The Veneration of spolia: the Madonna della Colonna in St. Peter’s in Rome
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13130/fenestella/14355Parole chiave:
Antica San Pietro in Vaticano, Spolia, Arte medievale, Architettura medievaleAbstract
In the context of the history of planning, designing and constructing new St. Peter’s the concepts of renewal and continuity can be insightful. Renewal was the essence of the plans of Pope Julius II (1503-1513) of around 1505, since the wording in documents points to renewal instead of replacing the old church completely: words like reparare et exornare, rehedificare and instaurare were used. When in the early 17th century pope Paul V decided to tear down the remainder of the old basilica, the chapter feared that many of the monuments, altars and tombs in the old basilica would disappear, which would diminish the visibility of the continuity of the basilica and its chapter.
One of those objects was the so-called Madonna della Colonna, a fresco of the Virgin and Child painted on the third column on the left in the old basilica. This miracle-working image became increasingly popular in the last quarter of the 16th century was officially recognized when in 1578 an altar was installed to direct the cult. This underlines the situation where the remaining eastern part of Old St. Peter’s still functioned as the important basilica, while to the west the new building was gradually being constructed. Both the history of planning and designing the renewal of St. Peter’s and the continuous functioning of the remaining eastern part of the early Christian basilica shows that both renewal and continuity were crucial here. One of the elements judged necessary to ensure continuity was the Madonna della Colonna, which was thus transferred to a new altar in new St. Peter’s.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Primary Sources
Alfarano T., De Basilicae Vaticanae antiquissima et nova structura [ca. 1570-1582], D.M. Cerrati (ed.), Roma 1914.
Baglione G., Le nove chiese di Roma [Roma 1639], L. Barroero (ed.), annotation M. Maggiorani, C. Pujia, Roma 1990.
Grimaldi G., Descrizione della basilica antica di S. Pietro in Vaticano, R. Niggl (ed.), Città del Vaticano 1972.
Severano G., Memorie sacre delle sette chiese di Roma, Roma 1630.
Sindone R., Altarium et reliquarium sacrosanctae basilicae Vaticanae…descriptione historica, Roma 1744.
Ugonio P., Historia delle stationi di Roma che si celebrano la quadragesima, Roma 1588.
Secondary Literature
Altekamp S., Marcks-Jacobs C., Seiler P. (eds), Spoliierung und Transposition, Berlin-Boston 2013 (Perspektiven der Spolienforschung 1).
Altekamp S., Marcks-Jacobs C., Seiler P. (eds), Zentren und Konjunkturen der Spoliierung, Berlin 2017 (Perspektiven der Spolienforschung 2).
Bellini F., La costruzione della Cappella Gregoriana in San Pietro, di Giacomo della Porta: cronologia, protagonisti e significato iconologico, in M. Caperna, G. Spagnesi (eds), Architettura: processuabilità e trasformazione, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Roma 1999), Roma 2002: 333-346.
Bosman L., The dilemma of Pope Julius II: how to preserve the old St. Peter’s while building a new St. Peter’s, in A.W.A. Boschloo, E. Grasman, G.J. van der Sman (eds), ‘Aux quatre vents’. A Festschrift for Bert W. Meijer, Firenze 2002: 39-44.
Bosman L., The Power of Tradition. Spolia in the architecture of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, Hilversum 2004.
Brilliant R., Kinney D. (eds), Reuse Value. Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine, Farnham-Burlington 2011.
Buchowiecki W., Handbuch der Kirchen Roms, 2, Wien 1970.
De Lachenal l., Spolia e reimpiego dell’antico dal III al XIV secolo, Milano 1995.
Frommel C.L., Die Peterskirche unter Papst Julius II im Licht neuer Dokumente, «Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte» 16 (1976): 57-136.
Frommel C.L., San Pietro da Niccolò V al modello di Sangallo, in Petros eni 2006: 31-77.
Frommel C.L., The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, New York 2007.
Günther H. (a), Als wäre die Peterskirche mutwillig in Flammen gesetzt. Zeitgenössische Kommentare zum Neubau der Peterskirche und ihre Massstäbe, «Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst» 48 (1997): 67-112.
Günther H. (b), I progetti di ricostruzione della basilica di San Pietro negli scritti contemporanei: giustificazioni e scrupoli, in G. Spagnesi (ed.), L’Architettura della basilica di San Pietro. Storia e costruzione, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi (Roma,1995), Roma 1997: 137-148.
