bined in one wild, joyous riot of color. The recesses of the Domus 
 Aurea, which has been identified by some as the Baths of Titus, and 
 other buried monuments were invaded by a swarm of painters who 
 crawled on all fours, copied the decorations by the light of torches and 
 candles, and came out from their labor begrimed, half stupefied and 
 exhausted. As these buried chambers were called grotte (caves), the 
 ornamentations copied from them were given the name of grotteschi, 
 and Lorenzo Luzo, when he emerged from underground as pale as one 
 risen from the dead, was nicknamed II Morto da Feltre (The Dead Man 
 of Feltre). That Pinturicchio was a remarkable portrait painter is 
 sufficiently proved by the Sanseverino picture; but, not to mention 
 Leonardo da Vinci, he was very far from possessing Signorelli's 
 strength, Perugino's feeling, Mantegna's power, the ideality of Gio- 
 vanni Bellini, the grace of Botticelli, or the sincerity of Ghirlandaio. 
 He was inferior to many others also, and it is clear that he would never 
 have been sought after by princes, as he was, nor would he have 
 acquired such a reputation, had he not possessed in the highest degree 
 the qualities of a decorator. He liked to draw crowds in all their tumult 
 of form and color, perhaps because he recognized himself as lacking 
 in the gift of discerning individuality, divining character and depicting 
 personality. On the other hand, his genius was rich in such external 
 qualities as elegance and vivacity, and he was able to produce an art 
 
110 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 111 
 
 The Nativity 
 Hall of the Mysteries 
 
 abounding in magnificence and calculated to please — an art which we 
 may venture to call meretricious, for in it a wealth of ornament 
 covered but a poverty of heart. This splendor it was that won him the 
 smiles of princes. When Rodrigo Borgia became Pope, Pinturicchio 
 was engaged in painting the Cathedral of Orvieto; but, having em- 
 broiled himself in a lawsuit there with the authorities in charge of the 
 work, he returned to Rome, and was thus able to take over the decora- 
 tion of the Appartamento in November, 1492. Taking shelter under 
 the Pope's protection when the people of Orvieto angrily clamored for 
 his return to complete the frescoes he had begun in their cathedral, he 
 was able to finish his work in the Vatican by the end of 1494. 
 
 Any one who now looks at the immense amount of work in the Ap- 
 partamento Borgia, must be astonished to learn that it was all done 
 in about two years. To complete it, Pinturicchio gathered about him 
 a number of assistants who, while distinguished by different methods 
 in painting, have never, with one exception, been identified with any 
 certainty. The work, examined in detail, shows traits of good and of 
 mediocre artists, hints derived from Perugino, Signorelli and others 
 from Tuscany or perhaps from still more distant climes. The unity 
 of the whole was preserved, because a single brain conceived it all and 
 presided over the work, guiding the hands of those who executed it and 
 
112 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Ascension 
 Hall of the Mysteries 
 
 retouching, when necessary, what they had painted so as to bring it 
 into harmony with the rest. It may be that this indispensable care on 
 the part of Pinturicchio took away from every artist just that personal 
 quality which might have guided critics in recognizing him, with the 
 result that the merit and the glory of the work have been attributed to 
 the spirit which conceived and animated it. The chambers decorated 
 at that time are five in number, and we shall accept the names recently 
 given to them by Ehrle and Stevenson: the Hall of the Mysteries, the 
 Hall of the Saints, the Hall of the Liberal Arts, the Hall of the Credo, 
 and the Hall of the Sibyls (Sala dei Misteri, Sala dei Santi, Sala delle 
 Arti Liberali, Sala del Credo, Sala delle Sibille). Pinturicchio did a 
 considerable amount of work with his own hands in the first of these, 
 much in the second, very little in the third, and none in the last two. 
 However, we must repeat, he conceived and directed the whole. 
 
 The Hall of the Mysteries is spanned by a great arch dividing it into 
 two rectangular portions with four small lunettes and two large ones. In 
 one of the latter, facing the window, the decoration is made to simulate 
 two other lunettes with a corbel in which an angel stands holding in his 
 uplifted hands a garland with the Borgia-Doms armorial bearings — an 
 ox passant in the first half, and in the second a bend of gold and azure. 
 The walls are decorated with large fillets, Greek fretwork, and gilded 
 foliage surrounding green spaces, arabesqued in gold, and show a niim 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 113 
 
114 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Resurrection 
 Hall of the Mysteries 
 
 ber of representations of marble niches within which are sacred objects 
 and church furniture — vases, plates, a triple-crowned tiara, a reliquary 
 and a small bell. The painting above the cornice in this and in the 
 other halls is enlivened with stucco and papier-mache designs of the 
 heraldic bearings of the Borgia, varied in every way, and interspersed 
 with garlands and tabernacles; and over everything falls a golden 
 shower of little compressed and flattened pellets of wax covered with 
 gilding. In each wall-veil is placed a disc. These discs show half- 
 figures, very badly done, of Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Joel, Micah, Malachi, 
 Solomon, Isaiah and David, the work of some Umbrian who seems to 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 115 
 
 Details from the Resurrection 
 Hall of the Mysteries 
 
 have followed Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, or, better, Antoniazzo Romano. Of 
 the frescoes which adorn the semicircular spaces, only two are worth 
 dwelling upon as the work of the master. The Annunciation is not 
 Pinturicchio's; for, while it reveals Umbrian characteristics, it is not 
 his, nor is it the work of any Lombard, as any one may see, for at this 
 period Lombard would mean a disciple of Foppa. The same painter, 
 in fact, keeps the exclusive Umbrian motives in the adjacent Nativity 
 (Presepio), and at the same time recalls Pinturicchio's Nativity in the 
 church of S. Maria del Popolo, as well as the Nativities by Perugino in 
 the Sala del Cambio at Perugia and in the Villa Albani. On the other 
 hand, the Adoration of the Magi has somewhat of a Tuscan character; 
 it is perhaps bj' some artist who had appeared not much more than ten 
 years before this as an assistant to the great masters who decorated the 
 Sistine Chapel. Then again, the Ascension and the Coming of the Holy 
 Ghost are evidently the work of another hand. The youthful faces 
 with pointed chins, the old men buried beneath the heavy and inflated 
 folds of their garments, the hands and feet with dislocated joints — all 
 these produce a somewhat violent effect. The works, however, are not 
 without a certain solemnity and pomp, evidently derived from Luca 
 Signorelli, a sublime master, if rugged and uncouth. 
 
 But, while Pinturicchio supplied the designs and direction to those 
 who executed the above-mentioned paintings, his own hands worked 
 
116 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 only on the Assumption of the Virgin and the Resurrection. In the 
 figure of St. James and in that of Marv ascending to Heaven we see the 
 pictorial characteristics of Antonio del Massaro of Viterbo, called II 
 Pastura, of whom we shall speak later on; but assuredly Pinturicchio's 
 is the figure of the old beardless man, enveloped in a red robe, who, 
 with sleek, flowing hair and wath his hands joined, kneels to the right 
 of the Sepulchre. This figure is said — and denied — to represent the 
 papal treasurer, Francesco Borgia, son of Calixtus III. 
 
 We now come to the masterpiece of the room — and of all the rooms 
 of the Appartamento Borgia — namely, the Resurrection, in which all 
 except the figure of Christ is the work of the master. This figure 
 
 is heavy and 
 work of Anton- 
 The other fig- 
 beautiful and 
 iconographical- 
 ricchio's. In- 
 portance of the 
 ander VI and 
 this picture was 
 other hand but 
 could be per- 
 them. The 
 
 and facing to 
 adoring the 
 His mantle of 
 surrounded by 
 
 The Madnnnii :ind Child 
 Hali of the Saints 
 
 hard, like the 
 iazzo Romano. 
 ures,artistically 
 very interesting 
 ly, are Pintu- 
 deed, the im- 
 models (Alex- 
 Iiis sons) in 
 such that no 
 the master's 
 mitted to touch 
 Pope, kneeling 
 the right, is 
 openSepulchre. 
 gold brocade is 
 a wide border 
 
 which is a riot of pearls and gems; before him, on the ground, are set 
 the triple-crowned tiara and the mitre. He has his hands joined; they 
 are encased in gloves so thin as to interfere in no way with the contour 
 of the shapely fingers. They are not conventional hands, but studies 
 from life, just as are the plump head, with the gray of the beard 
 and of the cropped hair, the hooked nose, and the full lips that 
 truly reveal the luxurious character of the man. It is worthy of 
 note, too, that the light falling on this extraordinary face suggests 
 the thought that the Pope himself also mounted the platform and 
 posed for the artist. Portraits also — as we may deduce from 
 their type, costumes, grace and extreme youthfulness — are the three 
 youths in this painting. These figures take the place of the usual 
 rough, fierce soldiers who, sodden with wane and sprawling on the 
 ground, are startled by the sudden commotion about the grave of the 
 risen Christ. At that time there were actually living with Alexander 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 117 
 
 VI in Rome, besides Lucrezia, three of his four sons by Vannozza 
 Catanei. And we shall presently see how even Pier Luigi, who died 
 when about five years old, has found a place in the picture in a very 
 strange way, which is always passed over unnoticed. The youth to the 
 extreme right, dressed in red and turquoise blue (the heraldic colors 
 of the Borgia), is evidently about twenty years old, which was at this 
 time the real age of Giovanni, who about four years later was mur- 
 dered and thrown into the Tiber; judging from his fair hair, the second 
 
 The Hall of the Saints 
 
 youth, a handsome youngster of about eighteen, wath his left knee on 
 the ground, is Cesare. His countenance is gentle and serene, for the 
 shadow of his crimes has not yet fallen upon him. But the strangest 
 figure is that of the gentle, blond Jofre, then twelve years old. He is 
 dressed all in armor, but his cuirass is broken over his left breast, and 
 within appears the image of Pier Luigi, Alexander's fourth son, who 
 was then dead, but who remained ineffaceably imprinted on the heart 
 of the youngest of his surviving brothers. 
 
 Giorgio Vasari writes that "over the door of one chamber" Pintu- 
 ricchio painted "the Lady Giulia Farnese as a Madonna," and in the 
 
118 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 same frame the head of Pope 
 
 Alexander; but Vasari's words are 
 
 simply one of the many proofs 
 
 which show how largely imagina- 
 tion has exaggerated the faults 
 
 and the audacity of this Pope. To 
 
 be sure, he had once been the 
 
 lover of Giulia Farnese, but he 
 
 neither caused his portrait to be 
 
 painted in the act of adoring her, 
 
 much less caused hers to be 
 
 painted in the halls of the Vatican 
 
 as a Madonna. While we see him 
 
 in the fresco adoring the Christ 
 
 rising from the Tomb, in the scene 
 
 of the Madonna with the Infant, 
 
 shown in a round frame in the 
 
 Hall of the Saints, we can discover 
 
 nothing but the usual Pinturicchio type of Madonna— a delicate, gentle, 
 
 sweet, but altogether conventional type. 
 As we have said, it was in the Hall of the Saints that the master did 
 
 most work, beginning with the Visitation, a subject more suitable for 
 
 the Hall of the Mysteries. Amid all its architectural splendor, there is 
 
 an intimate, familiar beauty in 
 this scene, with the children and 
 young women intent upon wo- 
 manly tasks — an intimate beauty 
 which seems to give heightened 
 relief to the two central figures, 
 those of the Madonna and St. 
 Elizabeth, who meet and embrace 
 each other. More simple is the 
 adjoining picture, showing St. An- 
 thony and St. Paul the Hermit in 
 the desert, faithful to the icono- 
 graphic motive which lasted down 
 to the time of Velasquez and per- 
 haps even later. The two hermit 
 saints, seated against a steep rock, 
 are sharing the bread which has 
 been brought to them by the 
 raven, which is seen cleaving the 
 
 ;iiul SI, l>;uil 111 
 Mall nf the Saints 
 
 Hermit 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 119 
 
 Detail from St. Anthony and St. P:uil llu- Hermit 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 Detail from the MaH,M.l..i,i ..i ,M. Niba.slian 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
120 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 St. Susanna and the EIcIlts 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 air on its way back to the forest. But behind St. Anthony, in allusion to 
 his temptation, there are three women in the bloom of youth and in 
 aspect and gesture full of grace and seductiveness. If, however, you 
 look closely, you will find there are horns sprouting from their heads, 
 and below their skirts, instead of feet, the sharp claws of the falcon 
 appear. Critics in general have been unwilling to admit that the three 
 demonesses, and still less the two austere saints, come from the mild 
 brush of Pinturicchio; but technical examination compels us to assign 
 to him this interesting work, and with much more reason than the 
 fresco representing the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, in which perhaps 
 nothing is his except the general idea — the tine, broad composition. 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 121 
 
 11(111 ii-ii.i».ai;ii,aiariiia»..n..i>,iiii\i>.iii»aiiini>ii>im(»u»ij>'.i»uf.i » (i (Ui n n n i > m ii i> ii ii.ii ri oji nj)t/)'/i ii'jisoii 
 
 The Flight and Martyrdom of St. Barbara 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 Characteristics resembling Perugino's are revealed by the painter — 
 rather, perhaps, the painters — who worked here. In particular, the 
 figure of the arrow-pierced saint shows its relationship to that painted 
 by Perugino at Cergneto. Alone and apart is seen a singular figure of 
 a Janissary seated on the ground with legs crossed; but of this w^e shall 
 speak presently, when we shall have occasion to refer to other Turkish 
 figures. 
 
 All the rest of the pictures in this hall are the work of the master — 
 the St. Susanna, the St. Barbara, the St. Catherine, and, on the ceiling. 
 
122 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail from tlic I-'lij;ht and Martyrdom of 
 
 St. liarbara 
 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 the histories of Osiris, of Isis and 
 of Argo. The garden of Susanna, 
 with its gilded paling and hedges 
 of rose buslies, the magnificent 
 fountain with three basins, and 
 the animals placidly resting on 
 the grass, is not Joachim's Baby- 
 lonian garden, but that of some 
 rich palace or delicious villa of 
 the Renaissance period. Susanna 
 stands in the centre, about to enter 
 the cool waters of the fountain it- 
 self, when she is attacked by two 
 judges of the people. The attitude 
 of the two elders refutes the story 
 that Pinturicchio had painted 
 Susanna nude, and that the blue 
 robe was added afterwards. It is 
 worth noting, too, that our painter, 
 usually by no means strong in 
 expression, has known how not 
 only to put life into the scene, but to give an expression of greedy 
 salaciousness to the senile faces. This and the next two pictures 
 show that Alexander VI took pleasure in feminine beauty and youth- 
 fulness — even in his saints. Graceful indeed is the figure of St. Bar- 
 bara fleeing, with her hands clasped, her drapery and hair streaming. 
 The composition, however, is not so pleasing owing to that heavy tower 
 which takes up two-thirds of the space to be filled and chokes it up — a 
 tower which has the three window^s that the Saint caused to open in it, 
 in allusion to the Trinity, and the wide crack through which she mi- 
 raculously escaped. One of the little episodes of the background is 
 interesting: Barbara's father demands of a shepherd the direction of 
 his daughter's flight, and the shepherd, in punishment for his betrayal 
 of her, is beginning to become white, like the sheep around him, and 
 turn into stone. 
 
 The large fresco, which is best lighted and most admired, is the Dis- 
 puta, or Disputation of St. Catherine with the fifty philosophers 
 brought together by the Emperor Maximinus. A reason has been 
 sought for the preference for this Saint shown by Alexander VI, and, 
 as she was born at Alexandria, there may be a suggested connection 
 between the name of the city and that of the Pope. It is our opinion, 
 however, that the Pope had chosen St. Catherine as the natural pa- 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 123 
 
 troness to whose special protection he should commend his children. 
 The scene, which is plentifully peopled, stretches over a valley, and the 
 Disputation takes place near a great Roman arch like that of Constan- 
 tine. Other painters also seem to have introduced this arch into their 
 compositions, notably Perugino in his Conferring of the Keys. The 
 tigures cluster towards the sides in two spirited groups, which become 
 more spare in the middle, thus leaving room for a few figures, the chief 
 among which are the Saint and the Sage who is pointing out, in a book 
 held by a graceful page, the jiassage which the Saint is at the moment 
 
 The Disjuita of St. CatluTiiU' 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 engaged in discussing. The group on the right — foot-soldiers and 
 horsemen with a greyhound — seems to have returned from a hunting 
 expedition, and has unexpectedly halted at the sight of the Court of 
 Maximinus; on the left, the Emperor, seated on his throne and sur- 
 rounded by his people, is listening attentively to what Catherine is say- 
 ing. It is a truly marvellous effect of landscape, architecture, costumes, 
 colors, intended perhaps to recall to posterity the great festivities which 
 had been held not long before this for the coronation of Alexander, 
 with the like superb attendance and with triumphal arches adorned 
 with the Borgia device. 
 
 Several things in this fresco have engaged the attention of historians 
 and art critics. In the first place, we must say that Vasari's observation 
 
124 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Details from the Disputa of St. Catherine 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 ■ 
 
 Px^'^w 
 
 
 "t^^^T" ' '^* ''fljp^^^ ^^*^i ^^^^^^^1 
 
 f* 
 
 
 
 Biy ^W— -j^^ ^jX^^ ^flt ■ ^ 
 
 Details from the Disputa of St. Catherine 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 125 
 
 The Death of Osiris 
 Detail from the Ceiling of the Hall of the Saints 
 
 on the artistic impropriety of the reliefs introduced by Pinturicchio, 
 even more in this picture than in the neighboring ones, seems to be 
 just. "Having made in the said halls," he says, "a history of St. Cathe- 
 rine, he represents the arches of Rome in relief and depicts the figures 
 in such a manner that, while the figures stand in front and the build- 
 ings behind, those things which are diminished in size come more for- 
 ward than those which, according to the eye, are increased in size— a 
 very great heresy in our art." It is certainly true that in some instances 
 the shadow of the stucco buildings falls on parts of the figures which 
 should appear in the foreground and in the light. 
 
 But more interesting still than this reflection, worthy as it is of 
 Vasari's sagacity, are the different Oriental figures which are seen in 
 this painting, and which were already foreshadowed by the seated 
 Janissary watching the martyrdom of St. Sebastian— figures which 
 seem, as Seitz says, to have "jumped in here out of another world." In 
 point of fact, they have "jumped in here out of another world," be- 
 cause Pinturicchio, when he painted them, took them from the draw- 
 ings which Gentile Bellini had made during a residence at Constanti- 
 
126 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail from the Ceiling of the 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 Fireplace in the Hall of the 
 Liberal Arts 
 
 llif Hall ol the Libei-Lil Arts 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 127 
 
 Grammar 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 nople that lasted fi'om the latter part of 1479 to the latter part of 1480. 
 They are drawings "of individuals," and are mentioned by Angiolello 
 as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century, and either the 
 originals or copies are still preserved in the British Museum, the 
 Louvre, and the Stadel Institute at Frankfurt-am-Main. Pinturicchio 
 made use of them not only for these frescoes of the Appartamento 
 Borgia, but also for those of the Piccolomini Library in the Cathedral 
 of Siena. It is not improbable that such Oriental figures contained an 
 allusion to some particular Turkish personage, but, apart from various 
 and uncertain conjectures, historical iconography has made little prog- 
 
128 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 129 
 
 Aiithnu'tio 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 Rhetoric 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 Arcb.Tology 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 Music 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
130 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail from the Ceiling of the 
 Hall of the Credo 
 
 ress towards identifying them. In 
 the Disputa of St. Catherine we 
 see on the right a Turk on horse- 
 back, an Albanian on the left, and 
 another Turk in full view near 
 the Saint. Recalling the fact that 
 Djem, called Zizim, a son of Mo- 
 hammed II, was at that time in 
 Italy, exiled from his own country 
 for his attempt to wrest the Otto- 
 man sceptre from his brother, 
 Bajazet II, the art critics and his- 
 torians would fain find his por- 
 trait here, some holding that he is 
 the figure on horseback, and some 
 the figure on foot. No greater 
 credence, however, is to be placed 
 in their opinions than is accorded 
 to those who hold that Lucrezia 
 Borgia is represented here by the 
 Saint — a figure which surely does 
 not represent a girl who was at this period scarcely thirteen years. 
 Next to the Hall of the Saints comes the Hall of the Liberal Arts, and 
 it may perhaps be remarked here without impropriety that the present 
 writer has been generally admitted to have first discerned and identi- 
 fied one of Pinturicchio's collaborators — beyond question the greatest 
 of his collaborators — in this hall. The scheme of the decorations in 
 this anteroom is found in the triviiim and qiiadrwiiim which formed 
 the basis of learning in the Middle Ages. We see, accordingly, personi- 
 fications of Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic, Astronomy, Geometry, Arith- 
 metic, Music, with appropriate instruments and emblems, and figures 
 of the learned personages and of artists, ancient and modern. In a 
 work executed by many collaborators it is, as a rule, very difficult to 
 determine which portion is due to one artist and which to another. 
 How, indeed, is it possible to say where the brush of one painter 
 stopped and another's took up the work? Artists who work together, 
 besides coming usually from one and the same school or from the same 
 locality and hence being already harmonized in type and color, natu- 
 rally seek to merge the variety of their products in the same tonality 
 and the same feeling, so long as they are engaged on the same work. 
 Moreover, where there is one predominating spirit, all endeavor to 
 keep pace with him and confine themselves to his manner, even when 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 
 
 131 
 
 Astronomy 
 Hall of the Liberal Arts 
 
 Another Hall in the Appartamento Borgia 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 jijWjrj)Pf)wp)Wfpp|yyjwtp»jPffW»pf|tf||ff||yf||ffJIWfJ>ffpfJ!. 
 
 Frii-ze in the Hall of the Saints 
 
 he does not retouch the various parts with his own hand and bring them 
 into harmony with one another. If, however, an artist has been per- 
 mitted to work upon figures and whole groups with a certain degree 
 of freedom and breadth, then inevitably his personality cannot be 
 altogether suppressed, but flashes out in traits which are fleeting, per- 
 haps, but yet clear and revealing. And it was one such moment which 
 revealed the great part played in the Hall of the Mysteries and in that 
 of the Liberal Arts by Antonio del Massaro of Viterbo, called II Pastura: 
 for in the former hall his are certainly— and every one now agrees in 
 this— the Coming of the Holy Ghost and the Assumption of the Virgin, 
 and in the latter Music, Rhetoric and Astronomy. Venturi, who 
 promptly accepted our view, next indicated Grammar, Geometry and 
 Arithmetic as works of Tiberio of Assisi, and Dialectic as probably the 
 work of Jacopo, called LTndaco. 
 
 In the last two halls, which are included in the tower constructed by 
 Borgia himself as soon as he became Pope, Pinturicchio's work appears 
 no more, except in the way of directive conception. Here everything 
 still turns upon the direction given by his decorative aims, but his own 
 hand is altogether absent. The Hall of the Credo has on its ceiling 
 elegant decorative motives and the usual Borgia devices, and in each 
 lunette are two half figures, one of an Apostle and the other of a 
 Prophet. And since, "according to a medieval legend, the Credo was 
 composed by the Apostles before they separated to evangelize the 
 world, in such a manner that each one of them wrote one article of it, 
 so one verse was attributed to each one of them," which verses may be 
 read on great flowing scrolls. It seems to us that in these figures, as in 
 those of the Sibyls, which give its name to the next and last hall, there 
 are considerable indications of the hand that painted Grammar, which, 
 according to Venturi, would be that of Tiberio of Assisi. In the selec- 
 tion of tiie Sibyls, the artist, or whoever advised him, "let himself be 
 
>1 
 
 Si 
 
 cisaj 
 
134 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 guided by the little books then in popular use, in which the appearance 
 and dress of each [Sibyl] is described, the oracles of each one being 
 accompanied by an analogous passage from one of the Prophets or a 
 text from the New Testament." The artist "did not invent, but drew 
 from these books the figures and the legends which appear on his 
 scrolls." But here the ceiling is particularly interesting. For, besides 
 the subjects which are taken from Egyptian mythology and glorify the 
 
 
 mmmw^mmmMmmwf} 
 
 1 ru'zc sliiiwiiii; Portrait of AIl'xuiuIli' \ 
 
 Hall of the Saints 
 
 OX, the device of the Borgia (just as did the histories of Isis and 
 Osiris on the ceiling of the Hall of the Saints), it displays, in octagonal 
 settings, crowded scenes representing terrestrial actions under astro- 
 logical influences. Through the heavens proceed the chariots of Sat- 
 urn, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Diana and Apollo, drawn by dragons, 
 bulls, stags, eagles, dolphins and horses respectively. In another octa- 
 gon is displayed an armillary sphere, the emblem of Astrology. The 
 Signs of the Zodiac are set among the clouds, and below are unfolded 
 the human activities which are favored by their influences. Saturn, 
 with his scythe, protects the works of justice, piety arid love, over which 
 he presided after Janus received him into Latium; Venus, with Love 
 
THE APPARTAMENTO BORGIA 135 
 
 speeding the dart, watches over various couples of lovers, while Mer- 
 cury, devoting himself to students only, overlooks a number of other 
 matters entrusted to him. Under Jupiter pass the hunters, with dog 
 and falcon; and under the Moon, fishermen. Mars is watching a battle; 
 Apollo looks down on a quiet assemblage of "great souls." Lastly, 
 geomancers and astrologers stand under the astrolabe, engaged in dis- 
 cussion. The artist of these designs was some follower of Perugino. 
 
 That, as a whole, the work completed under the sole direction of 
 Pinturicchio fully satisfied Alexander VI is proved by the fact that the 
 Pope soon afterwards commissioned him to decorate with frescoes 
 other chambers on the Courtyard of St. Peter's. These frescoes have 
 since perished, and a hall constructed for this Pope by Antonio da San- 
 gallo in the great tower of the Castel S. Angelo was destroyed by order 
 of Urban VHI. The artists who had enthusiastically labored at this 
 great work and acquired the master's festive methods of decoration 
 were scattered throughout Rome and all its territory to paint in 
 churches and dwellings, where they left works commonly ascribed to 
 Pinturicchio. 
 
 As soon as the star of the Borgia had set in a lake of blood amid a 
 tempest of curses, Alexander's suite in the Vatican was straightway 
 abandoned as a place accursed. Scratches and inscriptions made with 
 the point of nail or knife are found there, dating from the years of the 
 early Cinquecento and leaving us to suppose that by that time the halls 
 of the Appartamento had become the abode of servants or of soldiers. 
 Later they were divided into a number of cells for use during the Con- 
 clave, and still later they w^ere given up to the minor officials of the 
 palace, who had their quarters there during Holy Week. It was only 
 in 1816 that Pius VII caused them to be restored, as restoration was then 
 understood, to afford accommodation for the pictures returned from 
 France after the Treaty of Vienna. At a later period Pius IX, finding 
 the halls too dark, removed the pictures and replaced them by the 
 library of Cardinal Angelo Mai. This remained there until the day 
 when it seemed to Leo XIII that the Appartamento Borgia ought to be 
 cleared of all encumbrances, restored, and solemnly opened to the 
 public, an event which took place in March, 1897. 
 
 To-day the Appartamento Borgia presents a calm and smiling aspect, 
 but our thoughts travel back to the terrible hours when the splendor of 
 the gilded ceilings and the graceful paintings on the walls had no longer 
 power to assuage the grief of Alexander VI or to lessen the paroxysms 
 of the anger of Cesare when, from the tower built by his father, he had 
 to witness the ruin of his own fortune. All his dreams of glory had 
 melted awav, but the dreams of Pinturicchio remain for ever. 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 l^^^^^p'^'lN November 26, 1507, Julius H gave up living in the 
 ■'■■^ T'T^^' '^^'^^ it Appartamento Borgia, where everything spoke of the 
 *^^^3 " '^h abhorred Alexander VI, and took up his rooms on 
 the next floor above, in that portion of the Vatican 
 Palace formerly occupied by Nicholas V, where there 
 was and still is a glorious chapel with frescoes by Fi'a 
 Angelico. Bramante, the architect, set to work at once 
 to get together artists to decorate worthily these 
 rooms, wliicii, il we are to believe Vasari, though his opinion has been 
 recently contested, had already many important frescoes by such men 
 as Andrea del Castagno, Bonfigli, and Piero della Francesca. 
 
 Vasari will have it that Julius II caused these works to be destroyed 
 to make room for new works by modern masters. In the autumn of 
 1508 the work began. In one of the rooms — that of the Fire in the 
 Borgo — Perugino painted the groinings of the roof with the Trin- 
 ity between the Twelve Apostles, Christ between the allegorical figures 
 of Grace and .lustice, Christ tempted by Satan. Giovanni Antonio 
 Bazzi, known also as II Sodoma, painted the roof in the Hall of the 
 Signatura, and Baldassarre Peruzzi the roof in the Hall of Heliodorus. 
 But towards the beginning of 1509 these masters, together with Bra- 
 mantino and Lorenzo Lotto, who worked with them, were dismissed 
 and the entire decorative scheme was put in the hands of Raphael of 
 Urbino, a young man hardly twenty-five years old, who had recently 
 come to Rome and had at once won over the Pope. It may have been 
 harsh on the part of the Delia Rovere Pope to dismiss the elderly Peru- 
 gino and his companions, but in doing so he gave Raphael a chance to 
 create his masterpieces. The Pope's act gave birth to a new era in the 
 art of Italy, and the Stanze painted by Raphael were a new triumph for 
 the human mind. 
 
 Raphael began with the room which as early as 1513 was already 
 known as the Signatura and seems to have been intended as the private 
 library of Julius II. Therein he created one of his masterpieces which 
 has been ever since the wonder of art lovers, and has inspired pages of 
 rapture as a work that breathes the spirit of all time and expresses not 
 only the esthetic ideal of its own age, but breathes a very breath of 
 eternity. 
 
 [137] 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall nf the Signatiir: 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 139 
 
 To grasp the link between the various paintings in the Hall of the 
 Signatura we must dwell a little on the paintings on the roof, where we 
 find four medallions containing, under female forms, Theology, Phi- 
 losophy, Poetry, and Justice. These four beautiful figures, throned 
 on the clouds, stand out against a golden background of imitation 
 mosaic and are surrounded by angels holding labelled scrolls. Theol- 
 ogy {Divinarum reriiin notitia) is seated crowned with olive leaves 
 and holds a closed book on her knees, while with her right hand she 
 
 Fortitude, I'nidencc nnd Temperance 
 
 seems to be pointing out the painting on the wall below where the 
 Disputa is shown. Philosophy {Causarum cognifio), seated on a 
 throne supported by two figures of Diana of Ephesus, is holding mas- 
 sive tomes on which are wa'itten Moralis and Natiiralis, and seems to 
 be absorbed in deep thought. The School of Athens is shown below. 
 Poetry (Niimine afflafiir) is an attractive winged figure crowned with 
 laurel, holding in her left hand a lyre and in her right hand a book, her 
 eyes afire with inspiration. Below Parnassus is shown. Lastly comes 
 Justice {lus suum uniciiique trihuit) with the sword and the scales. 
 
 In the presence of these figures the mind calls up the allegories of the 
 Trecento and the Quattrocento, but how are we to trace even an ideal 
 
140 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 i liu (.iili/jy III llic Ihill 111 IIk- Sigiiatura and Dt-lail^ 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 141 
 
 connection between them? Raphael drew his wonderful creations 
 from his own mind and brain, clothed them with colors all his own, 
 nurtured them on his own lofty thoughts, so that whereas the symboli- 
 cal attributes used by the painters of former days with their figures 
 served as a label to identify and point out the subject, the very use of 
 such symbols seems superfluous in the case of the figures in the Hall 
 of the Signature, since at sight the figure of Theology actually calls up 
 
 Parnassus 
 
 divine thoughts, and the eyes of Philosophy are filled wath understand- 
 ing, and Justice has all the dignity of Law, and Poetry has all the divine 
 fire of Art. 
 
 In the four oblong spaces in the angles of the roof, set in frames of 
 rich borders, he has painted for us Original Sin, Astronomy, Apollo and 
 Marsyas, and the Judgment of Solomon, subjects closely related to 
 the larger pictures beloM^ them, and all treated with charm and 
 originality. 
 
 On the walls of the hall Raphael has depicted scenes relating to the 
 four great powers that rule the life of man. On the wall opposite the 
 windows is the least intricate of all : the Glorification of Jurisprudence. 
 In the centre of the wall is set a window, and in the lunette above it the 
 
c 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 V 
 
 H 
 
 [142 3 
 
A Detail from Parnassus 
 
 THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 143 
 
 painter has placed the three in- 
 separable companions of Law, 
 Fortitude, Prudence, and Temper- 
 ance. They are three wonderful 
 studies in womanhood and ad- 
 mirably arranged to fit the space. 
 Fortitude, armed with helmet and 
 breastplate, carries instead of the 
 usual sword a leafy branch of oak 
 — the oak of the Delia Rovere fam- 
 ily. Temperance, on the opposite 
 side, is a gentle, modest figure 
 holding a bridle in her hand and 
 turned towards a winged genius 
 who is pointing towards the sky; 
 higher up in the centre is noble, 
 serious Janus-headed Prudence 
 together with two boys, one of 
 whom presents a mirror, and the 
 other a torch. Here again the mas- 
 ter has conveyed his idea without the aid of adventitious symbols. 
 
 To the right and left of the window he has painted the Giving of 
 Civil and Ecclesiastical Law. On the narrower part of the wall to the 
 left the Emperor Justinian, seated on a throne, is handing his book of 
 Pandects to Tribunianus, who is kneeling before him, in the presence 
 of the chief jurists. The scene is treated after the manner of the an- 
 cient bas-reliefs. To the right of the window, where there is more 
 space, we see Gregory IX depicted as Julius II handing his Decretals to 
 the consistorial jurist kneeling at his feet. Around him are many 
 prelates and characteristic portraits. The scene is full of nobility and 
 simplicity at the same time. When at work on it Raphael must have 
 had in mind the fresco by Melozzo da Forli representing Platina kneel- 
 ing before Sixtus IV. 
 
 On the opposite wall, with the window looking on the Cortile di Bel- 
 vedere, Raphael has represented the Triumph of Poetry. This Par- 
 nassus is a joyous composition wherein all is charm, grace, and 
 elegance. On the top of the sacred mount Apollo is seated playing a 
 viola, and ringed around him are the Muses and laurel-crowned poets: 
 Homer, Sappho, Pindar, Virgil, Dante, figures of rare elegance scat- 
 tered in groups, are conversing among the laurel trees under a sky of 
 limpid blue. The whole picture in its ease and grace breathes the very 
 soul of the Renaissance. The poets of antiquity live again in Raphael's 
 
144 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 A Philosopher 
 
 Francesco della Revere 
 
 Raphael and Sii.Ii.uki I'liilo ;iii(l Aiiilolle 
 
 Details from the School of Athens 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 145 
 
 fc^ 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 ^^^mi!<i*.iM 
 
 Pa^ 
 
 isui 
 
 """.;" ^ 
 
 .^PjH^ 
 
 
 #, ... . .rri 
 
 ^^PVi 
 
 Sts. Bernard and Jerome 
 
 Dante Alighieri 
 
 :;i«%, 
 
 & 
 
 The Disputa del Sacramento and iJetails 
 
146 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Ceiling in the Hah ot Heliodorus 
 
 fresco as if they were sharing in the Humanist movement of the Cinque- 
 cento with their Christian brothers, and it seems as if at the playing of 
 the young god a wave of delight is filling the spaces of the air. 
 
 Now we come to the magnificent composition on the left wall known 
 as the School of Athens, and as the breath of Poetry came to us from 
 the Parnassus, here we are face to face with a gravity and dignity of 
 thought that win our admiration and claim our respect. No longer do 
 we see the clear sky of Parnassus, but we find in the background a 
 noble cruciform building surmounted by a cupola and with steps lead- 
 ing up to its entrance. From the door are seen coming forth with 
 majesty between the opening lines of their disciples the two great mas- 
 ters of philosophy, Plato and Aristotle, who are making their way to 
 the edge of the steps where Diogenes, the philosopher of simplicity, 
 humbly reclines. From the figures of the two princes of knowledge 
 the divine light of intelligence radiates. Aloof to the right of the cen- 
 tral group there are two beautiful tigures representing a boy writing 
 and an old man deep in thought. To the left a band of dialecticians is 
 gathered around Socrates, who is counting off syllogisms on his lingers. 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 147 
 
 Tlu' Hull of lli'lioddriis 
 
 The Mass of Bolsciia 
 
148 THE VATICAN 
 
 In this group a fair youth with helmet and body armor represents 
 Alcibiades. Farther on around the base of a pillar there are other tig- 
 ures, one a youth reading a book, and near him is a beautiful study of 
 a child's head, said to be the young Federigo Gonzaga. In the fore- 
 ground stands a group of arithmeticians and musicians. Pythagoras 
 is there kneeling on one knee and writing in a book, and on his right a 
 boy stands holding a slate showing the Pythagorean numbers. A 
 
 Dilail Iniiii Ihc Mass (jI l!<ilsina 
 
 man in Oriental garb, Averroes, and another said to be Boetius are 
 reading what Pythagoras writes. To the right of this group is a young 
 man in a white robe trimmed with gold, whom tradition identifies as 
 Francesco Maria delta Rovere, Duke of Urbino, and before him is a 
 handsome personage pointing out what is written in his book. Farther 
 over in the centre of the steps a philosopher is engaged in writing. 
 Over in the opposite corner there is a group of geometricians and 
 astronomers. Euclid, depicted as Bramante, is there explaining a fig- 
 ure on a slate, and four of his pupils are looking on. Behind this group 
 there is a king holding a terrestrial sphere. He is Ptolemy, and another 
 figure holding a celestial globe showing the stars is Zoroaster, and 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 149 
 
 Detail from the Mass of Bolsena 
 
 Detail from the F.xpulsion of Heliodorus 
 from the Temple 
 
 The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple 
 
150 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Meeting of St. Leo IV and Attila 
 
 The Freeing of St. Peter from Prison 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 151 
 
 in the extreme corner on the right we have pictures of Raphael himself 
 and of Sodoma, his co-workman. 
 
 Many explanations have been made concerning this wonderful 
 work; efforts have been made to find symbolism in it everywhere, and 
 to give a name to every figure. All that is but a waste of time. Enough 
 for us that we see in that miracle of harmony and beauty the noblest 
 glorification of the activities of the human mind, of the unending quest 
 of man's spirit for truth and knowledge, and of the power and light of 
 man's unaided human reason. It is very probable that Raphael was 
 aided in his choice by some of his learned friends, and Sadoleto is one 
 often mentioned, but to the youthful artist alone belongs the glory of 
 having created _ this noblest ex- 
 
 pression of the 
 
 human mind in 
 ing way. We are 
 to face with 
 with ambiguous 
 and allegories; 
 confronted with 
 dear to medieval 
 the pure light of 
 expression in 
 ure in a setting 
 tectonic lines 
 beauty and grace 
 In this same 
 natura, on the 
 School of Athens 
 important and 
 
 Ancient Mosaic in the centre of the 
 Hall of Heliodonis 
 
 activity of the 
 a new and strik- 
 no longer face 
 thrones or seats, 
 personifications 
 we are no longer 
 the attributes so 
 schoolmen; but 
 thought finds its 
 the human fig- 
 where the archi- 
 remind us of the 
 of Classic times. 
 Hall of the Sig- 
 wall opposite the 
 there is another 
 most beautiful 
 
 composition known as the Disputa, a very inappropriate title, as the 
 picture, rather than a dispute, presents a hymn of glory in honor of the 
 mystery of the Redemption. A girdle of clouds divides the composition 
 into two parts, separating heaven from earth. In the centre of heaven, 
 surrounded by a golden glory, Christ is seated on clouds, stretching out 
 his wounded hands as though offering himself in oblation and food for 
 the faithful. Reside him are the Raptist and the Madonna in adoration. 
 Above appears the bust of the Eternal Father, holding in his left hand 
 the earthly globe and blessing with his right; lower down, on either side 
 of the Redeemer, there are two groups representing the elect in heaven, 
 sitting in semicircular rows, saints, apostles, and martyrs. Reneath the 
 figure of Christ the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is coming to 
 earth, forming, so to speak, a point of union between the two parts of 
 
152 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall of the Fire in the Borgo and Ceiling 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 153 
 
 Details from the Fire in tlie Borgo 
 
 the picture. The dove is turiietl towards the altar, which holds the 
 centre of the lower half of the fresco. On the altar stands a golden 
 monstrance showing the sacred Host, which is the central point of the 
 whole composition, catching the eye of the onlooker at once. On either 
 hand are the doctors of the Church, saints, popes, cardinals, hermits, 
 representatives of the sciences and arts. They are engaged in medita- 
 tion, disputation, adoration. St. Ambrose is there, and Augustine and 
 Jerome and Gregory and Thomas and Bonaventure. Innocent HI and 
 Dante are on the right, and on the left we see a Franciscan, a Domi- 
 nican, and a hermit, and the portrait of the angelic painter, the blessed 
 Giovanni da Fiesole (Fra Angelico). Poets and artists are there, too, 
 around the altar whereon rests the mystic food. 
 
 It is quite certain that Raphael had advice in making the selection he 
 gives us here, and it may well be that Julius II himself went so far as 
 to suggest the fundamental idea. But the master, in this work, which 
 he began in 1508 and finished in 1511, gives proof not only of theo- 
 logical insight but above all of a spontaneous understanding of divine 
 love. No other artist has ever so well expressed the closeness of the 
 bond that links the visible and the invisible world, the heavens and the 
 earth. In the background of a landscape to the right we see the massive 
 foundations of a building said by many to be the new St. Peter's, Rome, 
 and on the left a lordly edifice round which men are busily working. 
 
154 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail from tlie I'm- in llu' Borgo 
 
1:155 3 
 
156 THE VATICAN 
 
 The two buildings are said to symbolize tlie decadence of Paganism 
 and the building up of Christian Theology, which is never destined to 
 be completed. 
 
 Much has been written about the use to which this Hall of the Signa- 
 tura was put. Nowadays nearly every one agrees that it was the private 
 library and workroom of the Pope, that therein he signed (sigimre) his 
 papers and documents. We find the name first mentioned in 1513. 
 
 The Coronation of Charlemagne 
 
 The decoration of these walls and roof upholds the traditions of the 
 Church and the Papacy and marks once more the alliance of intellec- 
 tual culture and sacred knowledge, the blending of ancient philosophy, 
 poetry, and law with the tenets of the Faith. The work came to an end 
 in the course of the year 1511. 
 
 The wonder caused by Raphael's skill in bringing to a close the deco- 
 ration of the Hall of the Signatura determined the Pope to entrust to 
 him also the decoration of the hall near by, which was later called the 
 Hel'iodorus. The original plans for this hall contained scenes taken 
 from the Apocalypse to harmonize with Peruzzi's pictures on the roof, 
 
o 
 U 
 
 I 157 -2 
 
158 THE VATICAN 
 
 which were taken from the Old Testament; and there is to be seen in 
 the Louvre a design by Raphael showing the Breaking of the Seal on 
 the Book of Life. 
 
 But important events in those very years brought new glory to the 
 Papacy and brought about a change in the plans, so that it was resolved 
 to depict on the walls of this room the triumph of Julius II. On the 
 wall opposite the window Raphael painted, at the suggestion of 
 
 Aiicifiit Mosaic Discovered near tlie Scala Santa 
 (Hall of Constantine) 
 
 the Pope, the Mass at Bolsena. The subject is the famous miracle 
 that took place at Bolsena in 1263 and led to the building of the Duomo 
 of Orvieto. A German priest had doubts as to whether the sacred Host 
 at the moment of consecration really contained the blood of Christ. As 
 he was saying Mass one day in the Church of St. Catherine in Bolsena 
 while making a pilgrimage in Italy, blood flowed from the Host in his 
 hands and stained the corporal a red color. To commemorate this 
 miracle the feast of Corpus Christi was instituted, .lulius 11, while on 
 an expedition one day to Bologna, stopped over at Orvieto and vene- 
 rated with particular devotion the blessed corporal preserved in the 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 159 
 
 Diiomo, and it may well have been that he made a vow that in case of 
 victory over his enemies he would glorify the miracle by a fresco in the 
 Vatican. Raphael caught up the spirit and intuition of his patron most 
 wonderfully, and in the centre of the arch he painted the altar with the 
 young priest before it, all confused and astonished at the sight of the 
 miracle; behind him are assistants and congregation adoring the won- 
 der, and on one side, kneeling at a velvet-covered faldstool, is the 
 
 it^^'^md 
 
 The Vision of Constantine 
 
 Pope, resembling Julius H, in no way surprised by the miracle, but 
 looking severely at the priest as if to reprove him for his lack of faith. 
 Two cardinals and two prelates, together with the officers of the Papal 
 Court, make up the Pope's suite and are all characteristic paintings and 
 speaking likenesses. 
 
 The victory over the schismatics is symbolically depicted on the wall 
 to the left, whereon is shown the Expulsion of Heliodorus. As we learn 
 from the Scriptures, Heliodorus was the treasurer of the King of Syria, 
 and he w^as ordered to carry off the treasures of the temple of Jeru- 
 salem. As he was in the act of carrying out this order, a horseman with 
 
160 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Battle of the Milvian Bridge 
 
 stern countenance and gorgeous robes, accompanied by two young 
 men, appeared, struck him down, and flogged him. In the background 
 of the fresco, under the columned altar, we see the high priest in prayer 
 before the seven-branch candlestick. To the right is the horseman 
 with his assistants in golden robes, attacking and flogging Heliodorus, 
 whose followers take to flight. To the left there is a group of women 
 and children in amazement at the sight, and in the corner of the fresco 
 we see Julius II, borne on his sedia gestatoria, towering over the crowd 
 and affirming through the miracle the sovereignty of the Church. 
 We have here a clear allusion to the triumph of the Papacy over the 
 rebel cardinals who in the time of Julius II bethought them of holding 
 an antipapal council. 
 
 Opposite the Heliodorus fresco is the meeting of Pope Leo the Great 
 and Attila. Julius II being dead by the time this fresco was painted, the 
 Pope bears the likeness of Leo X and is seen moving tranquilly on to 
 meet the fierce king of the Huns surrounded by his warriors; in the 
 upper portion of the scene the princes of the Apostles appear with 
 swords in their hands. At the sight Attila spurs his horse in dismay and 
 the Huns are terror-stricken. The flight of the French troops from 
 Italy in 1512 is here paralleled. In the background Raphael has painted 
 in, as though the meeting with Attila had taken place near Rome, vari- 
 ous Roman scenes, including the Colosseum. 
 
 On the wall with the window looking on the Belvedere he has painted 
 the Freeing of St. Peter from Prison, a subject well in harmony with 
 the many others in this hall — that is, the victory of the Church and its 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 161 
 
 head over every human plot. The 
 lighting effects in this fresco are 
 wonderful: the light within the 
 prison comes from the Angel who 
 awakens the sleeping Peter; then 
 the light outside is also from the 
 Angel as he accompanies the Apos- 
 tle in his freedom: but there is 
 also the moonlight on the stair- 
 way to the left, where the aston- 
 ished soldiers rouse each other 
 and find their prisoner gone. 
 Julius H was Cardinal of the title 
 of St. Peter in Chains and went on 
 a pilgrimage to this church in 
 June, 1512, to give thanks for the 
 withdrawal of the French: hence 
 we may conclude that although 
 the hall was not completed until 
 1514, under Leo X, yet it was 
 planned and begun under Julius II. 
 
 If we compare the pictures in 
 the Signatura Hall and those in 
 the Heliodorus Hall, we cannot 
 help noting that Raphael had been 
 altering the tonality of his color- 
 ing and putting more effective 
 movement in his compositions. 
 There is more vivacity in these 
 later frescoes, and instead of the 
 classic purity and coldness of the 
 
 pictures in the Signatura we find here more of the w^armth of life. The 
 coloring alone may have a lot to do w^ith this effect, and his coloring 
 owes much to the Venetian Sebastiano del Piombo, who came to Rome 
 in 1511 and affected the schools of Michelangelo and Raphael with 
 some of the glow he had learned from Giorgione. This is true in a 
 special manner of the Bolsena Miracle, the Heliodorus, and the Freeing 
 of St. Peter. The fresco of the meeting of Pope Leo and Attila is widely 
 different from these. It is w^eaker in coloring and in design, and it is 
 not difficult to recognize that it is largely the work of the master's 
 pupils. 
 
 Raphael was now^ overweighted with work. He was engaged not 
 
 Detail from a Door in the Stanze 
 (Giovanni Barili) 
 
162 THE VATICAN 
 
 only in painting the Stanze, but he was charged with drawing the de- 
 signs for the tapestries for the Sistine and he had commissions for 
 sacred pictures and portraits, so that he was constrained to hand over 
 much of his work to his pupils, particularly to Giovanni Francesco 
 Penni, styled II Fattore, and Giulio Lippi, known as Giulio Romano. 
 In the summer of 1514 Raphael and his disciples brought the paint- 
 ing of the Heliodorus Hall to a close, and he was already commissioned 
 to paint a third room. We have a letter from him in which he tells his 
 uncle Simone Gloria about it, and from other documents we learn that 
 the painting of this third room was completed in June, 1517. In the 
 third room, which we named above as that of the Fire in the Borgo, 
 the pupils were given even a freer hand. We might ahnost go 
 so far as to say that Raphael himself did not paint any part of that 
 room, and had very little to say in the matter of the drawings for it. 
 Perugino's fresco showing Christ glorified was left on the roof, and 
 the pupils decorated the walls, out of deference to Leo X, with scenes 
 from the life of Leo III and Leo IV, who had been canonized, taking 
 such events as had some connection with their own day. In all these 
 paintings the Medici Pope plays the parts of Leo III and Leo IV. 
 
 The one painting wherein, if not the hand, at least the mind of Ra- 
 phael is to be discerned is that of the Fire in the Borgo, which records 
 one of the miracles of Leo IV, who with the sign of the cross extin- 
 guished a devastating fire that had taken hold of that quarter of the 
 city. The story is told in episodes rather than in unit form. There is no 
 real connection between the incidents, no unity of ensemble. The 
 background shows the Pope in the act of blessing from a balcony be- 
 hind which appears the facade of old St. Peter's; in the foreground on 
 either side are buildings where the flames are raging. To the right men 
 are engaged fighting the flames and women are carrying water to them : 
 among the women there is one with her back to us, who is much 
 admired. In the building to the left, where the llames arc fiercest, a 
 woman is throwing her child from above to the father below; one 
 sturdy youth is saving himself by flight, and another is carrying off his 
 aged father on his back, as ^Eneas carried Anchises from the fire of 
 Troy. In the centre women and children in despair appeal for help to 
 the Pope. The execution of the foreground of this work mainly belongs 
 to Giulio Romano, and Francesco Penni is responsible for the back- 
 ground. Raphael designed the finer groups, which his pupils after- 
 wards transferred to fresco without paying overmuch attention to the 
 harmony of due proportions. 
 
 In the second fresco, depicting the Naval Fight at Ostia won by Leo 
 IV over the Saracens, the Pope is again Leo X seated on a throne and 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 163 
 
 'Mmmm&m 
 
 /■"•.y3'.cr.!/"c7.1r' 
 
 The Chlaroscuri Hall with frescoes by Giovanni 
 da Udine and P. Maratta 
 
 surrounded by cardinals. He 
 raises his eyes to lieaven, while in 
 the foreground the Saracen pris- 
 oners are being hurled to the 
 ground and in the background the 
 fight rages. In this picture Ra- 
 phael's sense of order is entirely 
 lacking, and we are undoubtedly 
 face to face with a painting of his 
 school, very probably by Giulio 
 Romano. The master himself did 
 no more than give studies for 
 some of the principal figures in it. 
 
 Of the two other frescoes in the 
 room, one depicts the Justification 
 of Leo IV, or the oath by which 
 on December 23, in the year 800, 
 that Pope in the Vatican Basilica 
 absolved himself from false 
 charges that had been brought 
 against him. This work is entirely 
 
 from the hands of Raphael's pupils, perhaps mainly by Penni, who fol- 
 lowed out the scheme laid down in the Bolsena Miracle; the other paint- 
 ing represents the crowning of Charlemagne by Leo III, a splendid 
 scene in which Penni displays such genius in depicting the glories of 
 Court ceremonial, with all its magnificent trappings, that for the mo- 
 ment we forget the defects of the composition before us. Charlemagne 
 is shown with the features of Francis I. The root idea of the decora- 
 tions in this third room has reference to the paintings in the Heliodorus 
 room. The power and greatness of the Papacy are glorified especially 
 in the war against the infidels. The Battle at Ostia is an allusion to the 
 Medicean Pope's idea of calling a new crusade; the Coronation of 
 Charlemagne reminds the imperial power that it must bow to the au- 
 thority of the Church; the Fire in the Borgo is not so easy to explain in 
 symbols, but it must have some reference to the rebuilding of St. 
 Peter's; and the Oath of Pope Leo HI is connected with the end of the 
 Schism and the Lateran Council, pointing out that the Supreme Head 
 of the Church can be judged by God alone. 
 
 Having thus completed the frescoes in the Hall of the Borgo Fire, 
 there remained to be decorated the large room near the Heliodorus 
 Hall and leading on to the Loggie. Here, instead of continuing scenes 
 alluding to his own pontificate, Leo X gave orders that the main events 
 
164 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Chiaroscuri Hall 
 (Leading from the Stanze to the Chapel of Nicholas V) 
 
 in the history of tlie Church should be depicted: e.g., the life of tlie Em- 
 peror Constantine, under whom Christianity was officially recognized, 
 and whose legendary donation or gift was associated wath the begin- 
 nings of the Papal States. 
 
 Now, it came to pass that the paintings in this room were begun after 
 the death of the master, and the pupils, in order to prevent the work 
 being entrusted to Michelangelo, pretended that they had all Raphael's 
 drawings for it. It is certain in any case that, while in all the other 
 frescoes, as for instance the Vision of the Cross, the Baptism of Con- 
 stantine, the Donation and the figures of the Eight Popes, there is no 
 trace of Raphael, w^e do find in the scene showing the Battle of the Mil- 
 vian Bridge a hint of the master's style. The work is hastily done in 
 many places, the gray and cold coloring shows the hand of Giulio Ro- 
 mano, but its breadth of movement and its sweep and dash, which 
 make it one of the finest battle scenes in the world, all speak of Raphael. 
 Details of beauty that miss the eye at first sight reveal to us the master's 
 aim to produce something truly great, but on seeing what Giulio Ro- 
 mano has done with it in paint, and how it differs from the master's 
 plan, we only understand the better what a painter Raphael was, and 
 how much above his pupils he towered, so that their greatest efforts fall 
 far short of his stature. Not in the following of the canons of his art. 
 
THE STANZE OF RAPHAEL 165 
 
 not because of any secrets of technic, not by tricks of the trade, but 
 through genius only Raphael's art touches the topmost peaks. 
 
 In this same room the two allegorical figures of Justice and Clem- 
 ency are from studies by the master, the one being executed by Penni, 
 the other by Romano. Romano's also is the fresco showing the Vision 
 of the Cross, but the Baptism is by Penni, and the Donation is the work 
 of Raffaellino del Colle. The roof of this room was painted a long time 
 afterwards by the Zuccari brothers. The Exaltation of F'aith, in the 
 centre, is by Tommaso Lauretl of Palermo. 
 
 The Hall of Constantine ends the cycle of frescoes in the Stanze, the 
 masterpieces of Raphael and his school. In his sacred paintings and 
 his gentle Madonnas, the artist poured out all the sweetness of his soul. 
 There is insight in his portraits, and power of thinking, too, but in the 
 frescoes in these halls is the whole man, the artist who is equally at 
 home with the charms of Poetry, the stern visage of Philosophy, the 
 recesses of the mysteries of Faith, and the awe-striking tones of the 
 voice of Divine Judgment. A poem of beauty and thought passes here 
 before our eyes. Whatever humanity has thought or imagined that is 
 great and sublime speaks to us from these frescoes in a voice that has 
 all the mystery-awaking melody of art. 
 
 The lyric note dominates the Hall of the Signatura; the dramatic 
 chord vibrates around the scene of Heliodorus; an epic voice is heard 
 through the flames of the Borgo. Raphael has touched every chord on 
 the lyre of the Muse of painting. The Bible, Classical antiquity and 
 the Middle Ages, humanism, philosophy, theology, the liberal arts, 
 law, peace and war, temporal and divine power have found in 
 him a singer who has clothed them in beauty; and as to-day the dead 
 religions of Pagandom live again for us in our wonder at the images 
 of their gods, so too, even where Faith is dead, Raphael's art speaks 
 and will ever speak to humanity in the eternal language of the 
 beautiful. 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 fpTER the frescoed rooms and the tapestries comes in 
 the order of chronology another important work by 
 Raphael, namely, the decorations ordered by Pope 
 Leo X for the galleries opening on the Cortile di S. 
 Damaso. 
 
 The bnilding of these galleries was begun by Bra- 
 .li.- '11 mante in 15L3, and after his death was completed by 
 " ^1 Raphael in 151 (S or thereabouts. 
 Tlity comprise three tiers, of which the centre one is the most fa- 
 mous because it contains the Bible pictures designed by the master. 
 We are not ([uitc certain as to when these decorations on the walls and 
 pilasters and vaulting were begun, but we may safely say that the work 
 was advanced in the summer of 1519 since we find in a ledger in the 
 Vatican Archives an entry, on June 11, of twenty -five ducats paid to 
 Raphael's assistants for work done in the galleries, and on June 16 
 Baldassarre Castiglione wrote to the Marchesa Isabella d'Este as fol- 
 lows: "The Pope is more than ever taken up with music, and in one 
 way or another delights in architecture. He is always planning some 
 new work in the palace here, and his latest fancy is a painted gallery 
 adorned with stucco work of an antique character. The whole is the 
 work of Raphael and is really fair to see and perhaps surpasses any- 
 thing done by the modern school." Moreover, the Venetian Marc 
 Antonio Michiel tells us that in May, 1519, Raphael had decorated one 
 very long gallery and was about to paint two others. 
 
 The first tier of the galleries is adorned with leaf designs and ara- 
 besques, which unfortunately have been largely restored. They follow 
 a plan similar to that which we shall describe later in the upper tier, 
 but are characterized by greater simplicity and more hasty execution. 
 In the second tier or story the decorations are spread over thirteen 
 arcades, and here it may truly be said that Raphael has poured out 
 liberally the treasures of his artistic genius: paintings and sculpture go 
 hand in hand, and the beauty of the imitation antique stuccos and the 
 friezes depicting pagan scenes on the pilasters blend wonderfully with 
 the scenes from the Bible represented on the domed roof. The whole 
 makes up a noble tribute to the art and spirit of the Renaissance. The 
 
 C167 3 
 
168 THE VATICAN 
 
 sacred scenes on the roof are fit- 
 ting in the palace of the ruler of 
 Christendom, and the pagan touch 
 along the walls carries to us a 
 memory of Leo's mighty love for 
 classic antiquity. The decoration 
 of the roof is divided into thirteen 
 compartments, each of which con- 
 tains four scenes set in an appro- 
 priate frame of color, and in the 
 centre of the seventh is the Pope's 
 coat of arms. Of these fifty-two 
 frescoes, forty-eight are scenes 
 from the Old and four from the 
 New Testament. The set is known 
 as Raphael's Bible. 
 
 The great artist was face to face 
 with a difficult task. It is a far cry 
 in art from the faltering steps 
 of Christian painting in the dim 
 light of the Catacombs to the Log- 
 gie of Raphael. The master was 
 confronted with a theme that had 
 been attempted time and again by 
 artists in every age, and he had to 
 find a new expression for it; he 
 had to recreate it, so to speak, in 
 the language of the Renaissance. 
 
 The painters in the Catacombs of Rome in the early days of Chris- 
 tianity employed subjects taken from the Bible and the Gospels, but 
 their choice was limited to the smallest possible number of symbolic 
 elements. The symbol and the dogma it taught were for them the great 
 thing. Hence they paid no great attention to biblical accuracy. The 
 mosaics in the central nave of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, dating back 
 to the fifth century, and the miniatures on the purple parchment Codex 
 of Genesis in the Imperial Library in Vienna, dating from the sixth 
 century, as well as the faintly colored designs of the parchment roll of 
 the Book of Joshua in the Vatican Library, a tenth century copy of a 
 fourth century original, all have Bible subjects of a more or less com- 
 plex character but along fixed lines and all inculcating lessons of 
 religious belief. Art therein is the thrall of faith. The picture cycles 
 in Monreale, in St. Mark's, Venice, in the upper church at Assisi, the 
 
 Door leading to tlio Lopgie 
 (Sixteenth Century) 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 169 
 
 One ()f the l^oggii- of Haiiliacl 
 
170 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The First Toil of Man 
 
 Quattrocento work of Paolo Uccello in the Green Cloister of S. Maria 
 Novella, and the works of Benozzo Gozzoli in the Campo Santo at Pisa 
 are, on the other hand, more or less genre pictures, episodes depicted 
 with sincerity and truth and with particular emphasis on certain fig- 
 ures and details of special importance. 
 
 On the roof of the Sistine, eight or ten years l)efore, Michelangelo 
 had painted the scenes of the Creation, but his imposing, dominating 
 figures and the tragic strength of his compositions could be of no ser- 
 vice to Raphael, so totally different were the place and the space al- 
 lotted to him for decoration. So that we may say Raphael took up the 
 w^ell-known theme afresh and gave it a new utterance. No longer are 
 we face to face with the fearsome visions of the Middle Ages in the 
 titanic struggles of the giants in the Sistine, but we look on at a graceful 
 idyl told by Raphael in these galleries, where he has known how to 
 clothe the sacred stories with all the charm and grace of the fables of 
 antiquity. 
 
 It was long a matter of dispute — and, for that matter, it is so still 
 — among critics how much of these galleries is actually the work of the 
 master himself. 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 171 
 
 Vasari, in speaking of the Loggie, says: 
 
 "Moreover, Raphael designed the papal stairways and the galleries 
 begun by the architect Rramante, but left unfinished at his death. These 
 galleries were designed anew by Raphael, who made a wooden model 
 of them, and were not only better planned but gave more scope for 
 decoration than did Rramante's plan. Seeing that it was Pope Leo's 
 wish to leave a record of his greatness, magnificence, and generosity, 
 Raphael not only designed the stucco ornaments and the scenes to be 
 used in the decoration, but he placed Giovanni da Udine in charge of 
 
 Lot and His Family Leaving Sodom 
 
 the stucco work and the arabesques, and Giulio Romano in charge of 
 the paintings, though Giulio did little of the work himself. Giovan 
 Francesco Penni, il Rologna,* Perino del Vaga, Pellegrino da Modena, 
 Vincenzo da San Gimignano, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and many other 
 painters worked there on the scenes and figures and details of that 
 work, which Raphael was so intent on making a masterpiece that he 
 brought even a Luca della Robbia pavement from Florence for it. 
 Thus it is that we may safely say that for paintings, stucco work, skill 
 and inventive genius it is impossible to better it or to imagine anything 
 more perfect." 
 
 Hence we see that Vasari attributes the whole plan and its designs to 
 
 iBartolomeo Ramenghi, called also Bagnacavallo. 
 
172 THE VATICAN 
 
 the master and the work itself to his pupils. Some recent critics have 
 attempted to exclude Raphael from all part in it save one of general 
 supervision, but there is no foundation for such a theory. No doubt 
 there is no trace of Raphael's brush anywhere in these galleries, but his 
 spirit animates the whole place, and nowhere is it more in evidence 
 than in the arcades, of which the paintings in the first eight are truly 
 the children of the master's brain. His guiding hand is also seen in the 
 two that follow. As for the remaining three arcades, we are perhaps 
 justified in attributing them in their entirety to Raphael's pupils. 
 
 As far as the 
 concerned, ow- 
 wretched resto- 
 been made from 
 is not easy to 
 accurate judg- 
 it is generally 
 painting of the 
 cades was the 
 cesco Penni, 
 save for the 
 and the pictures 
 which are said 
 of Giovanni da 
 other pupils 
 
 them the work 
 ing arcades, and 
 rino del Vaga 
 
 All thirteen 
 impression that 
 which 
 
 actual 
 
 ing 
 
 work is 
 to the 
 rations that have 
 time to time, it 
 form any very 
 ment to-day, but 
 believed that the 
 first nine ar- 
 work of Fran- 
 called II Fattore, 
 landscape scenes 
 of animals, 
 
 to be the work 
 Udine. The 
 
 shared among 
 on the remain- 
 the name of Pe- 
 heads the list, 
 arcades leave the 
 the wondrous 
 ought to have 
 
 guided the painters were weighed down with colors too warm and 
 brick-colored flesh tints, and with landscapes whose lines are not suffi- 
 ciently toned down, so that at times we might almost say the whole 
 presents the effect of a Cinquecento work interpreted by men living 
 under the spell of the barocco period in art. 
 
 Students and critics have striven to find out the sources from which 
 Raphael drew his plan for these compositions. The Creation scenes 
 and those relating to Noah recall Michelangelo's work in the Sistine, 
 but only for their iconographic merit, not by any means in their vigor 
 and severity. Not a few find traces of Masaccio, and there is a hint of 
 Diirer in the scene where Jacob meets Rachel at the well, while there 
 is also a strong memory of classical sculpture. 
 
 designs 
 
 One of the Loggie 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 173 
 
 But these petty thefts, to which every artist has recourse, do not take 
 away from the importance of this work; and we have no hesitation in 
 saying that we are about to run through one of the most beautiful crea- 
 tions of the Renaissance — a simple moving poem full of beauty and 
 serenity. The landscape scenes by Giovanni da Udine, so filled with 
 atmosphere and light, add to the idyllic charm of the whole cycle. We 
 might almost say that the work breathes the spirit of Virgil from begin- 
 ning to end. After the ninth arcade the character of the work changes; 
 the dramatic elements dominate and the coloring becomes brighter. 
 
 Isaac ami Rebecca 
 
 When we reach the thirteenth the work is somewhat feeble, and we 
 recognize that the pupils are working without the aid of the master 
 hand. This is where the scenes from the New Testament begin, which, 
 owing to the death of Leo X, were never completed. The decorations 
 framing the frescoes (painted tapestries, pilasters, grotesques, mosaics 
 and flying angels) remain the same for each two arcades. 
 
 First Arcade: (1) God Separates the Light from the Darkness. With a 
 motion of his whole being, \vhich is here enlarged and exaggerated after 
 the style of the Michelangelo figures, God brings about the separation. 
 The dark red of the flesh tints used bears out what Vasari says, that this 
 cupola is the work of Giulio Romano. (2) God Divides the Land from 
 the Waters. Beneath the figure of God, suspended in the bright heav- 
 
i:i74: 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 175 
 
 I'Milion of a Loggia 
 
 ens, the terrestrial globe takes its 
 rounded shape, on which the 
 waters are distinct from the land, 
 whereon a clump of trees has 
 begun to appear. (3) Creation of 
 the Sun and the Moon. This de- 
 sign is also a reminiscence of 
 Michelangelo. The figure of God 
 is as in the former design, but his 
 back is turned to the spectator and 
 he is stretching forth his arms to- 
 wards the globes of the sun and 
 moon. The world is rolling 
 through space below. (4) The 
 Creation of the Animals. Moving 
 through the earth, God causes all 
 the animals, some of them of fan- 
 tastic shapes, to appear upon it. 
 The figure of God is no longer in 
 the strong Michelangelo style, and 
 we here discern unmistakable traces of the hand of Giulio Romano. 
 
 Second Arcade: (5) The Creation of Eve. In a fertile landscape, God, 
 who has put foot on earth, is showing Adam his helpmeet. We have 
 here a new method of treating the subject in art. The folds in the 
 drapery of the Eternal Father's cloak are wonderful. Vasari says that 
 Giulio Romano worked in this arcade, but it is by no means certain. 
 (6) Original Sin. In the centre stands the tree, around which is coiled 
 a serpent with a human head. Eve, erect to the left, is in the act of 
 offering a fruit to Adam, who is seated on the other side. The back- 
 ground is a wondrous piece of landscape painting. There is a tradition 
 that Raphael himself painted this figure of Eve, but the coloring is too 
 severe for such a tradition to be accepted without reserve. (7) The 
 Expulsion from Paradise. An angel with a flaming sword stands at the 
 gate of Paradise driving away the two sinners. The shame-stricken 
 woman seeks as best she can to cover her nakedness with her hands, 
 and Adam strives to hide his face. These two tigures are copied from 
 the fresco by Masaccio in the Carmine Church at Florence. (8) The 
 First Toil of Man. Adam is seen sowing in a field, and Eve appears spin- 
 ning, while Cain and Abel play around her. 
 
 Third Arcade: (9) The Building of the Ark. Noah, an old man, is 
 showing his sons how they must set about preparing the timber for the 
 ark, the hull of which is seen in the distance. The work bears traces of 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 Moses Saved from the Nile 
 
 Francesco Penni's style. (10) The Universal Deluge. In the back- 
 ground the ark is seen on the waters, and in the foreground a rider is 
 drowning. One man looks in terror on a woman who dies in his arms, 
 and another, holding up a child, is trying to rescue a woman from 
 drowning by grasping her hair. ( 11 ) The Coming Forth from the Ark. 
 While the animals are leaving the ark, Noah and his family are seen 
 lamenting the ruin of the flood. (12) Noah's Sacrifice. In the centre 
 Noah is praying before an altar, while one of his sons slaughters a lamb 
 and another son holds a second victim ready. In the rear two young 
 men are seen leading two bulls, and a camel appears in the background. 
 Here again, if we are to believe Vasari, we have the work of Giulio 
 Romano, but it is not quite certain. 
 
 Fourth Arcade: (18) Abram and Melchisedeck. Melchisedeck, King 
 of Jerusalem, brings forth to Abram two baskets of bread and four jars 
 of wine. He is surrounded by warriors and shepherds. (14) God's 
 Promise to Abram. The patriarch is on his knees in the foreground, his 
 back to the onlooker, and God appears to him on high, promising him 
 a numerous offspring. (15) The Visit of the Three Angels to Abram. 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 
 
 177 
 
 Candelabra in the Logpia decorated by 
 Mantovani 
 
 Detail from the Ornaments in 
 Pilasters 
 
 the 
 
 Decorations showing the Arms of (ircgury XIII 
 over a Door in the Loggie 
 
 r,:uulilaliia 
 (Mascherini, Sermoneta and Nogari) 
 
178 THE VATICAN 
 
 In the front of his house Abram is on his knees before the three young 
 men, who are speaking to him. Sara is looking on from the door. The 
 background is a charming landscape. The fresco is thought to be the 
 work of Penni. (16) Lot and his Family Leave Sodom. In the back- 
 ground is to be seen a burning city, and in the near distance Lot comes 
 
 Moses Presenting the Law to the People 
 
 forward, leading his children by the hand. The wife, who looked back 
 at Sodom, has been turned into a statue of salt. This work also is said 
 to have been executed by Francesco Penni. 
 
 Fifth Arcade: (17) God Appears to Isaac. In a fair landscape Isaac 
 is seen on his knees, and God appears to him in the clouds. Rebecca is 
 seated to the left. (18) Isaac Embraces Rebecca. In the atrium of a 
 palace, whose background is a balcony looking on the open country, 
 Isaac and Rebecca are seated in embrace. King Abimelech watches them 
 from a window. The work is Penni's. (19) Isaac Blessing Jacob. The 
 aged patriarch, on his couch, raises his hand to bless Jacob, who is 
 kneeling at the foot. Rebecca is seen encouraging her son. The back- 
 ground shows Esau hunting in a wild country. This is certainly the 
 work of Francesco Penni. (20) Esau Asking Isaac to Bless Him. At his 
 father's bedside Esau is asking a blessing, while the patriarch shows his 
 surprise. Rebecca and Jacob are seen looking in at the door. The 
 work is in the style of Penni. 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 179 
 
 Sixth Arcade: (21) Jacob's Ladder. Jacob lies asleep in the fore- 
 ground and in ecstasy turns his head towards the centre, where six 
 angels are seen ascending and descending a ladder the top of which is 
 lost in a glory surrounding the figure of God the Father. (22) Jacob 
 and Rachel at the Well. Rachel and a bond-servant who holds her by 
 the hand are standing before a well while the flocks quench their thirst. 
 Rachel is speaking to Jacob, who has a pilgrim's staff on his shoulder. 
 
 David and IJalli:diLlja 
 
 The poetry of the whole scene is enhanced by a charming landscape. 
 (23) Jacob Seeking Rachel's Hand. Jacob goes to see Laban, who has 
 his daughter Leah with him. Near Jacob stands Rachel, tending the 
 flock. The fresco is badly injured. (24) Jacob's Flight. Jacob, seated 
 on an ass and accompanied by his women and children on camels, is 
 returning to his own country. The flocks and shepherds are seen on 
 the road ahead. 
 
 .Seventh Arcade: (25) Joseph Telling of his Dream. Joseph, repre- 
 sented as a young boy, is standing while he tells his brethren of his 
 dream. They are reclining on a sloping ground. The flock is to one 
 
180 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 side. In two luminous circles in 
 the sk}^ are depicted the events of 
 the dream. The work is attributed 
 to Giulio Romano. (26) Joseph 
 Sold by his Brethren. The open 
 well is in the foreground. Joseph 
 has just been handed over to four 
 merchants who are counting out 
 the agreed price to one of the 
 brethren. (27) Joseph and Poti- 
 phar's Wife. The woman is seated 
 on a couch and tries to draw 
 Joseph to her. He is in flight and 
 leaves his cloak in her hands. The 
 room is adorned wath rich tapestry 
 designs, and the work is perhaps 
 very properly attributed to Giulio 
 Romano. (28) Joseph Interpreting 
 Pharaoh's Dreams. On a portico 
 with a landscape background the 
 king is seen puzzled, and Joseph is 
 explaining to him the meaning of 
 his dreams, the events of which 
 are represented in two circles of 
 light on the upper portion of the 
 picture. 
 
 Eighth Arcade: (29) Moses 
 Saved from the Water. With the 
 Nile as a background, Pharaoh's daughter and six beautiful maidens 
 are looking at a male child that one of the women is taking from the 
 basket. The landscape, with the river losing itself in the distance, is 
 very fine. Vasari says the work is Giulio Romano's, but it is uncertain. 
 (30) The Burning Bush. Moses, with his face hidden in his hands, is 
 kneeling before a bush within which God appears. This work is by the 
 sameartist as the preceding one. (31) The Crossing of the Red Sea. The 
 host of Israel, with their baggage, are moving off to the right. Moses 
 stretches his rod over the sea, in which Pharaoh and his army are 
 drowning. (32) Moses Striking the Rock. Moses hits the rock, from 
 which water gushes forth, while the Hebrews look on in amazement. 
 The figure of God is seen among the clouds. 
 
 Ninth Arcade: (33) Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law. God the 
 Father, in the clouds and surrounded by a glory of angels, is seen on 
 
 Door showing the Arms of Clement VII 
 (Sixteenth Century) 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 181 
 
 the summit of Sinai handing over to Moses the sacred tables. Moses is 
 kneeling. In the plain below the tents of the Israelites are shown. 
 (34) The Adoration of the Golden Calf. The Hebrew people, on their 
 knees, are worshipping a calf of gold set upon an altar, while dances 
 are going on to the right. On the left Moses is seen coming down from 
 the mountains, and as his eyes meet the spectacle he drops the tables 
 and breaks them. (35) The Pillar of Cloud. The pillar of cloud rises 
 
 Solomon aiui tlie Queen of Sheba 
 
 up among the encamped Hebrews, the figure of the Eternal being con- 
 cealed in it. Moses is seen kneeling before it. (36) Moses Presenting 
 the Law to the People. P'rom a raised mound Moses shows the tables 
 of the law to the assembled people. This is one of the finest composi- 
 tions in the galleries. 
 
 TenthArcade: (37) The Passage of the Jordan. Theriver Jordan, per- 
 sonified as an old man as in classical days, separates its waters to allow 
 the priests carrying the ark, the people of Israel, and the warriors to 
 cross over dry-shod. (38) The Taking of Jericho. While the warriors, 
 followed by the ark, make the circuit of the city, the walls and towers 
 fall, giving free entry to the besiegers. It is doubtful whether Raphael 
 designed this picture. (39) Joshua Halts the Sun. Joshua, on horse- 
 back in command of his fighting men, makes sign to the sun and moon 
 to stop in their courses so that the warriors of Israel may complete their 
 
182 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 victory over the Amorites. (40) 
 The Division of the Lands. Joshua 
 and the high priest Eleazar are 
 seated on thrones before two 
 urns, from one of whicli a boy 
 takes out a paper which lie gives 
 to the head of the tribe. It is a 
 feeble work. Vasari assigns all 
 the works in this arcade to Perino 
 del ^'aga. 
 
 Eleventh Arcade: (41) David 
 Anointed King by Samuel. In the 
 temple, David, surrounded by his 
 brothers, is anointed by Samuel, 
 while sacrifice is made ready on 
 an altar. There are suggestions 
 of Giulio Romano here. (42) 
 David Slaying Goliath. The giant, 
 hit by the stone, is stretched on the 
 earth, and David, with one knee 
 pressing his chest, is about to cut 
 off his head with his sword. At 
 the sight the Philistines flee and 
 are being pursued by the Hebrews. 
 (43) David's Triumph. Like an 
 ancient conqueror, David stands 
 upright in a chariot, surrounded 
 by his w^arriors, who bear along the prisoners and the booty. (44) 
 David and Bathsheba. David, at a window^ of his palace, is looking at 
 his soldiers marching out against the Amorites when he chances to see 
 Bathsheba on a terrace. 
 
 Twelfth Arcade: (45) The Anointment of Solomon. In the presence 
 of an applauding crowd, the high priest anoints Solomon as king of 
 Israel. In the foreground the reclining figure of an old man symbolizes 
 the river Tigris. (4(5) The Judgment of Solomon. In the background 
 Solomon is seated on his throne, and in sight of the two mothers, one 
 of whom is a suppliant on her knees while the other asks him to divide 
 the child in two, he orders a soldier not to harm the infant. The wise 
 men express their admiration. The picture has very little, if any, in- 
 spiration drawn from Raphael. (47) The Queen of Sheba. The queen, 
 followed by her servants laden with gifts, advances towards the throne 
 of Solomon, who bends to embrace her. The design is faulty and can 
 
 Door showins the Arms of Gregory XIII 
 (Sixteenth Century) 
 
[183 3 
 
184 THE VATICAN 
 
 hardly be the work of Raphael. (48) The Building of the Temple. 
 Solomon has come out to visit the foundations of the Temple, and is 
 examining the plan shown him by the architect. In the foreground the 
 workmen are busy hewing stones and sawing wood. 
 
 Thirteenth Arcade: (49) The Adoration of the Shepherds. The Vir- 
 gin is kneeling before the Child, on whom two angels are dropping 
 flowers. To the left the shepherds are seen coming with gifts. On the 
 other side Joseph beckons to a shepherd to draw near. The fresco has 
 been damaged considerably. (50) The Adoration of the Magi. In the 
 centre the three kings are on their knees before the Virgin and the 
 Child. The oldest king is kissing the Child's foot. The slaves follow 
 behind. To the left Joseph is lifting with much curiosity the lid of one 
 of the vases brought by the kings. (51 ) The Baptism of Christ. Christ 
 stands with joined hands on the river bank and St. John is pouring 
 water on his head. Behind the figure of Christ a group of men are 
 disrobing for baptism. Two angels near St. John hold the garments of 
 the Saviour. (52) The Last Supper. The Apostles are seated around 
 the table and the Saviour is in the centre. The figures of the Apostles 
 are full of movement. 
 
 Having thus briefly described the sacred scenes on the roof that go 
 to make up Raphael's Bible, it remains for us to run over the rich 
 decoration and stucco work and coloring on the pilasters and arches 
 and windows of the Loggie. The name usually given to these details 
 is that of "grottesche," because they were copied from Roman monu- 
 ments long buried away, which were and are known as grotte. 
 
 It is certain that these ornaments are derived from Roman remains, 
 notably from Nero's Domus Aurea, which was at one time called the 
 Baths of Titus. 
 
 Vasari, in his life of Giovanni da Udine, tells how that artist, together 
 with his master Raphael, visited the rooms of the Domus Aurea, which 
 had just been discovered near San Pietro in Vincoli, and how Raphael 
 was so pleased with their decorations that he ordered his pupil to make 
 copies of them for use in the Loggie. Moreover, quite recently, on the 
 roof of one of the galleries in that House of Nero a graffito has been 
 discovered recording the very name of this painter: juan da vdene 
 FiRLANO. Antiquity, indeed, was laid under tribute for the ideas in 
 these galleries, but there was no real plagiarism. Giovanni da Udine 
 adapted the ancient models, and he did so with exquisite taste and judg- 
 ment. He took the parts and made a new whole of them, and the result 
 is one of the finest creations of the Renaissance, a story-book in colors 
 full of dreams and fancies. The pilasters and walls are dotted with 
 stucco work and pictures: mythological subjects, cupids, plants, fruits, 
 
THE LOGGIE OF RAPHAEL 185 
 
 vases, animals, landscapes, fantastic originals and copies of ancient 
 statues, musical instruments, fishes, birds, flying ribbons, are to be seen 
 on every hand; and in a charming stucco frame in a window nook 
 Raphael himself is painted together with his pupils, some of whom are 
 mixing colors, others drawing, others painting on a wall, while the 
 master is busy making a dainty design on a canvas supported on his 
 knees, and lower down Fame blows a trumpet to proclaim the excel- 
 lence of the whole work. 
 
 It is truly not easy to imagine any work more excellent. Classic 
 antiquity, Bible story, legend, poetry and faith, heaven and earth, and 
 the winds of heaven are here drawn into one great poem in which the 
 w^orld of Pagandom meets the world of Christendom without shock, 
 save for those who do not understand the spirit that was at work in the 
 Renaissance. Giovanni da Udine, to whom under Raphael the work is 
 due, has known how to avoid the pitfalls of excess into which the artists 
 of that time were so liable to fall. The arabesque style became preva- 
 lent in the second half of the Cinquecento, but the ornaments employed 
 became stiff and heavy and too thickly laid on, and hence it came to 
 pass that the method soon began to pall. But we must not confuse the 
 cold imitations of a later day with the beautiful creations of Giovanni 
 da Udine, in which we find again an outcropping of the beauty of 
 classic times. 
 

Part Three 
 
 THE VATICAN MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS 
 AND THE MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 ]T is very difficult for the Popes nowadays to rival their 
 predecessors of the Renaissance period as patrons of 
 the arts. With the best will in the world, they enjoy 
 neither the means nor the opportunity to do so. 
 Nevertheless, Pope Pius X was able on several occa- 
 sions to follow up the course laid down by Papal 
 traditions. Two artistic undertakings in particular 
 he initiated with so great success that they alone 
 are enough lo win him the gratitude of all artists. We refer to the in- 
 stitution of the New Picture Gallery and to the complete restoration of 
 the Chapel of Nicholas V, famous for its glorious frescoes by Fra An- 
 gelico. The present writer had the great honor of being entrusted with 
 the latter work, and succeeded in bringing back to light the small win- 
 dows with the painted sides. 
 
 Up to the year 1909 the paintings that made up the Old Pinacoteca 
 were gathered together on the top floor of the Palace, in what was 
 known as the Apartment of Gregory XIIL It was a steep climb up 
 there, and the visitor could hardly fail to lament the fact that these 
 priceless artistic treasures were sequestrated in a place entirely unsuit- 
 able in lighting and space accommodations. Moreover, the safety of 
 the pictures was not sufficiently provided for. The works contained 
 there were mainly those which Antonio Canova and Marino Marini, 
 representatives of Pius VII, had succeeded in recovering by the Treaty 
 of 1815 out of the countless treasures taken by the French in 1797 from 
 the Vatican and the churches in the Papal States. The Pope's envoys 
 had to overcome the prejudices of the Allies and difficulties of every 
 kind, and were forced to give up all claims to the collection of imperial 
 coins, before they got back the more precious of these paintings. Sixty- 
 seven pictures were allowed to re-cross the Alps by agreement of the 
 Congress of Vienna on condition that they would not be returned to the 
 original owners, but would be exposed for public view in the Vatican 
 to be studied and copied by art lovers. Thus began the Old Picture 
 Gallery, which, under the direction of Cardinal Consalvi and Canova, 
 was first of all opened in the Appartamento Borgia. Soon afterwards 
 it was transferred to the Apartment of Gregory XIII on the third floor 
 
 n 189 •^ 
 
190 THE VATICAN 
 
 of the Loggie; then to what is now the Hall of the Tapestries; later to 
 the Apartment of Pius V, where the modern paintings now are; then 
 back to the Apartment of Gregory XIII, whence Pope Pius X removed 
 it to its present ample and worthy quarters. 
 
 In bringing about this last change, Pius X availed himself of the tech- 
 nical experience of Architect Sneider of the Apostolic Palaces, of the 
 refined taste of the Sub-prefect, Monsignor Misciatelli, and of the great 
 culture of Professor Seitz and Professor d'Achiardi, the present writer's 
 
 One of the Halls in the Old Picture Gallery 
 
 predecessor. For Professor Seitz it was a labor of love: he was not, 
 however, destined to see his work completed, for on the day when 
 Raphael's Transfiguration was lowered with cords and pulleys from 
 the top of the Cortile di Belvedere, he was so overcome with emotion 
 that during the night he succumbed to an attack of heart disease. Be- 
 sides the paintings in the old collection, the New Gallery has the collec- 
 tion of Primitives, hidden away previously in the glass cases of the 
 Library, the small but celebrated Lateran collection, the Byzantines of 
 the Christian Museum, and other works of singular value that had been 
 scattered throughout the storerooms and apartments of the Apostolic 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 191 
 
 The Ceiling of a Hall in the Old Picture Gallery, 
 showing the Signs of the Zodiac (L. B. Alberti) 
 
 Palaces. The halls which were to receive this collection were arranged 
 and decorated with a nobility in keeping with the best artistic traditions 
 of the Vatican. In admiring the severe elegance of the halls wherein 
 the pictures are so favorably displayed and their safety so amply pro- 
 vided for, no one would imagine that these quarters on the east of the 
 Cortile di Belvedere were formerly the storerooms of the Horeria and 
 the coach-house of the Vatican. The halls are nine in number, and are 
 reached by that street which leads to the Museums and is so well known 
 to thousands of Vatican visitors. Over the entrance door is a slab with 
 an inscription and a bust of Pius X carved by the sculptor Seeback. 
 The inscription is from the pen of Monsignor Aurelio Galli, Secretary 
 for Latin Letters, and reads : 
 
 Pius. X. Pont. Max. 
 
