Maria in Sole and the Virgin of the Rosary

Author(s): S. Ringbom
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 25, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Dec., 1962),
pp. 326-330
Published by: The Warburg Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750814
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32 ) NOTES
MARIAIX SOLEAND THE VIRGIN in Nogarolo'stext.5 In I480 Sixtus IV ap-
OF THE ROSARY proved another Office of the Immaculate
Gonception,6and it is thus quite conceivable
After the cleaningof the little 'Madonna' that he may have given papal sanctionto the
triptych in the National Gallery,attri- AveSanctissima prayeralso. Togetherwith the
butedto a followerof GerardDavid (P1.4sa), promise of indulgence it won an immense
it became apparent that this unpretentious popularityand it was translatedinto most
painting,in its exquisitemasteryof execution, Europeanlanguages,reaching,for instance,
can bear comparisonwith its more famous as far as Swedenin the beginningof the six-
neighboursin the Gallery'sroom of Nether- teenthcentury.7 Thereis, however,a notable
landish art. The historical setting and the discrepancybetweenthe diffierentreadingsof
contentsof the triptychare, however,no less the prayer; in some versionsthe lines "tu
fascinatingthan its artisticmerits.l sine peccatoconceptaconcepistiIhesumsine
On the wings of the triptychthe following omni macula"are replacedby "tu concepisti
prayeris inscribedin delicatelettering:"Ave, Ihesumfilium Dei vivi sine peccato".8 This
SanctissimaMaria mater Dei, Regina Geli, significantand presumablydeliberatealtera-
porta Paradisi,Domina Mundi, pura Singu- tion changesthe meaningaltogether,and in
laris tu es Virgo; Tu sine peccato Goncepta the latter form, without the phrase "sine
concepisti Ihesum sine omni macula; Tu peccato concepta", the prayer must have
Peperisticreatoremet saluatoremMundi In seemed acceptableeven to the most ardent
quo non Dubito; Libera me Ab omni malo Maculists,since the dogma of the pure and
Et Ora pro Peccato Meo. Amen." In perpetualvirginityof Mary had been firmly
numerousprayer-booksand block-printsof establishedsince Early Ghristiantimes.9
the late fifteenth and early sixteenth cen- Fromthe point of view of the art historian,
turies, Pope Sixtus IV is said to have given the expressrecommendationto read the Ave
an indulgenceof eleven thousandyears for Sanctissima beforean imageof the Virginis of
the saying of this prayerbeforean image of great interest. oAsearly as in the fourteenth
the Virginin the Sun (ante[orcoram]ymaginem centurywe comeacrossthe notionthat medi-
marievirginis in sole,P1. 45d).2 There is no tation on the virginal limbs of the Virgin
conclusiveevidenceas to the authenticityof Mary was to be performedbeforean image
this papal promise,3but it appearslikely,for of her. Thus in a rubricof a SoyonsBreviary
several reasons,that the Pope was at least in the BibliothequeNationalewe read: "In-
indirectlyresponsiblefor the diSusionof this cipit officiumdevotissimumet beate Virgini
indulgence. In the text quoted above, the gratissimum,scilicetsalutatioomniummem-
prayerrefersnot only to the purevirginityof brorum Virginis quibus Domino Ihesu
Mary, but also to her ImmaculateGoncep-
tion. Sixtus IV is well known both for his temporary opposition quoted by Paulus, op. cit.,
propagationof this highlycontroversialtheo- pp. I67 f.
logical doctrine and for his open-handed 5 Leonardo Nogarolo, OffciumImmaculatae Firginis
generosity with indulgences. In I476 he Marie, Rome, I 477.
Virginis
6 Bernardinode' Busti, OffciumConceptionis
introduced an Office for the Feast of the Mariae, Milan, I 492. Bernardino's collection of
Immaculate Gonception composed by the prayers, many of them with indulgences appended,
apostolic protonotary Leonardo Nogarolo, the Ehesaurospiritualeintegro,Milan, I 494, was not
and in Bulls of I476 and I477 he promised accessible to me at the time of writing the present
indulgence to those who celebrated this Note. utg. af
7 R. Geete (ed.), "Svenskaboner", Samlingar
Office.4The prayerdoesnot, however,occur Sv. Fornskriftsallsk., XXXVIII, Stockholm, Ig07-og,
no. I o3.