Kempers B., Diverging perspectives: new Saint Peter’s: artistic ambitions, liturgical requirements, financial limitations and historical interpretations, «Mededelingen van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome» 55 (1996): 213-251.
Kempers B., Epilogue. A hybrid history: The antique basilica with a modern dome, in McKitterick et alii 2013: 386-403.
Kinney D., Spolia, in Tronzo 2005: 16-47.
Kinney D., Trophies and Orphans: The Use of spolia Columns in ancient Churches, «Sacred Architecture» 29 (2016): 11-17.
Kuntz M.A., Designed for ceremony: The Cappella Paolina at the Vatican Palace, «Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians» 62 (2003): 228-255.
Kuntz M.A., Maderno’s Building Procedures at New St. Peter’s: Why the Façade First?, «Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte» 68 (2005): 41-60.
McKitterick R., Osborne J., Richardson C.M., Story J. (eds). Old Saint Peter’s, Rome, Cambridge 2013.
Niebaum J., Bramante und der Neubau von St. Peter. Die Planungen vor dem ‘Ausführungsprojekt’, «Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana» 34 (2001/2002): 87-184.
Niggl R., Giacomo Grimaldi (1568-1623). Leben und Werk des römischen Archäologen und Historiker, München 1971.
Nilgen U., Die römischen Apsisprogramme der karolingischen Epoche. Päpstliche Repräsentation und Liturgie, in C. Stiegemann, M. Wemhoff (eds), 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Große und Papst Leo III in Paderborn, 3, Beiträge, Exh. Cat. (Paderborn, 1999), Paderborn 1999: 542-549.
Ostrow S.F., Art and Spirituality in counter-reformation Rome: the Sistine and Pauline Chapels in Santa Maria Maggiore, Cambridge 1996.
Petros eni. Pietro è qui, Exh. Cat. (Musei Vaticani, 2006-2007), Città del Vaticano 2006.
Pinelli A. (ed.), La Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano / The Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, Modena 2000.
Proverbio C., I cicli affrescati paleocristiani di San Pietro in Vaticano e San Paolo fuori le mura: proposte di lettura, Turnhout 2016.
Rice L., The Altars and Altarpieces of new St. Peter’s. Outfitting the basilica, 1621-1666, Cambridge 1997.
Richardson C.M., Saint Peter’s in the fifteenth century. Paul II, the archpriests and the case for continuity, in McKitterick et alii 2013: 324-347.
Richardson C.M., Story J., Appendix. Letter of the canons of Saint Peter’s to Paul V concerning the demolition of the old basilica, 1605, in McKitterick et alii 2013: 404-415.
Roser H., St. Peter in Rom im 15. Jahrhundert. Studien zu Architektur und skulpturaler Ausstattung, München 2005 (Römische Studien der Bibliotheca Hertziana 19).
Satzinger G., Die Baugeschichte von Neu-St. Peter, in J. Frings (ed.), Barock im Vatikan. Kunst und Kultur im Rom der Päpste, 2, 1572-1676, Ausstellungskatalog (Bonn-Berlin, 2005-2006), Leipzig 2005: 45-74.
Thoenes C., Madernos St.-Peter-Entwürfe, in H.A. Millon, S.S. Munshower (eds), An Architectural Progress in the Renaissance and Baroque. Sojourns In and Out of Italy. Essays in Architectural History presented to Hellmut Hager on his Sixty-sixth Birthday, PA University Park 1992: 171-193.
Thoenes C., Neue Beobachtungen an Bramantes St.-Peter-Entwürfen, in C. Thoenes, Opus incertum. Italienische Studien aus drei Jahrzehnten, Berlin 2002: 381-416 [first published 1994].
Thoenes C., Renaissance St. Peter’s, in Tronzo 2005: 64-92.
Trachtenberg M., Building-in-Time. From Giotto to Alberti and modern oblivion, New Haven-London 2010.
Tronzo W. (ed.), St. Peter’s in the Vatican, Cambridge 2005.
Warnke M., Italienische Bildtabernakel bis zum Frühbarock, «Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst» 19 (1968): 61-102.
Wolff Metternich F., Thoenes C., Die frühen St.-Peter-Entwürfe 1505-1514, Tübingen 1987.
Zollikofer K., Die Cappella Gregoriana. Der erste Innenraum von Neu-Sankt-Peter in Rom und seine Genese, Basel 2016.
Dowloads
Pubblicato
Fascicolo
Sezione
Accettato 2020-12-22
Pubblicato 2020-12-31