 Pinacothecam Vaticanam 
 
 Laudatorum operum Accessione Auctam 
 
 Heic splendore Attributa Sede 
 
 Statuendam Ordinandam Curavit 
 
 Sacri Principatus Anno VI. 
 
 The light enters through the windows which overlook the Cortile 
 
192 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall of the Trecento or Primitives 
 
 di S. Damaso. These windows were cut according to ancient designs, 
 so that the plans of Sneider entailed to a certain extent a restoration of 
 one side of the majestic Cortile. The decorations of the hall are uni- 
 formly severe and noble. The doors are framed wath white marble 
 slabs, and over the architrave the name of the Pope appears in carved 
 gilt lettering. The ceilings are adorned with stucco-work in pure 
 Cinquecento stjde, interspersed with the coat of arms of Pius X. The 
 walls are covered with olive green silk, against which the rich gilding 
 of the picture frames stands out boldly; the heating arrangements are 
 skilfully concealed in the walnut panelling near the floor, and to com- 
 plete the comfort and nobility of the room there is an abundance of 
 chairs and elegant lounges, of the shape called raffaelesca, and decora- 
 tive pieces of precious marble. 
 
 One of the chief charms of the Vatican Picture Gallery is the great 
 variety of its most rare and valuable paintings, for the visitor can pass 
 from the early imitations of the Greeks down to the modern paintings 
 of a Lawrence. The task of arranging such a collection so as to satisfy 
 at once esthetic demands and sound scientific requirements fell to the 
 painter Seitz and Professor d'Achiardi. On the death of Seitz, d'Achi- 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 193 
 
 The Hall of the Tieccnto 
 
 anli had to complete the gk)rious 
 
 work alone. In the tirst room, to 
 
 the right of the vestibule, are to be 
 
 found the Primitives and Byzan- 
 tines, paintings hitherto for the 
 
 most part kept in the Library or 
 
 Christian Museum. In the second 
 
 room — known as the Melozzo Hall, 
 
 because it has the famous fresco 
 
 of the Romagnolo painter- are ex- 
 amples of many Italian schools of 
 
 the Quattro- and Cincpiecento. 
 
 Then comes the Hall of the School 
 
 of Umbria and the Marches, which 
 
 precedes the hall devoted to the 
 
 School of Raphael. Beginning 
 
 again at the vestibule, to the left, 
 
 we meet successively the Hall 
 
 of the Venetian School, the Hall 
 
 of the Secentisti, and the Hall of 
 
 Foreign Painters. In all, then, including the atrium and the store- 
 room wherein are kept all the paintings that are not considered worthy 
 of a place in the Gallery, there are nine rooms skilfully and logically 
 planned. 
 
 The Primitives in the first hall represent the most tasteful novelty of 
 the Gallery, but have never yet been satisfactorily identilied or criti- 
 cized. They are all small-sized paintings, and were until recent times 
 kept in glass cases in the Library, where, owing to the poor light and the 
 reflections of the glass, it was difficult to examine them. For the most 
 part they date from the fourteenth century, though there are some of 
 earlier date, and the majority belong to the Central Italian Schools — 
 Florentine, Sienese and Bolognese. A framed painting belonging to 
 the first school is of special interest. It shows in the upper half the 
 Crucifixion, in which the Virgin falls beneath the weight of her sorrow 
 and is being supported by the holy women; at the foot of the Cross are 
 Sts. Francis and Mary Magdalen, Sis. .lohn the Apostle and John the 
 Baptist. In the lower half are seated in hieratic attitudes before some 
 draperies Sts. Paul, Peter and Louis of Toulouse. This is a truly mas- 
 terly work not only because of its breadth of treatment, but also be- 
 cause of its dramatic force. In our opinion, therefore, it has been very 
 properly attributed to Giotto: such is also Berenson's opinion, and he 
 is supported by Cochin, wdio, in view of the fact that the Bishop of 
 
194 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall of the Quattrocento, or Melozzo Hall 
 
 Toulouse here portrayed was a near relative of Robert of Anjou, for 
 whom Giotto was painting at Naples from 1330 to 1332, holds that the 
 work belongs to this period in the activity of the famous painter. 
 Grouped around the painting are many smaller ones in the Giotto man- 
 ner from various parts of Italy, testifying to the great influence exer- 
 cised by the Florentine master in his own day; one of the best of these 
 is a Madonna and Child against a golden background, the work of Ber- 
 nardo Daddi. Faithful to the Giotto tradition, but heralding the dawn 
 of the Quattrocento and the advent of Angelico, are a group of pictures 
 by Lorenzo Monaco, some of which — for example, the Story of St. 
 Benedict, the Crucifixion, and the Nativity — are certainly by his own 
 hand. 
 
 The Sienese School is even more fully represented. Among those 
 that give particular evidence of the Giotto influence are Bartolo di 
 Fredi's Angel Appearing to St. Joachim, and the Death of Mary by his 
 pupil, Taddeo di Bartolo, whose name is linked with the decorations 
 of the upper chapel in the Communal Palace of Siena. The latter little 
 tablet shows with charming simplicity the soul of the Virgin in the 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 195 
 
 The Madonna and Child, with Saints and Angels 
 (Fra Angelico) 
 
196 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Episodes from the Life of St. Nicholas of Bari 
 (Fra Angelico) 
 
 form of a young child wrapped in golden draperies and resting in the 
 arms of Christ, while several apostles and angels stand round the dead 
 body. A work of great importance, not alone for its intrinsic value but 
 also for the history of art, is the Christ Blessing by an artist who had 
 pronounced influence on the Sienese School, and helped to free it from 
 the Greek inlluence of Duccio di l^oninsegna. This picture by Simone 
 Martini, and especially the Crucifixion by Lippo Menni, in view of its 
 excellent stale of preservation, are among the most precious docu- 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 197 
 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer 
 (Francesco del Cossa) 
 
 ments for the study of the beginnings of the art of painting in Italy. 
 The Crucifixion is the central panel of a triptych, of winch the wings 
 are missing. Of no less importance is Pietro Lorenzetti's tablet Christ 
 before Pilate, a work known to and described by Cavalcaselle. The 
 manners of the two Lorenzetti can be advantageously studied and dis- 
 tinguished in many paintings in this group, particularly in eight tablets 
 which even to-day cannot be attributed to either with certainty. 
 
 The Bolognese Primitives are well represented; there is, for exam- 
 ple, a table by Vitale Cavalli, showing the Madonna and Child blessing 
 a group of kneeling disciples, which bears the signature, Vitalis de 
 Bonomia I. 
 
 Mention must here be made of one of the important works of the 
 ancient Florentine school, the Madonna Enthroned with her Son and 
 Four Saints and with other figures in the cusps of the polyptych. This 
 work is dated 1.372, and is noteworthy for its exceptional size, but above 
 all for the signature of the artist, Giovanni Bonsi, of whom no other 
 w^ork is known. Indeed, the painting itself w^as unknown until the New 
 Picture Gallery was opened, for it had previously lain neglected in the 
 Vatican storerooms. This polyptych, however, possesses a peculiar 
 interest as an example of Tuscan painting from the second half of the 
 Trecento. It is also of great intrinsic interest, especially for the expres- 
 sion of the saints on the sides of the central panel; this expression be- 
 comes especially effective in the wald face of the hermit St. Honuphrius, 
 in the panel on the left. 
 
198 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 TIh' Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer 
 (Francesco del Cossa) 
 
 The Oncagna School and its traditions are represented by a picture 
 of the first rank, the Regina Sanctorum by Giovanni del Biondo. The 
 scene shows the Madonna and Child enthroned against a background 
 of gold and purple drapery held by two angels. To the left are four 
 male saints, to the right four female saints, and in the sky above an 
 angel is seen purifying with a live coal the lips of the prophet Isaiah. 
 This beautiful tablet, which glistens with gold, is framed wath the motif 
 of the Annunciation, while on the predella is seen a figure dear to the 
 artists of the Trecento— a decaying corpse, the object of salutary fear 
 and meditation. 
 
 From the Florentines who followed Agnolo Gaddi we have many 
 valuable paintings; the Madonna and Child with St. John and St. Cath- 
 erine is attributed to Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, and the St. Nicholas Free- 
 ing Three Knights is said to be by his son, Lorenzo di Niccolo. 
 
 The icons taken from the Christian Museum are for the most part 
 arranged on the sides of the deep apertures of the windows in this 
 room. ^Yhile it is not unusual to hear it said that these are fabulously 
 old works— for instance, the Burial of St. Ephraem is said to be a work 
 of the tenth or eleventh century, wdiereas it is really signed by Ema- 
 nuele Zanfurnari, a sixteenth-century artist— the truth is that they are 
 early Renaissance works done by Greek artists or artists under Greek 
 influence. The oldest of the group, and that which bears the clearest 
 traces of the Byzantine style, is a painting by Margaritone d'Arezzo 
 (Margarito de Aretio me fecil) from the second half of the Dugento, 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 The Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer 
 (Francesco del Cossa) 
 
 depicting St. Francis Showing the Stigmata. The painting is a vener- 
 able and most important relic, and, like other pictures of the same 
 period at Siena, Pisa and Arezzo, as well as the earlier one at the Sacro 
 Speco of Subiaco, is a noteworthy iconographic document of the Pove- 
 rello of Assisi, who was the first in the obscurity of the Middle Ages to 
 feel the breath of the coming dawn, and with whom is linked the ideal- 
 ism revealed in the works of art gathered in this very room. 
 
 The various currents of Italian art in the fifteenth century are repre- 
 sented by works of exceptional importance in the second room, which 
 exceeds all the others in size, and holds a surprise for visitors to the 
 New Gallery, since the majority of the works were not on view in the 
 Old Picture Gallery. Here are, for instance, three undoubtedly authen- 
 tic works by Fra Angelico, of which one, in an excellent state of preser- 
 vation, shows the Virgin in glory with the Child, St. Dominic and St. 
 Catherine. The two others contain episodes from the life of St. Nich- 
 olas of Bari: the first of these panels tells the story of his birth, the gift 
 of a dowry to the three poor sisters while they are asleep, and the 
 preconizing of the holy youth as bishop at the entrance to a church, 
 while a crowd of the faithful are assembled on a flowering sward; the 
 other panel tells the miracles of the multiplication of the sacks of 
 grain and the apparition of St. Nicholas to save a vessel from ship- 
 wreck. These two panels formed part of a predella painted by An- 
 gelico about 1437 for the Chapel of S. Niccolo dei Guidolotti in the 
 Church of St. Dominic in Perugia, and some parts of the third panel 
 are still treasured in the Picture Gallery of that city. 
 
200 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Miracles of SI. Viiueiit l"crrcr 
 (Francesco del Cossa) 
 
 Around these most precious works have been judiciously grouped 
 paintings depicting episodes in the life of Christ: the Birth, the Adora- 
 tion of the Magi, Jesus in the Temple, the Transfiguration, the Entry 
 into Jerusalem; all these were formerly kept in the Library, and evi- 
 dently belong to the school of Fra Angelico. One scene, which is an early 
 work of Benozzo Gozzoli and was painted in the middle of the Quattro- 
 cento, shows so clearly the influence of Angelico that it was long attrib- 
 uted to him. It is a painting in tempera, done for the Church of St. 
 Fortunatus near Montefaico, and shows the Virgin surrounded by a 
 choir of angels and giving a girdle to St. Thomas. On the predella are 
 six scenes from the Virgin's life — her Birth and Espousals, the Annun- 
 ciation, the Birth of Christ, the Circumcision and the Dormition; here 
 the influence of Fra Angelico is still more evident, just as the admirable 
 power of the drawings speaks of Gozzoli. Under the central part of the 
 altarpiece is a rectangular hole, which tradition declares was used in 
 giving Communion to cloistered nuns. 
 
 Among other Tuscan works of the early Quattrocento two are attrib- 
 uted to iMasolino da Panicale — the Crucilixion and the Dormition. The 
 school of Fra Angelico and IMasolino are seen united in the famous trip- 
 tych by Fra Filippo Lippi, which is held to be one of the most character- 
 istic works of the master, and, notwithstanding the great progress 
 made by painting technique, still astonished Vasari by its freshness of 
 coloring. As is well known, the work was ordered by Carlo Marsup- 
 pini, secretary to the Florentine Republic, who is shown in a panel to 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 201 
 
Head of St. Jerome 
 (Leonardo da Vinci) 
 
 202 THE VATICAN 
 
 the left offering it to the Chapel of 
 St. Bernard at Mount Oliveto. The 
 central panel shows Christ on a 
 throne of precious marble crown- 
 ing the Virgin; the panel on the 
 right shows the donor in ecclesi- 
 astical garb being presented by 
 two monastic saints; the panel on 
 the left also shows a personage, in 
 an ermine-lined cassock, assisted 
 by two monastic saints. In the 
 background of the panels appear 
 three angels playing on musical 
 instruments. 
 
 Coming from the private apart- 
 ments of the Vatican, and there- 
 fore hitherto unknown to art 
 students, is a precious painting 
 showing St. Francis Receiving the 
 Stigmata against a marvellous 
 background of landscape-work. It 
 
 is a fifteenth-century work, and shows some characteristics of Piero 
 delta Francesca, as well as traces of the Florentine influence exercised 
 by Angelico and Lippi. 
 
 In this same room there is a very interesting group of small tablets 
 taken from the Library and belonging to the Sienese School of the fif- 
 teenth century, the works of which are now so much sought after by 
 art lovers. This school is represented by the most prominent artists. 
 
 To Stefano di Giovanni, known as II Sassetta, is attributed a graceful 
 work showing St. Thomas Aquinas in his monk's robes adoring Christ 
 crucified, who speaks to him, saying: "Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma." 
 There are many works by artists who imitated II Sassetta, such as Pelle- 
 grino del Mariano and Sano di Pietro. To the latter are attributed 
 various tablets of which some depict episodes from the Golden Legend; 
 but most elegant of all is the Espousals of the Virgin, which is crowded 
 with the figures of boy and girl musicians, and is an admirable embodi- 
 ment of the delicacy of the Sienese School during the Quattrocento. 
 Among other celebrated masters of the Sienese School must be men- 
 tioned Giovanni del Poggio, one of whose works here shown was used 
 as a cover for the tax-register of Siena during the years 1444 and 1445, 
 a very significant instance of the wonderful love of art in those days. 
 Who can conceive a ledger to-day with such a cover! 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 203 
 
 I'opc Si\Uis 1\ and II rialiiia 
 (Melozzo da Forli) 
 
204 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Details from Pope Sixtiis IV iiiul II I'lalina 
 (Melozzo da Forli) 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 205 
 
 But the visitor to this room is confronted by even more splendid 
 relics of the Italian Renaissance, the most famous masters of the epoch 
 being here represented. We have the celebrated predella of Francesco 
 del Cossa, showing the Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer; this work comes 
 from the Old Picture Gallery, and, as Frizzoni has shown, belonged 
 (like the St. Peter and St. John, now in the Brera at Milan, and the St. 
 Vincent Ferrer, now in the National Gallery of London) to the altar of 
 
 Thf Hall of the School of Umbria and the Marclu 
 
 the Griffani Chapel in St. Petronius's at Bologna. It is true that Vasari 
 attributes the predella doubtfully to another Farrarese, Ercole de Ro- 
 berto; but all critics now agree that the great artist who painted it is the 
 same as the one who decorated the Schifanoia Palace. The predella 
 shows the healing of a leprous woman, the healing of a sister of the 
 Queen of Aragon who had been struck down by a rock, a mason's assis- 
 tant falling from a house in construction and kept suspended by the 
 saint, and the restoration to life of a child who had been torn to pieces 
 by his insane mother. All these scenes, which take place against a 
 background of fantastic and luminous landscape with ruins and archi- 
 
206 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Madonna and Child 
 (Francescuccio Ghissi) 
 
 small painting, showing the Ma- 
 donna and Child with St. John and 
 St. Anne, is attributed to Andrea 
 del Sarto. 
 
 The rare gem of the room is 
 Leonardo's St. Jerome, a vigorous 
 work revealing the master's tech- 
 nique at its best and bringing out 
 his perfect knowledge of form, 
 which has never been surpassed. 
 This picture, which is among the 
 very few executed by the master's 
 own hand, has had a strange his- 
 tory. It belonged to the Cardinal 
 Fesch collection, and the story 
 runs that His Eminence was so 
 lucky as to come into possession 
 of the two pieces of the canvas at 
 different times; no one seems to 
 know how it ever came to be torn 
 and separated. The church in the 
 
 lecture, are nothing more than a 
 pretext for the artist to crystallize 
 for ever by the magic of his in- 
 cisive drawing the costumes and 
 the everyday life of Ferrara in 
 the days of the Renaissance. 
 
 In this room are also seen two 
 large figures of apostles, a St. 
 Peter and a St. Paul, by Fra Barto- 
 lomeo delta Porta; these were for- 
 merly in the Church of St. Silves- 
 ter of Montecavallo, and, if we are 
 to believe Vasari, one of them was 
 finished by Raphael. Both cer- 
 tainly were influenced by Raphael 
 and Michelangelo. The Virgin and 
 Child is a beautiful painting of the 
 pure Tuscan School; the Virgin is 
 seated at a window opening on a 
 bright landscape, and the whole is 
 the work of Lorenzo da Credi. A 
 
 The Cainerino Triptych 
 (Niccolo Alunno) 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 207 
 
208 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 'I'liL' \iiKin (.1 liir H<ila 
 (Antoiiiazzo Romano) 
 
 background reminds one of the architecture of S. Maria Novella, and 
 from this we may fix the date of the sketch as being before 1489, that is, 
 in the master's Florentine period. 
 
 In this room are exhibited some of the paintings belonging to the 
 Northern Italian School. Among these is a portrait of the boy Fran- 
 cesco Sforza by Bernardino de' Conti, signed and dated and containing 
 a legend which identifies the boy as the five-year-old son of Galeazzo 
 Maria Sforza. A portrait of a man reveals the characteristics of Gian 
 Battista Moroni of Bergamo, the great portraitist. Here too, though it 
 might more fittingly be placed with the Venetian School, is a Madonna 
 and Child with St. Jerome and St. Bartholomew^ by II Moretto; this 
 painting is known as the Madonna of the Pears from two piles of fruit 
 near the foot of the throne. The w^ork apparently belongs to the later 
 period of the Brescian master, when the characteristic brightness of 
 his silver tones began to be a little dulled. 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 209 
 
 The Madonna Enthroned with Saints 
 
 (Perugino) 
 
 But this whole room is appro- 
 priately known as the Meiozzo 
 Hall from Meiozzo da Forli, whose 
 celebrated fresco is given the place 
 of honor between two good can- 
 vases by one of his pupils, Marco 
 Palmezano. These two canvases 
 come from the Lateran. One is a 
 Madonna Enthroned with her Son, 
 dated 1537; the central figures are 
 surrounded by six saints, while an 
 angel plays a musical instrument. 
 The other painting is a variation 
 of the same theme with fewer per- 
 sonages. Both pictures, which are 
 practically the same size, bear 
 traces of Venetian influence, and 
 belong to the last period of the 
 artist's activity, although they give 
 no evidence of enfeebled powers. 
 
 We now come to Melozzo's masterpiece. When Sixtus IV was re- 
 arranging the Library in 1477, he had this fresco painted for the space 
 between two windows of the hall now known as the Floreria Apos- 
 tolica, where even to-day traces of the original decoration may be seen 
 on the ceiling and majolica floor. As in his time the fresco was in a 
 poor condition, Leo XII had it transferred to canvas so that it might be 
 given a more w^orthy setting, and since then it has been preserved in 
 the Picture Gallery. Meiozzo shows Pope Sixtus IV in the Library in- 
 vesting the humanist Bartolomeo Sacchi, called II Platina, as Prefect of 
 the Apostolic Library. The scene is rendered with miraculous truth, 
 and the perspective of the Library is perfect. The Pope is accompanied 
 by his nephews, Raffaello and Gerolamo Riario (later Governor of the 
 Papal States), and Giovanni and Giuliano delta Rovere, who was after- 
 wards Pope Julius II, and whose reign was immortalized by the works 
 of Raphael and Michelangelo. The work is nothing but a grouping of 
 entirely distinct portraits, without any special connection with the 
 action which the painting aims at representing; but we must go to 
 Mantegna to find anything equal to the perfection of drawing, which is 
 here intensified by the artist's profound penetration into the characters 
 of the persons portrayed. The figures have the relief of living persons, 
 and reveal to the spectator at the first glance their peculiar characteris- 
 tics. The satirical and indomitable spirit of the humanist is shown in 
 
210 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 211 
 
 The Anniiiicialiiiii 
 (Raphael) 
 
 his sharp visage and tightly closed lips, while the vigorous will of the 
 future Pope appears in the firmness of his powerful jaw. It is impos- 
 sible to appreciate the true artistic worth of this great Romagnolo mas- 
 ter of the fifteenth century unless one has seen and studied this fresco. 
 The later developments of painting may perhaps prevent us from shar- 
 ing in all the enthusiasm of Vasari and Luca Pacioli for Melozzo's grasp 
 of aerial perspective, but even to-day we are astounded at the incredible 
 skill of the execution and the unrivalled lucidity and splendor of the 
 coloring. 
 
 The third room is given over exclusively to the School of Umbria 
 and the Marches before the coming of Raphael, whose works, being 
 assembled in the next room, thus receive a logical introduction. 
 
 The influence of the Florentine, and more especially of the Sienese, 
 School on the Primitives of the Marches is very evident in the beautiful 
 triptych by Allegretto Nuzi da Fabriano, dated 1365, wherein the 
 gentle grace of the Virgin and of St. Ursula, painted on the panel to the 
 right, is accentuated by the masculine vigor of the Archangel Michael 
 in armor. Another artist who shows Sienese influence is Francescuccio 
 Ghissi, also a native of Fabriano and a precursor of Gentile. He has 
 a characteristic painting here, formerly kept in the Library, showing 
 with incomparable simplicity and candor the Virgin suckling her Child. 
 To Gentile are attributed four small tablets which, according to Siren, 
 once formed part of a predella belonging to the polyptych of the Gon- 
 faloniere Quaratesi at St. Nicholas's in Florence. These paintings de- 
 
212 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Adoralion of the Mixgi 
 (Raphael) 
 
 pict the miracles of St. Nicholas of Bari: his Birth, the Gift to the Three 
 Maidens, the Freeing of the Three Young Men, and the Apparition of 
 the Saint to save a vessel from shipwreck. They certainly approach 
 very close to the style of this master, who exercised such a great influ- 
 ence on painting in Italy, and actively paved the way for the advent of 
 the Renaissance. 
 
 The rapid spread of Gentile's art is evident in the Madonna and Child 
 (known as the Madonna of the Butterfly because a large coleopter is 
 painted near the Virgin's shoulder), by Francesco di Gentile, supposed 
 to be the son of the great Fabrianese master; also in the graceful frag- 
 ment, the Virgin and St. Anne, which shows the Virgin having her head 
 encircled with a cloth of woven blue and gold. This painting is attrib- 
 uted to Lorenzo (Jr.) d'Alessandro di Sanseverino. It may be interest- 
 ing to know that the restoration of this picture is due to the diligent 
 research of Professor d'Achiardi, who, having noticed that the gold 
 background to the Virgin's head was a recent addition, removed this 
 background and discovered beneath it a part of the head of St. Anne. 
 He was then so fortunate as to lind the remainder of the painting hid- 
 den away in a storeroom. 
 
 The three principal Umbrian masters, Perugino, Pinturicchio, and 
 Niccolo di Liberatore (known as Niccolo Alunno), claim the visitor's 
 attention in this room. Niccolo has a complicated polyptych from 
 Montelpare, dated 14(5(); it is divided into many zones, and has two rows 
 of male and female saints around a central panel representing the 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 213 
 
 The Presenliifion in tlu' Tumple 
 (Haphael) 
 
 Coronation of the Virgin. More famous than this work is the triptych 
 known as the Camerino, because it comes from the Collegiata in that 
 town. Its three compartments are richly framed with peaks decorated 
 with Gothic flourishes. The central panel shows the Crucifixion with 
 the Madonna, St. John, and the Magdalen at the foot of the cross, to- 
 gether with four angels; the panel on the right shows St. John and St. 
 Porphyry; that on the left shows St. Peter and St. Venantius. The upper 
 parts of the triptych have scenes showing the Resurrection, David and 
 Isaiah. The intensity of the Folignese artist finds an outlet in the ex- 
 pression of piety and grief in the Crucifixion scene; the anguish indeed 
 which distorts the face of St. John almost reaches the grotesque. 
 
 A fresco fragment showing the Virgin and Child is attributed to Pin- 
 turicchio, but it has been so much restored that discussion of its author- 
 ship is now useless. Assuredly Pinturicchio's is the Coronation of the 
 Virgin in a luminous oval surrounded by cherubim. This was painted, 
 as Vasari says, about 1500 for the Friars Minor of the Fratta near 
 Perugia. In the lower part of the painting are the twelve apostles and 
 several saints of the order of Friars Minor. 
 
 This room also contains Perugino's well-known Resurrection, 
 painted for the Church of St. Francis in Perugia in 1502. The drawing 
 is so pure that tradition has seen in this painting the collaboration of 
 Raphael, and even declares that the sleeping figure and the figure flee- 
 ing at the sight of the risen Christ are portraits of Raphael and Peru- 
 gino. Unfortunately, the picture has been many times restored. 
 
214 THE VATICAN 
 
 In a better state 
 of preservation, and 
 more intense in color 
 and expression, is the 
 picture of the Three 
 Saints (Placidus, Fla- 
 via and Benedict), a 
 fragment from the 
 great altarpiece in 
 St. Peter's, Perugia, 
 Avhich was carried 
 away to France at 
 the end of the Sette- 
 cento, and of which 
 only this section and 
 a few smaller pieces 
 now at Perugia were 
 ever recovered. 
 
 A very fme paint- 
 ing of the Umbrian 
 school, formerly in 
 the Pope's private 
 apartments, is An- 
 ton iazzo Romano's 
 Virgin of the Rota, 
 showing the Virgin 
 between Sts. Peter 
 and Paul receiving 
 the homage of the 
 twelve Auditors of the Rota. The striking individuality expressed in the 
 faces of the Auditors confirms the fame of Antoniazzo as a portraitist. 
 
 Cola dell'Amatrice's triptych of the Assumption, dated 1515, is an- 
 other important work, as also is the Madonna delta Spineta, painted 
 about 1507 by Giovanni di Pietro, better known as Lo Spagna or Lo 
 Spagnolo. It was formerly in the Convent delta Spineta near Todi, and 
 depicts in a most novel way the Adoration of the Magi. So beautiful is 
 this work that it has at times been attributed to Perugino, to Pintu- 
 ricchio, and even to Raphael. It shows the Child on a cushion, being 
 adored by his Mother, St. Joseph and three angels. The background is 
 a bright landscape in which are seen the retinue of the Magi and the 
 angels announcing the good tidings to the shepherds. The noble com- 
 position is bounded above by three angels holding a scroll. Notwith- 
 
 The Madonna of Foligno 
 (Raphael) 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 215 
 
 standing the replica which is to be seen in the Louvre, this painting 
 must not only be regarded as an original, but it is one of the best works 
 by that rare artist who united in himself all the graces of the Umbrian 
 School, and whose fame would have been even greater were it not over- 
 shadowed by that of the great Urbinate himself. 
 
 In the next room, the fourth to the right from the vestibule, are the 
 works of Raphael Sanzio. In this unrivalled shrine the genius of the 
 marvellous artist first appears under the intluence of Perugino in the 
 Coronation of the Virgin; it later develops its immortal characteristics 
 
 in the Madonna 
 finally surpasses 
 Transfiguration, 
 mizes preceding 
 forms of art as 
 These paintings, 
 ages and coun- 
 well known to 
 toric treatment 
 wise plan to 
 works of the 
 themselves, save 
 of his — the pre- 
 glioni Deposi- 
 other paintings 
 special relation 
 work. The first 
 paintings is a 
 master who had 
 ence on Raphael, 
 gin Enthroned 
 
 Detail from the Transfiguration 
 (Raphael) 
 
 of Foligno, and 
 itself in the 
 wherein it epito- 
 art and all the 
 yet unborn, 
 the noblest of all 
 tries, are too 
 need a long his- 
 here. It was a 
 leave these 
 great master by 
 fora minor work 
 delta of the Ra- 
 tion — and three 
 which bear a 
 to Raphael's 
 of these three 
 work by the 
 the most influ- 
 namely, the Vir- 
 surrounded by 
 
 Sts. Laurence, Louis, Herculanus and Constantius; this was painted 
 wath special vigor of coloring by Perugino for the chapel of the Com- 
 munal Palace of Perugia in 1496. The second painting, the Madonna 
 of Monteluce, was ordered from Raphael by the nuns of the Convent of 
 Monteluce near Pistoia, and was executed after his death, according to 
 the designs of the master, by Giulio Romano and Penni; this was one 
 of the two works which most actively spread the style of Raphael. The 
 third, the St. Jerome by Giovanni Santi, Raphael's father, is a painting 
 in tempera, and bears no comparison to the mighty works around it; 
 it does not even belong to the same school, since, as is well known, 
 Giovanni died when Raphael was only eleven years old, and conse- 
 quently before it was possible to influence him in any way. Rut, apart 
 
216 THE VATICAN 
 
 altogether from the sentimental significance of placing this work near 
 the Transfiguration, the arrangement serves a valuable purpose by 
 showing the marvellous artistic evolution which took place in a brief 
 interval of time. 
 
 It will, however, be more instructive to compare the Coronation with 
 Perugino's painting. Raphael's work, completed in 1503, is in the 
 Perugino manner, but has greater breadth of treatment; the drawing is 
 purer, and the composition and the individual figures already reveal 
 that beauty the attraction of which Raphael alone is able to convey. 
 The development of the great painter, who was then hardly twenty 
 years old, is still more evident in the predella of this same altarpiece 
 depicting the mysteries — that is, the Annunciation, the Adoration of 
 the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple. The scene of the An- 
 nunciation is set in an atmosphere full of intimate charm and mystery; 
 in the Adoration of the Magi the artist is given an opportunity to repre- 
 sent, in accordance with the Umbrian tradition, a rich cavalcade; 
 while in the third picture the well-balanced composition is directly in- 
 spired by the work of Perugino in Fano and the Sistine Chapel, Here, 
 however, Raphael affirms his own personality and incomparable sure- 
 ness of design much better than in the altarpiece of the Coronation. 
 
 Raphael attained his full artistic maturity in the Madonna of Foligno, 
 which was painted in loll, and marks a great advance over his Corona- 
 tion of the Virgin, both in the modernity of its composition, the purity 
 of its form, and the splendor of its coloring. This masterpiece was 
 ordered by Sigismondo Conti as an ex volo for his escape from a bomb 
 which fell on his house in Foligno during a siege. The prelate is shown 
 praying with St. Jerome, St. Francis and St. John the Baptist at the feet 
 of the Madonna, who is seated with her Son in a glory of angels. In the 
 distance is seen the house of the donor, against which a fiery-tailed 
 projectile has been hurled. In the foreground is the celebrated boy 
 bearing a tablet. This painting was taken to Paris in 1797, together 
 with many other precious canvases, which must have suffered much 
 during that long journej^ in ox-wagons and by sea; for not only small 
 tablets like the Mysteries, but such large tables as the Madonna of 
 Foligno, had to be transferred to canvas — a very delicate operation 
 even to-day, and in those days such a novelty that a special report of it 
 was written by the restorer ("Rapporto dei cittadini Guijon Vincent 
 Tannay e Berthollet sul ristauro dei quadri di Raffaello conosciuto 
 sotto il nome di Madonna di Foligno," Parigi, piovoso anno X). 
 
 The Transfiguration has suffered also the vicissitudes of a great 
 number of the pictures in the Vatican collection, if to a less extent. 
 Thus, the picture, which is still on wood, has become dulled, principally 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 217 
 
 The Transfiguration 
 (Raphael) 
 
218 THE VATICAN 
 
 on account of the drying of the colors resulting from the absorption of 
 the varnish into the wood. As a consequence, certain corrections 
 which the artist made can be detected — for instance, that on the foot of 
 the woman, said to be the Fornarina, who, kneeling, points out to the 
 apostles the boy possessed by the demon — and we thus recognize the 
 infinite care and zeal bestowed by the master on this painting, which he 
 wished to make his greatest, as he felt it would be his last work. If the 
 table were freed of the old varnish, and if the coloring could display 
 again that "aria lucida" (transpar- 
 ent air) spoken of by Vasari, even 
 though it was then blackened on 
 account of the "nero fumo da 
 spampatori" (soot-black) used by 
 Raphael, it would be more evident 
 that the work of Giulio Romano, 
 who completed it after the death 
 of Raphael on Good Friday in 
 1520, is almost negligible, and 
 must have been restricted to a few 
 details of the landscape, particu- 
 larly the flowering plain on which 
 the figures in the foreground 
 stand. A comparison of this work 
 with the Madonna of Monteluce — 
 so inferior in coloring and relief 
 — which has been fitly placed 
 beside the Transfiguration, will 
 dissipate the prejudices once felt 
 by even profound critics towards 
 the work which was exhibited 
 near the dead body of the Urbi- 
 nate as a true expression of his 
 mighty soul. 
 
 Although Vasari is not favor- 
 able to Raphael as a rule, and al- 
 though his judgment was warped 
 by exaggerating the rivalry be- 
 tween Raphael and Michelangelo 
 and their schools, no more touch- 
 ing words occur in his "Lives" 
 than those which he applies to this 
 great work: "The most famous, 
 
 Madonna and Child 
 {Carlo Crivelli) 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 219 
 
 Picta 
 
 (Carlo Crivclli) 
 
 most beautiful and most divine work of Raphael," he says, "who here 
 seems to have strained every effort of his genius to set forth all the 
 power and wealth of art in the face of Christ; and when he had finished 
 it, as though nothing else remained for him to do in life, he put down 
 his brush for ever and death came and called him." 
 
 The rich collection of Venetian paintings is shown in the first room 
 to the left of the vestibule. The earliest among them is a polyptych by 
 Antonio Vivarini; this work is divided into ten compartments, in which 
 painting and sculpture contribute equally to the decorative splendor. 
 In the centre below is a painted statue of St. Anthony, Abbot, seated 
 and in the act of blessing; in the side panels are Sts. Christopher, Bas- 
 tianus, Venantius and Vitus. In the upper portion of the panels are 
 Sts. Peter, Jerome, Paul and Benedict, with the bust of Christ in the 
 centre. Under the chair on which St. Anthony sits we read the signa- 
 ture: "Antonius de Murano pixit, 1469." It was one of the last altar- 
 pieces executed by Antonio in which he reproduces in the architecture 
 of the polyptych the archaic form of an ogival flourish, like that 
 which the Masegne Brothers had employed at Venice a century earlier. 
 The painting comes from the Church of St. Anthony at Pesaro, and is 
 of importance for the evidence which it gives of the great spread of 
 Venetian art in the centres of culture along the Adriatic coast. 
 
 Near Vivarini's w^ork are two admirable paintings by Carlo Crivelli 
 of the Marchesian School— a characteristic Pieta, a lunette showing 
 Christ, the Madonna, St. John and the Magdalen, and a Madonna and 
 Child, dated 1482, formerly kept in the Lateran Gallery. The latter 
 
220 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 221 
 
 is one of this singiUar master's latest and best works, and is remarkable 
 for its deep sentiment, its decorative splendor, and the vigor and 
 strength of its design. Near these works, which are certainly authen- 
 tic, is the ancient copy of Crivelli's Madonna and Child and Saints 
 (dated U81), an altarpiece with five compartments, in which St. James 
 of the Marches is represented. This copy was formerly preserved in 
 the Lateran Museum, and is thought by some to be the work of Carlo di 
 Vittore Crivelli; the original is in the Louvre. After the careful re- 
 search work of Gustavo Frizzoni (see "The Burlington Magazine," 
 February, 1913) there can be no doubt that the Pieta is by Carlo Crivelli. 
 It formed the upper part of an altarpiece planned by Giovanni Bellini 
 for the Church of St. Francis at Pesaro. Its many restorations, and the 
 peculiarities common among the best pupils of Giambellino, led many 
 to attribute to Bonconsigli or Bartolomeo Montagna this monumental 
 work, wdiich is dominated by the piteous tigure of Christ, the pathetic 
 grief of the Magdalen and the virile sorrow of St. John. 
 
 After Giambellino, Venetian art of the Cinquecento blossoms forth 
 in all its splendor. The famous table by Titian, the Madonna of St. 
 Nicholas dei Frari, finished in 1523, awakens to-day no less admiration 
 than it did at Venice in the Cinquecento because of the wonder and 
 richness of its coloring and the nobility of its composition. In a sky of 
 marvellous lucidity the Madonna and her Son, between two angels 
 bearing garlands of flowers, hang from the clouds over a group of six 
 saints near a ruined exedra. The solemn dignity of St. Nicholas, 
 garbed in rich episcopal dress, the gentleness of St. Catherine, and the 
 virile figure of St. Sebastian in this picture are well known to art lovers. 
 The painting, however, has been somewhat damaged and restored, and 
 the upper portion was also cut so that it might face the Transfiguration 
 in the Old Picture Gallery. Among the figures most damaged is that 
 of St. Sebastian, which nevertheless seems fiesh and blood rather than 
 
 paint. 
 
 Titian's Portrait of a Doge is another example of his masterly sim- 
 plicity, but it has unfortunately suffered greatly from many restora- 
 tions.' Paris Bordone's St. George Slaying the Dragon, painted against 
 a fresh landscape, brings out in a vivid manner the genial fantasy of 
 Venetian art; but the painting has suffered at the restorer's hands, as 
 has also that of Bonifazio Veronese, the Virgin and Child with Joseph, 
 St. Zechariah, St. John the Baptist, and St. Elizabeth offering a basket 
 of fruit. This last work is distinguished by the artist's characteristic 
 fancy and w^ealth of coloring. Worthy of note here also is a large 
 painting by Sebastiano del Piombo, showing against a background of 
 architectural detail and landscape St. Bernard crushing a chained 
 
222 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
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 Detail from the Last Communion of St. Jerome 
 (Domenichino) 
 
 THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 223 
 
 demon. The painting dates from 
 the artist's Roman period, and is 
 in a bad state of preservation. 
 
 The influence of the Papacy on 
 the art of the Seicento was enor- 
 mous, and during that period 
 Rome became the centre of the 
 civilized world. Hence it is natu- 
 ral that we should find a 
 number of works by the 
 painters of this period in the sixth 
 hall of the Gallery. Among these 
 works some possess so high a 
 value that one can explain why 
 the Seicento has been depreciated 
 in the past only by referring to the 
 tyranny of fashion, from which 
 even the greatest works of art can- 
 not escape. The dominating pic- 
 ture in this hall is Caravaggio's 
 Deposition, a work of sculptured 
 solemnity in which the ideals and spirituality of the preceding epoch 
 are sacrificed for a stern realism and a rude sincerity based upon direct 
 observation. The large picture itself, in which we see Nicodemus and 
 John, followed by the Holy Women, carrying the dead Christ to the 
 tomb, embodies all the canons of modern painting and proclaims the 
 new gospel of Caravaggio in opposition to the tradition of Caracci, 
 whither painting had taken refuge in the strife between the school of 
 the spirit and the school of the world. 
 
 Very rightly this monumental work has been offset by Domeni- 
 chino's Last Communion of St. Jerome, a work which combines the 
 concepts of the eclectic school of Rologna. This glorious work, which 
 depicts with touching efficacy the tottering old man assisted by his 
 friends, while a group of angels hover against a charming landscape, 
 seems to symbolize the eternal youth of the spirit freed from the tram- 
 mels of the flesh. Towards either of these poles, Caravaggio's realism 
 and Domenichino's eclecticism, veer all the greatest artists of the Sei- 
 cento. The four paintings of II Guercino (Giovanni Barbieri) which 
 are exhibited in this room serve as an index to the worth of this painter. 
 These are entitled the Incredulity of St. Thomas, St. John the Baptist, 
 Mary Magdalen, and St. Margaret of Cortona. The influence of Cara- 
 vaggio, still felt in the painting of the Incredulity of St. Thomas, dis- 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 The Lasl Cmiiuiunion of St. Jerome 
 (Domenichino) 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 225 
 
 appears in the Mag- 
 dalen, which re- 
 mains one of II 
 Guercino's greatest 
 works, even though 
 it has been restored 
 by Camuccini. 
 
 Guido Reni, Cara- 
 vaggio's imitator in 
 the Martyrdom of 
 St. Peter, veers to- 
 wards the Caracci 
 method in the Ma- 
 donna in Glory with 
 St. Thomas and St. 
 Jerome, painted for 
 the Cathedral of Pe- 
 saro. Sassoferrato's 
 Madonna and Child, 
 with a glory of cher- 
 ubim, and his Por- 
 trait of a Cardinal 
 are faithful to the 
 Caracci influence 
 and to the Bolognese 
 School, the soft 
 graces of which he 
 accentuates. The 
 spirit of the Seicento 
 and its hunger for new forms are expressed with rare efficacy by 
 Ribera in his famous Martyrdom of St. Laurence, a work probably 
 dating from the old Spanish artist's last period, if we are to believe the 
 tradition which declares that the figure of the old man, seen in profile 
 apart from the scene, is a portrait of that master himself. 
 
 The Roman painter Andrea Sacchi gives us a completely different 
 aspect of the art of that period, and acts as the herald of the Settecento. 
 A new elegance of color and technique is evident in his Miracle of St. 
 Gregory the Great, wherein the saint is seen causing blood to flow from 
 a corporal on an altar in the presence of a kneeling old man and some 
 soldiers. His Vision of St. Romuald shows the founder of the Camal- 
 dolese monks, seated at the foot of an aged tree, relating to his monks 
 his vision or dream of the mvstical ladder of heaven, which is shown 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Laurence 
 (Ribera) 
 
226 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 
 
 227 
 
 The Espousals of St. Catherine 
 (Murillo) 
 
 by the painter in the background. The whole work is characterized 
 by a simplicity most rare in the Barocco age, and, notwithstanding the 
 monotony of the faces in the scene, it was so highly valued that in 1797, 
 when seized by the French, it was held to be one of the four great paint- 
 ings in Rome. It had an undoubted influence on French painting in 
 the eighteenth century. 
 
 The paintings of Federico Baroccio form a distinct group among the 
 works of the Seicento. The recent celebration of the tercentenary of 
 the death of this artist, which took place on September 30, 1612, has 
 called more attention to the exaggerated sweetness of his palette, to his 
 skill in contrasting light and shade effects, derived from Correggio, 
 and to his marked and really majestic power of design. Besides his 
 Ecstasy of St. Michelinus on seeing Jerusalem, and his glorious Annun- 
 ciation painted for Duke Francesco Maria d'Urbino, both of which 
 were in the Old Gallery, we have to-day one of Baroccio's most beauti- 
 ful works, which was thought to be lost and was previously known 
 
228 THE VATICAN 
 
 only from copies and engravings. This work, entitled A Rest during 
 the Flight into Egypt, was painted in 1573 for Simonetto Anastagi of 
 Perugia, who gave it to the Jesuits; it found its way to Rome in the 
 time of Clement XII, but was then lost sight of until discovered by 
 d'Achiardi in the Private Apartments of the Vatican in 1909. In a 
 landscape gilded by the setting sun, the Virgin is seated at a spring 
 taking water in a bowl, while St. Joseph is seen plucking fruit from 
 a cherry tree for the Infant Jesus. In this scene Baroccio gives his 
 predilection towards naturalistic observation free reign; as a conse- 
 quence, the character of the sacred scene takes on a domestic charm, 
 the artist's technique is not so excessively sweet as usual, and his color- 
 ing loses its conventional virtuosity. Besides this fortunate discovery, 
 the New Gallery has been enriched with a canvas showing Peter Deny- 
 ing Christ before the Handmaiden. This has been attributed to Cara- 
 vaggio. There is, moreover, a Holy Family bj^ Carlo Maratta, whose 
 name could not be absent from such a complete assemblage of Roman 
 artists of the Seicento. 
 
 The New Gallery has a room given over to the works of foreign 
 artists. While few in number, these works possess, besides their in- 
 trinsic value, an additional importance here for the study of the charac- 
 teristics of religious painting in foreign schools. Many of them show 
 such direct dependence on Italian art of the Seicento that they might 
 well be hung with the works of the Seicento artists in the room we have 
 just described. For instance, Valentin, a Frenchman, in his Martyr- 
 dom of Sts. Processus and Martinianus, has all the characteristics of 
 Caravaggio. While retaining all his own peculiar individuality, Nico- 
 las Poussin shows the influence of Domenichino, and especially of 
 Sacchi, in his Martyrdom of St. Erasmus, the only work which he 
 signed: "Nicholaus Pusin fecit." There is, however, no lack of works 
 more truly expressive of foreign art. The Spanish School has an 
 authentic masterpiece in Murillo's Espousals of St. Catherine, which 
 shows the saint bending in intense rapture before her mystic Spouse. 
 The German School has a Pieta by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a painting 
 previously kept in the Private Apartments of the Vatican. Thence 
 were also transferred to the Picture Gallery the paintings of the Flem- 
 ish School by the famous painter of flowers, Daniel Seghers. In one 
 of these, showing the figure of St. Ignatius, painted after the manner 
 of Rubens, surrounded by a crown of flowers held by two angels, we 
 may read the initials "D. S." The most attractive painting in the room 
 is the large portrait of George IV of England by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
 a splendid symphony in gray tones and a work at once of great intrin- 
 sic value and of remarkable importance in the history of modern paint- 
 
THE NEW PICTURE GALLERY 229 
 
 ing. Consequentl3% in the writer's opinion at least, this work is out 
 of place in a collection which does not extend beyond the Seicento. 
 
 This is but a brief and hasty survey of the most famous works in 
 this Gallery, but it will serve to show that the New Gallery is among 
 the most famous of the world, not for the number, but for the intrinsic 
 worth of its paintings. The storerooms annexed to the Gallery hold 
 many other works which, while they might figure properly in other 
 public galleries, have been rightly excluded from this carefully chosen 
 collection of highly valuable works. For instance, there are a Basaiti, 
 a Garofalo, a Sassoferrato and many Palmezzanos. Only a few of the 
 seven paintings from the Papal palace at Castel Gandolfo, containing 
 realistic episodes expressive of the Seven Sacraments, are worthy of 
 being exposed in the Room of the Seicento as a singular indication of 
 the artistic currents of the time; these are the work of that most orig- 
 inal artist, Antonio Maria Crespi Bolognese (called Lo Spagnolo). 
 Furthermore, there are many gems scattered throughout the Vatican, 
 which, if added to this collection, would increase its already great artis- 
 tic and esthetic value. Thus Melozzo's famous fresco might very fittingly 
 be surrounded with the eleven fragments of his Ascension, painted for 
 the Church of the Apostles, including those radiant figures of the angel 
 musicians which constitute a revelation of beauty never surpassed. 
 These are now badly hung in the Sacristy of St. Peter's, where the pub- 
 lic seldom sees them. There is also Giotto's famous triptych, known 
 as the Ciborium of Cardinal Stefaneschi, an ingenuously profound 
 expression of the religious sentiment of the master, and in the highest 
 degree representative of his work. The present writer expects to see 
 this added to the Picture Gallery. A further source of increase will be 
 supplied by the restoration of fragmentary works. As in all other 
 important galleries, the canvases and tables which need care and 
 retouching are many. The artistic world, however, may feel confident 
 that the authorities will neglect no measures necessary for the proper 
 preservation of the precious treasures entrusted to their safe-keeping. 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 ^'^"'^^'^^''^^N his "Life of Raphael" Vasari says: "Pope Leo X, 
 wishing to have most rich tapestries made of gold 
 and silk, got Raphael himself to paint the colored car- 
 toons of the right shape and size. These were sent 
 to Flanders to be woven, and, when finished, the tap- 
 estries came to Rome." There were ten of these tap- 
 l^w^^^^^^^ estries, depicting scenes from the lives of Sts. Peter 
 ^r. ' * J and Paul (mostly from the Acts of the Apostles), and 
 
 they completed the decorations of the Sistine Chapel, which already 
 had on its walls scenes from the Old Testament and the Gospels. 
 The subjects chosen for the new tapestries were the Miraculous 
 Draught of Fishes, the Giving of the Keys, the Healing of the Lame 
 Man, the Death of Ananias, the Stoning of St. Stephen, the Conversion 
 of St. Paul, Elymas Stricken with Blindness, the Sacrifice of Lystra, 
 St. Paul in Prison, and St. Paul before the Areopagus. Including the 
 friezes, they measured about 4.80 metres deep by 42 metres long, and 
 were to be hung on the walls below the frescoes painted by the artists 
 of the Quattrocento, where the imitation curtains are now painted — 
 four on the left wall, two on the end wall, where the Last Judgment is, 
 and four on the right wall. One of the tapestries for the right wall, 
 St. Paul in Prison, was made narrower than the others, owing to the 
 limited space between the balustrade and the choir. It was presumably 
 on the right side that all the St. Paul tapestries were placed, while those 
 dealing with St. Peter ran along the opposite wall. The vertical friezes 
 were placed between the tapestries in continuation of the pilasters 
 which separated the frescoes above; friezes were also added at the 
 ends of the walls so that each tapestry was bounded by two lateral 
 friezes. In view of the narrowness of the space, an exception to the 
 latter rule was made in the case of the tapestry showing St. Paul in 
 prison. The two tapestries on the back wall were most probably sepa- 
 rated from each other, and there were thus two lateral friezes for each 
 tapestry. The tapestries had no horizontal frieze above them. 
 
 The idea of decorating with tapestries the lower part of the walls 
 of the Sistine did not originate with Leo X. It is fairly certain that his 
 service was simply to replace old tapestries which were in poor con- 
 
 C 231 1 
 
232 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Miraculous Draught (it I'lsli 
 
 dition, and which were no longer in harmony with the taste of the age, 
 with more appropriate works. In the inventory of Papal effects before 
 Leo's time mention is indeed made of a number of pieces of woven 
 draperies, depicting scenes of the Passion. The designing and weaving 
 of the new tapestries were completed in a very few years. Begun about 
 1515, the tapestries were ready in 1519. As may be seen, the work was 
 somewhat hastily performed, and to this hastiness may be referred the 
 defects shown by the tapestries, especially in details. The cartoons 
 were prepared under the direction of Raphael himself, but were not 
 entirely from his hand. He drew, perhaps, the sketches for the general 
 composition and for some figures, but many of the sketches were left 
 to his pupils to enlarge. Vasari himself confirms this hypothesis in 
 his "Life of Giovanni Francesco Penni" (II Fattore), where he says 
 that this painter "was of great help to Raphael in painting a large part 
 of the cartoons for the tapestries of the Pope's chapel, and especially 
 for the friezes." 
 
 The weaving was entrusted to Peter Van Aelst of Brussels, under the 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 233 
 
 l)tt;iil rmin lln I Iiiriz(inl;il lYieze of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes 
 
234 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail from the Lateral Frieze of St. Paul 
 before the Areopagus 
 
 Detail from the Lateral Frieze 
 of "Feed My Sheep" 
 
 supervision of the artist Bernard Van Orley, who belonged to the 
 School of Raphael. The first seven were set in their places in the 
 Chapel in December, 1519. On the twenty-seventh of that month a 
 Roman correspondent of the famous Venetian dilettante, Marcantonio 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 235 
 
 The Healing of the Lame Man 
 
 Michiel, wrote as follows: "On Christmas day last the Pope displayed 
 in his Chapel seven tapestries woven in the west. They are considered 
 the most beautiful work of the kind ever done, notwithstanding the 
 fame of other tapestries, such as those in the Antechamber of Pope 
 Julius II, or those of the Marchese of Mantua from designs by Man- 
 tegna, or those of Kings Alfonso and Federico of Naples. The designer 
 is Raphael of Urbino, an excellent painter who has received from the 
 Pope one hundred ducats for each design. Silk and gold have been 
 used in great quantities. The cost of the weaving was one thousand 
 five hundred ducats for each tapestry, silk and all included; so that the 
 total cost was, as the Pope said, one thousand six hundred ducats each, 
 though gossip has it here that they cost two thousand ducats each." 
 This means that, in our modern money, the tapestries cost $150,000, 
 and Raphael was paid about $1,000 for each design. 
 
 Small-sized copies of the cartoons of these tapestries were made in 
 Rome immediately after the completion of the originals, since Agos- 
 tino Veneziano reproduces the Death of Ananias in a cut dated 1518. 
 The cartoons were then sent to Rrussels to be copied, and were cut in 
 
236 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Death of Ananias 
 
 strips for the various weavers. Seven of them remained in the work- 
 shop of Peter Van Aelst and his successors at Brussels tliroughout the 
 sixteenth century. Only the Conversion of St. Paul was sent back to 
 Rome in the days of Pope Leo X, and between 1521 and 1528 we tind 
 it mentioned in the Grimani Collection. Then we lose sight of it. Two 
 others were soon lost. In Brussels, however, copies must have been 
 made, and from these were woven the many reproductions now scat- 
 tered among the various collections. On the advice of Peter Paul 
 Rubens, Charles I of England bought seven of the originals as models 
 for his weavers, and allowed them to be cut into sections. In 1662 the 
 French ambassador came to an agreement with Charles II for their 
 purchase, as Louis XIV was then thinking of establishing the manu- 
 facture of the gobelins. The English ministers, however, annulled the 
 contract and the cartoons remained in England. Towards the close 
 of that century William III ordered William Cook to piece together and 
 restore the fragments, after which they were preserved in the Hampton 
 Court Gallery near London. From there they passed in 1865 to the 
 South Kensington Museum, London, where they may be seen to-day. 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 237 
 
 Moiling i>I M. Mcpiicil 
 
 The subjects are: the Miraculous 
 Draught of Fishes, the Giving of 
 the Keys, the Healing of the Lame 
 Man, the Death of Ananias, the Sac- 
 rifice of Lystra, Elymas Stricken 
 with Blindness, and St. Paul before 
 the Areopagus. 
 
 The fate of the tapestries them- 
 selves was no less stormy. In 1521 
 they were in the Sistine Chapel; in 
 1527 they were removed to the 
 Vatican Palace; in that year some 
 of them were stolen; in 1553 the 
 Connetable de Montmorency had 
 two pieces returned to Pope Julius 
 III. In 1798 they were again taken 
 from the Vatican, but Pius VII 
 succeeded in having them re- 
 turned. The lower part of the Ely 
 mas tapestry was cut off and 
 burned in 1527 to melt the gold of the texture. Fortunately, the yield 
 was not enough to tempt the vandals to treat the remainder in like 
 fashion. A great portion of the above information may be read in the 
 inscriptions on the tapestries and in the Gallery. 
 
 Vasari gives his opinion of the tapestries in his "Life of Raphael": 
 "The work was so wonderfully done that it was a marvel to the be- 
 holder how the weaver could possibly have succeeded with his thread 
 in giving softness to the cheek and gloss to the hair and beard so faith- 
 fully. It is a miracle rather than the work of man; water, animals, and 
 houses are so truly reproduced that the whole seems the work rather 
 of a painter than of a weaver." This eulogy of the great critic of the 
 Renaissance is intended exclusively for the professional merits of the 
 work of Van Aelst, who then initiated a new textile taste which was to 
 secure universal allegiance. Thanks to this new method, the weaver's 
 work became much more valuable, since it resembled so closely a real 
 painting as to give the spectator the delusion of having before his eyes, 
 not a woven texture, but a painted canvas. 
 
 This work of Van Aelst, however, shows a distinct stiffness of design 
 and a certain discord of coloring, strong tones appearing isolated in a 
 field of mezzotones and color gradations. Despite these defects, how- 
 ever, they must have evoked universal admiration when they first 
 appeared on account of their great novelty, since they foretold a veri- 
 
288 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul 
 
 table revolution in the technique of tapestry. The new method was 
 nothing more or less than the combining of the breadth and majesty of 
 Italian fresco-work with the illustrative and decorative analysis of 
 Flemish painting. If the work did not completely succeed, this was 
 to be attributed to the variety of the hands which were engaged on it. 
 Although executed by Raphael with the extensive collaboration of his 
 pupils, the cartoons preserve a unity of pictorial vision and a fineness 
 of execution that quite disappear in the tapestries. No matter how 
 the Italian School may have influenced their development, and no 
 matter how much they were bound by their Italian models. Van Orley, 
 who directed the work, and Van Aelst, who executed it, could not quite 
 rid themselves of their Northern temperament and their Flemish taste. 
 An adaptation of himself to his models was the less to be expected in 
 the case of Van Aelst, whose methods had become crystallized owing 
 to his long years of work and countless repetitions. 
 
 Another important new feature was the importance given for the 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 239 
 
 first time to the friezes. Hitherto all such woven tapestries were set 
 in narrow frames of flowers or geometric ornaments. Raphael, how- 
 ever, employed vertical friezes similar to the parietal decorations of 
 pilasters and horizontal friezes below similar to bas-reliefs. Each 
 tapestry thus assumed the aspect and served the function of a frieze 
 of the Renaissance, and the similarity extended even to the framing. 
 The vertical friezes contain decorative and allegorical figures, but the 
 horizontal ones are filled with scenes from the life of Cardinal Gio- 
 vanni de' Medici, who was later Pope Leo X. 
 
 Many copies of the tapestries were made. Copies of seven of them 
 were made in 1534 for Francis I of France, but they were burned in 
 1797. Henry VIII owned a superb duplicate copy, which was acquired 
 by the Spanish Ambassador in London during the English Revolution 
 
 
 Klyinas Stricken with Blindness 
 
 of 1649. One of the most precious replicas is that now in Vienna; this 
 formerly belonged to the Dukes of Mantua, and was made at the com- 
 mission of Ercole Gonzaga, who died in 1563. The Imperial Collection 
 has another set of nine, and the Spanish Crown owns a similar set; 
 mention of the last-named set is made in the inventories of Philip II 
 (1527-1598). 
 
 The Miraculous Draught of Fishes depicts an event related to St. 
 Luke's Gospel (v, 4 sqq.). The lateral friezescontainornamentsand deco- 
 rative figures; the horizontal frieze shows Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici 
 entering Rome and being received by the Pope. The fishing scene is 
 one of Raphael's finest creations, and the most successful of the tapes- 
 tries. The perspective shows the defects of the time; the plane of the 
 water is not horizontal, but inclined towards the horizon, just as though 
 seen from above, while the figures are shown on the level of our eyes. 
 Moreover, the houses, figures, and vegetation far away have the geo- 
 metric proportion of great distance, but preserve the clearness of out- 
 line of objects in the foreground. These, however, are scientific defects 
 
240 THE VATICAN 
 
 which would not detract anything from the esthetic effect if it were 
 not for the real artistic discord: for example, the deep red in some of 
 the costumes which forms too violent a contrast to the general mezzo- 
 tints of the scenery, the faulty modulation of the strong tints of the 
 shore, several instances of harshness in the outlines and in the folds 
 
 The Sacrifice of Lystra 
 
 of the dresses, and the unpleasant crudity of the various tints of the 
 dresses. These defects in details, however, do not prevent us from en- 
 joying fully the sublime and serene scene created by the Urbinate. All 
 the illustrative skill of Raphael in the interpretation of physical beauty 
 and of the human mind is here requisitioned. Admirable are the 
 beautiful bodies of the youths who draw in the nets, and the noble 
 countenances of the two apostles in the presence of Christ, which so 
 clearly express their marvel and worship at what He has done. The 
 fishes and the birds on the bank are drawn with astonishing truth; the 
 representation of the water and the illusion of the reflection are won- 
 derful. But more admirable still is the expression of the purely artistic 
 elements — for example, in the linear rhythm which moves with con- 
 tinuous and soft curves in the outlines of the figures and in the folds 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 241 
 
 of the garments, and lulls our 
 souls to rest in the contemplation 
 of the sweet and endless undula- 
 tion of that tranquil sea. A clear 
 sense of majestic serenity per- 
 vades us as we gaze on that placid 
 and transparent expanse of water, 
 which deepens obliquely in the 
 scene, and loses itself in the dis- 
 tance on the right. No less exqui- 
 site are the linear arabesques and 
 the delicacies of color of the verti- 
 cal friezes. More sonorous is the 
 slightly gilt yellow monochrome 
 which characterizes the lower 
 frieze, reproducing the solidity 
 and plasticity of a very clear com- 
 position in bas-relief. 
 
 The Giving of the Keys, or 
 "Feed My Sheep," is founded on 
 an incident in St. John's Gospel 
 (xxi, 15-17). Three fragments of 
 the original cartoon are preserved 
 in the Chantilly Museum, and 
 show the heads of eight of the 
 apostles. On the lateral frieze to 
 the left are shown the Four Sea- 
 sons, and on the right the Parcse 
 (Fates). The frieze shows the 
 flight of Pietro and Giuliano de' 
 Medici from Florence in 1494. The 
 scene of the Giving of the Kej's is 
 inspired by the Perugino fresco in 
 the Sistine on the same subject; of 
 particularly beautiful coloring is 
 the figure of Christ, with its pearl- 
 like tones. In the other figures the 
 work of the master is much al- 
 tered by the interpretation of his 
 pupils and of the weavers. 
 
 The Healing of the Lame Man 
 shows the miracle worked by St. 
 
 St. Paul in Prison, 
 or the Earthquake 
 
242 THE VATICAN 
 
 Peter at the door of the Temple, as related in Acts iii, 1-11. In the hori- 
 zontal frieze we see the capture of Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici after 
 the Battle of Ravenna and his subsequent escape. The figure of the 
 lame man and the two chief female figures in this scene deserve particu- 
 lar attention. The Death of Ananias represents a miracle which is re- 
 
 st. Paul before the Areopagus 
 
 lated in Acts v, 1-11. The theological virtues are shown in the vertical 
 friezes, and on the horizontal frieze we see the Gonfaloniere Ridolfi ad- 
 dressing the Florentines, and the return of Cardinal de' Medici to 
 Florence in 1512. Particularly fine are the figures of Ananias and the 
 young man on the right. The attitude of St. Peter recalls the Christ in 
 the Tribute fresco by Masaccio in the Carmine Church at Florence. 
 
 The Stoning of St. Stephen is a scene from Acts vii, 1-59. The car- 
 toon of this picture has been lost since the sixteenth century, and the 
 work bears abundant traces of the collaboration of Raphael's pupils, 
 particularly of Giulio Romano. The horizontal frieze shows the entry 
 of Cardinal de' Medici into Florence in 1492 as Papal legate. 
 
 The Conversion of St. Paul is founded on Acts ix, 1-9. The cartoon 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 243 
 
 Tlic Adulation of the Magi 
 
 The Adoration of tlie Shepherds 
 
244 THE VATICAN 
 
 of this tapestry has been lost. The 
 horizontal frieze shows the sack 
 of Prato in 1512, and the protec- 
 tion extended to its inhabitants by 
 Cardinal de' Medici. In a fresco 
 on the same snbject in the Pauline 
 Chapel, Michelangelo has copied 
 the terrified horse of the falling 
 rider. 
 
 Elymas Stricken with Blindness, 
 or the Conversion of the Procon- 
 sul Sergius Paulus, is based on an 
 incidenttold in Acts xiii, 6-12. The 
 tirst suggestion of the attitude of 
 St. Paul is to be traced to fres- 
 coes by Masaccio in the Carmine 
 Church at Florence. This tapestry 
 was mutilated during the sack of 
 Rome in 1527, and the lower part 
 is missing. The figure of Elymas 
 is one of the most expressive Ra- 
 phael ever created. 
 
 The Sacrifice of Lystra illus- 
 trates an event in the life of St. Paul, recorded in Acts xiv, 8-17. The 
 vertical friezes are both grottesche; in the horizontal frieze we see St. 
 John leaving Antioch and St. Paul among the faithful in a synagogue. 
 For this scene Raphael utilized a bas-relief in the Gallery of the Uffizi 
 representing the offering of sacrifices. 
 
 St. Paul in Prison, or the Earthquake, is a scene from Acts xvi, 20-40. 
 Its narrow shape is due to the demands of wall space. The cartoon is 
 lost. To show that Giulio Romano performed a large portion of the 
 work, we need only compare this tapestry with the Gigantomachia 
 fresco in the Palazzo del Te of Mantua. The horizontal frieze com- 
 pletes the scene of the sack of Prato. 
 
 St. Paul before the Areopagus is a scene from Acts xvii, 19-34. In the 
 left vertical frieze are represented Fame and Hercules holding a globe; 
 in the right are arabesques. The horizontal frieze contains several inci- 
 dents from the life of St. Paul. The tirst-mentioned frieze was muti- 
 lated during the sack of Rome in 1527, but the missing portion was 
 replaced in 1553 by the angel holding the coat of arms of the Conne- 
 table de Montmorency who gave back the tapestry to Julius III and an 
 inscription added recording the fact. The angel is by a French artist. 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 245 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents 
 
 The Massacre of the Innocents 
 
 The Apparition of Christ to the Magdalen 
 
 The Supper at Emmaus 
 
246 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Resurrection 
 
 The Presentation in the leinple 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 
 
 247 
 
 The Ascension 
 
 The Descent of the Holy Ghost 
 
 The Coronation does not belong to the set of the scenes from the Acts, 
 which are called the Series of the Old School. It was woven in Flanders 
 and given to Paul III by Cardinal Everard de Marck of Liege in 1537 
 after the death of both Leo X and Raphael. There is at Oxford a de- 
 sign by Raphael treating this subject in a notably different way. In the 
 tapestry the lower part has been almost entirely altered, the change 
 being certainly due to some pupil. In the new composition Sts. Peter 
 and Paul have been replaced by Sts. John the Baptist and Jerome, two 
 figures copied from the Disputa and the Madonna di San Sisto respec- 
 tively; even the angels are an addition. This tapestry measures 3.55 
 meters in height by 2.93; the friezes measure 30 centimeters in breadth, 
 and are adorned with flowers, fruits, birds, sirens and small, vari- 
 ously colored boy genii against a gold background. The tapestry 
 is now in the Pope's private apartments. The scene shows Christ on 
 a throne crowning the Madonna, who is between two angels. Sts. John 
 the Baptist and Jerome are on either side, and in the foreground, at the 
 foot of the throne, are two angels reading. 
 
 Tapestries with Scenes from the Life of Christ. — These are known 
 as the Series of the New School, to distinguish them from the scenes from 
 the Acts, which are called the tapestries of the Old School. They were 
 originally intended to decorate the Halls of the Consistory, and were 
 ordered by Leo X, who in 1520 commissioned Peter Van Aelst to furnish 
 within three years a series of tapestries more than five meters high 
 and sixty long. The weaver was to receive 3,600 gold ducats (about 
 $40,000 in modern money) over and above the cost of the gold thread, 
 which reached the enormous amount of 14,000 ducats. The work was 
 long drawn out. The death of Leo X and the indifference of Adrian 
 VI towards the arts probably halted it. But when Clement VII became 
 Pope he took up and modified the contract with Van Aelst. In October, 
 
248 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 1 lie Three Virtues 
 
 1524, he had 12,000 gold ducats paid to Van Aelst on account of 
 20,750 gold ducats to be paid in all for tapestries woven in gold 
 and silk, "of the same quality and of the same perfection as the his- 
 tories of the Apostles Peter and Paul." The contract was to be com- 
 pleted in eighteen months after the payment on account of the 12,000 
 ducats, but it was not until June 14, 1531, that the tapestries w^ere 
 approved at Rome by the artist Angelo de Farfengo of Cremona and 
 Johannes Lengles of Calais, who declared that the tapestries of the 
 Nativity of Christ were "well and loyally wTought, were superior to 
 those of the histories of Sts. Peter and Paul, sent by the same Van Aelst 
 to Leo X, and finally richer in gold and silk." The subjects were: the 
 Nativity of Christ, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of 
 the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, the Massacre of the Innocents 
 (in three pieces), the Descent into Limbo, the Resurrection, the Appari- 
 tion of Christ to the Magdalen, the Supper at Emmaus, the Ascension 
 
THE GALLERY OF TAPESTRIES 249 
 
 and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Until the end of the Settecento 
 they were in the Vatican, but in 1798 they were sold at auction, and 
 all found their way to the Louvre, except the Descent into Limbo, which 
 disappeared at this period. They were brought back to the Vatican, 
 together with the tapestries of the Acts, and are now in this Gallery. 
 
 Francesco d'Olanda, a sixteenth-century writer, states that the car- 
 toons for these tapestries were colored by Tommaso Vencidor of 
 Bologna. As a matter of fact, Vencidor did go to Flanders in 1520, on 
 a mission from Leo X. Moreover, Francesco mentions Antonio, his 
 father, as having taken part in the work. But without further proof 
 it is enough for one to compare the tapestries of the Massacre of the 
 Innocents and the Marcantonio print re[)roducing the same subject to 
 realize the difference between Raphael's design and the interpretation 
 of it by those who composed and colored these cartoons. Those who 
 designed these tapestries, wliether they were Italian or Flemish, may 
 have used a rough sketch of the subjects by Raphael, but the arrange- 
 ment, the composition and the execution are all their own. Only here 
 and there does a figure preserve a touch which Raphael might have 
 accepted as his. The scene that comes nearest to Raphael's style is 
 the Adoration of the Magi. The Adoration of the Shepherds is dis- 
 tinct from the others, and the tigure of the young shepherd with the 
 basket of eggs is well worth noticing. The Resurrection and the De- 
 scent of the Holy Ghost are a pair of compositions showing exagger- 
 ated agitation in the movements. Other groups with monumental fig- 
 ures are found in the Ascension, the Presentation and the three scenes 
 of the Massacre of the Innocents. Two of the tapestries show a taste 
 purely Flemish, namely, the Apparition of Christ to the Magdalen and 
 the Supper at Emmaus, in which there is a better harmony of tints. 
 In the Apparition a vivacity of mezzotints smiles over all the land- 
 scape and flowers; the Supper at Flmmaus glistens with the brightness 
 of the great table-cloth, the transparency of the glassware on the table 
 and of the glasses in the vase on the floor. The other tapestries are 
 characterized by a monotony of strong colors such as red, turquoise, 
 green and yellow, and violent crudities are seen in the shading of the 
 tones in accordance with the decadent taste of the Mannerists of the 
 end of the Cinquecento. 
 
 The tapestry of the Three Virtues, or the Lions, has long been con- 
 sidered part of this series of the Life of Christ. Like the others, it is 
 5.11 meters high, including the friezes, and the lateral friezes are 80 
 centimeters broad. The arms of Pope Clement VII are seen above, and 
 in the middle of the horizontal frieze is a falcon with the word Samper 
 (sic), the motto of the same Pope. The friezes of this tapestry are 
 
250 THE VATICAN 
 
 richer than those of any other work of the same school. The tapestry 
 shows Religion seated in a glory of light, with her feet on the world 
 and with Jnstice and Charity on either side. Below, in the foreground 
 of the broad landscape, two crouching lions support Papal standards 
 —two keys surmounted by a baldachin. The lions are an allusion to 
 Pope Leo X. The cartoon of this tapestry shows the hand of one of 
 Raphael's pupils— the same, perhaps, who designed the more graceful 
 figures throughout the series illustrating the Life of Christ. In the 
 landscape the Flemish weaver has overloaded the original design m 
 many instances, but the tonality of the friezes, a grayish mezzotint, is 
 very fine. 
 
"^V^ ::"*^- 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 [he Egyptian Museum was founded by Pope Gregory 
 XVI, and opened in 1839. It was formed at consid- 
 erable expense by uniting various collections, by 
 bringing some objects all the way from Egypt, and 
 by purchasing others from dealers in antiquities. 
 ^^"•iS^x- |i The various objects here collected mav be grouped 
 " a, J, ^^ follows: (1) statues brought to Rome m the days 
 
 of the Roman Empire or statues carved in Egyptian 
 style and found in the ruins of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli; (2) the Borgia 
 Collection, made by the learned Cardinal Stefano Borgia at Velletri, the 
 greater part of which, however, found its way to the Museum of 
 Naples; (3) Monsignor Gaddi's Collection; (4) the De Palin Collection, 
 made by the Swedish Minister to Turkey, who bought many rarities in 
 Egypt; (5) the collections made by the travellers Silvestro Guidi and 
 Pietro Gavazzi in the time of Pope Pius VII, and those made by the an- 
 tiquarians Baseggio and Spagna between 1835 and 1838; (6) the Col- 
 lection of Papyri, comprising the documents brought to Rome by the 
 Franciscan missionary Angelo da Pofi in 1818, and others presented by 
 Belzoni, the explorer, to Cardinal Consalvi. During the pontificates of 
 Leo XIII and Pius X the Museum has been enriched by many impor- 
 tant gifts, such as those sent by the Khedive's government, by Fran- 
 ciscan missionaries in Egypt, and by private individuals — as, for 
 instance, Cavaliere Pelizeus, the Spanish consul at Cairo, and M. Emile 
 Guimet, head of the famous Guimet Museum in Paris. 
 
 From the very start the Egyptian Museum was excellently arranged 
 by Father Luigi Ungarelli, a Barnabite, and one of the first followers 
 of Champollion in Italy. The Egyptian decorations in the Museum are 
 the work of Cavaliere de Fabris, a sculptor of eminence, who at this 
 period was in charge of the papal museums. A few slight changes have 
 been since made to make room for manuscripts subsequently acquired, 
 and to provide for the better display of those already housed here. This 
 is particularly the case in the Hemicycle and in the smaller rooms, in 
 which new cases have been set up for the smaller objects, and which 
 now accommodate the Collection of Papyri, recently increased by the 
 papyri from the Library. The antiquities in the Egyptian Museum 
 
 1:2513 
 
252 THE VATICAN 
 
 have been described in special illustrated works by the following Egyp- 
 tologists: Ungarelli (1839); Wiedemann (18cS5); Piehl (1888); Ma- 
 rucchi (in various works from 1889 down to the present time). 
 
 The rooms given over to the Egyptian Museum are on the same floor 
 as the Pio-Clementino Museum, and were formerly occupied by the 
 Cardinal Librarian. There are two entrances : the main entrance, from 
 the Hall of the Greek Cross, near the staircase leading to the Etruscan 
 Museum; the second, in front of the screen dividing the Pio-Clemen- 
 tino from the Chiaramonti Museum. The various rooms have special 
 names, and were catalogued in 1912 as follows: (1) Hall of the Coffins 
 and Sarcophagi; (2) Hall of the Statues; (3) Hall of the Naophorus; 
 (4) the Hemicvcle; (5) Hall of the Gods and Objects of Worship; (6) 
 Funeral Hall; (7) First Hall of the Papyri; (8) Second Hall of the 
 Papyri; (9) Third Hall of the Papyri; (10) Hall of Roman Imitations. 
 
 Whereas the history of Greece and Rome is well known, at least in 
 outline, by all educated people, and every one has a more or less clear 
 idea of the main personages and legends of Classical mythology, there 
 are very many who have never heard, or who have forgotten what they 
 heard, o.f the history and mythology of ancient Egypt. Hence it may 
 not be unnecessary to preface to the description of this Museum a brief 
 survey of ancient Egyptian civilization, so as to allow the general 
 reader to grasp more clearly the importance of the antiquities in the 
 collection. 
 
 Outline of Ancient Egyptian History. — It may be said with truth 
 that Egyptian civilization is the oldest in the world, if we speak of 
 civilizations of which important monuments have come down to us, 
 and of peoples about whose history we possess accurate information. 
 For, though of course it is certain that, in the order of chronology, the 
 civilization of the primitive inhabitants of Chaldea dates farther back 
 than that of the Egyptians, yet we know very little indeed about the 
 early Chaldeans. Concerning Egypt and its history, on the other hand, 
 we have important historical monuments from the remotest periods, 
 and it is safe to say that its first beginnings date back to about 5000 b.c, 
 if we accept that year as the approximate date of the foundation of the 
 kingdom of Egypt under Pharaoh Menes of the first dynasty. After 
 Menes the civilization of Egypt went on developing through fifty cen- 
 turies and under thirty practically successive dynasties, and was spread 
 by Phoenician traders along the whole basin of the Mediterranean. 
 After exercising a powerful influence on the glorious dawn of Greek 
 culture, it was later in turn influenced so much by Greece that Egypt 
 became Greek under the Ptolemies, although she remained true to the 
 hieratic form of her ancient cult even when she was lashed to the 
 
m^r^'T' 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 triumphal chariot of conquering 
 Rome. Later, however, her speech 
 and her writing began to be for- 
 gotten, especially after the victori- 
 ous advent of Christianity; they 
 were utterly lost when Arab hordes 
 swept over her territory, and re- 
 mained buried and dead through- 
 out the Middle Ages down almost 
 to our ow^n day. Thus, the long 
 historical inscriptions over the 
 temples that remained standing, 
 and the writings on the tombs of 
 the Pharaohs and other famous 
 personages, which contained pre- 
 cious data for Egypt's history, and 
 which even during the Roman era 
 could still be understood by a few, 
 became in course of time a closed 
 book for the whole world. And 
 when, at a later epoch, the study 
 of antiquity took on a new life, 
 and the student was anxious to 
 know something of this land of 
 mystery, he had to be content with 
 the few notices preserved in the 
 Bible and with the more or less 
 inaccurate stories handed down 
 by Greek or Roman writers, who 
 very commonly confused and al- 
 tered the names of the Pharaohs, 
 and ignored whole periods of the 
 history of a great people, because 
 they were incapable of appreciat- 
 ing its civilization, and especially 
 its religion. 
 
 This almost complete eclipse of 
 Egypt's storj' would have persisted 
 down to our own times had there 
 not occurred, in the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century, the won- 
 derful discovery of Champollion, 
 
 253 
 
 Red Granite Statue of Ptolemy 
 (285-247 B.C.) 
 
 Philadelphus 
 
254 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 which lifted the veil of Isis and re- 
 vealed the secrets buried in the 
 hieroglyphics of Egypt. It is well 
 known that the deciphering of 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics was made 
 possible by the discovery of the 
 famous Rosetta stone (now in the 
 British Museum), with its bilin- 
 gual inscription (Greek and Egyp- 
 tian), wherein it was possible to 
 read the name of Ptolemy. The 
 discovery was verified by com- 
 parison with another bilingual in- 
 scription from the Temple of Isis 
 on the Island of Philae, containing 
 the name of Cleopatra. From that 
 day to our own, the study of Egyp- 
 tian antiquities has made great 
 progress; very successful excava- 
 tions have been made in various 
 parts of Egypt; museums have 
 been opened in Cairo and in the 
 principal cities of Europe; nu- 
 merous works have been written, 
 dealing with Egyptian monuments 
 of every kind, hieroglyphic texts, 
 and hieratic and demotic papyri. 
 And thus it has come to pass that 
 the mistakes of the ancient Greek 
 and Roman writers in connection 
 with the history and civilization 
 of Egypt have been gradually cor- 
 rected; Egyptian chronology has 
 been verified; the lists of the Pha- 
 raohs of the various dynasties and 
 the spelling of their names have 
 been revised ; the religion of Egypt, 
 so misunderstood by Classical 
 writers, has been fathomed and 
 explained; her literature has been 
 restored; poems, legends, religious 
 and philosophical treatises, cover- 
 
 Ptolemy Philadolphus 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 255 
 
 ing thirty centuries, have been once more brought to light. In a word, 
 the Egyptian world has been restored to us in all the manifestations of 
 its private and public life. On the fortunate discovery of Champollion 
 the science of Egj-ptology has been erected. 
 
 The first period of Egyptian history is generally known as the "An- 
 cient Empire," or as the Memphitic period, because Memphis (the mod- 
 ern Bedrashein, near Cairo, in Lower Egypt) was the residence of the 
 Pharaohs. This period comprises the first ten dynasties, of which the 
 most important was the fourth, including the reigns of the three great 
 pyramid-builders, Cheops (Chufu), Chephren (Kafra) and Mycerinus 
 (Menkaura). The date is about 4000 n.c. The eleventh and twelfth 
 dynasties followed; the twelfth is very important, and one of its kings 
 was the Pharaoh of Abram (about 2000 b.c). This great period, of 
 which w^e possess rich monumental remains, was succeeded by a less 
 known epoch, which might be designated the "Middle Period," and 
 lasted from the thirteenth to the seventeenth dynasty, thus including 
 the domination of the foreign Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings. It was dur- 
 ing this time that the Hebrews settled in Egypt. Independence was 
 restored in the eighteenth dynasty, and with this "New Empire" began 
 the most glorious period of Egyptian civilization, during which the 
 authority of the Pharaohs was extended as far as the banks of the 
 Tigris and the Euphrates. Its apogee was reached in the reigns of 
 Tuthmosis HI (eighteenth dynasty) and Rameses II (nineteenth dy- 
 nasty), wdio is now generally identified as the Pharaoh who persecuted 
 the Hebrews, and in whose reign Moses was born. Under the next 
 Pharaoh, Meneptah I, the people of Israel were led from the land of 
 captivity (thirteenth century b.c). 
 
 This glorious era was followed by a period of decadence, which 
 lasted from the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth dynasty, when the 
 Assyrians under the Sargonides conquered the land of Egypt. A brief 
 spell of freedom and glory followed in the Saite period of the twenty- 
 sixth dynasty, when Egyptian civilization felt in turn the influence of 
 Greek culture. It was quickly followed, however, by the conquests 
 of King Cambyses of Persia, who put an end to the ancient kingdom of 
 the Pharaohs (525 b.c). Alexander the Great came fast on the heels of 
 the Persians, and then the rule of the Ptolemies began, only to give way 
 in turn to the eagles of Rome in the days of Augustus. The last stage 
 in this decay of a people arrived with the Arab conquest in the seventh 
 century after Christ. 
 
 Originally the religion of ancient Egypt was probably monotheistic, 
 but corruption crept in, as happened in all ancient religions, and a 
 form of polytheism arose, with certain modifications for the initiated 
 
256 THE VATICAN 
 
 and the learned. The next step on the part of the masses was to fetich- 
 ism, including the worship of animals, which, in the ancient theology, 
 were regarded merely as symhols and various attributes of the deity. 
 The religion of Egypt, at least at the time when we know it better, was 
 based on sun worship, the sun being taken to represent the most glo- 
 rious manifestation of the deity; and all the other gods of its complex 
 mythology were nothing but solar emanations, typifying one or other 
 beneficial effect derived from the sun or referring to its mysterious 
 generative power. There were many deities, divided into groups or 
 triads, each having its special locality in Egypt. The underlying idea 
 of each group or triad is as follows: (1) a male deity, emblem of the 
 action of the sun and the generative power of the divinity; (2) a female 
 deity, emblem of the sky within which the action of the sun takes 
 place; (3) a sun-god born of these two, that is, of the activity of the one 
 within the other. The most famous triad, and the one most widely 
 worshipped in Egypt, was that of Osiris, Isis and Horus. The deity 
 became incarnate in the ox Apis, who was adored during life and even 
 after death; but the deity also manifested himself in the person of the 
 Pharaoh, who was held to be a real god while on earth, and to whom, 
 after death, temples were raised and sacrifices offered. 
 
 Just as from the supreme deity the lesser deities emanated, so from 
 these lesser deities came forth the race of men, composed of a soul and 
 a body. Man was to obey the laws of the deity, and after death his soul, 
 separated from his body, was to live a life beyond the tomb. The dead 
 were believed to pass through mysterious regions and present them- 
 selves for judgment before the tribunal of Osiris. If found guilty, the 
 dead were subjected to various tortures and then annihilated; souls 
 which were adjudged just had in every case to purify themselves of 
 the faults committed in the body, and wander through the regions be- 
 neath the earth, exposed to many trials. Having cleansed themselves 
 of every stain during this painful pilgrimage, they were at length 
 absorbed back into the divinity and became one with it. But during 
 their long wanderings, lasting perhaps for centuries, the souls were 
 transformed and returned occasionally to earth and to their tombs to 
 visit the body, which they had to lind well preserved if they were to 
 rest there and live over within the tomb the same life that they had 
 lived in this body on earth. This belief gave rise to the custom of em- 
 balming corpses, so that they might retain as long as possible their 
 human shape for the comfort of the soul wdiich was to rest there. 
 Hence also arose the custom of decorating tombs with pictures repre- 
 senting the earthly life of the deceased, and with inscriptions contain- 
 ing lengthy prayers, so that the returning souls might delight in the 
 
THE EGYPTIAN iMUSEUM 
 
 257 
 
 scenes and recite the formulse pre- 
 scribed for use during their long 
 wanderings. 
 
 The funeral monuments usually 
 seen in museums are fragments 
 of the walls or doors of tombs, 
 stelse, sarcophagi, painted cofTms, 
 vases, statuettes, mummies with 
 their amulets, and papyri. The 
 walls and doors of tombs are often 
 splendidly decorated with exten- 
 sive scenes showing the carved 
 figure of the defunct in adoration 
 before a god, and with long in- 
 scriptions giving the names of 
 kings, the titles of dignitaries, and 
 phrases taken from the sacred 
 books. Shorter texts of a similar 
 nature are found on the funeral 
 stelse, which also give us impor- 
 tant information concerning the 
 religion and social organization of 
 the ancient Egyptians and pre- 
 serve for us various religious 
 and funeral symbols, particularly 
 scenes depicting the otfering of 
 sacrifice. The sarcophagi of sand- 
 stone or granite are sometimes 
 carved to resemble houses with 
 doors and windows, thus symbol- 
 izing the eternal dwelling-place of 
 the dead, and are decorated with 
 texts in hieroglyphic characters 
 like those on the walls and the 
 stelae. Sometimes, too, they take 
 the shape of the mummies, and the 
 lid is in many cases surmounted 
 by a representation of the head of 
 the defunct, adorned by the pe- 
 culiar head-dress known as the 
 calantica. Within these enormous 
 receptacles were placed the coffins 
 
 Statue of an Unknown Princess 
 
 belonging to the House of 
 
 the Ptolemies 
 
258 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 of sycamore wood, painted 
 inside and out with figures 
 of the deities, the gods of 
 the underworld, and hiero- 
 glyphic inscriptions repro- 
 ducing in most instances 
 verses or whole chapters 
 from the "Book of the 
 Dead." In these coffins 
 were placed the mummies, 
 wrapped tightly in swathing 
 bands and covered with little 
 pious objects or amulets. 
 The chief amulets used 
 were: (1) the scarab, sym- 
 bol of the resurrection; (2) 
 the tat, or easel, symbol of 
 stability; (3) the u/^a, or eye, 
 symbol of the all-seeing 
 deity; (4) the anch, symbol 
 of life; (5) the iireus, or ser- 
 pent, symbol of the female 
 deity; (6) the usech, or 
 necklace, the reward of the 
 just, spoken of in the "Book 
 of the Dead." There are 
 many other amulets, not 
 to mention the diminutive 
 statues of the minor deities. 
 Near the coffins were also 
 placed four vases crowded 
 with the heads of animals. 
 These vases may be seen in 
 almost any museum, and 
 are known under the erro- 
 neous name of Canopi, or 
 Canopic vases, because they 
 resemble the grotesque fig- 
 ure of the god Canopus of 
 the Alexandrine era. They 
 are more properly called fu- 
 neral vases, because they 
 
 Statue of Queen Tuaa, Wile of Seti I 
 and Mother of Rameses II 
 (Fourteenth Century B.C.) 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 259 
 
 Sandstone Head of Mcntuhotep (Eleventh Dynasty, 
 between 3000 and 2000 B.C.) 
 
 contain the viscera of the em- 
 balmed defunct. They were four 
 in number, each containing one of 
 the viscera, and were dedicated 
 under the protection of the genius 
 whose head appeared on the lid. 
 The names of these genii were: 
 (1) Amset (man-headed); (2) 
 Hapi (baboon-headed); (3) Tuau- 
 mautef (jackal-headed); (4) Keb- 
 senuf (hawk-headed). Usually 
 the inscriptions on the vases tell 
 of the protecting influence of these 
 genii, and speak of the four divini- 
 ties, Isis, Neftis, Neit, and Selk, 
 
 The papyri found in the tombs 
 deal with various subjects. They 
 contain poems, tales, moral trea- 
 tises, and even works on medicine 
 and mathematics. They are thus 
 precious records showing the high 
 
 degree of civilization reached by the ancient Egyptians even from the 
 remotest days of their history. Most of the papyri found in museums are 
 funeral papyri, particularly those which contain a portion or all of the 
 text of the sacred book which was called in Egyptian Sciat per em heru 
 ("Book of the Going Out in the Daytime"), but which Lepsius, who was 
 the first to publish it, called the Todtenhuch, and which has thus been 
 since known as the "Book of the Dead." It was divided into one hun- 
 dred and sixty-five chapters, each bearing at its head "Ro en . . ."{i.e., 
 "Chapter of . . ."), and decorated with plain and colored vignettes 
 showing the various incidents in the travels of the souls in the under- 
 w^orld. As these papyri were prepared in advance by the scribes, and 
 were bought when the funeral took place, the space for the name of the 
 dead person was left blank, and we thus see the name inserted by an- 
 other hand. 
 
 The "Book of the Dead" is of great importance for the study of the 
 mysterious religion of Egypt, and it has been rightly called the "Bible 
 of the Ancient Egyptians." Its text is very obscure, and even to-day, 
 as Navilli frankly confesses, we have not been able to penetrate into its 
 mystical secrets. The principal editions of this book are those of 
 Lepsius and Navilli; there is a good French translation by Pierret, and 
 a good English one by Le Page Renouf. Another important document 
 
260 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Seated Statue of Seti I ( lar.fi-Kiaa 
 
 is the book of the Ap en Ro ("The W 
 Opening of the Month"), usually 
 known as the "Book of Funerals," 
 and often wrongly identified with 
 the "Book of the Dead." It con- 
 tains the burial service used from 
 the moment the embalmed corpse 
 was taken from the house wdiere 
 it had been exposed, during the 
 journey to the tomb, and during 
 the long ceremonies in the necrop- 
 olis until the tomb was closed. Ex- 
 ceedingly rare are the papyri con- 
 taining this document, which is of 
 the highest importance. It was 
 published by Schiaparelli in 1881- 
 1882. 
 
 There is something so peculiarly 
 distinctive about Egyptian art that 
 we can at once distinguish Egyp- 
 tian productions from those of any other ancient people. In archi- 
 tecture the pyramidal effect predominated, the pyramid being the 
 symbol of the radiant sun. The columns are crowned with strange 
 capitals of lotus flowers, and the architraves are ornamented with 
 solar discs and urei. Everywhere on the walls, doors and columns are 
 accumulated iigures of gods and Pharaohs, and everywhere long hiero- 
 glyphic inscriptions form a real and appropriate decoration of the 
 monuments. This style of art, which had been developing from the 
 remotest periods of the first dynasties, was preserved almost unaltered 
 in its hieratic form through forty centuries of Egyptian history, so 
 that only an Egyptologist, by a chronological comparison of the monu- 
 ments, can succeed in distinguishing the characteristics of the paint- 
 ings and sculptures of the various ages. This singular art caught 
 the fancy and pleased the taste of the Greeks and Romans, wdio, when 
 they conquered Egypt, attempted to imitate it, either as a salve to 
 the wounded pride of the conquered people or owing to the attrac- 
 tion of strange artistic forms, as we to-day imitate the productions 
 of the Far East. 
 
 And, just as in this imitative process Egyptian art underwent a 
 change, Egyptian religion likewise took on a new form — that of the 
 worship of Isis, which grew up in the Grseco-Alexandrine period and 
 lasted during a large part of the Roman period. Of all the divine triads 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 261 
 
 worshipped in the 
 land of Egypt in the 
 olden days, the only 
 one that survived was 
 that of Osiris, Isis and 
 Horus, in connection 
 with whose worship 
 the old ceremonies 
 were retained with a 
 newly invented rit- 
 ual. The worship of 
 Isis spread rapidly 
 throughout the Em- 
 pire, and from all 
 parts people flocked 
 to be initiated in the 
 mystic religion where- 
 in souls that turned 
 in loathing from the 
 polytheism of Greece 
 and Rome sought a 
 higher and purer doc- 
 trine. Thus it hap- 
 pened that in Rome 
 and in the principal 
 cities, from the first 
 days of the Empire, . 
 splendid temples were 
 erected in honor of 
 Isis and Serapis, containing statues and inscriptions brought from 
 Egypt, or imitations of them made at home. 
 
 In a museum it is well to distinguish the truly Egyptian antiquities, 
 belonging to the epoch of the Pharaohs, from those of the time of the 
 Ptolemies and from those dating merely from the period of the Roman 
 domination. Nor is it hard to do so; since, putting aside the Grgeco- 
 Roman reproductions of Egyptian deities which may be unfailingly 
 recognized from their Classical style, even the sculptures and inscrip- 
 tions in which the imitation of the national art of ancient Egypt has 
 been attempted present a remarkable difference from indigenous pro- 
 ductions, and bear the clearest marks of imitation. 
 
 Room I. Hall of the Coffins and Sarcophagl — On the right as you 
 enter is the painted lid of a mummy coffin, with a hieroglyphic inscrip- 
 
 Green Basalt Statue of the Priest Ut-a-hor-resent 
 (Sixth Century B.C.) 
 
262 
 
 tion (No. 1) 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 longs 
 
 It be- 
 to a priestess 
 of Ammon, named 
 Neschonsu. The in- 
 scription of six ver- 
 tical lines contains 
 sacrificial prayers, 
 and there is a prayer 
 that the dead lady 
 may come forth as a 
 living soul, and that 
 it be granted her to 
 see the radiant disc 
 of the sun together 
 with the spirits of 
 light. On the left is 
 the coffin (No. 2) to 
 which the lid (No. 1) 
 belongs. It is decor- 
 ated with paintings 
 and an inscription. 
 The dead priestess is 
 shown clad in a 
 white robe before an 
 altar. Her name and 
 that of her husband, 
 Tet-Hor-auf-ank, are 
 given. There are, 
 moreover, the roval 
 
 lic^ 
 
 Naophorus, or Shrine-bearing Statue 
 
 cartouches of Pharaoh Amenophis I (eighteenth dynasty), cartouches 
 which are to be found even on monuments subsequent to his time, as 
 this ruler was held in great veneration. The coffin dates from the 
 Bubastitic dynasty (tenth century b.c). 
 
 No. 4 is a coffin lid similar to No. 1, belonging to a priestess of Am- 
 mon and Chonsu-pa-krat named Tet-maut, and dates from the same 
 period. No. 5 is the coffin belonging to the above cover, and shows well- 
 preserved painted figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions. On the outside, 
 to the right as you face it, is a remarkable scene showing the funeral 
 cortege of the mummy, which goes from the house to the tomb, exactly 
 as described in the "Book of Funerals." The mummy is shown resting 
 on a boat-shaped vehicle drawn by oxen and surrounded by priests re- 
 citing prayers and carrying the sacred instruments and the ritual papyri. 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 263 
 
 N;i"phnrus, shuwinj^ the (;;irviil I it^iirr of Osiris 
 
 In front of both walls of the 
 hall, and to the right and left as 
 you enter, are three large sar- 
 cophagi in basalt with closely writ- 
 ten hieroglyphic inscriptions which 
 refer to the twenty-sixth or Saite 
 dynasty (seventh and sixth cen- 
 turies B.C.). The sarcophagus on 
 the right belonged to a courtier of 
 the time of Psammetichus II (596- 
 591 B.C.), who was called Nefer- 
 ab-ra-meri-Neit, the first part of 
 which is the same as the prenomen 
 of the above Pharaoh. Of the 
 other two sarcophagi on the left, 
 one belongs to a high-priest of the 
 temple, a favorite of a king named 
 Necht-Hor-menk-ab; the other is 
 placed upside down so as to show 
 the inscription, which must have 
 reached to the ground. This belonged to another priest, named Psam- 
 tik, and the brief inscription breathes the wish "that his name may 
 live in eternity." 
 
 Room II. Hall of the Statues. — No. 8, to the right as you enter, is a 
 colossal statue of the goddess Sechet, which has the head of a lioness 
 surmounted by the solar disc and the serpent (iireiis). She is seated on 
 a throne, holding the symbol of life (the anch). This goddess was the 
 symbol of the devouring heat of the sun, and presided over the punish- 
 ment of the lost in the Egyptian hell. There were a long series of such 
 statues erected by Amenophis HI of the eighteenth dynasty in the city 
 of Thebes, and from that city undoubtedly came this and the other 
 statues of the same goddess, several of which are in the Museum. On 
 the other side of the hall is another statue of the goddess, in the same 
 attitude (No. 26). On the front of the throne on the right, and to the 
 left of the figure of the goddess, still remain the royal cartouches of 
 Amenophis III (dating from about the middle of the fifteenth century 
 B.C.), under whose reign Egypt reached the zenith of its power and 
 culture. 
 
 No. 12, standing out from the wall to the right as you go in, is a colos- 
 sal red granite statue of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.). The 
 cartouche with his name is inscribed on the front of his girdle, and is 
 repeated in the hieroglyphic inscription on the small obelisk on which 
 
264 
 
 he leans. 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The reign 
 
 of this sovereign is 
 memorable in his- 
 tory for the splendor 
 Egypt reached under 
 him, especially in the 
 sciences, which were 
 cultivated in the 
 famous schools at 
 Alexandria, where he 
 founded his great 
 library. To his time 
 also belongs the fa- 
 mous translation of 
 the Hebrew Scrip- 
 tures into Greek 
 known as the Sep- 
 tuagint. On the right 
 and left of this statue 
 are placed two other 
 red granite statues 
 of princesses of the 
 house of the Ptol- 
 emies. No. 14, on the 
 right, is a statue of 
 Arsinoe, sister and 
 wife of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus; and 
 No. 10, on the left, is 
 the statue of an unknown princess. No. 17, before the end wall, is a 
 statue in gray veined marble of Queen Tuaa, consort of Seti I and 
 mother of Rameses II (fourteenth century B.C.), On the diadem 
 crowned with urei, which she wears on her head, are carved the car- 
 touches of Rameses II and of the Queen herself. To the left is the fig- 
 ure of her daughter, with the iireus on her head, and with a cartouche 
 telling her name: "Royal daughter of the Royal Mother, Het-ma-ra." 
 
 To the right and left of the statue of Tuaa, two lions, in gray veined 
 marble and larger than life, are stretched on rectangular plinths and 
 bear the cartouches of Nectanebo II of the thirtieth dynasty, the last of 
 the Pharaohs (362-340 B.C.). These two magnificent pieces of sculp- 
 ture were brought to Rome in the time of Augustus and set up near the 
 Pantheon, where they were found when some alterations were being 
 
 Opislliugr;iplii(.' SaiulstoiU' Sti-lc 
 (Fourteenth Century B.C.) 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 265 
 
 made in the time of Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447). In the time of Sixtus 
 V (1585-1590) they were set up as ornaments near the Fountain of the 
 Termini which this Pontitf had built. Finally they were brought to 
 the Egyptian Museum by Gregory XVI (1831-1846), its founder, who 
 had four imitation statues set up in their places around the fountain, 
 bearing copies of the original inscriptions. 
 
 We now come to the left wall where the windows are. Here is No. 20, 
 a basalt statue of the goddess Sechet, standing erect and bearing in her 
 right hand the anch and in her left the sceptre. No. 23 is the lower por- 
 tion of a seated granite statue of the famous Rameses II of the nine- 
 teenth dynasty, who was probably the Pharaoh who persecuted the 
 Hebrews, who is spoken of in the Book of Exodus, and during whose 
 reign the birth of Moses took place. According to recent computations 
 of Egyptian chronology, Rameses II reigned from 1349 to 1288 B.C. 
 Near the same wall, before the window, is No. 25 A, a sandstone head 
 representing one of the kings of the eleventh dynasty who bore the 
 name of Mentuhotep (before 2000 B.C.). The name of this Pharaoh is 
 written in a rectangular cartouche on the side of the monument, to the 
 right as 3^ou look at it. This is the oldest royal statue in the Museum, 
 and the reign of this Pharaoh antedates the era of Abram, who went 
 down into Egypt in the twelfth dynasty. Close by is No. 25 B, a seated 
 statue, in green granite, of King Seti I of the nineteenth dynasty, father 
 of Rameses II. According to Brugsch's chronology, he reigned from 
 about 1366 to 1333 b.c. 
 
 Room III. Hall of the Naophorus. — In the centre of the hall is No. 
 113, the famous statuette, in green basalt, of the priest Ut-a-hor-resent, 
 custodian of the Temple of Neit in the city of Sais about the end of the 
 twenty-sixth dynasty (sixth century b.c). The priest is represented as 
 carrying in his hands a small shrine (naos), within which is seen the 
 carved figure of the god Osiris. The long-haired head of this statue is 
 a modern restoration. The body of the statue is literally covered wdth 
 one long hieroglyphic inscription, which begins at the front, to the left 
 as you look at the statuette, and extends all around it. The inscrip- 
 tion tells us that the priest held many important offices during the long 
 reign of Amasis II (564-526 b.c.) and under the brief rule of Psam- 
 metichus III (526-525 b.c). He was priest of the temple of Neit at Sais 
 when Cambyses, King of Persia, won the battle of Pelusium and re- 
 duced Egypt to a Persian satrapy (525 b.c). The new ruler, it tells us, 
 conferred on the priest the dignity of the Grand Sun, and charged him 
 to prepare the royal name in Egyptian, which he did under the form of 
 Ra-mesut (i.e.. Born of the Sun). He then showed Cambyses the monu- 
 ments of the city of Sais, and explained the meaning of the religious 
 
266 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 worship of the 
 itiating him into 
 the Egyptian re- 
 finally able to 
 country the anger 
 thus meriting the 
 his people. This 
 monument, which 
 of the collection, 
 excavations car- 
 of Hadrian, near 
 we may infer that 
 Rome by Hadrian's 
 Twoothershrine- 
 (naop/ioW), dating 
 twenty -sixth dy- 
 92, are to be found 
 is the statue of a 
 named Patebchu ; 
 other priest of Sais, 
 dignity of the Grand 
 Psamtik Seneb. 
 scription on the 
 taken partly from 
 the "Book of the 
 unionof thesouland 
 On the wall con- 
 is a table of offer- 
 yellow granite base, 
 with hieroglyphics 
 touches of Pharaoh 
 eighteenth Theban 
 B.C.). On the hori- 
 this table or altar, 
 are six sacred loaves, 
 stands a libation 
 four sides of the 
 scription in hori- 
 ing cartouches with 
 cognomen of the 
 Pharaoh, Tuthmosis 
 
 No. 86 is an opisthographic sandstone stele 
 
 Mummy-cover (Third Century 
 after Christ) 
 
 goddess Neit, in- 
 the mysteries of 
 ligion. He was 
 avert from his 
 of the conqueror, 
 great gratitude of 
 most valuable 
 is perhaps the gem 
 was found during 
 ried on at the Villa 
 Tivoli, and hence 
 it was brought to 
 ^^orders. 
 bearing statues 
 also from the 
 nast3% Nos. 91 and 
 in this hall. No. 91 
 priest of Neit, 
 No. 92 shows an- 
 who also bore the 
 Sun and was named 
 There is a brief in- 
 back of the statue, 
 Chapter lxxxix of 
 Dead," where the re- 
 body is spoken of. 
 taining the window 
 ings (No. 87) on a 
 rectangular in form, 
 and the royal car- 
 Tuthmosis III of the 
 dynasty (1503-1439 
 zontal surface of 
 carved in low relief, 
 in the midst of which 
 bowl. Around the 
 altar runs an in- 
 zontal lines, contain- 
 the prenomen and 
 above - mentioned 
 111. 
 set on a pivot. On the 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 267 
 
 front we see in outline the seated figures of a husband and wife; the 
 man leans on his left hand, which grasps a stick, and in his right hand 
 holds the sceptre, called the sechem. The wife grasps his arm with her 
 right hand, while her left rests on his shoulder. There is an inscrip- 
 tion on the figure, showing part of the cartouche of King Amenhotep, 
 and we thus learn that the monu- 
 
 ment belongs to the nineteenth 
 dynasty. Following this inscrip- 
 tion is the name of the defunct, 
 Neb-sen, and of his wife, Amen- 
 tu-tut. In front of the couple are 
 
 the standing figures of their three ''^ 
 
 
 v.- r 
 
 
 :^j;f'J';l<\/ 
 
 /^i^6o(m 
 
 no 
 
 
 i(^\<(im 
 
 'M 
 
 Table of Offerings of Tuti-mes (Eighteenth Dynasty) 
 
 sons and a daughter, together with 
 their names. Below the figures of 
 the children are seen various obla- 
 tions, including some vases, a cas- 
 ket to hold the funeral statuettes, 
 and a round mirror. Below the 
 whole is the figure of a girl harpist 
 who, in a crouching posture, plucks the strings of her instrument in 
 front of a table of offerings. Near her are the words: "The Singer 
 of Ammon." 
 
 No. 70 is a statuette of black granite, showing an Egyptian officer 
 crouching and wearing the calantica; his arms are resting on his knees. 
 On the front of his robe, under the arms, are three vertical lines of 
 hieroglyphics reading from right to left, telling us that the dead man's 
 name was Aa, that he was a cavalry officer, and that he was the son of 
 an officer named Pa-un. This work belongs to the Saite period. No. 94 
 is a small basalt statue of a priest standing with his arms relaxed along 
 his sides and leaning against an obelisk. From the inscription we 
 learn that he was a priest of Ammon, a royal scribe, and called Pesatah, 
 son of Hori and of the lady Asit-ur. No. 97 is the statuette of a naopho- 
 rus with a long inscription on the back. He holds before his breast a 
 cylindrical base on which crouches a baboon, and on which is 
 carved an inscription in four vertical lines with an invocation to this 
 animal, which was sacred to the god Thot. From the inscription we 
 learn that the priest was named Chet-hir, and that he was guardian of 
 the treasury, and son of Men-chat and the lady of the household, Nefer- 
 tau. The statuette belongs to the Persian period. No. 99 is a fragment 
 of a yellow alabaster vase for holding the sacred oblations. It is shaped 
 like a truncated pyramid set upside down. This work belongs to a late 
 period. It shows scenes depicting the worship of various divinities. 
 
268 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Room IV. The Hemicycle. — To the right as you enter is No. 120 A, 
 a well-preserved unpainted sycamore coffin, containing a mummy 
 wrapped in its bands. It belongs to the lady Chen-em-hat, daughter of 
 Samtaui, of the latest Saite period. It is worthy of notice that the 
 funeral wreath of flowers around the mummy's neck is still well pre- 
 served. In the glass case near the wall are the cloths and other Coptic 
 objects found in the excavations at Antinoe, and given to the Museum 
 by the Guimet Museum of Paris in 1903. The most important among 
 them is a mummy-cover, which probably belongs to the third century 
 of the Christian era. It shows the body of a woman standing upright, 
 with the left hand pressed to the breast and the right raised in gesture 
 of acclamation. Around it runs a cornice surmounted by a solar disc 
 
 Carving showing the Deceased seated before a Table of Offerings 
 (Nineteenth Dynasty; Fourteenth Century b.c.) 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 269 
 
 among urei. To the right are two pictures: one of them shows a man 
 and a woman struggling; and the otlier shows a man seated while dic- 
 tating to a woman who writes in an open book. The head painted on 
 this mummy-cloth is important as a rare example of an ancient por- 
 trait. In this same glass case there are a small collection of Egyptian 
 Christian lamps, and a few terra-cotta ampullae, on which is depicted 
 the famous St. Menna surrounded by camels, with the inscription "Oil 
 of St. Menna." No. 118, in the recess of the window, is a rectangular 
 sandstone block, divided into compartments separated by numbers in 
 Egyptian characters. This is a table of oblations, various numbers in- 
 dicating the quantify of the offerings. No. 125, also in the recess of the 
 window, is a fragment of a funeral bas-relief, showing animals sur- 
 rounded by lotus flowers and reeds. It is a reproduction of a bas-relief 
 from the Egyptian tomb. No. 127 is a table of offerings of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty. The inscription around the cornice of the table con- 
 tains a prayer to Amnion Ra and Osiris that the dead scribe, Tuti-mes, 
 may receive all his funeral offerings. 
 
 On the wall of the Hemicycle containing the windows are a few 
 mummj^-coffins of the twenty-second dynasty with painted symbolic 
 scenes and hieroglyphic inscriptions relating to various priestesses of 
 Ammon. These coffins come from the famous cachette at Deir-el- 
 Bahri. Towards the end of the Hemicycle, near the window, is a sand- 
 stone fragment of a scene showing two divinities in the act of pouring 
 from two vases the symbolic signs of life (anch) over Tuthmosis III. 
 No. 130, in the corner, is a large panegyric stele of Queen Hatasu, or 
 Ramaka, of the eighteenth dynasty, daughter of Tuthmosis I, wife of 
 Tuthmosis II, and adviser of Tuthmosis III. In the centre is the figure 
 of the god Ammon, with feathers on his head and holding his sceptre 
 in his hand. Before him stands the Queen, offering gifts to the divin- 
 ity. Behind is Tuthmosis III, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt, w^hile 
 on his right the City of Thebes is personified, with arrows in the left 
 and the anch in the right hand. Under the carvings runs an inscription 
 of five horizontal lines in which the cartouches of the above Queen 
 appear. This monument is important since it refers to a woman who 
 was celebrated in Egyptian history on account of her glorious deeds 
 and the magnificent monuments she erected. 
 
 No. 131, below No. 130, is a cabinet containing a noteworthy collec- 
 tion of archaic vases. One vase is inscribed with the name of King 
 Den, one of the most ancient kings of Egypt and referred to the first 
 dynasty. This collection comes from the excavations at Abydos. Along 
 the wall of the Hemicycle opposite the windows we find four life-size 
 statues in dark granite representing the goddess Sechet. They date 
 
270 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Funeral Stele of Apa (Sixth Dynasty) 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 271 
 
 from the time of Amenophis III, as do the two already described in 
 Room II, and all were found in the Theban temple at Karnak. No. 136 
 is a sandstone sarcophagus, the lid of which culminates in a man's 
 head wearing the calantica. It dates from the Saite epoch. The in- 
 scription mentions an official, scribe, and priest named Ti-hotep. No. 
 135 A is a sepulchral stele in sandstone belonging to the priest Pasetach, 
 who bore the title of Amiasi, or Priest of the Sepulchres. It bears sev- 
 enteen horizontal lines of hieroglyphics, running from right to left and 
 containing prayers and invocations to the Sun, Osiris, Neit, Ma, and 
 Taf nut. These divinities, together with their names, are seen above, and 
 the defunct is shown in adoration before them. The text of this inscrip- 
 tion is very important, because it is an extract from the sacred work of 
 the ancient Egyptians called the "Book of the Crossing of Eternity." 
 
 No. 137 B is a fragment 
 of a funeral carving of the 
 nineteenth dynasty, rep- 
 resenting the deceased 
 seated before a table of 
 offerings, wearing an 
 elaborate head-dress and 
 the necklace iisech. ^Yrit- 
 ten on the table is a list of 
 the offerings he has made. 
 The workmanship of this 
 sculpture is very fine, and 
 belongs to the classic pe- 
 riod of Egj^ptian art. No. 
 139 is a wooden coffin, 
 decorated with paintings 
 and containing a fairly 
 well preserved mummy 
 wrapped in its bands, 
 with the face uncovered 
 and the arms crossed on 
 the breast. The coffin is 
 placed against the wall, as 
 is also the lid, which is 
 decorated in like manner. 
 On the left of the coffin 
 the dead woman's name 
 is given as Hotep-hir-tes. 
 
 No. 139 A is a lid of the stele of Hon (Thirteenth Dynasty) 
 
272 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Hieratic Papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," belonging to Neskem and sliowing 
 
 the Tribunal of Osiris 
 
 above coffin. Just below the breastplate there are portraits of Hotep- 
 hir-tes praying to the gods of the nether world, Amset, Apis, Kebsenuf, 
 Tuaumautef, and to the deities Thot, Chnum, Osiris, Ra and others. 
 The inscription contains a portion of Chapter lxxxi of the "Book of the 
 Dead," relating to the transmigration of the soul of the dead into a lotus 
 flower; a part of Chapter lxxvi, which tells of other transformations; 
 and a part of Chapter xliv, concerning the life of the soul in the nether 
 world. The goddess Neit is depicted on the inside of the lid. She stands 
 before the sacred tree, and offers with both hands the water of life to 
 the soul of the dead woman, which is represented with the body of a 
 bird and a human head. There is, moreover, a long vertical inscription 
 containing Chapter xxvi of the "Book of the Dead," which is headed 
 "Chapter for giving back a man his heart." At the end of this there are 
 a few other lines containing prayers for the dead, one of which has the 
 phrase: "May she go in peace towards the good Anient." This is re- 
 garded as one of the most important coffins in the Egyptian Museum, 
 in view of both the nature of its inscriptions and its excellent state of 
 preservation. 
 No. 143 C is a funeral stele dating from the Ancient Empire (sixth 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 273 
 
 
 MA^-it '*"--*^-^ -'''•.^Sb- 
 
 
 
 
 J I 
 
 .r.ijri-lj* 
 
 Hieratic P;ip\ i iis 
 (Continued 
 
 uf the "P.ook of the 
 from opposite page) 
 
 Deal 
 
 dynasty), and belonging to a man named Apa. It is shaped like a door, 
 as was usual under the Ancient Empire, and on the lower part of the 
 front are carved four figures, of which two (a man and a woman) are 
 on the door, and the two others (of men, one in prayer) are on the sides. 
 They represent the family of the dead man, perhaps his wife and three 
 children, who come to fulfd the funeral rites, as may be seen on many 
 similar monuments. 
 
 The cupboard in the centre of the Hemicycle contains a stele of the 
 time of the Ancient Empire, with a hieroglyphic inscription telling that 
 the dead man to whom it belonged was called Ara, that he was a priest 
 belonging to the cult of the pyramid of King Chufu, or Cheops, of the 
 fourth dynasty (4000 B.C.). Above it is placed a fragment of a se- 
 pulchral sculpture of the Ancient Empire, showing a head represented 
 in profde and painted. The glass case on the left contains a papyrus 
 case with an inscription giving the name Tuthmosis, a priest wdio w^as 
 guardian of the Temple of Ammon. The glass case on the right con- 
 tains a wooden funeral boat with small figures of oarsmen. It belongs 
 to a tomb dating from the days of the twelfth dynasty. 
 
 No. 145 is a sarcophagus with a lid terminating in a human head 
 
274 THE VATICAN 
 
 wearing the calantica, and with pointed beard. The name of the de- 
 ceased is Samtaui. No. 146 B is a stele from the thirteenth dynasty 
 belonging to a man named Hori, who is shown sitting before a table 
 of offerings. We also see the kneeling figures of his wife, his mother 
 and his sister, together with their names. No. 149 is the lid of a syca- 
 more coffin in the form of a mummy; the head wears the calantica, 
 and the eyes are painted black. A necklace is carved around the 
 neck, and below it is the winged image of the goddess Neit, with the 
 solar disc on her head and the two symbols of life in her outstretched 
 hands. Below the image of the goddess is written a portion of Chapter 
 Lxii of the "Book of the Dead." The name of the dead man given in the 
 inscription is Ua-ab-ra, which was the name of a king of the twenty- 
 sixth (Saite) dynasty, and it is probable that the monument dates from 
 that time. 
 
 Hall of the Gods and Objects of Cult. — After the Hemicycle follow 
 some small rooms containing the lesser objects and the papyri. The 
 first of these rooms contains statuettes of the gods and sacred animals 
 as well as objects of cult. In the cabinet on the left as you enter, the 
 first glass case contains statuettes of the god Bes and of the goddess 
 Hathur and also small bronze figures from the Roman epoch, note- 
 worthy among which are an Aphrodite and a female figure of rosso 
 antico wearing a long robe. In the second glass case are bronze and 
 wooden amulets, also boxes with amulets of various shapes, especially 
 noteworthy being the small figures of the god Bes, symbolic eyes, small 
 vases of the heart and the feathers of Ammon. In the bottom of this 
 glass case are exhibited some statuettes of baboons. In the upper part 
 of the third glass case are mummies of haw^ks and crocodiles, presented 
 by the Franciscan missionaries of Luxor near Thebes. The fourth 
 glass case contains thirty-five cats in bronze, stone and wood. 
 
 In the fifth glass case of the central cabinet are fourteen iirei and 
 fourteen situlce (including a noteworthy one in bronze with graffiti tig- 
 ures). In the middle is the altar for presenting the offerings to Osiris. 
 Twenty-four statuettes of the god Nefer-tum in enamel, bronze and 
 stone are also exhibited in this glass case. The sixth glass case contains 
 eighty-two statuettes of Osiris in stone, bronze and wood, five being 
 seated with their backs against a small obelisk. A small group in bronze 
 represents the Egyptian triad Osiris, Isis and Horus. In the seventh glass 
 case are twenty small figures of Isis feeding Horus at her breast; only 
 two of the tigures are standing. On the third shelf is seen a rare and 
 precious object, an ancient censer, like those we see in the bas-reliefs. 
 To the right a small bell and some sistra may be seen. In the centre 
 are some stilettos, nails and spoons (one wooden). Below these are 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 275 
 
 statue of Antinoiis ("The Egyptian Apollo") 
 
276 THE VATICAN 
 
 nineteen small figures of Isis, three of the god Bes and three of Ammon 
 Ra. In the eighth glass case of the cabinet on the right hand are four 
 statuettes of the goddess Sechet, seven of the god Ptah, nine of Anubis 
 and twenty-seven of Harpocrates — that is, the child Horus with his 
 finger near his mouth. This attitude, which was meant to suggest the 
 childhood of Horus, was later interpreted by the Greeks as an action 
 calling for silence. The child Horus was thus confused with the god 
 of silence, Harpocrates. In the ninth glass case are five statuettes of 
 
 Princess holding a Tabic of OtTerings, and Two Canopic Vasts 
 
 the goddess Sechet, four of the god Kem, three of Imhotep and five of 
 Horus. In the lower part are exhibited sacred animals: crocodiles, 
 frogs, lions, small serpents and ten sacred oxen. The tenth glass case 
 contains fourteen sacred hawks in wood, various birds and birds' 
 claws. The eleventh glass case is devoted to terra-cottas of a late pe- 
 riod, including votive heads and arms. On the wall where the window 
 is, to the right is a large terra-cotta vase. To the left of the window and 
 high up on the wall is a wooden figure of Osiris; below this are five 
 sacred iirei in bronze, a wooden Osiris and a bronze Osiris. Finally, on 
 glass case six stands a wooden Osiris; beside this figure, and standing 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 277 
 
 on glass cases five and seven respectively, are two cats, one in wood 
 and the other in bronze. 
 
 Funeral Hall. — The first glass case of the cabinet to the left contains 
 forty-one fnneral statuettes called Usebtin (that is, respondentes) , be- 
 cause the Egyptians believed that they helped the dead in their labors 
 beyond the tomb. Owing to this belief, they were placed in great num- 
 bers on graves, and all of them contained Chapter vi of the "Book of 
 the Dead." One of these statuettes still rests in the sandstone coffin. In 
 the second glass case are twenty-eight complete funeral statuettes, and 
 five others of which only the lower part has been preserved. The third 
 glass case of the central cabinet contains twentj'-four terracotta 
 funeral cones, which were substituted for the ancient funeral offer- 
 ing of grain bread. Below are preserved three wooden cases con- 
 taining funeral statuettes and some painted sections of similar cases. 
 In the fourth glass case are exhibited four small glass vases with long 
 necks and one of white alabaster. Objects of funeral adornment, con- 
 sisting of small vases, necklaces of turquoise blue enamel, three neck- 
 laces of stone scarabs, a bracelet of gold and two gilded slats with in- 
 scriptions, are also found here. In the lower part of the glass case are 
 sections of small painted caskets. The fifth glass case is devoted to 
 the collection of scarabs. On the third shelf we see the honorary 
 scarab of Queen Tii, wife of Amenophis III (eighteenth dynasty), to- 
 gether with ten other scarabs and a chalk impression of the inscription 
 on another scarab. The lower two shelves contain ninety-four scarabs 
 of various sizes. The sixth glass case contains lamps, bronze vases and 
 funeral ornaments. ^Yorthy of notice is the sandstone figure of a dead 
 man standing in his tomb. Here also are many bronze mirrors and five 
 discs with white rosettes. Many of these objects used as funeral orna- 
 ments are of domestic origin. In the lower section are preserved 
 grains in eight Canopic vases. 
 
 The seventh glass case of the cabinet to the right contains forty-four 
 funeral statuettes in wood, alabaster and enamel. The eighth glass 
 case contains twenty-four funeral statuettes, of which some are from 
 the tomb of Seti I, father of Barneses II; almost all are of wood. Espe- 
 cially noteworthy is the funeral statuette of Prince Ka-em-uas, son of 
 Bameses II (nineteenth dynasty), whose name is painted on the 
 enamel. In the middle of the room is a painted mummy-coffin. 
 
 On the wall containing the window^ to the left is glass case nine. 
 This contains domestic objects which were used as funeral ornaments: 
 baskets, three wooden chairs, seven insoles, three funeral statuettes 
 resting in a small casket, and a statuette of sandstone. The tenth glass 
 case contains fragments of the canvases in which the mummy of Queen 
 
278 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 7^ y 
 
 ^ Y 
 
 >Wi^' 
 
 Lion from the Mdiiumcnt of Nectanebo II, last of the Pharaohs 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Nefertari, wife of Rameses II (nineteenth dynasty), and that of Prince 
 Khopeshef, son of Rameses III (twentieth dynasty), were wrapped. 
 Lids of painted caskets, two funeral statuettes in wood, and two others 
 resting on a casket are also exhibited here. On the central cabinet rest 
 four or five fragments of petrified wood. 
 
 First Room of the Papyri. — This room contains ten papyri enclosed 
 in wooden frames. Only the most noteworthy can be referred to here. 
 On the left-hand wall is a hieratic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead" 
 (No. 11), belonging to Neskem, whose mother was Set-ar-bant. Begin- 
 ning at the right, we meet Chapters xxvi, xxx, c, cxxv, and finally the 
 scene of the Judgment (Saite period). In this Judgment scene, which 
 is fairly well preserved, we can see the tribunal of Osiris and the figure 
 of the dead Set-ar-bant, who is introduced into the room where are 
 placed before Osiris those scales in which the deeds of the dead are 
 weighed. On the back wall is a hieroglyphic papyrus of the "Book of 
 the bead" (No. 7). It belonged to Amen-em-apt, son of Abai (eigh- 
 teenth dynasty), and contains part of Chapters i, xvii, xviii and clxxxi. 
 It is in a very fragmentary condition, and its headings are written in 
 red. On the right-hand wall is a hieratic papyrus (No. 6), with magic 
 text of the nineteenth dynasty; both the beginning and the end are 
 missing, only five fragments having been preserved. The papyrus con- 
 tains headings in red. No. 5 is a hieratic papyrus of the "Book of the 
 Dead," belonging to the priestess of Ammon, li-mut (twenty-second 
 
THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM 279 
 
 dynasty) ; this papyrus also has red headings. Near by on the same 
 wall is a hieratic fragment of the "Book of the Dead," belonging to the 
 woman Ta Arpit (Saite period); to the right we see the scene of the 
 Judgment. On the wall containing the window we see, to the left, two 
 hieroglyphic papyri of the "Book of the Duat" {i.e., of the Nether 
 World). Below are nineteen fragments of ostraca in demotic and Cop- 
 tic characters, contained in a wooden casket covered with glass. 
 
 Second Hall of the Papyrl — Low down on the wall to the left is No. 
 35, a fragment of a funeral hieroglyphic papyrus with sacred amulets; 
 here also are six demotic fragments. On the rear wall, beginning low 
 down on the left hand, are: No. 32, a papyrus with a scene from the 
 "Book of the Duat," representing the punishment of the damned; No. 
 23, a hieratic papyrus with sacred funeral text of Chonsu-Tot, son of 
 Patu-asar and Sat-Chonsu (of late origin); a well-preserved hiero- 
 glyphic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," which belonged to Asit-urt, 
 daughter of Na-asit, and contains on the left the Judgment scene (Saite 
 period ) ; a hieratic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead" of Nes-chonsu, 
 priestess of Ammon (of late origin); a badly preserved hieroglyphic 
 papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," belonging to Hor, son of Ta-sat- 
 Kem (twenty-second dynasty); three hieratic fragments of accounts 
 kept by a scribe of the nineteenth dynasty. On the upper portion of 
 the wall on the right hand are hieratic fragments. Low down is the 
 fragmentary hieratic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," belonging to 
 the priestess of Ammon, Asit-ur. On the lower part of the wall con- 
 taining the window are a hieratic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," 
 belonging to the priest of Ammon, Pa-tu-amen-neb-res-taui; a rather 
 fragmentary hieroglyphic papyrus of the "Book of the Dead," belong- 
 ing to the scribe of the treasury, Kenen-hor (nineteenth dynasty); a 
 funeral hieratic papyrus of Hor (of late origin). 
 
 Third Hall of the Papyrl — In this last hall is exhibited under glass, 
 in two large cases, the most complete papyrus of the "Book of the 
 Dead" possessed by the Museum. It contains thirty-one large squares, 
 written in hieratic characters with painted scenes, and comes from the 
 tomb of a priest named Pa-chen-ah (twenty-sixth dynasty). In the 
 walls of this same room are inserted some sculptures and cuneiform in- 
 scriptions obtained during the excavations of Nineveh. The most re- 
 markable are: No. 26, Assyrian deity; No. 23, assault on a city during 
 the war of Sennacherib; No. 19, cuneiform inscriptions from the Palace 
 of Sargon; No. 18, another similar inscription from the same palace; 
 No. 8, sacred tree with the name of King Assur-nazir-habal. Here may 
 also be seen an inscription in Nabataean characters, dating from the 
 first century of our era. Finally, high up in the hall are fixed some 
 
280 THE VATICAN 
 
 Mussulman inscriptions in Cufic characters (ancient or early Arabic). 
 
 The oldest of these inscriptions dates from the year 1133 of our era. 
 
 Hall of Roman Imitations. — The monuments in this hall date mostly 
 from the first period of the Empire (first two centuries of our era), and 
 are very important for the study of the imitation style of the Roman 
 artists, who strove to reproduce the Egyptian type while maintaining 
 the form of Classical art. This section surpasses all the other sections 
 in the number and excellence of the monuments, most of which have 
 been secured from the Villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli. Antinous, Had- 
 rian's favorite, is represented as an Egyptian god in a colossal statue, 
 which, on account of its beauty, is also called the "Egyptian Apollo." 
 Near the wall opposite the window is No. 27, a large recumbent study 
 of the River Nile, who leans his arm on a Sphinx, symbolizing Egypt. 
 The latter holds in front between her claws an amphora, the emblem 
 of the beneficent inundation of the sacred river. This statue was se- 
 cured from the Museo Capitolino. In the middle of the hall is the 
 reproduction of a portion of the obelisk erected by Emperor Domitian, 
 which stands to-day in the middle of the magnificent Piazza Navona, 
 above the Fountain of Bernini. With this are united some fragments 
 of the original monument, namely, a large portion of the cusp with a 
 figure of the Emperor in front of various divinities, and also a piece of 
 the southern surface of the obelisk. On the last fragment may be seen 
 some hieroglyphic characters, which have been completed in this 
 model. On the side of the model have been painted the royal car- 
 touches of the Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. They are 
 placed in the same order as that in which they are found on the cor- 
 responding sides of the original obelisk. A sample of the numerous 
 sculptures in this hall is given on page 276, where our illustration 
 shows an Egyptian priestess holding a table of sacred offerings, while 
 on each side is seen a Canopic vase. These vases derive their form 
 from the antique funeral vases which were used to contain the viscera 
 of the corpses, but which, in the period of imitation, were supposed to 
 represent the god Canopus of Alexandrine origin. In this hall may be 
 also seen the following monuments: a very fine basalt statue repre- 
 senting the Dea Isityches, that is, Isis-Fortuna (No. 28 A); a basalt 
 hermes of the goddess Isis and the bull Apis (No. 46) ; statue of the god 
 Anubis, represented as Mercury (No. 49); colossal statue of the veiled 
 goddess Isis, obtained from the Iseum of the Campus Martins (No. 50) ; 
 awesome figure of the god Bes (No. 63); two sacred crocodiles, one in 
 marble and the other in basalt; granite figure of a crouching baboon 
 (No. 68 A) . On the base of the last, which was obtained from the Iseum 
 of the Campus Martins, is a Greek inscription with the name of the artist. 
 
THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 
 
 }uis remarkable collection occupies the second floor 
 of the building which stands on the north side of the 
 Cortile delta Pigna. In the seventeenth century and 
 the first half of the eighteenth the suite of rooms on 
 this floor was known as the Appartamenlo di Ritiro, 
 or di Belvedere. It was given the former name be- 
 cause the Popes w^ere wont to retire thither for rest, 
 and derived the latter title from the fact that it looked 
 out on the huge court which was known as the Cortile di Belvedere 
 until it was divided by Sixtus V. Towards the end of the eighteenth 
 century, in the reign of Pius VI, Cardinal Francis Xavier Zelada, Li- 
 brarian and Secretary of State, had his quarters here, which became 
 known as the Appartamenlo Zelada. After his tenure of office these 
 rooms were still occupied by the Cardinal Librarian, and such con- 
 tinued to be the case until Pius VII incorporated them in the Museums. 
 This last fact is commemorated in an inscription, dating from the year 
 1829, which may be read on the wall of the room containing the Rego- 
 lini-Galassi Tomb. 
 
 It is by no means easy to say at present what pieces of sculpture were 
 placed in these rooms originally, and in November, 1836, when the 
 Museum was under discussion, we find no mention whatever of sculp- 
 tures, but of many smaller objects, such as vases, terra-cottas, small 
 bronzes and gold-work, which had been collected by various Camer- 
 lenghi and placed here as the nucleus of a museum. This Museum, the 
 formation of which was approved at the end of 1836 and which was 
 formally opened on February 2, 1837, was called the "Gregorian" after 
 its founder, Gregory XVI, and the title "Etruscan" was added, first, to 
 distinguish it from the Museum at the Lateran founded by the same Pon- 
 tiff, and, secondly, to define the special purpose which it was to serve. 
 A more correct title would have been "Antiquarium of the Vatican Mu- 
 seum," or "Museum of Classical Antiquities," since the strictly Etrus- 
 can objects formed only a small portion of the collection, and the 
 dominant idea in its formation was to furnish more suitable and safer 
 quarters for the smaller, more fragile or more precious objects, which 
 could not without grave risk be exhibited in the spacious rooms of 
 
 [2813 
 
282 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Objects found in the Regolini-Galassi Tomb (Seventh Century B.C.) 
 
THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 283 
 
 the Sculpture Gallery. When it 
 was opened the Museum com- 
 prised the small vestibule and the 
 rooms overlooking the Cortile 
 delta Pigna, but soon after 1838 
 other rooms were added on the 
 northern side, including the Hall 
 of the Bronzes and the hall now 
 occupied by the Regolini-Galassi 
 Tomb. Later, in 1903, when Leo 
 XllI acquired the Falcioni Collec- 
 tion from Viterbo, the room im- 
 mediately beyond the last-named 
 hall was added; this has been since 
 known as the Leonine Hall. 
 
 Step by step with the increase of 
 space proceeded the accumulation 
 of exhibits, but unfortunately the 
 plan adhered to in all museums 
 during the first half of the last 
 century was followed: the objects 
 were grouped according to classes 
 (regardless of their relation to other objects found with them), and 
 were arranged in such a way as to form decorations of the halls or 
 rooms in which they stood. This method of arranging objects pre- 
 vailed until very recent times. The first three rooms were devoted to 
 sarcophagi, funeral urns of travertine or alabaster, and fragments of 
 sculpture; the fourth room was allotted exclusively to terra-cotta 
 objects; the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth rooms were given over to 
 pottery; bronzes and jewelry occupied the ninth room; copies of the 
 paintings found in some tombs at Tarquinii, rough terra-cotta and 
 bucchero vases, with wine jars of the seventh and sixth centuries b.c, 
 were exhibited in the tenth room; the Falcioni Collection was placed 
 in the eleventh, and some bronze ornaments from Bolsena and a repro- 
 duction of a chamber tomb in the twelfth. 
 
 Such an arrangement can be justified onlj^ when the antiquities ex- 
 hibited are of uncertain origin, and can never be defended in the case 
 of correlated objects forming a separate group and described in detail 
 when excavated. Hence the directors of the Gregorian Etruscan Mu- 
 seum, with the encouragement and cooperation of the general admin- 
 istration of the Vatican Museums, have undertaken a fundamental 
 rearrangement of the exhibits — a difficult task requiring much work 
 
 Golden Armlet from Regolini-Galassi Tomb 
 (Seventh Century b.c.) 
 
284 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Golden Rere-piece from Kegolini-Galassi Tomb (Seventh Century B.C.) 
 
 of a technical and practical nature and much time to carry through 
 successfully. One of the first results of this work has been the proper 
 arrangement of the objects found in the famous Regolini-Galassi 
 Tomb, discovered at Cervetri in 1836, which, in its relation to the his- 
 tory of Etruscan civilization, has an importance not inferior to that of 
 the tombs discovered by Schliemann at Mycenae. Thanks to the studies 
 
THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 
 
 285 
 
 Amphora made by Exechias, showing Ajax and 
 Achilles playing dice (Sixth Century B.C.) 
 
 Red-flgurod Attic Amphora with full-length 
 figure of Achilles 
 
 and researches of Professor Pinza, it has been possible to reconstruct, 
 from the fragments preserved, the chariot, the wooden chair covered 
 with bronze plates with incised ornamentation, and the rest of the fur- 
 niture or trappings buried with the corpse. And whereas these objects 
 were formerly shown separately, — the gold with the gold, the bronze 
 with the bronze and the terra-cottas with the terracottas, — it is now 
 possible to see in the tenth room (opened to the public at the time of 
 the International Archaeological Congress in October, 1912) the whole 
 collection as.sembled in appropriate glass ca.ses. Thus the visitor can 
 form a fairly accurate idea of the art and culture which flourished in 
 one of the most celebrated cities in southern Etruria in the seventh 
 century b.c, and even persons without any special interest in anti- 
 quarian studies cannot fail to marvel at work which shows a correct- 
 ness of technique and a wealth of ornamentation which are worthy of 
 the most highly developed civilization. 
 
 To the gold objects in this exhibit only a very few words can be de- 
 voted. Especially noteworthy are a fibula, or brooch, in the shape of 
 a disc, the largest known specimen, and two armlets with granulated 
 ornaments. This style of ornamentation is a distinctive feature of 
 Etruscan jewelry, intricate designs being worked out on a gold object 
 by soldering on it minute grains or globules of gold. There are, more- 
 
286 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 ^^ K .ii. iipTii j i H t^\$m^9^l0tm 
 
 'J 
 
 The Vulci Bowl, showing Hermes, Dionysus, 
 Silenus and Nymphs 
 
 Terra-cotta Objects, including 
 Frieze in Bold Relief 
 
 over, a large rere-piece of gold with incised ornaments, which probably 
 ornamented the back of a mantle shaped like a chasuble, and a necklace 
 formed of a chain from which hang three amber discs set in gold rims. 
 Attached to each rim is a spindle-shaped tassel terminating in a flower. 
 Among the silver objects of note are: three plates and a goblet deco- 
 rated with hunting scenes, the figures and the borders being worked in 
 gold relief. These works are entirely unlike the other ornaments, and 
 were therefore probably imported from the East by traders. 
 
 After the Regolini-Galassi Tomb, the most notable possession in the 
 Museum is the collection of pottery in Rooms 5, 6, 7 and 8. It com- 
 prises examples of Corinthian and Attic work and specimens from 
 Apulia, Campania and Etruria, and, though inferior to some collec- 
 tions in the number of its exhibits, it rivals any in the beauty and im- 
 portance of several of its treasures. It is sufficient to mention here, 
 among its black-figured vases, the famous Cyrenaic Cup, as it is called, 
 on the lower part of which is depicted a scene said by some to be the 
 punishment of Prometheus and by others to be that of Tityus and 
 Sisyphus. There is, moreover, an amphora with the trade-mark of 
 Exechias, an Athenian potter in the second half of the sixth century 
 B.C.; it shows on one side Ajax and Achilles playing dice, and on the 
 other the return of Castor and Pollux to their father's house. Among 
 the red-figured Attic vases the principal are: a large amphora with a 
 
THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 
 
 287 
 
 Bronze Statuettes of Boys with Bulla? and Inscriptions 
 
 full-length figure of Achilles armed with cuirass and spear; a water-jar 
 showing Apollo playing a lyre while, seated on a winged tripod, he 
 skims over the surface of the sea; an oenochoe, or wine-jar, depicting 
 Menelaus grasping his sword and rushing on Helen, who takes refuge 
 near the statue of Athena, while Peitho (Persuasion), Aphrodite and 
 Eros interpose and appease the fury of the outraged husband. There 
 is, above all, a unique bowl found at Vulci. Seven figures are painted 
 on a white background. On one side we see Hermes carrying the in- 
 fant Dionysus in his arms to the aged Silenus, who is sitting on a rock, 
 while two nymphs, one on each side of the scene, look on. On the 
 reverse a nymph, or Muse, is seated, playing a lyre; a second nymph 
 stands before her, holding another lyre and seeming about to sing, 
 while a third wrapped in a mantle seems to be making ready to 
 dance. 
 
 The principal vases from southern Italy are: a glorious voluted am- 
 phora from Apulia, on the main surface of which is seen Triptolemus 
 in a winged car drawn by serpents, while Demeter, holding a torch in 
 one hand, offers him ears of corn with the other; a bowl from Lucania 
 (perhaps the work of the famous potter Asteas), depicting a comic 
 scene in which is shown a woman at a window while Zeus, in the guise 
 of an old man holding a ladder, looks up at her, and Hermes, wearing 
 a wide-brimmed hat (petasiis) and holding his wand (cadiiceiis) in one 
 
288 THE VATICAN 
 
 hand, holds a lantern in the other. 
 These vases must be numbered 
 among the most beautiful remain- 
 ingspecimensof Greek ceramic art. 
 
 Among the funeral monuments 
 (Rooms 1, 2 and 3) is a sarcopha- 
 gus in travertine, found at Cer- 
 vetri; this shows traces of poly- 
 chrome work in the rich figuring 
 on the lid and in the bas-relief 
 there, which depicts some festive 
 ceremony, perhaps a nuptial pro- 
 cession. Among the terra-cotta 
 objects (Room 4), the principal 
 are a frieze in bold relief showing 
 hints of Hellenic influence, and a 
 sepulchral urn (knowai as the Urn 
 of Adonis), showing the figure of 
 a boy stretched on his death-bed, 
 with a gash in his left thigh and 
 wearing his hunting-boots, while a 
 hound crouches in the foreground. 
 Both of these monuments are full 
 of life and beauty, and give evi- 
 dence of a technique truly perfect. 
 
 Chief among the bronzes (Room 
 11) are: a votive biga (two-horse 
 chariot), the ornaments on the 
 shaft and wheels being extremely 
 well preserved; two cistce, or cas- 
 kets, one oval in shape and orna- 
 mented with incised designs — ele- 
 gant borders of flowers and the 
 battle between the Amazons under 
 Penthesileia and the Greeks under Achilles; two figures of boys, of 
 which one has an inscription on the left upper arm and the other on 
 the right leg, and an endless collection of mirrors, candlesticks, tripods, 
 and dishes of various forms. There is also the famous statue of Mars 
 found at Todi in 1835, which bears on the border of the cuirass the name 
 of the donor in the Umbrian language: ahal trutiois dunum dede. 
 
 From the foregoing brief account it is evident that the Gregorian 
 Etruscan Museum is a most worthy complement and, so to speak, the 
 
 ShiU f Mai 
 
 rinlH 
 
 lip lion 
 
THE GREGORIAN ETRUSCAN MUSEUM 289 
 
 crown of the Sculpture Museum. Owing to the distribution of the 
 objects in the various halls, and their comparatively modest number, 
 the distracted or weary visitor might pass them by without appreciating 
 the interest, the rarity and the importance of the monuments. But 
 whosoever visits this Museum in quiet, receptive mood will find in it 
 vital nourishment equal to that which one derives from the great works 
 of literature. The Etruscan Museum is for most visitors a hidden gem, 
 but it is to be hoped that the fascination of mystery which envelops it 
 wall attract an ever-increasing number of art-lovers and students, for 
 there are few collections which promise a fuller recompense for the 
 time and attention devoted to examining its unique exhibits. 
 
THE MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND 
 ANCIENT PAINTINGS 
 
 g,sp^?^^J^^ULius II, the (lella Rovere Pope, during the ten years 
 ^t^ ' ' ■'■'l^ ^ni.tli" "^ '^'^ pontificate (1503-1513), collected among the 
 laurel and orange trees and around the murmuring 
 fountains in the Cortile di Belvedere a few pieces of 
 ancient sculpture. These were the nucleus of the 
 Vatican Museum, which in the course of four cen- 
 turies was to receive from the soil of Rome and the 
 surrounding territory many artistic heirlooms of by- 
 gone ages, w hie li the ignorance of intervening centuries had neglected 
 and buried. In the three niches of the end wall, to which Bramante 
 had lent architectonic grace, were placed the Apollo Belvedere, an Em- 
 press in the guise of a naked Venus, and the Laocoon. The young god 
 seemed about to hurl himself in vengeance on mankind, recalling the 
 image of Homer which describes him as swooping down "like the 
 night"; Laocoon, punished in himself and in his sons, a victim to the 
 inexorable vendetta of the gods, raised his "dread clamor to the stars," 
 as Virgil tells us; and between the Homeric deity and the Virgilian 
 creation, between the poem that embodied Greece and that which 
 imaged Rome, between the avenging god and the chastised mortal, was 
 personified the obsequious flattery which worshipped in the bold pose 
 of a Venus a Roman empress — perhaps Sallustia Barbia Urbiana, the 
 wife of Alexander Severus. In front of the niches, between the shrubs, 
 the supposed statue of the Tigris poured its inexhaustible stream into a 
 Roman sarcophagus; and on a second sarcophagus, Ariadne, whom 
 cultured and popular imagination of the time identified as Cleopatra, 
 slept her restless sleep between the flight of a hero and the arrival of 
 a god. On one of the sarcophagi was blazoned the triumph of the 
 Greeks over the Amazons; on the other, the submission of barbarians 
 to a Roman general. Other pieces of sculpture of less importance were 
 scattered here and there; some of these are still in the Vatican, but 
 others have found their way to Florence as the result of one or other 
 of the vicissitudes which later befell the Vatican collection. Thus it 
 was that Julius II, the w^arrior Pope who, as the epigram has it, laid 
 down the keys of St. Peter to gird on the sword of St. Paul, never ceased 
 even during the political turmoil of his pontificate to be what he had 
 
 [:29n 
 
292 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Gallery of Statues 
 
 been as a Cardinal — a Humanist. The sword of St. Paul occasionally 
 rested on the codex of the man of letters. Some of these marbles, 
 indeed, belonged to the private collection which he had made as a 
 Cardinal at his palace at S. Pietro in Vincoli. 
 
 In turning his eyes to Classic antiquity, Julius II simply continued 
 the work of his Humanist predecessors from Nicholas V to Innocent 
 VIII. Hitherto, however. Humanism had found an entry to the Vatican 
 only in a literary guise. The codices of the Library spoke of Greece 
 and Rome, of gods and heroes, only to those who sought out their 
 pages; but Apollo, the Venus Empress, and the Laocoon displayed their 
 virile, soft or tortured beauty to the eyes of all who passed through the 
 Cortile di Belvedere. Julius's predecessor, Sixtus IV delta Rovere 
 (1471-1484), had not ventured to invade the austerity of the Vatican 
 with such pagan images; for, when he gave Rome its first collection 
 of ancient art — a collection of bronzes — he relegated it far from the 
 Vatican to the Capitoline Hill. The Capitol had been the hill of the 
 glory that was Rome, just as the Vatican region embraced the valley 
 of Christian martyrdom. 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 293 
 
 ilK- Ciallny ol Slalius 
 
 Hence we cannot withhold our admiration from the Pontiff who 
 committed this breach of ecclesiastical austerity with the same courage 
 and success with which he nerved his army at the siege of Mirandola 
 when he changed the mitre for the helmet. His victory here was a 
 victory of the spirit which was destined to have a far more lasting 
 effect than his victory of arms. Nor can we help admiring the in- 
 vincible and ageless youth of the art of the ancients which captivated 
 the stern Pontiff's heart, and under his auspices penetrated where for 
 centuries its strength and its youth had been ignored. 
 
 But even more marvellous was the slow evolution of the Italic spirit, 
 which, bending itself with the Renaissance to the contemplation of the 
 joys of life, had first led Nicholas V (1447-1455) to build on this very 
 spot a battlemented tower whence the eye could roam at will over the 
 Roman Campagna and find in the beauties of nature the source of art. 
 A few decades later this spirit had the tower torn down to make way 
 for the Casino of Innocent VIII (1484-1492), with the graceful archi- 
 tectonic lines given it by Giacomo di Pietrasanta and the pictorial deco- 
 • rations of Mantegna and Pinturicchio. This same Italic spirit in Julius 
 
294 THE VATICAN 
 
 II won an entry into the Cortile near this Casino for the first pieces of 
 ancient sculpture. Contemporaneous Christian art had paved the way 
 for the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Certainly, these marbles 
 placed in niches or adorning fountains were there to fulfil a decorative 
 purpose rather than as objects of admiration; they were part of the 
 architectural ensemble, so to speak — an adjunct of the art of Giacomo 
 di Pietrasanta, of Mantegna and of Pinturicchio. To-day, however. 
 
 Tlu' (lalkry of Statues 
 
 owing to the successive alterations, the house built by Innocent VIII 
 has almost disappeared: save a few figures, but little remains of its 
 frescoes, whereas a whole army of statues have come to join the Apollo, 
 the Laocoon and the Venus Empress of the Cortile di Belvedere. The 
 art of the ancients, which stole in timidly as a handmaiden, now rules 
 as a queen. 
 
 The events which caused the present Vatican Museum to develop 
 from the few marbles introduced by Julius II for decorative purposes, 
 reflect the intellectual and political experiences through which the 
 Papacy and Church have passed. In so far as the Renaissance of an- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 295 
 
 cient art is concerned, Julius II certainly introduced it into the Vatican. 
 At this period the Renaissance had already devoted about a century to 
 the study of Greek and Roman literature. Through the works of the 
 ancient poets, philosophers, historians and rhetoricians a better real- 
 ization of the life of Classical times had been secured between the 
 Trecento and the Quattrocento, for literature is always the surest and 
 quickest means of establishing an intellectual understanding between 
 
 The Sala della Rotonda 
 
 different ages. And when literature had done its part, when it had 
 awakened an admiration for the greatness of ancient Greece and Rome, 
 Classical monuments — first the buildings and then the masterpieces of 
 sculpture — might finally claim their meed of appreciation. 
 
 The buildings of ancient Rome were for the most part in ruins, and 
 had either been allowed to remain as pathetic witnesses of a civilization 
 gone forever, or had been rifled for their marbles, lead and bricks, just 
 as if, instead of being the ideal patrimony of a whole people, they had 
 really belonged to nobody. Now they began to be cherished, studied, 
 measured and hypothetically restored, because their greatness and 
 grandeur offered a living commentary on the words of the writers. 
 
296 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall of the Greek Cross 
 
 Finally came the sculptures. To appreciate them properly presup- 
 posed not only a particular quality of imagination of a high order — 
 a gift which is rare, and is usually the fruit of a lofty intellect — but 
 also a thorough preparation of the mind, which could be attained only 
 through the long study of Classical literature. It was an easier matter 
 for a Quattrocento Christian to harmonize the philosophy of Plato 
 with his religious instructions, or to link the greatness of contempora- 
 neous Rome with the glorious Rome of Livy's pages, than to appreciate 
 the unveiled beauty of an Apollo or a Venus. Between him and this 
 appreciation lay the world of Romanesque and Gothic art, which, in its 
 exclusive preoccupations with the ideal, had overlooked the form, or 
 had above all ignored the human body. When Romanesque and Gothic 
 art had run their course, and when the renaissance of Christian relig- 
 ious art began, it was indeed possible for Nicolas Poussin to hint in 
 his reliefs at the figures on the Roman sarcophagi, and for the artists 
 of that period to look on nature with eyes different from their pre- 
 decessors' — paganized eyes, one might say. But ancient art as a whole 
 required a much more radical change in sentiment and taste than that 
 which was required for the appreciation of ancient literature. This 
 change took place later. And whereas in the second half of the Tre- 
 cento and the first half of the Quattrocento great libraries had been 
 instituted and enriched with Greek and Latin codices — museums of 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 297 
 
 Portico of the Cortile Ottagono 
 
 literature, as one might call them, — it was not until the second half 
 of the Quattrocento that the collections of sculpture, or museums of 
 art, began. 
 
 Growth of the Museum. — It chanced that a Cardinal who had made 
 one of these collections — Giuliano della Rovere — became Pope. Thus 
 the Vatican, which as an institution founded for all time could offer 
 the greatest promise of continuity of development, entered into a race 
 which had previously interested only private individuals (cardinals or 
 princes), w^hose work had for the most part been interrupted at their 
 death. Leo X (1513-1521) and Clement VII (1523-1534), the two 
 Medici Popes, had already family traditions urging them to keep up 
 the work begun by Julius II, since the Medici were the first among 
 the princes of Italy to form a collection of their own at Florence. Paul 
 III Farnese (1534-1549) continued in the footsteps of his predecessors. 
 And, while it is true that at this time not many pieces of sculpture were 
 sent to join the Apollo and the Laocoon, all that were sent were excel- 
 lent. Leo X is responsible for the Nile group; Clement VII for the 
 Torso of Apollonius, associated with the name of Michelangelo; Paul 
 III for the so-called Antinous, that is, the statue of Hermes as a youth. 
 
 But while these Popes were indulging their Italic nature in the ad- 
 miration of Classical art, clouds were collecting to the north, and the 
 storm of the Reformation was at hand. To cite these "shameless" 
 
298 THE VATICAN 
 
 marbles as the final proof that the Church and the Papacy had fallen 
 away from the purity and humility of the original Christian doctrine, 
 was a most unfortunate error. They proved only that the Pope, while 
 the Shepherd of the Church, was besides a secular prince, and apprecia- 
 tive of natural joys. The marbles were indeed in the Vatican, and most 
 of them remained there; to exile them now would not have helped to 
 reconquer Protestant Europe, so that only a few, and those not the 
 
 The Cortile Ottagono 
 
 best (thanks to the Pope's discrimination), passed to other collections 
 outside Rome. But from this moment the collecting activity of the 
 Vatican stops. It was the time of the Counter-Reformation and the 
 Council of Trent. And even though, in the face of the attacks of 
 Puritanism, which would destroy even Christian art, the Council de- 
 fended this art and declared that a love of art was not a material wor- 
 ship of images but a contemplation of the noble works of God or 
 of works executed under his inspiration, it would have been excessive 
 audacity to go on collecting within the walls of the Vatican sculptures 
 in defence of which no religious need could be cited, but which, on the 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 299 
 
 The Hall of the Muses 
 
 contrary, spoke only of a pagan civilization and a religion the Church 
 had perforce to destroy. 
 
 But not even the threats of Puritanism could kill the spirit of the 
 Renaissance that had come to life in Italy. The Pope, as head of the 
 Church, ceased to add to the Vatican collection of marbles, but, as an 
 earthly prince and an Italian, he built himself far from his spiritual 
 home a villa in which he might indulge his passion for both ancient and 
 contemporary art. And thus it came about that Julius III del Monte 
 (1550-1555) extended from the beginning of the Flaminian Way to 
 the Milvian Bridge and to the Parioli, between the river and the hill, 
 his wonderful villa, to which Michelangelo, Vasari, Vignola, Ammanati 
 and Baronino lent their architectural skill, while Prospero Fontana 
 and Taddeo Zucchero were entrusted with its pictorial decoration. 
 Here were collected, along every walk and around each fountain, an- 
 cient statues and reliefs exceeding far in number those treasured in 
 the Vatican itself. Yet the venerable Pontiff, if not in his spirit, must 
 have borne at least in his body the memory of the struggle between the 
 Reformation and the Church; for, even if he could forget that he was 
 Paul Ill's delegate at the Council of Trent, he must assuredly have 
 remembered the anger of the Lanzichenecchi during the siege of Rome 
 in 1527, when he nearly lost his life. 
 
300 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hall of the Animnis 
 
 The lf:ili (if tlie Animals 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 301 
 
 Sixtus V Peretti (1585-1590), a vigorous Pontiff famous as a pro- 
 tector of agriculture and industry and as a restorer of church disci- 
 pline, can hardly be conceived as a restorer of Classical art. Yet he 
 displayed no less eagerness than preceding PontitTs in collecting old 
 marbles in his Villa Montalto. If some of these (such as the Caryatid, 
 
 1 he }Iall of the Animals 
 
 now in the Braccio Nuovo, or the seated Greek statues, said to be of 
 Posidippus and Menander) found their way at a later date to the Vati- 
 can Museum — just as some of the statues from Pope Julius's villa also 
 found their way thither — this should be referred to a kind of destiny 
 which willed that these Pontiffs, even when they acted as private 
 individuals, should work for the ultimate glory of the Papacy. For, 
 besides the reaction of the Reformation, another cause halted the 
 growth of the Vatican collections, namely. Papal nepotism. Under 
 the inspiration of the Popes, members of their families began to build 
 villas and form private collections of marbles for their own gratifica- 
 tion and glory. Julius Ill's collection was indeed of such a character, 
 and, if his brother Baldwin and his nephew Fabian did not reap much 
 profit from it, it was because the Pope had lavished the funds of the 
 Papacy on his own villa. Pius IV (1559-1566) interfered in the settle- 
 ment of the complicated will of his predecessor, upholding the claims 
 of the Holy See; but while he gave lands and villas to the Medici of 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra 
 
 Milan and to the Borromeo family, only one statue — that of the sophist 
 Elios Aristides — entered the Vatican, and this was exhibited, not in the 
 Belvedere, but in the Library. 
 
 To Cardinal Scipio Borghese, nephew of Paul V (1605-1621), Cardi- 
 nal Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of Gregory XV (1621-1623), and 
 Cardinal Camillo Pamphilj, nephew of Innocent X (1644-1655) are due 
 the Borghese, Ludovisi and Panfdi villas and collections. And thus it 
 would have come to pass that, notwithstanding its masterpieces, the 
 Vatican collection would have remained a modest adjunct of the Cor- 
 tile di Belvedere after the first thrill of the Renaissance had died away, 
 had not the second half of the eighteenth century brought about a 
 profound change in the general attitude towards Classical antiquities. 
 
 In 1768, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, a little over fifty years old, 
 met a violent death in Trieste, but he left an everlasting monument to 
 his genius, which had been nurtured on the vital sap of ancient art, 
 especially in Rome. This was his "History of Ancient Art" ("Ge- 
 schichte der Kunst des Alterthums"). Winckelmann had approached 
 the works of Greek and Roman sculpture, not with the esthetic ej^es of 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTUT^F AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 303 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra 
 
 the Renaissance period, but permeated with the historic spirit with 
 which, from the Seicento to the Settecento, men had begun to examine 
 the manifestations of human activity. The statue, the relief and the 
 engraved gem were for him not only beautiful forms to be admired, 
 but also documents revealing another conception of nature and life — 
 that is, reflecting the attitude of another intellect towards the one and 
 the other. To appreciate this attitude, to make it live again in all its 
 phases, was to possess a true knowledge of Classical art. 
 
 It is by no means one of the least boasts of archaeology that the his- 
 toric spirit, which had hitherto busied itself with its researches into 
 human actions, had recourse first to art, not to literature, when it began 
 the study of the intellectual manifestations of mankind. 
 
 Art was a late-comer in the esthetic march of the Renaissance; it 
 leads the way, however, as the touchstone of all modern history. 
 Winckelmann's "History of Ancient Art" appeared long before any 
 similar plan for the reconstruction of literature occurred to the minds 
 of philologists, and may thus be said to have given a new impulse to 
 ancient art. If Classical sculpture were a document to be studied for 
 
304 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Gallery of the Candelabra 
 
 the further development of human thought, rather than a thing to be 
 admired in a civilization that Christianity had supplanted, it might well 
 receive a hospitable welcome even in the austere halls of the Vatican. 
 And, if the Humanist Popes might be blamed for laying too much stress 
 on earthly enjoyment in their zeal for Classical art, no such charge 
 could be brought against Popes whose aim in fostering collections of 
 marbles was to further the study of archaeology. 
 
 A new era for the Vatican collections began indeed with Clement 
 XIV Ganganelli, who became Pope in 1769, the year after Winckel- 
 mann's death. And the personality of Ennio Quirino Visconti, the 
 illustrious archaeologist who with his father Giovan Battista Antonio 
 presided over the formation of the Pio-Clementino Museum in the pon- 
 tificates of Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI Braschi (1775-1799), 
 proves conclusively, if proof be required, the purity of intentions 
 which underlay the new work. Through the activity of these Popes 
 the small collection of Julius II, which could all be grouped in the space 
 of the Belvedere, developed into what is now known as the Vatican 
 Sculpture Gallery. By altering a few rooms and the chapel of the Villa 
 of Innocent VIII, these Popes established the existing Gallery of Stat- 
 ues and Hall of the Busts. The chief credit, however, is due to Pius VI, 
 who in 1775 not only transformed the Belvedere, added the interior 
 portico and the columns, and built the Hall of the Biga, the Hall of the 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 305 
 
 Greek Cross, the Rotonda, the Hall of the Muses, the Hall of the Ani- 
 mals and Gallery of Masks, but also gave its present form to the Gallery 
 of the Candelabra, which originally was an open corridor. 
 
 The finishing touch was put on the work by Pope Pius VII Chiara- 
 monti (1800-1823), when in 1803 he gave its final arrangement to the 
 Cortile di Belvedere, transforming the atria at the corners into cabinets, 
 and allotted to his Museo Chiaramonti the northern hall of the great 
 
 The Museo Chiaramonti 
 
 gallery which Julius II and Bramante had built to connect the Belve- 
 dere with the Vatican Palace. Finally, between 1817 and 1821, he added 
 the Braccio Nuovo, which runs parallel to the new Library and joins 
 Bramante's gallery with the opposite wing. 
 
 But the Napoleonic storm broke with equal violence over the artistic 
 and political plans of Pius VII. After Classical art had finally won its 
 spiritual fight against the Puritan forces within and without the 
 Church, and had been installed with honor in the galleries and halls 
 of Clement XIV and Pius VI, the material violence of Napoleon, who 
 revived the conduct of the Roman conquerors of old when they spoiled 
 the Greek cities of their treasures of art, stripped these galleries and 
 halls, and carried the booty to Paris. Only three fine works of Canova, 
 
306 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Part of the Braccio Nuovo 
 
 the Perseus and the Boxers (Kreugas and Damoxenus), were left in the 
 Belvedere, and these were as dreary-looking as the plaster copies of the 
 Apollo and Laocoon which took the place of the originals. Canova's 
 works were indeed a genuine echo of ancient Greece, but the empty 
 grace of a Perseus showing his spoils could never compensate for the 
 godlike advance of the Apollo, nor did the brute violence with which 
 the Boxers gathered themselves for their encounter offer any com- 
 parison with the shudder that ran through the crushed flesh of 
 Laocoon. 
 
 But, just as it had triumphed over intellectual oppression, the Vati- 
 can Museum was destined also to triumph over material violence. 
 After five years of exile, the greater number of the old treasures were 
 restored in 1816, so that Napoleon left less trace of his passage here 
 than elsewhere. Canova's marbles, however, were retained in the col- 
 lection as a souvenir and in token of gratitude. For, if the proximity 
 of the masterpieces of Greece overshadows them, they at least are po- 
 litical documents dealing with the vicissitudes of the Museum. They 
 are also, as it were, a seal on its history, for since the days of Pius VII 
 no chapter has been added to it. Gregorv XVI (1831-1846), Pius IX 
 (1846-1878), Leo XIII (1878-1903) and Pius X (1903-1914) added a 
 few pieces here and there, l)ut the aspect of the Museum is unchanged. 
 Gregory XVI devoted himself to the Etruscan Museum, and Pius IX 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 307 
 
 Part of the Braccio Numo 
 
 had but little time for things of art, so deeply was he preoccupied with 
 the clouds on the political horizon of his time. 
 
 When we to-day look back over the road the Museum has travelled 
 from its humble beginnings in the days of Julius II, we are forced to 
 admit that no museum in the world has such a remarkable history. 
 Some museums, like the Glyptothek at Munich, owe their existence to 
 the collecting zeal of a prince; others, like the British Museum, spring 
 from an educational function of the state; others, like the National Mu- 
 seum at Athens, satisfy the patriotic devotion of a people to its glorious 
 past. The Vatican Museum has, on the contrary, enjoyed the zealous 
 support of both prince and state and people, and of something still 
 more important than all of these — namely, the world of Catholic Chris- 
 tendom, which looked towards the Papacy for its rule of life. For, just 
 as the Vatican Museum owed its origin to a world-wide current of 
 thought, the Renaissance, it called its first halt in answer to a Catholic 
 current of thought, the Counter-Reform; it owed its new lease of life 
 to the awakening sense of the teaching function of the state, since the 
 work of Clement XIV and Pius VI in aid of archaeology can only be 
 interpreted as such; and it owes its continuity of existence, throughout 
 good and evil fortune, to the spirit of the Roman people, who have 
 always aided the Papacy in its work, recognizing in the ancient marbles 
 the documents of their own mighty past. 
 
308 THE VATICAN 
 
 But if currents of thought which affected the whole civilized world; 
 if functions of the state which were confined within a small dominion; 
 if the historic pride of a people, confined within limits even smaller 
 than those of a state, have been co-operating agencies in this monu- 
 mental work, this has happened because the success of the work did 
 not depend on the more or less brief life of individual princes, whose 
 tastes and predispositions might vary, but rested on the organic prin- 
 cipality of the Papacy, in which each Pope, bowing his head humbly 
 
 The Braccio Nuovo 
 
 before the glorious traditions of his dynasty and confidently regarding 
 himself as the predecessor of an endless line, lent his temporary co- 
 operation in the work, filled with trustful strength. 
 
 General Character of the Museum. — But now, after following the 
 history and development of this Vatican collection, if we stop to con- 
 sider it as a whole so as to grasp its distinctive character, we must admit 
 that from the esthetic standpoint it is disappointing. With the excep- 
 tion of a few Greek originals and some excellent Roman works, all of 
 the exhibits are copies — and often mediocre copies — of Greek master- 
 pieces or modest creations of the Roman chisel. 
 
 If we were asked what, in our opinion, would be the impression 
 received by an ancient Greek or Roman on entering the Vatican Mu- 
 seum, we could only reply that he would probably experience the same 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 309 
 
 feeling as we do when we visit a museum of medieval and modern art 
 composed of the works of the cheap copyists who infest our galleries 
 and those of the marble-workers who cater mainly for cemeteries. 
 
 Unlike the National Museum at Athens, the Vatican Museum is not 
 the archives of the creative spirit of a whole people, whose original 
 documents date back to the Mycenaean age and down through the mid- 
 
 OiU' End of the Braccid Nimvo 
 
 die ages of ancient Hellas to the dawn of Classical art, tracing this art 
 from the crude essays of the archaic period to the most precious mani- 
 festations of Greek genius. Neither has it, in the midst of Roman 
 copies, the little Greek oases one meets in the Glyptothek at Munich, 
 with its ^ginetan sculptures; nor, like the British Museum, far from 
 the sky of Greece, can it show the relics of the Parthenon, the Temple 
 of Phigalia, the Monument of the Nereids, and the Mausoleum. The 
 original Greek works brought to Rome after the conquest have nearly 
 all been destroyed; and the original works which Roman art succeeded 
 in creating — honorary reliefs — very luckily still adorn for the most 
 part the monuments for which they were intended. Thus the Vatican 
 Museum had to be content with the scattered parts of the decorative 
 works executed to adorn Roman gardens, squares, baths and cemeteries. 
 
310 THE VATICAN 
 
 But while even from the esthetic point of view the Roman copies of 
 Greek masterpieces, ill treated as these were in the process, call forth 
 our admiration and make us feel still more keenly our great loss in 
 being deprived of the originals, historically the Vatican Museum, just 
 because it has grown up out of the very soil of Rome, has a value that 
 is lacking in collections formed in other countries with works violently 
 
 Part of the Braccio Nuovo 
 
 torn from their native home. It reveals, if not the creative quality of 
 the Roman spirit, the attitude which Roman taste adopted towards 
 Greek art. In contrast to the National Museum at Athens, which gath- 
 ered the pure flower of Greek creative genius, it shows originality only 
 in its discriminating function and in the re-elaboration of what it has 
 chosen. From this collection we learn how Roman genius was affected 
 by the manifestations of Greek genius, and we carry away the same 
 impression as when we read Virgil after Homer, Terence after Me- 
 nander, and Catullus and Horace after Sappho and Pindar. 
 
 Before the glory of Rome had yet unfolded itself, in the seventh and 
 sixth centuries before our era, merchants and artists from the East and 
 from Greece had established a trade in sculptures with Latimn, just as 
 they had previously done with Etruria and Cami)ania. Rich decora- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 311 
 
 Seated Apollo Citharnpdus (Fig. 1) 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 Nude 
 
 "igure of Apollo (I'ig. 2) 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 tions for tombs and pretentious ornaments for temples gave evidence 
 of the social comfort and prosperity rather than of the artistic taste 
 of the purchasers. This art, indeed, was a thing external to the real 
 life of the country, and did not spring from any urgent religious need. 
 The Latin conception of the gods and of death was altogether un- 
 touched by the artistic external trappings with which trade and the 
 fashion of the moment decked their religion. Unlike their neighbors, 
 the Etruscans and Oscans, the Latins were more moderate in their 
 adoption of foreign art. They remained particularly conservative of 
 their funeral art, and, as a matter of fact, in Lalium we never fmd those 
 hypogea so common in Etruria and Campania. 
 
 Conditions in the fourth and third centuries B.C., when Greek art 
 exercised undisputed sway in Latium, were marked by no great change. 
 Latin art, indeed, would have remained an insignificant provincial 
 episode in the story of Greek art, and would have had very little influ- 
 ence on the life of the country, if the rise of her military greatness had 
 not brought Rome, through her conquests of Greece and Asia Minor, 
 into direct contact with Greek art in its native home. The artistic booty 
 brought home by the Roman generals gave the Romans an acquain- 
 tance with the masterpieces of Greek sculpture and painting, which 
 were used to adorn the temples and public buildings of Rome. This 
 work of the state found, now as ever in the life of Rome, many imita- 
 
312 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Three Graces (Fig. 3) 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 tors among the private citizens. Magistrates sent out to govern distant 
 provinces either bought or took by force (as we know Verres did) 
 works of art wherever they went, and, when tliis taste for works of art 
 had grown to such an extent that the market of antiquities of the time 
 could no longer supply sufficient original works to meet the numerous 
 demands, there arose a new industry which has been of the greatest 
 value for our knowledge of ancient art — namely, the industry of copy- 
 ing. The Roman who could not have originals for his house or garden 
 could at least have copies of them in bronze or marble; and to such a 
 pitch was this industry developed that the copyist often went so far as 
 to add his own signature, so that we have a Sosicles claiming an Ama- 
 zon by Cresilas, an Antiochus appropriating the Athena Parthenos, 
 and an Apollonius boasting authorship of Polycletus's Doryphorus. 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 313 
 
 Girl Runner (Fig. 4) 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 Penelope (F'ig. 5) 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 Young Gymnast and his Slave (Fig. 
 (Archaic Period) 
 
 The Discobolus (Fig. 7) 
 (Myron, Classical Period) 
 
314 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Doryphorus (Kig. 8) 
 (Polycletus, Classical Period) 
 
 Aniazun (Fig. 9) 
 (Polycletus, Classical Period) 
 
 Seeing, however, that these copies were intended mostly to decorate 
 houses and gardens, it is only natural that not all the subjects of Greek 
 art should have been equally copied. An erudite eclectic, like the owner 
 of the villa of the Pisos at Herculaneum, might desire a specimen of all 
 the styles and periods of Greek art; an emperor with a cultured taste 
 like Hadrian might assemble in his villa near Tivoli — whence most of 
 the Vatican treasures have come — what one might call an exposition 
 of all the architecture and sculpture of antiquity; but in the main the 
 Roman imitator chose as his models subjects best suited for the deco- 
 rative effect he had in mind. How much more appropriate among the 
 rocks of a fountain, or along the green borders of a garden, was the 
 train of Dionysus or Poseidon — the sea-horses, nymphs, satyrs and 
 msenads — than the awesome figures of the major Olympic gods! And 
 as it was Hellenistic art which had lent so much grace and sentiment to 
 the gracious denizens of the sea and the woods, it was this same Hellen- 
 istic art that gave its chief inspiration to this Roman marble industry. 
 And when at a later period the Roman sculptor wished to associate with 
 these demigods, who had all the passions and v.'eaknesses of man, gods 
 and divinities whose forms in stone would give joy to the beholder, he 
 turned his eyes, not to the awe-striking figures of Phidias, whose fitting 
 home was the cloud-kissing peak of Olympus rather than the sanded 
 walks of a garden, but to the artistic creations of Praxiteles, whose 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 315 
 
 Amazon (Fig. 10) 
 (Cresilas, Classical Period) 
 
 Amazon (Fig. 11 ) 
 (Phidias, Classical Period) 
 
 gods are so human and so sensual. The Aphrodite of Cnidus, laying 
 aside her robe as she entered the bath, lost little of her modesty in being 
 transported from the little round and open temple at Cnidus, where on 
 every side she was exposed to the gaze of the curious, to become a genre 
 figure beside a fountain. The Apollo Sauroctonus, slaying a lizard on 
 the trunk of a leafless tree, might very appropriately fill the space 
 between two trees laden with foliage. 
 
 As a further proof that Roman taste was swayed in its choice by the 
 decorative possibilities of the statues, we have only to remember that, 
 when it was a question of decorating not gardens but gymnasiums, it 
 spurned the soft and delicate carving of the fourth century and went 
 back to the fifth in search of the rugged and stern canon of Polycletus. 
 Not in the nimble-limbed Apoxyomenus of Lysippus — that personifica- 
 tion of an age when even the athlete seemed to harbor deep thoughts 
 behind a knitted brow — but in the solid frame of the Doryphorus of 
 Polycletus was the Roman to find the model which, in preparation for 
 the wars of world-conquest, would teach him to prize bodily strength 
 more highly than the subtleness of the brain. 
 
 On the whole, however, we may say that "refined" Roman society of 
 the later Republican and Imperial days grew sated with, and almost 
 ashamed of, the old simplicity which had given it the strength to estab- 
 lish a world-empire, and went coquetting with strange tastes and ideas 
 
316 THE VATICAN 
 
 until at last it found itself more in sympathy with the output of the 
 fourth century and the Hellenistic period — i.e., the sensuous, learned 
 and sceptical epoch of Greece — than with the archaism of the fifth 
 century — the period of Greece's simplicity and severity of ideal. The 
 anatomic rigidity and superficiality of the archaic works seemed but 
 gross insipiency when placed beside the tortured beauty of the Laoc- 
 oon. When the Roman desired simplicity in art he did not seek it in 
 the true archaic works, but succumbed to the soft gracefulness of Hel- 
 lenistic imitations. He did not turn to the severe and commanding 
 
 in 
 
 the 
 
 sug- 
 
 Demeter 
 presence 
 devout w^orship- 
 sensual Aphro- 
 crouching in her 
 stream of cold 
 to reveal the 
 of her body, 
 it w^as that de- 
 lectuals of 
 
 longer believed 
 least did not 
 own gods wath 
 Greek art. And, 
 of the principal 
 Vatican Museum 
 tionaterepresen- 
 of the archaic 
 the fifth century 
 with those of the 
 and the Hellen- 
 
 Periclos (Fig. 12) 
 (Cresilas, Classical Period) 
 
 Rotonda, whose 
 gests a crowd of 
 pers, but to the 
 dite of Daedalus, 
 bath under the 
 water the better 
 plastic charms 
 This soft quality 
 lighted the intel- 
 Rome, who no 
 in the gods, or at 
 identify their 
 the creations of 
 if in our review 
 works in the 
 the dispropor- 
 tation of works 
 period and of 
 as compared 
 fourth century 
 istic period 
 
 {circa 290-150 b.c.) should appear less evident than to a visitor passing 
 through the halls of the collection, w^e would ask our readers to remem- 
 ber that this lack of proportion has been here intentionally corrected so 
 as to give a complete and balanced survey of the development of Greek 
 and Roman art. The works of the archaic period and the fifth century 
 have almost all been chosen for criticism with this end in view, while 
 many works of no little importance dating from the fourth century and 
 the Hellenistic period have been left unnoticed. It should also be re- 
 membered that to the former class belong some originals which 
 reached Italy either in the Roman or the intermediate period. 
 
 Roman art thus consists, for the most part, of copies of Greek mas- 
 terpieces belonging in the main to fixed periods. The Roman copyist, 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 317 
 
 DcmcliT (Tig. 13l 
 (School of Phidias. Classical Period) 
 
 Artemis (Fig. 14) 
 (School of Phidias, Classical Period) 
 
 Caryatid (Fig. 15) 
 (School of Phidias, Classical Period) 
 
 Athena (Fig. 10) 
 (School of Phidias, Classical Period) 
 
Discobolus Preparing for the Tlirow (Fig. 17) 
 (Classical Period) 
 
 318 THE VATICAN 
 
 however, was not a mechanical 
 imitator. In saying this we do not 
 refer to infidelities wherein even 
 fairly able Roman scnlptors 
 libelled their original, nor do we 
 refer to the special Grseco-Roman 
 School of Pasiteles, which flour- 
 ished at the end of the Republic 
 and the beginning of the Empire, 
 and which deliberately combined 
 in its copies (of individual statues 
 or groups) parts of figures or 
 whole figures belonging to differ- 
 ent styles and periods. There is 
 not a single work of this school in 
 the Vatican. We desire rather to 
 call attention to a general phe- 
 nomenon which characterizes all 
 the \vork of the Roman copyists. 
 In addition to the servile work of 
 copying mechanically, the Roman aimed at introducing something of 
 his own showing that he was the conqueror; but being a mediocre ar- 
 tist, with a jumble of all styles and periods in his brain, he often suc- 
 ceeded in producing a work that was true to no style in particular and 
 had no style of its own. Such works are a riddle for the archfeologist, 
 who does not know whether to attribute them to the fifth or fourth cen- 
 tury, or to the fourth century or the Hellenistic period. As a rule, he 
 humbly pleads ignorance in cases of this kind; but in reality such 
 statues belong to the hybrid mass dumped on the market by the Roman 
 marble-worker as his own original productions, although in the eclectic 
 purchasers of the time they aroused none of the doubts which torment 
 the archaeologist of to-day. All this material, which affords little es- 
 thetic satisfaction, still awaits the patient archaeologist whose careful 
 classification will determine the historic stratum to which each work 
 belongs. Here also, as in the case of the copies of originals of the 
 various periods, our review will convey to the reader an impression far 
 different from that derived from an actual visit to the Museum. Hav- 
 ing to choose between flower and flower, and to cull only a few dozens 
 of specimens, our attention must be confined to works which have a 
 well-defined style and characterize a period, a school or an artist. The 
 Vatican Museum has a remarkable stock of these non-classifiable 
 works, amounling to many hundreds. To these so many sections of 
 
Boeotian Relief of Horseman (Fig. 18) 
 (Classical Period) 
 
 MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 319 
 
 the collection owe their monoto- 
 nous aspect; for, after examining 
 them, we feel the same boredom 
 as is conveyed by the rhetoric of 
 the Empire, with its didactic va- 
 riations of the great Greek and 
 Roman orators. 
 
 But, after thus indicating the 
 deficiencies of Roman art, we 
 must not overlook its positive 
 achievements. Though Rome at- 
 tached so little importance to art; 
 though she considered it a pursuit 
 unworthy of a citizen, and even 
 under the Empire left its cultiva- 
 tion to the Greeks, she not only 
 exercised a certain discrimination 
 in her copying, but also created 
 something that Greece until then 
 had never had. In two of her 
 customs, one domestic and one political, Rome found the source of 
 inspirations which were original in art. In the imagines maioruin, 
 which preserved the remembrance of the deceased for future genera- 
 tions, lay the germ of portraiture; the great tableaux in which the vic- 
 torious generals displayed in the Forum the principal incidents of their 
 campaigns paved the way for historical reliefs. 
 
 But if Rome had remained a republic, and if the imperial idea had 
 not brought one individual — the Emperor — to the forefront of public 
 life, the art of portraiture and of honorary reliefs would have re- 
 mained an unimportant episode in the life of Greek art, like the tem- 
 ple decorations and the tomb ornaments in contemporary Latium. 
 This is proved by the laurel-crowned bust from the tomb of the Scipios, 
 which is now in the Vatican Museum and is said to be a portrait of the 
 poet Ennius, and by the fragment of a painting recording the exploits 
 of M. Fannius and Q. Fabius, now in the Museo dei Conservatori; the 
 bust is an insipid imitation of the Greek idealistic stj'le, while the paint- 
 ing treats a Roman subject in a purely Greek manner. 
 
 The imperial idea modified all this. To Rome came the great artists 
 to place themselves at the service of the Empire. From the imagines 
 maiorum, hitherto confined to the privacy of the home or the family 
 tomb, developed the portrait of the Emperor, which either flattery or 
 loyalty multiplied in every corner of the Empire. The eulogistic no- 
 
320 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^KSf'''^ ^^M 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 »* 
 
 1 
 
 H 
 
 
 w1 
 
 I^H 
 
 
 r 
 
 ^ 1 ^ i^^^^^^^l 
 
 
 I 
 
 '^^1 
 
 
 1- 
 
 ^1 
 
 The Barberini Hera (Fig. 19) 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Aphrodite of Cnidus (Fig. 20) 
 (Praxiteles, Fourth Century b.c.) 
 
 Apollo Sauroctonus (Fig. 21) 
 (Praxiteles, Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Torso of an Eros (Fig. 22) 
 (Praxitelic School, Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 321 
 
 tices, which for a few days attracted the attention of the loungers in 
 the Forum, were replaced by monuments of stone, and thus we have 
 the historical reliefs on the honorary slabs which perpetuated through 
 the centuries the memory of the Emperors. 
 
 Here again, as always, the imperial example influenced private citi- 
 zens. Every prominent citizen was a lesser emperor among his own 
 clients, and his daily routine of business was, so to speak, his empire, 
 concerning which posterity w^as to be duly notified through the instru- 
 mentality of art. Hence arose those countless honorary portraits that 
 studded the squares of the small provincial towns, immortalizing the 
 not always very intellectual features of insignificant magistrates. 
 Hence, too, arose the excessive desire of private citizens to glorify their 
 past in honorary monuments. Nor did these sarcophagi belong only 
 to the magistrate who had faithfully served the ideal of Rome and 
 wished to immortalize the salient facts of his administration, or to 
 the general who had himself represented in all the turmoil of battle. 
 Even an M. Virgilius Eurisaces, a wealthy baker, had a costly tomb 
 built for himself on which the reliefs show the successive processes of 
 bread-making, the trade in which he had made his fortune; while in a 
 modest sepulchral painting Farnaces, a boatman, has bequeathed to us 
 the picture of the tub with which he eked out a meagre living! 
 
 In this art of portraiture and honorary reliefs Rome not only intro- 
 duces subjects untouched by the Greeks, but treats these subjects in 
 a way of her own. Though this art was practised by Greek artists, the 
 honor of originating it must be conceded to Rome. From the early 
 days of the Empire down to Constantinian times and even later, the 
 art of Rome rises and falls as it pursues a path which we may call natu- 
 ralism based directly on life. Rome took up the burden of art at the 
 point where Hellenism laid it down, namely, at the point of idealistic 
 naturalism, because the Greek art of this period was still ideal even 
 when it represented the unesthetic and drew its subjects directly from 
 nature. Hellenism could never quite shake off the tradition of ages. 
 Thus the first output of Imperial art, in the period from Augustus to 
 the Elavil, is strongly tinged with idealistic naturalism. Between the 
 Elavil and Trajan a change came: more freedom is given to nature 
 as seen directly, and the form becomes less delicate and accurate. De- 
 cadence was rapid from the days of the Antonines to Constantine and 
 Theodosius, when the compositions became poor and the figures un- 
 graceful. 
 
 We have seen that the inspiring influence of Rome was limited to 
 the two branches of portraiture and relief work. But even in these 
 Greece was always the tutoress, and often an indiscreet one. Under 
 
322 THE VATICAN 
 
 the traditional idealistic forms she introduces her gods even into 
 the honorary reliefs. Unable to pour the full plethora of her myths 
 into the architectural decorations, since the Roman architecture had 
 abolished the metope and generally left the friezes and facades with- 
 out ornaments, she employed them as wall decorations in the triclinium 
 to delight the eye of the banqueters, and crowded them on the surfaces 
 of the sarcophagi to supply subjects of meditation to the bereaved. 
 And when Rome was called on to lend artistic aid to the new Oriental 
 cults which the mingling of races under the Empire had diffused so 
 
 widely, Greece 
 agent. R seemed 
 had a monopoly 
 especially of the 
 How ill would 
 fared had they 
 to the rough 
 the Romans! 
 over, had al- 
 ed a similar task 
 mies when she 
 with the figure 
 That the Ro- 
 grossed with 
 quest, had no 
 divine ideal is 
 fact that neither 
 nor in her art 
 to create an he- 
 own. She did 
 to till the soil 
 man germ might 
 
 Aniiiious (Irl I'.rlvrclcrc ( li^. 231 
 (Praxitclic School [?], Fourth (Century n.c.) 
 
 was agam the 
 as though Greece 
 of the ideal, and 
 divine ideal, 
 the gods have 
 been subjected 
 mentality of 
 Greece, more- 
 ready perform- 
 for the Ptole- 
 presented Egypt 
 of Serapis. 
 man mind, en- 
 material con- 
 capacity for the 
 shown by the 
 in her literature 
 was Rome able 
 roic myth of her 
 not know how 
 
 wherein the hu- 
 develop into the divine. The Romans, who were 
 above all makers of real history and not fantastic creators of the un- 
 real, could not conceive even their own origin as a myth; for them it, 
 too, was history. And if in literature and in art the first figures in her 
 history, Romulus and Remus, are illuminated by an aureole of myths, 
 we must not forget that this is due, not to the Roman, but to the Greek 
 spirit, which, through the pious ^neas, Stesichorus and the tabiihv 
 iliacce, linked the origin of Rome with the ruin of Troy. Thus, in the 
 Base Casali, a votive altar to be found in the Belvedere, the artist cele- 
 brates on one side the birth of Romulus and Remus, and on the other 
 harks back, through the Trojan War, to the Judgment of Paris. 
 
 In general, therefore, these are the works in which Roman art is ex- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 323 
 
 pressed: copies of Greek masterpieces (preferably of definite periods), 
 arbitrary combinations of the elements of these masterpieces in fig- 
 ures devoid of a definite stylistic character, portraits, honorary reliefs, 
 sepulchral monuments glorifying Roman life (even the humble life of 
 the tradesman), pictures and sarcophagi with Greek myths, Oriental 
 gods executed in the Greek style, and some scenes dealing with the be- 
 ginnings of Rome. This is all that Rome produced during the centuries 
 of the Empire, and this was for the most part executed by Greek hands. 
 Here undoubtedlv we do not behold the straight and uninterrupted 
 
 line of develop- 
 by the spirit of 
 man art does not 
 ment, logical as 
 such as is afford - 
 tion of the art of 
 categories form- 
 lized in the 
 title evolution- 
 less in the pres- 
 lection of works 
 the various in- 
 simultaneously 
 epochs, artists 
 Rut just for this 
 man art is a 
 of life under the 
 ter in it than in 
 festations of the 
 clash, the repul- 
 coalescence of 
 
 Apollo del Belvedi r( 
 (Leochares[7], Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 ment followed 
 one people. Ro- 
 offer an enjoy- 
 well as esthetic, 
 ed by the evolu- 
 Greece. Mental 
 ed and crystal - 
 school of scien- 
 ism are wor th- 
 ence of this col- 
 created under 
 fluences exerted 
 by different 
 and sentiments, 
 very reason Ro- 
 faithful mirror 
 Empire. Far bet- 
 the other mani- 
 era do we see the 
 sionand the final 
 Greek and Ro- 
 
 man elements; we see in it the contrast between myth and history, 
 between the ideal and the real, and we trace in it the tortuous course of 
 the destiny of the Empire. The contemplation of Roman art as the 
 amalgamation of different civilizations affords us exactly the same en- 
 joyment as was experienced by an early Roman of refined taste when 
 he walked along the paths of a public garden and examined the great 
 variety of works which the eclectic spirit of the times had collected 
 there. Rut, descending from the peaks of art to the plane of every-day 
 life, we derive from Roman art an even stronger sense of that vastness 
 of the Empire which must have been conveyed in the Forum by the 
 multicolored crowds of spiritual Greeks and fanatical Orientals who 
 made a motley picture against the background of dignified Romans. 
 
324 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Apollo Citliaraedus (I'ig. 23) 
 (Fourth Century b.c.) 
 
 The Vatican Museum is com- 
 posed of all these works, but here 
 the original mixing of ages, styles 
 and subjects is still further com- 
 plicated as the result of the history 
 of the collection. The most dis- 
 parate works have been placed to- 
 gether, either because the order of 
 their acquisition has willed it so, 
 or because esthetically they are 
 better adapted to a certain place. 
 
 It is only the uncultured person 
 who, on passing rapidly through 
 the halls, receives the impression 
 of having before him a long series 
 of marbles, almost all alike. The 
 student who views them with an 
 historic eye is compelled to take 
 giddy leaps of ages and ideas as 
 he passes from marble to marble. 
 The sarcophagus to which the remains of some poor mortal were 
 piously consigned under the protection of Greek heroes, and which in 
 its treatment of death hints at the life beyond the grave, supports an 
 honorary relief which was detached from a commemorative monu- 
 ment and treats of Roman victories in this life of ours. The figure of 
 an athlete, offered as a model of vigorous health to the youth frequent- 
 ing the gymnasia and baths, stands near the dignified statue of an 
 emperor, general or high priest, which from its place in some public 
 forum once spoke of the authority of rulers. In front of the solemn 
 image of a fifth-century Greek divinity, which formerly towered in the 
 mighty niche of a temple, we are greeted by the immodest smile of an 
 Hellenistic satyr which earlier diffused its coarse joviality among the 
 trees of a villa. The Sacrifice of Mithra, venerated by his Oriental fol- 
 lowers in the dim recesses of his mysterious shrine, is lost among the 
 countless figures of animals which once struggled or reposed around 
 the fountains of some courtyard. Thus, in capricious succession, the 
 Vatican Museum presents us with the phases and characteristics of 
 Roman civilization. We witness in turn its melancholy preoccupation 
 with the ultramundane life, its proud satisfaction at the political glory 
 of Rome, its worship of physical energy, its faithful devotion to the im- 
 perial idea, its sincere and solemn religiosity, its light and sarcastic 
 scepticism, its fanatical practice of strange cults, and the calm serenity 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 325 
 
 Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy (Fig. 20) 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Thalia, Muse of Comedy (Fig. 27) 
 (Fourth Century u.c.) 
 
 of its domestic life. This collection takes us wherever the rich and 
 tumultuous life of Rome developed and ended — to the home and the 
 temple, to the Forum and baths, to the public gardens, and to the ceme- 
 tery. Visitors who possess the sense of historic evocation, and who 
 nurture this sense as a delightful extension of their own lives, can feel 
 no greater joy than that which is derived from this vertiginous flight 
 through the ages and this profound penetration into the heart of an- 
 cient man. 
 
 It is true that archaeological science, which would catalogue and 
 arrange everything with punctilious care and thus destroy the vitality 
 of the collection, feels restless at the sight of the very chronological 
 disorder which makes of the Vatican Museum a living thing. But, for 
 our part, we must confess that, from the historic point of view, not the 
 wise distribution of the marbles of the Parthenon, of the Temple of 
 Phigalia, of the Monument of the Nereids, or of the Mausoleum in the 
 British Museum, nor the meticulous classification of the funeral monu- 
 ments in the National Museum of Athens, has given us that pleasant 
 sense of intellectual exhilaration which we felt when, looking from the 
 Rotonda in the Vatican and casting our eyes over the scene below, our 
 thoughts cantered through the ages as we caught a glimpse of schools 
 and of places far removed. What a wealth of historical messages are 
 conveyed by the belligerent attitude of the Juno Lanuvina, the ridicu- 
 
326 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Artemis (Fig. 28) 
 (Fourth Century b.c.) 
 
 lous banality of Claudius posing 
 as Jupiter, the suffering expres- 
 sion of the aged Nerva, the benev- 
 olent indulgence of the Hera Bar- 
 berini, the crude bravado of the 
 Hercules Righetti, the severe calm 
 of Demeter, and the morbid mel- 
 ancholy of Antinous! And alter- 
 nating with these messages come 
 the no less charming notes which 
 vibrate from the genial but agi- 
 tated Zeus of Otricoli, the feminine 
 energy of Faustina the Elder, the 
 open and kindly countenance of 
 Hadrian, the pathetic and sen- 
 suous hermes personifying Poz- 
 zuoli, and the mystic concentra- 
 tion of Serapis. So varied and at 
 once so harmonious an expression 
 of ancient life has never been of- 
 fered us by the perusal of any Latin texts, — even those texts which the 
 all-conquering Greek tradition has fdled with so many elements from 
 the past. In fullness and precision the evoking power of the image far 
 transcends that of the written word. But to enjoy the gratitication of 
 grasping every note in this concert of various voices we must first train 
 ourselves to appreciate each individual sound; every image must needs 
 have already delivered individually its full message concerning its ori- 
 gin, age, signilicance and function. The message of each work must 
 be mentally correlated with that of its most intimate sisters, so that we 
 may go through the Vatican Museum, not on the alert for every note, 
 high or low, strong or feeble, which each marble may emit, but lending 
 an ear only to those sounds which are concordant and are reminiscent 
 of other sounds previously ignored but now^ contributing towards a 
 fuller and higher harmony. That is to say, by following historical cri- 
 teria and making ourselves humble disciples of that archaeological sci- 
 ence which is so upset when, as here, it — which is order itself — receives 
 the confused voices of so many works, we shall seek out in this great 
 collection those marbles which better characterize an age, a school, an 
 artist, an idea; and we shall thus retrace the grand line of development 
 of ancient art from the archaic products of Greece to the late Roman 
 works which herald on the horizon the dawn of another civilization — 
 the Christian. Those whose ears are attuned to the grand harmony of 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 327 
 
 this fundamental line will detect with much deeper gratification the in- 
 dividual and precious motifs which run through the apparent discord 
 of the ensemble. 
 
 The Archaic Period. — Figures of gods and votive reliefs, mytholog- 
 ical scenes and figures of athletes, statues and sepulchral reliefs are the 
 tirst products of Greek art. These sufficed amply to satisfy the desires 
 of a civilization which craved for a material expression in images. The 
 figures of the gods and the votive reliefs owe their origin to the mystical 
 sense which inclined men, who were desirous of the constant pro- 
 
 tection of su- 
 the hope that 
 would be more 
 safed to them if 
 were recited and 
 made before ma- 
 such beings, or 
 talized their 
 ferings in some 
 the figures of 
 deities and their 
 former only, ap- 
 my thological 
 nated in a sense 
 mystical one — 
 com memorative 
 historical sense, 
 the gods and 
 protectors of the 
 agents of great 
 To this very 
 
 Zeus "f ()lrif<ili (Fig. 29) 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 perior beings, to 
 this protection 
 readily vouch- 
 their prayers 
 their offerings 
 ferial images of 
 if they immor- 
 prayers and of- 
 scene in which 
 the protective 
 own, or even the 
 peared. The 
 scenes origi- 
 opposite to the 
 namely, in the 
 and honorific 
 which regarded 
 heroes, not as 
 living, but as the 
 past enterprises, 
 same honorific 
 
 sense, translated into the human atmosphere, we owe the figures of the 
 athletes; for these were the heroes of the immediate yesterday, just as 
 Hercules and Theseus, who also were athletes, were the heroes of the 
 dim past. The mystic sense and the honorific sense, variously com- 
 bined, can be recognized in the statues and sepulchral reliefs, because, 
 while on the one hand these, in perpetuating the figure of the deceased, 
 aimed at securing his peaceful ultramundane existence through the 
 mystical power of the image, on the other hand they aimed at perpetu- 
 ating his memory among his surviving relatives and friends. For this 
 reason the sepulchral reliefs most commonly show the deceased en- 
 gaged at one of his usual earthly occupations. 
 
 The ability displayed at first by Greek art in the cultivation of all 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 (Scopas[?], Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Headless Statue of a Niobid (Fig. 31) 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 these branches was not greater than that shown by Egyptian or As- 
 syrian art in the interpretation of nature; in fact, Greece shows as yet 
 no superiority whatever over any other country where art developed 
 and ran its independent course. In statuary, the figures are conceived 
 rigidly in perspective, without any lateral or oblique motion which 
 might disturb the stern line of the trunk, and with few angular move- 
 ments of the limbs. In reliefs, which are the transference to stone of 
 decorative scenes, the figures, instead of being represented with the 
 natural coordination of their parts, are the result of the arbitrary recon- 
 struction of parallel views. Thus, the thorax in perspective is crushed 
 between the head and legs in profile; the eye in perspective is repre- 
 sented in a head in profile. 
 
 But, however little it may be apparent from these rigid and distorted 
 designs, Greek art from the very beginning looked on nature with keen 
 observation of the real, and ennobled this reality by idealizing it. 
 And, as it gradually advanced in the knowledge of the human body, 
 it succeeded in correcting the errors of design which had rendered the 
 figure rigid and distorted. In the statue the head inclines towards one 
 shoulder; one leg bends at the knee, relieving itself of the weight of the 
 body; the arms move in smoother gestures, and the trunk from the 
 shoulders to the hips begins to accompany wnth greater freedom the 
 motions of the limbs. A similar advance is made in the representation 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 329 
 
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 Ganymede lUuiitil up by the Eagle (liR. .12 
 (Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Apoxyomenus (Fig. 33) 
 (I.ysippus, Fourth Century B.C.) 
 
 Crouching Figure of Aphrodite (I-ig. 34) 
 (Daedalus [?], Hellenistic Period) 
 
 Jupiter Serapis (Fig. 3.'>) 
 (Bryaxis, Hellenistic Period) 
 
Personiflcatidii of Aiitiochia (Fig. 36) 
 (Eutychides, Hellenistic Period) 
 
 330 THE VATICAN 
 
 of the draperies, which at first 
 
 smothered the body like a sheath; 
 
 the folds, which previously fell in 
 
 regular parallel and superficial 
 
 lines, now diverge, curve and 
 
 deepen. Then, in its turn, the 
 
 trunk in the reliefs begins to 
 
 deviate from its rigidly vertical 
 
 position, and to assume a more 
 
 natural posture between the legs 
 
 and the head. Gradually this 
 
 slight obliquity is extended to the 
 
 limbs, increasing still further the 
 
 naturalness of the posture; and 
 
 that enormous eye shown in per- 
 spective, which had previously 
 
 gazed into vacant space as if en- 
 tirely detached from the action of 
 the figure, loses some of its size. 
 
 It is easy to indicate the tech- 
 nical ways and means by which Greek art gradually accomplished its 
 liberation, raising itself thereby to a plane high above Oriental art, and 
 opening for itself a horizon shut off from the latter for ever. But we 
 can never know why to Greek art was granted that which was denied to 
 art elsewhere. To attain to the truth in such a research, we should 
 need to know the causes which occasioned the peculiar psychological 
 constitution of the Greek people; that is to say, we should need a know- 
 ledge of things which time has obscured for ever. But, if we must per- 
 force abandon our inquiry into causes, we may at least take cognizance 
 of the fact. Greek art slowly approaches to reality, and idealizes it. 
 This preparatory work was performed during the archaic era— that is, 
 between the second half of the seventh century and the first half of the 
 fifth century before Christ. During the early part of this era— the pe- 
 riod of crude archaism— Greek art is rigid in its statuary and distorted 
 in its reliefs, like all primitive art; in the latter part of this era— the 
 period of mature archaism— it corrects both excesses, and makes 
 natural and idealizes both subjects and forms. 
 
 Of the output of crude archaism the Vatican possesses nothing. This 
 period, with which the excavations in Greece, Asia Minor and Sicily 
 have so familiarized us, produced crude figures of which no intelligent 
 Roman would have desired a copy. The Vatican indeed possesses very 
 few works from the period of mature archaism, and even these date 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 331 
 
 rather from the end than the beginning of this period. Still, with the 
 exception of the mythological reliefs, which were peculiarly an orna- 
 ment of the temples and of which therefore it was not easy to 
 find specimens or fragments in the soil of Rome, all the genres of Greek 
 art are represented in these few specimens — the statue of the deity, the 
 votive relief, the athletic and mythic statue, and the sepulchral relief. 
 And we even have one work wherein, according to our interpretation, 
 we may see the figure of a goddess, or of a heroine, or of a mortal. 
 The first of the above-mentioned genres is represented by three 
 
 The Nile (Fig. 37) 
 (Alexandrian School, Hellenistic Period) 
 
 statues of Apollo. As the most archaic of these has been transformed 
 by the copyist into a Latin god, Semo Sancus, and thus characterizes a 
 special tendency of the Roman religious spirit, it will be examined by 
 us when we shall later speak of the art of the Empire. Of the other two 
 statues, the older shows the Apollo Citharaedus Seated (Fig. 1). The 
 copyist has here translated into marble a bronze original which dates 
 from the beginning of the fifth century, as the following technical de- 
 tails show: the skilful carving of the hair and of the folds of the chiton 
 (tunic) and the cavity of the eyes, which was to be filled with metal or 
 a glassy paste to give the illusion of the living glance. The restorer has 
 been guiltv of some inaccuracies in the reconstruction of the two arms 
 
332 THE VATICAN 
 
 with the plectrum and lyre, but in general his restoration of these mem- 
 bers has been well conceived. He has, however, been less fortunate 
 with the feet, which he has enveloped in too clumsy footwear, and with 
 the added mass of curls which fall on the shoulders; the latter accords 
 ill with the original coiffure, which gathered all the hair in a knot at the 
 nape of the neck. Yet not even the infidelities of the copyist or the 
 disfigurements of the restorer can destroy the expressive gracefulness 
 of this work. The young god, with his delicate and oval face, and with 
 his body lightly wrapped in a chiton with fine and superficial folds, in- 
 
 The Marine Centaur ( I iu. .isi 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 clines his head slightly towards his left shoulder to catch the sounds 
 which he draws from his instrument. If the cavity of the eyes conveys 
 to the modern spectator the impression that he stares astonished into 
 vacancy, we must remember that this was not so in the original. In the 
 attitude of the figure all is composure and calm. Hardly perceptible is 
 the inclination of the head; the face is inert; the trunk is firm; the left 
 foot is slightly in advance of the other. As yet we have nothing of that 
 Apollonian fury, of the enrapturing power of music, which, a little 
 more than a century later, we shall find in another figure of Apollo, 
 also in the Vatican Museum. Greek art is studying the human body, 
 but it is as vet unable to breathe into it a soul. 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 333 
 
 Centaur or Triton (Fig. 39t 
 (School of Pergamos, Hellenistic Period) 
 
 Centaur Crowned with Vine Leaves (Fig. -10) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 The other figure of Apollo, a few decades later than the preceding 
 one, is not only an ideal nude body (Fig. 2) : it also shows increased re- 
 search into expression. It too has suffered at the hands of the copyist 
 and the restorer. The copyist, who lived probably in the time of 
 Hadrian and was therefore imbued with classical smoothness, has so 
 far exaggerated this quality as to refine down almost completely 
 the muscles and bones. He has besides, for the sake of contrast, created 
 pronounced shadows in the mass of the hair by ruffling it and increas- 
 ing its size. In this instance the restorer's work has been less detrimen- 
 tal than the copyist's. He is mistaken, however, in his restoration of 
 the left arm, which ought to have been more bent at the elbow, and he 
 has besides shown poor taste in adding the big arrow when reconstruct- 
 ing part of the right arm. On the whole, he has well reproduced the 
 rhythm of the legs. In any case neither the copyist nor the restorer 
 has been able to obliterate the original character of the work, which is 
 linked with a whole series of figures of Apollo dating from the first half 
 of the fifth century, and showing the two aims of Greek artists: first, 
 to make the figure of the god ever more delicate, while retaining the 
 squareness of the shoulders and the firmness of the trunk; and sec- 
 ondly, to give to the figure a benevolent expression and a subdued 
 melancholy through the inclination of the head and the shape of the 
 eyes and mouth. 
 
334 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Silcnus with the Infant Dionysus (Tig. 41) 
 
 Young Satyr Carrying Dionysus (Fig. 42) 
 
 (Hellenistic Period) (School of Lysippus, Hellenistic Period) 
 
 From the statues of the gods we pass to the votive reliefs — that is, to 
 that genre in which the believer gives material expression to his prayer 
 for divine protection. That the Vatican Museum among its statues of 
 this period does not possess those of the great and solemn gods (for 
 example, Zeus or Hera), but only statues of the young and graceful 
 Apollo, is due entirely to chance. It was, however, not chance, but a 
 particular characteristic of the Greek spirit which willed that the 
 Vatican Museum should possess only one votive relief, and this dedi- 
 cated to the Charites or Graces (Fig. 3). Like the material vows of 
 more modern days, the ancient votuin was above all a need of the un- 
 educated, who, desiring especially health of body and earthly benefits, 
 addressed themselves to secondary and more humble divinities rather 
 than to the high gods of Olympus. The belief was that the lower gods, 
 as such, were more accessible, and therefore more inclined to satisfy 
 human desires. The Greek thus addressed himself to ^Esculapius, 
 Hygeia, the Nymphs, and the Graces. That the Vatican Museum has in 
 this relief a copy of a celebrated original is shown by the existing frag- 
 ments of duplicates. Whether the original, which stood at the entrance 
 of the Acropolis in Athens, was the work of an artist Socrates (perhaps 
 the Boeotian ), will never be determined. In any case we cannot accept 
 the ancient tradition to the effect that this work is a youthful creation 
 of the great philosopher who, before constituting himself the gadfly of 
 
Faun in rosso antico {Fig. 43) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 335 
 
 the Athenians, sought in sculpture 
 a means of placating the excitable, 
 if wise housewife, Xanthippe; for 
 this work was executed between 
 480 and 460 b.c, when the philos- 
 opher was still a child. 
 
 The three Graces in this relief 
 could not be taken as models of 
 gracefulness; they have indeed the 
 heavy and stiff appearance of 
 three aged spinsters. The cum- 
 bersome gowns add nothing to 
 their grace, and the rigidity of 
 their legs suggests that, instead of 
 being engaged in a round dance, 
 they are taking part in a slow 
 parade. But, if the work has no 
 attraction for the expression of 
 the figures, it is of great value in 
 view of its form and its technique. 
 The artist not only tries to pay attention to bodily forms — and does it 
 in such a way that they appear even through the heaviness of the cloth- 
 ing — but he also tries to vary the drapery and above all to render with 
 the highest possible fidelity the various courses of the folds. Besides, 
 with the help of the technique of high relief which, in its greater body, 
 allowed the correction of the distortions contained in the design, the 
 individual parts of the body have been coordinated in each of the fig- 
 ures, which have been differentiated by varying the positions of the 
 head and the trunk. The first is foreshortened; the second in perspec- 
 tive; the third in profile. Thus, at once, have been established the 
 motion of the figures and their relation to the spectator, for the two 
 side figures indicate the movement of the group, while the central one 
 shows that the movement is made for the benefit of a spectator sup- 
 posed to be out of the relief — that is, for the real spectator. In our 
 opinion, the artist has succeeded in conveying the dynamic and static 
 functions of the three figures even in the variety of hair-dressing, 
 which is simple and superficial in the two side figures, but is elaborate 
 and heavy in the central Grace, who seems to make a display of it as a 
 Byzantine icon displays its nimbus. Though quite devoid of Attic 
 sweetness and grace, and displaying all the heaviness of the Pelopon- 
 nesian School, this relief is the work of an artist who could coordinate 
 effects and strove to liberate Greek art from its archaic uniformity. 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 MaMiiui (I'iR. 14) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 Fugitive Niobid (Fig. 45) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 In its Girl Runner (Fig. 4) the Vatican Museum possesses, not one of 
 the numerous and ordinary statues of athletes, but the most singular 
 of all athletic figures. This work is perhaps both an athletic and a 
 mythic figure, because, as we view this slim and graceful girl, our 
 thoughts inevitably turn to the athletic heroine par excellence — Ata- 
 lante, the rival of Peleus and Meleager, who, outdistanced through a 
 ruse in her race with Hippomenes, became his bride. The palm en- 
 graved on the tree-stump beside her seems in contradiction of such 
 defeat. This stump, however, is an addition of the copyist; and, while 
 from one point of view the palm may be reminiscent of the other vic- 
 tories of the heroine, it may also contain merely some arbitrary mean- 
 ing attached to it by the copyist, who did not appreciate the true his- 
 torical significance of the statue. The fact that girls' races were held at 
 Olympia and in other ancient cities on the occasion of the feast of Hera 
 has led some to suggest that this was the honorary statue of some win- 
 ner. One detail, however, does not harmonize with the idea of a girl 
 competitor at Olympia: the short chiton worn in such races reached 
 almost to the knees, whereas this statue wears the very short chiton 
 which is peculiar to the divine and heroic figures (for example, Arte- 
 mis and the Amazons), and which no mortal maid would ever have 
 worn in public. But this modification might be attributed to the artist, 
 who desired to represent in all their grace and vigor the agile limbs of 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 337 
 
 the winner. Evidently, however, 
 the posture of the figure better 
 corresponds to that of Atalante. 
 Even granted that the arms should 
 be closer to the body than as 
 shown in the modern restoration 
 (the left at least certainly should), 
 their position is not such as to bal- 
 ance the body during a race, for 
 which purpose they should be held 
 lower and not so extended; their 
 position seems rather to express 
 surprise, and accords well with 
 the poise of the head, which sug- 
 gests attention concentrated on 
 the ground. Again, the girl is 
 caught by the artist in the act of 
 running, not in the act of starting, 
 
 because the little block under- uiysses (Fig. 46) 
 
 neath her right foot is an addition (Hellenistic period) 
 
 of the copyist, who only thus could give the figure stability in trans- 
 lating it from bronze to marble. In the original the right foot was free 
 in the air, and the girl was represented at a moment of unstable equi- 
 librium — that is, at a moment when, surprised by some object on the 
 ground, she stops running. And this object which halts her may well 
 have been the golden apples which the crafty Hippomenes employed 
 to overcome her speed and win her hand. Such an explanation alone 
 can account for the fixity with which the girl gazes upon the ground. 
 Neither the motion of the arms nor the poise of the head would be 
 justiiied under different circumstances. If, for example, she were con- 
 centrating for the start, the girl, instead of looking down, would have 
 looked straight ahead; instead of extending her arms as in the figure, 
 she would have drawn them nearer the body; instead of drawing back 
 with one foot in the air, she would have bent forward at the knees. 
 
 We have stated that the figure offers an example of unstable equilib- 
 rium. Our thoughts thus turn immediately to the artist of movement, 
 Myron, and particularly to one work of his which deals with a similar 
 situation — Marsyas viewing on the ground the double flute cast away 
 by Athena. There are certainly some Myronian traits in the face of the 
 Girl Runner, especially in its general conformation and in the eyes. 
 Some of the other elements, however, seem too archaic for Myron — for 
 example, the hair and especially the folds of the chiton, which, con- 
 
338 THE VATICAN 
 
 fined by a pectoral sash under the partly uncovered breast, descends 
 with folds so superficial and undulating that the figure must be re- 
 garded as archaic. On the other hand, it is true that the greater part of 
 Myron's works were executed during the latest period of mature ar- 
 chaism (that is, between 480 and 460), to which period our statue 
 belongs. But even if it is not by Myron, it must certainly be attributed 
 to the Attic School in view of the elegance of its proportions and its 
 
 Ariadne (Fig. 47) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 delicate treatment of the nude — particularly of the lower limbs. It 
 contains no trace of the Peloponnesian style, which, however, is sug- 
 gested to us by the contest of Olympia and the Doric spirit of such a 
 custom. 
 
 Even more uncertain is our interpretation of another singular statue 
 in the Vatican Museum. This is the so-called Penelope (Fig. 5) — a poor 
 copy of a celebrated original, of which other duplicates exist, not only 
 in statuary but also in relief. It should properly be regarded as simply 
 a torso, since a large part of the right leg, the left foot, and the right 
 hand are restorations, while the youthful head which has been added 
 to the statue, though ancient, does not belong to the figure. The attrac- 
 tion of this work thus consists altogether in its posture. In so far as its 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 339 
 
 technique is concerned, this pos- 
 ture is simply the translation into 
 statuary of a scheme conceived in 
 relief, which allowed the sculptor 
 to establish delinite relations be- 
 tween his figure and the spectator. 
 As for the signiiicance of this pos- 
 ture, various hypotheses might be 
 offered. The statue is the figure 
 of a woman concentrated on grave 
 thoughts or buried in grief; and 
 as in the other duplicates the fig- 
 ure is seated, not on a rock, but on 
 a sedile (chair) beneath which is 
 a basket, the statue was imme- 
 diately identified as the pensive 
 Penelope seated before a loom at 
 her interminable task of weaving 
 
 the shroud for Laertes — her pre- Meneiaus (Fig. 48) 
 
 text for rejecting the advances of (He..c„istic Peric, 
 
 her importunate suitors. But the posture and the basket agree equally 
 well with the figure of Demeter mourning the loss of her daughter 
 Persephone, or with that of any mortal woman who, through this 
 image placed on her grave, would convey to the passer-by her house- 
 wifely industry and her regretful longing for her earthly life. 
 
 But whether it be the figure of a heroine, a goddess, or a mortal, this 
 statue certainly personifies the commemorative spirit of Greek art, and 
 reveals on how few technical resources this art could rely at the end of 
 the archaic period (470-450 B.C.) in its research into expression. 
 Though given greater body, the folds of the chiton and the himation 
 (mantle) are still artificial, as also are the curls which fall on the shoul- 
 ders, and the position of the right leg, which is crossed over the left, is 
 stiff and unnatural. But the figure, even unaided by the expression of 
 the face, clearly reflects, in the bending of the head and of the trunk, in 
 the position of the arms and the legs, the interior state of the soul. With 
 equal sobriety of gesture the surprise and sudden halt of Atalante were 
 expressed, and this sobriety, coupled with certain characteristics of 
 style, helps us to recognize in this work also a product of Attic art. 
 
 In so far as the Vatican Museum is concerned, the archaic period 
 closes with the sepulchral stele of the Young Gymnast and his Slave 
 (Fig. 6). This is not a Roman copy, but a Greek original, belonging to 
 the Attic School of the middle of the fifth century b.c. The study of 
 
340 THE VATICAN 
 
 expression which we have noticed in the two preceding works is here 
 accentuated, and the clearness of the subject and the purpose of the 
 stele distinctly reveal the intention of the sculptor — namely, to repre- 
 sent at his daily occupation a gymnast who has died in the flower of his 
 youth. The gymnast looks at and salutes with his left hand the little 
 slave who tenders to him the ariballus (oil flask) and the strigil 
 (scraper) for use in the palaestra. What eloquence there is in the atti- 
 tude of the two figures! The gymnast salutes, but his face is suffused 
 with melancholy, and the slave stares wonderingly in return. This has 
 indeed been one of their daily occupations, but now it is never to be 
 repeated. Never again will the young slave tender to his beloved mas- 
 ter the ariballus and the strigil, and he looks towards him as if death 
 had already separated them. Yet, to express this silent grief, the sculp- 
 tor has but very few technical means at his disposal. The gymnast in- 
 clines the head, while the little slave raises his towards his master. The 
 wonder and sadness which we perceive in the two heads do not exist in 
 the physical forms, but spring from the looks which the figures ex- 
 change. And, confronted with such expression, we forget the irregu- 
 larities of the bodies, which are to be attributed partly to the technique 
 of bas-relief; we forget the disproportionate size of the gymnast's head 
 and arms, the unsuccessful foreshortening of the slave's thorax, and 
 the eye, which is still almost in perspective in the faces of the figures. 
 
 The Classical Period of Greek Art. — The surprise and sudden halt 
 of Atalante, the concentration and sorrow of Penelope, the melancholy 
 and surprise of the Gymnast and his Slave — these archaic art has suc- 
 cessfully rendered simply by a movement of the head, of the arms, or 
 of the legs. It also displays increased ability in the rendering of the 
 human body; it corrects the rigidity and the superficiality of the 
 drapery; it modifies the posture both in statuary and in relief. Amid 
 such developments the great artists of the fifth century were nurtured, 
 since at least part of the activity of Myron, Phidias and Polycletus must 
 be referred to the period of mature archaism. Uplifted on the wings 
 of genius, these sculptors within a few decades raised Greek art to the 
 pinnacle of perfection in the reproduction of movement, of divine dig- 
 nity and of the undraped body of the athlete. 
 
 The Vatican Museum possesses a poor copy of the Discobolus of 
 Myron (Fig. 7), the earliest of these three sculptors. The work indeed 
 looks as if the copyist and the restorer had vied with each other in their 
 endeavors to render the figure as little athletic and impressive as pos- 
 sible. The copyist has almost made the figure lean against an immense 
 tree-trunk, an(l has smoothened the body so much that the bone and 
 muscular reliefs have been greatly diminished. Besides adding the left 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 341 
 
 "•*ii[iimfrAiliiiiiitUiii«i 1 
 
 The Laocoon (Fig. 49) 
 (Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, Hellenistic Period) 
 
342 THE VATICAN 
 
 arm and right leg, the restorer not only has given the figure a modern 
 head, but has applied this head so badly that it seems to drag down with 
 it the rest of the body. In the bronze original the athlete's right arm 
 was drawn back, and he was represented at the moment of pausing 
 before bringing forward his arm to hurl the discus. To obtain a better 
 swing, he had his right foot set tirmly on the ground, bending his body 
 over the right knee, and was ready to follow the swing and direct it by 
 raising and advancing his left foot, the toes of which graze the ground. 
 From the standpoint of athletics, much might be said concerning the 
 naturalness of the athlete's posture; viewing the statue from the tech- 
 nical point of view, we may say that Myron is less of an innovator than 
 at iirst appears, since he has only introduced into statuary a motive 
 which, in a distorted form, was already found among the decorative 
 designs of the relief. Nevertheless, this work of Myron must be char- 
 acterized as a distinct stroke of audacity, for he aimed at destroying the 
 stability of statuary, which is the stable art par excellence. When com- 
 pared with the Atalante, the Discobolus shows what great progress in 
 expressing movement Greek art made within a few decades. 
 
 As the Vatican does not possess any copies of works that can with 
 certainty be attributed to Phidias, and as his greatness is here conveyed 
 to the visitor rather through sculptures coming from his school, our 
 references to this artist may be postponed while we speak of the works 
 of Polycletus. 
 
 Archaeological research has established beyond doubt that in our 
 sculptural inheritance from antiquity we possess copies of three works 
 of the great Argive master — the Doryphorus, the Diadumenus and the 
 Amazon. Of these three the Vatican Museum has copies only of the 
 first and last. In the Doryphorus (Fig. 8), Polycletus, the artist of 
 the robust athletic nude, established practically the rule for those ideal 
 bodily proportions which he had already determined theoretically in 
 his writing called the "Canon." The traditional admiration felt for the 
 Doryphorus was fully shared by Pliny and Quintilian; the former 
 admires its "virile youthfulness" (viriliter pueriim), and the latter sees 
 in the statue a youth "equally fit for the battle-field and the gym- 
 nasium." But artistic criticism of antiquity, while attributing to 
 Polycletus the innovation of making his sturdy figures stand on one 
 foot, blamed him for making these figures square and uniform. The 
 Doryphorus contains all the excellences and defects which are charac- 
 teristic of the works of Polycletus. The copy in the Vatican is not one 
 of the best, but, apart from certain insignificant elements, the restora- 
 tion at least is confined to the right arm and the left forearm, and on 
 the whole is well conceived. In contrast to the violent movement of 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 343 
 
 the agile Discobolus, we see in the Doryphorus a powerful inert figure, 
 which bends the left leg at the knee and draws it a little aside to relieve 
 it of the weight of the body. To this slight movement of the lower 
 limbs — which now appears for the first time in Greek art in the case 
 of static figures, although we have already seen instances of it in 
 moving ligures — corresponds a similarly placid movement of the left 
 arm, which bends at the elbow as it rests the javelin on the shoulder. 
 Equal calm and firmness characterize the head, which is slightly in- 
 clined and faces towards the right. The effect of the movement is felt 
 but superficially by the trunk; on the right side, which supports most 
 of the weight of 
 shoulder de- 
 loin ascends, 
 lateral solid 
 one of a pilaster, 
 mand of art vio- 
 which are partly 
 acrobatic poses, 
 significance in 
 unemotional fig- 
 of the Dory- 
 but his head is 
 his forehead no 
 passes, and to 
 calmness of his 
 on a closer ex- 
 this figure, the 
 will find what a 
 the study of the 
 Greek art has 
 work, whose fas- 
 
 the body, the 
 scends and the 
 And this quadri- 
 body reminds 
 Those who de- 
 lent emotions, 
 result of 
 find little 
 inert and 
 The body 
 is full. 
 Behind 
 
 the 
 
 will 
 
 this 
 
 ure. 
 
 phorus 
 
 empty. 
 
 great 
 
 this is 
 
 Torso del Belvedere (Fig. 
 ( ApoIlonius[?], Hellenistic Period) 
 
 thought 
 due the 
 movements. But 
 amination of 
 student of art 
 great advance in 
 human body 
 made in this 
 cination no per- 
 son of taste can escape. The Doryphorus is as restful to the eye as 
 a reflection in still water. We feel that, in refining the light lines of the 
 contour and the calm planes of the body, the artist wished to create the 
 image of a conscious physical robustness which need have no recourse 
 to violent movement to win appreciation. For this reason he has 
 treated the head, not as the mirror of the internal condition of the soul, 
 but simply as one of the parts of the body all of which must be equally 
 calm and robust. And when we view the ample dimensions of the 
 head, the firm outline of the face, the smooth forehead, the large and 
 oval eyes, and the careful and regular arrangement of the hair, we must 
 acknowledge the success with which his efforts have been crowned. 
 
344 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Fisherman (Fig. 51) 
 (Hellenistic Period) 
 
 iJtiiiiisthenes (Fig. 52) 
 (Polyeuctus, Hellenistic Period) 
 
 After this inquiry we can well understand why the Doryphorus of 
 Polycletus appeared to the settled Roman the ideal expression of the 
 human body. This glorious figure may have been created by the artist 
 for the sole purpose of serving as a model for athletes, as is suggested 
 by his describing it as the "Canon" (or "Type"), and by his also general 
 title of Doryphorus. It may be that Polycletus wished to honor herein 
 an athlete who really lived, and to whom this statue was erected in 
 some sacred enclosure; or finally, as some to-day believe, the figure 
 may be the image of a god. In the eyes of the Romans, however, the 
 Doryphorus was nothing else than a Greek anticipation of their own 
 ideal soldier. 
 
 An anecdote told by Pliny in connection with four statues of Ama- 
 zons at Ephesus, states that these statues were works of Polycletus, 
 Phidias, Cresilas and Phradmon; that the artists made them in com- 
 petition with one another; and that, when invited to pass judgment on 
 the works, the three others unwittingly surrendered the palm to Poly- 
 cletus, for, while all claimed first place for his own statue, the statue of 
 the Argive sculptor was placed second by his three rivals. We possess 
 in numerous Roman copies three types of Amazon belonging to the 
 second half of the fifth century b.c; two of these are entire, while the 
 third is headless. It is our opinion that, even in ancient times, the copy- 
 ists applied the head of one type to the body of another, because only 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 345 
 
 Semo Sancus (Fig. 53) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period, 130-180 a.d.) 
 
 Juno Sospes Lanuvina (Fig. 54) 
 { Graeco-Ronian Period ) 
 
 thus can we explain why we find numerous heads of one type, and of 
 another only the body. 
 
 These three types have undeniable affinities both in posture and 
 costume. Persons who hold a similar conception of originality in the 
 case of both ancient and modern art, and regard as original only that 
 which differs absolutely from what has preceded it, may find in the 
 affinities between the three types of Amazon a reason for denying the 
 authenticity of Pliny's anecdote and for holding that the three figures 
 were made successively by the artists after the one was already ac- 
 quainted with the work of the other. In fact, if we were not acquainted 
 with the anecdote of Pliny, we might, in accordance with our modern 
 canons of criticism, attribute after a superficial examination the three 
 figures to a single artist who had repeatedly attempted the same prob- 
 Originality in ancient art, however, consisted in the temperate 
 
 lem. 
 
 variation of traditional types. No great artist was ashamed to take up 
 a subject already treated by his predecessors, and to approach it from 
 the same standpoint as they had done. Thus, while from one point of 
 view the affinities between the three Amazons might suggest the pos- 
 sibility of the figures being the successive works of three artists, they 
 do not necessarily contradict the story of the contest, since all the com- 
 petitors may have followed a preexisting traditional type. That such a 
 traditional type was associated with the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus 
 
346 THE VATICAN 
 
 may be all the more readily admitted, since the myth tells us that there 
 the vanquished and wounded Amazons found a refuge. And, when 
 we turn to the examination of the ditferent statues, we shall see that the 
 originality which is wanting in the ensemble is visible in the details — 
 so much so, indeed, that each of the three figures reveals an artistic 
 individuality expressive of its bodily and mental attributes. Inasmuch 
 as Pliny speaks of four Amazons, and duplicates of only three are ex- 
 tant, it is an obvious hypothesis that the missing one is that of Phrad- 
 mon, the bronzist — the least known and least capable of the four artists. 
 
 Remembering that Polycletus was censured for making all his fig- 
 ures uniform, we can immediately determine which of the three extant 
 types must be attributed to him (Fig. 9) . We are here confronted by a 
 full sister of the Doryphorus, both in the general conformation of the 
 body and in the rhythm of the lower limbs. It is true that the left leg 
 and the right, from the knee down, are restorations, but the restorer 
 has here correctly divined the posture of the original. He has, how- 
 ever, been less fortunate in his restoration of the right arm, which 
 should have been nearer the head, and of the left, which should 
 have rested on a pillar. The young woman has been wounded 
 near the right breast; and, although her light armless chiton does not 
 touch the wound, with the instinctive movement characteristic of phys- 
 ical pain she raises her arm to her head, forgetting that this movement 
 opens wider the edges of her wound. The figure is expressive, not 
 alone of physical pain, but especially of mental dolor. The bent head, 
 the large eyes with wandering looks, the parted lips, also give mute 
 utterance to the suffering of the spirit. The indomitable virgin has 
 been defeated — and defeated by a man! Ancient feminism has met 
 with failure. But how calm and contained is this sorrow! This com- 
 posure indeed well befits the strong virgin w^ho, not even in defeat, 
 deigns to be a woman and to appeal to our pity. In this supreme com- 
 posure breathes the spirit of the Doryphorus. 
 
 How different, on the other hand, is the Amazon attributed to Cresilas 
 (Fig. 10) ! She resembles the Amazon of Polycletus in the position of 
 the lower limbs (which, however, is here reversed), in the inclination 
 of the head towards the right shoulder, in the raising of the right arm; 
 but all these details are utilized to convey an impression less dignified. 
 In the original the figure rested with her right hand on a spear, and, 
 drawing aside the edge of her chiton, showed to the spectator the 
 wound underneath her right breast. She knows that she is observed, 
 and expects compassion, for, unless the language of forms deceives us, 
 she seems to say: "See, how wounded I am!" Such sentiments, while 
 suiting well a feeble mortal woman, characterize ill the woman war- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 347 
 
 rior. The Amazon of Cresilas is undoubtedly more expressive of pain. 
 With a higher delicacy of form, her head is also more ideally pathetic, 
 and it has therefore been more frequently copied, even to the extent of 
 being applied to the bodies of other types of Amazon. But, on the 
 whole, the Amazon of Cresilas is less virile — that is, she is less an Ama- 
 zon. Her body is more hampered by the long himation (cloak) which 
 surrounds her neck and falls below her knees; and how rigid is her 
 chiton with its rectilinear lower edge and parallel folds! When we 
 
 The Sacrifice of Mitlira (Fig. 55) 
 (Grjeco-Roman Period) 
 
 compare these details with the Amazon of Polycletus, whose soft 
 draperies offer so line a contrast to the solid nude and terminate below 
 in a harmonious undulating line, we appreciate well why even in an- 
 tiquity the palm of victory was yielded to Polycletus. 
 
 A similar detailed comparison cannot be made in the case of the third 
 Amazon (Fig. 11), which is referred by most critics to Phidias, since the 
 head of this type is missing, and its original posture uncertain. In 
 the Vatican copy the head is borrowed from the Cresilas type, and the 
 restorer, in adding the arms and parts of the legs, has represented her 
 in the act of taking her bow from her shoulder and surrendering her- 
 
348 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 M^MMsMJ s MMi^ ! SM£siMmi!^S!ad 
 
 ^mmm^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^'^^^ ^^ ^ 
 
 Isiac Procession (Pig. 56) 
 (Grseco-Roman Period) 
 
 self defeated to her adversaries. Such a restoration, however, is ar- 
 bitrary, and no less doubtful seems to be that which makes the Amazon 
 lean with her two hands on her spear as she prepares to spring on 
 horseback. It is far more probable that this figure too was wounded 
 and resting; that she sustained her body by leaning with her two hands 
 on her spear, while dragging her left foot lamely behind. In view of 
 this uncertainty, our examination must be limited to the torso. Here 
 we must certainly admire proportions of greater elegance than is 
 shown in the two other figures; this elegance is especially conspicuous 
 in the drapery, which, though masking excessively the bodily forms, 
 falls in the finest and most vivacious folds, and approaches nearest to 
 the style of the Parthenon. Nevertheless, even without knowing the 
 head we may safely declare that this is the least successful of the three 
 Amazons in attitude and expression. She is less womanly than the 
 Amazon of Cresilas, and less virile than that of Polycletus. 
 
 Cresilas has been a lucky artist, for, while according to literary tradi- 
 tion his works were few, numerous duplicates of these few works have 
 been preserved. The Vatican Museum possesses a copy of his portrait 
 of Pericles (Fig. 12). The great Athenian is represented as a strategus 
 (general) — that office which allowed him to leave the impress of his 
 genius on a famous epoch of history. Through the eyes of the high 
 comitial helmet we can see the peculiar elongated skull which an an- 
 cient comedist called "squill-shaped." Certainly the artist has not 
 flattered Pericles, either in this matter or in the features of his face — 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 349 
 
 particularly in the short and curly beard. But, if Pericles is not hand- 
 some, he is ideal. Behind this thoughtful brow and behind those eyes 
 to which the accentuated upper eyelids lend a strange shadow, we feel 
 that deep preoccupations lurk. This is not the empty face of the Dory- 
 phorus! Cresilas has given us above all the grave image of the states- 
 man, and it is not without a certain historic emotion and a sense of 
 gratitude to figurative art, which preserves through the centuries what 
 
 I'riiiissidii of SacriliccTs in Art^'riiis ( I'ig. .'j / I 
 (Painting, Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 otherwise would have been lost for ever, that we see reemerging from 
 the shadows of antiquity the goodness, the dignity and the nobility of 
 Pericles, which are mirrored in his own words in the panegyric of 
 Athens recorded by Thucydides. 
 
 Myron has taught us audacity of movement; Polycletus, the robust- 
 ness of the body; Cresilas, the strength and power of the portrait; but 
 Phidias alone was able to render the dignity of the gods. From the 
 Phidiac School have come four statues, representing different figures, 
 but similar in their composure and drapery; and all four embody the 
 divine ideal. One is the Demeter of the Rotonda; the second is the 
 Artemis of the Gallery of the Candelabra; the third is the Caryatid of 
 the Braccio Nuovo; the fourth is the gigantic statue of Athena. 
 
 Of all the glorious works which we inherit from ancient art, none 
 
 gives such a perfect expression of matronal dignity as the Demeter 
 
 (Fig. 13). This figure might be also identified as Hera, for the two 
 
 arms are restorations, and consequently the ears of corn in the right 
 
350 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Charioteer (Fig. r>8i 
 (Graeco-Ronian Period) 
 
 hand (the symbol of Demeter) are 
 a modern addition. The goddess 
 is dressed in a heavy peplum; this 
 gown falls in deep and parallel 
 folds along the right leg, on which 
 rests the weight of the body, but 
 moulds the left leg, which is free 
 and bent at the knee. The figure 
 thus has the stability of a Doric 
 column, and this impression is 
 accentuated by the proud carriage 
 of the head, which looks straight 
 before it without any benevolent 
 inclination towards mortals. Since 
 the goddess may not reveal to 
 humanity her physical beauty, the 
 peplum conceals her ample breast. 
 But the naked arms, emerging 
 from the coronet of folds at her 
 shoulders, bear witness to her di- 
 vine charms, and remind one of the epithet "splendid-armed," which 
 Homer applies to Hera. But the beauty of the goddess lies above all in 
 her majestic face, with its firm and yet delicate planes, its serene eyes, 
 and its pure brow under the harmonious arch of the hair. Reverence is 
 the sentiment inspired by such a figure, and, while Greece will later make 
 her gods more human, never again will she make them so divine. In his 
 Rhamnusian Nemesis Agoracritus, a pupil of Phidias, must have repre- 
 sented in similar manner the austere iirmness of the goddess of fatality. 
 
 And yet the same elements, with little variation, serve to give char- 
 acter to a figure entirely different, the Artemis (Fig. 14). It is not pos- 
 sible for us to seek guidance from the head in determining the type, 
 since it, while emanating from the Phidiac School, seems to belong to 
 some other figure. We feel, however, that this peplum which falls in 
 folds along the firm right leg and suggests a channelled column, covers 
 the youthful body of the Virgin Huntress rather than the matronal 
 body of a Demeter or a Hera. In this statue the folds are more sober, 
 particularly at the sides; the belt is here rectilinear, while in the Deme- 
 ter its arch reveals the fullness of the hips, and the longer apoptygma 
 of the peplum gives more litheness to the figure. The arms in this fig- 
 ure are a restoration: in the original they extended along the sides, and 
 must thus have increased still further the litheness of the body. 
 
 A comparison of these figures with the third statue of the Phidiac 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 351 
 
 School, the Caryatid (Fig. 15), f ' "^ 
 
 shows how great is the significance f ;^^. | 
 
 of the drapery in Greek art. To " ' I 
 
 give more stability to the figure, I, j 
 
 which had to till an architectural * ^' 
 function (that is, to support an 
 
 entablature), the artist has not / 
 
 completely relieved the left leg of /V^ 
 
 the weight of the body, for, though 
 
 bent at the knee, it still rests firmly "^ 
 
 on the ground. Desirous of lend- [ j 
 
 ing as nearly as possible to the I ^ • 
 
 body that same strength and elas- 
 ticity which was conveyed to the ' 
 column by the entasis (or convex 
 curve below the middle), the artist ■. 
 
 has given the Caryatid great devel- 
 opment at the hips, and has created 
 the illusion of still greater devel- pasiphae (Fig. 59) 
 
 , , ,, r 1 1 r (Painting, Grseco-Roman Period) 
 
 opment by the numerous tolas ot 
 
 the peplum below the apoptygma of the colpos — that is, the fold made 
 by pulling the chiton over the belt. In fact, while the breast is draped 
 and almost flat in front, channelled folds descend along the sides to 
 join the folds of the colpos, and the curved line of the colpos accentu- 
 ates the ampleness of the hips. This general effect is crowned by the 
 arms, which from the elbows down have been (like the head) repro- 
 duced in accordance with the original Caryatid from the Erechtheum. 
 For, while the arms cling to the body, and thus make the breast appear 
 narrow, they increase the roundness of the hips. Draping and posture 
 thus contribute alike to give the impression of architectural stability. 
 
 To the Phidiac School finally belongs a statue of Athena (Fig. 16), 
 the many duplicates of which prove that the original was a celebrated 
 one. To this statue, as to the Demeter, the artist has communicated the 
 divine bearing — not, however, that of the dignified matron, but that of 
 the austere virgin. Clad in a light chiton with delicate folds, over which 
 is thrown an ample himation, the goddess shows nothing of her body 
 except the forearm, and even her face recedes into her high Corinthian 
 helmet. But in this overshadowed and almost sad face, which seems to 
 occupy so small a part of such a towering figure, the expression is 
 dominating. Here is really the goddess of wisdom and of w^ar, con- 
 centrated on her own thoughts. 
 
 That a new spirit animates all Greek art at this period is shown also 
 
352 THE VATICAN 
 
 by an athletic figure of a Discobolus, who, before taking the swing, 
 scrutinizes the ground (Fig. 17). The most admirable characteristic of 
 this figure is not the delicate nude, free as it is from the emptiness of 
 Myron; nor is it the rhythm of the posture, at once so elegant and so 
 free. It is the concentration with which the athlete makes his examina- 
 
 Tlie Nozze Aldobraiulini (I-'ig. (iO) 
 (Painting, Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 tion — a concentration which is exaggerated if you w^ill, but which 
 ennobles and almost intellectualizes the action which the Discobolus is 
 about to perform. The figure seems to warn us that, to win in the con- 
 test, it is not sufficient to possess a trained body; we must also have a 
 trained mind. In this we recognize the influence of the art of Phidias. 
 
 That the spirit of Phidias dominated Greek art throughout the sec- 
 ond half of the fifth century may be seen also in a fragment of a 
 Boeotian funeral relief — an original showing the figure of a Horseman 
 (Fig. 18). Noble and dignified, this bearded man evidently wished 
 that, in the image which he bequeathed to posterity, he should be 
 represented at his favorite diversion. But not less noble and ideal is 
 this horse, with its ample neck, its intelligent eyes, and its spirited head, 
 which tosses proudly at the touch of its master. In both figures we 
 have an echo of the Cavalcade of the Parthenon. 
 
 Greek Art during the Fourth Century. — Nobility in the figures of 
 the gods and dignity in the figures of men — such are the qualities 
 which characterize the great artists of the fifth century. But in time 
 these gods in their nobility grew remote from men, and the men in 
 their dignity grew remote from reality. The art of the fourth century 
 therefore endeavored, in the works of its chief masters, to make the 
 gods more human and men more real, and this spirit proved especially 
 productive of figures of deities. 
 
 Even the Barberini Hera (Fig. 19), which belongs to the first part of 
 the fourth century, bears no affinity to the austere matron whom we 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 353 
 
 Detail Irom llic ISozze Aldobrandiiii (1 ig. 01) 
 
 have seen in the Demeter of the Rotonda; she is the benevolent god- 
 dess who bends towards mortals. Instead of being buried in a heavy 
 peplum, her upper body is scarcely veiled by a fine chiton, the himation 
 being added only from her waist downwards. Under the chiton may 
 be seen the breast, a portion of which is uncovered. Here too the sug- 
 gestion is human, and not divine. And human grace also is to be found 
 in the delicate oval of her countenance, and in the eyes fixed on her 
 worshippers. Not reverence but confidence is the feeling which the 
 goddess inspires. 
 
 But with the Barberini Hera we are only half way, for she is still a 
 goddess. It remained for Praxiteles to make gods who were truly 
 human and shared their characteristics with mortal men. The Vatican 
 possesses a copy of his Aphrodite (Venus) of Cnidus and of his Apollo 
 Sauroctonus. 
 
 In the Aphrodite (Fig. 20), not only has the restorer been mistaken 
 in the position of the right forearm, which he places too low, and in the 
 left arm, which he raises too high; not only has he given a wrong posi- 
 tion to the head, which belongs to another copy, and should in this fig- 
 ure have been raised somewhat more and face more towards the left 
 shoulder: but he has encased the lower portion of the figure with a 
 
354 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Detail Irom llic .Nozzc Akiobrandini (Fig. 62) 
 
 heavy mantle of tin, varnished to resemble marble, and has thus com- 
 pletely altered the original aspect of the figure. Praxiteles had repre- 
 sented the goddess at the moment when she was about to enter her bath, 
 and when she was laying aside her last garment on the water vase near 
 her. No profane look was supposed to fall upon the goddess, but yet 
 her natural modesty and bashfulness impel her to conceal her naked 
 body. No fear of profane looks, however, is to be seen in the delicate 
 head, which seems to look into the distance, and which reveals, in the 
 humid eyes and half-open lips, the slight tremor of a yearning that 
 transcends mortality. In the work of Praxiteles, Aphrodite is a woman, 
 but she is still a modest one; and, if she lacks divine dignity, she has still 
 divine charm. 
 
 Another graceful image is that of the Apollo Sauroctonus (Fig. 21). 
 The god is here represented as a gentle youth with almost feminine 
 forms, and effeminate also is the coiffure which ends in a knot behind 
 and is held by a large band. With beautiful curves, which make the 
 unmasculine development of his hips conspicuous, he rests his left arm 
 against a tree-trunk, and awaits the moment when he can transfix the 
 lizard with his arrow. Such an occupation certainly accords ill with 
 the dignity of a god, but is rather a prank of naughty children. And, 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 355 
 
 Detail from the Nozze Aldobrandini (Fig. G3) 
 
 even though at the root of this conception of Apollo there was orig- 
 inally a religious significance, the spectator no longer recognizes in this 
 figure either the god of the bow or the god of the lyre. 
 
 The spirit of the Praxitelic School is also seen in the Torso (Fig. 22), 
 which some seek to identify as one of the Erotes created by Praxiteles. 
 Very few statues have the delicacy of this nude figure, and still fewer 
 have the fascination of this beautiful head. The boy's forehead and 
 neck are hidden under a wave of juvenile curls, and he seems as pre- 
 occupied and melancholy as if he knew what great disturbance his 
 work of inspiring love has wrought in the heart of man. Perhaps, in- 
 deed, he has fallen a victim to his own art! 
 
 With still less certainty may we refer the so-called Antinous del Bel- 
 vedere (Fig. 23) to the Praxitelic School. This is a replica of a statue 
 of Hermes which the copyist, by adding the palm-trunk, has changed 
 to a Hermes Agonisticus, and which the restorer has somewhat disfig- 
 ured by reattaching badly the legs, which were broken when found. It 
 is most probable, however, that the original was an image of Hermes 
 Psychopompus — that is, of the god who conducted the souls of the dead 
 to Hades. How beautiful is this firm but delicate body, in which the 
 trunk makes a sideward movement with such soft grace! But even 
 
Head of Athena (Fig. 01) 
 (Mosaic, Gra-co-Roman Period) 
 
 356 THE VATICAN 
 
 more beautiful is the shadow 
 which suffuses the face, and which 
 is emphasized by the voluminous 
 mass of curls on the forehead, by 
 the deep furrows beneath the eye- 
 brows and by the firm planes of 
 the jaws and chin. The god is ful- 
 filling his office, but he fulfils it 
 with compassionate humanity; he 
 shares in the sorrow of the souls 
 who relinquish life with yearning 
 and regret. If the nude body and 
 the rhythm of the lower limbs 
 seem more reminiscent of the 
 School of Lysippus, the face and 
 above all the forehead remind us 
 of the Hermes of Praxiteles at 
 Olympia. 
 
 Even outside the Praxitelic cir- 
 cle, the fourth century created a 
 plethora of juvenile and human gods. We have Apollo as the god of 
 the bow^ in the statue of the Belvedere (Fig. 24). This also is a copy, 
 but an excellent one. The restorations are few, and are limited for the 
 most part to the left hand and the right forearm. The god certainly 
 grasped a bow in his left hand, and in his right hand held a branch of 
 laurel bound with ribbons, as traces on the tree-trunk show. The deity 
 is represented in the two aspects of his divinity — as a numen who chas- 
 tises and a numen who purifies. He wreaks vengeance on men when 
 they do wrong, but relieves them of their guilt when they approach him 
 humble and repentant. This is the god who in the first book of the Iliad 
 chastises the Achseans for their outrage at Chryse, but later benevo- 
 lently accepts their expiatory hecatomb. In the posture of the statue 
 the artist has succeeded admirably in rendering these two aspects of 
 the numen. Rising almost on the point of his toes, Apollo advances 
 with great strides, so that the litheness of his body is still further em- 
 phasized. But his enemies are not in front: before him are his faithful 
 worshippers, to whom he brings the lustral branch. His enemies are 
 on the left, and towards them he turns his head, menacing them with 
 his bow. And if the delicate oval of his face and the broad forehead 
 suggest that the god is good, his stern and frowning eyes, his slightly 
 dilated nostrils, and his half parted lips indicate that he can also feel 
 ire — and terrible ire. We cannot identify with certainty the artist who 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 357 
 
 could thus, in the language of forms, give expression to, not one, but 
 two states of the soul. Some have suggested Leochares, an Athenian 
 artist of the second half of the fourth century, of one of whose authen- 
 tic works the Vatican possesses a copy. 
 
 Not with the stride of an avenger, but to the rhythm of musical 
 sounds, does Apollo advance in another statue in the Vatican Museum 
 (Fig. 25). The quiver has been exchanged for the lyre, which also is 
 
 Sarcciijliagiis showing tlu- Slaughter (if thi' Niobiils (Fig. (i-'>) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 supported by the balteus. His body sways under his long flowing 
 chiton, and is buried in his large mantle as in the shadow of a niche. 
 His head is bound with the crown of laurel, but at this moment his 
 thoughts are not directed towards the purification of men, but are en- 
 raptured by his music. His face looks upwards, and in the oval eyes 
 and small mouth we feel the sweetness of the music which soothes the 
 heart of man. How long a road we have traversed in less than two cen- 
 turies from the archaic Seated Apollo! This figure of the Apollo 
 Cithartedus bears clear evidence of the influence of Praxiteles. 
 
 Together with this Apollo were found several statues of Muses who 
 encircled him. Among these were the images of Melpomene, the Muse 
 
358 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Auguslus (Fig. fi6) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 of Tragedy (Fig. 26), and Thalia, 
 the Muse ^ of Comedy (Fig. 27). 
 Though the artist has not been so 
 liappy in these two tigures as in 
 the Apollo, they bear evidence of 
 his power of precise characteriza- 
 tion. Some of the attributes of the 
 figures are of course restorations, 
 but they seem to have been cor- 
 rectly divined, and correspond 
 with those in other ancient statues. 
 In the Melpomene the left fore- 
 arm with the sword, and in the 
 Thalia part of the left forearm 
 with the tympan, are restorations. 
 Ancient, on the other hand, are, 
 except for some elements, the 
 tragic mask of Hercules and, in 
 Thalia, the comic mask of the ser- 
 vant and the pedum (crook). 
 These attributes in themselves distinguish between the literary genres 
 over which the Muses preside. The mask of Hercules hints at the abun- 
 dant material with which the adventures of this hero had furnished 
 Tragedy; the servant's mask and the pedum indicate the great part 
 which domestic and rural life played especially in the New Comedy. 
 Melpomene's crown of vine and Thalia's crown of ivy both refer to the 
 Dionysiac origin of dramatic literature. But, entirely apart from their 
 attributes, the two figures express in their bodily forms different senti- 
 ments. The posture of Tragedy, who rests her left foot on a high block, 
 suggests her agitation; Comedy sits calmly on a rock. Tragedy's dress 
 is simple and heavy with deep folds; Comedy wears a fine chiton, while 
 a rich mantle is wrapped around her lower limbs. In Tragedy the hair 
 falls loose to the shoulders and descends over the brow, reminding one 
 of the oncus which lent majesty to the tragic mask; Comedy's hair is 
 soft and elaborately dressed. The face of the former is energetic and 
 serious; on that of the latter there is a wondering look, not untinged 
 with melancholy. 
 
 Full sister to the Apollo, even in her posture, is the statue of Artemis 
 (Fig. 28). Critical examination of this ligure must be limited to the 
 body, since the head, though ancient, belongs to another ilgure, and the 
 two arms which make the statue an Artemis Lucifera (Selene, or the 
 Moon) are restorations. The quiver behind the right shoulder shows. 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 359 
 
 however, that in this statue the goddess was represented as a huntress, 
 and held the bow in her left hand, perhaps as she approached her 
 quarry. As the goddess advances, the robustness and beauty of her 
 youtliful body, which reminds us of the Apollo del Belvedere, show 
 through the draperies which mould her limbs. Even the austere Vir- 
 gin Huntress has been made a mortal woman by the sensual age of 
 Praxiteles, which has sacrificed divine dignity for bodily grace 
 
 Even in the 
 supreme gods, 
 was less inclined 
 deference to the 
 religious tradi- 
 this spirit of 
 manity. Far dif- 
 Zeus of Otricoli 
 have been the 
 at Olympia. Ac- 
 cient writers, 
 solemn, digni- 
 but in the agi- 
 of the Zeus of 
 appears to be 
 stormy waves of 
 the deep and 
 which seem so 
 great arched eye- 
 not serenity and 
 and disturbance. 
 
 statues of the 
 with whom art 
 to tamper in 
 great strength of 
 tion, is reflected 
 dominant hu- 
 ferent from the 
 (Fig. 29) must 
 Zeus of Phidias 
 cording to an- 
 the latter was 
 fied and calm; 
 tated forehead 
 Otricoli, which 
 lashed by the 
 his hair, and in 
 kindly eyes, 
 small under the 
 brows, we read 
 calm, but care 
 Rather than the 
 father of the gods, he is the father of men— and of men filled with 
 anxious agitation. 
 
 While, in comparison with the numerous statues of gods, the fourth 
 century created few figures of heroes or mortals, all of these figures 
 show the general tendency of the period to aim at the expression of 
 spiritual rather than purely physical attributes. That we cannot trace 
 such an expression in the Meleager (Fig. 30) is due to the copyist. The 
 original is attributed to Scopas, one of the great artists of the fourth 
 century. But not only is it probable that the copyist has added the dog, 
 the head of the boar and the chlamys; not only is the excessive smooth- 
 ness of the body to be credited to him: but he has furthermore failed to 
 retain in his copy that characteristic pathos which we see in other 
 replicas, particularly in a head in the Villa Medici. Why did the artist 
 choose this hero for a subject? Perhaps to represent a beautiful youth- 
 
 Caius, Nephew of Augustus (Fig. 67) 
 (Grffco-Roman Period) 
 
360 THE VATICAN 
 
 fill body, or perhaps to celebrate an adventurous victory like that over 
 the Calydonian boar; but he also wished to show that not even 
 the heroes are happy— not even they can escape adverse destiny. In 
 the profound and melancholy look of Meleager is expressed the pre- 
 sentiment of his approaching end, of which his own mother is to be the 
 voluntary instrument. 
 
 Art now begins to seek in the myths for figures which, besides the 
 struggles of the body, will indicate also the struggles of the soul. Niobe, 
 receiving in her bosom all the arrows which Apollo and Artemis hurled 
 against her fleeing children, was taken as the most expressive symbol 
 of mother's love. A headless statue of a Niobid (Fig. 31) belongs to a 
 group of this kind, of which we can now gather only one of the charac- 
 teristics—that of movement. But, though perforce judged apart from 
 the group, what an eagerness there is in this draped figure to escape the 
 inexorable vengeance of the gods! What a longing for the safety of a 
 mother's arms do we witness in the violence of the movement whereby 
 the girl tries to evade death by rushing to her who gave her life! If, in 
 the bemeter of the Rotonda, the fifth century gave an insurpassable 
 embodiment of calm dignity in the folds of a peplum, the fourth cen- 
 tury has with no less majesty expressed hurried flight in the flowing 
 folds of a chiton and himation. 
 
 Not a horizontal motion but an ascending one has been attempted in 
 the group of Ganymede Carried up by the Eagle (Fig. 32). Although, 
 from archaistic times, Greek art had grappled with the problem of 
 flight, in all previous attempts the figures (for example, of Iris or Nike) 
 were represented as passing before the spectator or descending towards 
 him. Ganymede, however, ascends to Olympus; and if the problem 
 was too difficult for statuary, which is the art of stability, the sculptor 
 has at least succeeded in conveying his intention pretty clearly. The 
 eagle, as if conscious of its precious booty, holds Ganymede's body ten- 
 derly behind the shoulders, grasping with its claws, not the nude flesh, 
 but the chlamys. A minute ago Ganymede, lying with his dog under a 
 tree, was amusing himself by playing on the syringa (Pan's pipes), but 
 now he is being borne aloft towards the sun. The heads of the dog and 
 the eagle, which, like Ganymede, look upwards, are correctly restored. 
 And in these three bodies of varying heights, which are placed near 
 one another like the reeds of the syringa, the artist has well expressed 
 the fundamental idea of the scene and the ascending flight. The eagle 
 looks toward Olympus; Ganymede towards his captor; the dog towards 
 its master. 
 
 The Vatican Museum, which has so many fourth-century figures of 
 gods and heroes, has only one athletic ligure. Such a lack of propor- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 361 
 
 Claudius (Vig. eS) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 Titus (Fig. r>9) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 tion cannot be due to chance. The fifth century was a period of glory 
 for the Hellenic games. In the fourth century, however, just as litera- 
 ture had no longer a Pindar and a Bacchylides to celebrate the winning 
 heroes, sculpture likewise, grown more inquisitive about the soul than 
 the body, pays rarer visits to the palaestra. But the Argolic tradition 
 which had developed around the name of Polycletus was not extin- 
 guished; for from the School of Sicyon came Lysippus, the greatest 
 bronzist of the fourth century. Of his Apoxyomenus (or athlete scrap- 
 ing the sand and oil from his body) the Vatican possesses an excellent 
 and almost intact copy (Fig. 33) . A moment's comparison of this figure 
 with the Doryphorus of Polycletus shows the new method adopted by 
 art in treating the body of the athlete. Lithe forms, elastic movement, 
 and small head — such was the canon or standard which Lysippus sub- 
 stituted for the robust and heavy type of Polycletus. But what is still 
 more striking in this figure is the thoughtful and almost nervous ex- 
 pression of the face. How can we explain so much emotion in so banal 
 an action as that of scraping one's body? The concentrated attention 
 of the Discobolus as he examined the ground (Fig. 17) could be appre- 
 ciated in view of the action which was to follow, but the vague stare of 
 the Apoxyomenus can be explained only as a "manner" of an age 
 which, even to the athlete, was unable to give the empty brains assigned 
 by Polycletus to his Doryphorus. 
 
362 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Hellenistic Period of Greek Art.— The fourth century had 
 produced an abundance of figures of gods, and these had already be- 
 come too human. Hellenism finished the work, and the gods, after 
 losing their nobility, are deprived of their divine gracefulness. We 
 recognize no longer a goddess, but a mortal in the Crouching Aphrodite 
 (Fig. 34), the original of which was perhaps the work of the Bithynian 
 artist D«dalus. Far from being disturbed by a sense of modesty, she 
 boldly takes her bath. Having composed her body so as to show a 
 harmonious outline, she places her back under the jet of cold water. 
 In the presence of the Aphrodite of Praxiteles the spectator feels a cer- 
 tain embarrassment at having indiscreetly surprised the modest god- 
 dess; the goddess of D^dalus, on the other hand, seems to invite at- 
 tention. This statue touches no spiritual chord; its appeal is simply 
 sensual. Divine reverence has been exiled from Greek art. 
 
 And if this epoch can still point to the Jupiter Serapis (Fig. 35), by 
 the Carian artist Bryaxis, as the image of a numen which still retains a 
 solemn dignity, we must not forget that this work was created under 
 the inspiration of another religion— the Egyptian— which possessed a 
 greater richness of faith. The Serapis, in fact, was intended to embody 
 at once the Greek Hades and the Egyptian Osiris. And while to the 
 Greek conception is due the benevolence of the face, the impress of the 
 Oriental conception must be recognized in its occultness, which is lent 
 by the confused masses of the hair, and in its fanaticism, which seems 
 indicated by the upturned eyes. 
 
 Unable to create gods any longer, Greek art, as it came in touch with 
 the new countries which welcomed Greek civilization, creates per- 
 sonifications of nature. In these images the divine sense takes refuge 
 as in a final retreat. Thus a pupil of Lysippus, named Eutychides, cast 
 in bronze an image of the city of Antiochia on the Orontes (Fig. 36). 
 The Tyche, amply wrapped in her mantle, sits on the rocky Silpios, and 
 at her feet the river Orontes, represented as a youth, emerges with the 
 gesture of a swimmer. The city thus dominates as a queen the river 
 which rendered her plains so fertile. The head of the goddess is an- 
 cient but not the original one, while the right forearm with the ears of 
 corn and the arms of the Orontes are modern. But even if we leave 
 these details out of consideration, we can appreciate well the naturalis- 
 tic value of this group in which city, mount and river are united in a 
 harmonious ensemble. 
 
 Not swimming with the powerful strokes of a youth, but as a vener- 
 able man reclining comfortably on his ample couch, is represented the 
 figure of the Nile (Fig. 37). Reliefs running around the plinth show 
 the flora and fauna of the river's banks. Leaning on the Sphinx, which 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 363 
 
 Julia!V| (I'iK. 7") 
 (Grseco-Hoinaii I'ci ioil i 
 
 Hadrian (I"ig. 71) 
 lOiopco-Roman Period) 
 
 Faustina the Elder (Fig. 72) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 Venus Empress (Fig. 7."!) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
364 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Antinous Braschi (I'ig. 
 (Grsco-Roman Period) 
 
 "-!> 
 
 Head of Dacus (Fig. 75) 
 (GrjEco-Roman Period) 
 
 symbolizes Egypt, the river-god holds in his left hand the cornucopia 
 (or horn of abundance), and in his right the ears of corn — the symbol 
 of the fertility which his inundations bring. Sixteen little boys (mostly 
 restorations) personify the cubits which the level of the waters rises, 
 and their grouping around the gigantic body of the god, from those 
 who play with the crocodile near his right foot to those who have vic- 
 toriously clambered to the top of his shoulder and of the cornucopia, 
 suggests the gradual rising of the flood. Never before in Greek art were 
 infantile and adult bodies united with such grace and humor, and 
 we easily recognize in this work the Greek spirit which w^as trans- 
 planted to Egypt in the Alexandrian epoch. 
 
 But if the period of Hellenism w^as poor in gods and endeavored to 
 express the divine idea in personifications of nature, it was the age par 
 excellence of those semi-divine, semi-human beings who formed the 
 cortege of Poseidon and Dionysus; it was the epoch of the Tritons and 
 the Nymphs, of the Centaurs, Satyrs and Maenads. These figures be- 
 came as abundant as the gods were in the fourth century, and in them 
 were personified every human passion and sentiment. 
 
 Bearing in his arms a gentle nymph, the Marine Centaur (Fig. 38) 
 dashes boldly over the waves. Though the left arm, with the marine 
 trumpet, is a restoration, we believe that it is in correspondence with 
 the original. The Centaur drowns with his victorious blasts the pro- 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 365 
 
 tests of the nymph, to which one Cnpid lends an ear, while another im- 
 poses silence. 
 
 Not buoyant triumph but the infinite melancholy conveyed by the 
 immense plane of the sea is reflected in the eyes of this other being, of 
 whom only the human part remains, and who may therefore have been 
 either a Centaur or a Triton (F'ig. 39). The companions of Poseidon 
 are not joyous like the companions of Dionysus, and it seems as if a 
 deep sigh escapes from the lips of the Triton — like the sigh of a wave. 
 The grandiose character of the forms proclaims this work a product of 
 the School of Pergamos rather than a replica of a figure by Scopas, 
 who was the first to portray the train of Poseidon and of Amphitryon. 
 
 Similarly unjoyous is the terrestrial Centaur crowned with vine- 
 leaves (Fig. 40). He too looks sighingly upwards, and from some ex- 
 tant intact replicas w^e know the cause of his sorrows: he is the victim 
 of a little Cupid who has perched on his back and guides him at will. 
 
 Greater composure is found in the companions of Dionysus, who are 
 susceptible of more soothing affections and healthier joys. An image 
 of fatherly tenderness is seen in the Silenus holding the Infant Diony- 
 sus in his arms (Hg. 41). With what affection Silenus gazes at the 
 young god, and how delicately his rough hands rest on the tender body 
 of the child! In the gracefulness of the group, in the rhythm of the 
 posture, and in the fullness of the nude is still reflected the Praxitelic 
 School. 
 
 Gay brotherly camaraderie characterizes the group of the Young 
 Satyr carrying Dionysus astride of his shoulders (Fig. 42). The many 
 restorations have certainly misrepresented the original. Besides ele- 
 ments of minor importance, the arms and legs of the Satyr are restora- 
 tions, and so are the head and a large part of the arms and legs of the 
 child. We cannot be much astray in thinking that the little Dionysus 
 had a whip in his hand, and urged onward tyrannically his improvised 
 steed. The lithe forms and the agility of the movement bespeak the 
 School of Lysippus. 
 
 Finally we find an expression of purely animal joy in the Faun in 
 rosso antico (Fig. 43). He has replenished his hide with rural fruits, 
 and gazes rapturously at a bunch of grapes — his master's gift for the 
 recreation of the mind! Though his right hand with the grapes is a 
 restoration, its correctness is attested by extant similar figures. The 
 red marble (rosso antico), which was perhaps meant to reproduce the 
 earthy color of the skin; the animal elements, which are accentuated 
 in the face and the neck; the coarse laugh, which causes the numerous 
 wrinkles about the mouth — all of these make the figure a significant 
 personification of primitive rural life. 
 
366 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 iyStriRO¥£CIIjAD-L[tW 
 
 L- VIBI VX' FELICIO- WVi • Vi I- lA-LLfRIAA/^ 
 
 Scpuklual Tablet of Lucius Vibius and His Wife and Sun (I'ig. 7G) 
 (Gra?co-Roman Period) 
 
 Just as in the group of the Marine Centaur the delicate body of the 
 nymph was retained in contrast to the coarse form of her captor, the 
 Maenads were (unlike the Satyrs) never represented as coarse or 
 brutish by Greek art. On the contrary, Hellenism accentuated their 
 feminine elements, and thus offers a sharp contrast to the archaic art 
 on the vases. The Msenad (Fig. 44) is an image of delicate grace. The 
 beautiful forms of her body are visible through the light chiton, the 
 graceful curves of her mantle remind one of the sails of a ship, and the 
 light rhythm of her step seems that of a dance. We cannot extend our 
 examination to the head, which, though ancient and that of a Maenad, 
 does not belong to the body. 
 
 Its preference for subjects of the emotional strength which it strove 
 to lend to the marine and Dionysiac beings, led Hellenism also to the 
 investigation of the myths. From the fourth century w^e witness a re- 
 turn to the myth of the Niobids, and to such a group, more recent than 
 that already referred to (cf. Fig. 31 ), belongs the figure of a young fugi- 
 tive Niobid (Fig. 45). This cycle of statues, the most complete copy of 
 wdiich is to be seen in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, was artistically 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 367 
 
 conceived as radiating from the central figure of Niobe. In the Vati- 
 can statue is preserved tlie youngest of the children, who, as he hurries 
 with long strides towards his mother, looks upwards in horror at the 
 vindictive gods. 
 
 With the statue of Ulysses (Fig. 46) w^as originally grouped the figure 
 of Polyphemus. The foxy hero tenders to the Cyclops the wine which 
 is to win him liberty; but in the original his gesture was dilferent from, 
 and the wine bowl larger than, that shown in the modern restora- 
 tions. The attitude of the figure admirably suggests the hero's cautious 
 advance and his readiness to withdraw hurriedly if he should detect 
 any sinister intention in the movements of the giant shepherd. Art has 
 here given eloquent expression to a dubious state of soul. 
 
 Buried in sleep and panting with her emotion, Ariadne (Fig. 47) 
 dreams of the desertion of Theseus and the arrival of Dionysus. Thus, 
 though the statue is an isolated one, we reconstruct it mentally as a 
 group, and witness the departure of the hero with his companions and 
 the approach of the god with his train. This pregnant conception, 
 which is so characteristic of Greek art, has been somewhat inadequately 
 treated in the composition: too matronal are the bodily forms of the 
 young woman, and too irregular her face. The drapery, however, with 
 its sumptuous richness of folds, gives to the work a distinguished 
 beauty which not even the carelessness and lack of appreciation of the 
 copyist could destroy. 
 
 Tension of body and mind is seen in the head of Menelaus (Fig. 48), 
 a work wdiich was once part of a group representing an episode of the 
 Trojan War, and of which numerous duplicates are extant. Menelaus 
 has grasped the body of Patroclus, and, though hard pressed by the 
 enemy, endeavors to drag it out of the melee. The divine dignity which 
 Hellenism can no longer give to her gods, she has given finally to one of 
 her heroes, but from this open mouth also escapes a human outcry of 
 rage. 
 
 Hellenism reached the apex of expression in the Laocoon (Fig. 49). 
 The work is an original by Agesander and his two sons, Polydorus and 
 Athenodorus, artists of Rhodes who lived in the first century b.c. The 
 right hand of the elder and the right arm of the younger son of Laoc- 
 oon are restorations. But especially mistaken is the restoration of the 
 right arm of Laocoon, which, instead of stretching away from the 
 body, should have been bent over the head; the group, which has now 
 an unstable appearance on the left side, would then acquire again its 
 pyramidal aspect. Twin serpents have enmeshed in their coils the 
 Trojan priest and his sons, and proceed to accomplish the divine ven- 
 geance for Laocoon's act of desecration. This is the terrible and blind 
 
368 THE VATICAN 
 
 vengeance of a god who chastises even the innocent sons for the fault 
 of their father. The group is expressive of a paternal anguish with 
 which the maternal grief of Niobe alone can compare. The two ser- 
 pents have hurled the father and the younger son violently against the 
 altar on which they were sacrificing, and hold firmly near it the elder 
 son. Already strangled by the huge coils and bitten in the breast, the 
 younger boy breathes his last as he turns his glassy eyes upwards seek- 
 ing his father. The elder son, less involved in the coils, makes a me- 
 chanical effort to loosen the coil which surrounds his left foot, but it 
 seems as if almost his sole concern is for the suffering of his father. 
 Laocoon, bitten in the side, strives to push away the serpent's head, and 
 in the tension of the movement draws in his breath, while a convulsive 
 shudder passes through his body. Conquered in a moment, his dread 
 outcry will "rise to the stars." In his thrown back head, as at the apex 
 of a triangle, culminates the huge wave of dolor which rises from his 
 sons and his own tortured body. The spasmodic contraction of the 
 muscles makes of the face the vital target of the divine vengeance. 
 Marvellous unity of composition, profound anatomic knowledge, and 
 an incomparable fusion of physical and mental dolor make the Laoc- 
 oon the most emotional and most human creation of ancient art. 
 
 Compared with the Laocoon, the Torso del Belvedere (Fig. 50) is an 
 image of calm. Though it is undoubtedly the work of some master's 
 chisel, the history of the work is enveloped in the greatest uncertainty. 
 It is doubtful whether the artist Apollonius, son of an xVthenian named 
 Nestor, is the original creator of this work which bears his signature, or 
 a mere copyist. We cannot say to what exact period of Hellenism it 
 belongs; how the movements of the head, arms and legs should be re- 
 constructed; or whom it represents — Polyphemus or Prometheus, Mars 
 or Hercules. But, neglecting the aureole of mystery which surrounds 
 it, we must admire the figure above all as an image of powerful youth. 
 Only a sculptor who was at once a profound student of anatomy and 
 an artist of sublime conception could create so calm and so well linked 
 a composition of muscles and bones. 
 
 From what we have already said it will be recognized that, even in 
 the Hellenistic period, the nude always remained the central problem 
 of Greek art, and was still conceived ideally. In the fifth century, when 
 strength and firmness were adopted as the ideal of the nude, and art 
 aimed at the expression of these bodily qualities rather than of the 
 qualities of the soul, the head was also characteristic of strength and 
 firmness rather than expressive of mental qualities. In the fourth cen- 
 tury, on the other hand, the ideal of the nude was grace and delicacy, 
 and in harmony with this conception are the gentleness and benevo- 
 
iMUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 369 
 
 Bu^-^^■ln.■t" I'rom the Ar;i Tatis Au.misia' (I'ig. 77) 
 (Grseco-Roman Period) 
 
 lence of the face. During the Hellenistic period, however, since the 
 ideal of the nude was energy or relaxation as an effect of a physical or 
 psychological condition, the body became subservient to the head, in 
 which was concentrated all the expression of the soul. Consequently it 
 was not a pathological preference for ugliness, but a passionate search 
 for a more eloquent language of forms which spurred Greek sculpture 
 to abandon the palsestra — the hothouse of beautiful but odorless flow- 
 ers — and to seek in the streets of the Hellenistic cities for individuals 
 on whose bodies ethnic origin or the practice of certain trades had im- 
 printed a condition of the soul. 
 
 Thus, if Hellenism derived pleasure from the creation of the figure 
 of the Fisherman (Fig. 51), it was attracted, not by his trade, but by this 
 body, which, seasoned and warped, is a commentary on the brutishness 
 of the face. In the Laocoon every muscle has been rendered taut by 
 the internal shudder which the desire for liberation sends through the 
 limbs; in the Fisherman, every muscle is relaxed as the result of the 
 atony and colorlessness of his wretched life. This is evidently the body 
 of an old man — but of an old man in whom none of his spiritual energy 
 survives, as is shown especially by his glassy eye and trembling mouth. 
 
 Even in portraiture the body is now treated as the mirror of the soul. 
 
370 THE VATICAN 
 
 We parted with Greek portraiture in the fifth century when it was en- 
 gaged with the nobility and dignity of Pericles; we meet it once more in 
 the Hellenistic period, engaged with the melancholy brooding of De- 
 mosthenes (Fig. 52) . Polyeuctus, an artist of the third century, created 
 the original of this statue, which was erected a little later than forty 
 years after the orator's death. Owing to the mistaken restoration of 
 the forearms with the rotula, this copy represents Demosthenes as a 
 thoughtful reader; his attitude in the original, wherein his hands were 
 linked, represented him as the devoted son of Athens, mourning for the 
 lost liberty of his city. At first sight, all the expression seems concen- 
 trated in the lean and deeply furrowed face and in the small fixed eyes; 
 but expressive also are the lean breast, the thin arms, the crossed fin- 
 gers and the carelessness with which the himation is flung around the 
 body. The hatred of Demosthenes for Philip of Macedon is an affec- 
 tion of the mind, and thus does not directly concern the body and dress. 
 The body and dress are therefore used to reflect his sorrow. 
 
 The GryEco-Roman or Imperial Period. — This w^onderful patrimony 
 of works, accumulated in the course of the six centuries intervening be- 
 tween the Archaistic and the Hellenistic period, was inherited from the 
 Greeks by Roman civilization. The attraction which the Romans at 
 first found in these works was an esthetic one: for their esthetic pleas- 
 ure they had copies made of the Greek masterpieces, and it is mostly 
 these copies which we have here used in tracing the course of the devel- 
 opment of Greek art. Later, when the Romans availed themselves of 
 this artistic patrimony for their religious and social needs, they did not 
 copy the Greek originals, but readapted them. 
 
 An archaic type of Apollo, dating from the end of the sixth or the 
 beginning of the fifth century e.g., was transformed by the Romans 
 into their own "Semo Sancus Deus Fidius" (Fig. 53). Roman art of the 
 period of the Antonines (130-180 a.d.) has softened the nude and given 
 more freedom to the hair, but has preserved the posture of the Greek 
 original. This posture has also been correctly interpreted by the re- 
 storer in remaking the right forearm with the bow, but the addition of 
 the left hand with the bird is arbitrary. It is noteworthy that, in an age 
 when deities were represented even in the immodest position of the 
 Aphrodite of Dsedalus, this rigid figure could still awaken some sense 
 of mysterious religiosity. 
 
 A face with features reminiscent of Polycletus, or at least of the art 
 of the second half of the fifth century B.C., is united with a Hellenistic 
 body in the .luno Sospes Lanuvina (Fig. 54). The arms with the spear 
 and shield, the feet and the serpent are restorations. Covered with a 
 goatskin, the goddess stands in a menacing attitude; but the spectator 
 
MUSEUM OF SCrLPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 871 
 
 .1 
 
 Honorary High lUlic T sliowinii tlic l-'isiirc cif Home (Fig. 78) 
 (Cira'co-Koman Period) 
 
 feels not so much the religious power of this figure as an artistic irrita- 
 tion, for under the dignified head of a Greek Hera he recognizes 
 through the transparent chiton the agile limbs of a Maenad. This work 
 must also be credited to the superficial religiosity of the age of the An- 
 tonines. 
 
 And, when Rome had to create figures, not of her own indigenous 
 gods, but for the new Oriental cults which were spreading throughout 
 the Empire, she had recourse always to the Greek tradition. In the 
 Sacrifice of Mithra (Fig. 55)— that is, the Persian Sun-God overtak- 
 ing and stabbing the bull, while a dog and serpent lap its blood- 
 Roman art has reproduced the scheme of a group which perhaps dated 
 
372 THE VATICAN 
 
 back as far as the fifth century B.C., and represented Victory hurling a 
 bull to the ground. The Classic spirit is also reflected in the idealized 
 face of Mithra. 
 
 The relief showing an Isiac procession (Fig. 56) is Classicistic, rather 
 than Classic. Priests and priestesses with solemn and rigid gait carry 
 the symbols of the goddess, and the coldness of their regular features 
 extends also to the channelled and parallel folds of their garments. 
 Compared, however, with this procession, that to the figure of Artemis 
 
 Sarcophagus depicting the Triumph of some General (Fig. 79) 
 (Grieco-Roman Period) 
 
 (Fig. 57) seems ridiculous — in fact, an infantile masquerade. Artemis 
 has the Greek aspect, but in the exaggerated gravity of the children the 
 artist vainly tries to conceal how lacking in sincerity is Roman reli- 
 giosity. 
 
 Even when Roman art descended from the realms of the gods to 
 mingle with men, and desired to honor the latter not for their bodily 
 forms, but for the victories they had won in contests with other mor- 
 tals; even when, in distant imitation of the athletes of the lifth century, 
 it created the figure of the Charioteer (Fig. 58), that vulgar type of 
 imperial athlete who alone continued able to awaken the enthusiasm 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 373 
 
 I'iiiiitiiig from the Tomb of I'arnati's (lig. MO) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 of the cosmopolitan crowds of the Empire — even then it could not 
 forget the Polycletus tradition. We certainly have in this figure the 
 powerful thorax of the Doryphorus enveloped in the corset of straps 
 which forms the most interesting part of the work. Moreover, the head, 
 which perhaps belongs to the figure, and the arms and the legs, which 
 are correctly restored, remind one of the Greek athlete. 
 
 But the greatest obsession of Roman art was the Greek myth. Ex- 
 cluded from the decorations of the temples, it invaded the homes and 
 the sarcophagi — the homes in the guise of paintings, and the sarcophagi 
 in the guise of reliefs. To a cycle of paintings which represented the 
 celebrated sinners of antiquity belongs the figure of Pasiphae (Fig. 59) . 
 This cycle decorated the walls of a villa and illustrated the fatal conse- 
 quences of guilty love. Pasiphae seems to be disturbed by a presenti- 
 ment of the opprobrium which her guiltiness wall bring down on her: 
 she hesitates, and in this hesitation is again seen the strength of Greek 
 art, which aims at expressing sentiment in bodily forms. 
 
 Not mythic, but full of religious gravity, is the most beautiful ancient 
 painting that the Vatican possesses, the Nozze Aldobrandini (Figs. 60, 
 61, 62 and 63) . From criminal love this painting takes us to the chaste 
 apartment of the bride, who, however, also seems perturbed and trem- 
 bling. Hymen, the god of marriage, crowned with ivy and flowers, sits 
 impatiently on the floor near the couch. Near the bride is seated 
 Aphrodite, who calms and encourages her, while the friends and ser- 
 vants of the bride, confident of the efficacy of Aphrodite's eloquence, 
 proceed undisturbed with their preparations for the nuptial cere- 
 monies, music and lustrations. We believe that an Hellenistic artist 
 
374 THE VATICAN 
 
 would have conceived in no different spirit the scene in which the hesi- 
 tating Helen is persuaded to follow Paris, for the figure of Hymen 
 might also be that of the waiting bridegroom or lover. 
 
 In the Roman homes the myths extended from the paintings on the 
 walls to the mosaics on the floor. All gracefulness of forms and all ex- 
 pression of sentiment are lost in these crude works, wherein the myths 
 are reduced to a purely ornamental element. Even the head of the 
 stern Athena may be trampled on in a mosaic (Fig. 64); and while the 
 artist, preoccupied with the decoration, has surrounded it with an segis 
 resembling the calyx of a flower, he has not been able to rid it of that 
 pathetic expression which Hellenism finally gave to all her figures, 
 whether heroic or divine. 
 
 But departing from the Roman home, resounding with life, let us 
 approach the solemn peace of the tomb, and there again we shall find 
 the spiritual Greek ideal triumphant in its myths. On one of the 
 sarcophagi we are once more confronted with the terrible scene of the 
 Niobids (Fig. 65). Apollo and Artemis hurl their arrows from either 
 side of the group, while, supported and sheltered by their mother, 
 nurse and pedagogue, the innocent children vainly strive to escape the 
 divine vengeance. But the Roman who ordered the reliefs for sarcoph- 
 agi of this character felt in his soul a sensation entirely different from 
 that which he experienced when he contemplated the statues of the 
 Hellenistic group gathered on the rocky wall of a public garden. In the 
 group in the garden he admired only the strong expression of sorrow; 
 in the relief of the sarcophagus he saw foreshadowed the fatality of 
 death which must sooner or later overtake every man. 
 
 Leaving the gloomy atmosphere of Greek fatalism, let us now 
 breathe for a while the vital air of the Roman hills. Here is an atmo- 
 sphere of honor and imperial power, for the people who dominated the 
 world in politics could not be mere slaves in art. They have certainly 
 copied and readapted, but they have also created the two genres most 
 intimately related with their life — the honorary portrait and the com- 
 memorative relief. 
 
 Both genres are found united in one figure in the Vatican — the Au- 
 gustus found at Prima Porta in the Villa of Livia (Fig. 66). This 
 statue, which is intact except for some insignificant elements, presents 
 the emperor as a general haranguing his soldiers, but in his left hand 
 Augustus must have held a spear rather than a sceptre. The Cupid with 
 the dolphin at the foot of the statue may refer to the origin of the Gens 
 Julia, which claimed descent from Venus. This statue does not offer 
 any original element in its posture to distinguish it from Greek figures, 
 nor is there anything particularly Roman in the mantle, the rich folds 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 375 
 
 Scirciiphagus of St. Helena (Fig. 81) 
 (Graeco-Roman Period) 
 
 of which envelop the emperor's thighs. The real artistic value of the 
 work lies in the face of the emperor and in the cuirass. The face ex- 
 presses the tranquil majesty of the man accustomed to command, while 
 the regular hair, the broad forehead, the round eyes and the delicate 
 mouth seem almost to idealize his expression. The sculptor portrays 
 Augustus in the fifth decade of his life, but idealizes rather than exactly 
 copies nature. In the cuirass the great deeds of the emperor are lauded 
 in commemorative reliefs. Below is the earth, happy under the rule 
 
376 THE VATICAN 
 
 of Augustus; the two children, the horn of abundance, and the tympan 
 of Cybele attest to its fertility. Above are Apollo with the gryphon and 
 Artemis with the stag, the two divinities beloved of Augustus and con- 
 ceded so important a part by him in the Liidi Scvculares. And on this 
 happy earth, under the mighty arch of the sky, a new day is about to 
 dawn, for we see the chariot of the sun advancing, preceded by the 
 personifications of Aurora. This is the new day on which the Roman 
 army recovered from the Parthians the military insignia taken from 
 the legions of Crassus at the battle of Caere. The return of these in- 
 signia is represented in the two central figures of the cuirass. To the 
 right of this group sits Gallia, defeated in her Aquitani, and to the left 
 Hispania, tamed in her Celtiberi — two other exploits of the reign of 
 Augustus. If Phidias gathered together the myths of remote ages on 
 the shield, the sandals and the pedestal of his Athena Parthenos, the 
 Roman sculptor summarizes recent glories in a few figures on onelorica. 
 
 After the statue of Augustus, which is in itself a synopsis of imperial 
 art, we shall examine separately the two genres of Roman art — the por- 
 trait and the honorary relief. In the supposed Caius (Fig. 67), nephew 
 of Augustus, we have a delightful childish head, to which the large skull 
 and the conspicuous ears lend individuality, while the almond-shaped 
 eyes, the mouth, and the small chin lend an ideal grace. 
 
 Wearing the civic crown of oak and bearing the attributes of Jupiter, 
 Claudius presents himself for the adoration of his subjects (Fig. 68). 
 The restorer has appropriately placed the sceptre in his left hand; his 
 right hand, however, should rather have held the thunderbolt. But let 
 us forget this most unrealistic figure of Jupiter and examine the face 
 of the emperor. The artist was certainly no flatterer, for we seem to 
 discern in the features the narrow intelligence of him who devoted so 
 much attention to erudite studies concerning the Etruscan Sphinx. 
 
 And here before us is the benevolent, though sensual and almost em- 
 barrassed face of Titus (Fig. 69). His bulky frame is buried under the 
 immense folds of his toga, and his square face corresponds to the shape 
 of his body. Near him we see that intellectual and bold portrait of a 
 matron of his period, perhaps that of his own daughter Julia (Fig. 70). 
 The head has been placed on a greatly restored body belonging to Clas- 
 sical Attic art. Coming to the second century, we recognize in the head 
 of Hadrian (Fig. 71) a mobile, intelligent and open spirit, while in the 
 image of Faustina the Elder, wife of Antoninus Pius (Fig. 72), we have 
 the most authentic type of the woman of ancient Rome — a type at once 
 energetic and sensual. To a still later period belongs the statue of the 
 Venus Empress (Fig. 73), to which reference has been already made at 
 the beginning of this chapter. 
 
Sarcophagus of St. Constantia (Fig. 82) 
 (Graco-Roman Period) 
 
 MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 377 
 
 But Roman portraiture does not 
 restrict itself to imperial ligures: 
 in the statues of Antinous, beloved 
 of and deified by Hadrian, it strove 
 to create an ideal of melancholy 
 and dreamy beauty. In the Antin- 
 ous Braschi (Fig. 74), the young 
 Bithynian is represented as Dio- 
 nysus, but only the nude parts of 
 the figure are original. He leans 
 his head towards his strong and 
 square shoulder — not out of be- 
 nevolence towards his adorers, as 
 a Greek god might do, but because 
 he is oppressed by his inner sor- 
 row and by the mental obsession 
 which will drive him to suicide. 
 In the head and features of the 
 noble chieftain prisoner Dacus 
 (Fig. 75), Roman art has expressed his ethnic characteristics and the 
 sorrows of defeat and slavery. 
 
 If we are tempted to believe that Roman portraiture owed all its ex- 
 pressive strength to the inspiration which it drew from the imperial 
 dignity, or from subjects (like Antinous or Dacus) in which such dig- 
 nity was reflected, the sepulchral tablet of L. Vibius and his wife and 
 son (Fig. 76) will help to modify somewhat this view. Though the 
 work of a modest marble-worker, it shows the scope of this art. We 
 read vulgarity, old age and ugliness in the irregular lines of the faces 
 of the couple; and, if their child in the middle has a more delicate ex- 
 pression, his large sail-like ears prove clearly that he is his father's son, 
 and that at some future day the flower will develop from the bud! 
 
 Turning now to the votive reliefs, we find that the Vatican possesses 
 a slab from the Ara Pacis Augustae (Fig. 77), that monument wiiich 
 Augustus erected in the Campus Martins on his return from Gaul and 
 Spain (13 a.d.). In the reliefs was represented the imperial procession 
 which went to assist at the sacrifice. The slab in the Vatican preserves 
 that part of the cortege which walked towards the right: some lictors, 
 a veiled priest and men wearing the toga form the group. Our thoughts 
 turn instinctively to a similar scene — the cortege of the Parthenon. 
 And if here we do not find the grace and nobility of the figures of 
 Phidias, if we miss the harmonious rhythm of his cavalcade, we behold 
 all the sober dignity of the Romans and the compact mass of the im- 
 
378 THE VATICAN 
 
 perial crowd. In the frieze of the Parthenon we witness the advance to 
 the conquest of the ideal; in the frieze of the Ara Pacis we witness the 
 advance to the conquest of the real world. Posture, drapery, and the 
 expression of the faces — all in the Ara Pacis seems to personify the 
 solid strength of Rome. 
 
 Rome herself, bearing a banner in her left hand and mingling with 
 the crowd, precedes the chariot of the triumpher in an honorary high 
 relief (Fig. 78). We do not know to what public monument it be- 
 longed, but it too is certainly a work of the first century after Christ. 
 Although the work is much restored — the head of Rome being one of 
 the more important restorations — this scene of the Empress City open- 
 ing her way through the crowd remains one of the best expressions that 
 art has given of the imperial idea. 
 
 The glory of the Roman army and the apotheosis of the emperor are 
 celebrated on the pedestal of the honorary column of Antoninus and 
 Faustina, which M. Aurelius and L. Verus erected not far from the 
 Obelisk of Augustus. This pedestal is now in the Cortile delta Pigna. 
 Two of the sides contain a scene showing a review of the army, perhaps 
 in honor of the emperor (see page 28) : horsemen with their banners 
 ride in a circle around the legionaries carrying the ensigns. On the 
 main face of the pedestal, in the presence of the imperial figure of 
 Rome, Antoninus Pius and Faustina are borne aloft from the Campus 
 Martins (personified as a youth lying on the ground and holding in his 
 left hand the Obelisk of Augustus) to Olympus, seated on the wings 
 of a genius and accompanied by two eagles (see page 29). In these 
 eagles, in the figure of the celestial globe which the genius holds in his 
 left hand, and in some other elements, there might be traced the influ- 
 ence of the Mithraic cult and of the religious spirit of the Orient; but in 
 the general conception of the scene, in this Rome which salutes her 
 own deified emperors, we can recognize only the imperial sense which 
 dominated Roman art. 
 
 That this imperial sense was shared by the generals and magistrates 
 who upheld the Roman ideal in remote provinces among uncivilized 
 nations, we see from the slab of a sarcophagus celebrating their deeds 
 (Fig. 79). Some prisoners are seated under the trophies of victory, 
 while a genius bearing a palm branch places a crown on the head of the 
 general, before wdiom the conquered enemy kneels imploringly. 
 
 And if the emperor had his apotheosis, if the general recorded his 
 victories in stone, why should not the modest boatman perpetuate on 
 his tomb in a still more modest manner the field of action of his daily 
 life? In one ancient painting (Fig. 80) we see "Magister Farnaces," the 
 pilot, superintending the loading of his boat. The idea of representing 
 
MUSEUM OF SCULPTURE AND ANCIENT PAINTINGS 379 
 
 so insignificant and banal an incident, and in sucli poor forms, would 
 never have occurred to a Greek of tlie Classical period; it occurred to a 
 Roman because his little freight-boat was to the modest boatman what 
 the ship of state was to the emperor. And we notice that Farnaces is 
 given the same dominating position at the poop of his tub as Antoninus 
 and Faustina occupy on the wings of the genius between two eagles. 
 
 But an art which was born and triumphed together with a political 
 ideal was doomed to decay as this ideal faded; and the fascination of 
 the imperial idea waned long before the actual fall of the Roman Em- 
 pire. That art alone is vital and lasting whose roots reach deep into the 
 heart of man; and such art is, above all, the religious. Though the im- 
 perial art of Rome had also clothed itself in a vague religiosity; though 
 sometimes, in figure and posture, it had made of the emperor a god, it 
 never ceased to be an art which, instead of rising from the hearts of the 
 people, was imposed upon the people by the state. And, since the 
 l3eauty and idealism of a conception are dependent on the suggestive 
 capacity of the subject, the tigures in imperial art grew poor and grace- 
 less as the attraction of imperialism declined. Of this growing poverty 
 we have already seen an indication on the pedestal of the column of 
 Antoninus and Faustina: not on the side where the artist availed him- 
 self of Greek models for Rome, the Campus Martins and the genius, 
 but on the two sides containing the review. What a decay there has 
 been in both composition and forms from the dignified cortege of the 
 Ara Pacis to this childish carrousel! 
 
 But poverty of forms is not so fatal for art as poverty of inspiration 
 or subject. If the inspiring idea be rich, some day forms also will 
 flourish. That this is true, has been proved by an art which appeared 
 in the midst of this very civilization at the moment when the imperial 
 idea began to wane. This art is the Christian. Its first ligures have an 
 aspect similar to, where not uglier than, the tigures of contemporary 
 Roman art. In the Catacomb paintings of the third and fourth cen- 
 turies, Moses resembles our "Magister Farnaces." But this new art 
 sprang from a religion which had won the whole heart of man; and the 
 Bible and the Gospel of Christ had an inspiring force altogether differ- 
 ent from that exerted by the imperial idea. Consequently, some day 
 this Moses will become the Moses of Michelangelo. 
 
 And the Vatican Museum possesses two works which, while charac- 
 terized by an equal poverty of forms, seem to forecast the different 
 destinies which awaited the Empire and Christianity. These works are 
 the sarcophagi of St. Helena (Fig. 81) and St. Constantia (Fig. 82). In 
 the former we have the notes of imperial war and glory: horsemen 
 pass in triumph above, while barbarians are dragged into captivity 
 
380 THE VATICAN 
 
 below. The second sarcophagus is filled with an atmosphere of natural 
 peace and glory: some Cupids gather and press the grapes, and in this 
 scene the Christian saw symbolized the good work which the faithful 
 perform in the vineyard of the Lord, while in the lamb and the peacock 
 Ijelow he saw the symbols of the Good Shepherd and immortality. And 
 if there is still imperial buoyancy in the sarcophagus of St. Helena and 
 Christian humility in that of St. Constantia, the day is not far distant 
 when the buoyancy and the humility will be reversed. The barbarians 
 who now bend their captive heads under the hoofs of the Roman horses 
 will soon raise them menacingly and will overthrow the Empire, while 
 the humble Faith which masks itself under the symbols of the peacock, 
 the Cupid and the lamb, will victoriously extend its dominion through- 
 out the earth. 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 Ihe Gallery of Inscriptions is situated along the cor- 
 ridor built by Bramante to link the old palace of 
 Nicholas V and Alexander VI (the Borgia Tower 
 and Appartamento) with the smaller palace built by 
 Innocent VllI in the Belvedere. The collection of 
 ancient inscriptions was begun under Clement XIV, 
 the real founder of the Vatican Museum, and was 
 enriched by Pius VI, the slabs being set in the walls 
 of the Bramante Corridor near the Pio-Clementino Museum. But at 
 a later date Pius VII, anxious to place his Chiaramonti Museum here, 
 had the slabs taken to the other end of the corridor, which is adjacent 
 to the lowest tier of the Loggie, near the Appartamento Borgia. This 
 collection of inscriptions comprises those formerly assembled in the 
 Vatican, together with those which were brought together from various 
 quarters by Cardinals Zelada, Galletti, Di Pietro and Capponi, and 
 many inscriptions discovered by that famous epigraphist, Gaetano 
 Marini, not to mention the many marbles found in the excavations made 
 by the papal authorities at Rome and Ostia or bought from various 
 dealers in antiquities. Many new additions w^ere made to the collec- 
 tion under Leo XIII and Pius X. 
 
 Altogether these inscriptions number more than 3000, and thus form 
 the greatest collection of ancient writings on stone in the world. While 
 this gallery appeals in a special manner to the student of ancient 
 epigraphy, who will here find the richest materials for his researches, 
 it also holds a wonderful interest for every visitor who has some know- 
 ledge of history and classical antiquity. Gaetano Marini classified the 
 collection in accordance with the critical archaeological ideas of his 
 time, and although, had the work to be done anew, a different arrange- 
 ment would be followed to-day, yet, out of respect for the great ar- 
 chaeologist who planned it, it has been thought fit not to make any 
 change. There is another reason for retaining the present arrange- 
 ment, namely, the fact that many of the inscriptions have been de- 
 scribed in various works (for example, the "Corpus Inscriptionum 
 Latinarum"), wherein their position in the Vatican Gallery is indicated. 
 Persons wdio wish to examine the collection properly should begin 
 
 n 381 ;] 
 
POPYLVSOyE 
 RDMANVS^ 
 
 „:MAKTlSi 
 
 ligV^lof BLI . 
 
 yv\h 
 
 Inscription found near the Site of 
 the ancient Temple of Mars 
 
 382 THE VATICAN 
 
 at the gate leading to the gallery from the 
 lowest tier of the Loggie, near the Apparta- 
 mento Borgia, and follow the line of the 
 walls, on which, as we go along, we shall 
 point out the most important inscriptions. 
 Having reached the Chiaramonti Museum 
 at the end of the gallery, we shall pass 
 through that museum, and pay a visit to the 
 first two rooms of the Pio-Clementino Mu- 
 seum, where recently, through the munifi- 
 cence of Pius X, three remarkable groups of 
 inscriptions have been set up as a fine com- 
 plement to the Gallery of Inscriptions. 
 
 On the left as you enter, between the two 
 screens, is a large inscription, found near 
 the door of St. Sebastian's on the Appian 
 Way, where the Temple of Mars Outside the 
 Walls once stood. This temple was dedi- 
 cated in 368 A.u.c. (386 b.c), after the Gallic 
 War, and is famous in Roman history. The 
 inscription, which belongs to the later days of the Republic, records the 
 work of levelling the slope that led from the Appian Way to the temple, 
 and which was carried out by the Senate at public expense. 
 
 In the vestibule which leads to the gallery a few inscriptions have 
 recently been placed. They were brought here from a hall near the 
 sacristy of St. Peter's, wdiere they had been set up in the days of Pius VI 
 because some of them had been found during the w^ork connected with 
 that building. The most important among them are: on the left, that 
 relating to Ursus Togatus, a ball-player whose victories in the Baths of 
 Nero, Titus and Trajan are recorded; on the right, the record of a 
 charioteer in Nero's time, containing the names of his winning horses 
 and enumerating his victories. Below the latter is a small inscription 
 relating to a circus charioteer named Scirtus, again giving the names 
 of his horses and the number of his victories. 
 
 Wall 1 contains, on the right, an advertisement or announcement 
 concerning a bathing establishment in the country, which tells that the 
 latest improvements have been made and that all the city comforts will 
 be found there {more iirhico omnis humanitas prcvstatur) . Note- 
 worthy also are the inscriptions concerning a woman's association 
 {collegium mulieriim), and an association of wine-merchants who 
 lived in taverns or huts {collegium vinariorum in camibis consislen- 
 tium ) . 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 383 
 
 
 it,t,iHH ;ooy &qvQMD!\Wf^]f 
 
 (V.ST IT ( AMCOIV t'Mi\T8t-A;\U, 
 
 iM;U>MTl;tHMMft;\3 
 
 (KX)VM'UV!:.\VCr;JlMI5^MVMC 
 
 Inscription in HixanutcT Verse with Letters in Reliif 
 
 Wall 3 shows, on the right, a votive relief with an inscription con- 
 cerning Marcus Quartinius Remus, a Sabine soldier of the Seventh 
 Praetorian Cohort, called the Antonine Cohort in the days of Caracalla. 
 It relates how, in answer to a vision, he dedicated this monument to five 
 divinities who are carved on it, with their names above — Saturn, Mars, 
 Jupiter, Mercury and Hercules. There is a curiosity among inscriptions 
 on this very wall, namely, an inscription, with the letters in relief and 
 in hexameter verse, relating to the tomb of a Roman judge named Cas- 
 sius Agrippinus. 
 
 On Wall 7, to the right, we see a sepulchral marble slab on which are 
 sculptured in relief two raised arms with the hands opened. The in- 
 scription records the protest of a young woman named Procope against 
 the deity who caused her to die so young: procope manvs lebo [levo] 
 CONTRA DEVM Qvi ME iNNOCENTEM svsTVLiT. It is not improbable that 
 Procope died a violent death. Here also is a small sepulchral bust of a 
 woman bearing an inscription threatening that whosoever should 
 profane this tomb would die the last of his race — that is, that he would 
 see all whom he loved die before he did: qvisqvis hoc svstvlerit avt 
 
 JVSSERIT VLTIMVS SVORVM MORIATVR. 
 
384 THE VATICAN 
 
 On Wall 8, to the left, is a fragment of a list containing the names of 
 the Kalatores pontificum el jJaminiim (Ushers of the Pontifical Col- 
 lege). This important inscription was found during the old excava- 
 tions of the Roman Forum near the house known as the Regia, which 
 was the residence of the Pontifical College. Here may be also seen one 
 of the cippi which marked off the zone that was to remain free near the 
 banks of the Tiber. The inscription tells us it was set up during the 
 consulship of Censorinus and Gallus in the year 8 B.C. Another inscrip- 
 tion refers to a freedman of the Emperor Hadrian who is called Archi- 
 magyrus (or chief cook), and also mentions a cooks' club which met in 
 the imperial palace {collegium coconim quod consistit in palatio). 
 
 Wall 9 contains, on the right, an inscription from the sepulchral 
 
 monument of 
 tron Claudia 
 the Appian Way 
 of St. Sebastian, 
 describes the 
 that most noble 
 we are told that 
 to be properly 
 be represented 
 the likeness of 
 {in forma om- 
 On Wall 10, 
 the left, we see 
 able inscription 
 cius Ralerius, 
 formula which 
 
 \ Pi'otcst :if;;iinst her 
 Early Death 
 
 the Roman ma- 
 Semne, found on 
 near the Basilica 
 The inscription 
 various parts of 
 monument, and 
 her perfections, 
 treated, should 
 by statues after 
 various deities 
 nium Deorum). 
 which lies on 
 a truly remark- 
 relating to Lu- 
 and ending in a 
 mavbeChristian, 
 
 since the reader is warned that God will be witness if he has not prayed : 
 
 TV QVI LEGES ET NON ORA VERTS ERIT TIBI DEVS TESTIMONIO. The meaning of 
 
 this phrase is hard to explain in a pagan sense, but if may be that the 
 inscription belonged to some one who, while not a Christian, professed 
 doctrines analogous to the teachings of Christianity. 
 
 On Wall 12, to the left, is a large pedestal with an honorary inscrip- 
 tion dedicated to Emperor Constantius, son of Constantine, by Mem- 
 mius Vitrasius Orfitus, Prefect of Rome. This pedestal once held the 
 statue of Constantius and stood in the Roman Forum. 
 
 On Wall 14, to the left, begins the series of Christian inscriptions, 
 found for the most part in the Roman Catacombs, and nearly all dating 
 from the third, or especially from the fourth and fifth centuries. 
 While this series would be of immense importance in any other city, it 
 is rather overshadowed in Rome by the unrivalled collection of Chris- 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 385 
 
 NOAVINA'tEC 
 
 11A\C MDIVI IIIiycnH 
 mclk IIII-E/IV XVIEAV 
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 TOIVI MlTVLMVIl'CEAV 
 
 MM xV'Apo mkiii 
 
 toHi 
 
 
 tian inscriptions in the Lateran 
 Christian Museum and by the 
 wealth of important inscriptions 
 that are to be found in the Cata- 
 combs themselves. Nevertheless, 
 this collection is of high impor- 
 tance, not alone in itself but also 
 in view of the ease with which 
 one may here compare the Chris- 
 tian and pagan epigraphy. P'or in- 
 stance, we may notice that the 
 Christian inscriptions, which are 
 generally of a later date, are also 
 more careless both in expression 
 and in palaeography. Moreover, it 
 will be noticed that set formulse 
 were used in the Christian inscrip- 
 tions: for example, in pace and 
 depositiis (an obvious reference 
 to the resurrection), expressions 
 never found in pagan inscriptions. 
 Then, too, the early emblems of 
 the Christians are scratched on 
 their sepulchral monuments: the anchor, the dove, the fish, and more 
 often the combination of the first two letters of the Greek name of 
 Christ (Xpiax6?). This last symbol is generally known as the Constan- 
 tine monogram ( >^ ), because it was used particularly in the days of 
 Constantine, and came into common use afterwards. This series of 
 Christian inscriptions is continued along all the walls on the left of the 
 gallery, until we come to the screen which separates this gallery from 
 the Chlaramonti Museum. We return now to the pagan inscriptions. 
 
 On Wall 15, to the right, is an altar (No. 63) dedicated to the Sun — 
 Soli Inuicio — that is, to the Sun as conceived in the Persian religion. 
 The altar was dedicated by a college or society which practised a special 
 cult of the Sun under this title; and in the inscription the name of 
 Marcus Aurelius Cripanto, the president (magister) of the association, 
 is mentioned. 
 
 On Wall 17, to the right, is a large pedestal (No. 73) which at differ- 
 ent times served two distinct purposes. It supported originally a 
 statue of Gallus, as we learn from a relief carved on the right side; later 
 it was the base for an honorary statue of Furteius Tertullus, a consular 
 dignitary of the fourth century of the Christian era, as we may learn 
 
 Fragment of Column giving the Names and 
 Numbers of Ruman Legions 
 
386 THE VATICAN 
 
 from the later inscription carved on the front of the marble block. On 
 this wall there is also a fine sepulchral inscription in cursive script, 
 which tells us of two children named Pupus Torquatianus and Pupus 
 Lfetianus. The slab was erected by their parents, Cajanus and Eucha- 
 ris, who sing their children's praises, and declare that they will grow 
 old before their time because of the death of their dear children. 
 
 On Wall 21, to the right, is No. 91. Over a miniature temple is set the 
 top of another temple of an apparently different size. From the in- 
 scription carved on the top we learn that the monument was dedicated 
 to the protecting genius of a Praetorian century in the time of the Em- 
 peror Commodus, or, more precisely, in the year 181 a.d. 
 
 In this same wall there is another noteworthy inscription, namely, 
 
 US * 
 
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 I ffiSr] life ^ -^^^ 
 
 m^': .. fA^\ i-rrTv |r.| ^Avi^^*] r^. 
 
 
 COS ■ y coi>jrLiv i 
 
 RliCt 
 Tiro 
 
 5 C'fMO M MitQ 
 
 iSi'l^'ifTSi^fi- Will-IP 
 
 '■-■ ■ V 7 "• roil N us ,-.-?,- , If . ..,- 
 
 
 
 
 mzl k 
 
 
 Inscriptidii giviiifi llir Names and Birthplaces of Soldiers and the 
 Corps to which they belonged 
 
 that of Claudius Narcissianus, wherein we are told that the sepulchral 
 monument was surrounded by a wall, and contained a garden, a stable 
 and other outhouses. 
 
 No. 93 is seen on the left; this is an unusual sepulchral group repre- 
 senting a bearded man seated on a high chair between two figures, a 
 boy portrayed as Harpocrates and a girl carrying flowers in the folds 
 of her mantle. The inscription gives us the name of the individual as 
 Cornutus, and tells us that he was buried there together with his eight 
 children. Very probably the figures of the boy and girl represent two 
 of his children. 
 
 On Wall 25, to the right, are arranged many inscriptions concerning 
 offices in the imperial household or referring to various workmen. For 
 instance, there is an inscription dealing with a hairdresser (ornatrix) 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 387 
 
 and a nurse, and another telling of an imperial servant employed in the 
 Servilian Gardens, which lay between the Via Appia and the Via 
 Ostiensis. Another inscription refers to a private road which ran from 
 the highway through a garden and belonged to a sepulchre (iter pri- 
 vatum a via piiblica per horlum perlinens ad monumentum sive se- 
 piilcliriiin). Still another inscription, dedicated to a goldsmith named 
 Ilarus, is of some importance since it shows that there was a college or 
 association that met in the house of a noble lady named Sergia Paulina 
 (collegium quod esl in domo Sergia' Paulina'). 
 
 On Wall 26, to the left, is the sepulchral cippus of Gavins Musicus 
 and his wife, Volumnia .lanuaria, who lived at the end of the iirst cen- 
 tur3^ This noteworthy slab has characteristic figures of these two per- 
 sons. 
 
 On Wall 29, to the left, we find many inscriptions recording military 
 events, and concerning soldiers of the legions and urban cohorts as 
 well as of the prjetorian cohorts and cohorts of the watch. There is one 
 in particular dealing with Thysdrus, a soldier of the sixth cohort of the 
 watch, on which is carved his portrait with the outfit proper to his 
 calling. Important, too, are tlie fragments of a column in cippolino 
 marble, on which, under the heading xonfixa leg[ioxvm], are inscribed 
 the names and numbers of many Roman legions. Herewith also we 
 give an example of the many lists of soldiers (latercoli militari), show- 
 ing their names, the corps they belonged to, and their native towns. 
 Alongside is a brick inscription, containing the name of a Roman legion 
 that was stationed near the Danube in ancient Moesia (now Bulgaria), 
 where this brick was recently found. 
 
 On Wall 30, to the left, is a travertine altar (No. 132), with an inscrip- 
 tion telling that it was dedicated to the goddess .Tuturna. This is one of 
 the verj^ rare monuments to this Goddess of the Waters, whose sanc- 
 tuary has been recently discovered in the Roman Forum near the foot 
 of the Palatine. 
 
 Wall 31 contains on the right a large cippus (No. 138), that served a 
 double purpose. First of all, it has a second-century inscription dedi- 
 cated by Claudia Qulnta to her pa'dagogus, or tutor, Cains Julius Hy- 
 metus, wdio was also custodian of the Temple of Diana Planciana. 
 Later the cippus was used to support the honorary statue of Lucius 
 Tnrcius Secundus, a famous personage of the fourth century of the 
 Christian era, and the list of his honors (cursus honorum) is given in 
 an inscription thereon. On the plinth his surname, Asterius, has been 
 added as an afterthought. There are also on this wall several 
 sepulchral pillars containing inscriptions dealing with the equites sin- 
 gulares, that is, with the knights who made up the horse-guard of the 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 
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 TFL-IVLIOSESQEQSING 
 AVGTVRVLPllTXaCINA 
 NOBJCVS-V^A-XX)(MIL-A' 
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 H- AMICO * OPTIMO • 
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 388 
 
 Roman emperors, and 
 who were chosen from 
 the various countries in 
 the empire. They gener- 
 ally give a portrait of the 
 knight reclining on a ban- 
 quet couch, and below 
 one sees his orderly hold- 
 ing one or two horses by 
 the reins. These inscrip- 
 tions are valuable since 
 they show the native coun- 
 tries of these knights, 
 most of whom came from 
 the northern provinces of 
 the empire. A stele which 
 we have here reproduced 
 belongs to one Titus Fla- 
 vins Julius, a native of 
 Noricum, who served as a 
 soldier for thirteen years, 
 and was thirty years old 
 at his death. The monu- 
 ment was erected by his 
 heirs, Titus Aurelius Vic- 
 torinus, a standard-bear- 
 er and Titus Flavins Flo- Stelc of Titus Flavius Julius {Eqiics Sinijiilaris) 
 
 rentinus, a soldier of the eleventh urban cohort, "to their best friend." 
 To the left, on Wall 32, is a votive pedestal (No. 142), dedicated to 
 Hercules Victor by Cains Julius Rufus, military tribune, curator of the 
 Temple of Hercules and attached to the Treasury of Saturn. The 
 abbreviations to be seen on the upper part of the pedestal, H. V. V. S., 
 must be interpreted Herculi Victori votiim solvit. 
 
 On Wall 33, to the right, is a sacred well-top (No. 144), dedicated in 
 197 A.D. to Ceres and to the Nymphs by two patrons of an association in 
 Ostia, from which city this monument comes. No. 147 is the sepulchral 
 cippus of a cutler named Lucius Cornelius Atimetus, and is noteworthy 
 on account of the scenes carved on the two sides. To the left of the on- 
 looker is represented the workroom of Atimetus, wdiose assistants are 
 intent on their work; to the right is seen the shop in which Atimetus is 
 showing his goods to a customer. In this same wall are set several in- 
 scriptions which were found during the excavations carried out by 
 
 I 
 
 VS 
 LI 
 
 :Sl 
 
 
 vmM. 
 
 IV 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 389 
 
 Pius VII in the old city of Ostia. Remarkable among them are an in- 
 scription in honor of the Emperor Vespasian and a list giving the 
 names of the members of a college who had contributed to a certain 
 work. Another inscription refers to an association of wood-workers 
 ifabri lignarii). Of importance, also, arc some inscriptions dealing 
 with the Mithraic cult, accompanied by effigies of the god Mithra Tau- 
 roctonus (Bull-slayer). There is, moreover, a noteworthy inscription 
 which was set up by the priests of Cybele (dendrofori) at Ostia. 
 
 On Wall 34, to the left, is a marble stele (No. 152) with an inscription 
 to Zeus Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus, calling on him to protect 
 the Emperor Gordian. This was erected by a citizen of Heliopolis who 
 had once been a centurion in the Third Legion, known as the Flavia 
 Gordiana. 
 
 Wall 35 contains, on the right, a remarkable monument relating to 
 the triumphal column erected in honor of Marcus Aurelius near the 
 Via Flaminia (on the modern Piazza Colonna). The fragment. No. 
 153, contains part of a petition addressed by Adrastus, an imperial 
 freedman, to the Emperor Scplimius Severus for permission to build 
 himself a house near the said column, of which he was custodian. On 
 the long stele. No. 154, three letters have been transcribed. Two are 
 from the procurator of the imperial patrimony of Septimius Severus: 
 the first is addressed to Epaphroditus, asking him to give Adrastus, the 
 imperial freedman and custodian of the column of the divine Aurelius, 
 materials for the ])uil(iing of a house near by; the other is addressed to 
 Adrastus, and authorizes him to use the materials for the construction 
 of a house destined for a habitation and the better custody of the col- 
 umn. The third letter is from the administrators of the imperial pat- 
 rimony, granting Adrastus a plot of ground for his house near the col- 
 umn. There are also on this wall a few inscriptions relating to ancient 
 municipalities outside Rome. Among these is a cippus with an inscrip- 
 tion relating to Valerius Frumentius, patron and defender of the town 
 of Laurentum; another iuscription records the building of a flight of 
 steps in Laurentum, and a third gives the names of the soldiers who, in 
 the year 168 A.n., erected a building with a tribunal there, probably 
 something along the lines of a basilica. 
 
 Wall 37 contains inscriptions dealing with various magistrates and 
 civic dignitaries. Among these may be mentioned: a terminus, or land- 
 mark, from the banks of the Tiber, set up by the consuls Censorinus and 
 Gallus in the days of Augustus; an inscription recording a legacy left 
 to the College of the Augustales of Laurentum and Ostia by one Rusti- 
 celius so that the college might erect him a statue and celebrate his 
 birthday every year; a fragment of the records of the Liidi sceculares, 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 ANIClGAYCfMO^ 
 BASSOVC^PROCONS 
 
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 VJ 
 
 f> 
 
 d 
 
 OKDOrOTYIVSQyEClVlTA 
 TI>srRAENE STIHAEFOEffiS 
 
 1 
 
 -\ 
 
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 390 
 
 which were cele- 
 brated in Rome in | j^ ^ TT//^T/^ 7l\ F^ TilK fl/^. Vi" >'' 
 
 the days of Angns- 
 tus, and at which the 
 famous "Carmen Sae- 
 c id a re" of Horace 
 was sung. 
 
 There are also a 
 number of small in- 
 scriptions bearing 
 the names of per- 
 sonages of various 
 times and once 
 placed underneath 
 their statues. One 
 of these statues, we 
 learn, was dedicated 
 to Titus Cornasidius 
 Sabinus and his son 
 by the College of 
 Dendrofori at La- 
 vinium. Another 
 was dedicated to Marcus Cesonius Saturninus and his brother Clavius 
 Martinus, who lived in the fourth century a.d. and were patrons in Ocri- 
 coli, for their munificence to that municipality and also for having 
 restored the .Juvernal Baths to the soutli of the city. An important and 
 fairly old inscription, dating from the seventh century a.u.c, has been 
 recently set up here. It records the building of the walls around Ecla- 
 num, near Beneventum, by the quadrumvirate of that city and by C. 
 Quintius Valgus, patron of the municipality. The gates and towers of 
 the town are there mentioned. On this same wall there is a curious 
 honorary tablet set up by the city of Prpeneste to the most noble Anicius 
 Auchenius Bassus, Proconsul of Campania, who is styled the restitiilor 
 generis Anieioriim. 
 
 On Wall 38, to the left, is a cippus (No. 163) bearing in bas-relief 
 the effigy of a centurion of a Roman legion in the time of Septimius 
 Severus. 
 
 Wall 39 contains a large marble pedestal (No. 165) which once sup- 
 ported the statue of Postumius .Tulianus, a noble citizen of ancient 
 Prscncste who lived at the end of the fourth century. The inscription 
 was set up in the year 3<S5 of the Christian era in the forum of Prjeneste, 
 in accordance with a will which left several farms to the town on con- 
 
 Tabk't iM-ected in Honor of Anicius Auchenius Bassus 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 391 
 
 clition that his statue be set up in the forum and an anniversary cele- 
 brated each year in his memory. 
 
 There are a few inscriptions from imperial days on these walls. One 
 tells how Trajan restored certain buildings in his sixth consulate; an- 
 other relates that some works were done by the Emperor Antoninus 
 Pius. The pedestal which supported the statue of Aurelian was voted 
 him, we are told, by the citizens of Castronovum. Lastly, there is an 
 inscription erected in honor of the Emperor Constantius by Memmius 
 Vitrasius Oi'titus. 
 
 On Wall 40, to the left, we see a large cippus (No. 170 B) with an 
 inscription which gives the names of Cornelius Atimetus and refers to 
 a farm belonging to the Gens Bruttia in Sabinum, known as the Villa 
 Bruttiana. 
 
 On Wall 41, to the right, is a cippus (No. 173) from the city walls, 
 telling that the ponKvriiiin. or city boundary, was extended in the lime 
 of Emperor Claudius. It has the usual formula: avctis popvli romani 
 
 FIXIBVS POMERIVM AMPLIAVrf TERMIXAVITQVK. 
 
 On this wall there are several imperial inscriptions. The carved let- 
 tering of one large inscription bears traces of having been tilled with 
 bronze. Only the central portion remains, but the whole can easily be 
 reconstructed: it was dedicated to the divine Trajan and his spouse 
 Plotina, and stood on the Temple of Trajan built at the end of his 
 splendid forum. Here also are two other cippi from the pouKtrium 
 of Claudius, like that already referred to (No. 173), and dating from 
 the year 43 of the Christian era. There is also an inscription dedicated 
 to Caracalla by the Association of Divers (sfricafores). 
 
 No. 173 B is a slab dating from the time of Antoninus Pius; it was 
 dedicated to Fortuna Primigenia by Lucius Sariolenus, a citizen of 
 Prpeneste. The inscription says that Sariolenus adorned wath statues 
 the temple of that divinity and another building known as the Juno- 
 narium. The inscrijition is very noteworthy in view of the informa- 
 tion it gives concerning the topography of ancient Proeneste, and also 
 because it mentions the goddess Isityches (Isis-Fortuna). 
 
 Some other inscriptions from imperial times follow on Wall 43: for 
 instance, the monumental inscription in which are recorded the works 
 done by Antoninus Pius in the Ostian Baths, which had been begun by 
 the Emperor Hadrian; the inscription dedicated to Diocletian and 
 Maximian by Acilius Balbus, curator of the Tiber banks and the Roman 
 cloacae (sewers); an important municipal inscription from which we 
 learn that in the third consulship of Emperor Hadrian (119 a.d.) a new 
 street was run through the forum as far as the capitol of the town, 
 which was built in imitation of the Capitol in Rome; an inscription on 
 
392 THE VATICAN 
 
 a large pedestal bearing witness to some monumental work done by 
 Nerva; a cippus from the Aqua Vergine aqueduct, erected in the fifth 
 consulship of Emperor Tiberius (31 a.d.). 
 
 On Wall 45 are many inscriptions relating to the gods and their min- 
 isters. The principal are as follows: (1) an inscription of Scurreius 
 Fontinalis, a priest of Fortuna Primigenia; (2) a cippus, beginning 
 with the words Locus sacer and relating to the College of Silvanus and 
 its buildings on the Via Appia between the second and third milestones 
 from Rome, on the plot of one Julia Monime in the Ager Curtianus 
 Talarchianus {i.e., near the Catacomb of St. Calixtus). The inscription 
 contains notices concerning right of way and the custom of funeral 
 banquets; (3) a fragment of a calendar, remarkable because it points 
 out the festivals kept in honor of Aunia Regilla, sister of Queen Dido, 
 at the tirst milestone on the Via Flaminia. 
 
 High up near the window is a broken architrave found at Ostia, bear- 
 ing an inscription of Acilius ^grilius Plavianus, prefect of the military 
 treasury, pontifex of Vulcan, and religious head of the colony at Ostia, 
 who dedicated to Vulcan a statue of gold and a silver shield. On the 
 lower part of this wall was recently placed an important inscription 
 from the second century of the Christian era, containing the lex, or 
 rules and statutes, of the Association of .Esculapius and Hygeia. We 
 are told that a lady named Salvia Marcellina, in memory of her hus- 
 band. Flavins Apollonius, had given this association a meeting-place 
 near the Temple of Mars on the Appian Way between the first and sec- 
 ond milestones. Added to this inscription is a list of the festivals kept 
 by the association. This inscription was a gift from Prince Louis Bar- 
 berini, in whose palace it had been preserved. 
 
 Wall 47 contains many inscriptions concerning divinities and sacred 
 ministers. The principal are: (1) a cippus dedicated to Mars Gradi- 
 vus, with an inscription sacred to the Sabine god Semo Sancus, found 
 on the Island of the Tiber. It is thought by many critics that the Chris- 
 tian apologist Justin was misled by this inscription into thinking that 
 there had been a statue to Simon Magus on the Island of the Tiber; (2) 
 a few fragments of the records (fasti) of the priestly college of the Salii 
 Palatini, giving the names of the newly elected and those whose places 
 they filled. These records date from the time of Marcus Aurelius; (3) 
 an altar dedicated to the Sun, and another to Sol Invictus and Luna 
 Sterna; (4) an important fragment alluding to the ancient tradition 
 that the Vestal virgins were brought from the city of Cjere to Rome in 
 the early days of its history; (5) an inscription dedicated to Hercules 
 for the health of Emperor Pertinax. 
 
 On Wall 48, to the left, are many Christian inscriptions, some of 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 
 f HVAlV.S6|Q\/|QVAl:TKTAMWT0SVbMEN\oW 
 i N' (AMtNTOOy ■-,\CVlY0CABVl\/j 
 
 fRlT^fT^^icf7mACIV(?>vsM^f;^0HMWSI)f^W&(>Los: 
 
 tw%ApaA!;MAMtviVQcMAnM'M"isTfvt(',cjr 
 
 Pedestal of Statue of Postumius Julianus 
 
394 THE VATICAN 
 
 UIIAHOPARTHICO^ Pn^ 
 
 VI'TRAIANI'PARTHICI 
 
 NySHADKIANVS'A\f 
 
 COS'III'PARENfTIBU 
 
 Fragment of Inscription from tlie Temple of Trajan 
 
 which have a special importance on account of the fact that they bear 
 the names of the consuls in office, and we can thus fix their dates in 
 every case. The dates run from the fourth to the sixth century of our 
 era, the earliest being the year 363 and the latest the year 530. The best 
 and largest collection of Christian consular inscriptions, however, is in 
 the Lateran Christian Museum. 
 
 AoniTiONS TO THE Gallery OF INSCRIPTIONS. — In 1912 the Directors of 
 the Papal Museums gathered together three groups of most important 
 ancient inscriptions, which form a worthy complement to those col- 
 lected in the gallery proper. These groups are known as: (1) the In- 
 scriptions of the Scipios; (2) the Triumphal Inscriptions; (3) the In- 
 scriptions of the Fratres Arvalcs. The first two groups were placed in 
 the small hall of the Pio-Clementino Museum, where the statue of 
 Meleager originally stood, and the third group has been placed in the 
 square recess opening on the Hall of the Torso Belvedere. 
 
 Inscriptions of the Scipios. — These most important inscriptions 
 came from the underground tomb of the famous Scipio family on the 
 Via Appia near St. Sebastian's Gate, where they were discovered in 
 1780. In the middle of the room is the sarcophagus of Lucius Cornelius 
 Scipio Barbatus, consul 456 a.u.c. (298 B.C.), great-grandfather of 
 Scipio Africanus. The inscription carved on the front of the monu- 
 ment is in ancient Saturnian verses, praises the strength, wisdom and 
 beauty of the deceased, tells that he was consul, censor and aedile, cap- 
 tured Taurasia and Cisauna in Samnium, overcame all Lucania, and 
 brought back hostages to Rome. The architectonic decoration on the 
 sarcophagus consists of a Doric frieze with roses and triglyphs and a 
 cornice with dentils. This is of great importance, as it shows us that 
 Greek art had already penetrated into Rome in the third century b.c. 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 395 
 
 The lid has cushion-shaped ornaments, but the portion to the left of 
 the spectator is a modern restoration. On the original part to the right 
 remain some traces of the original inscription in red letters, which 
 must have read as follows: L. CorneliO CN. F. S C I P I 
 
 In the wall to the left have been added other inscriptions of the Scipio 
 family, found in the tomb, and all having great importance on account 
 of their antiquity. No. 2 is the inscription of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, 
 son of Rarbatus, who was consul in 495 a.i'.c. and censor in 496. The 
 text tells us that he was by common consent the best of the good, that 
 he was consul, censor and a^dile, that he conquered Corsica and dedi- 
 cated a temple to the Winds, which stood near the Porta Capena and is 
 referred to by Ovid in the sixth book of his "Fasti," where he writes: 
 
 "Te quoque, Tempestas, meritam delubra fatemur 
 Cum pfene est Corsis obruta classis aquis." 
 
 The inscription is placed on the front of the sarcophagus, while on the 
 lid was painted in red letters the name of the individual to whom it 
 belonged. 
 
 No. 3 is the inscription of Publius Scipio, son of P. Cornelius Scipio 
 Africanus Major, the conqueror of Hannibal. This man, having no 
 heirs of his body, adopted the son of Lucius ^Emilius Paulus, later 
 known as Scipio /Kmilianus or Africanus Minor, the famous conqueror 
 of Carthage. The inscription deplores the brevity of his life and 
 declares that had he lived longer his glory would have outshone that 
 of his ancestors. On the same wall is No. 5, an inscription of Lucius 
 Cornelius Scipio, son of Asiaticus, which tells us that he was quaestor 
 (587 A.r.c.) and military tribune, that he lived thirty-three years, and 
 that his father, who was dead at the time when the inscription was set 
 up, had conquered Antiochus, King of Syria: Morlnos [inoiiuns] pater 
 regem antioco[m'] snbegil. This victory took place after that of Consul 
 Glabrio at Thermopylse in 5(54 A.r.c. No. 6 is the inscription of Scipio 
 Comatus, son of the preceding, who died, at the age of sixteen, in 600 
 A.r.c:.; No. 7, the inscription of Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispanicus, son of 
 Cn. Cornelius Scipio, consul in 578 a.u.c. We are told that the deceased 
 was prsetor, curule aedile, quaestor, military tribune, legal decemvir, 
 and sacred decemvir. Some archaic verses are added praising the dead 
 man as one who emulated the glory of his sires and the nobility of his 
 lineage. No. 8 is a panegyric of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, son of the 
 preceding, which tells us that the defunct, though still a young man, 
 had attained to great wisdom and knowledge and lived little over 
 twenty years. On the wall at the back of the sarcophagus of Rarbatus 
 there is a broken travertine architrave with an inscription of one Paula 
 
396 THE VATICAN 
 
 imp. Cues. M. Antonio Gordiano pio felice Aug. 
 el Mania Acilio Aviola cos. (a. 239) 
 
 III. non 1 A N * 
 
 FratreB Arvales in CapiloHo oNTE CELLAM IVNONIS REGINAE CONVEN<-r«.,? ad vota annua 
 .olv.-nda et vota rf«.«NALIA NVNCVPANDA PRO SALVTE IMP CAES • M • A«to«» Gordiaui Pi, 
 
 Felicis 4«g P^NTIF ■ MAX ■ TRIB • POT ■ II ■ COS ■ P • P ■ TOTIQ ■ DOMVI • mvinae eorum 
 
 promaeister . .wMIN • M ANTONI GORDIANI ■ AVG • MAG ■ PRIMI ■ collegii fralyum arvaimm 
 
 hoc die immolavit I • O • M • B • M ■ A ■ IVNONI REG • B • F ■ A • MINERVAf Hovcm) /(cmnam) aiuratam) 
 xAfnerunt ET • IMP ■ CAES ■ M • ANTONIVS • GORDI ANVS • PIVS • FE/<x Ausustiis mag^ster . 
 
 Cacsonins Z.»CILLVS T • FL • ARCHESILAVS M SAENIVS DONA/.,s . . . 
 
 VS ■ C • ANNIVS • PERCENNIANVS • SOLITO ■ MOR* ? . . . 
 
 .in crebras VOCES ADCLAMAVERVNT 
 
 ''sdem coHsulibus idn ^ ' \ J\ ]\1 * \ 
 
 Fralre'^ irvnUs in aede Co »! c o rDlAE CONVENERVNT AD INDI 
 ccndum sacrificium Dcae DIAE IN XVI • XIIII ■ XIII • K • IVN 
 
 adf.io-nnl Imp Caes. M. Antonins Gordianus pius FELIX- AVG- MAG COLL FRATR 
 
 yt_iy„li,„„ P. Aelius CoERANVS T - CAESONIVS LV 
 
 „;,„5 L. Fabius FoRTVNATVS VICTORINVS 
 
 in creBRAS VOCES - ADCLAMAV 
 
 pro magtsler luYe el vino sacrifictum Deac Diac cojiCEPIT PRIMO MANE 
 
 Arvalian Fragment, with Restorations (239 a.d.) 
 
 Cornelia, wife of Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispallus, who died when he 
 was consul in the year 578 a.u.c. 
 
 Triumphal Inscriptions (on the wall to the right as you enter).— 
 These most important inscriptions were discovered in Rome in the 
 days of Urban VIII (1623-1644) in the neighborhood of the Roman 
 Forum. They were, therefore, taken at first to the Barberini Palace, 
 and thence derived the name "Barberini Tables." They remained in 
 that palace until 1910, when they were acquired by the Vatican Mu- 
 seum. They are included in the famous collection of "Corpus Inscrip- 
 tionum Latinarum" (Vol. I, pp. 477 sq.). The triumphs recorded in this 
 group of inscriptions all belong to the eighth century of Rome; that is, 
 to the last years of the Roman Republic. The tirst dates from 711 a.u.c, 
 the year following the death of Julius Ca?sar, and the last has the date 
 of 733 A.u.c, or the twenty-first year before the Christian era. Of note 
 in these inscriptions are the phrases "Triumphavit," "palmam dedit," 
 which have reference to the ceremonies of a Roman triumph. These 
 precious inscriptions were placed on the wall in the order they must 
 have had originally, and as they appear in the "Corpus Inscriptionum." 
 They all relate to triumphs won by generals of the republic in Spain, 
 Africa, Illyria, the Alps, Macedonia and Sicily. 
 
 High up on the wall is placed the most famous inscription, dedicated 
 to Jupiter Victor by Lucius Mummius, consul in 609 a.u.c It tells how, 
 having destroyed Corinth and conquered Greece, which became the 
 
THE GALLERY OF INSCRIPTIONS 397 
 
 Roman province of Achaia (608 a.u.c; 146 B.C.), he returned to Rome 
 in triumph and dedicated a temple and a statue to Jupiter Victor in ful- 
 fdment of a vow made during the war. This celebrated monument 
 was found in 1786 within the wall near the hospital of St. John 
 Lateran. 
 
 Inscriptions of the Fratres Arvales. — The Fratres Arvales were a 
 priestly college of very ancient origin and great importance, charged 
 with the solemn sacrifices in honor of Dea Dia for the fertility of the 
 fields (arva), whence came their name Arvales. They met in a sacred 
 wood at the sixth milestone on the ^'ia Portuensis, and it was their cus- 
 tom to carve on marble the accounts of their meetings, describing in 
 detail their ceremonies. These marble tablets were set up near the 
 Temjile of Dea Dia in the above-mentioned wood, and there many 
 fragments of them have been found. The most important collection of 
 these records is that in the National Museum delle Terme in Rome, but 
 the Vatican collection is older, and extends from the time of Nero to 
 that of Gordian. 
 
 The most noteworthy among the inscriptions in this collection were 
 kept for a long time in a room near the sacristy of St. Peter's, and have 
 only recently been set up in their present position. Taking them suc- 
 cessively as we go along, we see: (1) an inscription from the time of 
 Nero, giving the date 58-59 of the Christian era; (2) fragments from 
 the time of Nero, belonging to the years 59-60 of the Christian era; (3) 
 an inscription dating from Domitian's reign and bearing date of the 
 year 91 of our era. It records the sacrifice announced by the Fratres 
 Arvales in the pronaos of the Temple of Concord; (4) fragments be- 
 longing to the period of Antoninus Pius, with the date 145 of our era; 
 (5) an Arvalian inscription from the time of Elagabalus (218 a.d.). 
 This last inscription is most important as it has preserved for us the 
 ancient Arvalian hymn, or poem, composed in the primitive and rough 
 language of Latium, which was recited by the Fratres Arvales in some 
 of their ceremonies. A few lines or sentences of this curious text may 
 be of interest: 
 
 "Enos Eases juvate [thrice repeated] 
 Neve luerve marma 
 sini incurrere in pleores [thrice repeated]." 
 
 ("Be propitious to us, Lares, and do not allow the crops of the 
 fields to be spoiled." ) 
 
 This Arvalian hymn is one of the oldest documents in the Latin tongue, 
 and is thus of great philological importance. 
 
 The remaining inscriptions are: (5 A) a tablet (the back of the pre- 
 
398 THE VATICAN 
 
 ceding one, the slab having been sawed in two). The text dates from 
 the (lays of Elagabalus; (6) another inscription from tlie days of Ela- 
 gabalus and dating from the year 221 of our era; (7) an Arvalian frag- 
 ment from the time of Gordian (239 a.d.). It was found in F'ebruary, 
 1911, when some excavations were being made in a field near the 
 sacred wood of the Fratres Arvales on the Via Portuensis, and was im- 
 mediately bought for the Vatican Collection. We give elsewhere a 
 facsimile of this inscription (with restorations), which was published 
 at the time by the present writer ("Bulletino della Commissione arche- 
 ologica comunale di Roma," 1911, pp. 2-3). 
 
 The above description of the Vatican Callery of Inscriptions, if very 
 curtailed, will nevertheless show that it is the richest in the world, and 
 that it deserves not only a visit, but the patient study of every educated 
 person who has the opportunity and the time to examine its treasures. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 pHE Sacred or Christian Museum was founded in 1750 
 by order of Pope Benedict XIV, who desired to collect 
 in one place the various small objects connected with 
 Christian worship which had previously been more 
 or less neglected, and were scattered here and there 
 as mere curiosities. To understand the reason of this 
 neglect, we must remember that after the Renais- 
 sance period everything connected with the Middle 
 Ages was commonly considered a relic of a barbarous era; thus, in 
 calling the ogival style of architecture "Colhic," the intention was to 
 declare it barbaric. It was only in the seventeenth century that a few 
 enlightened minds began to realize the importance of these relics of 
 the Middle Ages, and to appreciate the artistic beauty of the precious 
 works of earlier piety which had previously l)een so unjustly despised 
 and ignored. Private collections of a more or less specialized and re- 
 stricted character then began to be made, and, as time went on, men 
 began to collect glassware with gold-leaf insertions, inscribed or carved 
 gems, medallions, seals, ivories in bas-relief and alto-relief, and other 
 pious objects of various materials. 
 
 But Pope Benedict's idea was far more comprehensive when he 
 aimed at uniting in one hall of the Vatican Library the various private 
 collections that had any important bearing on the history of the Primi- 
 tive Church. As a first step he bought the three most famous collec- 
 tions then existing — that of Cavaliere Filippo Buonarroti of Florence; 
 that of Cardinal Gaspare dei Conti Carpegna of Rome, and that of 
 Commendatore Francesco Vettori, of the illustrious Roman patrician 
 family — besides some minor collections. This action on the part of 
 the Lambertini Pope is recorded in an inscription over the entrance- 
 door of the Museum. 
 
 Before entering on a description of the priceless treasures here col- 
 lected, it may not be amiss to say a word concerning each of the three 
 collections which formed the main portion of the Museum at the time 
 of its institution, and which form even to-day an important part of the 
 exhibits. The most noteworthy of these collections was that made 
 by the discriminating and industrious Cardinal Carpegna (1626-1714). 
 This great patron of archseological studies, after filling various impor- 
 tant ecclesiastical offices, was created Cardinal by Pope Clement X on 
 
 [;399:] 
 
400 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 December 22, 1670, and appointed Cardinal Vicar. In this capacity 
 he had nnder his jurisdiction the Roman Catacombs, which in those 
 days were chiefly regarded as the precious receptacles of the bodies of 
 the early martyrs. But the Cardinal was anxious likewise to save from 
 dispersion whatever other objects might be found in the excavations 
 that took place there, and particularly the ivories. It was the custom 
 of the early Christians, when closing the lociilus, or tomb, to insert in 
 the fresh niortar some article which, in the absence of an inscription, 
 
 Entraiuc to Ihu Christian Museum 
 
 would enable the friends and relatives of the deceased to recognize 
 their last resting-places. His precious collection was purchased from 
 the heirs of the Cardinal, and was catalogued by order of Cardinal Pas- 
 sionei. Owing to various circumstances, however, the transfer of the 
 collection to the Vatican was delayed until the time of Clement XIII, 
 when, there being no further room for the whole collection in the cases 
 of the Sacred Museum, part of it had to be accommodated at the other 
 end of the Library, in a room which, in contradistinction to the Sacred 
 Museum, is known as the Profane Museum. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 401 
 
 The collection of the Florentine Filippo Buonarroti, senator and 
 member of the Academy of the Crusca, constitutes a highly important 
 part of the glasses which, from the place of their discovery, are known 
 as cemetery glasses. They are the bottoms of cups, to the lower surface 
 of which a leaf of gold was attached by means of an acid, another layer 
 of glass being then added. When fused, the two layers of glass en- 
 closed the gold leaf, out of which certain symbols or ornaments were 
 formed; the figures were left in the gold leaf, the remainder of which 
 
 Interior of the Cliristian Museum 
 
 was removed with some pointed implement, thus leaving a background 
 which was transparent or azure according to the texture of the glass. 
 The Vettori Collection was offered to Pope Benedict XIV by its 
 owner through Cardinal Giovanni Antonio Guadagni, and probably it 
 was this very gift that suggested to the Pope the plan of founding a 
 museum by the purchase of the above-mentioned collections. The 
 Pope named Vettori custodian of the Museum at a monthly salary of 
 one hundred scudi. The Vettori Collection was not limited to one class 
 of objects like the two others, but contained relics of various centuries 
 
402 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Frcmli Cross of Silver (lilt 
 (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries) 
 
 French Cross of Silver Gilt (Hack) 
 (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries) 
 
 Italian Cross of Bronze Gilt 
 (Fifteenth Century) 
 
 Crosses of Wood, Metal and Enamel 
 (Sixteenth Century?) 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 403 
 
 Enamel Triptych from Limoges, with Scenes from the Passion 
 (Jean Penicaud. Sixteenth (Century) 
 
 Byzantine Triptych with Clirist, the Virgin and Saints 
 (Circa 1000) 
 
404 THE VATICAN 
 
 and of different materials, ail, liowever, connected in one way or an- 
 otlier witli Cliristian liistory and worsliip. Later, in tlie pontificate of 
 Pius VII, tlie collection made and owned by Don Agostino Mariotti, 
 a lawyer, was acquired, and of this we still have the old and most accu- 
 rate manuscript catalogue of Abbate Francesco Cancellieri (Codex 
 Vaticanus 9189). 
 
 The Museum was greatly enlarged and enriched by Pope Gregory 
 XVI, who devoted special attention to the collecting of the small 
 painted Greek tablets and the small panels painted by the Primitives 
 of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which are now 
 in the New Picture Gallery. While he was Prefect of the Library, Mon- 
 signor Laureani bought many valuable enamels and objects of all 
 
 greatly increas- 
 
 kinds, thereby 
 ing the inipor- 
 seum. His work, 
 disastrous re- 
 cases; for, not 
 lecting, he un- 
 wanted to re- 
 the bottom of 
 to arrange sym- 
 in rich golden 
 entirely unre- 
 age and charac- 
 riod of devel- 
 with the reign 
 ing founded in 
 mission of Sa- 
 for the purpose 
 
 Bronze Medallion with Portraits of Sts. Peter and Paul 
 (Tliird Century) 
 
 tance of the Mu- 
 however, had 
 suits in some 
 satisfied with col- 
 fortunately also 
 store and regild 
 the tablets, and 
 metrically witli- 
 frames things 
 lated both as to 
 ter. A new pe- 
 opment arrived 
 of Pius IX. Hav- 
 1852 the Com- 
 cred Archaeology 
 of undertaking 
 
 scientifically planned excavations in the Catacombs, this Pontiff di- 
 rected that all objects found during the progress of these works should 
 be arranged systematically in the Museum. In 1855 the Hall of the 
 Museum was restored, and Commendatore Giovanni Battista de Rossi, 
 who had been named Prefect of the Christian Museum, had six hori- 
 zontal cases made to receive the abundant new material. His system 
 of arranging objects relating to the early centuries of Christianity has 
 been followed ever since, and in 1913 the Museum was enriched by 
 new additions — glasses, lamps, phials, earthenware and bronzes. The 
 history of these collections has been fully treated by the present writer 
 ("Gli avori dei Musei profano e sacro delta Biblioteca Vaticana," 
 Rome, Danesi, 1903). 
 
 Having thus taken a hurried survey of the history of the Museum, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 405 
 
Polychrome Greek Triptych, with Madonna and Child 
 and Scenes from the Life of the Virgin 
 
 406 THP: VATICAN 
 
 wc shall now pass quickly over the 
 various groups of archseological 
 treasures which it contains, dwell- 
 ing on the most important, which 
 lend the Museum its great value 
 and celebrity. With the idea of 
 preserving the atmosphere of an 
 old collection, the directors have 
 not tried to bring the arrangement 
 of the Museum into exact accord 
 with the methods followed in mod- 
 ern museums. De Rossi tried to at- 
 tain both ends by grouping objects 
 according to the material of which 
 I hey were made, or according to the 
 ])lace of origin. The presses are 
 divided into twenty compartments 
 or cases, in eight groups of two or 
 three; there are, besides, the six 
 horizontal glass cases added by de 
 Rossi himself in 1855. 
 
 To the left as you enter there is an important collection of crosses 
 and crucifixes. In Case I are gathered especially bronzes representing 
 Christ on the Cross; generally the figure is robed in the colohiiim (a 
 long, sleeveless tunic), and each foot is nailed separately. Such cruci- 
 fixes antedate the thirteenth century, wdien it became customary to 
 represent the Saviour on the cross with an expression of physical pain. 
 Previously the cross had been merely a support for the figure of the 
 Crucified; Christ was represented as triumphant and glorious, all signs 
 of sutTering being absent. In the upper part of the case there is a bell 
 of many chimes hung on two straps joined by a bronze clasp, which, 
 when held in the hand and shaken, causes the bells to ring out a caril- 
 lon. Peret says that this bell dates from the Catacombs, and Esperan- 
 dieu has recently written in support of this view. However, in view 
 of the shape of the bells and the incised cross, this object is probably 
 not earlier than the eighth century. 
 
 Among the crosses in Case II may be mentioned a Greek sepulchral 
 cross in bronze and one intended to be worn round the neck (an encol- 
 pion), on which is represented a figure of the Saviour wearing the 
 colohiiim. Noteworthy also are a number of Italian processional 
 crosses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, one of the most 
 remarkable of which shows a Calvary with small figures of the Virgin 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 407 
 
 U 
 
 O 
 
 7; -o 
 
 
 •a 
 
 
408 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 and St. John, ornamented with enamel and little crystal spheres. Par- 
 ticularly admirable is a beautiful cross set with precious stones; this 
 is of French origin and dates from the fourteenth century. The figure 
 of the Crucified is a fifteenth-century work, and was added later to the 
 older cross. 
 
 The horizontal glass case next to the case containing the crosses has 
 some of a series of eighteen small enamel panels dating from the six- 
 teenth century, which depict the Passion of the Saviour. But the most 
 precious object in this collection is undoubtedly an enamel triptych 
 from Limoges, showing the Crucifixion in the central panel, the Scourg- 
 ing on the left and the Crowning with Thorns on the right. This glori- 
 ous treasure is by Jean Penicaud,who was born in the fifteenth cen- 
 
 tury, and worked 
 thirty years of 
 
 In Case III are 
 the most impor- 
 ing from the 
 of Christianity: 
 with the Con- 
 gram, two bronze 
 form of a dove, 
 with graffito fig- 
 slave's collar 
 tion "servus Dei 
 finally several 
 relief, of which 
 doubtedly the 
 frequently re- 
 
 dallion showing '''°""" "^""'"^y' tj^g heads of the 
 
 Apostles Peter and Paul turned towards each other. The last-men- 
 tioned probably dates as far back as the third century, and was found 
 in the Catacomb of St. Domitilla. It deserves special attention in view 
 of the iconographic characteristics which have been perpetuated un- 
 altered down to our own day. 
 
 Case IV is given over to objects in silver and niello. Only two spe- 
 cially important articles will be mentioned: the first is a votive chalice 
 with an inscription, which was found in a garden near St. Gregory's on 
 the Coelian Hill and dates from about the eighth century; the second 
 is a beautiful pastoral staff in silver-gilt and niello which belonged to 
 Pope John XXII and was found in his tomb at Avignon. This same 
 Pope's mitre is in the Museum; it is in an excellent state of preservation, 
 and is a most important specimen of fourteenth-century white damask. 
 
 Cemetery Glass, representing St. Peter as Moses 
 Striking the Hock 
 (Fourth Century) 
 
 in the first 
 the sixteenth, 
 to be found all 
 tant bronzes dat- 
 first centuries 
 hanging lamps 
 stantine mono- 
 lamps in the 
 a baptismal ewer 
 ures on it, a 
 with the inscrip- 
 fugitivus," 
 medallions 
 the chief is 
 well-known 
 produced 
 
 and 
 in 
 un- 
 and 
 me- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 409 
 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
 = W 
 
 a 
 
410 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 411 
 
 Case V contains a collection of chalices dating from the fourteenth 
 to the seventeenth century, the majority being Italian works of the 
 fifteenth century. One of the latter is remarkable for the small ligures 
 of the Apostles made of translucent enamel, which are inserted in as 
 many Gothic niches; these niches, bounded with toothed cusps, form 
 the knob of the chalice. Another very beautiful chalice is of German 
 origin, an unusual feature being the tigure of the Redeemer in relief 
 on the bottom of the paten. 
 
 The horizontal glass case which follows Case V contains objects of 
 a very varied nature and of more recent acquisition. The first object 
 worthy of note is a large silver plaque which for a long time was 
 thought to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini, but which is now held, 
 with greater reason, to be by Leone Leoni. It depicts the apotheosis of 
 
 Ri'li(|uary Capsclhe 
 (Sixth and Eleventh Centuries) 
 
 Charles Quint: the Emperor, dressed in ancient attire, is seated on a 
 throne holding in his hands a globe and a sword; above his head planes 
 an eagle holding in its beak a chain to which are attached warriors sym- 
 bolizing the lands conquered by the Emperor. In this same glass case, 
 among other relics, is a silver eucharistic capsella, or reliquary, found 
 in the excavations at Carthage and dating from the sixth century. 
 There are also some interesting crosses in intagliated wood, metal, 
 and enamel, wrought by the monks of Mount Athos and dating prob- 
 ably from the sixteenth century; but it is by no means easy to fix the 
 date of the works of these monks, whose iconographic style is so con- 
 servative and traditional that it is difficult to distinguish the output 
 of centuries far removed from one another. We must also mention 
 two small bells, one in gold and the other in silver, found in the tomb 
 of a child: it was customary among the ancients to wear these bells to 
 
412 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Fragment of Cloth dating from 
 the Pre-Carolingian Epoch 
 
 ward off ill-luck. 
 Here are also a ring 
 belonging to the 
 Anti-Pope Clement 
 Vll, several episco- 
 pal rings of the fif- 
 teenth century, vari- 
 ous little bronze 
 plaques by Visen- 
 tino and others, and 
 many bronze Chris- 
 tian medals which 
 were used as en- 
 colpia and hung 
 around the neck by 
 a small chain or 
 string. 
 
 In the vertical case 
 that comes next we 
 find many gilt 
 glasses similar to 
 those of which we have already spoken. These constitute one of 
 the most precious collections in the whole Museum, and whereas all 
 other museums, even in Italy, contain only a very few of them, the 
 Vatican has more than one hundred and lif ty. We have already spoken 
 of their origin and manufacture; it only remains to speak of the most 
 characteristic types found in this collection, which may without any 
 exaggeration be described as unique. The bottoms of the cups very 
 often have a portrait of the owner, or a portrait between two saints, or 
 simply the heads of the Apostles Peter and Paul. A few represent St. 
 Agnes, who always wears a veil over her shoulders, fastened with a 
 little brooch set with six gems like that of the Vestals, thus signifying 
 that the Saint died a virgin. Others have a mystic meaning, as for 
 instance that showing Moses causing w^ater to flow from a rock and 
 inscribed with the name Petrus. This scene, which recurs several 
 times, agrees very well with the idea of the Fathers, who styled Peter 
 the Moses of the New Testament and likened the spring of water to 
 the source of grace. From an artistic point of view, the finest object 
 in the collection is the picture with the inscription, "Eusebi anima 
 dulcis." It was found in the Cemetery of St. Agnes, and its workman- 
 ship is so Classical and accurate that it cannot be referred to a later 
 date than the third century. The figure is shown robed in a chlamys 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 413 
 
 u =, 
 
 = z 
 
414 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
Tragment of Silk Material 
 (Seventh Century) 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 415 
 
 fastened on the shoulder with a 
 round brooch. 
 
 The collection extends through 
 the next vertical case and the hori- 
 zontal glass case on the floor, in 
 which are also contained many fine 
 fragments of vases and beautiful 
 samples of phials of various shapes, 
 bearing palm leaves in relief. In 
 the vertical glass case, besides the 
 cemetery or gilt glasses, are a col- 
 lection of fine fragments of Roman 
 enamel-ware and a small collection 
 of carved Christian gems. Espe- 
 cially noteworthy among the latter 
 is a beautiful golden ring found in 
 1912 during the excavations in the 
 Cemetery of St. Domitilla; in the 
 ring is set a hard carved stone, on 
 the left of which is represented a 
 dolphin entwined round a trident (a well-known symbol of Christ on 
 the cross), and on the right the Good Shepherd seated among his sheep 
 in the shade of an olive-tree on which is perched a dove holding in her 
 beak a branch of the same olive-tree. 
 
 Cases VIII, IX and X contain a collection of enamels, some important 
 small reliquary urns from Limoges, two beautiful episcopal rochets, 
 and a number of small Greek, Italian and German plaques; but, except 
 for the triptych by Penicaud and the Passion scenes above referred to, 
 there is nothing here to compare with the exhibits in the Louvre and 
 other French collections. 
 
 The fourth horizontal glass case contains a number of very small 
 objects from the Catacombs, but, many as are those that are shown 
 here, a large number of others of recent ac(iuisition are possessed by 
 the Museum, but cannot be shown for lack of space. These range from 
 objects in ivory and bone to bronzes, enamels, hard stones, nard boxes, 
 solar pocket clocks, sword-hilts, balance weights, scourges, medallions, 
 bone dolls with jointed legs and arms, leaden toys, and so forth. It 
 is unnecessary to describe these objects in detail, but it is well to re- 
 mind the reader that all of them were found in the Catacombs, fixed 
 in the mortar used to close the lociili, or tombs. 
 
 In Cases XIII and XIV are exhibited a few fragments of Coptic cloths 
 found in the tombs of Upper Egypt and donated to the Museum by the 
 
416 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Armor of Pope Julius II, which he is said 
 to have worn at the Capture of Bologna in 1506 
 
 Armor of the Connetable dc Bourbon, who 
 fell during the Siege of Rome in ir>2r> 
 
 Committee of the Exposition of Sacred Art, which met at Turin in 1898. 
 The finest specimen is that hanging on the end wall of Case XIV; this 
 was found in a tomb at Akmim, and was given to the Museum by Mon- 
 signor Sogaro. In the lower part of these same cases are a number of 
 silver, bronze and terra-cotta objects found in the excavation of the 
 Xenodochium of Pammachius at Porto. Very beautiful silver-rimmed 
 shells bear on the inside surface the cross in niello. Here also are 
 bronze tul)es with palms and inscriptions, magnificent terra-cotta 
 lamps with important symbols, and a whole series of fragments of 
 glass bowls bearing images of saints and Christian symbols put on by 
 the potter's wheel. These are, for the most part, works of the fourth 
 century and are very well preserved. In one of these cases is also to 
 be seen a singularly beautiful reliquary in the shape of a bowl, with 
 a silver lid with niello decorations; this was intended as a reliquary 
 for the head of St. Sebastian. On its foot is the dedicatory inscription 
 of Gregory IV, and on the inside a beautiful monogram about whose 
 meaning there is still much discussion. It was taken from its case, 
 where it had lain hidden since the seventeenth century in the Church 
 of the Four Crowned Mai'tvrs, and was brought to the Museum in 
 March, 1913. 
 
 The next case and the fifth horizontal glass case contain the highly 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 
 
 417 
 
 -V 
 
 Tabk'l >>hu\ving the Man IJnrii Blind and CapseHa 
 
 with Bacchic Scene 
 
 (Sixth ami Third Centuries) 
 
 
 Upper Surface of Engraved 
 
 Silver Reliquary Casket 
 
 (Ninth Century) 
 
 Tablet showing the Madonna and Saints 
 (Sixteenth Century) 
 
418 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Side View of Engraved Silver Reliquary Casket 
 (Ninth Century) 
 
 Byzantine Triptycli with Cross, OrnamriUs ;iii( 
 (Tenth Century) 
 
 Siiliits 
 
THE CHRISTIAN MUSEUM 419 
 
 important collection of ivories. The glass case also contains a wooden 
 comb with Christian symbols, which is referred to the fifth or sixth 
 century and was found in the bottom of a well at Chiusi. Most of 
 the ivories are of French origin and date from the fourteenth and fif- 
 teenth centuries, and among them are some remarkable triptychs. But 
 the objects which particularly deserve our attention are a diptych of 
 Rambona, the cover of an evangeliary of Lorsch, and a large Byzan- 
 tine triptych dating from the eleventh century. The Rambona diptych 
 is an eighth-century work, and shows to the left a Calvary in which 
 the cross rests on the she-wolf that fed Romulus and Remus. To the 
 right, above, the Madonna is seated, holding on her knees the Infant, 
 who is attended by two seraphim; below three nimbused saints are 
 shown, their names (St. Gregory, St. Sylvester, St. Flavian) being given 
 in the inscription separating the two panels. Below all, in the centre 
 of another inscription, is a ligure having a nimbus and bearing a palm 
 branch. The cover of the evangeliary, the codex of which is in the 
 Vatican Library (Cod. Vat. Palat. Lat. 50), is from the Abbey of St. 
 Nazarius at Lorsch. It is divided into live panels, showing the Saviour, 
 some Angels, and the Adoration of the Magi. For a long time it was 
 thought that the ivory was a sixth-century work, but as the result of 
 recent studies we cannot refer it to an earlier date than the ninth cen- 
 tury. The Byzantine triptych is an example of that renaissance of art 
 which flourished in Byzantium about the year 1000, and of which this 
 relic is a glorious specimen. It consists of three ivory tablets on which 
 is carved the Redeemer on a throne, with St. Joseph and the Madonna 
 on either side. In three zones, one above the other, we see many saints 
 whose names are written near them. 
 
 The case following and the last horizontal glass case contain the trea- 
 sures of the Sancta Sanctorum. In the middle altar of the chapel of the 
 Sancta Sanctorum near the Lateran many precious relics were enclosed 
 in very ancient and valuable reliquaries that had not been opened for 
 five centuries. In 1903, while seeking for the head of St. Agnes, the 
 Church authorities not only succeeded in finding it, but were led by 
 their search to the discovery of many other relics of inestimable value. 
 When the slab that enclosed the altar was opened there were found, 
 under a layer of dust, some small bags of ancient Sassanide and Caro- 
 lingian cloth, within which were preserved many reliquaries of rare 
 beauty. Lack of space prevents our giving a description of even the 
 most important things in this collection, but we must call attention 
 to an enamelled gold cross of sixth- or seventh-century workmanship, 
 and a magnificent tenth-century silver reliquary with enamelled medal- 
 lions, in which the head of St. Praxedes was preserved. Most remark- 
 
420 THE VATICAN 
 
 able too is the well-preserved state of the cord which fastened the bags 
 and the seal of Nicholas III. Other features of interest are a seventh- 
 century ivory bas-relief depicting the healing of the man born blind, 
 a splendid Greek crux gammala enclosed in a silver case decorated 
 with bas-reliefs, and, finally, precious pieces of cloth which were used 
 as bags to contain reliquaries, and which, now unfolded and displayed, 
 constitute the most beautiful and rare specimens of cloth-weaving 
 prior to the time of Charlemagne. For a more discursive treatment 
 of a collection which, for adequate appreciation, would require care- 
 ful and extensive description, the reader may be referred to the works 
 of Philippe Lauer ("Le tresor du Sancta Sanctorum," Paris, Leroux, 
 1906) and H. Grisar ("II Sancta Sanctorum ed il suo tesoro sacro," 
 Rome, Civilta Cattolica, 1907), published since the discovery of these 
 treasures. These works reproduce photographs of the most interesting 
 among the exhibits. 
 
 The last two cases contain medieval woodwork and the "steatites," 
 which include some unusually interesting specimens of Greek medi- 
 eval art. In the lower part of the cases is the most important existing 
 collection of Christian earthenware lamps, richly decorated with mono- 
 grams, crosses and symbols of every shape. Although this collection 
 is not at present on exhibition, it is placed at the disposal of any student 
 desirous of examining it. 
 
 The Christian Museum is being constantly enriched by new objects 
 from the excavations of the Catacombs or donated bv friends. 
 
THE NUMISMATIC COLLECTION 
 
 HE Vatican Numismatic Collection began very mod- 
 estly about the middle of the sixteenth century, when 
 a few coins and leaden pontifical seals were donated to 
 the Popes by private individuals to form a Cabinet of 
 Coins in the Papal Library. So far as is known, how- 
 I ever, the Vatican did not possess an important col- 
 1 lection of coins and medals until the middle of the 
 J eighteenth century. This is all the more surprising 
 
 as many cardinals are known to have had splendid collections as early 
 as the end of the tifteenth century. It will be sufficient to cite here that 
 which Cardinal Barbo, afterwards Paul II, had formed in his glorious 
 Palazzo Venezia. 
 
 About 1738 Clement XII took the first step towards making an im- 
 portant collection, when he bought the celebrated Roman medallions 
 belonging to Cardinal Albani. Benedict XIV added to these the ancient 
 coins and medals of every age and country which had been sedulously 
 collected by Cardinal Carpegna. Later were acquired the Papal coins 
 which belonged to the famous numismatist Saverio Scilla, and which 
 had formed the basis for his fundamental work on Papal numismatics. 
 Subsequent Popes acquired minor collections, and strove in every 
 way to extend the existing series of coins, so that, when Pius VI secured 
 the celebrated collection of Queen Christina of Sweden, which had 
 passed into the hands of Prince Livio Odescalchi, the Vatican collection 
 became one of the richest and most famous of the age. 
 
 One result of the French occupation of Rome in 1798 was the com- 
 plete dispersal of this numismatic collection, for such of the coins as 
 were not stolen or lost were sent to France and incorporated in the 
 collection in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. Only the less im- 
 portant part of the collection was given back after the Treaty of 1815, 
 the unique collection of Roman coins, as well as all the coins of which 
 the French museum did not possess duplicates, being retained. Pius 
 VII immediately set about the formation of a new collection, and suc- 
 ceeding Popes followed his example by adding to it all coins found 
 during the excavations around Rome, and after 1870 by acquiring pri- 
 vate collections which extended the series of special importance for the 
 
 [4213 
 
422 THE VATICAN 
 
 history of the Holy See. Particular mention must be made of Cardinal 
 Lorenzo Randi's collection of pontifical coins, upon which he spent 
 fifty years, and which was bought by Leo XIH. These accessions ren- 
 dered the collection one of the richest in Italy, and for some special 
 series the richest in Europe. 
 
 The Numismatic Collection possesses at present about 80,000 coins, 
 medals, seals, tesserae, bullae and incised stones of every age and 
 country. 
 
 The series of Papal coins is undoubtedly the largest and most impor- 
 tant; it comprises about 15,000 specimens, of which about 1100 are in 
 gold, 8000 in silver, and the rest in alloy or copper. This collection, 
 which has been recently described in three large volumes with over 
 one hundred and eighty plates, is rightly considered the most impor- 
 tant medieval and modern series in existence, and has always enjoyed 
 the high appreciation of students of art. The collection contains an 
 almost unbroken series of Papal coins from the eighth century to the 
 j^ear 1870, and, together with the splendid series of Papal medals, bullae 
 and leaden seals, furnishes a history of Italian engraving art from the 
 fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and Renaissance 
 period down to our own time. Guazzalotti, Cristoforo di Geremia, 
 Camelio, Grechetto, Leone Leoni, Sperandio, Francia, Benvenuto Cel- 
 lini and many other celebrated artists worked in the Papal mint during 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; the Hamerani family, which 
 came from Germany to Rome in the early part of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, furnished a large number of excellent artists, who in the nine- 
 teenth century had equally famous successors, such as Girometti and 
 Cerbara. The specimens in this department are so excellent and nu- 
 merous that they need not fear comparison with any other collection. 
 
 The collection of ancient coins dating from Republican and Imperial 
 Rome is not inferior in number, rarity or state of preservation. As this 
 series is continued by the Papal coins of the first part of the eighth 
 century, the two collections give a faithful reflection of the artistic 
 history of the Eternal City for twenty-four centuries, and thus form 
 the noblest series of coins in the world. Selected from numerous col- 
 lections, the series of Republican coins is unsurpassed, whether in the 
 number, rarity or excellence of its specimens. It contains more than 
 7000 coins, including the heavy bronze ones of the primitive age, and 
 its historical interest is universally recognized, since it furnishes au- 
 thentic information of an epoch which has left but few contempora- 
 neous records. Portraits of heroes, both legendary and historic, are 
 combined in these small coins with notices of the most celebrated 
 events in the history of Rome, furnishing us with almost contemporary 
 
THE NUMISMATIC COLLECTION 
 
 423 
 
 8. 
 
 Ancient Papal Coins 
 
 (1) Gregory III, 731-741. (2) Zacharias, 741-752. (,S) Leo III, 79.5-81(1. (4) Eugene II, 824-827. 
 (5) Valentine, 827. (B) Gregory IV, 827-844. (7) Benedict III, 85.")-8.')8. (8) Marinus II, 942-940. 
 
 comment. With this rare collection are linked the names of many 
 famous numismatists, such as Borghesi, Garrucci, Tessieri and Baron 
 d'Ailly, either because they collaborated in its development or because 
 it furnished them with material for their profound studies. 
 
 Of all the numismatic series, however, that of Imperial Rome has 
 received the most attention from students. This starts with Julius 
 Caesar and ends with Romulus Augustulus, and, if it cannot be com- 
 pared with the original collection taken to Paris (particularly in the 
 number and value of its medallions), it still retains a high place among 
 Italian collections. It contains no less than 12,000 coins, of which about 
 500 are of gold, and has besides over 100 bronze medallions. Most rare 
 and unique specimens are not lacking, or specimens of an exquisite 
 art in a marvellous stale of preservation. These products of the mint 
 of Rome, which worked longer than that of any other city, form a 
 collection of artistic monuments and historical documents of the high- 
 est value for the multiform researches which have been instituted into 
 the historical development of this extraordinary city. 
 
 Less numerous and important, if considered separately, is the collec- 
 
424 THE VATICAN 
 
 tion of Greek, Grffico-Roman and colonial coins, although it is ample 
 for the study of those unsurpassed and insurpassable products of the 
 great engravers of Tarentum and Syracuse, and allows us to follow 
 the artistic development of Greek numismatics from its beginnings 
 down to the Roman conquest. This event marks the sudden and pro- 
 nounced decadence of the technical and plastic arts in the land of every 
 beauty, for thenceforth to Rome, as the centre of all activity, turned the 
 best artists, deserting a province which no longer favored the develop- 
 ment of genius. 
 
 The other series are also representative collections. For example, 
 the series of Italian coins and medals contains all that is necessary to 
 complete the study of Italian art in modern times. Gifts from mission- 
 aries have enriched the gallery with series of coins from India, China, 
 Japan and other Asiatic lands, and there have been some donations of 
 American coins, especially from South America. 
 
 At the present time the directors of all numismatic collections aim at 
 limiting their scope to the completion of those series that are of most 
 interest to the institute of which the collection is a part, or to the city 
 or country in which the collection is situated. Thus it has been the 
 chief care of the Popes to increase the series of pontifical and Roman 
 coins so as to make this collection ever more worthy of the artistic 
 traditions of the Vatican. 
 
THE HALL OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL CHARTS 
 
 '* • % % -< -%r n.^-m^ 
 
 She Loggia delle Carte Geografiche, or Hall of the Geo- 
 B graphical Charts, occupies portion of the site of the 
 ^ former Cortile del Bramante. It is a large vaulted 
 I hall adorned with arabesques and painted figures, 
 i and takes its name from the number of charts, or 
 i maps, painted on its walls. The historian Giovanni 
 Baglioni says its first architect w^as Girolamo Muzzani 
 I of Brescia, and in the large inscription over the en- 
 trance door we read that the gallery was begun and completed, maps 
 and all, under Gregory XIII, in the year IficSl. Pius VU placed in this 
 gallery as ornaments some marble seats and numerous pieces of sculp- 
 ture, the most valuable of which are a double hermes of Bacchus, an 
 Epicurus, a Pythagoras, and an Aristotle. Other alterations and repairs 
 were made by Urban VHI, as the arms of that Pope suggest and an 
 inscription dated 1631 informs us. 
 
 The first two maps we meet on entering show us Genoa and Venice 
 face to face. Under the former is written: "Genua, maritimne Liguriae 
 caput, navalis militife studio et civium virtutc atque opulentia inclyta, 
 minutissimis nuper sediticatis moenibus, tulam clarissimae Reipublic?e 
 sedem prsebet." Under the other we read : "Venetiae civitas admirabilis 
 post eversam ab Attila Hunnorum Rege Aquileiam, condita anno a 
 salute hominibus restituta CCCCLIV." 
 
 Next to the map of Genoa we find Civitavecchia, the ancient name of 
 which (Portus Trajanus ad Centumcellas) is used. Facing it we see 
 Ancona — Civitas Dorica, as the legend runs. The decorations on the 
 ceiling corresponding with these maps show us the Baptistery of the 
 Lateran with the Baptism of Constantine, the building of old St. Peter's, 
 and the building of St. Paul's with figures painted by Antonio Tem- 
 pesta, a Florentine artist known as II Tempestino. He was a pupil first 
 of Giovanni Strada and later of Santi di Tito, died at Rome in 1630 at 
 the age of seventy-five, and was buried in S. Rocco alia Ripetta. 
 
 Near these paintings are the portraits of two famous geographers, 
 Flavio Biondo and Raffaele Volterrano; between them is a representa- 
 tion of New Italy, while on the opposite side is Ancient Italy betw^een 
 the figures of Strabo and Ptolemy. After these on the roof are painted 
 
 C 425 3 
 
426 THE VATICAN 
 
 St. Sylvester on horseback while Constantiiie holds his stirrup, and the 
 Apparition of the Cross to Constantine. On the side walls we next see 
 two large maps, one of Liguria and the other of Piedmont and Mon- 
 ferrato; the corresponding decorations on the ceiling are the scene 
 showing the Translation of the Remains of St. John the Baptist in the 
 harbor of Genoa, and the Exposition of the Holy Shroud at Turin. In 
 the centre is St. Ambrose forbidding Emperor Theodosius to enter his 
 church. 
 
 Maps of Tuscany and the Duchy of Milan come next in order on 
 opposite walls; on the ceiling above we see the hermitage of Camalduli, 
 where St. Romuald founded his order, St. Francis receiving the sacred 
 stigmata on Mount Alvernia, and St. Ambrose driving away the enemies 
 of the Church from the gates of Milan. 
 
 The map of Perugia faces that of the territory of Venice beyond the 
 Po. On the roof we are shown Bishop St. Constantius healing a large 
 crowd of the infirm from his prison window; two scenes from the life 
 of Jacob stand on either side of this picture. The central panel shows 
 us the Venetian Ducal Palace, where Pope Alexander III is in the act of 
 receiving the homage of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who kneels 
 before him. This scene is flanked by pictures of the Bolsena miracle 
 and of St. Anthony of Padua preaching. 
 
 Next follow the map of the Papal Estates in Tuscany and the map 
 of Friuli. In the central panel of the ceiling we are shown Pope Greg- 
 ory VII on his throne, while Countess Matilda offers him all her pos- 
 sessions. 
 
 Maps of Umbria and the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza follow, and 
 on the ceiling we see the meeting of Pope Leo IV and Attila, King of 
 the Huns; over the window on one side is St. Clare freeing the town 
 of Assisi from the invasion of the Saracens, and above the opposite 
 window Pope Innocent IV frees the town of Parma from the siege of 
 Frederick II. 
 
 The map of Latium and the Sabine country faces that of the Duchy 
 of Mantua. In the centre of the ceiling above, Christ is represented 
 preventing St. Peter from leaving Rome, while on either side are 
 painted Moses and Jacob. Another scene shows the Fall of Simon 
 Magus. Over one window we are shown the City of Naples and the 
 miracle of the blood of St. Januarius, and on the opposite side the town 
 of Modena is freed through the intercession of this Saint. 
 
 We now come to a map of the Terra di Lavoro, the Campagna Felice, 
 which has the following inscription: "Campania ea est amaMiitate, ea 
 utilur coeli benignitate, ea terrarum foecunditate ..." Facing this 
 map is that of the Duchy of Ferrara. On the roof St. Benedict is seen 
 
THE HALL OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL CHARTS 
 
 427 
 
 'I'lic Hall of lliu CiLugrapliical (Charts 
 
 discovering Totila in disguise, and in the following panel Christ is 
 represented among the Apostles entrusting to St. Peter the supreme 
 care of the Church. This last painting, with its life-size figures, is the 
 work of Romanelli. Above and below this scene are a view of the 
 Monastery of St. Michael in Bosco, outside Bologna, and a scene show- 
 
428 THE VATICAN 
 
 ing the transfer of the miraculous image of the Madonna to Monte delta 
 Guardia, also at Bologna. These paintings are thought to be the work 
 of Giovannangelo Canini, a pupil of Domenichino. Beside the window 
 we have the miracle of St. Petronius bringing back to life a laborer 
 who has been crushed under a column, and St. Dominic at table with 
 his companions in the refectory of his monastery, while angels wait 
 on them with bread. 
 
 The two maps that follow show the Principality of Salerno and the 
 City of Bologna. The central painting depicts the miracle of the manna 
 rising from the body of St. Andrew and its distribution among the 
 people by the deacons. Here also are paintings of Sts. Bernard and 
 Rainulf, St. Libcrius driving out demons from the possessed, and St. 
 Anthony of Padua preaching to the fishes on the sea-shore. After the 
 tenth window we come to the map of Lucania, which faces that of 
 the Romagna. Scenes on the roof show us the election of St. Severus 
 as Bishop of Ravenna, and St. Peter Damian in cardinalitial robes dic- 
 tating the rules of a hermit's life to a group of solitaries. Over one 
 window we see St. Francis of Paula crossing the sea on his cloak, and 
 over the other St. Ubaldo liberating Gubbio from a siege. 
 
 We come next to the maps of Calabria Citerior and the Duchy of 
 Urbino. The ceiling shows us the miracle of St. Francis of Paula in 
 the fiery furnace. Then follow maps of Calabria Ulterior and the 
 March of Ancona. The miracle of the translation of the Holy House 
 of Loretto is shown on the roof. In the panel over the window to the 
 right the Pope gives Communion to the Emperor Henry, while to the 
 left we see St. Marcellinus miraculously saving the City of Ancona 
 from fire. Next we have maps of Corsica and the territory of Ancona. 
 The scene on the roof shows the cavalcade which went to seek for 
 Pietro Celestino on the Majella Mountains when he was elected Pope; 
 beside this painting are Pope Symmachus and St. Bernardine. The 
 map of Sardinia faces that of the Abruzzi. On the roof above, Pope 
 John I and Boetius consign King Theodoric to destruction. 
 
 Maps of Sicily and Apulia come next. On the roof are shown Mount 
 Garganus and the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel. The next 
 map shows the County of Venaissin, that is, the territory around 
 Avignon formerly possessed by the Popes. Opposite this map is that 
 of the Salentine Peninsula. Beside this is a small tablet with an in- 
 scription telling us that he who carefully and accurately drew these 
 maps was Padre Ignatio Danti, a native of Perugia and a Friar 
 Preacher. On the ceiling above, the Emperor Valentinian receives 
 St. Martin, St. Paul heals the father of Publius, who was ill at Malta, 
 and St. Paul is seen setting out from Malta for Rome. 
 
THE HALL OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL CHARTS 429 
 
 At the end of tliis hall we are shown the old harbor at the mouth of 
 the Tiber as it existed in the time of the Emperor Claudius, and on the 
 opposite wall the same harbor as it was in the time of Gregory XHL 
 Near the exit, where the arms of Pope Gregory are seen, we have a 
 view of the Island of Malta and a scene showing Malta freed from the 
 Turks. 
 
 It is no easy task to determine the artists who painted the pictures in 
 this Gallery. We have already given the names of the designer of the 
 maps and of some of the artists who painted the frescoes on the ceiling. 
 But so many artists have worked in this gallery that it is impossible to 
 identify each individual artist and his work. We know that Antonio 
 Danti (brother of the geographer), Muziano, RafTaellino da Reggio, 
 Paris Nogari, Pasquale Catl, Ottaviano Mascherini, Marco da Faenza, 
 Giovanni da Modena, Girolamo Massei, Giacomo Sementa, and Loren- 
 zino da Bologna were employed here. The names of very many others 
 have escaped the historian of art, but this fact is not so very regrettable 
 since the pictures, with few exceptions, have little artistic merit and 
 serve merely as a pleasing decoration of the gallery. The maps, how- 
 ever, are precious, not from the point of view of art but of culture. 
 They are most valuable for the history of geography, and also, where 
 they represent the various cities, for the study of topography. Here 
 lies the real value of the Gallery, and the reason why it deserves men- 
 tion among the great halls of the Vatican, although to remarkable artis- 
 tic grandeur it can make no claim. Besides the maps, but in no way 
 connected with them, this Gallery contains seven large cartoons exe- 
 cuted by the German painter, J. F. Overbeck, between 1857 and 1862. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 '°iiE collection of books has alwajs been pursued by 
 
 !'f^S!!sr^=;f yr i)ersons of wealth who occupied a position of promi- 
 
 ^>s5'^^r--^ iience among their fellow-men. The earlier the age, 
 
 ^^^5- Ir'^ r'^'^^l - "^'^ more difficult, of course, was this collection, and 
 
 ; '?} ^L^i^^lr ■ -^ "i6 rarer were the libraries; for in olden times even a 
 
 \t Vj^^^Is V^ librarjf of moderate dimensions, consisting as it did 
 
 i'^Ka exclusively of manuscript materials, represented a 
 
 ■•'" ^ fortune. 
 
 Ill (Jiii.slian antiquity the active scientific studies pursued in the 
 great monasteries necessitated a collection of books. This need was 
 met by procuring a loan of the books and having them copied by 
 learned monks in the different monasteries. In the Scriptoria (or copy- 
 ing-rooms) of their monasteries the monks prepared not alone the 
 books for their own use, but executed also the commissions of out- 
 siders. 
 
 The writing material used for extensive works was generally parch- 
 ment. In the early Middle Ages the use of papyrus was practically con- 
 fined to documents prepared for the state chanceries, and paper had 
 still to be invented. Parchment, however, was very dear. Conse- 
 quently, when one wished to have an important new work copied and 
 could not afford or did not wish to incur the expense of new parch- 
 ment, it was not unusual to take another book from one's library, efface 
 the writing from the parchment, smoothen the surface, and use the 
 parchment for the new manuscript. In such a case a book was usually 
 chosen of which there were several copies, or of which its owner did 
 not recognize the value. For example, the choice often fell on a manu- 
 script because its language was antiquated and thus difficult or impos- 
 sible to decipher, or because its text possessed no special interest for 
 its owner. Parchments which were thus utilized a second time are 
 known as palimpsests, or Codices rescripti. They may be recognized 
 from the fact that here and there traces of the first manuscript, or at 
 least perforations made by compasses and unconnected with the sec- 
 ond manuscript, are still visible. The custom of using parchment a 
 second time is very ancient, since the early Greek and Roman writers 
 speak of palimpsests, and was especially common in the seventh and 
 eighth centuries of the Christian era. Until recent times a gall-nut 
 
 1:431: 
 
432 THE VATICAN 
 
 mixture or Gioberti tincture was very successfully employed to render 
 the tirst manuscript again visible. At present, however, much better 
 results are attained by a special photographic process, without the use 
 of corrosive inks. Later on in this chapter we shall have to speak 
 of one of the most successful and renowned discoverers of palimp- 
 sests, Cardinal Mai. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that, generally speaking, important collec- 
 tions of books were confined during the Middle Ages to churches, mon- 
 asteries, and the libraries of high ecclesiastics; and among these 
 libraries that of the Popes in Rome was always especially prominent. 
 Often depleted and destroyed by war and revolution, no library, how- 
 ever, could hope to enjoy unarrested development. Beginning from 
 the earliest days, the Popes labored tirelessly to provide in the greatest 
 possible completeness the literary materials necessary for the proper 
 discharge of their exalted office, and strove to preserve for future gen- 
 erations the civilization of Classical antiquity. But, as the result of the 
 never-ending troubles of the early and later Middle Ages, their library 
 had all but disappeared by the end of the thirteenth century. 
 
 At Avignon, in the fourteenth century, the Popes again applied them- 
 selves with zeal to the collection of books. John XXII (1316-1334) 
 made a beginning by purchasing books and having manuscripts copied 
 at Avignon. Presents of manuscripts arrived from all sides, and a very 
 important source of increase lay in the exercise of the papal right to 
 the inheritance of prelates — the ius spolii, which declared that all the 
 possessions of a deceased member of the Curia fell to the Apostolic 
 Camera — that is, the Papal Exchequer. The glorious pontificate of 
 Clement VI (1342-1352) raised the Papal Library to a position of great 
 splendor. The management, or prefecture, of the Library was then 
 entrusted to the Sacristan of the Apostolic Palaces. Until 1411 the 
 Avignon Library was located in the Turris Angelorum (Tower of the 
 Angels), which had been erected by Benedict XII (1334-1342). 
 
 In so far as juridical literature was concerned, the Papal Library at 
 Avignon surpassed even that of the Sorbonne in Paris, although, gen- 
 erally speaking, the latter was without a rival in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury. The Papal Library, unfortunately, did not escape the common 
 misfortunes of that age, and was so scattered that scarcely any of the 
 books there collected were brought to Rome when the Popes returned 
 to their residence beside the Tiber after the Council of Constance. A 
 large number of the Avignon manuscripts did not find their way back 
 to the Papal Library at the Vatican until our own day, when Leo XIII 
 purchased the library of the Borghese family, which had secured a 
 large portion of the stolen treasures of the Avignon Library. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 433 
 
 Tlic Vatican Library 
 (D. Fontana, Architect) 
 
434 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 l.rll W'ill.U dl' the \';ili( an Lil)ial> 
 
 Martin V (1417-1431) and Eugene IV (1431-1447) resumed in Rome 
 the collection of books, although these were now intended only for the 
 private use of the Pope and the Curia. The idea of founding a public 
 library occurred first to Nicholas V (1447-1455), when he made the 
 fourth effort to establish a great papal library. Eugene IV had be- 
 queathed him three hundred and forty manuscripts, and, by adding 
 these to his private library, he formed the first important division of 
 the new collection. In systematic fashion he increased his collection 
 by employing copyists at a fixed salary to copy those originals which 
 could not be bought from their owners. His passion for books induced 
 him to send experienced men to Germany, England, and even Denmark 
 to search for and purchase manuscripts. At the fall of Constantinople 
 the Turks had scattered the extremely valuable Imperial Library. 
 Papal agents were commissioned to acquire for the Pope all valuable 
 manuscripts which had belonged to the Imperial Library and were for 
 sale. At the same time the Pope invited all the exiled Byzantine and 
 also competent Italian scholars to Rome and commissioned them to 
 translate the Greek classics into Latin for his librarv. Before this inde- 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 435 
 
 Kva^iAj 
 
 AnothiT \'i('\\ iif llic \'atii;iii Library 
 
 fatigable collector died in 1455, he had assembled twelve hundred 
 manuscripts — an extraordinary number for that time. And the high 
 importance and value of his additions increased the worth of the 
 Library as a whole far beyond anything that the mere numerical in- 
 crease would indicate. 
 
 The collection of Nicholas V had not as yet any special, fixed, and 
 public habitation, nor was there any special librarian. These develop- 
 ments were reserved for Sixtus IV (1471-1484), who determined to 
 house the Library in the Vatican Palace. The Papal Library thus be- 
 came the Palatine Library, in which originated the Vaticana, as the 
 collection is now commonly known. That Sixtus IV should have 
 accommodated these precious treasures in the rather dark and damp 
 rooms comprising the ground floor of the Cortile del Papagallo is a 
 little surprising. But it should be remembered that, in the first place, 
 the palace was not then so extensive that one could choose at pleasure, 
 and in the second place experience had not yet discovered the proper 
 arrangement and requirements of a public library. These rooms now 
 serve as store-rooms for the Floreria, and those who view these quar- 
 
436 THE VATICAN 
 
 ters to-day cannot suppress tlieir surprise that for so many decades 
 
 tliey were the scene of brisk scientific activity. 
 
 The Pope had the two largehalls painted bvDomenicoand David Ghir- 
 landaio, and the other two rooms by Melozzo da Forli and Antoniazzo. 
 Many traces of these glorious paintings are still visible, although the 
 mosaic floor of this period has entirely disappeared. Nor has any trace 
 remained of the stained glass windows made by the German artists 
 Herrmann, Georg, and Konrad. The gloominess of the rooms was, of 
 course, still further aggravated by these windows. Sixtus IV named 
 Giovanni Tortelli director of the Library of Nicholas V, and the re- 
 nowned Platina librarian. The latter prepared a catalogue of the 
 collection. In one of his mighty paintings Melozzo da Forli has immor- 
 talized the moment when Sixtus IV, with his two nephew^s beside him 
 and surrounded by his Court, received Platina and entrusted to him 
 the management of the Library. This fresco has since been removed 
 from the old library, and is now one of the treasures of the Vatican 
 Picture Gallery. The library halls were then well equipped with 
 shelves, desks, benches, and presses. Many of these pieces of furni- 
 ture have been preserved, and serve their purpose even to-day. Under 
 Julius II (1503-1513) the halls were still further decorated; but while 
 the collections continued to grow, the rooms were not increased, and 
 the majority and most important of the manuscripts were still fastened 
 with chains, as was usual in those days. In exceptional cases, however, 
 but only as a favor to specially prominent scholars, individual manu- 
 scripts were lent out. As we turn over the extant lists of those who used 
 the Codices, we are met by the name of every one who was then promi- 
 nent in learned circles in Rome. 
 
 The officials of the Library were known as the Custodians. Begin- 
 ning from the time of Paul HI (1534-1549), we find mention of the 
 purely scientific officials known as the Scriptores and Correctores. Fi- 
 nally, in 1548, the Library was entrusted to the care of a Cardinal 
 Librarian, an office and title which stood in the highest repute during the 
 Middle Ages. This first Cardinal Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, 
 Marcello Cervini, succeeded in 1555 to the papal throne as Marcellus 
 II, but enjoyed a pontificate of only tw^enty-two days. During his term 
 of office as librarian. Cardinal Cervini presented two hundred and 
 forty manuscripts and many books to the Library. It need scarcely 
 be said that, with the invention of printing, a collection of printed 
 books was immediately begun, the development of which department 
 will be dealt with in detail below. 
 
 After this fundamental reorganization of the Palatine Library and 
 the assembling of its treasures in one place, a new period of internal 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 437 
 
 development began. Externally also an extremely important change 
 took place, when Sixtus V (1585-1590) carried into execution the plan 
 already conceived by Gregory XIII (1572-1585), and provided a new 
 and magniticent home for the Palatine Library, Among the number- 
 less undertakings upon which Sixtus V engaged during his short pon- 
 tificate, one of the most famous is the erection of the huge hall of the 
 new library. In so far as one may judge from bills of cost, this gigantic 
 hall was begun and completed in about thirteen months by Domenico 
 Fontana, at a cost of $25,850, which sum was paid him by Sixtus V on 
 
 This building divided the huge Cortile di Belve- 
 
 portions, andbe- 
 vided withbook- 
 turc, and other 
 expenditure 
 $42,075. Itshould 
 that, inasmuch 
 ing power of 
 about four times 
 the cost would 
 about $170,000 
 day. The paint- 
 bio and Gio- 
 vvho were also 
 other commis- 
 V, were entrusted 
 task of decorat- 
 the Sistine Hall 
 tino), as the li- 
 named. These 
 sent the most 
 braries, the 
 
 I'onlana kneels belore the Pope mVPTPr*; of tllP 
 
 arts, and the chief events of the pontificate of Sixtus V. The last-named 
 paintings are of great importance for a knowledge of Rome as it was at 
 that time, since they show us how many of the chief monuments, which 
 were later surrounded with buildings or otherwise altered, then looked. 
 Into this hall were transferred all the treasures of the old library, a 
 task which the great Pope did not live to see completed. With the 
 change of location the name of the Library was also altered, being 
 henceforth known as the Vatican Library. Adjacent to this depository 
 for manuscripts, with its princely equipment, Sixtus V erected a large 
 Reading-room, and had there carved in marble regulations for readers 
 
 September 16, 1588 
 dere into two 
 fore it w^as pro- 
 shelves, furni- 
 accessories the 
 amounted to 
 be remembered 
 as the purclias- 
 money was then 
 as great as now, 
 be equivalent to 
 at the present 
 ers Cesare Neb- 
 vanni Guerra, 
 given various 
 sions by Sixtus 
 with the great 
 ing with frescoes 
 (II Salone Sis- 
 brary hall was 
 frescoes repre- 
 famous li- 
 
 councils, the dis- 
 
 Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) approving the plan of the 
 new library (in Sistiiu* Hall). Beside the Pope are his 
 two nepliews ; the prelate in a niozetta is Cardinal 
 
 Librarian Carala 
 
438 THE VATICAN 
 
 drawn up by himself. The whole glorious work was in every way 
 worthy of the exalted conception which Sixtus entertained of the offices 
 of the Papacy, and it alone would be sufTicicnt to immortalize the fame 
 of this most industrious and resolute Pontiff. Marco da Faenza painted 
 the pictures of the Sibyls in the Reading-room, and Paul Brill decorated 
 the walls with landscapes. The wood panels from the Library of Sixtus 
 
 IV and the benches made by Giovannino de' Doici were removed to the 
 new library, as already stated. To-day these highly remarkable pieces 
 of woodwork have almost all been assigned to the Appartamento Bor- 
 gia, for which place they seem preeminently suitable. 
 
 In the course of time the rooms of Pope Sixtus V proved too small 
 for the ever-growing Library, and it was decided to devote gradually 
 to the collection the long, narrow wing which is adjacent to the Gardens 
 and stands at right angles to the Sistine Hall. It has thus come to pass 
 that the whole wing of the palace, running from the Chapel of Pius 
 
 V to the entrance to the Museum, has been given over to the treasures 
 of the Library and kindred collections. The old reading-room of 
 Sixtus V was very poorly lighted, since there was but a single window 
 on one of the narrow sides. Yet for three hundred years the leading 
 scholars of all nations here carried on their scientific borings into the 
 inexhaustible mines of the Vaticana — a fact which in itself shows how 
 glad men were to gain admission to the Library under any terms. Leo 
 XIII built the new reading-room immediately adjacent to the old and 
 extending to the Cortile delta Stamperia. The lofty windows on the 
 left side of this room give excellent light to every worker. 
 
 But whereas at first the rooms for the manuscripts and books had 
 offered more than ample accommodation, the Library again outgrew 
 its quarters. A very large number of the printed books were accessible 
 only with the greatest difficulty, since they had to be accommodated in 
 one of the halls of the Appartamento Borgia, which was not yet re- 
 stored. When Leo XIII decided to have these glorious state-rooms 
 restored to their former splendor, the books had to be removed. He 
 therefore directed that the armory situated under the Sistine Hall 
 should be cleared and that a consulting library of printed books should 
 be here established, with the proper conveniences for scholars. The 
 old armory (Armeria pontificia), which is the same size as the Sistine 
 Hall, was beautifully decorated, and in it were set up a life-size figure 
 of St. Thomas and a marble bust of the founder of the Consultation 
 Library to perpetuate his memory. 
 
 But, even with these extensive and beautiful additions, the demand 
 for space was only temporarily satisfied, and it was reserved for Pius 
 X to cope with the situation in comprehensive fashion. Under the old 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 439 
 
 
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 Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 (Codex B) 
 The most famous of all Greek MSS. of the Bible. (Fourth Century) 
 
 and the new reading-rqoms lay the Vatican Press, and adjacent to this 
 a lofty and very long hall situated under the Gallery of Inscriptions. 
 Pius X first assigned this hall for the accommodation of the books and 
 numerous manuscripts of the Barberini Library and Archives. Then, 
 
440 THE VATICAN 
 
 when the Polyglot Press of the Propaganda was suppressed, a new 
 home was found elsewhere for the reorganized Vatican Press. The 
 rooms formerly belonging to the Vatican Press were then redecorated 
 and assigned to the administration of the Library. These changes made 
 it possible to change the Reading-room from the first to the ground 
 floor, where it was immediately adjacent to the Consulting Library. 
 For readers this innovation meant an extraordinary facilitation of their 
 work, since a few steps now bring them to the printed books in the 
 Consulting Library. The new reading-room lies exactly under the sec- 
 ond Sistine reading-room, while under the tirst lies the Biblical Library 
 of Printed Books. A number of adjacent rooms, which, together with 
 the second reading-room, are still unoccupied, are to be taken over by 
 the Library administration or utilized in connection with the funda- 
 mental rearrangement of the manuscripts. What considerations led to 
 the undertaking of so important and extensive an enterprise may be 
 here briefly explained. The manuscripts were preserved, according to 
 collections, in the low, beautifully painted wooden presses of the state 
 rooms of the Sistine Hall and of the wing of the palace, several hundred 
 yards long, which borders on the Gardens. Consequently, when a 
 scholar desired certain manuscripts, the attendants of the Library had 
 a very long distance to go from the Reading-room to execute his wishes. 
 Thus, when the attendance at the Library was large, the attendants had 
 frequently to walk many miles in the forenoon, carrying the often very 
 massive volumes. This condition of affairs made serious demands 
 on the strength of the attendants, and was a cause of considerable delay 
 for the readers. Furthermore, the state rooms of the Library are acces- 
 sible to strangers. Experience otherwise gained had revealed to the 
 authorities the danger that at any time an attempt might be made to 
 steal some of the manuscripts, if one of the presses were left open and 
 careful watch were not kept by the attendants. The safety of the manu- 
 scripts was thus not so well assured as the administration desired. The 
 fact that no manuscripts had been previously stolen from the presses 
 was no guarantee for the future. Finally, there was the danger of 
 fire, however remote it might be: should some evil-minded visitor 
 enkindle a smouldering fire in one of the presses, and should the tire 
 break out during the afternoon or night, priceless treasures might be 
 lost. Since the Library halls are vaulted and rest on arches, all other 
 danger of fire, except from lightning, was practically eliminated. Some 
 persons may think the caution of the Library authorities excessive. But 
 inasmuch as the Vatican officials have such a tremendous responsibil- 
 ity and are answerable to the whole educated world, they cannot be too 
 careful. The instalment of automatic fire-alarms may bring (juick 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 441 
 
 IllAM'5VMMA'IiOCVl;VlLlArx\'M-CVL\UN.VtVMA.NlJ 
 MAlOFvEvO\K\OVNlAUl5'OtA\ONIl^V5V\VbUE.': 
 
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 AD5 1 OVAEVl N I i h\U D l-K Al C-l N CON DIT A50Lv'5 
 
 Cocli'x Vaticanus Latinus 3867 
 
 Fifth-century MS. of Virgil in rustic capitals, showing the poet 
 
 with book-stand and book-case 
 
 help in the case of a fire, but can never prevent one. It was thus resolved 
 to remove all the manuscripts from the state rooms and lodge them in 
 adjoining fire-proof compartments in the immediate vicinity of the 
 Reading-room. Thus all the above fears and difficulties were removed 
 in so far as human efforts could remove them. 
 
 Before this task was accomplished, great difficulties had to be over- 
 come. After extensive rebuilding and alterations, roomy quarters were 
 provided immediately above the Reading-room and fitted with iron 
 presses. Here all the collections of manuscripts in the Vaticana could 
 be preserved, while ample room was left for future additions. Thus 
 the endless journeys of the library attendants were brought to an end: 
 a few steps and the manuscript is now found, and a pressure of the 
 hand brings the elevator down to the Reading-room. The manuscripts 
 
442 THE VATICAN 
 
 are now safe from every attempt at theft, and the security against fire 
 is greatly increased, since all means at the disposal of modern technic 
 have been employed to attain these ends. This reorganization of con- 
 ditions is an accomplishment for which the gratitude of the educated 
 world is due to Father Franz Ehrle, S. J., the indefatigable Prefect of 
 the Vaticana. The presses in the state rooms which formerly contained 
 the manuscripts are now filled with printed ])ooks, of whose number 
 and importance we shall speak below. Although these also receive the 
 greatest care, their preservation is not a matter of the same supreme 
 importance as the preservation of the manuscripts. 
 
 The huge extent of the halls of the Library is all the more astonishing 
 when we consider that the Vaticana has ever been, and is still, an exclu- 
 sively manuscript library — not a library of printed books or even a 
 mixed library, in which one may study equally books and manuscripts. 
 Only readers who have declared their desire to study manuscripts are 
 admitted to the Vaticana, for both elsewhere in Rome and in other 
 cities throughout the world there are so many places where one may 
 study printed books that no one need come to the Vaticana for this 
 purpose. The Vaticana will thus always preserve the character which 
 it has always possessed — namely, that of a purely manuscript library. 
 To this character it owes its importance and its fame. 
 
 Some readers may believe that, inasmuch as Leo XIII established a 
 general Consulting Library, the above statement needs at least some 
 qualification. The Consulting Library, however, was never established 
 as an independent institution, but to facilitate the work of the scholars 
 engaged in the study of manuscripts. All the literature which is re- 
 quired for the proper study of the manuscripts may be already found 
 in this Consulting Library, or will be added later. Printed literature 
 which is valueless as sources of information on manuscripts is ex- 
 cluded. Admission is thus absolutely denied to persons who desire to 
 work exclusively in the Consulting Library of printed books. If the 
 Library authorities aimed at collecting printed literature in the same 
 way as has been found useful and necessary in general libraries, they 
 would very soon find themselves at the end of their moderate funds 
 and their available space. The firmness with which all proposals to 
 change the Vaticana from its historical position as an exclusively 
 manuscript library have been rejected will be thus better understood 
 and appreciated. 
 
 Administration. — The Papal Library collected in Rome in the fif- 
 teenth century was entrusted to the care of a Ribliothecarius or Custos, 
 subordinate to whom were, as already said, the Scriptores and later also 
 the Correctores. It was onlv after the first collections of manuscripts 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 443 
 
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444 
 
 began to assume impor- 
 tance that the ancient 
 office of Cardinal Li- 
 brarian of the Holy 
 Roman Church was re- 
 vived in 1548. Since 
 that time, however, the 
 care of the Vatican Li- 
 brary has always been 
 entrusted to a Cardinal, 
 who was in later days 
 given the title of Protec- 
 tor of the Library. The 
 subordinate officials of 
 the Library have always 
 performed the same 
 duties, although their 
 names and the distribu- 
 tion of duties among 
 them have changed 
 from time to time. It 
 will be unnecessary in 
 the present work to give 
 a detailed history of 
 these changes. It will 
 be more to the purpose 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 /tTi1ioci>fo/CTmBfane--ftHynfc'B5m73cec>lnq.,rt5ir-6ff 
 
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 f <£cm^i^Ron6n •Toeco^'^iTTami^^c 
 xttflmTTme-^n ij 'qiii lJ i c p WW^ 
 
 Codex Palatinus Latinus Co, fol. 137 r 
 
 Psalter with glosses, liturgical prayers and a tract of Boetius, written 
 in the peculiar insular script of the ninth or tenth century 
 
 to inquire more fully 
 into the present organi- 
 zation and the various activities of the staff employed in the Library. 
 The office of Cardinal Protector was recently left vacant by the death 
 of Cardinal Rampolla, whose numerous learned works and treatises 
 established his claim to be numbered among the great scholars of his 
 time. Even while he had to bear the enormous burden of the Secre- 
 tariate of State during the reign of Leo XIII, he managed to find some 
 leisure to devote to works which awakened the admiration of scholars. 
 The most conspicuous of his predecessors in office during the nine- 
 teenth century was Cardinal Angelo Mai, who was equally famous in 
 two fields. In the first place, he was the discoverer of a practically end- 
 less number of previously unknown texts of high importance for both 
 religious and secular science as well as for Latin and Greek literature; 
 these texts fill fifty stout volumes. In the second place, he was so fortu- 
 nate as to discover a remarkable number of palimpsests, and succeeded 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 445 
 
 in restoring and deciphering the 
 effaced writing — a task that was 
 attended with enormous difficul- 
 ties. The most important of these 
 discoveries was Cicero's lost work 
 "De republica," of which one page 
 is here reproduced. After Car- 
 dinal Mai, special mention must 
 be made of Cardinal Mezzofanti, a 
 
 whom 
 Li- 
 
 painting of 
 
 MS. 
 
 Coilex Vaticanus Latinu^ 3808 
 of Terence's Comedies, written in the Carolint^iau 
 script of the tenth century 
 
 life-sized oi 
 
 hangs in the line of Cardina 
 brarians, although he never oc- 
 cupied this office, but only the 
 more modest post of Prefect. It 
 was believed, however, that an ex- 
 ception should be made in the case 
 of this Cardinal in view of his 
 extraordinary celebrity. Before 
 being called to Rome in 1831, he 
 was professor of Oriental lan- 
 guages in Bologna. Two years 
 later he was appointed Custodian 
 or Prefect of the Vatican Library. In 1838 he was raised to the Car- 
 dinalate, and later filled a great number of important offices. He was 
 chiefly famous for his extraordinary knowledge of languages, in which 
 he was without a rival. He spoke and wrote about fifty languages and 
 dialects perfectly, and understood some twenty more. He was thus 
 regarded as one of the wonders of the world; and when he visited the 
 College of the Propaganda, where theologians from the five continents 
 and from every nation were educated, he could converse with each in- 
 dividual in his mother tongue. 
 
 While the Cardinal Librarian exercises supreme supervision over the 
 Library, and all special and important regulations must have his ex- 
 press approval, the real burden of the administration of the Vaticana 
 is borne by the Prefect. The present incumbent of the Prefecture of 
 the Vaticana is the above-mentioned Jesuit Father, Franz Ehrle. When 
 he entered into office, the old traditional methods prevailed in very 
 many details of administration, insufficient consideration being paid 
 to the altered conditions of modern times. The whole administration 
 was of a more or less patriarchal character, and certainly no undue 
 importance was attached to the punctilious performance of duties or 
 to the exact observance of the appointed working hours. To abolish 
 
446 THE VATICAN 
 
 these and other defects in the administration of the Library; to initiate 
 and carry to a successful conclusion the fundamental revision of the 
 general regulations; to rearrange and make easily accessible the 
 printed books, and find proper accommodations for the library thus 
 reorganized; to install a department which would undertake the enor- 
 mously important task of restoring and preserving the damaged manu- 
 scripts in accordance with the latest discoveries of science; to bring 
 about the transfer of smaller collections of manuscripts and archives 
 from the possession of religious bodies to the safer custody of the 
 Vaticana, where their perfect preservation would be assured; to culti- 
 vate intimate technical and scientific relations \vith the other great 
 manuscript libraries of the world, and to extend the usefulness of the 
 Vaticana in every possible way — these were the gigantic tasks for 
 which Father Ehrle was summoned, and to assist him to execute them 
 he was given the most binding assurances that in every instance he 
 might count on the lirm support of the Cardinal Librarian, the Secre- 
 tary of State, and above all of the Holy F'ather himself. 
 
 The success of this mighty undertaking required tact, patience, un- 
 bending energy, wide scientific and technical knowledge, and espe- 
 cially a perfect knowledge of the new surroundings in which the 
 Prefect found himself. During his first months of office Father 
 Ehrle had to contend with all manner of obstacles, and only little by 
 little did he succeed in winning lirst the respect, and afterwards the 
 veneration, of his subordinate officials. Notwithstanding their absolute 
 necessity, his innovations encountered in many instances a passive 
 resistance which it appeared scarcely possible to overcome. Thanks, 
 however, to his wonderful patience and exemplary firmness, he finally 
 carried the day. It was only when it became clear to every class of the 
 officials that Father Ehrle's system aimed solely and directly at extend- 
 ing the fame and importance of the venerable Library of the Popes, 
 that the true spirit of cooperation began to inspire every member of the 
 Library administration, which thenceforth became a body striving for 
 one object and animated by one ideal. This happy outcome redounds 
 to the credit of all parties, and has made it possible to carry the Vati- 
 cana to its present pitch of development. 
 
 After Father Ehrle had borne the burden of the administration for 
 many years unassisted, he desired to be relieved of some portion of his 
 duties so that he might have leisure for scientific work. At his sugges- 
 tion, the Prefect of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, the celebrated 
 Mgr. Ratti, was appointed Vice-Prefect of the Vaticana with right of 
 succession. Consequently, the Vaticana has now^ at its head two schol- 
 ars in whom the educated world places unbounded confidence on 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 447 
 
448 THE VATICAN 
 
 account of their learning and ripe experience in all questions of mod- 
 ern library administration. The wide knowledge of languages which 
 distinguishes both these scholars was not possessed by some of their 
 predecessors, whose intercourse with foreign scholars was for this 
 reason often carried on under the greatest difficulties. Furthermore, 
 some of the former Prefects of the Vaticana were not completely 
 versed in the details of library administration, and this led to all kinds 
 of misunderstandings and difficulties. At present conditions could not 
 possibly be more favorable, since an experienced specialist is given 
 time and leisure to make himself thoroughly conversant with the pecu- 
 liarities of the institution whose administration he will later have, in 
 all probability, to undertake alone. This wise provision to secure con- 
 tinuity in the administration cannot be rated too highly, and all persons 
 who have contributed towards bringing about this condition may well 
 feel proud at the results of the very difficult negotiations which had to 
 be undertaken to attain their goal. A special secretary is entrusted 
 with the official correspondence pertaining to the Prefecture. 
 
 The staff of the Vatican Library may be divided into two classes — 
 the scientific staff and the attendants. In the former class are included, 
 besides the regular officers, those who have received their appointment 
 as an honorary distinction. They are known by the collective title of 
 Scrittori (Scriptores), a modest and indefinite term which, however, 
 assumes great importance when we add the words "della Biblioteca 
 Vaticana" (of the Vatican Library). The well-informed person knows 
 that this title guarantees its possessor to be an able librarian and 
 scholar. The number of regular Scrittori is seven; there are besides 
 three emerited Scrittori and one assistant Scrittore (Scrittore aggi- 
 unto), two honorary Scrittori, and some honorary assistants. To these 
 officials, who are also known as interpreters of manuscripts, are 
 assigned as their special tasks the investigation, arrangement, and de- 
 scription of the Codices, the preparation of the catalogues of manu- 
 scripts for printing, and the supervision of the printing. Besides these 
 scientific officials, whose work is confined to the manuscripts, there are 
 a large number of subordinate officials who are entrusted with the care 
 of the printed books, the books of plates, and the illustrated works. The 
 attendants perform the manual labor, but even for this duty only very 
 experienced and trustworthy men are appointed. A number of book- 
 binders are engaged in manufacturing new bindings or repairing the 
 old. It may be mentioned here that the leather covers of manuscripts 
 are provided with the coat of arms of the Pope during whose reign the 
 Codex was added to the Library. The bindings of the printed books do 
 not contain this im])rint. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
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450 THE VATICAN 
 
 The Manuscript Clinic, or the 
 department devoted to the repair- 
 ing of damaged manuscripts, oc- 
 cupies a very important place in 
 the Library organization. Many 
 Codices of the sixteenth and sev- 
 enteenth centuries, for example, 
 were written with a broad pen, 
 and thus reveal a quantity of ink 
 on the paper. In very many in- 
 stances this ink contains strongly 
 corrosive elements which destroy 
 the paper and cause letters, syl- 
 lables, and words to fall away. 
 When the paper is written only on 
 one side, the damage thus done is 
 serious enough, although many of 
 the missing portions may be de- 
 ciphered from the silhouettes 
 which have been left behind. But 
 when both sides of the paper have 
 been written on, whole pages may 
 be irretrievably lost. How is a halt to be put to this progressive'decay? 
 Or suppose that the Vatican Library has acquired a parchment manu- 
 script which has suffered greatly from damp, the ravages of time, 
 mould, or bad treatment; while in such a condition it cannot be placed 
 at the disposal of scholars, since use would only cause it still more 
 serious damage; and besides, many pages and lines have become abso- 
 lutely indecipherable. Or suppose again that a parchment manuscript 
 has fallen into water, and half of its pages have become so tightly stuck 
 together that to open them is now scarcely, if at all, possible. Are such 
 manuscripts to be lost to science, or can any remedy be devised to save 
 them from their present wretched condition? Or, finally, let us sup- 
 pose that a number of parchment leaves and remnants of Codices are 
 found in some corner, where they have lain in utter neglect for long 
 centuries and been exposed to all the indirect influences of the weather. 
 Perhaps it may not be possible even to determine what text stands on 
 the pages, to such an extent has it been erased by the tooth of time. Is 
 it possible in such a case for the careful and skilled hand of the restorer 
 of manuscripts to unveil the mystery shrouded in these written lines? 
 Such are a few of the problems which the Manuscript Clinic of the 
 Vatican Library has to solve. Nothing further need be said of the ira- 
 
 Ciicicx Urbinas Latinus 112 
 
 !treviai-y of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, 
 
 painted about 11X7 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 451 
 
 portance of this departmcMit, since 
 it is evident that an institntion that 
 could solve these problems in a 
 satisfactory way would be sure of 
 the commendation of all educated 
 people. 
 
 In the Vaticana, and indeed to a 
 certain extent in all important li- 
 braries, great importance was at- 
 tached from the very beginning to 
 the repairing of manuscripts. In 
 earlier times this was, of course, a 
 more or less summary business 
 which was contined to the binding, 
 a general cleaning of the manu- 
 script, the adding of lost corners, 
 and so forth. No attempt was 
 ever made to institute a scientific 
 inquiry to discover some means of 
 removing the cause of the progres- 
 sive decay. This task was reserved 
 for our own times, and the Prefect 
 of the Vatican Library, Father 
 Ehrle, was the inspiring spirit of all the investigations which had for 
 their object the general prevention of damage to manuscripts. From 
 the year 1896 onwards, all new processes w^ere tested in the Manuscript 
 Clinic of the Vatican Library, and special processes further developed. 
 At the instance of Father Ehrle, an international congress assembled in 
 the summer of 1898 at the celebrated Monastery of St. Gall in Switzer- 
 land for the purpose of enabling the directors of the leading libraries 
 to exchange views and experiences. It was there decided to place a 
 large sum at the disposal of the Manuscript Clinic in the Vatican Li- 
 brary to be applied to extensive researches in the domain of manuscript 
 preservation. These researches were attended with very favorable 
 results, and have given rise to a comparatively extensive literature on 
 the subject, to which persons interested in the matter may be referred 
 for detailed information. 
 
 Not alone has the Vaticana undertaken a number of extraordinarily 
 tedious and difficult works of repair in connection with its own manu- 
 scripts, but it has also restored in exemplary fashion celebrated Codices 
 belonging to religious bodies of various countries. One of the most 
 famous cases of this kind was its work in assuring the preservation of 
 
 r.odex Urbinas Katinus 112 
 
 Another page of the Rreviary of King Matthias 
 
 Corvinus of Hungary 
 
452 THE VATICAN 
 
 the Vercelli manuscript of the Bible, which had fallen into utter decay. 
 This manuscript dates from the iifth century. Some years ago the 
 Morgan Collection sent fifty damaged Coptic manuscripts to the Vati- 
 can, accompanied merely by a short note requesting that the Manu- 
 script Clinic undertake the task of repairing them. Father Ehrle was 
 unable to take up the matter at the time, but later answered that he 
 would not be in a position to grant the request until it had been estab- 
 lished that the Codices were really valuable. The mere fact that some 
 three hundred thousand scudi had been paid for the manuscripts was 
 in itself no guarantee of their scientific value. After an unbiassed 
 opinion of experts had been secured, with a view to determining that 
 the manuscripts were really worth the expenditure of money and labor 
 necessary for their repair, the Prefect answered that he was willing to 
 undertake the task on the understanding that the work was to be done 
 as opportunity offered, since of course the current repairs for the Vati- 
 can Library could not be interrupted and preference given to manu- 
 scripts belonging to outside parties. The owners of the manuscripts 
 agreed to this condition, but several years must still elapse before the 
 extensive repairs can be executed in this incidental manner. The cost 
 of the repairs is naturally defrayed by the Morgan Collection. 
 
 A few years ago, late in the evening, a fire broke out in this Manu- 
 script Clinic as the result of the spontaneous ignition of some chemicals. 
 These were very anxious hours for the Library administration, but 
 fortunately the fire was finally extinguished without any serious dam- 
 age being done. The roof, which had been burned, was quickly 
 restored, but the fire was the occasion of more elaborate precautionary 
 regulations than had previously prevailed. 
 
 The salaries enjoyed by the officials of the Vatican Library are more 
 than modest. Not one of them — not even the Prefect himself — receives 
 more than fifty dollars a month. For supplies, and so forth, the Library 
 has at its disposal only the insignificant sum of six thousand dollars, 
 as, in view of the present financial position of the Holy See, the Pope is 
 unable to assign more to the Library. Thus, if the Prefect did not suc- 
 ceed in securing from private sources large sums for the needs of the 
 Library, even the most urgent purchases would be often neglected. 
 The great expense entailed by the rebuilding of the hall for the manu- 
 scripts and the various works connected therewith was gladly met by 
 the Pope because these changes were absolutely necessary. In finan- 
 cial matters the Library is subject to the Prefect of the Apostolic Pal- 
 aces, who, although forced at limes to postpone necessary appropri- 
 ations, always ends by making them. 
 
 The Library Archives, in which the administrative acts are preserved. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 453 
 
 have been recently put in order. Unfortunately, they do not extend 
 back beyond the time of the tirst Cardinal Librarian, Marcello Cervini 
 (1548). By far the most interesting of the old papers are the loan 
 
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 registers. One of the illustrations shows a loan certificate signed by 
 the Pope himself. Besides its inherent interest, this certificate is also 
 important as a specimen of papal documents. 
 
454 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Map of F.uropc of the year laOCi 
 
 ContainillK so many details that it is vi-ry (iitliiult to read them all, even in the iiriginal. The flsuie 
 of the Madonna, between two angels, and the nRuies typical of the various races are of great beauty. 
 It will be noticed that the north of the map is to the right 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 455 
 
 Admission to the Reading-room of the Library was formerly given 
 on practically the same conditions as prevailed in other places. All 
 that is required at present is that the request for admission be signed 
 by a scholar known to the Library authorities. No other formalities of 
 any kind are recjuired, the reader being immediately admitted. It will 
 thus be seen that there are very few important manuscript libraries to 
 which admission can be obtained so promptly and easily as the 
 Vaticana. 
 
 In former times it was customary to mark a small black cross on the 
 back of all manuscripts which, because of their contents, it was not 
 deemed advisable to place at the disposal of all scholars indiscrimi- 
 nately. When such a Codex was asked for, the attendants had to refer 
 to the Prefect, who decided in each instance whether the Codex might 
 be delivered to the reader or not. This custom of regarding certain 
 materials as semi-secret was very common at the time, and found a 
 much wider application elsewhere than in the Vatican. Father Ehrle 
 has entirely suspended this old custom, and to-day every scholar, with- 
 out exception, is entitled to examine any manuscript. Of course, in 
 delivering extremely rare docimients and highly important works of 
 art to readers, all the precautions are taken for their safety which the 
 special regulations of the Library require. It was formerly a rule that 
 two copies of all photographs of manuscripts should be given to the 
 Library. This regulation, which seemed to serve no intelligible need 
 and only multiplied unnecessarily the quantity of materials to be pre- 
 served, was summarily abolished b}' Father Ehrle, although it still pre- 
 vails in the Secret Archives. 
 
 The regulations, dating from the time of Sixtus V and defining the 
 conditions under which the Library may be used, may, as remarked 
 abo\e, be seen chiselled in marble in the old reading-room. In the 
 course of time these regulations were altered by the Chirographa 
 ("Manuscripts," a special kind of Curial document) of Clement XII 
 (1730-1740), Benedict XIV (1740-1758), and Clement XIII (1758-1769). 
 By the Decree "Ex audientia Sanctissimi" Pius IX abolished some holi- 
 days which were especially irksome for foreign scholars. In his "Motu 
 proprio" of September 9, 1878, Leo XIII introduced other alterations, 
 all these changes being included in the Decree of March 21, 1885, which 
 supplied a new "Regolamento delta Biblioteca Vaticana." Appended 
 thereto was a "Calendario per I'apertura e per lo studio e servizio della 
 Biblioteca Vaticana." After three years' trial this new ordinance was 
 carefully revised, was declared a permanent law by the "Motu proprio" 
 of October 1, 1888, and still determines the administration of the 
 Library. 
 
456 THE VATICAN 
 
 The number of Italian and foreign scholars attracted to the Vaticana 
 grows unceasingly. The importance and number of the manuscripts, 
 the ease with which they may be consulted, the favorable conditions 
 for working, attract all these scholars to Rome. While it is indeed true 
 that the working hours might be increased, at least the complaints 
 which were formerly entered concerning the number of holidays are 
 no longer valid to-day. In winter the working-room is open from 9 to 
 1; at other times from 8 to 12. The working year extends from Octo- 
 ber 1 to June 27. The Library is closed on all Thursdays and also on 
 certain memorial days, the Feriae of Christmas, the Carnival season 
 and Easter, and certain ecclesiastical feasts. Since Father Ehrle became 
 Prefect, many scholars have been admitted to work during the after- 
 noon, on Thursdays and on many holidays, when they could show 
 satisfactory reasons for this preferential treatment. The liberality of 
 the present administration in this respect is gladly recognized by every 
 reader. 
 
 Growth of the Library. — To trace the growth of the Vatican Library 
 is an inspiring task, and a list of the most important acquisitions will 
 clearly reveal that the Popes of every century have shown true zeal 
 and inspiration in their labors for the development of the Vaticana. 
 Every favorable opportunity was embraced, and no sacrifice shirked, 
 to foster in every possible way this centre of scientific activity and 
 scholarly research. 
 
 In the Fondo antico Vaticana may be still found traces of the 340 
 manuscripts of Eugene IV, which were mentioned at the introduction 
 of this chapter. Before the death of Nicholas V the number of Codices 
 had greatly increased. Under Sixtus IV, 770 Greek and 1757 Latin 
 manuscripts were purchased. The pontificate of the next Pontiff, 
 Innocent VHI (1484-1492), fell in the period when printed books began 
 to be widely disseminated. During this reign many printed books 
 found their way to the Vaticana, so that the collection now numbered 
 3650 manuscripts and books. Among the purchases of Alexander VI 
 (1492-1503) were 40 famous Codices from the old Abbey of Bobbio; 
 these were bought from Tommaso Inghiranni. The four halls of the 
 Library of Sixtus IV w^ere enlarged bv .lulius II (1503-1513), since the 
 rooms had become inadequate to receive the numerous acquisitions 
 to the Library. After Leo X (1513-1521 ) had presented to the Vaticana 
 his own Greek Codices, the Library possessed 4070 books and manu- 
 scripts. There was at this period no collection in Ihc world which con- 
 tained so many manuscripts. 
 
 In addition to the princely gift of 240 Codices, Marcello Cervini, the 
 first Cardinal Librarian, presented many printed books to the Library. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 457 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 <:•"!, \ \ iiliijiiiis l.atinus 37.31 a 
 
 Manuscript Ltlter of King llunry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn, 
 
 written in French and signed "H. R." 
 
:?*" 
 
 
 458 THE VATICAN 
 
 These additions and the JW^/.^^ 
 
 250manuscriptsacquired 
 under Gregory XIII 
 (1572-1585) filled the 
 last available nook in the 
 old library, the rebuild- 
 ing of which under Six- 
 tus V thus became an 
 absolute necessity. A 
 contemporary informs 
 us that this last Pontiff 
 sent forth emissaries in 
 every direction in search 
 of manuscripts that were 
 purchasable. At the end 
 of the sixteenth and at 
 the beginning of the sev- 
 enteenth century we find 
 a glorious interest dis- 
 played in the Vaticana. 
 The celebrated brothers 
 Guglielmo and Tom- 
 maso Sirleto, the schol- 
 arly Antonio Carafa, and 
 Marcantonio Colonna, 
 known equally for his 
 political influence and 
 his know^ledge of lan- 
 guages, bequeathed their 
 great collections of 
 manuscripts and printed books to the Vatican Library. Fulvio Orsini, 
 who united a wdde scholarship with an extraordinary zeal for collecting 
 manuscripts, was appointed Corrector grtecus to the Vaticana, and on 
 his death bequeathed it no less than 413 manuscripts and a very exten- 
 sive collection of printed books. The manuscripts comprised 30 
 Italian, 270 Latin, and 113 Greek Codices. Thanks to this addition, the 
 Greek manuscripts, which were highly prized, mounted from 1287 to 
 1400. 
 
 Pope Paul V (1605-1621) proved himself a true Maecenas. He pre- 
 sented the Library with 212 Greek and Latin manuscripts, and during 
 his reign Silvarezza contributed 30 Codices from the Abbey of Bobbio 
 to the collection. From the library of the princely house of Altemps 
 
 'ri/iipniJ^iJ t/taiti-Hriiajmd'Jf-Sti. 
 
 A 
 
 fmi- mlTK ; 
 
 Library Archives, Tomus XXVI, fol. 38 r 
 
 Cardinal Carafa "s pelition to Gregory XIII for the loan of some MSS. 
 from the Library. The Pope grants the request by adding: Placet el Ita 
 manilanius. V. As signature he thus appends the first letter of his 
 baptismal name (Ugo), as was prescribed in the case of such docu- 
 ments. The Pope has also added to the text the words: e ne pigli 
 quietanzo 
 
Dc Luxe Binding fvm hr 
 Blbliotheca Palatina (1577) 
 
 THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 (Altaems) came 100 manuscripts. 
 Ill 1610 the same Pope purchased 
 83 Codices from the estate of Pros- 
 pero Podiani for 1974 scudi 
 ($1914): he had previously ac- 
 {[uired 25 Coptic manuscripts 
 from the estate of Raimondo. All 
 the manuscripts and books which 
 formed part of the estate of Car- 
 dinal Pole found their way to the 
 Vaticana, so that the reign of the 
 Rorghese Pope must be reckoned 
 one of the most important eras in 
 the life of the Vatican Library. 
 When, besides these services, men- 
 tion is also made of the fact that 
 on July 1, 1607, Paul V issued his 
 Rrief "ad perpetuam rei memo- 
 riam," "Alias felicis recordatio- 
 nis," containing detailed instruc- 
 tions concerning the management 
 of the Library, the sketch of his activity is complete. This document is 
 carved in marble on the narrow wall of the Sistine Hall. 
 
 Pope Urban VIII (162,'3-1()41) purchased a large num])cr of manu- 
 scripts and many books. He had 39 parchment Codices and many 
 books transferred from the Ethiopian Hospice behind St. Peter's to the 
 Vaticana, which then contained 6026 Latin and 1566 Greek manu- 
 scripts. At the same time Urban added a new hall to the Library, and 
 separated the office of Custodian from that of Prefect of Archives. But 
 one of the most important of all the ^^atican acquisitions was obtained 
 in the transference of the Heidelberg Librarv to Rome. At the founda- 
 tion of the University of Heidelberg, this collection was started with 
 the private libraries of Marsilius von Inghen and Konrad von Geln- 
 hausen. Constantly increasing in size, it received valuable additions 
 through the confiscation of tlie lil)rary of the Monastery of Lorsch, in 
 the manuscripts of the Cathedral of Mainz, the Arabian manuscripts of 
 the great Orientalist Postel, and in the extensive library of Ulrich 
 Fugger of Augsburg, acquired in 1584. In the union of all these glo- 
 rious treasures and the library of the Count Palatine Ottheinrich 
 the Bibliotheca Palatina had its origin. This contained about 3500 
 manuscripts and a large number of printed books when Elector Maxi- 
 milian of Bavaria, after capturing Heidelberg in 1623, confiscated it 
 
460 THE VATICAN 
 
 and presented it to Pope Gregory XV (1621-1623). This Pontiff sent 
 his librarian, Leo Allatius, to Heidelberg to receive the present and 
 bring it to Rome. It was only during the reign of Urban VIII, however, 
 that the Codices and books came into the actual possession of the Vati- 
 cana. Through the Treaty of Paris (1815) 38 manuscripts from the 
 Palatina at Rome were restored to Heidelberg, and 852 followed as a 
 gift from Pius VII in 1816. This great increa'se in manuscripts and 
 books maintained the Vatican Library in its old position as the leading 
 library in the world. At this period the Heidelberg Library in Rome 
 was called the Gregoriana, because it had been presented to Gregory 
 XV, but it later resumed its old name, the Palatina. 
 
 A little later the Vaticana made a second great acquisition, when 
 Alexander VII (1655-1667) brought the renowned library of the Dukes 
 of Urbino to the Vatican. This included 1767 Latin and Italian, 165 
 Greek, and 128 Hebrew and Arabian manuscripts. The printed books 
 of the Urbinatic Collection were separated from the above, and served 
 as the nucleus for the library of the Roman University, which is known 
 even to-day as the Alessandrina, after its true founder. Another very 
 large library, that of Queen Christina Alexandra of Sweden, the well- 
 known convert, passed from her heir. Cardinal Decio Azzolini, to his 
 nephew, Pompeo Azzolini. Alexander VIII (1689-1691) purchased it 
 from the last-mentioned and assigned it to the Vaticana. After the 
 duplicates had been presented to Cardinal Ottoboni, the Pope's nephew, 
 and much archival material had been assigned to the Secret Archives, 
 the additions to the Vaticana from the Queen's library consisted of 
 2102 Latin and 119 Greek manuscripts. To this division were added 
 1754 Latin and 45 Greek Codices of Pope Pius II (1458-1464). 
 
 From the information given above it will be seen that there were 
 already a fair number of Oriental manuscripts in the Vaticana. Clem- 
 ent XI (1700-1721 ), however, must be regarded as the real founder of 
 the Oriental section. According to Carini, he dispatched a number of 
 scholars into all parts of the Orient to purchase manuscripts, and thus 
 succeeded in adding to his library several hundred Orientalia of very 
 high value. Clement XIII (1758-17(59) added the collection of manu- 
 scripts from the private library of the brothers Assemani, which con- 
 sisted of 202 Syro-Chaldsean, 180 Arabian, and 6 Turkish Codices. In- 
 cluding several small purchases, the already notable collection of 
 Oriental manuscripts was increased by about 500 during this reign. 
 Benedict XIV (1740-1758) secured the Fondo Capponiano, consisting 
 of 288 Codices, and in 1748 purchased for 5500 golden thalers the whole 
 collection of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, which contained the libraries 
 of Altemps and Sforza, and the duplicates from the library of the 
 
n46n 
 
462 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 
 
 
 £:^j 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 B&3&T.-:- 
 
 Fresco in the Sistine Hall, showing the plan for the rebuilding of a large 
 portion of Rome begun by Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) 
 
 Queen of Sweden (see above). The total number of manuscripts was 
 3300. To this collection additions were later made, and it now contains 
 3394 Latin and 472 Greek manuscripts. 
 
 During the last century also the Vaticana made some extremely 
 important acquisitions. The papers of Angelo Mai, Gaetano Marini, 
 Eneo Quirino Visconti, Mazzucchelli, and Giovanni Battista de Rossi, 
 together with a portion of the Maurist correspondence, were all 
 acquired by or presented to the Library. These were put in order and 
 arranged into volumes, and now form a goodly series of important 
 manuscripts. Leo XIII purchased for $4500 the manuscripts of the 
 Borghese family, which contained 300 Codices from the old papal 
 library of Avignon. These came to the Borghese through the Aldo- 
 brandini family. The Borghese themselves purchased 100 Codices, 
 which were thus really Borghesiana. The extensive archives of the 
 Borghese Collection were assigned to the Secret Archives. More exten- 
 sive and more costly were the collections of the Barberini family, pur- 
 chased by Leo XIII in 1902. All the manuscripts of this collection, 
 among which were many of the highest value, a vast number of printed 
 books, and all the archival materials were incorporated in the Vaticana. 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 463 
 
 In recent times the Codices Bor- 
 giani (not to be confounded with 
 the Burghesiani) were transferred 
 from the Propaganda to the Vati- 
 cana. These are mostly Oriental 
 manuscripts, although there are 
 many Latin and Greek manu- 
 scripts among them. 
 
 In the above enumeration only 
 the larger acquisitions have been 
 mentioned. It would be quite im- 
 possible to mention in detail the 
 extraordinarily large number of 
 small purchases, presents of a few 
 manuscripts, or the less important 
 collections acquired by inherit- 
 ance. Sufficient, however, has 
 been said to show that the Popes, 
 mindful of their position and their 
 obligations towards the civilized 
 world, have developed in a lavish 
 manner this nursery of science. 
 
 Manuscripts. — From the account given above it will be seen that a 
 large number of closed collections have found their way into the Vati- 
 cana. These collections are not divided, but are administered as sepa- 
 rate and absolutely distinct divisions, or fondi, provided that they are 
 large enough to merit this treatment. All other acquisitions are united 
 in one large collection. Accordingly, we have closed, or historic, and 
 open fondi. The open fondi form really only a single division, that of 
 the Codices Vaticani. These Codices are, however, divided according 
 to languages, and thus form sixteen open fondi. The historical, or 
 closed, divisions, if we divide them according to language, form 34 
 fondi, as enumerated below. 
 
 The Open Fondi are as follows: Codices Vaticani Latini, 11,150; 
 Grseci, 2330; Hebraici, 599; Arabici, 935; Syriaci, 472; Turcici, 80; Per- 
 siani, 83; Coptici, 93; ^Ethiopici, 77; Slavi, 23; Rumanici, 1; Georgiani, 
 2; Armeni, 14; Indiani, 39; Sinici, 20; Samaritani, 3. 
 
 The Closed, or Historical, Fondi are: Burghesiani, 381; Notarii Aura- 
 siacenses, 377; Palatini Latini, 2017; Palatini Graeci, 432; Urbinates 
 Latini, 1767; turbinates Grseci, 165; Urbinates Hebraici, 128; Regmae 
 Latini, 2103; Reginse Graeci, 190; Reginae Pii II Graeci, 55; Ottoboniani 
 Latini, 3394; Ottoboniani Graeci, 472; Capponiani, 288; Barberini Latini, 
 
 De Luxe Hinding, showing the arms of Pope 
 Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592-1605) 
 
464 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 
 
 Corkx Mexicanus Vaticanus 3738, fol. (j(i virsci 
 Mexican figures with explanatory inscriptions anil comments 
 
 10,000; Barberini Grseci, 590; Barberini Orientales, 160; and the follow- 
 ing Codices Borgiani: Latini, 760; Grseci, 26; Syriaci, 169; Coptici, 132; 
 Hebraici, 18; Arabici, 276; Persiani, 21; Turcici, 77; Armeni, 90; Indiani, 
 31; Tonsinici, 22; Sinici, oil; Illyrici, 22; .Ethiopici, 33; Georgiani, 16; 
 Hibernici, 2; Islandici, 1; Slavi, 1. 
 
 The total of the above manuscripts amounts to 40,658. In addition 
 to these, the Vaticana possesses all the Codices of the Barberini Ar- 
 chives, which still await proper arrangement and accurate computa- 
 tion. As these probably number from 8000 to 10,000, the collection of 
 manuscripts in the Vatican Library amounts, in round numbers, to 
 50,000. The Library formerly possessed, in addition, a number of 
 manuscripts from the Fondo Zelada; these, however, were restored to 
 Toledo, while the printed books of this collection remained in the 
 Vatican. All new acquisitions of a minor nature were, and are still, 
 added to the Codices Vaticani. This collection contains all the manu- 
 scripts which were acquired by the Library since its restoration in the 
 fifteenth century, and will also serve in future as the depository for all 
 new purchases, presents, and so forth, one or more new sections being 
 opened as circumstances require. 
 
 Inasmuch as the world-famous manuscript treasures of the Vatican 
 
De Luxe Binding, showing the arms of Paul V 
 Borghese (1605-1621) 
 
 THE VATICAN LIBRARY 465 
 
 Library are distributed among the 
 diflerent fondi, it cannot be said 
 that this or that division is the 
 most important. So many per- 
 sonal views and interests must in- 
 fluence one in passing judgment 
 on the relative importance of 
 manuscripts of different natures 
 that an objective answer to this 
 question is quite impossible. All 
 these treasures are, as already 
 stated, preserved in the new com- 
 partments which are situated in 
 the immediate vicinity of the 
 Reading-room. 
 
 Books. — Readers who have fol- 
 lowed closely our description so 
 far will not expect to learn that 
 the collection of printed books is 
 an enormous one. The Vatican 
 Library contains more than 350,- 
 000 printed books. There are, of course, a large number of libraries 
 which can show much larger figures, but such libraries place at the dis- 
 posal of their readers all the books contained in their collections. This 
 is not the policy of the Vatican Library. As already stated, it places at 
 the disposal of readers only those works which are of value for the 
 study of the manuscripts. All other printed books are, generally speak- 
 ing, reserved for the use of the officials of the Vaticana. The reason 
 for this regulation has been already mentioned. 
 
 The two open fondi of books are the Raccolta Generate and the Con- 
 sulting Library. All new acquisitions are assigned to the first division, 
 unless their subject matter renders them suitable for the second — that 
 is, unless they are immediately connected with the study of manu- 
 scripts. The closed fondi of printed books are the Biblioteca Barberini, 
 Palatina, Zeladiana, and the Prima Raccolta. This last division con- 
 tains all the books which w^ere acquired by the Vaticana before the year 
 1620 or 1630, approximately. About this date a new division was 
 formed, the Raccolta Generate, to receive all future acquisitions. The 
 names of the other divisions will be easily understood from what has 
 been already said. 
 
 An exact computation of the books in these collections has hitherto 
 been impossible, nor is such of any special value in the case of the Vati- 
 
466 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 cana. The following is a fairly 
 accurate estimate of the various 
 collections: Prima Raccolta, 10,000 
 to 11,000; Raccolta Generate, 200,- 
 000; Biblioteca Palatina, 25,000 to 
 30,000; Biblioteca Zeladiana, 4000 
 to 5000; Biblioteca Barberini, 25,- 
 000 to 30,000; Biblioteca Leonina 
 (Consulting Library), 60,000 to 
 70,000. 
 
 While this collection of printed 
 books is not especially remarkable 
 for mere nimibers, the percentage 
 of rare and valuable works is 
 much greater than is found in any 
 other library of such proportions. 
 And if readers desire to use any of 
 the books in the closed fondi, they 
 will find no serious obstacle in 
 their way. They need only apply 
 to the official in charge, who will 
 see that the works are delivered to 
 them. They themselves cannot 
 take a work from its place; this is 
 permitted only in the case of 
 books standing in the Consulta- 
 tion Library, all of which may be 
 taken down by any reader. The 
 arrangement of the printed books 
 has undergone a complete change in the last two years, owing on the 
 one hand to the great increase in the room available and on the other to 
 the removal of the manuscripts from the state rooms of the Library. 
 As more detailed information concerning the position of the various 
 divisions would serve no useful purpose here, it may be passed over. 
 
 Duties and Publications of the Library Staff. — Although naturally 
 the officials must in the first instance fulfil their duties in maintaining 
 order in the Library, the administration provides that a fair amount of 
 leisure be left them for independent scientific studies. Furthermore, 
 they are encouraged in such studies and the printing of their works is 
 greatly facilitated. 
 
 The most important official work of the Scriptores is the arrange- 
 ment, description, and cataloguing of the manuscripts with a view to 
 
 J -pcriiin aTTTOTtr 
 J Qifcch di b fu ui bai 
 iL.KKi.iroi'i.i ilnioiiOTDC cftudialorc 
 Id.i ooiii ciranira come c i.Hcmio 
 dnriidn" ^iinanc al nut dolcic xiaprc 
 VeiTiiatmnoi I.i UKcdflnicTTOTto - 
 cIk not .id ciT.\ lion |xnnn da noi 
 
 itL fclta llOtl lllCll C0HttTtTt>T10lHx> ItlOfOllO 
 
 ^ 
 
 r.odex Urhinas Latiiuis 'M\7t i I'crrarese School) 
 I^rom the "Purgatorio" of Dante. The text is a para- 
 phrase of the Lord's Prayer. In the upper part of the 
 picture is the "Pardon of Trajan" 
 
THE ^'ATICAN LIBRARY 467 
 
 making the whole collection more 
 leatlily accessible as soon as pos- 
 sible by printed inventories. There 
 are 170 volnmes of mannscript 
 catalognes dating from olden or 
 recent times; these may be found 
 in the working-room and are con- 
 veniently accessible to every one. 
 Leo XIII issued directions for the 
 printing of these catalogues; but, 
 inasmuch as they had to be revised 
 and modified according to modern 
 principles and in accordance with 
 recent research work on the manu- 
 scripts, an almost completely new 
 and independent work has re- 
 sulted. The detail work on these 
 inventories and catalogues is very 
 tedious, but it is being promoted 
 vigorously, and twenty-two vol- 
 umes have been already issued. 
 These volumes are distributed over the various collections, so that 
 all divisions are being dealt with simultaneously. They are of 
 extraordinary value to those engaged in research w^ork, since they 
 enable a scholar to determine quietly at home what is of value to him; 
 then only, after he has provided himself with all the references, he 
 undertakes the journey to Rome. The books of the Palatina have been 
 brought within the scope of this cataloguing because, in view of their 
 origin in the Heidelberg Library, they possess a special interest. 
 
 At the command of the Pope, the administration of the Vaticana 
 entered some time ago upon a gigantic undertaking which is of the 
 greatest possible value for the educated world. This undertaking con- 
 sisted in the publication of a de luxe phototypical full-size reproduc- 
 tion of the most important Codices of the Vaticana, together with a 
 description and analysis. These publications form a series bearing the 
 following title: "Codices e Vaticanis selecti phototypice expressi iussu 
 Pii Papse X consilio et opera procuratorum Bibliothecae Vaticanae." In 
 this series there is a major and a minor division. Those manuscripts 
 are chosen for reproduction which are especially important on account 
 of their venerable age, the importance of their text, or their artistic 
 form. x\s may be easily understood, the cost of these works is very 
 great, since every page of the manuscripts has to be reproduced by 
 
 Bronze Bust of Emperor John VIII Palwologus 
 
 (1421-1U8), ascribed to Philaretes 
 
 ) Antonio Averlino) 
 
468 THE VATICAN 
 
 phototypical processes. As a rule, only l)etween one hundred and 
 two hundred copies are published, but this number seems to meet com- 
 pletely the demand for the works. 
 
 The most important of these publications is the reproduction of the 
 "Codex Vaticanus" (to give the manuscript its distinctive title). By 
 this title is understood in learned circles the fourth century Codex con- 
 taining the Greek text of the Old Testament according to the work of 
 the seventy translators who rendered the Hebrew Old Testament into 
 the popular Greek of their day in the third century before Christ. Such, 
 at least, is the tradition which has come down to us, but with this tradi- 
 tion the critics tind themselves at variance. Avoiding controversial 
 questions, we may say here that the Codex Vaticanus at least represents 
 the purest tradition of this old Judaic Greek translation. In the scien- 
 tific system of abbreviations, it is known as "Codex B." This greatest 
 treasure of the Vaticana, which has been often edited, has been per- 
 fectly reproduced by photomechanical processes in three volumes. 
 The first volume contains pages 1-394, and costs 230 lire; the second 
 volume includes pages 395 to 944, and costs 320 lire; the third vol- 
 ume contains pages 945-1234, and costs 150 lire. The total cost of the 
 edition is thus 700 lire. In the Vatican Library this manuscript is 
 known as "Codex Vaticanus gr?ecus 1209." The Greek New Testament 
 forms a separate volume, and costs 170 lire. Of the major series thir- 
 teen works have been already published in seventeen volumes, and of 
 these the first is out of print. Two volumes of the minor series have 
 already appeared. 
 
 A second collection of works has been begun in the "CollezionePaleo- 
 grafica Vaticana," of which two parts have been issued. In collabora- 
 tion with the administration of the Museums and Galleries, the Library 
 has also undertaken a grand descriptive series on the art treasures, 
 which is appearing under the title: "Collezioni Archeologiche, Artis- 
 tiche e Numismatiche dei Palazzi Apostolici pubblicate per ordine di 
 Sua Santita a cura della Biblioteca Vaticana, dei Musei e delle Galerie 
 Pontificie." The Numismatic Collection (Medagliere Vaticano), at- 
 tached to the Library, is described in three illustrated volumes. The 
 rich ivory carvings included in the antiquities of the Vaticana are illus- 
 trated, exi)lained, and catalogued in one volume, the edition of which 
 has been already exhausted. The old pagan frescoes exhibited in the 
 Library, and known by the name of the Aldobrandini Marriage and 
 Scenes from the Odyssey, have been beautifully reproduced in a huge 
 volume. All these, with numerous works which cannot be mentioned 
 here, show the great activity of the officials of the Vatican Library. 
 
 Besides the above-mentioned publications, mention must also be 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 
 
 469 
 
 The famous Fnrncse Clock, presented to Leo XIH on the occasion of one 
 of his Jubilees, and now exhibited in the Sistine Hall 
 
 made of a fomih series of works, published by tlie Prefect of the Vati- 
 cana himself. The title of this series is: "Le piante maggiori di Roma 
 del Secolo XVI e XVII riprodotte in fototipia a cura delta Biblioteca 
 Vaticana con introduzione di Francesco Ehrle, S.J." This contains the 
 important plans of the City of Rome, dating from the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries. Among these, some of the greatest rarities are 
 reproduced, their value investigated, and the fate of the originals estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Finally, we have the last series of the publications of the Vaticana, 
 entitled "Studi e Testi pubblicati dagli scrittori delta Biblioteca Vati- 
 cana." Altogether twenty-five volumes have been printed, and five 
 more are in preparation. This series was instituted by Father Ehrle, 
 and in it we find the Scriptores of the Vaticana represented by an 
 immense number of researches and scientific treatises of the most 
 varied kind. Hagiography, the culture of the Renaissance, nunciature 
 reports, Italian philology, Biblical science, patrology, religious drama, 
 history of literature. Oriental science, chronicles, art — in short, every 
 imaginable subject is treated, according as inclination, a fortunate dis- 
 covery, or other circumstance suggested it. This series shows what 
 incentives come to those engaged in the tiresome work of cataloguing. 
 
470 THE VATICAN 
 
 From this very summary survey of the scientific work of the officials 
 of the Vatican Library it will be seen that under the management of 
 Father Ehrle there has developed a brisk spirit of literary activity un- 
 rivalled in earlier times. There is probably no library in the world 
 whose officials have produced in so comparatively short a period such 
 a tremendous amount of scientific work of the highest quality. That 
 this claim can be made for the Vatican shows that in the Pope's palace 
 true Science has found a sanctuary, and nowhere does she find more 
 reverence. It is, indeed, the greatest pleasure of the Pope when, as hap- 
 pens almost daily, some new works of the officials of his Library are 
 laid before him. 
 
 Halls of the Library.— The stranger who visits the Vatican Library 
 enters at its extreme end, where the entrance to the Museums also is. 
 The first room contains pagan antiquities of great value, which are 
 referred to elsewhere. 
 
 Then begins the suite of Library rooms proper, in which we see 
 the low wooden presses with richly painted doors referred to above. 
 In this second room is an inscription, stating that in 1.S18 Pius VII had 
 this hall painted with events from his life. A marble inscription recalls 
 the fact that Pius VI had the pillars which separated the halls removed 
 and replaced by dividing walls (1794). 
 
 In the seventh hall are scenes from the life of Pius VI, while over the 
 two doors are two large frescoes. The plan of the city of Ferrara and 
 a rather schematic picture of the port of Civitavecchia fill the panels 
 over the doors of the eighth hall; the walls to the left commemorate 
 the zealous activity of Paul V for the Library, while the wall to the 
 right is decorated with scenes from the history of the Library. Two 
 other paintings dealing with Paul V, and three paintings of Pius V, 
 Sixtus IV, and Nicholas V respectively, proclaim in the ninth hall the 
 care of these Pontiffs for the Library; over the doors are represented 
 the canonizations of Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and 
 Frances of Rome, foundress of the Oblates of Tor di Specchio. 
 
 The antechaml)ers of the Sistine Hall, which we now enter, are deco- 
 rated with historical paintings and pictures dealing with local Rome. 
 Descending a few steps by the left, we enter the celebrated Library of 
 Sixtus V. Numerous mural paintings proclaim the achievements of 
 this great Pontiff, who performed more in a short pontificate of only 
 five years than the majority have performed in double that period. 
 Here may be seen the show-cases of the Library, containing the most 
 celebrated and glorious Codices to which the Vatican Library can lay 
 claim. As a number of these treasures have been reproduced in our 
 illustrations, the reader will be able to form his own idea of the pre- 
 
THE VATICAN LIBRARY 471 
 
 cious heirlooms here shown. In this hall are exhibited no less than 
 twenty-eight works of art, which were presented to the Popes in the 
 last centnry by Napoleon I, Charles XII of France, Napoleon III, Presi- 
 dents MacMahon, Grevy, and Carnot, Emperors Nicholas I and Alex- 
 ander III of Russia, King Frederick William IV of Prussia, Emperors 
 William I and William 11 of Germany, Prince Regent Leopold of 
 Bavaria, Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria, the City of Vienna, the 
 Count of Caserta, Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, Prince Demidoff of 
 Russia, the Republic of Ecuador, the dioceses of Rheims and Clermont, 
 Cardinal Antonelli, and the Catholic Associations of the City of Venice. 
 It may be here mentioned that the other halls also contain a vast num- 
 ber of presents which Leo XI 11 had here exhibited when, on the occa- 
 sion of his various Jubilees, artistic gifts were presented to him by the 
 whole world. 
 
 If we leave the Sistine Hall and return to the long wing of the palace 
 which we left a short while before, we enter the twelfth hall, wherein 
 are exhibited two great frescoes representing the Proclamation of St. 
 Bonaventure as a Doctor of the Church and the Canonization of St. 
 Diego (158cS). Over the windows are small pictures dealing with the 
 life of Sixtus V. The mural pictures of the thirteenth hall are extraor- 
 dinarily interesting and important. One of them shows how the obe- 
 lisk was erected in the Piazza di S. Pietro, while the other represents 
 St. Peter's as Michelangelo had conceived the building. Over the win- 
 dows is the continuation of the pictures of the preceding hall. An 
 inscription over the doors of the fourteenth hall states that Pope Pius 
 VII made alterations here in 1818. The simple ornamentation of the 
 walls and ceiling offers nothing of special interest. In the middle of 
 the hall, howeveV, stand tw^o gigantic iron cases with large glass plates 
 under which may be seen seven manuscript maps on huge sheets of 
 parchment. These maps show the state of geographical knowledge in 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the most important being that on 
 which Alexander VI marked the dividing line between the Spanish and 
 Portuguese possessions in America. Benedict XIV's inscription over the 
 lower door, which leads to the Christian Museum, commemorates the 
 founding in 175(5 of this collection of archjeological treasures. We then 
 pass through the fifteenth hall, wdiich contains these treasures, and find 
 ourselves in the sixteenth hall, devoted to papyrus documents; these 
 were formerly immured in the walls behind glass, but are at present in 
 the Manuscript Clinic awaiting repairs. In the middle stands a glorious 
 mosaic table, and about the walls are golden pieces of furniture cov- 
 ered with green silk. The cupola is decorated with the famous frescoes 
 of Raphael Mengs. The stained glass windows are no particular orna- 
 
472 THE VATICAN 
 
 ment to this inspiring hall, since their coloring is not at all in harmony 
 with the general scheme. An inscription records that Clement XIV 
 (1769-1774) began the decoration of the room in the year of his death, 
 and that the decoration was completed under Pius VI (1775-1799). 
 Finally we reach the seventeenth hall, which formerly contained the 
 Byzantine and other paintings, but whose shelves are now filled with 
 books. To the right is a smaller room, in which the precious Old 
 Roman frescoes from Ostia (see pp. 373-374) are preserved. At the 
 very end of the long gallery which we have just passed through lies the 
 Chapel of Pius V, which is not open to visitors. 
 
 This short description gives only a very rapid survey of the most 
 important features of the Apostolic Library of the Vatican. Sufficient 
 has, however, been said to show what a tribute of gratitude is due to 
 the Pontiffs for having, by their zeal in fostering and managing this 
 great Library, contributed so greatly to the advancement of culture 
 and of science. 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 very early times the recognized importance of a 
 knowledge of the past led men to perpetuate current 
 events in one form or another. The events of to-day 
 belong, to-morrow, to the past, and the systematic 
 collection of memorials of the present best ensures 
 for the future a knowledge of the past. Regardless 
 of tlie persons by whom it may be practised, this 
 preservation of current information was and is 
 equivalent to the formation of archives — that is, collecting-places for 
 documents of any kind which have a bearing on the making of history. 
 All bodies that must render an account of their activities are com- 
 pelled to preserve official documents. State authorities and rulers, in 
 so far as they desire to ensure a well-ordered administration, must duly 
 record the progress of official business, and must so regulate their 
 books, registers, correspondence, and all other records of importance 
 that they can be referred to at any time. This practice was followed 
 even in gray antiquity. And, with the progress of the centuries, the 
 method of preserving archives was constantly improved, until finally 
 the present scientifically arranged archives were developed out of the 
 clumsy methods of the past. 
 
 At various periods extremely valuable reminiscences of the past 
 were destroyed by fire, war, w^ater, pure vandalism, or gross neglect. 
 And the further we seek to penetrate back into the past, the scarcer 
 are the testimonies which inform us how^ men then lived and suffered, 
 thought and acted. If we were still in possession of the most important 
 archives of Christian civilization in their original completeness and 
 uninterrupted sequence of documents, the writing of history to-day 
 would present an altogether different aspect. Unfortunately, however, 
 the original documents pertaining to the ages antecedent to the tenth 
 century of the Christian era have been preserved only in rare cases 
 where the conditions were especially favorable. Copies of a large 
 number of important documents have, of course, been preserved, and 
 these are of high value for history. 
 
 In view of the peculiar nature of the documents and registers pre- 
 served in the Archives of the Roman Curia, and in view of the extensive 
 
 n 473 3 
 
474 THE VATICAN 
 
 correspondence which the Popes, in virtue of their office, had to main- 
 tain with every part of the civilized world and even beyond its borders, 
 the Archives of the Holy See were from the very beginning among the 
 most important known to history. From the first they were adminis- 
 tered with the greatest care, since their contents were liable to be re- 
 quired at any time in connection with negotiations of the most diverse 
 nature. But, just as the Popes themselves underwent extraordinary 
 vicissitudes in the early centuries, the fate of the Papal Archives was 
 likewise eventful. Robbery, fire, destruction, pilfering, and every 
 other imaginable misfortune diminished the collections to such an 
 extent that finally only the documents and acts from Innocent III 
 (1198-1216) onwards were saved and preserved to our day. Further- 
 more, there are serious gaps in the sequence of the documents and 
 registers which have come down to us, especially in the case of those 
 referring to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. 
 
 The Vatican Secret Archives may thus be regarded as a collection 
 of the documents and papers concerned with the Papacy which have 
 been accumulated during a period of something over seven hundred 
 years. The collection as it stands to-day does not represent a unit, but 
 consists of man}' parts united at various times and under different 
 circumstances. The Vatican Secret Archives are not a "closed" archive 
 in the sense that no additional materials will be added to the collection 
 in the future. Every year new acts are committed to these Archives in 
 the regular way, and from time to time the collection is further in- 
 creased by purchases, presents, and legacies. In another sense, how- 
 ever, the Vatican Secret Archives were formerly a closed archive, since 
 they were not accessible for purposes of study and historical research. 
 It was reserved for Leo XIII to accede to the wishes of all students of 
 historical science by opening unconditionally to the whole world the 
 doors of this most important of all central Archives. "The Church fears 
 nothing from the publication of these documents," said Leo when, on 
 June 20, 1879, he made the announcement that he had raised to the 
 cardinalate Hergenrother, the Wiirzburg historian, appointed him 
 Archivist of the Holy Roman Church, and opened the Vatican Secret 
 Archives to the public. Not without serious misgivings was this de- 
 cision received in many ecclesiastical circles in Rome, where all kinds 
 of undesirable consequences were anticipated as the result of the 
 Pope's action. Leo XIII, however, remained firm in his determination, 
 and refused to be influenced by any representations of the timid. All 
 preparations were completed by the beginning of 1881, a suitable work- 
 ing-room prepared, and the necessary staff appointed. The doors w^ere 
 then thrown open, and the scholars of the whole world might enter. 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 475 
 
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 iil-Oinio Octjii40. t?i«XTli. 
 
 Reg. Vat. (Innocentii papjp III), Vol. VII, fol. Ixvi recto, cap. 214. containing the 
 first mention of Greenland in the Papal Registers (February 13, 1206) 
 
 The thirteenth line from the top begins, "Grenelandie episcop.itus." That this is .1 Solemn Bull, signed by 
 
 the Pope and Cardinals, is shown by the date given at the end of the page, where the Chancellor of the Holy 
 
 Roman Church is mentioned (cf. Potthast, "Regesta Pontiflcum Romannrum." cap. 2686) 
 
476 THE VATICAN 
 
 For some years previously individual historians had been admitted, but 
 only by special permission of the Pope in each instance. On May 1, 
 1884, a regulation (regolamenlo) was issued, making the new condi- 
 tions permanent. A short time before, on August 18, 1883, Leo had 
 given noteworthy expression to his appreciation of the value and im- 
 portance of historical studies in a letter addressed to Cardinals Pitra, 
 De Luca, and Hergenrother. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the almost inexhaustible treasures of 
 the Vatican Secret Archives were never placed at the disposal of his- 
 torical science until the time of Pius IX. It is true that the ecclesiastical 
 authorities regarded the Archives as primarily a source of information 
 in connection with their official business, and the staff of the Archives 
 had to answer in the most exact and prompt manner all questions relat- 
 ing to this official business of the Papal Court. Even in the volumes of 
 registers dating from the thirteenth century we find occasional refer- 
 ences to documents which then lay in the Archives but are now lost. 
 In later centuries these references to the ancient collections in the 
 Secret Archives increased whenever earlier documents, decisions, evi- 
 dence, etc., were used in deciding legal disputes and other questions 
 referred to the Curia. Requests were also addressed to the Curia, asking 
 for copies of certain documents or at least an assurance that these 
 documents were really in existence. Such a request was made very 
 recently by Lord Rothschild when he addressed himself to the Cardinal 
 Secretary of State in connection with the trial of a Jew for ritual mur- 
 der in Russia. The Cardinal was asked to certify that two papal decrees 
 in favor of the Jews, issued in the thirteenth century, were authentic. 
 Cardinal Merry del Val commissioned the officials of the Secret Archives 
 to undertake the necessary investigations, and to lay before him the 
 result of their researches. Having found that the decrees were actually 
 contained in the papal registers, and examined them personally, the 
 Cardinal addressed a short letter to Lord Rothschild, answering his 
 question in the affirmative. That this recent case is but a single 
 example of what took place commonly in earlier centuries, there is an 
 abundance of evidence to prove. 
 
 Consequently, although the Vatican Secret Archives were founded 
 and administered as the official archives of the Roman authorities, their 
 contents were even in earlier times utilized for scientific purposes. 
 Towards the close of the Middle Ages, when the interest in the writing 
 of history was awakened, and about the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, when heated theological and historical polemics broke out be- 
 tween Catholics and Protestants, Catholic apologists could scarcely 
 dispense with the infinitely rich materials contained in the Secret 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 477 
 
 Archives. Nor were the Curial bodies oblivious of the necessity of 
 drawing upon the historical treasures there collected. 
 
 We thus see that in the most celebrated work of this period, a work 
 which enjoys high consideration even to-day, the treasures of the 
 Archives were turned to excellent account. This work is the "Annates 
 Ecclesiastici" ("Ecclesiastical Annals") of the unassuming Oratorian, 
 Caesar Baronius, who afterwards became Cardinal, and would have 
 become Pope had he not energetically declined the honor. The twelve 
 folio volumes of his epoch-making work appeared between 1588 and 
 1607. In 1596 he was named Cardinal, and in the following year was 
 appointed Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. Thanks to Baronius 
 
 • f-r- f' 
 
 
 Arch. Arcis Ariiiur. I, caps. 10, cap. 6 
 
 Lower part of one of the Rouleaux of Cluny, in which the most important privileges of the Roman Church 
 
 were recapitulated, and to which the Pope and forty of the Prelates present attached their seals at the 
 
 Council of Lyons. The small bulla of Innocent IV is seen in the middle, while to the left and right are the 
 
 large wax seals of the Prelates. The document was executed on July 13, 1215 
 
 and the work of the authors who continued his "Annals," the scientific 
 world was for the first time made fully acquainted with the great 
 importance of the materials of the Vatican Archives. The desire for 
 fuller information concerning the collections in these central Archives 
 was thereby increased, and from every quarter were addressed ques- 
 tions to the officials, requests for copies of documents, and petitions 
 for admission to the collections. An almost endless list of writings of 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries proves how comparatively 
 rich was the harvest reaped from the collections. The Archives, how- 
 ever, were not yet placed unconditionally at the service of scholars, but 
 still remained a business department of the Vatican administration. 
 
 Divisions of the Archives. — In the preceding paragraphs, the term 
 "Secret Archives" has been used in speaking of times when the Secret 
 
478 THE VATICAN 
 
 Archives of to-day were not yet founded. The term offers, however, 
 a convenient metliod of describing the materials which were later to 
 comprise these Secret Archives. In earlier times, for example, many 
 of the most important volumes of papal registers were preserved in 
 the old library of Sixtus IV in the Cortile del Papagallo; other volumes 
 were not yet in Rome, but in Avignon, while the rest of the materials 
 were preserved in various places in Rome. 
 
 The first step towards the foundation of the present Vatican Archives, 
 topographically speaking, was taken b}^ Paul V when he directed the 
 Cardinal Librarian Cesi to prepare a number of rooms in 1611-1613, 
 and in these gave accommodation to a large quantity of archival mate- 
 rials. This Pope also expended large sums in arranging the collections 
 and repairing damaged documents. The quarters of the Archives were 
 constantly extended, and other independent Archives added: the 
 Archives of the Secretariate of State in 1660; the extensive collections 
 from the Papal Archives at Avignon, where the Curia resided in the 
 fourteenth century, at various periods (the final portion in 1783); the 
 Archives of the Castle of S. Angelo in 1798; the Archives of the Buon 
 Governo in 1870; the Archives of the Dataria in 1892; the Borghese 
 Archives in 1893; the Archives of the Congregazione dei Memoriali in 
 1905; the Archives dell'Uditore Santissimo in 1906; the Archives of the 
 Consistorial Congregation in 1907, and the Archives of Briefs in 1909. 
 
 The oldest collection in the Archives was and is still called the 
 Archivio Segreto (Secret Archives), and its name has been extended 
 to the whole department. Its materials are distributed in seventy-four 
 armari or presses, as follows: the series of the Vatican Volumes of 
 Registers, armari 1-28; the Diversa Cameralia, or Financial Acts, 29- 
 30; the Collectoria Camerae Apostolicae, or Series of Registers of Dona- 
 tions, 57; the Series of Transcripts, 31-37, 46-49, 52-54, 59-61; the Reg- 
 isters of Briefs, 38-45; the Indices, 50-51, 56, 58; the Acts of the Council 
 of Trent and various Acts relating to German Affairs, 62-64; the Reg- 
 isters of Receipts and Expenses of the Apostolic Chamber (Introitus et 
 Exitus Camerae Apostolica?), 65-74; and the valuable Series of Miscella- 
 neous Documents (Instrumenta Miscellanea). 
 
 All the archival materials collected by the Popes from 1305 to 1387 
 and by the Anti-Popes from 1387 to 1417 at their seat in Avignon, as 
 well as the records kept by the secular and spiritual administrations 
 of the County of Venaissin (then belonging to the Curia), were finally 
 added to the Secret Archives in 1783. Whatever financial acts were to be 
 found in this collection and in the above-mentioned Archivio Segreto 
 (or oldest part of the Archives) — for example, the Introitus et Exitus, 
 the Diversa Cameralia, the Obligationes or Payments and Obligations 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 479 
 
 of Prelates, and CollectoriiE — were recently united into one collection, 
 the systematically arranged Archives of the Apostolic Chamber. 
 
 The Castle of S. Angelo, which was occupied by the Popes until re- 
 cent times, was the strongest fortress of the Papal States. It was there- 
 fore a prudent decision of Popes Sixtus IV (1471-1484), Leo X (1513- 
 1521), and Clement VIII (1592-1605) to deposit in this fortress for 
 surer protection all the most important privileges and titles of the 
 Roman Church. It was only in the year 1708 that these Archives were 
 transferred to the Vatican Secret Archives. They were not, however, 
 simply added to the other collections, but formed a special department 
 and were placed under a special management. These collections, known 
 as the Archives of the Castle of S. Angelo, are of the highest value. 
 
 The Archives of the Dalaria include: (1 ) the great series of Registers 
 of Petitions {Regislra Siipplicalionum), beginning from the year 1342; 
 (2) the Series of the Lateran Registers of Bulls, extending from 1398 
 to 1823; and (3) the Registers of Briefs of the Dataria, w hich Briefs are 
 different from those just mentioned. Many parts of the Consistorial 
 Archives are now in the Vatican Library, but the remainder of the col- 
 lection is to be found in the Secret Archives. 
 
 It is easy to understand the very great value of the Registers of Briefs 
 of the Secretariate of State for the political, ecdesiastico-political, and 
 purely ecclesiastical history of modern times. In these registers we 
 mav find the legates' and nuncios' reports from Germany (1515-1809), 
 France (1517-1809), Spain (1563-1796), Poland (1567-^783), England 
 (1565-1689), Cologne (1575-1799), Bavaria (1786-1808), and other 
 lands, with the corresponding answers. These reports of the legates 
 and nuncios were often accompanied by other valuable documents 
 and rare printed papers, which add in no small measure to the value 
 of the Registers. This separate Archive also contains several series 
 of Letters and Petitions, Memorials, and Reports from Cardinals, 
 Princes, Bishops, and prominent laymen, which are of great historical 
 value. Finally, a special section contains the letters written by the 
 field-marshals, condottieri, generals, and other officers in the pay of 
 the Curia. In this collection of letters is assembled everything con- 
 cerned with the part played by the Curia in the wars waged betw^een 
 1572 and 1713. All these and other divisions of the Archives have been 
 zealously investigated and have afforded entirely new side-lights espe- 
 cially on the history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 
 In the collection known as the Varia Miscellanea are found, first, all 
 the material which could not very well be included in any of the other 
 divisions, and also a large number of small collections, most of which 
 were purchased or presented to the Archives. 
 
480 THE VATICAN 
 
 Papal Bullae of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 
 
 From light to left the Pontiffs and dates are as follows: Gregory X, April 1, 1275; John XXII, February 22, 
 1329; Pius II, October 18, 1458; Clement IV, July 27, 1267; Clement IV, April 23, 1265 
 
 The Congregation which had charge of the tinancial administration 
 of the Papal States until 1870 was known as the Congregazione del 
 Buon Governo. The gigantic Archives of this Congregation, which 
 filled sixteen rooms, were added to the Secret Archives in 1870, as 
 already stated. Of the other divisions, the Archives of the Borghese 
 family, purchased by Leo XIII, deserve particular mention. This is 
 really an integral portion of the Archives of the Secretariate of State 
 for the pontificates of Clement VIII (1592-1605) Aldobrandini, Leo XI 
 (1605) Medici, and Paul V (1605-1621) Borghese, because under these 
 Popes the "Cardinal nephews," or Secretaries of State, appropriated to 
 themselves the entire official correspondence and bequeathed it to their 
 families. It was only after this purchase by Leo XIII that the Holy See 
 recovered possession of its property. This evil practice was followed 
 not merely by these three Cardinal nephews, but was likewise practised 
 by others at this same period. Even nuncios and legates purloined their 
 official correspondence, so that in the publication of nuncios' reports 
 extensive recourse has to be had to private archives. 
 
 The Varia Diplomata, or Sundry Archives of Deeds (derived mostly 
 from monasteries), contain valuable material for investigators of 
 documents in general and for students of diplomacy in particular. 
 These special Archives are not yet completely arranged, so that only 
 in exceptional cases is knowledge concerning them available. 
 
 The bare statement of the various divisions of the Secret Archives, 
 however, gives the reader no real idea of their full extent; and even 
 the description of the collection as "the most important of central 
 Archives" conveys only a remote suggestion of the vast quantity of ma- 
 terials assembled there. Some few statistics are necessary if the reader 
 is to carry away a conception that is at once accurate and clear. It must 
 be stated beforehand that a number of the collections cannot be 
 included in these statistics; for, inasmuch as no attempt has been made 
 
Reverse of the Papal Bullae of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, 
 
 given on opposite page 
 
 The bulla of April 2.T, 12(J5, Is weather-worn, and shows how the string was passed through 
 
 to put them in order as yet, no figures can be given indicative of their 
 extent. Although the work of classification is being pursued steadily 
 and zealously, in view of the limited staff employed in the Archives it 
 will require several decades before all the assembled materials will be 
 ready for research work. The greatest of the still uncounted collec- 
 tions is that of the Buon Governo, incorporated in the Archives in 1870. 
 
 The chief collections preserved in the Archives are the following: 
 the Vatican Series of Registers, 2048 volumes; Volumes of Briefs, 7654; 
 Petitions {Supplicationes), 7011; Lateran Series of Registers, 2161; 
 Varia Miscellanea, 2051; Borghese Archives, 2000. Total, 22,925. To 
 this total must be added 48 smaller divisions, ranging from 6 to 968 
 volumes and containing in all over 12,000 volumes. There are thus, in 
 round numbers, 35,000 volumes in the collections already accessible for 
 research work. It must be remembered that many thousands of these 
 are large imperial folio volumes, which contain often several thousand 
 documents, and are thus extraordinarily fertile fields for historical in- 
 vestigation. These volumes are of a colossal size seldom to be seen in 
 any other Archives. Some of them are so heavy, thick, and large that it 
 requires a strong porter to carry one on his shoulder to the student. 
 Turning to the contents of the volumes, we find that the transactions 
 dealt with extend to the whole of the then known world. Side by side 
 with matters of a purely local interest are documents of the highest 
 importance, which concern perhaps a large empire, if not, indeed, all 
 Christendom. It is quite impossible to form even an approximate idea 
 of the number of documents contained in these volumes. Any attempt 
 at an estimate might easily be millions wide of the mark. 
 
 In the document cases and rolls, which contain loose papers and 
 parchment documents, there may be about 120,000 pieces. The writer 
 has had the great majority of the parchment documents in his hands 
 
482 THE VATICAN 
 
 and examined them, and is llius in a position to state from personal 
 knowledge that many are of the highest possible value. 
 
 Indices and Inventories. — In view of the numerous subdivisions of 
 each collection, how were the scholars, admitted into the Archives in 
 1881, able to find their way in the midst of such vast collections of 
 materials? It is ([uite certain that for the first few years many scholars 
 were haunted by purely fantastic ideas of the contents of the Archives, 
 and imagined that the materials were much more extensive than they 
 actually were. Gradually, however, a more correct estimate prevailed, 
 thanks principally to the progressive study of the Indices. At first 
 these Indices were only rarely and reluctantly placed at the service of 
 students. But in the last fifteen years their use by readers has been 
 unrestricted. It will be necessary to inquire a little more closely into 
 these scientific instruments to understand of what great value they are, 
 and will always be, for bringing to the light the treasures stored away 
 in the Archives. 
 
 In the office of the Assistant Archivist stands a large library of folio 
 volumes, six hundred and eighty-one in number, all of which have been 
 compiled in manuscript by the staff of the Archives in the last three 
 hundred years. To give a rapid sketch of even one of the great series 
 of Registers and Acts, the indexer had to take cognizance of the entire 
 contents. The contents had then to be linked according to certain 
 aspects, so that all matters of the same nature could be included under 
 the same heading. After a searching investigation, for example, all 
 the proper names of persons and places were taken from many hun- 
 dreds of volumes; with these names were given the volume and docu- 
 ment in which they occurred, and also the date of the document in 
 every case. These entries were written on tickets, and the tickets ar- 
 ranged alphabetically (see below), so that one can in a very sliort time 
 discover every recorded event, say, in the life of a certain Bishop of 
 Verona in the thirteenth century. These numerous Indices are worked 
 out in the most various ways — some in detail, some along synoptical 
 lines, some according to the chief divisions of a subject, and some 
 according to the detailed contents of the separate documents. To save 
 scholars the necessity of continually repeating the same questions to 
 the officials, an Index to the Indices was compiled in 1901 under the 
 title, "Inventarium indicum in secretiori Archivo Vaticano unica serie 
 existentium." With the assistance of this guide, the reader may always 
 find his bearings pretty well in the labyrinth of the Indices. 
 
 In the preparation of these numerous Indices many persons have 
 naturally participated. Among the most industrious of these workers 
 was Johannes de Pretis (1712-1727), his brother Petrus Donninus de 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 483 
 
 
 
 
 r ifatnt^lLTn 
 
 
 
 f^ 
 
 Cj«- Ui^'in.<V»(-Rr-<^f?wt-: 6itfi«vn A 
 
 
 
 r- 
 
 Arch. Vat. Armar. XIV, caps. 8, cap. 50 
 
 Letter of three Cardinals to King Charles of Sieily, dated August Hi, ISII!. In the letter is inserted a Bull of 
 Pope John XXII of August 15, 1.316, which was, however, not executed on that date because the Pope-elect 
 refused to attach his seal to any document before his coronation. ^" " 
 
 hang on red silken strings 
 
 The three wax seals of the Cardinals 
 
 Pretis (1727-1740), and Josepluis Garampi (1749-1772). The million 
 and a half tickets which Garampi prepared with his assistants are an 
 inexhaustible mine for students whose researches are concerned with 
 the period covered by these workers. These tickets are pasted in one 
 hundred and twenty-four large folio volumes and follow a strictly 
 alphabetical order. Before the magnitude of this huge work one stands 
 astonished, nor can one quite understand how, within the brief span 
 of one human life, such a work could have been accomplished, even 
 with some assistants. Felix Contelori (162G-1G44) also worked very 
 industriously on the Inventories and Indices, and copied numerous 
 documents which threatened to become illegible owing to water-rot, 
 mold, decomposition, or fading. But for this work of Contelori's, 
 many extant texts would have been irretrievably lost to science. Dom 
 Gregorio Palmieri, 0. S. B., Assistant Archivist of the Holy See, printed 
 a "Manuductio ad Vaticani Archivi Regesta," the value of which was 
 so evident that the edition of the guide was quickly exhausted. 
 
484 THE VATICAN 
 
 It must be emphasized here that the Indices written in manuscript 
 were intended, not to assist scientilic researches in the Archives, but 
 simply and solely as administrative conveniences to facilitate as much 
 as possible the work of the Roman officials. We thus see how un- 
 reasonable it would be to turn up our noses at the gigantic achieve- 
 ments of the assistant archivists, and seek to deny their work its special 
 scientific value. For their period all these Inventories were works of 
 the highest rank, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries no 
 other Archives could offer anything that compared even distantly with 
 them. The modern card index which is being at present prepared for 
 the Instrumenta Miscellanea will be, from every standpoint, a model 
 for difficult works of this class. 
 
 Administration. — The administration of the Vatican Secret Archives 
 was determined by Leo XIII. A Cardinal Archivist of the Holy Roman 
 Church, with the title of Prefect, stands at its head and exercises su- 
 preme supervision. He settles all questions of general administration, 
 determines the duties of the various officials, and decides upon the 
 order to be followed in making the Inventories. In all extraordinary 
 questions connected with the service in the Archives his opinion must 
 be sought, and in all questions of discipline his decision is final. In 
 individual instances he modifies, in favor of scholars, the rules laid 
 down by the Regolamento. He discusses the purely economic ques- 
 tions of his department with the Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces, and 
 sees that their joint decisions are executed. He submits in person to 
 the Holy Father recommendations for the purchase of archival mate- 
 rials, and receives his decision. 
 
 The Assistant Archivist attends to the routine management, and acts 
 as the representative of the Archives in all dealings with readers. It 
 is his duty to be present daily in the Archives from 8.30 to 12 o'clock 
 for the purpose of giving information and answering questions. The 
 other officials receive their orders from him as to their duties and 
 activities. Two Custodians are in charge of the Reading-room, and, in 
 so far as they are qualified to do so, answer all inquiries of the readers 
 on scientific questions. The first Custodian is a distinguished palae- 
 ographer, and is head of the School of Palaeography, instituted by Leo 
 XIII in the Secret Archives. Many very able palaeographers have gradu- 
 ated from this school. Of all the officials, the Secretary of the Assistant 
 Archivist, whose office is of recent origin, possesses the most extensive 
 knowledge of the Indices and Collections. Too high a value can 
 scarcely be set upon the information which he can give to readers. 
 
 Four ordinary and one honorary Scrittori fill a double function. 
 They are, on the one hand, engaged on work connected with the Indices, 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 485 
 
 and, on the other, prepare copies of documents for all who apply for 
 them. They are also given special charge of certain divisions of the 
 Archives, with which they are thoroughly conversant. The Archivio 
 del Buon Governo, as it was formerly known, has its own Custodian, 
 but concerning his activity no detailed information is procurable. The 
 attendants are engaged partly in the Reading-room, where they learn 
 the wishes of readers, and partly in the rooms containing the Archives, 
 where they find the documents or manuscripts asked for. 
 
 The working year extends from October 1 to June 27, and the w^ork- 
 ing hours are from 8.30 to 12 o'clock on five days of the week, Thurs- 
 day being a holiday. The same ferite are observed in the Secret Ar- 
 chives as in the Vatican Library (see page 456). During the summer 
 holidays the great annual cleaning of the halls takes place, and an in- 
 ventory is taken with a view to determining whether any manuscripts 
 are misplaced or missing. 
 
 An extraordinarily large number of historians throng from practi- 
 cally all civilized countries to the Secret Archives. On the basis of his 
 knowledge of all the great central archives of Europe, the writer can 
 declare that in none will so vast a crowd of scholars be met as in the 
 Secret Archives of the Vatican. The reason for this lies in the uni- 
 versality of the materials collected in the latter place, which have an 
 interest for every historian. The halls of the Archives are reached by 
 the door on the ground floor of the Tower of the Four Winds. The visi- 
 tor enters immediately the Reading-room, adjoining which along the 
 court lie the old reading-room and the office of the Assistant Archivist. 
 Besides the extensive rooms on this ground floor devoted to the collec- 
 tions, a large number of rooms on the three higher stories are given 
 over to the same purpose, while the rooms high above in the Torre dei 
 Quattro Venti, where the old observatory was situated, have lately been 
 occupied by the Archives Administration. It was in these last-men- 
 tioned halls that Gregory XIII had the preparations made for his reform 
 of the calendar. The spatial increase of the Vatican Archives would 
 appear to have reached its limit with the incorporation of these rooms. 
 Should still more halls prove necessary, the already mooted proposal 
 to transfer the Archives elsewhere must be adopted, unless it is decided 
 to separate the collections. Since, however, the Holy See has not the 
 funds at its disposal to undertake great changes, things will probably 
 be allowed to remain as they are for the present. The inadequacy of 
 the rooms, however, is already beginning to make itself felt. 
 
 The reader is now entitled to some details as to how research work 
 is carried on in the Vatican Secret Archives. A view of the workshop 
 of the historian engaged in researches has always a special interest. 
 
486 THE VATICAN 
 
 especially when that workshop is located in a palace so celebrated as 
 the Vatican. 
 
 Work in the Archives. — Let us suppose that we are studying the his- 
 tory of the College of Cardinals during the fourteenth century. We 
 have consulted all the literature on our subject, but have been unable 
 to discover any precise information as to the sources from wdiich the 
 Cardinals composing the Curia procured the funds to support them- 
 selves and keep up an appearance in accordance with their station. To 
 ignore so important a question is impossible; the only alternative is to 
 have recourse to the sources to find whether they contain any exact 
 information concerning this financial question. An inquiry addressed 
 to the officials of the Archives brings us the welcome answer that a small 
 collection of manuscripts deal exclusively with this matter. We there- 
 upon pack our trunks, proceed to Rome, a brief and simple request to 
 the Holy Father secures us entry to the Archives, and we may begin our 
 researches at once. Extraordinarily valuable materials here await us, 
 and in a short time we are assured of being able to treat this part of 
 our work on the fourteenth century with the greatest completeness. 
 
 In distant Japan Dr. Murakami is engaged on the history of the Chris- 
 tian Missions in his fatherland. Although he has at home a vast num- 
 ber of accounts and reports, laws, decrees and decisions, traditions, 
 letters and chronicles on his subject, he finds that the compilation of 
 these materials would give only a one-sided picture of his theme. Until 
 he has established organic connections with European, and especially 
 with Roman, sources his work will be but half accomplished. Unde- 
 terred by the long journey, he sets out for Rome, and begins his inves- 
 tigations in the Secret Archives and in the Archives of the Propaganda. 
 Here he finds all suggestions and instructions sent to the missionaries, 
 the reports of the latter, the correspondence of the Curia with the 
 colonial powers, and much additional information, which gradually 
 corrects the partiality of his earlier views. 
 
 To attempt to write the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages, or 
 even in modern times, without considering the attitude of the Popes 
 and the Church towards the Jewish question in general and towards 
 the Jewdsh settlers in the different lands, would be to condemn before- 
 hand one's work to incompleteness. The Vatican Secret Archives con- 
 tain very important documents on this question, and Moritz Stern, 
 Felix Vernet, antl others have attached special importance to tlie thor- 
 ough investigation of these documents. 
 
 A large number of American scholars, among wdiom Professor 
 Charles Homer Haskins is especially prominent, have often availed 
 themselves of the hospitality of the Holy See in connection wath their 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 487 
 
 Arch. Vat. Instrum. Miscellanea ad annum 1369, cap. 7 
 
 Cedula of the Pap.nl Surgeon, Magistcr Robertus do Chingalo, for his expenses in caring for the needy sick. 
 The cedula was forwarded to llie Camera Apostolica, and was there paid (April, 1369) 
 
 investigations for American liislory in particnlar and historical ques- 
 tions in general. The searching report of Professor Haskins, published 
 in the "Catholic University Bulletin" in 1897, is an important historical 
 contribution. 
 
 Besides investigations arising from personal initiative, there are 
 others which are inaugurated by a government, an historical society, 
 a diocese, and so forth. Such investigations have usually a well-defined 
 object, and their prosecution is entrusted to some historian. The latter 
 travels to Rome with his plans already made, and strives by every 
 means in his power to become acquainted with the materials in the 
 Archives which are connected with his work. If he has friends or 
 acquaintances in Rome, these initiate him into the ways of the Archives 
 in so far as their knowledge extends. With the assistance of the Secre- 
 tary, he becomes acquainted with the Indices, and, being led from one 
 collection to another, is soon able to declare with more or less certainty 
 what divisions of the Archives contain matter pertinent to his studies. 
 His further progress then depends on his industry and patience in 
 discovering what documents in the volumes are of value to him. In 
 the course of a few months he will have acquired a sufficient survey of 
 the materials to reckon with a fair amount of accuracy how much time 
 will be required for the completion of his task. If the time and funds 
 at his disposal are not sufficient to enable him to complete his work, he 
 will at least be able to make some progress with it, and will have 
 amassed exact information which will be of great value for the guid- 
 ance of subsequent investigators. 
 
 A third method of pursuing historical investigations at the Vatican 
 
488 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Leaden liulla of Pope Paul II Baibo (14R4-1471), 
 
 carved like the bulla- of the Doges of Venice as 
 
 the Pope belonged to a Venetian family 
 
 Archives is by collaboration. This 
 work may be temporary or per- 
 manent. We say the work is tem- 
 porary when a commission of 
 scholars is dispatched to Rome, 
 under a single director, for one or 
 several years, to perform definite 
 work in the Secret Archives. 
 There have been many commis- 
 sions of this kind — for example, 
 that which the Academy of Sci- 
 ences of Cracow sent to Rome to 
 investigate some special problems 
 of Polish history. That these 
 studies undertaken by collabora- 
 tors should prove much more suc- 
 cessful than those undertaken by 
 individuals is only to be expected. 
 Permanent work by collaborators 
 is, of course, the ideal method of 
 research work. According to this 
 method, every discovery made by each collaborator is contributed to 
 the common fund, and new members of the circle derive full advan- 
 tage from all the facts established by their predecessors and colleagues. 
 
 This permanent collaboration is carried on by the various historical 
 societies which have been founded for research work in the Vatican 
 Secret Archives. These institutes constitute a phenomenon which can 
 be duplicated in no other archives in the world. While the foundation 
 deeds of the institutes refer only to the Vatican Archives, it is only 
 natural that the holidays, during which the Vatican Archives are closed, 
 should be devoted to other scientific investigations in Rome and Italy. 
 Such investigations are, however, only a subsidiary object, the pursuit 
 of which in no way alters the fact that these societies are Vatican insti- 
 tutes for historical research. By this last method of investigation much 
 time and money can be saved, and historical undertakings planned of 
 such an extent as could not be dreamed of by individual scholars. A 
 short survey of the historical institutes and other bodies of a similar 
 character will show what astonishing work is performed in the Vatican 
 Archives. 
 
 The effect of the opening of the Archives upon Catholic science was 
 immediately seen when the Rector of the German National Institute of 
 S. Maria del Campo Santo Teufonico near St. Peter's urged the German 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 489 
 
 Reverse of the Leaden Bulla of Pope Paul II, 
 with the flguies of the Apostles Peter and Paul 
 
 bishops to send young priests to 
 his college so that they might be- 
 gin investigations in the Secret 
 Archives. He founded a number 
 of chaplaincies at Campo Santo, 
 which are always tilled. The foun- 
 dation of the "Romische Quarlal- 
 schrift fiir Archiiologie und Kir- 
 chengeschichte" placed an organ 
 at the service of these young his- 
 torians. This plan of utilizing the 
 German National College showed 
 a fine appreciation of the needs of 
 the day. The judicious extension 
 of the Library admirably fostered 
 the work which was undertaken 
 there. While the researches in- 
 augurated do not follow any uni- 
 form plan, most of the publica- 
 tions are devoted to the Middle 
 Ages and the sixteenth century. 
 
 It was only after a long and careful study of the question from 
 every standpoint that the Gorresgesellschaft finally decided to establish 
 a special historical institute in the Vatican Archives. The moderate 
 means then at the disposal of the society rendered this caution intel- 
 ligible. But before the close of the eighties it decided to take this bold 
 step, and since that time its historical institute has been represented at 
 all times by able scholars. With the Austrian and Prussian Institutes, 
 it has undertaken the editing of the NunciafureReportsfrom Germany. 
 The Gorres Institute has engaged on a gigantic task of the highest im- 
 portance in its edition of all the Acts of the Council of Trent. Twelve 
 unusually stout quarto volumes have been planned, of which four have 
 already appeared and met with a most flattering reception. Many 
 years, however, must elapse before the huge task can be completed. 
 Not less in scope is another work which has for its object the publica- 
 tion of the Financial Acts of the fourteenth century. The two very 
 large volumes which have been already printed cast an entirely new 
 light on the Avignon Papacy, and have finally discredited the old, deep- 
 rooted fables which were copied by historians in general from the 
 Florentine Villani. The second volume treats with admirable clear- 
 ness and fullness of court life at the papal palace in Avignon. These 
 contributions to the social historv of the fourteenth century in general. 
 
490 THE VATICAN 
 
 and to the history of the Papacy in particular, cannot be prized too 
 highly. Besides the volumes dealing with the Nunciature Reports from 
 Germany, the Gorresgesellschaft has published a large number of vol- 
 umes of its "Quellen und Forschungen," each of which is independent 
 of the others and has no connection with the more extensive undertak- 
 ings of this society. It has recently published a series of volumes deal- 
 ing with the intervention of the Teutonic Order in the Italian wars of 
 the fourteenth century. No other private society has displayed an 
 activity at all comparable to that of the Gorresgesellschaft, whose suc- 
 cess is universally recognized. 
 
 The Austrian Leogesellschaft lends its collaboration in the publica- 
 tion of the Financial Acts of the fourteenth century, to which reference 
 has been made above. But, although it frequently appoints individual 
 scholars to work for a few years in Rome, it maintains no regular 
 institute in that city. 
 
 The same remark holds true of the English Government, in so far as 
 the maintenance of a state-aided institute for research work in the 
 Archives is concerned. England has not established any regular his- 
 torical institute, apparently because broadly planned historical re- 
 searches and treatises find less favor in that country than in any other 
 country of Europe. For the most part, English investigations are 
 undertaken merely to supplement the native sources and only wdth a 
 view to delineating historical characters as clearly as possible. Docu- 
 ments, as such, have no interest for the Governors of the Public Record 
 Office, who use only short excerpts in English to suit the convenience 
 of a public interested in genealogy. The tasks entrusted to the English 
 scholars are, from the scientific standpoint, of so exceedingly modest 
 a nature that many of these workers have bitterly complained of this 
 kind of hod-carrying. They would gladly have joined in the scientific 
 rivalry of the nations, but they might not. Owing to the cramping 
 commission given them by the English Government, they play a very 
 subordinate role in the investigation of those problems of medieval 
 ecclesiastical and civil life which possess such an absorbing interest for 
 all who work in the Secret Archives. 
 
 Through the special favor of Pius IX, Rev. Joseph Stephenson, a 
 High Anglican commissioned by the English Government, was allowed 
 to make copies of documents in the Archives which were connected 
 with the relations of England with the Curia. After this scholar had 
 become a Catholic and was appointed Scrittore in the Vaticana, he laid 
 his resignation in the hands of Sir Thomas Hardy, who, at the sugges- 
 tion of Cardinal Manning, appointed William H. Bliss, an Oxford con- 
 vert, to succeed him. The latter continued his work until 1909, but. 
 
THE VATICAN SF.CRET ARCHIVES 491 
 
 
 >w 
 
 
 
 
 Hfg. Alex. VI, Tom. 775, fol. 43 recto 
 
 First mention of the Discovery of America in the Papal Registers (June 25, 149.3). In the eleventh line 
 
 from the top we read: "Crhistoforum Colon" — Crh being a mistake for Chr 
 
492 THE VATICAN 
 
 even though he was given younger men to assist him in completing 
 his task more quickly, there was no question of founding a regular 
 historical institute. Any scientific treatment of the material, even in 
 the most modest way, was expressly forbidden, and was thus not 
 attempted. The large volumes, consisting of excerpts from documents, 
 are provided with a brief introduction in London, and then published 
 absolutely without comment. From time to time the London Board, 
 in its "Annual Reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records," 
 gives information of the progress of the researches in Rome. P'rom 
 this source we learn that Acts of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies were also copied at Rome, and were published in the Calendars 
 of State Papers. While it is to be regretted that the English Govern- 
 ment has not instituted investigations on a broader and more scientific 
 scale in the Secret Archives, we may be thankful that so much material 
 has been made accessible to investigators in English, if not in the orig- 
 inal Latin. 
 
 The Ecole Francaise de Rome was founded in 1873 in connection 
 with the French Archaeological Institute in Athens, and soon extended 
 its activities also to Naples, where the study of the registers of the 
 Angevin dynasty was undertaken. A member of the Ecole Francaise 
 may perhaps have worked in the Secret Archives before they were 
 opened to the public, and begun the glorious undertaking which is not 
 yet completed — namely, the editing of the volumes of Papal Regis- 
 ters of the thirteenth century, beginning from 1216. The mode of 
 publishing the extant registers is as follows: the most important docu- 
 ments are published complete, but only excerpts of the less important 
 are given, the original Latin being employed in both cases. This 
 method naturally leaves much to the discretion — often to the arbi- 
 trariness — of the individual. Documents dealing with French matters 
 are given a marked preference, even when no real, intrinsic reason 
 for this is apparent. No rigid, uniform treatment of the volumes is 
 in evidence, one editor adhering to one plan and a second to another. 
 The standpoints of various editors are often quite different, and even 
 the typographical arrangement varies greatly. The delay between the 
 appearance of successive parts is a great trial for both individual sub- 
 scribers and libraries, a large number of works having been begun 
 which, failing an index, are of real value only to very few. Those 
 persons alone who are thoroughly conversant with the original registers 
 can turn these fragments to account, and those only with great loss of 
 time. When all the pontificates are finally completed, the question 
 may perhaps be seriously raised whether the whole work should not 
 be begun all over again on a different basis and with a fixed and uni- 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
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494 THE VATICAN 
 
 form plan. However, in spite of their undeniable defects, the volnmes 
 already issued have done much to elucidate the history of the thir- 
 teenth century. The gigantic undertaking of the Ecole Fran^aise will 
 be given for all future time a place of honor among the sources of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 The social conditions during the Renaissance era have received 
 special attention from the young scholars of the French Institute, as 
 their published works prove. Special mention must be made of a 
 monumental work published by Monsignor Duchesne during his early 
 years in the Ecole F'rancaise, when he was Director of the Institute. 
 This work is the celebrated "Liber Pontificalis," the authentic source 
 for the history of the Popes in Christian antiquity and in the early 
 Middle Ages. Mention must also be made of the "Liber Censuum," the 
 great rent-book of the Roman Church, which received its definitive 
 form at the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. Paul Fabre had prepared this for press and was engaged on its 
 publication when death overtook him. His friend Duchesne then con- 
 tinued the task and completed it. 
 
 In the periodical of the French Institute, entitled "Melanges d'arche- 
 ologie et d'histoire," are published all the lesser works of its members, 
 including many treatises on archaeology and the history of art. The 
 seat of the Ecole is in the ambassadorial palace, the Palazzo Farnese, 
 which has been for some time the property of the French nation. Its 
 library is very extensive and well arranged. 
 
 In speaking of the societies formed to turn to advantage the treasures 
 of the Secret Archives, we should have mentioned also the Chaplains 
 of St-Louis-des-Francais. The reason for our failure to mention them 
 above was because their activity is more appropriately treated in con- 
 nection with the Ecole Francaise, wath which they have become in a 
 certain manner affiliated. They have undertaken a comprehensive and 
 highly important w^ork, with which they have already made very grati- 
 fying progress, namely, the editing of excerpts from all the fourteenth- 
 century documents contained in the volumes of Avignon Registers. 
 This series appears in connection with the editions of the Registers 
 published bv the Ecole Francaise, and the editing of the documents of 
 .John XXII a316-L334) is already far advanced. Unfortunately, the 
 special periodical of the French Institute, "Annales de St-Louis-des- 
 F'ran^-ais," has been discontinued. Many of the works of the Chaplains, 
 based upon Vatican materials, are of a high importance for the history 
 of the Avignon Papacy. With the further development of scientific 
 studies, it may perhaps be possible to revive their special periodical. 
 Another plan has been promoted by private persons to afford Catholic 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 
 
 495 
 
 Arcli. Vat. Instrum. Miscell. ad annos 1466 sqq. 
 
 Bull of Pope Clempnt XI of September 17, 1707, in the not yet exaggerated script called "Scrittura Rollatica." 
 
 The leaden seal hangs on a yellowish white silken string. The document is addressed to 
 
 Magister Tranciscus Colunma, jurist of the two Signature 
 
 French scholars an opportunity to study in the Secret Archives, but it 
 has not yet been sufficiently developed to merit mention here. 
 
 From small and modest beginnings the Prussian Historical Institute 
 has now reached such a stage of development that it can compete 
 successfully with any other. The plan to found this institution was 
 first conceived in 1883, but it was only in 1888 that the tirst Prussian 
 "Station," as it was then called, could be opened. In the following year 
 .the writer became one of the collaborators of this Station, and he 
 remembers well how exceedingly modest were its pretensions in its 
 infancy. Since that time the Station has grown into the Prussian Insti- 
 tute, which was fundamentally reorganized in 1902 and thereafter 
 showed constant development. Its most important undertakings are 
 the series of Nunciature Reports from Germany, the elucidation of 
 Prussian relations with the Curia in a series of works dealing with 
 Curial administration and kindred subjects, and the collection of Ger- 
 man sources in the "Repertorium Germanicum." From the Institute 
 have also issued individual works of importance which cannot be 
 included in any of the above-mentioned series. In Rome, or even in 
 all Italy, there is no library which can compare with that of the Prus- 
 sian Institute as a complete collection of all works dealing with a 
 special department. Absolute completeness is aimed at for all the 
 important territories investigated by the Institute, and, in consequence 
 
496 THE VATICAN 
 
 of the liberal funds at its disposal, it may well happen that within ten 
 
 years it will be the most important and best special library in the world. 
 
 The organ of the Institute is entitled "Quellen und Forschungen aus 
 italienischen Archiven," and contains once annually a highly valued 
 bibliographical survey of all pertinent literature which has appeared 
 in book form or in periodicals during the year. In recent times the 
 Institute has extended its studies to Naples and Simancas (Spain), just 
 as it had previously extended its investigations to central and northern 
 Italy. In collaboration with the Istituto Storico Italiano it publishes 
 the "Registrum Chartarum Italiae," of which eight volumes have al- 
 ready appeared. Only the briefest mention can be made of the exten- 
 sive department of the Institute which is devoted to art researches, and 
 wdiich possesses a splendid equipment of photographs, plates, and 
 editions de luxe, besides a valuable library. 
 
 Since 1904 Belgium also has had an historical institute in Rome — the 
 Institut Historique Beige a Rome. According to its charter, the Institute 
 is to devote itself, first, to the study of all materials connected with 
 Belgium in the Vatican Secret Archives, and, secondly, to materials 
 elsewhere in Rome and in Italy in general. The Institute is also to 
 serve as the centre for all historians coming to Rome, to whom it is to 
 extend assistance, both actively and by its advice. Since its activity 
 is confined strictly to the history of Belgium, the formation of a library 
 is easier, inasmuch as it is necessary to collect only those works on 
 Belgian history which are not to be found elsewhere in Rome. Need- 
 less to say, the library also contains those works of a general character 
 which are the daily tools of the historian. If, sometime in the future, 
 the additional plan should be realized of developing the Institute into 
 an Ecole des Hautes Etudes, in which secular and ecclesiastical history, 
 classical philology, archaeology, and art history would be studied, the 
 library would naturally have to be put on an entirely different footing. 
 Of the "Analecta Vaticano-Belgica," in which the Institute publishes 
 the results of its studies, many fine volumes have been already issued, 
 and others are in the press. 
 
 Of similar character to the above is the Dutch Historical Institute, 
 founded in 1906 and devoted exclusively to the investigation of male- 
 rials dealing with Holland. This Institute is not immediately con- 
 cerned with the publication of documents, but with researches to deter- 
 mine exactly what documents pertaining to Holland are in existence. 
 Three great catalogues of Dutch materials have been already issued, 
 and these publications will be continued until an exhaustive list has 
 been completed. On the basis of these extraordinarily careful surveys, 
 it will then be easy to decide what materials should be edited and pub- 
 
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES 497 
 
 lished. The same work has been undertaken in connection with Dutch 
 art, of which so many roots extend into Italy. This programme of the 
 Dutch Institute is an unusually practical one, although it is not con- 
 cerned immediately with the publication of documents. 
 
 The liberality of the Hungarian Canon, Monsignor Fraknoi, made 
 it possible to found in 1892 the Hungaricorum Historicorum Colle- 
 gium Romanum. Although this college was discontinued some years 
 ago, it has left behind important traces of its existence in the "Monu- 
 menta Vaticana historiam regni Hungarise illustrantia," of which ten 
 folio volumes were issued. 
 
 The Austrian Historical Institute had for its founder no less a per- 
 sonage than Theodor von Sickel. It was founded in 1883, and its chief 
 object is to enable a larger number of young historians to study for a 
 short term in Rome. A number of the members have, however, dwelt 
 some years in Rome, performing the Institute's share in the prepara- 
 tion of the Nunciature Reports from Germany, of which a large num- 
 ber of volumes are already available. Sickel's studies on the "Privi- 
 legium Ottonianum," his edition of the "Liber Diurnus," which created 
 a sensation in historical circles, and his important Roman Reports, 
 together w ith the works of Tangl, Ottenthal, and others, won for the 
 Institute a high position among the historical bodies of Rome. The 
 Rohemian historical commissions, which often visit Rome, always 
 receive efficient support from the Austrian Institute. 
 
 In the preceding sketch only a very hurried consideration could be 
 given to the chief points which must be reviewed in appraising the im- 
 portance of the Vatican Archives. Sufficient has been said, however, to 
 give the reader an idea of the importance of Leo XIH's ever-memora- 
 h\e act in opening these Archives to the public. The scientific har- 
 vest of thirty-three years' researches in the Archives has been glorious, 
 and, now that an ex'act knowledge of the collections has been secured, 
 the future harvests will be still richer. 
 

THE MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
 liiE word "mosaic" is derived from the Greek word 
 Mouoa, as it was said that the Muses were the inventors 
 of the mosaic art. Mosaic-making is undoubtedly 
 a very ancient art, and was practised in the Orient and 
 among the Egyptians, who employed it in the decora- 
 lion of their mummies. The Greeks also used mo- 
 l%'t>^T^^'^^JI ^^'^s iri their temples, while Demetrius Falerius and 
 ^^imrn'o^j^iiiAimSiiM Hieron II were the first to adorn their palaces in 
 Athens and Syracuse with mosaics. Mosaics were used also on the floors 
 of the houses in Greece, for which purpose, on account of their solidity, 
 they were well suited. Among the Romans the mosaic art was a com- 
 paratively late development, since they borrowed the fine arts from 
 Greece. Sulla introduced mosaic work into Rome to adorn the Temple 
 of Fortune at Prseneste, and it was not long before the art became par- 
 ticularly popular in Rome, where it found such favor that the military 
 commanders, including Csesar, had portable mosaics to serve as floors 
 for their tents while on their campaigns. Among the most beautiful 
 mosaics of ancient times may be mentioned the Greek Cross mosaic of 
 the Pio-Clementino Museum, and the Doves of the Capitol, generally 
 known as Pliny's Mosaic, because Pliny, in his "Historia Naturalis" 
 (1. XXXVI, c. Ix), speaks of such a mosaic as having been executed at 
 Pergamos. Thus, the Capitoline treasure, found at Hadrian's Villa near 
 Tivoli, is perhaps a copy of the Pergamos mosaic. Famous also are the 
 mosaic of Palestrina and, finally, the most beautiful specimen found 
 in the Casa del Fauno at Pompeii, showing a battle scene with fifteen 
 horsemen, twenty-six warriors, and a chariot bearing a figure said by 
 some to be that of Darius. So much did the Romans love mosaics that 
 they used them to adorn not only their floors but also the vaults of their 
 banquet-halls and the external walls of their dwellings. The scenes in 
 these mosaics w^ere taken from real life, and were generally framed by 
 an arabesque or Greek scroll. 
 
 In the Christian era mosaics were employed to represent sacred 
 images. The most beautiful ancient specimens are found in Rome 
 and at Ravenna in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and S. Apollinare 
 Nuovo, an Arian temple changed by Archbishop Agnellus into a Chris- 
 
 1:499:] 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 The Entrance to the Mosaic l-actory 
 
 The Sample Room where the Enamels are kept 
 
 tian church. Mosaic ornaments were used in the Catacombs also: in 
 the Chigi Gallery is preserved a portrait found in the Catacomb of 
 Cyriacus, which De Rossi declared to be a fourth-century work. In the 
 Mausoleum of S. Costanza are some mosaics dating from the Con- 
 stantinian era, while that in the apse of S. Pudenziano is said by De 
 Rossi to date also from the fourth century. Following the Byzantine 
 custom, these mosaics often have a gold background and a blue tint; 
 sometimes the figures themselves are laden with gilding. While the 
 mosaics were inspired by the Christian faith, both their art and tech- 
 nique were decadent. Instead of studying true proportions, the mosaic 
 workers endeavored to compensate with an abundance of gold for 
 errors of drawing. Among the first cultivators of the mosaic art, which 
 together with painting began about this period to undergo a favorable 
 change, we may mention the Florentine Andrea Tafi, who in 1200 de- 
 voted himself to the study of the composition of the enamels used in 
 mosaic work, and adorned with his mosaics the Church of S. Giovanni 
 at Florence. Thanks to Florentine artists, the mosaic art now took on 
 a new life. Cimabue practised it in the apse of the Cathedral at Pisa, 
 for which he made a mosaic of the Saviour against a background of 
 gold. Giotto, his pupil, busied himself greatly with this art: of his 
 many works it will be sufficient to mention here his famous Bark of 
 St. Peter, made for the Vatican Basilica. Encouraged by the wealthy, 
 and especially by the Popes, workers then began to copy pictures, and 
 we find the Venetian painters executing their very best works to be 
 copied in mosaic. And so, with increasing perfection, the mosaic work- 
 ers reached a state of development where their works may compare 
 with the masterpieces of painting. 
 
 In 1586 Pope Sixtus V founded the mosaic factory of the Vatican, 
 and set its artists to prepare mosaics for the walls and ceiling of St. 
 Peter's. The original site of the factory was near St. Martha's, beside 
 St. Peter's, where the street is still known as the Via del Musaico. Exi- 
 
THE MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
 501 
 
 A Mosaic Artist at Work 
 
 The Collection of Mosuic Works 
 
 gencies of space necessitated successive changes of location, and the 
 factory was removed first to rooms in the Palace of the Holy Office, and 
 then to the Palazzo Giraud (now the Torlonia) in the Piazza Scossa- 
 cavalli. Finally, in 1825, worthy quarters were found for it in the Vati- 
 can itself by Pope Leo XII. 
 
 Persons who have never seen a mosaic made find it difficult to imag- 
 ine how with small bits of colored enamel the most valuable paintings 
 may be exactly copied. The mosaic worker, who decorates tabernacles 
 and niches with his composition, does an accurate and patient work, 
 which attains the level of an art, because he uses his enamels just as 
 the painter does his brush. Mosaic work is of two kinds: (1) work 
 executed with enamel cubes, which are used in the case of all large 
 decorative work; and (2) work executed with enamel threads, which 
 are used for finer work. With these threads the most beautiful and 
 modern works may be executed. How different are these works from 
 the work of the Quattrocentesti, admirable as that work was! If you 
 look around in the factory, you see works representing garlands of 
 flowers in which every shade of color is caught, together with the 
 vivacity, grace and softness of flowers fresh from the garden. You see 
 hunting scenes with animals represented to perfection; the mosaics 
 lend themselves to every shape and movement in the scene, imitating 
 the mottled coat of a hound and the bristles of a boar. Besides scenes 
 such as these, which are fit to adorn the drawing-room of the most 
 exacting connoisseur, there are copies of the most famous paintings, 
 each of which represents the work, not of months, but of many years. 
 
 On entering the factory, the visitor first meets the sample-room, 
 where the number of tints will undoubtedly awaken his astonishment. 
 As many as twenty-eight thousand gradations of color are here to be 
 found, and each sample has a number corresponding to a shelf where 
 the worker can immediately find a supply of the particular shade he 
 
 seeks. 
 
 The second room contains all the best mosaics in enamel cubes re- 
 
502 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 The I-urnace for the Fusion of the Enamels 
 
 The Manufacture of Enamel Threads 
 
 cently made, as well as painted copies of all other mosaic works hereto- 
 fore executed. This well-arranged collection is well worth seeing. It 
 contains, for instance, a copy of II Guercino's Ecce Homo and Guido 
 Reni's St. Peter; these are the artistic gems of the collection, and are so 
 perfect that they can hardly be distinguished from the originals. There 
 are, besides, very fine portraits of the Popes, images of saints. Madon- 
 nas, and artistic works of every kind, from sacred subjects to reproduc- 
 tions of flowers and fruits. 
 
 From the second gallery the visitor enters the workroom where the 
 artists are busy. Around the walls are the shelves containing the 
 enamels. Each worker has his original before him, and he builds up 
 his picture piece by piece, chipping the enamel to the proper size and 
 then passing it over a lathe to bring it to the desired shape. First of 
 all a bed of plaster is prepared and put in an iron frame. The outlines 
 of the picture are then drawn on this plaster. Piece by piece the plaster 
 is removed and replaced by a layer of stucco (a mixture of lime, mar- 
 ble dust and the dregs of flaxseed oil). The worker next breaks the 
 enamel with a tiny hammer, reduces it to the proper shape on the lathe, 
 and iixes it in its place in the stucco, which, drying rapidly, holds the 
 enamel firmly in its place. Only then is another piece of the plaster 
 removed, because the stucco must be always fresh to receive and hold 
 the enamel. 
 
 The furnace for the fusion of the cut enamels is shown in one of our 
 illustrations. In 1856, under Pius IX, Monsignor Giraud, Administra- 
 tor of St. Peter's (Economo delta R. Fabrica di S. Pietro), was ordered 
 to build this furnace for the preparation of the enamels for the workers 
 who were to undertake the great task of making the mosaics for the 
 chronology of the Popes, the facade of the Basilica of St. Paul, and 
 the apse of the Lateran. These enamels were made under the direction 
 of a chemist named Raffaelli, and the result was a great success. The 
 enamels are made of glass and minerals. When the glass has reached 
 
THE MOSAIC FACTORY 
 
 503 
 
 The Ollico uf the Director of the Mosaic Factory 
 
 the necessary degree of heat the 
 minerals are mixed with it; the 
 mixture is then poured into 
 small round moulds, and, once 
 it has cooled, is ready for use. 
 In the case of the gilt enamels, 
 the procedure is as follows: 
 The w^orkman takes a disc of 
 colored enamel, covers it with a 
 small leaf of gold, places above 
 this a layer of glass, and puts 
 back the disc in the furnace. On melting, the glass forms an amalgam 
 with the enamel and the gold, which, when cool, is ready for use. The 
 room leading to the furnace-room contains a stock of the enamel 
 threads, wdiich are used in a different way. The mosaic workers, with 
 the help of a lamp flame, mould them to the shape desired. Of the col- 
 oring material used in these enamel threads there is also an ample sup- 
 ply, for, like the cut enamels, new threads have to be made daily to 
 meet the demands of the workmen. The man wdio has charge of the 
 composition of the tints must have long experience in his work. Not- 
 withstanding the fact that theory furnishes him with the required for- 
 mulae for the various combinations of the "mother tints" which blend to 
 produce certain colors, experience always teaches him new combina- 
 tions. After being scrupulously weighed, the mother colors are put in 
 a large crucible over a strong gas-jet, the flame being augmented by 
 the pressure of a bellows. When the enamel has become red-hot the 
 worker kneads the fiery mass thoroughly with an iron, and then draws 
 the enamel into long threads with a pliers. He must often make many 
 trials before getting the right tint, but success is finally attained with 
 patience, which is the chief gift of a good mosaic worker and artist. 
 
 The mosaic artist who has to copy exactly a certain work must pro- 
 ceed very slowly, because the shades, which are obtained rapidly with 
 the brush, need careful study before they can be rendered in mosaic. 
 Looking at the finished work, it is difficult to realize the time and pa- 
 tience it requires. But the result is worth all the trouble, because, while 
 the picture may deteriorate, the mosaic lasts throughout the ages with 
 its beauty unimpaired. 
 
 The mosaic factory really forms a part of the building department 
 of St. Peter's, and is thus under the charge of Monsignor Giuseppe De 
 Bisogno, Administrator of the Vatican Basilica. Its immediate man- 
 agement is in the hands of Professor Salvatore Nobili, who has now 
 guided its fortunes for twenty-six years. 
 
Part Four 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Conclave. — It is a matter of universal knowledge that 
 the chief advisers of the Popes form a special college, 
 and are known by the name of Cardinals. Their office 
 is, lirst, to assist the Pope in the government of the 
 Universal Church, and, secondly, when the Pope dies, 
 to elect a successor from their number. To describe 
 the manner in which the Cardinals fulfil the former 
 function would be out of place here, since that would 
 necessitate a treatise on the central administration of the Church. But 
 since the elections of the last three Popes took place in the Vatican 
 Palace, and since in all probability future elections will also be held 
 there, some information concerning this important event seems to be 
 called for. 
 
 Canon law prescribes that, on the death of a Pope, the Cardinals shall 
 assemble as soon as possible at the place of his death for the election 
 of his successor; for it is reasonable to suppose that a large number 
 of Cardinals will be already assembled at this place. At the end of the 
 nine days which are prescribed for the burial ceremonies, and which 
 are also used for the preparation of the assembly hall, the Cardinals 
 meet to elect the new Pope. This elective assembly is called the Con- 
 clave. Strict precepts require that the Conclave be held in rooms which 
 are completely secluded by the stopping up of all entrances and win- 
 dows that might make possible any communication with the outer 
 world. Each accompanied by one priest (called a Conclavist) and one 
 servant, the Cardinals are here immured until they have elected some 
 one of their body by a two-thirds majority. The votes are cast each 
 forenoon and afternoon by ballot in the Sistine Chapel. If the neces- 
 sary majority has not been secured, the Master of Ceremonies burns 
 the ballot papers, together with damp hay, in a small stove specially 
 set up for this purpose in the Sistine Chapel. The stove-pipe extends 
 over the gable of the chapel facing towards the Piazza di S. Pietro, 
 where thousands assemble at the appointed hour in the morning and 
 afternoon to obtain the latest news from this little chimney-flue. The 
 thick, bluish-gray smoke, caused by the moist hay, indicates to the 
 
 n 507 -2 
 
508 THE VATICAN 
 
 populace that the voting has been held without result. When, however, 
 a Cardinal has been chosen by a two-thirds majority of the electors 
 present, the ballot papers alone (without the hay) are burned, the con- 
 sequence being that only a light and almost invisible smoke issues from 
 the chimney. A feverish excitement then seizes all the assembled 
 crowd, and on every side the discussion rages as to the identity of the 
 Pope-Elect. Meanwhile the elected candidate is clothed with the white 
 papal soutane in the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel, where three such 
 soutanes of various sizes are always held in readiness. The Cardinals 
 then pay him solemn homage for the first time, and the oldest of the 
 Cardinal Deacons later announces the result of the election from the 
 Loggia of St. Peter's. With lightning rapidity the news spreads through- 
 out Rome, and every one hurries to St. Peter's to receive the first bless- 
 ing which the new Pope gives from the above-mentioned Loggia. 
 
 The method of voting is as follows: Each Cardinal first signs his 
 name at the top of the ballot paper {e.g., Ego Thomas Card. Riarius); 
 he then inserts in the middle (after the \vords Eligo . . . D. Card.) 
 the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, and finally 
 writes at the bottom of the paper the numeral indicating his order of 
 precedence in the Sacred College and also some motto which has been 
 chosen especially for this occasion and does not in any way suggest his 
 identity (see illustration on page 513). The upper and lower parts of 
 the ballot are then folded (see No. 3) and secured with three seals to the 
 left and right of the printed words Women (name) and Signa (motto). 
 Should no candidate secure the prescribed two-thirds majority, the bal- 
 lots are burned unopened. When a candidate has received the neces- 
 sary majority, he must reveal his motto, whereupon the bottom folds 
 only of all the ballots are opened until that containing this motto is 
 discovered. The upper fold of this ballot is then opened to ensure that 
 the candidate has not voted for himself. After this formality all the 
 voting ballots are burned as before. To bring to an end a deadlock, or 
 for various other reasons, the Cardinals are always at liberty to trans- 
 fer their votes. They are then said to "vote by accedo," since the word 
 Accedo (I go over to) occurs in the special ballot paper (No. 2) used in 
 such an instance. 
 
 One of the illustrations shows the Sistine Chapel prepared for 
 the Conclave. The seat of each Cardinal is surmounted by a canopy, 
 which is violet in color for all the Cardinals created by the deceased 
 Pontiff, and green for those created before his pontificate. Immedi- 
 ately after the election, all the canopies are turned down except that 
 under which the new Pope is seated; this remains open, and is the first 
 indirect homage shown to the new Pontiff. It has been remarked that a 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 509 
 
 Cardinal may never cast his ballot for himself, and that after the voting 
 a careful investigation is always made to discover if this has been the 
 case. If it should really prove to be the case, the election would be in- 
 valid. 
 
 Pope's Daily Routine. — A few general remarks concerning the busi- 
 ness dispatched by the Pope may not be out of place. 
 
 The personal atfairs of the Holy Father, and of those dependent on 
 him, are entrusted to the Papal Private Chancery. This department is 
 under the care of the senior of the two private secretaries, and claims 
 
 Cortile del Maresciallo 
 
 It is the duty of Prince Chigi, as Hereditary Marshal of the Conclave, to guard the doorway here 
 shown (which is the only entrance to the Conclave during the Papal Election) 
 
 the attention of four persons. It is not an ecclesiastical department, 
 but is an entirely personal affair of the Pope. It occupies a mezzanine 
 within his suite, being situated over the Privy Antechamber and the 
 three adjoining rooms beyond his private library. 
 
 The business of the Universal Church and also the affairs of his own 
 diocese (Rome and its precincts) are laid before the Pope by the Car- 
 dinals and prelates who preside over the various congregations and 
 boards created in the course of time to attend to the endless business 
 details which are referred to Rome. This does not mean that the Pope 
 does not receive direct information — that is, w ithout the mediation of 
 the high church officials. This immediate information is obtained 
 partly in audiences, and partly in letters opened by the Pope person- 
 
510 THE VATICAN 
 
 ally. The most important information is secured in the audiences 
 given to the bishops of the whole world, when they make their regular 
 visits to the Tombs of the Apostles to give an account of their adminis- 
 tration. With other members both of the clergy and of the laity the 
 Pope discusses special affairs. As the result of more than twenty-six 
 years' observation, the writer is in a position to declare that there is 
 probably no ruler in the world who is kept so perfectly informed as to 
 everything of interest to his office as the Pope. Through the medium 
 
 Crowd in the Piazza di S. Pietro awaiting the result of ihe Papal Election 
 
 of correspondence, a mine of highly valuable and confidential infor- 
 mation reaches the Holy Father, and often leads to his direct inter- 
 vention. 
 
 Should a person desire a letter to reach the Pope's hands, he need 
 only place it in an envelope, address it "Alia Santita di Nostro Signore 
 Pio Papa Dccimo," and write in the lower corner on the left "Riservato 
 al sacro tavolino." This letter should be then placed in a second en- 
 velope and sealed; and, after the above address has been again written, 
 with the additional words "Rome, Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano," the 
 letter should be registered. The writer may then be certain that his 
 letter will be opened by the Pope himself. Needless to say, this method 
 should be adopted only by a person who has a really important com- 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 511 
 
 miinication to make, which is of immediate interest to the Holy Father, 
 and is of such a nature that it cannot well be conveyed through the 
 medium of the ecclesiastical officials. To burden him with unimpor- 
 tant trifles w^ould be a gross offence to the Pope. 
 
 Five or six times a week the Cardinal Secretary of State has the 
 first audience with the Pope. He lays before him all business which 
 calls for his attention, hears his decisions, and also receives commands 
 concerning new regulations emanating from the Holy Father. The 
 
 The Sistine Chapel Prepared for a Conclave 
 
 prefects or secretaries of the Congregations of Cardinals have, accord- 
 ing to the extent and importance of the business on which they are 
 engaged, one audience weekly or one or two audiences a month at 
 specially appointed hours on special days. According to the nature of 
 the business to be discussed, these audiences last one or two hours. It is 
 thus seen that the Pope not only hears reports and confirms decisions, 
 but in specially difficult cases he also takes cognizance of the docu- 
 ments, and gives his decision only after a searching investigation of 
 the question with his official advisers. 
 
 After the reform of the Curial administration a change was made in 
 the regulations for antecameral audiences. The order of these official 
 audiences is now as follows: 
 
512 THE VATICAN 
 
 On the first Monday of each month, the President of the Accademia 
 dei Nobili Ecclesiastic! and the Grand Almoner; on the second and 
 fourth Mondays, the Cardinal Datarius, the Assistant Datarius, and the 
 General Secretary of the Congregation of the Propaganda. 
 
 On the first and third Tuesdays of each month, the Cardinal Prefect 
 of the Congregation of the Council. 
 
 On the tirst Wednesday of each month, the Cardinal Prefect of the 
 Apostolic Signatura; on the fourth Wednesday, the Secretaries of the 
 Biblical Commission; on the second and fourth Wednesdays, the Secre- 
 tary of the Propaganda for Oriental Affairs. 
 
 On every Thursday, the Assessor of the Congregation of the Holy 
 Office; on the second Thursday of each month, the Cardinal Prefect of 
 the Congregation of the Index; on the first and third Thursdays, the 
 Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. 
 
 On every Friday, the Cardinal Secretary of the Congregation of the 
 Consistory; on the first and fourth Fridays, the Cardinal Grand Peni- 
 tentiary. 
 
 On tiie second Saturday of each month, the Cardinal Chancellor of 
 the Holy Roman Church; on the third Saturday, the Cardinal Prefect 
 of the Congregation of Studies; on the fourth Saturday, the Dean of the 
 Court of the Holy Roman Rota and the Master of the Apostolic Palace; 
 on the first and third Saturdays, the Cardinal Vicar for the administra- 
 tion of the Diocese of Rome. 
 
 On the first and third Sundays of the month, the Cardinal Prefect of 
 the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments. 
 
 When these regular audiences will be omitted owing to special func- 
 tions, and in what weeks audiences will be held, is announced each year 
 by the Maestro di Camera. 
 
 Secretariate of State.— The suite of the Cardinal Secretary of State 
 lies on the first floor near the Appartamento Borgia. In these rooms is 
 dispatched all business between him and the diplomats accredited to 
 the Holy See. All bishops and archbishops coming to Rome here visit 
 the Cardinal Secretary; innumerable persons of every rank and station 
 call here with information on the most diverse things, and numerous 
 petitioners of every kind crowd the antechamber of the Pope's most 
 important assistant. The extent of the business here discharged is, as 
 regards both its variety and its extent, literally astounding. 
 
 Immediately after the audience of the Secretary of State with the 
 Holy Father, the Assistant Secretary waits on the former and together 
 they distribute the daily business among the various officials. The 
 offices of the Secretariate of State lie on the third floor behind the Gal- 
 lery of Geographical Charts, and almost completely surround the Cor- 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 513 
 
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 Voting Ballots used in Papal Elections (cf. page 508) 
 
 tile del Papagallo and the Cortile del Maresciallo. The extremely im- 
 portant and extensive Archives of the Secretariate are also located here. 
 A special featnre of these Archives is the ease and dispatch with which 
 every document in the collection can be found by means of the special 
 tiling system, which is attended to daily. 
 
 Since its amalgamation with the Secretariate of State, the Secretariate 
 of Briefs has been accommodated in the rooms on the third floor left 
 free by the removal of the old Pinacoteca. The business of this depart- 
 ment of briefs is very extensive and important. Apart from the special 
 questions of church administration, the briefs for all kinds of eccle- 
 siastical privileges are prepared here (e.g., for the maintaining of pri- 
 vate oratories, for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, and so on) . 
 
 Papal Orders axd Decorations.— It may interest wider circles to 
 know that all Papal Decorations and Orders are conferred by a brief. 
 And since in such cases the matters arise from no immediate necessity, 
 but are undertaken merely to give pleasure and satisfaction to indi- 
 
THE VATICAN 
 
 Tin- Interior of the Sistine Cliapel after tlie Election of Pius X 
 
 All Ihe canopies are turned down except that of the Patriarch of Venice 
 
 viduals, it is entirely proper and reasonable that the chancery fees for 
 the preparation of the briefs for decorations conferred on private per- 
 sons should be comparatively high. The different classes of an Order 
 call for the payment of fees of varying amounts when the Order is con- 
 ferred. The Grand Cross is the highest taxed, the Commander's Cross 
 the next highest, and the Knight's Cross the lowest. There is also a 
 difference of rank among the Orders themselves, and this difference is 
 reflected in the fees, since the Orders standing highest call also for 
 relatively higher taxes. The foolish calumny formerly so often heard, 
 that the Papal Orders were purchasable, is now discredited — at least 
 among intelligent people. Such a thing is absolutely impossible, since 
 the same principles are observed in granting these Orders as are ob- 
 served in every other responsible state. 
 
 The Holy Father confers the following Orders and Decorations: 
 
 (1) The Order of Christ. This highest of all Orders was founded by 
 Pope John XXH on March 14, 1319. It has only one class, and is also 
 known as the "Militia of Our Lord Jesus Christ." The Order is worn 
 on a ribbon around the neck. 
 
 (2) The Order of the Golden Spur. This also has but a single class, 
 and was founded at some very ancient date which can no longer be 
 exactly determined. It is known in history as the "Militia Aurata," and 
 was reorganized by Pius X in 1905. 
 
 (3) The Order of Pius, named after its founder. Pope Pius IX, who 
 erected it by Bull of June 17, 1847. This possesses four classes: (a) 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 515 
 
 Knights of the Grand Cross; (h) Knights of the Commander's Cross 
 with the Plaque; (c) Knights of the Commander's Cross; (d) Knights of 
 the Simple Cross. The main reason for the founding of this Order was 
 to provide a decoration which did not bear the name of a saint, and 
 with which non-Catholics might be honored. 
 
 (4) The Order of St. Gregory the Great, founded by Gregory XVI on 
 September 1, 1831, in honor of his patron saint. This comprises both a 
 civil and a military class, each possessing four degrees like the Pius 
 Order. 
 
 (5) The Order of Pope St. Sylvester. This also was founded by Greg- 
 ory XVI on October 31, 1841. It was reformed by Pius X in 1905, when 
 its insignia were somewhat altered. It has the usual four degrees. 
 
 (6) The Order of the Holy Sepulchre. This Order was founded by 
 the Apostolic Brief "Cum multa" of .lanuary 24, 1868, and was re- 
 formed by Pius X in 1907. The Order is conferred in the name of the 
 Pope by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Pope himself is its 
 Grand Master. The Order has the same four degrees as above, and may 
 be conferred on women. 
 
 (7) The decoration of the Cross, "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice," which 
 formerlv had four classes, has now only one. It was founded by 
 LeoXIli. 
 
 (8) The Service Medal, "Bene merenti," which was formerly so 
 frequently conferred, was revived by Pius X. 
 
 In our illustration on page 517, the following decorations have been 
 reproduced: (1) Plaque (Badge) of the Order of Christ, worn at the 
 breast. (2) The Order of Christ. (3) Knight's Cross of the Order of 
 St. Sylvester. (4) Count's Cross of the Order of St. Sylvester. (5) 
 Grand Cross of the Order of Pius. (6) Plaque of the Grand Cross of 
 the Order of Pius. (7) Count's Cross of the Order of Pius. (8) 
 Knight's Cross of the Order of Pius. (9) Grand Cross of the Second 
 Class of the Order of St. Gregory for Civilians. (10) Knight's Cross 
 of the Order of St. Gregory. (11) Grand Cross of the Second Class of 
 the Order of St. Gregory for Officers. (12) Grand Cross of the First 
 Class of the Order of St. Gregory for Civilians. (13) Plaque of the 
 Grand Cross of the First and Second Classes of the Order of St. Gregory. 
 (14) Grand Cross of the First Class of the Order of St. Gregory 
 for Officers. 
 
 The external form of the Solemn Briefs, as they are called, is won- 
 derfully impressive. The ancient tradition of the Church has in this 
 connection supplied a type which other state chanceries might well 
 envy. These documents, which are written on vellum, display a per- 
 fect simplicity of form, while in the distribution of space and the styles 
 
516 THE VATICAN 
 
 of penmanship the highest degree of perfection has been attained. The 
 ordinary briefs, used for the transaction of current business, are natu- 
 rally of an essentially simpler character. 
 
 The Papal Family. — Almost without exception, the Popes have 
 chosen, after their election, a new Secretary of State. In view of the 
 extreme importance and confidential nature of this position, it is quite 
 natural that the new Pope should select for it the man in whom he per- 
 sonally reposes the greatest confidence. The Secretary of State and the 
 Datarius are now the only Palace Cardinals. These were formerly four 
 in number, but the Secretariate of Briefs and the Secretariate of Memo- 
 rials, offices formerly held by Palace Cardinals, are no longer separate 
 departments. The above-mentioned two Palace Cardinals are the 
 highest members of the "Papal Family" — that is, of the circle of per- 
 sons who, in virtue of their office or position of honor, belong to the 
 immediate household of the Pope. To this household naturally belong 
 in a special manner the high court officials, who render constant service 
 to the Pope and are in constant contact with him. These all are included 
 under the general title of the Nobile Anticamera Segreta (Noble Privy 
 Antechamber). 
 
 At the head of this Antechamber stand the four Palatine Prelates, all 
 of whom have the right to free quarters in the Vatican Palace. The 
 first of these is the Majordomo (Prsefectus Palatii Apostolici), or Chief 
 Governor of His Holiness the Pope. It should be noted that, during the 
 vacancy of the Papal See, this official continues in office as Governor 
 of the Conclave until the new Pope has been elected. When the Pope 
 takes his place on the throne, it is the right and duty of the Majordomo, 
 as the highest of the prelates, to stand immediately to the right of the 
 throne. He exercises supreme supervision over all religious functions 
 at which the Pope and his court assist. The Chief Master of Ceremonies 
 is thus under obligation to discuss such functions with the Majordomo 
 beforehand. The drawing up of all nominations to court offices or 
 posts of honor is also the task of the Majordomo, and he is an ex-officio 
 member of the Palatine Commission entrusted with the administration 
 of the Apostolic Palaces. Formerly the Majordomo was also the chief 
 director of the Papal Choir (also known as the Cappella Sistina), which 
 he directed in accordance with the special Apostolic Constitutions and 
 Statutes governing this body. The Majordomo enjoys many other 
 rights and privileges, which however may be passed over here. 
 
 The second Palatine Prelate is the Maestro di Camera (Prtefectus 
 Cubiculi Secreti) , or High Chamberlain. His authority extends mainly 
 to those persons and things connected with the daily service of His 
 Holiness. He thus enjoys, in the first place, jurisdiction over all papal 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 517 
 
 / . W 
 
 '•■^. 
 
 >iO^ 
 
 
 13 
 
 Papal Decorations (see page 515) 
 
518 
 
 \ 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 ■515* 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 The Order of the Holy Sepulchre 
 
 (1) Commander's Cross. (2) Knight's Cross. (31 Plaque of the Grand Cross 
 (4) Commander's Plaque. (5) Grand Cross 
 
 chaml)erlains, both ecclesiastical and lay, and regulates their duties 
 in the Antechamber. He informs the Commanders of the Noble, Swiss, 
 and Palatine Guards of their hours of service, controls all proceedings 
 in the Antechamber, and dismisses the Gentlemen-in-waiting at the 
 close of the audiences. Since all requests for an audience pass through 
 his hands, he is by far the best known of all the court officials, and 
 every morning and afternoon his antechamber is besieged by a crowd 
 of persons of all nations and classes, all giving expression to a single 
 wish — namely, their desire to see the Holy Father. Day after day the 
 routine continues, so that this office demands an extraordinary pa- 
 tience and absence of nerves in its occupant, who must always give a 
 friendly hearing to the never-changing retjuest of endless thousands. 
 
 While, as was already stated, official ecclesiastical functions are 
 under the supervision of the Majordomo, the Maestro di Camera ar- 
 ranges all receptions that are not directly official and fixed, such as 
 audiences given to pilgrimages, musical and other performances in 
 the presence of the Holy Father, and so forth. From the fact that the 
 Maestro di Camera receives daily the orders of the Pope for the service 
 of the following day, the confidential nature and special importance 
 of his position \vill be immediately recognized. In processions he takes 
 precedence of the numberless Prothonotaries Apostolic, entirely re- 
 gardless of the date of his appointment. Naturally, this rule is not 
 intended to apply when, as happens in exceptional cases, the Maestro 
 
Decoration of the Vexillifer 
 or Standard-bearer 
 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 519 
 
 di Camera is a titular bishop or archbishop, the ordi- 
 nary rules of precedence being followed in such in- 
 stances. It is also worthy of mention that, in the 
 absence of the Majordomo, most of his duties are per- 
 formed by the Maestro di Camera. 
 
 Inasmuch as the third place among the palace prel- 
 ates has not been occupied for a long time, and there 
 is little prospect of a future appointment, it calls for 
 little mention here. The occupant bore the title of Auditor of the Pope, 
 and was a kind of theological and legal counsellor, especially in ques- 
 tions connected with appointments to vacant sees. 
 
 According to tradition, the oflice of the fourth palace prelate extends 
 back to St. Dominic. However this may be, it is certain that the 
 Magistro del Sacro Palazzo (Magister Sacri Palatii), the Master or 
 Teacher of the Sacred Palace, is always a Dominican. And as a natural 
 result of his office of counsellor to the Curia, this prelate is to-day the 
 special theologian of the Pope. In this capacity he has, for example, 
 to examine carefully beforehand all sermons and religious discourses 
 which are to be delivered in the presence of the Pope. During such 
 addresses he sits near the preacher with the manuscript in hand, and 
 carefully notes whether the sermon is delivered verbatim as it was 
 
 written. The reason for this procedure is, first, 
 to ensure that the theological contents shall not 
 suffer any alteration, and, secondly, to prevent 
 the preacher from drifting away from his subject 
 in pursuit of some new line of thought which 
 may suddenly suggest itself. Such improvisa- 
 tions, if tolerated in the presence of the Pope, 
 might possibly have undesirable results. The 
 Magistro also exercises the censorship over the 
 manuscripts of all books appearing in Rome, and 
 grants the Imprimatur. As a palace prelate, he occupies a prominent 
 place in all religious functions at which the Pope assists. He is an ex- 
 officio member (Consultor) of several Congregations which discharge 
 business closely allied with his office. Like the Majordomo and the 
 Maestro di Camera, he resides in the Vatican Palace, but, although he 
 belongs to the prelature, he has no external badge of his office. Many 
 in the long line of clerics who have held this office have passed from it 
 to the cardinalate, but the custom has not been sufTiciently regular to 
 amount to a prescriptive right. 
 
 It has been saitl above that the prelate who associates most intimately 
 with the Holy Father is the Maestro di Camera, since it is he who 
 
 Service Medal of Pius IX 
 
Privy r,h;inilKTlain in Spanish Costume 
 (Caiiierierc di spaila e cappa) 
 
 520 THE VATICAN 
 
 arranges daily the whole order of 
 the audiences, and daily receives 
 the Pope's commands for the fol- 
 lowing day. In these duties he is 
 assisted by four Chamberlains in 
 the religious state, who, either in- 
 dividually or in pairs, render 
 w^eekly service in the Antecham- 
 ber. In all things they are subject 
 to the Maestro di Camera, who, at 
 regular intervals, fixes their hours 
 of service. Even when there are 
 no audiences or receptions, these 
 chamberlains must be ready to 
 wait on the Pope — for example, 
 to accompany him on his walk or 
 drive in the Gardens, to execute 
 commissions in the city, and so on. 
 They all reside in the Vatican 
 Palace, and are, as a rule, of differ- 
 ent nationalities, since service in 
 
 the Antechamber requires the occasional use of many 
 French and Italian are of course the staple medium of conversation. 
 
 Since the service wdiich the Privy Chamberlains render to the Pope 
 is purely personal, their period of office ends with his death. Although 
 it commonly occurs that the new Pope appoints to important positions 
 men whom from personal experience he knows to be worthy of his 
 confidence, he almost always retains temporarily in office the Cham- 
 berlains of his predecessor, so that the service in the Antechamber may 
 continue efficient and uninterrupted. 
 
 Besides these four Privy Chamberlains proper (the number actually 
 holding office varies at different times), mention must be made of five 
 other prelates who hold important offices in the court and the church 
 administration. These are the Assistant Datarius (Sotto Datario), the 
 Secretary of Briefs to Princes (Segretario dei Brevi ai Principi), the 
 Secretary of Latin Briefs (Segretario delle Lettere Latine), the Under- 
 Secretary of State and Director of Ciphers (Segretario della Cifra), and 
 the Privy or Grand Almoner (Elemosiniere Segreto). The last-men- 
 tioned, who administers all the funds assigned to him by the Pope for 
 charitable purposes in accordance with special rules drawn up for his 
 guidance, deserves special notice. The extent of his duties may be 
 gathered from the fact that he is assisted by one secretary, two book- 
 
 languages. 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 521 
 
 Privy Chnniborlain in Service Uniform 
 
 keepers, one cashier, and two 
 clerks. Besides the large sums 
 given to him for current demands, 
 the Holy Father assigns to him 
 special sums on great feasts and 
 extraordinary occasions {e.g., a 
 Jubilee), to be distributed, either 
 personally or through the medium 
 of the pastors, among the poor 
 and needy. The Privy Almoner is 
 customarily a Titular Bishop and 
 an Assistant at the Throne, and 
 has his official residence and of- 
 fices in the Vatican Palace. His 
 offices are reached through the 
 door behind the Colonnade which 
 also gives access to the quarters of 
 the Swass Guard. The Almoner 
 has regular audiences with the 
 Holy Father, in which he submits 
 petitions to His Holiness, discusses all matters connected with his office, 
 and receives the commands of the Pope. His office is ad uitam Ponti- 
 ficis — that is, it is terminable with the life of the Pope. 
 
 The office of the Prefect of the Apostolic Chapel (also called the 
 Sacristan of the Pope) is for life. From the very earliest times a cleric 
 was assigned to the service of the Papal Chapel — that is, to exercise the 
 care of souls at the Papal Court. In the course of time this office be- 
 came of great importance, and great privileges were associated wiih it. 
 In 1497 Alexander VI (1492-1503) decreed that the Sacristan should be 
 always chosen from the August inian Order, and this practice continues 
 to the present day. The Sacristan is always the Titular Bishop of Por- 
 phyreon and an Assistant at the Throne. He is an ex-officio Consultor 
 of a number of Congregations and Commissions, and in his official 
 capacity has participated in the Conclave since the reign of Pius IV 
 (1559-1565). Besides supervising the Papal Chapels and administer- 
 ing the treasures of the Sistine Chapel and of the Vatican Chamber of 
 Relics, the Sacristan is pastor of the Apostolic Palaces. In connection 
 with this last duty he is aided by the Assistant Sacristan, who is also 
 an Augustinian. Before the Pope pontificates, the Sacristan must test 
 the host and the wine and water which are to be used in the Mass. On 
 fixed occasions he assists the Pope at the altar, and then wears the man- 
 telletta and mozetta without rochet. The rite of blessing the Papal 
 
522 THE VATICAN 
 
 Apartments on Holy Saturday, in connection with the general blessing 
 of houses which takes place on that day, pertains to him. When he 
 reaches the room occupied by the Pope he removes his stole and pre- 
 sents the aspersorium to the Holy Father, who blesses this room. It is 
 from the hands of the Sacristan that the dying Pope receives Extreme 
 Unction. 
 
 A very important role at the Papal Court is filled by the Masters of 
 Ceremonies. Their office is confined to ecclesiastical functions, while 
 questions of ceremonial in general (for example, questions of prece- 
 dence among the Cardinals and diplomats) are decided by the Congre- 
 gation of Ceremonial. The Magistri Caeremonlarum Apostolicarum 
 were not formed into a college until the close of the fifteenth century. 
 The Prefect, or Antistes Cseremoniarum, has a most responsible task, 
 because he has complete charge of the very complicated ceremonies at 
 all great ecclesiastical functions — for example, at the death of the Pope, 
 during the Conclave, at the proclamation of the election, and especially 
 in connection with the coronation of the new Pope. 
 
 The source of the general ceremonies for the coronation is probably 
 to be sought in the Byzantine court ceremonial. The details thence 
 derived were further developed and completed. In the course of time 
 new elements were added wdien deemed necessary, and thus was 
 evolved the ceremonial as it stands to-day. Those who judge this 
 gigantic ceremony in its entirety must admit that, individual details 
 aside, its progress is one of glorious solemnity and majesty. The special 
 ecclesiastical ceremonies which emphasize the absence of the Pope are 
 inspired by the thought that for him, as Christ's Vicar, a central posi- 
 tion must be prepared. This is effected with such unostentatious pre- 
 cision, with so retined a moderation in all details, that every spectator 
 must concede that no more solemn and worthy development of a 
 religious service could be imagined. The profane ceremonies in con- 
 nection with the receptions, audiences, and so forth, differ only in a 
 few details from those customary in secular courts. 
 
 The development of divine worship into an act of the highest solem- 
 nity is a requirement of human nature, and the Church satisfies this 
 craving by giving a sublime aim to customs and ceremonies common 
 among men. And the highest and most solemn expression of those 
 ceremonies is found in the regulations which have been gradually 
 elaborated for divine service celebrated by the Pope or in his presence. 
 Tradition, which always, when possible, harks back to earlier occur- 
 rences, exercises here her full power, and cares for the homogeneity 
 of the development of papal ceremonial. New cases, seldom as they 
 occur, are always decided according to the analogy of similar cases in 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 523 
 
 Consecration (if Hungarian Bishops in the Sistine Cliapel 
 
 11 
 
 Mass according to the Greek Rite in the Aula delle Beatiflcazioni 
 
The Tiara or Triple Crown 
 
 524 THE VATICAN 
 
 the past, and the rich archives of 
 the College of the Masters of Cere- 
 monies always offer an inexhaust- 
 ible mine of information to the 
 prelates in office. 
 
 Besides the above-mentioned 
 active Chamberlains, there is a 
 large number of honorary Privy 
 Chamberlains, who enjoy merely 
 the title and the right to wear the 
 distinctive dress. Corresponding 
 with this class is the large body of 
 lay Chamberlains wiio are called 
 upon to render service only at 
 very rare intervals. But, just as 
 there are four ecclesiastical Privy 
 Chamberlains in the strict sense 
 who are court otTicials, there are 
 also four lay Chamberlains. The 
 first of these is the Maestro del 
 Sacro Ospizio (the Master of the Sacred 
 for life and is hereditary in his family, 
 1431) vested the Conti family with this honorable office, but as their 
 property was inherited by the Ruspoli family, the latter now enjoy 
 this office also. The Maestro del Sacro Ospizio had formerly an exten- 
 sive sphere of activity in all questions relating to the reception and 
 accommodation of kings and princes, members of the Curia, and other 
 distinguished personages who visited the Pope; but under existing con- 
 ditions his duties are greatly modified. He greets sovereigns and 
 princes and princesses of the royal blood at the foot of the Scala Nobile 
 in the Cortile di S. Damaso when they come to visit the Pope. Present- 
 ing his arm to the ladies, he escorts them up the staircase to the Throne 
 Room or the Antechamber, and also acts as their escort when, at the 
 close of the audience, they wish to pay a visit to the Vatican Collections. 
 He must appear at all functions attended by the Pope, and must always 
 receive a special invitation from the head of the Apostolic Ministry. In 
 processions he takes precedence of the .ludges of the Rota, and follows 
 immediately the Ministers General of the Mendicant Orders. He is also 
 known as the Custos Sacri Sacelli (Custodian of the Sacred Chapel) or 
 Custos Interior Augusti Consessus Cardinalium (Custodian of the 
 Sacred College), because he guards the entrance to the quadrangle in 
 the Sistine Chapel which the Cardinals occupy on solemn occasions. 
 
 Hospice), w^hose office is 
 Pope Martin V (1417- 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 525 
 
 The Singers of the Sistine Choir, with Maestro Perosi 
 
 Besides the above-mentioned official Privy Chamberlains, there are 
 five Privy Chamberlains who do not lose their honorary title at the 
 death of the Pope. These are known as Chamberlains di niimero, in 
 contradistinction to the Supernumerary Chamberlains. Lifelong is 
 also the title enjoyed by the laymen who form the second class of 
 honorary chamberlains. This small body of privileged Chamberlains 
 of both classes is usually recruited from those longest in office, and was 
 founded so that there might be some Chamberlains available during 
 the papal election for service in the Antechamber. While all the other 
 Chamberlains lose their title and office at the death of the Pope, since 
 their relations with the Holy Father are of a purely personal nature, 
 the senior Chamberlains of both classes continue in office permanently 
 for the above reason, and become Chamberlains for life. As all lay 
 Chamberlains wear with their full-dress uniform a sword and mantle, 
 they are known as Camerieri di spada e cappa (Cubicularii ab ense et 
 lucerna). 
 
 Every Chamberlain, whether privileged or supernumerary, is a 
 member of the papal family, and enjoys free access to all papal func- 
 tions, provided that he appears in his official dress. Every week one 
 Privy and one Honorary Chamberlain are summoned for service in the 
 Antechamber, and on festival occasions the attendance of a larger num- 
 
526 THE VATICAN 
 
 ber is required to see that the order prescribed by the Majordomo or 
 Maestro di Camera is observed on the platforms. Their dress uniform, 
 which is in the style of the sixteenth century, with ruff and large 
 golden chain, is very picturesque. The number of lay Chamberlains 
 ihroughout the world, who have received this distinction on the recom- 
 mendation of their bishops, is very large. 
 
 There are at present four Private Chaplains of the Pope, and these 
 also hold purely personal offices at the Court. The number of these 
 chaplains has varied greatly at different limes. Two of them perform 
 special otfices in liturgical functions as bearer of the pontilical cross 
 and train-bearer. There are a large number of honorary Papal Chap- 
 lains throughout the world, who enjoy the title without the duties. 
 
 Papal Functions. — From the above information concerning the 
 most important court officials, the reader can form a fair idea of how 
 rich is the development of ceremonies when the Pope celebrates a great 
 festival. All these various classes of court officials, members of the 
 Papal Household, are represented on such occasions, and in the pon- 
 tifical procession the place of each is exactly determined. The variety 
 of the dress worn by the court officials excites great curiosity among the 
 beholders, and the brilliant uniforms of the laity give additional life to 
 a picture already glowing with color. 
 
 On the anniversary of his coronation and on a few other special 
 occasions the Pope wears the tiara, or triple crown (triregnum), instead 
 of the episcopal mitre. In its present form, with three crowns, the 
 head-dress dates from the fourteenth century. Formerly it tapered to 
 a point, but during the eighteenth century it assumed the shape of a 
 beehive, thus developing into one of the most unbecoming head-dresses 
 in the world. Lately the old graceful pointed Phrygian head-dress with 
 three crowns seems to be returning into favor, a change for which we 
 may feel grateful. There are many tiaras in the treasury of the Sistine 
 Chapel, but among them there is only one whose lines can be described 
 as beautiful. This was presented to Leo XIII by the Catholics of Paris. 
 
 Among the honorary offices of the Vatican must be mentioned also 
 that of Custodian of the Triple Crown (Custode dei Sacri Triregni). In 
 the later Middle Ages we find the papal Master of the Treasury men- 
 tioned by this title. As he had in his charge most valuable jewels 
 (chalices, rings, pectoral crosses, mitres, etc.), he was often entrusted 
 with the very costly tiaras, which were encrusted with precious stones. 
 When these were to be used he demanded a receipt before allowing 
 them out of his possession. This arrangement continued for a long 
 period, but in recent times the Sacristan has been the real custodian of 
 these precious objects, although he is not given the title. When a 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 527 
 
 tiara is to be worn in pontifical 
 processions, it is borne by a papal 
 chaplain in black soutane. Beside 
 the chaplain walks the Jeweler of 
 the Apostolic Palaces in black uni- 
 form and wearing a sword. The 
 latter guards the tiara from the 
 time it leaves the Sistine Treasury 
 until it is returned to the Assistant 
 Sacristan. During the function, 
 therefore, he is the real Custodian 
 of the Triple Crown, although he 
 has nothing to do with its guard- 
 ianship. 
 
 On these and other solemn oc- 
 casions the celebrations are height- 
 ened by the presence of the Sistine 
 Choir. This bore from the begin- 
 ning the title of Schola Cantorum 
 Domini Papse, because even in an- 
 cient times it was already formed 
 into a college. As might be sup- 
 posed, this college was composed 
 exclusively of clerics in the early 
 Middle Ages and even later, since 
 these alone possessed the neces- 
 sary training to qualify them to 
 till the office. Consequently, when 
 in recent centuries the laity also 
 were admitted to the Choir, it was made a condition of their service that 
 they should always wear the clerical dress. The Schola was extended 
 greatly, especially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and was 
 fostered with great privileges and large endowments. In times still 
 more recent the repute of the Choir has been firmly established, owing 
 partly to its famous conductors and partly to its own splendid per- 
 formances. 
 
 Since the Sistine Choir sings only a cappella— [hat is, unaccompanied 
 by the organ or other musical instrument — in the presence of the Pope, 
 it has developed the custom of singing only a cappella on all occasions. 
 Apart from papal functions, the Choir sings only at Requiem Masses 
 for the high court officials, and on other occasions for which the special 
 permission of the Holy Father has been secured. 
 
 Papal Processional Cross 
 
528 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Pontifical Mazziere or Mace-bearer 
 
 Until a few years ago a director 
 was chosen annually from the 
 ranks of the singers, but this did 
 not tend to raise the efficiency of 
 the Choir. At present Maestro 
 Perosi, the celebrated composer, is 
 permanent director, and is as- 
 sisted by a permanent Vice- 
 maestro. Perosi has attained a 
 lifelong wish in the establishment 
 of a boys' school for sopranos and 
 altos, in which able singers are 
 developed. To the college proper 
 twenty-two virtuosi belong, and 
 of these nine are emerited. Be- 
 sides the boys, the service of a 
 large number of other singers is 
 requisitioned for all performances 
 of the Choir, so that its singing 
 strength is about one hundred 
 voices. The rich archives of the college contain a large number of 
 valuable musical works by the most famous masters, still in manu- 
 script. After long neglect, these have been now put in proper order. 
 
 Whenever the Pope takes part in any liturgical celebration, whether 
 he himself pontificates or (for example, in connection with a Solemn 
 Requiem) undertakes the Absolution of the Tumba, it is the right and 
 duty of the prelates entitled to sit in the Court of the Signatura to serve 
 as acolytes and candle-bearers. They also present the censer and in- 
 cense to the Pope in connection with the incensing. The Auditors of 
 the Court of the Rota, on the other hand, discharge the office of Apos- 
 tolic Deacons. Two Clerics of the Chapel, as they are known ofTicially, 
 act as the clerics on such occasions, and are then called clerici in posto. 
 Their duties extend to the indirect service at the altar, as they have to 
 see that all things necessary for the altar are prepared. In the four- 
 teenth century they were named clerici campananim, because they had 
 charge of the bells of the Apostolic Palace. 
 
 The papal processional cross has been represented from ancient 
 times as one possessing three cross-bars of diminishing size towards the 
 top. A papal cross of this fantastic character has never existed; it is a 
 pure fiction. The processional cross consists in reality of a plain cruci- 
 fix attached to a staff. There is a special college of clerics, five in num- 
 ber, who fetch the cross from the Throne Room when it is required. 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 529 
 
 and guard it until it is returned 
 after the service. Tliese clerics are 
 known as the Doorkeepers with 
 the Red Rod (Magistri Ostiarii a 
 Virga Rubea). As their name in- 
 dicates, they formerly discharged 
 other duties. The officiating Mas- 
 ter of Ceremonies always gives 
 them the signal for handing the 
 cross to the appointed Auditor of 
 the Rota to carry, and later for re- 
 ceiving it back again. 
 
 Only in connection with solemn 
 functions undertaken by the Pope 
 or performed in his presence, and 
 with the ceremonies of the Sacred 
 College during a vacancy of the 
 Holy See, does a college of lay 
 functionaries participate in the 
 services. These carry silver- Assistant m hu- p^pai Tiir„ne 
 
 mounted maces, and are thus known as Mazzieri {Mazerii Papce). 
 Their origin dates back probably to the Servientes Armorum (hench- 
 men or body-guard), who were well-known figures in the Papal Court 
 during the Middle Ages. This body was responsible for the safety of 
 the Pope and of the Apostolic Palaces. To-day the Mazzieri are en- 
 trusted with the duty of guarding the entrance to the quadrangle in the 
 Sistine Chapel occupied by the Sacred College during solemn services 
 at which the Pope is present. They have also to escort all persons who 
 proceed from the credence-table near the altar to the papal throne. 
 Two Mazzieri are also sent to episcopal consecrations in Rome to clear 
 a path for the new bishop through the crowd during the singing of the 
 Te Deum, and thus lend a special dignity to the occasion. In so far as 
 the duties of their office are concerned, the Mazzieri are subject to the 
 papal masters of ceremonies; in all other things they are subject to the 
 Majordomo. 
 
 In the long list of personages who act as assistants to the Pope during 
 solemn services, the Prince Assistant at the Throne occupies an office 
 of an entirely exceptional nature. His official title is Stator Proximus 
 a Solio Pontificis Maximi. He stands on the highest step of the throne, 
 to the right of the First Deacon, and ranks immediately after the Vice- 
 Chamberlain of the Roman Church, but before the prelates. He is 
 incensed during the incensing of the choir, and receives the Kiss of 
 
530 THE VATICAN 
 
 Peace. When the papal or annual medals are distributed, the Prince 
 Assistant receives his immediately after the Cardinals and before the 
 ambassadors. He also has the right to pour water over the Pope's 
 fingers at the washing of the hands. On the Feast of the Purification 
 two large candles are prepared, one for the Pope and the other for the 
 Prince Assistant. He attends functions in the traditional dress of the 
 old Roman princes, and is accompanied by his Gentiluomo, his Maestro 
 di Camera, and other servants of his household. From the above re- 
 marks it will be seen that there is but one Prince Assistant at any func- 
 tion. But since this dignity is hereditary in both the Colonna and the 
 Orsini families since the sixteenth century, the heads of these families 
 have to perform alternately this service at the throne — when they can 
 arrive at some common understanding on this matter, which has not 
 always been the case. 
 
 Temporal Administration.^ — Enough has been said above to enable 
 the reader to comprehend how unusually great and diversified is the 
 administration of the Vatican Palaces. A few words may be said con- 
 cerning the origin and development of this administration. On No- 
 vember 1 of the stormy year 1848 the Pro-Secretary of State, Cardinal 
 Antonelli, was given by Pius IX the supreme supervision of the Apos- 
 tolic Palaces under the title of Prefect, and continued to fill this office 
 until his death. When Leo XIII a little later succeeded to the Fisher- 
 man's throne, he issued, under date of December 11, 1880, two "Motus 
 Proprii" in which he first separated the Prefecture of the Apostolic 
 Palaces from the administration of the goods of the Holy See, and sec- 
 ondly issued exact instructions regarding the duties of the Prefect. The 
 Secretary of State is now Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces, and a prelate 
 is Sub-Prefect. With the exception of the few administrative matters 
 for which the Majordomo is personally responsible, the whole admin- 
 istration is now discharged by the Prefecture. At regular intervals the 
 heads of all the administrative departments assemble in congress un- 
 der the presidency of the Sub-Prefect, and then all matters of impor- 
 tance are discussed. In questions of special importance the decision is 
 given by the Cardinal Prefect. 
 
 The most important person in the household administration of the 
 Vatican Palaces is undoubtedly the Maestro di Casa (Magister Domus). 
 His social position is shown by the fact that he is the first of the hon- 
 orary Chamberlains di niimero. The staff of household employes are 
 subject to him, and he is responsible for the execution of all orders 
 connected with household affairs. As in innumerable cases he comes 
 into contact with the Italian authorities, he possesses their procura 
 (power of attorney) for the signing of written documents. For exam- 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 531 
 
 Marchese Clriniiitr Sacchetti 
 Fori ere Mat^t;i(>re 
 
 pie, when a present is sent by par- 
 eel post to the Pope from Ger- 
 many or France, it is delivered 
 free of duty at the palace after the 
 Maestro di Casa has signed the 
 postal receipt. Again, when the 
 palace administration places large 
 orders for building materials with 
 foreign firms, these are delivered 
 free of duty to the Maestro di Casa. 
 Should it be decided later not to 
 use some of this material for the 
 palace, the Italian Board of Fi- 
 nance is informed of the fact and 
 the duty paid before the material 
 is sold; for only those things 
 which are used by the Pope are 
 duty free. In the Italian Parlia- 
 ment it has been sometimes in- 
 sinuated that the Vatican abuses 
 this right to tlie detriment of the Italian exchequer. The libel was as 
 often sharply stigmatized by the Italian ministry as pure imagination; 
 the character of the Maestro di Casa was so completely above all sus- 
 picion that such an insinuation could not be entertained for a moment. 
 The above regulation is rigidly observed on the part of the Vatican 
 authorities. During the Conclave the Maestro di Casa, besides superin- 
 tending the material administration, must provide for the comfort of 
 the assembled Cardinals. This is a very responsible task, since many 
 of the Cardinals are so advanced in years and delicate that they need 
 special care and attention. While in earlier times this office was mostly 
 held by clerics, it is now filled by a layman. 
 
 In so far as the household administration of the Vatican is concerned, 
 the Foriere Maggiore dei Sacri Palazzi Apostolici (Quartermaster- 
 Major of the Apostolic Palaces) is the next official after the Maestro di 
 Casa. He performs a number of the latter's duties during his absence. 
 This very ancient office was reorganized by Sixtus V (1585-1590), was 
 made lifelong, and was given its present name. The special duty of 
 the Foriere Maggiore is to superintend the buildings, gardens, water 
 supply, furniture, magazines, and so forth, and from him the architect 
 and the Sotto-Foriere take their instructions. 
 
 When the Pope uses the portable throne {sedia gestaforia), this 
 official gives the order for its raising and lowering, and is responsible 
 
532 THE VATICAN 
 
 for its being borne quietly and securely. The servants, who are 
 assigned to this duty only after long training, have to exercise the great- 
 est care lest the throne should sway in the crowd which frequently 
 presses around it when the procession turns a corner, or at other places 
 where progress is difficult. As any rocking of the throne might easily 
 give the Pope a feeling of vertigo or be the cause of some other indis- 
 position, this duty of the Quartermaster-Major is an extraordinarily 
 responsible one. Inasmuch as the Holy Father is invariably a man 
 of advanced years, the greatest precaution and care are necessary. 
 When we stand among the spectators and watch the Pope borne past 
 us, it is only with great difficulty that we can realize how little enviable 
 is his position — no more enviable, in fact, than that of his bearers. 
 Immediately before him the Pope beholds the advancing line of the 
 pontifical procession; to the left and right crowd excited throngs who 
 can with great difficulty restrain themselves from greeting the beloved 
 Father with loud exclamations. A mere tritle under some exciting 
 circumstance may cause a venerable, white-haired priest uneasiness 
 or even illness. We thus see that this side of the Pope's public life, at 
 first sight so glorious and inspiring, is associated with no little anxiety. 
 In contrast to Leo XHI, Pope Pius X avoided the sedia gestatoria when- 
 ever possible, since he always felt a predisposition towards vertigo 
 when borne along above the heads of the crowd. 
 
 The papal stables and everything connected therewith are under the 
 charge of the Chief Equerry (Cavallerizzo Maggiore), whose period 
 of office closes with the death of the Pope. The succeeding Pope, how- 
 ever, almost invariably reappoints the old equerry. As the third of the 
 Privy Chamberlains di numero, the Chief Equerry is one of the highest 
 officers of the household. Since the time of Leo XII (1823-1829) he 
 has been a member of the Administrative Commission of the Apostolic 
 Palaces. As the number of horses kept for the Noble Guard and the 
 higher court officials has been greatly reduced by Pius X, the duties 
 of the Chief Equerry are no longer very extensive. The Pope's coach- 
 man and also his postillion and the grooms receive their orders from 
 the Chief Equerry. The state coaches of earlier times were formerly 
 kept where the new Picture Gallery now stands. They were then trans- 
 ferred to a large vault in the Cortile di Belvedere, where they can now 
 be viewed by visitors. Since the automobile has already gained en- 
 trance into the Vatican, the number of horses is destined to decline 
 still lower. When the Pope rides in a closed carriage, the latter is 
 provided with a hammer-cloth and footman's step; both of the latter 
 are omitted when he rides in an open carriage. A number of the higher 
 officials have a carriage at their disposal when they wish to drive out 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 533 
 
 on official business. A papal carriage fetches all Chamberlains when 
 their services are required, and conveys them home again at the end 
 of the functions. On the occasion of great festivities, when the services 
 of thirty or forty ecclesiastical and lay Chamberlains are needed, the 
 problem of providing sufficient equipages is solved by hiring public 
 vehicles. All night long a papal carriage is at the disposal of the con- 
 fraternity whicli undertakes the vigil during the night hours of the 
 Forty Hours' Devotion. 
 
 Thr I'lirlaiiliii:! nl I'Dpr I. en XIII 
 
 The Marshal of Papal Journeys has for his official title Soprainten- 
 dente Generate alle Poste — which literally means General Superinten- 
 dent of the Posts. This title has often given rise to misunderstanding, 
 as some believed this official to be a kind of postmaster-general. This 
 is, of course, quite erroneous. The Princes Massimo, in whose fam- 
 ily this office is hereditary, have never had anything to do with the 
 letter post; their office was to attend to the "posts" in the old 
 meaning of the word — that is, to provide the things necessary for 
 the continuation of a journey. Before the building of railroads, this 
 official performed a most important function when the Pope undertook 
 a journey. From its very nature, it is evident that the office must have 
 been in existence from the very earliest time, since provision had 
 
534 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 Marchese Serlupi 
 Cavallcrizzo Maggiore 
 
 always to be made for the per- 
 formance of the duties connected 
 with it. For when the Curia pro- 
 ceeded from one place to another, 
 there was always, as it were, a 
 small "migration of nations." The 
 account-hooks in our possession, 
 (latini- from the reign of Clement 
 V downwards, give us an accurate 
 idea of the extent and importance 
 of the preparations which were 
 necessary when the Pope, the Car- 
 dinals, the Court and Church offi- 
 cials, the Curial tribunals, and all 
 the other persons in the papal 
 retinue decided to move to an- 
 other city. All necessity for such 
 preparations has now ceased. The 
 Pope is a prisoner in the Vatican, 
 and all thought of travelling is 
 past. But the Marshal of Papal Journeys is still entered in the calendars 
 of the Curia, because in Rome important offices of the past are still held 
 in honor. The successive Princes of the Massimo family attend all 
 court festivals and all religious functions, clad in their beautiful uni- 
 form, and thus impart additional color to the picture of the Papal Court. 
 
 What has been just said applies also to the Marchese Naro Patrizi 
 Montoro, the hereditary Gonfalonier (Banner-bearer) of the Holy 
 Roman Church. He enjoys the rank of lieutenant-general and wears 
 the uniform of the Noble Guard. The origin of this purely military 
 office must be traced to the Crusades of the thirteenth century. Accord- 
 ing to the exigencies of the lime, first this and then that prince was 
 named banner-bearer until Pope Urban VHI (1623-1644) appointed the 
 Marchese Naro to the office. Even after this family merged with the 
 Patrizi, the honorable distinction descended from father to son, and 
 has now become a vested right. 
 
 Financial Position of the Vatican. — The writer has received many 
 dozens of letters from friends and acquaintances, asking him to secure 
 early for them a place in the Sistine Chapel for the ceremonies of Holy 
 Week. To all these letters only one answer could be given, namely, 
 that the world-famous functions in the Sistine Chapel have ceased to 
 be held since 1<S70. This fact should be generally known, but as a 
 matter of fact such is not the case. Since the incorporation of the 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 535 
 
 Papal States in the Kiiii^dom of Italy, everything has been discontinued 
 except the absolutely indispensable. The feasts which were celebrated 
 in regular succession by the Pope in the churches of Rome could, in 
 view of the existing circumstances, no longer be thus celebrated. And 
 the other celebrations also were either abolished or essentially simpli- 
 fied. These regulations were partly the expression of public mourning 
 
 Papal State Coach 
 
 at the persecution of the Church, and were partly necessitated by 
 changed financial conditions which demanded simplification. 
 
 Since the Popes have never accepted the annual allowance of 3,225,- 
 000 lire made by the Italian Government, although the revenue from 
 the Papal States was irretrievably lost, they have been compelled to 
 rely exclusively on the generosity of the faithful. Under the venerable 
 name of Peter's Pence, pious offerings are collected throughout the 
 Catholic world to enable the Pope to meet the cost of the central gov- 
 ernment of the Church. Since its resources are thus entirely dependent 
 on voluntary offerings, the Holy See can never know wdiat the morrow 
 may bring, or whether a certain large expenditure, if made, will be 
 covered by the receipts from Peter's Pence. The collections, especially 
 
536 THE VATICAN 
 
 in France, produced sufficient funds to enable the Holy See, by eco- 
 nomical management in every department, to meet all its most impor- 
 tant needs; but, after the separation of Church and State had compelled 
 French Catholics to provide personally for all the ecclesiastical needs 
 of their own country, the Peter's Pence collection naturally declined in 
 France. To compensate for this loss, Germany especially, and also 
 other countries, made special and very acceptable efforts to come to the 
 assistance of the Holy Father. In the United States, also, this voluntary 
 self-taxation of Catholics is extending each year. 
 
 The Popes practise the strictest economy in their own household, hi 
 their appropriations for the multiform objects of the Holy See, and, in 
 short, in everything where economy is possible. When, however, im- 
 portant religious issues are at stake, they know no parsimony, but give 
 freely to the fullest extent necessary. The artistic and scientiiic in- 
 heritance of the past, into which they have entered, is administered by 
 them with such loving zeal, and they have been so successful in fmding 
 the necessary means for fostering modern development in the same 
 fields, that even their critics must admit that, in the fulfilment of this 
 important cultural duty, they have never been found wanting. In the 
 chapters of this work which deal with the Vatican Library, the Picture 
 Gallery, the Observatory, the Museums, and so forth, every reader will 
 find the proof of this statement. Even in their poverty, the Popes have 
 ever been the fosterers of art and science. And in this matter, just as 
 when in the face of a great calamity ie. g., the earthquake in Sicily and 
 Calabria) they have thrown all dictates of thrift to the winds and come 
 forward with an immense contribution for the relief of the sufferers, 
 they show only their implicit confidence in the Catholic spirit of sacri- 
 fice, which will never fail them in time of need. 
 
 A special Commission of Cardinals administers the Peter's Pence 
 and the goods of the Holy See. This commission consists of seven Car- 
 dinals with a prelate as secretary. The bookkeepers, cashiers, and 
 other employes are laymen. The offices are situated on the third floor 
 on the Cortiie di S. Damaso. For the material side of the administra- 
 tion of the ecclesiastical bodies of Rome there is another Commission, 
 which has a Cardinal for president and a prelate for vice-president. 
 This department, which is an innovation of Pius X, is also located in 
 the Vatican Palace, and has proved very successful. It was character- 
 istic of all the activities of Pius X that he finally replaced antiquated by 
 modern and efficient administrative methods. The progress made 
 during his reign, compared with that of preceding decades, was so strik- 
 ing that it is very easy to see how much more economical and efficient 
 was his administration. 
 
Prince Massimo 
 Grand Master of the Posts 
 
 THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 537 
 
 Papal Army. — The Swiss Guard is by 
 far the most important military body in 
 the service of the Pope. Besides guard- 
 ing the exterior entrances to the palace, 
 the Swiss Guard is entrusted with the 
 honorable duty of guarding the imme- 
 diate entrance to the papal chambers in 
 theSala Clementina. Furthermore.mem 
 bers of the Guard are posted in various 
 parts of the palace, day and night, all 
 serving immediately or remotely for the 
 same purpose of guarding the Pope. The 
 special work of the Swiss Guard is thus 
 to guard the sacred person of the Pontiff 
 and also to keep watch over the Apos- 
 tolic Palaces. In accordance with an old 
 tradition, they participate in all pon- 
 tifical functions at which His Holiness is 
 present, but at the order of the Prefect 
 of the Palace, the Majordomo, or the 
 Maestro di Camera, have also to appear on other occasions. In public 
 processions they take their place immediately behind the Noble 
 Guard, as directed by the official regulations. When the Holy Father 
 is borne in the portable throne (sedia geslaforia), the latter is sur- 
 rounded by six Swiss Guards carrying their large two-handed swords. 
 We may thus see the extraordinary honors enjoyed by the Swiss Guard, 
 as well as the great responsibility of their duties. 
 
 The origin of the Papal Swiss Guard extends back to the fifteenth 
 century. Their position was secured by treaty under Julius II (1503- 
 1513), who, at the instigation of the Swiss Cardinal Schinner, entered 
 into an agreement with the Cantons of Zurich and Lucerne, in accor- 
 dance with which these cantons undertook to supply two hundred and 
 fifty men as a body-guard for the Pope. Since then the Pope has always 
 had around him a corps of Swiss Guards, although in the course of 
 time their number has been reduced and the conditions of their service 
 have changed. 
 
 When the corps is at full strength it has the following officers, all of 
 whom rank three degrees higher than their titles indicate: one captain, 
 one lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one chaplain, one quartermaster, 
 one judge, one esente, four sergeants, seven corporals, two turnkeys, 
 and two drummers. 
 
 The members of the Swiss Guard are called halberdiers, because they 
 
538 THE VATICAN 
 
 carry halberds on solemn occasions. Their number exceeds half a 
 hundred, but varies considerably at times owing to retirements and 
 recruiting. The general (jualilications demanded in recruits are that 
 they be Swiss citizens, Catholics, born in wedlock, unmarried, under 
 twenty-five years, .1.74 metres tall in their stockings, healthy and free 
 from bodily defects. Men unfit for military service in Switzerland are 
 ineligible for the Swiss Guard. Any member may leave the Swiss Guard 
 at pleasure, after giving two months' notice to the commander. After 
 eighteen years' service each member is entitled to a pension for life 
 amounting to half his pay; after twenty years this pension amounts 
 to two-thirds; after twenty-five years to five-sixths, and after thirty 
 years to his full pay. 
 
 The chaplain of the Swiss Guard has to celebrate the usual services 
 in the little Church of S. Martino, which has been assigned to the 
 Guard and lies near their quarters. It is also his duty to assist the mem- 
 bers of the corps in all their needs and troubles, and to take a fatherly 
 interest in their welfare. In a special audience granted to the chaplain 
 each year, the Pope renews the great spiritual privileges granted to the 
 Guard. 
 
 If on solemn occasions the Swiss Guard, who surround the sedia 
 gestatoria on which His Holiness is borne, awaken our interest with 
 their full harness and huge two-handed swords, that interest is greatly 
 increased by the scarlet uniforms of the Noble Guard, their white 
 leather breeches, top-boots, long white gloves, shoulder-belts, and 
 helmets with plumes and horsetails. The Noble Guard follow the Pope 
 when he appears in public, and later withdraw with him, since they are 
 specially summoned for the protection of his sacred person. 
 
 The Noble Guard of to-day trace their origin from the Cavalleggieri, 
 a kind of body-guard which w^as reorganized by Benedict XIV in 1744, 
 and received new regulations as to service and rank from Leo XIII. 
 With the exception of the quartermaster, the equerry, the four trum- 
 peters, and the master-at-arms, all the members of the Guard must be 
 of noble birth. Their captain, who is always a Roman prince, holds the 
 rank of lieutenant-general, and the other officers rank correspond- 
 ingly. The privates in this Guard hold the rank of captain. A detail 
 of the Guard render service daily in the Antechamber, where they stand 
 sentry at the door leading to the Privy Antechamber. Taking the place 
 of the earlier cabinet couriers, they enjoy the right of carrying the 
 news of their elevation to the cardinalate to prelates residing outside 
 Italy, and of delivering to the latter, at their residence, the red skull-cap 
 ipileolus, ziicchelto). The captain, whose appointment depends, not 
 on length of service, but on the free choice of the Pope (whether the 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 539 
 
 person favored has previously belonged to the Noble Guard or not), 
 receives on his appointment the highest papal decoration — the Order 
 of Christ. Besides evidence of nobility, the applicant for admission 
 to the Noble Guard must submit proof of his good conduct through 
 testimonials from his pastor and bishop; he must not be over twenty- 
 five or under twenty-one years of age, and must be at least 1.72 metres 
 in height. The acceptance or refusal of an applicant is decided by a 
 mixed commission. A Guard must procure the consent of the com- 
 mander before marrving, and produce evidence that his proposed bride 
 
 IMatoon of the Swiss Guard in Old Uniform 
 
 possesses an adequate dowry. During a vacancy of the Papal See the 
 Noble Guard is subject to the College of Cardinals, which communi- 
 cates its instructions to the captain through the Cardinal Camerlengo. 
 The custom of having a picket of the Noble Guard escort the papal 
 carriage on horseback has been discontinued for the time, but not abol- 
 ished. Since under present conditions the service rendered by the 
 Noble Guard is almost exclusively honorary, their purely military 
 training is no longer so strictly insisted on. 
 
 When the pontifical procession of the Pope descends to St. Peter's 
 for a canonization, we may see a third division of the papal military 
 lining the entire path traversed. This is the Palace or Palatine Guard. 
 Pius IX united the forces of the civici scelti and the capotori into one 
 corps, to which he gave the name Guardia Palatina d'Onore (Palatine 
 
Colonel Commander Repond 
 of the Swiss Guard 
 
 540 THE VATICAN 
 
 Guard of Honor). The ordinances 
 of December 14, 1850, declared ex- 
 pressly that no new institution 
 was contemplated, but merely a 
 reorganization of existing condi- 
 tions. From the regiments re- 
 cruited in 1860, four companies of 
 eighty men each were formed in 
 1870,' after the fall of the Papal 
 States. Inasmuch as they belong 
 to a corps of Guards, the officers 
 enjoy a rank one grade higher 
 than their name indicates. The 
 lieutenant-colonel in command 
 thus has the rank of colonel, and 
 the other officers rank accord- 
 ingly. While the Swiss Guard has 
 for its task the guarding of the 
 Pope's person, the Palatine Guard 
 is devoted to the service of the 
 Pope, In so far as their duties are concerned, they are subject to the 
 Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces and the Majordomo. Again, while the 
 Noble and Swiss Guards are soldiers by profession, the Palatine Guards 
 are recruited from the Roman burgesses, and are summoned in turn to 
 render service in the Antechamber and in connection with the more 
 important festivals. Furthermore, unlike the other corps, the Palatine 
 Guards receive no pay other than a yearly allowance for the main- 
 tenance of their uniform. The Palatine Guard guards the Conclave 
 during its sessions, and then takes its orders from the hereditary Mar- 
 shal of the Conclave, Prince Chigi. While performing this duty, a 
 company of Guards occupies the Cortile del Maresciallo, being thus 
 stationed where the Marshal has his headquarters. 
 
 We have seen that the Noble Guard renders service in the immediate 
 vicinity of the Holy Father, that the Swiss Guard is entrusted with the 
 guardianship of the person and dwelling of the Pope, and that the 
 Palatine Guard is a guard of honor in the papal service. When we 
 remember that the interior of the Vatican Palace, with its huge dimen- 
 sions and numerous inmates, and the Vatican Gardens cannot be left 
 unguarded, the necessity of a police force sufficiently numerous to 
 undertake this responsible duty becomes evident. The official title of 
 this body is Gendarmeria Pontificia addetta ai Sacri Palazzi Apostolici 
 (Papal Gendarmes assigned to the Sacred Apostolic Palaces). 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 541 
 
 Shortly after his triumphant 
 return from imprisonment in 
 France, Pope Pius VII (1800- 
 1823) organized a select body of 
 police under the name of Carabi- 
 nieri Pontifici (Papal Carbineers). 
 By decree of February 16, 1850, 
 their name was changed to Veliti. 
 After retaining this title for only 
 two years, they were given their 
 present title of Papal Gendarmes. 
 They discharge the duties of both 
 court attendants and police. As 
 court attendants the Gendarmes 
 render the service proper to their 
 position in the Antechamber. One 
 of the papal reception rooms is 
 named after them, as already 
 stated, because a small body of 
 
 r^ -I " p 11 J „ If, .,,-.-. Captain of the Swiss Guard 
 
 Gendarmes m lull-dress unitorm 
 
 with high busbies are stationed there on solemn occasions. As a police 
 corps, the Gendarmes are entrusted with the guarding of the palace and 
 the patrolling of the Vatican Gardens, a duty which they perform day 
 and night. One division of Gendarmes is accommodated in the quar- 
 ters of the Swiss Guard in the Torrione di Niccolo V, but the remainder 
 dwell in their own barracks in the Vatican Gardens. They are all up- 
 right men of good bearing. They must have had an untarnished record 
 in the Italian cavalry, and must produce unexceptionable testimonials 
 from the spiritual and secular authorities of their native town. Like 
 the Swiss Guard, they also have a band, which frequently gives a con- 
 cert in the Cortile di S. Damaso. The strict discipline maintained in the 
 corps insures the conscientious fulfilment of its duties. 
 
 Every forenoon a division of the Gendarmes, under the command 
 of an officer, is stationed in service uniform in the Cortile di S. Damaso. 
 These inquire into the business and identity of every visitor and give 
 him whatever directions are necessary to reach his destination. Should 
 his answers be unsatisfactory, a Gendarme is assigned to escort the 
 visitor, and accompanies him until convinced of the truth of his state- 
 ments. The duties of the Gendarmes do not bring them into contact 
 with the outside world, since the Swiss Guards, as already explained, 
 guard all doors and gates leading to the city. 
 
 It will thus be seen that, of the four military corps which render 
 
542 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 -1^" 
 
 Sergeant Banner-bearer 
 of the Swiss Guard 
 
 service in the Vatican, the Swiss 
 Guard would have to bear the iirst 
 shock of an attack on the Palace, 
 since to them is entrusted the de- 
 fence of the entrances. The Gen- 
 darmes, all of whom are quartered 
 in the palace or the Gardens, 
 would be the second line of de- 
 fence. It is unlikely that the 
 Palatine Guard, consisting of 
 Roman burgesses who dwell in the 
 city, could arrive in lime to render 
 much assistance. Of the Noble 
 Guard, also, probably only a very 
 few would be found in their quar- 
 ters on the Cortile del Maresciallo, 
 unless they had been summoned 
 beforehand. 
 
 In view of the possibility of a 
 sudden attack on the Vatican by the 
 anti-clerical factions, the commander of the Swiss Guard has provided 
 his men with the most modern weapons, and the necessary ammuni- 
 tion has been procured. Hand-grenades have also been prepared. An 
 exhaustive study of the strategical possibilities of the palace has re- 
 sulted in a plan according to which certain portions, which could not 
 be held with the forces at the disposal of the Vatican officers, would be 
 evacuated immediately. The other portions could be successfully 
 defended for a long period until help would arrive from the Italian 
 Government or the better-disposed citizens. It is certain that before an 
 enemy could cross the threshold of the Bronze Gate or of any other 
 entrance included in the plan of defence, the last member of the Swiss 
 Guard would shed his blood in defence of the Pope, and sell his life 
 dearly. The reorganization of the Swiss Guard has made it a highly 
 capable military corps, every member of which is fully conscious both 
 of the honor of his position and of the accompanying responsibility. 
 Wi\\\ the active support of the other corps, in so far as they can be 
 mustered in case of a sudden attack, it will always be able to with- 
 stand successfully the fust onset of any fanatical mob. It should be 
 here remarked that various uprisings against the Vatican have been 
 attempted in the past, but the authorities have hitherto succeeded in 
 nipping all such attempts in the bud, so that nothing serious resulted. 
 
 Any person, therefore, who entertains the idea that the Vatican sol- 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 543 
 
 Sergeant of the Swiss Guard 
 
 diery are a body of no importance, 
 labors under a serious mistake. In 
 the lirst place, he completely loses 
 sight of the above-mentioned pos- 
 sibility of an anti-clerical assault 
 on the Vatican, and, in the second 
 place, forgets that so huge a palace 
 needs careful guarding, both 
 within and without, if disorder or 
 happenings still more serious are 
 to be avoided. Undoubtedly, the 
 Pope would not bear the heavy 
 cost of maintaining this armed 
 force if he w^ere not quite con- 
 vinced of its expediency, and even 
 its absolute necessity. The eccle- 
 siastical, scientific, and artistic in- 
 terests of the Vatican, of which 
 the Pope is the guardian, are of 
 such world-wide importance that 
 he may neglect no precaution in taking measures for their protection. 
 
 Legal Position of the Vatican. — The above remarks may lead many 
 readers to ask the question: What is the exact legal position of the 
 Vatican at present, surrounded as it is by Italian territory and possess- 
 ing no free outlet to other countries? 
 
 The answer to this question is furnished by the Law of Guarantees 
 of May 13, 1871. When the Piedmontese entered Rome through the 
 breach in the Porta Pia on September 20, 1870, they seized immediately 
 all the possessions of the Papal States, whereupon the independent exis- 
 tence of these States came to an end. Pius IX, who had resided earlier in 
 the Quirinal Palace, then occupied the Vatican. Halting before the Vati- 
 can, and abstaining also from occupying the Lateran, the victors pro- 
 ceeded to study the question of the legal position of the Pope under the 
 new conditions. Although the Franco-Prussian War then held the world 
 in suspense, the new masters of Rome fully realized how deep and 
 wide-spread a commotion their step had caused both among the Catho- 
 lics of the world and among the Powders. Prompt action was therefore 
 indispensable before concerted steps could be taken to give expression 
 to the general feeling of disapprobation. After long negotiations, the 
 Italian authorities decided upon the draft of a law which was to guar- 
 antee the position of the Pope as the supreme head of the Catholic 
 Church. In the extended discussions in the Italian Chambers the inten- 
 
544 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 ^- .^-^ 
 
 Swiss Guard 
 
 tions of the Government were 
 fully explained by its representa- 
 tives, so that the character of the 
 law executed by Victor Emmanuel 
 on May 13 was established beyond 
 possible doubt: (1) The law had 
 for its basis, not Italian, but inter- 
 national law; (2) consequently, all 
 alteration of this law at any future 
 date by the Italian legislature, 
 without consulting the Vatican, 
 was excluded; (3) the law thus 
 became binding for the Italian 
 Government, regardless of the fact 
 whether it was recognized or not 
 by the other party as of valid ori- 
 gin; (4) the Italian State bound 
 itself so completely that only by 
 an act of violence, in violation of 
 an international public obligation 
 voluntarily undertaken, can it alter any portion orthe whole of this law. 
 
 This interpretation, the correctness of which has been so often dem- 
 onstrated in long legal argumentations, is accepted by all respon- 
 sible Italian statesmen. This, however, does not deter the anti-clericals 
 from incessantly demanding the abrogation of the law, and from 
 making it the chief issue of their programme to bring the Pope under 
 the Italian law. But so long as a government which appreciates its 
 responsibilities stands at the wheel of state in Italy, there can be no fear 
 that their demand will be given serious consideration. Under present 
 political conditions it is evident that, to avoid foreign complications, 
 the Italian Minister for Foreign Atfairs would be the first to offer the 
 most strenuous opposition to any measure aimed at making a preju- 
 dicial alteration in the legal position of the Pope. Thus, despite the 
 hubbub raised by the Socialists, Italian statesmen are convinced that 
 in this matter it is wisest to pay heed to the principle: Quieta non 
 movere (Let well enough alone). 
 
 It may be asked what are the special provisions of the Law of Guar- 
 antees. In the first place, the Italian State undertakes to pay to the 
 Pope a yearly sum of 3,225,000 lire ($650,000). Should no claim be 
 entered for this sum, it is allowed to accumulate for five years and then 
 reverts to the Italian exchequer. Although the sum has never been 
 claimed by the Pope, it is still included w ithout debate in each annual 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 545 
 
 Swiss Guard in Old Uniform 
 
 Budget. Supposing a claim should 
 now be entered for the payment 
 of this money, would the Italian 
 State be obliged to pay all the ar- 
 rears since 1871? It appears that 
 it would undoubtedly have to do 
 so, since the ordinance providing 
 that the sum voted should revert 
 to the Treasury each live years is 
 merely a matter of linancial ex- 
 pediency which cannot affect the 
 legal claim of the Pope to the 
 money guaranteed him. 
 
 In the second place, the Law 
 of Guarantees provides that the 
 palaces of the Vatican and the 
 Lateran, and also the summer resi- 
 dence of Castel Gandolfo, shall be 
 extra-territorial. This means that 
 the Italian Government may exer- 
 cise no authority whatever in these places; its powers end at the gates of 
 these buildings. They cannot subpoena or tax any person in the papal 
 service. In these palaces the Pope rules as an independent sovereign. 
 
 In the third place, the Law of Guarantees gives the Pope the right to 
 receive accredited ambassadors and envoys from all powers with 
 which he desires to cultivate diplomatic relations. Of this right he has 
 always availed himself, so that there are in Rome two diplomatic corps 
 — one accredited to the Quirinal (where the King lives), and the other 
 to the Vatican. As a consequence, the Italian Government must con- 
 cede to these Vatican diplomats and their residences all the privileges 
 granted to the persons and residences of diplomats throughout the 
 entire civilized world. Again, the Italian Government can never pre- 
 vent the Pope from accrediting at pleasure his diplomats — for example, 
 his nuncios of the first and second classes, his internuncios, apostolic 
 delegates, and resident ministers. From these facts and considerations 
 it is beyond denial that, no\v as earlier, the Pope is a sovereign in the 
 strict sense of the word. When Bismarck addressed his famous letter 
 to Leo XIII, referring to him the settlement of the dispute between 
 Germany and Spain over the Caroline Islands, he addressed the Pope 
 as "Sire"— a term which is used only when addressing sovereigns. 
 
 In the fourth place, the Italian State is bound to send free to every 
 part of the w^orld all official telegrams of the Pope and the Holy See, 
 
546 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 I 
 
 Noble Guard of His Holiness 
 
 whenever these are provided with 
 the stamp of the Secretariate of 
 State. All letters posted in Italy 
 are delivered free to the Pope. 
 
 The other less important pro- 
 visions of the law may be passed 
 over here, inasmuch as the Pope 
 has never recognized the law as of 
 valid origin. The Italian Govern- 
 ment, however, has repeatedly 
 declared that it regards itself 
 bound by every provision of the 
 Law of Guarantees. 
 
 In the seventies of the last cen- 
 tury there was no recognition be- 
 tween the Italian and Vatican 
 authorities. The wound was too 
 fresh to permit of any rapproche- 
 ment, even in an entirely unoffi- 
 cial way. The most illuminating 
 evidence as to the position at that time is afforded by the refusal of the 
 Italian Government to guard the remains of Pius IX when they were 
 brought from St. Peter's to their last resting-place in San Lorenzo. The 
 cotfm of the great Pontiff very narrowly escaped being thrown into the 
 Tiber by an irresponsible rabble. A change has since taken place, for 
 time has shown that an interchange of information between the Quiri- 
 nal and the Vatican authorities is of advantage to both. All communi- 
 cations, however, are carried on through non-official agencies, and both 
 parties, while preserving unaltered their fundamental attitude, aim at 
 being good neighbors, inasmuch as circumstances forbid them to be 
 close friends. 
 
 In maintaining his claim to the temporal power, Pius X took exactly 
 the same position as Pius IX and Leo XIII. The passing of the years 
 has not altered this claim. The negotiations for a reconciliation, 
 twice inaugurated under Leo XIII, came to naught, and no attempt to 
 renew them was made by Pius X. 
 
 Throughout the world the Pope is known as the "Prisoner of the 
 Vatican." In what sense is this term to be interpreted? The actual 
 foundation for the expression rests on the fact that Pius IX, Leo XIII, 
 Pius X and Benedict XV have never set foot outside the Vatican and its 
 gardens. As Popes, they have never stood on Italian soil. There exists 
 thus in reality a "Vatican Captivity"; of that there can be no doubt. 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 547 
 
 But what is the legal significance of this attitude? It means that the 
 entering into Italian territory could scarcely take place without the 
 recognition of some of the conditions created on September 20, 1870, 
 and this recognition has been withheld by each successive Pope. 
 
 It must not be imagined that the three Popes since 1870, who, having 
 once entered the Vatican, never afterwards left it, have found life in 
 this rich and glorious palace uniformly agreeable and pleasant. Even 
 the most beautiful palace loses its charm when it serves as a setting 
 for a lifelong imprisonment. Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X discov- 
 ered how bitter it was to have one's freedom straitly limited, to be 
 for ever debarred from beholding de uisu many places and objects 
 which hold for one a special interest. As they have stood at the window 
 of their apartments, and allowed their gaze to sweep over Rome, a 
 regretful yearning must have often risen within their breasts, to be 
 smothered only by a prayer of resignation. 
 
 Law Courts. — In the extensive dealings which the household admin- 
 istration of the Apostolic Palaces necessarily has with contractors and 
 purveyors, and upon numerous questions of equity and law, some dif- 
 ferences of opinion and disputes cannot but arise. Since the Vatican 
 boards cannot be cited before the Italian courts, some provision had 
 to be made so that outside parties might seek and find justice in the 
 Vatican. Under the name of Commissions of Prelates, courts of law 
 have been established "to settle all disputes with, and claims against, 
 the Palatine Administration." The Commission of the first instance 
 and of the second instance (court of appeals) consists of three 
 judges; in extraordinary cases, both commissions sit together under the 
 presidency of a seventh prelate and with the assistance of a secretary. 
 In all questions of law the Prefecture of the Palace has a special coun- 
 sel as its legal representative. Although this board no longer has a 
 special court, it still retains a special inquisitor, who practically takes 
 the place of the Court of the Prefecture. In criminal cases, provided 
 that the criminal action occurred within the limits of the palace, this 
 official conducts the investigation, establishes the facts, and then hands 
 the accused, together with the official report of the case, over to the 
 Italian authorities, which continue the criminal proceedings in the 
 usual way. 
 
 In civil disputes the procedure is as follows: The case is begun by 
 lodging written complaints with the Court; within an appointed period 
 the defendant answers, also in writing. Further replies from each side 
 are then permissible. On the conclusion of these written explanations, 
 or after the lapse of the appointed interval, which has come to an end 
 without the lodgment of further papers, the decision is given and is, 
 
548 THE VATICAN 
 
 according to the ancient custom of the Curia, announced on placards 
 hung in the official chamber. A six months' interval from the date of 
 the decision is allowed for an appeal. These Courts or Commissions 
 are empowered to employ every means of arriving at a knowledge of 
 the facts, such as the summoning of witnesses, the administering of 
 oaths, the taking of corroborative or supplementary evidence on oath, 
 the consulting of experts, and so on. The legal fees are regulated ac- 
 cording to the provisions of the laws of the Papal States in 1870. The 
 small recourse had to these Commissions shows that the palace boards 
 
 Officers of the Palatine Guard 
 
 make it a rule to arrange disputed points with the other party in a 
 friendly way. As years often elapse without any resort being had to 
 them, these Commissions lead a very quiet existence. 
 
 Medical and Hygienic Boards. — In so far as the medical, sanitary, and 
 hygienic service of the Vatican is concerned, the following details may 
 be given. Under Leo XIII there were already a papal physician and 
 surgeon in ordinary. Pius X placed things on a somewhat different 
 footing by appointing an acting and a consulting physician. The 
 reader will remember what unselfish devotion was shown by both these 
 physicians when the Pope was desperately ill in 1912. While nothing 
 could be more honorable than this attendance on Christ's Vicegerent, 
 the duty is also a very responsible one. And it is doubly responsible 
 when the patient can be persuaded only with the greatest difficulty to 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 549 
 
 obey the orders of his physicians and to abstain entirely from work. 
 Tact, care, and energy are as important in such cases as medical skill. 
 
 The general sanitary corps of the Apostolic Palaces was reorganized 
 in 1893 and placed on an entirely modern footing. This corps consists 
 of a director, five physicians, and a number of assistant physicians. 
 Two of the physicians are assigned to day and two to night duty. The 
 Swiss Guards are attended by a special physician, and when they are so 
 sick as to require nursing they are brought to the Hospital of the Swiss 
 Sisters of the Cross in the Via S. Basilio. The assistant physicians 
 take the place of the regular physicians when some obstacle prevents 
 the attendance of the latter. Both classes of physicians have to appear 
 at all great functions, when they occupy, with two Sisters of Mercy, 
 a specially erected ambulance station, and are thus on the spot to ren- 
 der medical aid if an accident of any kind should occur among the vast 
 throng of persons assembled. 
 
 This College of Physicians is assisted by two apothecaries, who must 
 have always in readiness, especially on great festivals, the necessary 
 materials to render relief. These apothecaries conduct a public phar- 
 macy, which was formerly situated in the Cortile di S. Damaso, but is 
 now located more favorably for general purposes in the Torrione di 
 Niccolo V. Since the Vatican pharmacy distributes medicines to every 
 one at the prices fixed by the Italian Government for the poor, it is 
 extensively availed of. The apothecaries belong to the order of the 
 Brothers of Mercy, which has its mother-house in Rome on the Island 
 of the Tiber. The apothecaries proper are assisted by some of their 
 brothers in religion, since the business of the pharmacy is extraordi- 
 narily heavy. When the Pope is sick one of these brothers takes full 
 charge of the nursing of the patient, and is responsible for the execu- 
 tion of the physician's orders. In the pharmacy hangs a list of the 
 residents of the palace, who are entitled to free medicines. The sanitary 
 corps and the pharmacy are under the immediate supervision of the 
 Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces. The supervision of the hygienic 
 equipment of the palace is in the hands of the director of the College 
 of Physicians, who is assisted in the matter by the technical boards of 
 the Prefecture. When an infectious disease breaks out in Rome, de- 
 tailed instructions are prepared for the administration of the palace, 
 with a view to obviating as far as possible all danger of the disease 
 being brought within its precincts. The plentiful water supply and the 
 excellent drainage system of the Vatican have rendered this danger 
 very remote. 
 
 Department of Repairs.— The architectural repairing of this huge 
 mass of buildings is under the general supervision of the Prefect of 
 
550 
 
 THE VATICAN 
 
 7=) 
 
 Oflicer of the Papal Gendarmes 
 
 Marshal of the Papal ('■cmiarmes 
 
 the Apostolic Palaces, and under the special supervision of the Foriere 
 Maggiore, to whom reference has been already made. The otTice of 
 Architect of the Apostolic Palaces is committed to a prominent mem- 
 ber of the profession, whose assistant, known as the Sotto-Foriere, is 
 also a trained architect. It will be easily understood that where there 
 are so many roofs and walls, only the most careful attention can guard 
 against serious damage. Throughout the year this department is busily 
 engaged keeping everything in repair, and when extensive repairs are 
 undertaken in regular succession the assistance of outside workers has 
 to be requisitioned. 
 
 Naturally, one of the duties of the architectural department has been 
 to prepare various plans of the Vatican Palace, and its officers feel 
 always incited to inquire further into the mysteries of the buildings. 
 But, notwithstanding all their past inquiries, it still happens that when- 
 ever extensive alterations or repairs are undertaken they stumble 
 across some stairway of whose existence no one had been aware. Con- 
 sequently, however exact they may be for the main divisions of the 
 palace, none of the plans remains for long entirely reliable in all ils 
 details regarding the portions which have been used perhaps for cen- 
 turies as living-rooms or magazines, or perhaps left entirely unoc- 
 cupied. 
 
 It is evident that the architectural care of the Vatican Palace is a 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 
 
 551 
 
 very difficult task. The fact that not a single serious accident has 
 resulted from the numberless water-pipes, the more recently installed 
 hot-water pipes, the great sewerage system, or the conduits for gas and 
 electricity is sufficient proof of excellent supervision. In a modern 
 palace these works present scarcely any difficulty; but in an ancient 
 palace like the Vatican, planned without the least regard for these 
 modern requirements, their installation and maintenance present in- 
 conceivable difficulties. 
 
 Fire Brigade. — Naturally, the Vatican possesses its own fire-brigade, 
 
 Pupal Cii-iuianiU's in Servict- Unil'onn 
 
 called the Guardia del Fuoco, although a fire is one of the rarest occur- 
 rences in the palace. When, a few years ago, a fire broke out in the 
 Manuscript Clinic of the Vatican Library as a result of the spontaneous 
 ignition of some acids and other chemicals, the chief danger was that 
 which threatened the valuable manuscripts. With a great effort, how- 
 ever, the Guardia del Fuoco succeeded in extinguishing the fire after 
 two hours. Had an equally extensive fire broke out in any other part 
 of the palace, the same trouble would of course have been taken to 
 extinguish it, but it would not have caused so much anxiety as was felt 
 by the Pope, the Cardinal Secretary of State, and the Librarian during 
 this short interval on account of the unique treasures of the Library. 
 Since the Guardia del Fuoco has little or nothing to do at its proper 
 calling, the members of the brigade are called upon to discharge other 
 
552 THE VATICAN 
 
 duties; but the fire-brigade station on the Cortile di S. Damaso is, of 
 course, never completely depleted of its staff. 
 
 Heating System. — The present writer remembers well the time when 
 a huge copper receptacle, filled with blazing coals, stood in the Sala 
 Clementina. Night and day during the winter, the heat which radiated 
 from this stove had to suffice for the picket of Guards stationed there, 
 for there was then no other source of heat. Conditions were the same 
 in the Anticamera Bassa and the most important of the reception rooms. 
 The halls were not arranged for any well-ordered system of heating. 
 Often has the writer warmed his stiffened fingers at the stove in the 
 Secret Archives before he could resume his writing. Throughout the 
 palace ruled the ancient and primitive methods of heating. Foul gases 
 were frequently generated, causing a dizziness, if not a violent head- 
 ache, to every one present. 
 
 That some method of heating was extensively used by the Curia in 
 the earlier centuries is clear from the account-books of the Apostolic 
 Chamber. But at that period the windows were constructed, not of 
 panes of glass, but of waxed white linen. With the introduction of 
 glass, which afforded an infinitely better protection against the inclem- 
 encies of the weather, the use of the huge fireplaces seems to have 
 ceased. 
 
 However that may be, it is certain that the problem of heating the 
 Vatican Palace according to modern methods offered unusual difficul- 
 ties. Under Leo XHI the question was first considered, and was then 
 made the subject of long and careful study. Every one knows that 
 when a system of central heating is installed, the heat as it radiates 
 upwards is very liable to produce in the course of a few years black 
 stripes on the walls, which are very objectionable. Again, since the walls 
 of the reception rooms are hung to three-fourths of their height with 
 damask, while the other fourth is covered with frescoes, the problem 
 of installing the system became doubly difficult. In the living-rooms 
 of the Pope, occupied by the late Cardinal Bampolla when he was 
 Secretary of State to Leo XIII, the task was far easier. 
 
 A very important matter connected with this heating problem was 
 the inquiry into the possible benefit or injury to the paintings in the 
 Sistine Chapel if this were heated. With the use of the earlier heating 
 methods it was possible to raise only very slightly the winter tempera- 
 ture of the Chapel. The Chapel, however, was greatly heated during 
 important functions, when it was filled with a great crowd of persons 
 and a huge number of candles were lighted, as was the case in connec- 
 tion with comparatively many functions before 1870. This sudden 
 raising of the temperature of the Chapel made the walls sweat, and the 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 553 
 
 fine dust raised by the crowd of persons present and the smoke from 
 the candles settled on the sweating" walls. In the course of the centuries 
 a crust was thus formed on the mural and ceiling paintings, wdiich, 
 while it could not destroy, greatly impaired their unrivalled beauty. 
 If by skilful, regular, and uninterrupted heating one could succeed in 
 
 Residence Erected by Pope Pius X for tlie Vatican Servants and Employes 
 
 warming the walls in such a fashion that the temperature of the Chapel 
 would penetrate deeper and arrest the cold coming from outside, it 
 might then be hoped that the sweating of the walls would be reduced 
 to a minimum on occasions when a great throng of people assembled 
 in the Chapel. 
 
 These considerations led to a decision of great importance in the 
 history of art — namely, to include the Sistine Chapel within the circuit 
 of the first central heating system installed in the Vatican Palace. And 
 experience has shown that the good effects that were hoped for have 
 been attained. It must not be imagined, however, that the same de- 
 mands are made on the heating plant in the Vatican as are made on 
 heating plants in more northern climes. Such is far from being the 
 case. It is quite sufficient — and an Italian would find anything more 
 very unpleasant — if the ordinary winter temperature of the rooms is 
 raised a few degrees. The inconveniences and damage usually caused 
 by central heating are thus reduced to the minimum. 
 
 After the installation of the first heating plant, the system was ex- 
 
554 THE VATICAN 
 
 tended in the following years to other portions of the palace. The 
 Vatican Library and the Secret Archives were given their own plant, 
 and the innovation proved especially agreeable in the Leonine Hall of 
 the Library, since in winter this huge room was always swept by an 
 icy draft. The working conditions of these two departments are now 
 very much better than formerly, for which readers cannot feel too 
 grateful. 
 
 Lighting and Elevator Service. — As there was in the Vatican Gar- 
 dens great water-power to be harnessed, the Prefecture of the Apostolic 
 Palaces had an electric power-house installed to provide light for the 
 whole palace. The new passenger elevator is also worked by elec- 
 tricity, although the old elevator in the Cortile di S. Damaso is still 
 worked by water-power. It is worthy of remark that Pius X was the first 
 Pontiff to use a modern elevator as Pope. On August 5, 1903, when he 
 was returning from receiving the homage of the Roman prelates in 
 the Sistine Chapel immediately after his election, he waved aside the 
 papal chair which was waiting for him at the door of the Chapel, and 
 proceeded on foot through the Sala Regia, the Sala Ducale, and the 
 Loggie of Giovanni da Udine. On reaching the entrance of the elevator, 
 he directed that he be taken up from the ground floor. His whole escort 
 stood speechless; such a thing could not have happened under Leo 
 XIII, who could never have pictured a Pope using an elevator to over- 
 come differences in altitude. 
 
 It has just been said that Pius X is the first Pope who used a modern 
 elevator. More than three hundred years ago, however, there was a 
 passenger elevator for the Popes — not, indeed, in the Vatican Palace, 
 but in the Castel S. Angelo. When the Popes were compelled to fly 
 for safety to the strong fortress of S. Angelo, as was frequently the 
 case at the end of the fifteenth and at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, they used this elevator. It was very small and narrow, 
 uncomfortable in the highest degree, and was naturally worked by 
 hand. Times have certainly changed greatly since the days of Alex- 
 ander VI and Clement VII. 
 
 Domestic and Clerical Staffs. — There is a vast number of servants 
 and clerks engaged in the Vatican Palace. This can occasion no sur- 
 prise when we remember all that is collected together into a compara- 
 tively small place. Especially worthy of mention are the servants of the 
 Pope, known as the Palafrenieri. These are occupied in the inner corri- 
 dor which connects the working-room of the Pope with the staircase 
 leading to the story above. The visitor coming to an audience also sees 
 them in the Anticamera Bassa, where they maintain order, receive the 
 invitations, and give the necessary directions. They wear a dark-red 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 555 
 
 Spanish garb with knee-breeches. On the uniform may be seen the 
 arms of the reigning Pope in brocaded velvet. Lace jabot, red silk 
 stockings, and buckled shoes complete the handsome uniform. 
 
 Besides their private staff of servants, the Cardinal Secretary of State, 
 the Maestro di Camera, and the Assistant Prefect of the Apostolic Pal- 
 aces have also clerks and servants to assist them in their official capac- 
 
 Corlilc della Stampcria Niiova 
 
 ity. The official apartments of the Secretariate of State are divided into 
 three sections: (1) that for extraordinary and (2) that for ordinary 
 ecclesiastical affairs, and tinally (3) that for Apostolic Briefs. As may 
 be easily imagined, a large number of persons are employed in this 
 department. The household administration of the Apostolic Palaces 
 also demands a whole staff of servants, each class of whom is recog- 
 nized by a special badge. Again, the Picture Gallery, Museum, Appar- 
 tamento Borgia, Stanze and Loggie of Raphael, Library, Secret 
 Archives, and all the other dicasteries of the Vatican Palace, need, of 
 course, minor functionaries and a reasonable number of servants. 
 
 As a result of the accumulation of the official, court, scientific, and 
 artistic interests in this one palace, which make it absolutely unique 
 in the world, the crowd of servants is much greater than is usual in 
 other great palaces of like dimensions. Those of the servants who are 
 entitled to free lodging in the palace and who form the smaller part 
 of the staff, were long given temporary accommodation of some kind 
 
556 THE VATICAN 
 
 or another, with the promise of better quarters in the future. And there 
 still remained, after the hurried evacuation of the Quirinal Palace in 
 1870, the large number of servants who had resided there, and for 
 whom quarters had to be found in the Vatican Palace. 
 
 In the matter of accommodation which it could offer to families, the 
 Vatican Palace was very deficient. With this dearth of quarters Pius X 
 dealt on a magnilicent scale. After thoroughly considering the matter, 
 and a searching investigation into the question of expense, he gave 
 orders for a huge building to be erected beside the new Printing Offices. 
 This building has been already referred to. Simple but solidly con- 
 structed, and fitted with every modern hygienic equipment, it will 
 remain a glorious memorial to the solicitude of Pius X for the social 
 w-elfare of the servants and employes of the Vatican. 
 
 The erection of the building enabled the Pope to attain another ob- 
 ject. Since the large majority of his servants are married, and their 
 quarters were formerly distributed over various portions of the palace, 
 all the staircases of the palace were crowded during the forenoon with 
 women taking their children to school, girls going shopping, and so on. 
 This crowding of the staircases, which was then unavoidable, was 
 regarded by the Pope as most unbecoming. He therefore chose the 
 site for the new building in such a position that under no circumstances 
 would it be necessary for the inmates to pass through the palace to 
 communicate with the city. Intercourse with the town is now effected 
 in the simplest manner through the door on the Torrione di Niccolo V, 
 and all trooping along the staircases of the palace has come to an end. 
 
 It may be added here that the removal of the Picture Gallery from 
 the rooms on the third floor in the Cortile di S. Damaso has freed the 
 uppermost Loggia of the unceasing stream of visitors which used to 
 extend to the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the living-rooms 
 of the Pope. Furthermore, the scholars who work in the Vatican 
 Library are no longer compelled to pass through the Appartamento 
 Borgia and the Gallery of Inscriptions, but have now a more convenient 
 entrance to the Library from the Stradone dei Musei, on a level with 
 the street. 
 
 The whole Sistine portion of the palace and the stairways leading 
 to it are now freed of an extensive traffic that had no business there. 
 This object was steadily pursued by Pius X until he finally attained it— 
 not, however, without great difficulties and expenses. 
 
 The Vatican Press. — A splendid example of the business insight and 
 foresight of Pius X is afforded by a consideration of the reorganization 
 of the Vatican Press and Private Press. For the full appreciation of 
 this reorganization, it will be necessary to delve a little into the past. 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 557 
 
 The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (S. Con- 
 gregatio de Propaganda Fide, known briefly as the Propaganda) had 
 from the year 1626 a special printing-oftice in which were gradually 
 manufactured the alphabets of all the most important Asiatic lan- 
 guages, which were then exceedingly rare and thus most valuable. For 
 a long period the Polyglot Press of the Propaganda was the most re- 
 
 Tlie New Vatican Press 
 
 nowned of its kind in the world. Although looted under Napoleon I, it 
 soon recovered, and in the time of Gregory XVI (1831-1846) could 
 still print in fifty-five languages — twenty-seven European, twenty-two 
 Asiatic, and six other languages. And even though the high tide of the 
 Polyglot Press had then passed, it could still lay before the Fathers of 
 the Vatican Council in 1870 the Pater Noster in two hundred and fifty 
 languages and dialects, printed w^ith the use of one hundred and eighty 
 different alphabets. From the commercial standpoint, this press is 
 to-day of scarcely any importance, having grown to be almost a burden 
 to the Propaganda. This fact should be kept in mind while we con- 
 sider the history of the Vatican Press. 
 
 Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590), at the beginning of his reign, established 
 at great expense a printing-office that was for that period entirely 
 unique. This press was to print his revised edition of the Latin Bible. 
 Sixtus entrusted its direction to the Venetian, Domenico Pasa, and ap- 
 pointed a special commission of Cardinals to supervise the printing. 
 
558 THE VATICAN 
 
 In 1590 his "Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis" appeared in three sump- 
 tuous volumes, which were for various reasons withdrawn immediately 
 after his death. In 1592, 1593, and 1598 appeared three editions of the 
 "Vulgata Clementina," which is used even to-day. Since that time an 
 exceedingly large number of works of the most varied character have 
 issued from the Vatican Press. In the course of time the most impor- 
 tant Oriental alphabets were manufactured to meet the needs of the 
 pagan missions and for the promotion of linguistic studies, although 
 the Typographia Medicaea (founded by the Florentine ruler of the 
 house of Medici) already existed in Rome. Inasmuch as the Oriental 
 alphabets were more urgently needed by the later instituted Propa- 
 ganda than by the Vatican Press, the Holy See assigned these alphabets 
 to the former. 
 
 In connection with the Vatican Press, which at first served for purely 
 scientific and literary purposes, there soon developed a Private Press, 
 in which were printed the acts, decrees, instructions, formularies, and 
 so on, used by the Curia in the discharge of its official business. Though 
 there was no well-marked division at first, a special department gradu- 
 ally developed, with strict secrecy and special precautions and a staff 
 selected only from employes who had been found entirely trustworthy. 
 
 It has been already seen that the small court situated between the 
 Cortile di Belvedere and the Cortile delta Pigna is known as the Cortile 
 della Stamperia (Court of the Printing-press). For a long period the 
 Vatican printing office adjoined this court and there pursued its work 
 peacefully and undisturbed. So long as all work was done by hand- 
 presses and the business continued to be of a more or less patriarchal 
 character this condition obtained. But when, at the opening of the 
 last century, the modern presses began to find wider adoption daily; 
 and when, later, the firm of Konig and Bauer of Wiirzburg introduced 
 one innovation after another; and, lastly, when American inventors 
 began to construct huge machines which could do in one hour more 
 than the old presses could do in a week, the Vatican Press had to keep 
 pace with these advances or to resign all claim to importance. Why 
 reorganization w^as not begun immediately, need not be dwelt on here. 
 It is sufficient to say that the lack of buildings adapted for a modern 
 Press presented one great difficulty, and that an incomplete appre- 
 ciation of the importance of the matter left the Press in the position 
 of a stepchild. Nothing was done except what was absolutely neces- 
 sary to enable the Press to cope with current demands. 
 
 The first impulse towards the reorganization of the Press was an 
 indirect one, being given by the Prefect of the Vatican Lil)rary, Rev. 
 Franz Ehiie, S. J. As the result of many petitions, the rooms adjoining 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 559 
 
 the Library and previously occupied by the Vatican Press were placed 
 at his disposal, since for a long period it had been impossible to find 
 space sufficient for the needs of the ever-growing Library. But before 
 the Prefect of the Vatican Library could enter into possession of his 
 new rooms, another location had to be found for the Vatican Press. 
 And since his inquiries in connection with the reform of the central 
 administration in Rome had revealed to Pius X the sorry state into 
 which the Polyglot Press of the Propaganda had fallen, he resolved 
 
 Cortik' della Stamperia Vecchia 
 
 to cope energetically wdth the matter once and for all, and to organize 
 a Press which, properly equipped, would be thoroughly efficient and, 
 under capable management, might even become a source of revenue 
 to the Holy See. With this correct appreciation of the situation, he 
 decreed as follows: (1) The Vatican Press was to consist of a general 
 and a private section; (2) the former riding-school of the Noble Guard 
 (Cavallerizza) in the Torrione di Niccolo V was to be reconstructed 
 in such a manner as to afford ample and proper accommodation for an 
 entirely modern printing-plant; (3) the equipment of presses and type 
 was to be completed so that the Press would be in a position to meet 
 even the greatest demands; (4) the Propaganda Press was abolished; 
 
560 THE VATICAN 
 
 (5) its whole stock of type (including the Oriental alphabets) was 
 assigned to the Vatican Press; (6) in view of the amalgamation of the 
 Vatican and Propaganda Presses, the Press was to be known thence- 
 forth as the Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana (Vatican Polyglot Press). 
 These instructions were executed without delay, and thus, thanks to 
 Pius X, a new, efficient, and well-conducted Press has been formed 
 from two printing-plants handicapped by antiquated equipment and 
 other defects. 
 
 In connection with the reform of the Curia, the Pope established 
 an official law journal for the whole Church — the "Acta Apostolicie 
 Sedis." Almost from its very institution more than ten thousand sub- 
 scribers have taken this periodical, which appears in stout numbers 
 twice a month. A periodical of this nature is of great value to a large 
 printing establishment, because it affords something to engage the staff 
 steadily, and is also remunerative on account of the great number of 
 subscribers. The great printing orders of the Roman Congregations 
 (formularies and so forth), which were formerly placed anywhere by 
 the separate bodies, are now all met by the Vatican Press, and are 
 charged by the general administration to the separate Congregations. 
 This task also adds greatly to the current business of the Vatican Press, 
 and contributes very greatly to the consolidation of the internal affairs 
 of the palace. 
 
 It is not possible here to give in detail the various activities of the 
 Vatican Press; it may, however, be mentioned that a large number of 
 works — some of them very costly, but from which only in rare cases 
 do the returns correspond with the expenditure — must be undertaken 
 to meet the official needs of the Curia. The printing of the new Psalter 
 will serve as an example. Before the Holy Father and the Commission 
 appointed by him for the rearrangement of the Psalter gave their final 
 Imprimatur to the director of the Vatican Press, "proofs" of the text 
 had to be so often printed, and the pages rearranged so many times, 
 that the cost of this comparatively small booklet reached a huge figure. 
 Since, however, it was desired to attain a result that would be satis- 
 factory from every standpoint, it was not possible to avoid this heavy 
 expense. The great sale of the Vatican edition, which still continues 
 undiminished, may perhaps one day recoup the Vatican Press for this 
 outlay. 
 
 From the general publishing department, which was always con- 
 nected with the Vatican Press, have issued a large number of works, 
 which are listed together with all new works in a recently published 
 catalogue. No accurate list of all the books issued by the Vatican Press 
 since 1587 has been yet published. Were such a catalogue in existence, 
 
THE VATICAN ADMINISTRATION 561 
 
 it would serve as an extraordinarily valuable contribution to the his- 
 tory of culture. From the inventory of books for sale given in the 
 above-named catalogue, we may choose the most important works to 
 give the reader an idea of the style of publications issued. 
 
 That this list should contain a large number of official editions of 
 the Acts and Decrees of General, National, and Provincial Councils was 
 only to be expected. The first great plan of Pius X, the reform of 
 Church music, finds clear expression in the "Graduate Sacrosanctse 
 Romanae Ecclesiae De Tempore et De Sanctis," published in 1908, and 
 in the long and anxiously expected "Antiphonale Sacrosanctse Romanse 
 Ecclesise pro diurnis horis," which was published in large octavo in 
 1912, and costs unbound eight lire. Among the large number of publi- 
 cations dealing with the history of Rome and of the Church, special 
 mention may be made of a highly important work by Armellini, "Le 
 Chiese di Roma dal Secolo IV al XIX," the only useful history yet pub- 
 lished on the churches of the city of Rome. Mention may also be made 
 of Calenzio's great work, "La Vita e gli Scritti del Cardinale Cesare 
 Baronio," the very famous "Nova Patrum Bibliotheca" of Cardinal 
 Angelo Mai, Cristofori's "Storia delta Marina Pontificia," the folio edi- 
 tion of the Registers of Popes Honorius III and Clement V, and finally 
 Denifle's celebrated specimen plates of the Registers of the Popes of 
 the thirteenth century — "Specimina Paloeographica Regestorum Ro- 
 manorum Pontificum ab Innocentio III ad Urbanum V." In addition to 
 editions of the Martyrology, there are works on Canon Law by famous 
 authors, the Acta of Leo XIII and Pius X, the well-known Gande edition 
 of the "Theologia Moralis" of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the complete set 
 of the highlj^ important series of "Dissertazioni delta Pontificia Acca- 
 demia Romana di Archeologia," the three series of the "Pubblicazioni 
 delta Specola Vaticana," and the whole series of the "Studi e Docu- 
 ment di Storia e Diritto," which offers a rich mine of information for 
 the history of Rome. After mentioning the Catalogues of the Vatican 
 Library, of which eighteen volumes have been printed and four are 
 still in the press, we believe that we have given a sufficiently extensive 
 survey of the wide publishing activity of the Vatican Press to enable 
 the reader to complete the picture. 
 
 The Vatican Polyglot Press issues annually a stout volume under 
 the title "Annuario Pontificio." It is described as an official publica- 
 tion, and is published by the Secretariate of State. This volume may 
 be regarded as the directory of the Roman Curia. Annual publications 
 of various kinds, giving more or less reliable information concerning 
 the Curia and Church States, were issued for four centuries under 
 different names and partly with official assistance and support. The 
 
562 THE VATICAN 
 
 little booklets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, now yellow 
 with age, are of great value to investigators into the personnel of the 
 Curial administration at that period. 
 
 In the nineteenth century appeared an official publication called the 
 "Annuario Pontificio." This, however, ceased in the year 1870, after 
 which year a similar but more private publication was issued, entitled 
 "La Gerarchia Cattolica, la Cappella e la Famiglia Pontillcie per I'anno 
 
 con appendice di altre notizie riguardanti la Santa Sede." In 1899 
 
 the title was somewhat altered, and the words "Edizione ufhciale" 
 added, but these were omitted in 1905. The title continued to vary 
 until 1912, when the old title "Annuario Pontificio" was resumed and 
 the information given in the volume was much better arranged and 
 greatly increased. This annual publication supplies the reader with 
 information concerning the Papal Court and the central administra- 
 tion of the Church. Here will be found all pertinent information con- 
 cerning the personnel of the Vatican and a good quantity of facts, 
 which, however, might be very profitably increased. As is the case 
 with all manuals of this kind, this publication is of most value to 
 persons who, through other sources, already possess a knowledge of 
 the organization with which it deals. For information concerning 
 those priests who have received an honorary title from the Holy See 
 this manual is important, since their names must be entered therein. 
 No list is given of persons on whom an order or other decoration has 
 been conferred. 
 
 The long-standing desire that this official directory should be pub- 
 lished in Latin, which would best meet general needs, has not yet been 
 realized. The publication of the Congregation of the Propaganda, the 
 "Missiones Catholicae," is issued in Latin; and what is possible in its 
 case, appealing as it does to a much smaller circle of readers, is surely 
 possible in the case of an annual of a much more general appeal. Since 
 the new Editorial Board are very open to reasonable suggestions, we 
 may hope that the decision to publish the "Annuario" in Latin will be 
 soon reached. 
 
DUE DATE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J. 1 199.- 
 
 
 : It-i : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Inted 
 USA