1 For a summaryof the discussionof the authorship 8 E.g. in the Flemishbookof hours,BritishMuseum,
and date, see M. Davies, Early ;Netherlandish School Add. 353I3, fol. 237r-v (our P1. 4sd). Many transla-
(NationalGalleryCatalogues),2nd ed., London, I955, tions of the prayer follow the "weaker"variant; see
p. 36. the German text of no. Io78a in W. L. Schreiber,
2 See V. I,eroquais,LesLivres
d'heuresmss.dela Biblio- Handbuch derHolz-undMetallschnittedesXV.jtahrhunderts,
theque;Nationale,Paris, Ig27, I, pp. 299, 336; II, Leipzig, Ig26-2g, and the Swedish in Geete, loc. cit.
pp. 32, I90 (alreadyreferredto by Davies, loc. cit.); The "stronger"variantof the NationalGallerytriptych
and, N. Paulus,Geschichte III,
desAblassesimMittelalter, is found, for instance,in an engravingby Israhelvan
Paderborn,Ig23, p. 297. Meckenem,repr. in M. Lehrs, Geschichte undkritischer
3 Paulus,loc.cit. Katalogdes deutschen, niederlandischen
undfranz8sischen
4 Bullarium Franciscanum, N.S. III, Quaracchi Kupferstichs im XV. jtahrhundert,Tafelbd. IX, Vienna,
(Florence),I949, pp. 452, 462 f., 463. For Sixtus IV's I 934, fig. 667-
notorious generosity with indulgences, see the com- 9 Enciclopedia s.v. Verginita
Cattolica, di Maria.
 MARIAIJVSOLE AND THE VIRGIN OF THE ROSARY 327
Christohumillimedeservivit. Et sicut dicunt you have not reachedfar towardsthe goal of
qui experti sunt, et qui a viris sanctis hoc contemplation "nisi et irruentia undique
audierunt,vix potest invenirimodus alterius phantasmata corporearum similitudinum
servicii, qui tantum beate Virgini com- transvolarepraevaleas''.l3 Mombaer'scon-
placeat. Est autem dicenda devote coram temporaryand brother in the Windesheim
ymaginemVirginisbenedicte.''l° The ques- movement,HenryHerp,regardedthe "phan-
tion of the natureof the image recommended tasmsof corporealimages"as one of the main
is here left open. But when, towardsthe end obstaclesin the attainmentof the vitacontem-
of the fifteenthcentury,Jan Mombaerextolls plativa.l4 According to the strict views of
the sweetnessof meditatingon the limbs of mysticsin the Bernardinetradition,then, the
the Virgin, he is more definiteon this point. image accompanyingthe benedictionof the
Mombaer, too, quotes an authority on Virgin Mary's pure limbs should not be a
Mariology who had heard "a sanctis et corporealone, and thus not a paintingor the
expertisquod vix possitinvenirialius servitii like, but a spiritualimage, or still better, an
modus Virgini tam acceptus . . ." But he intellectualvision.
continuesby saying: "Et poterit legi coram The subtle distinctionsof the mysticsdid
imagine Virginis. Non tamen ut suadent not, however, prevent painters and illumi-
cum corporalibus imaginationibus; plena natorsfromillustratingthe benedictionof the
enim imaginatio omnis est periculis. Unde Virgin's limbs by quite ordinary, painted
consitius est ut intellectualiterhomo medi- pictures. From the late fourteenthcentury
tetur quod operata sit cum membris. .." onwards the 'Apocalyptic Woman' or the
Mombaerhere makes use of a distinction, 'Virginon the Grescent',that is the Mariain
which, since St. Augustine, had played a Sole,servedto illustrateboth the prayersto
prominent part in Western mystical tradi- the virginallimbs and the more controversial
tion.l2 St. Bernard,for instance,insistedthat theme of the ImmaculateGonception.l5 It

10Paris,Bibl.Nat., MS. Iat. nouv. acq. 7I8, Breviary Mysticism,2nd ed., London, I95I, pp. 36 ff.). In
of Soyons, I 4th century,fol. 436r. AfterV. Leroquais, mystical jargon this terminologywas applied to the
&s brFuiaires mss.desbibliotheques
publiquesdeFrance,III ascending series: meditation speculation-contem-
Paris, I934, p. 403. For the benedictionof the limbs plation, so that it was thoughtpermissibleto make use
of the Virgin, see C. Douais, "Prieresa la Vierge (XIe of corporealimages and imaginationat the two lower
et XIIe siecles)",Revuedeslanguesromanes, XXXVIII, stages in order to reach the highest stage, contempla-
3, I895, p. I26 (cf. n. I5 below): "Beata mater et tion. Cf. E. Benz, "ChristlicheMystikund christliche
innupta virgo gloriosa . . . impregnata a Spiritu Kunst", DeutscheVierteljahrsschr. fur Literaturwtss. und
Sancto; benedicti oculi tui sancti; benedicta anima Geistesgeschichte, XII, I 934, pp. 22 .
tua sancta; benedictumcorpus tuum sanctum; bene- 13 St. Bernard,Sermones superCanticacant*orum, 52: 5
dicta verba tua sancta benedictusuterustuus sanctus (Opera,ed. J. Leclerq et al., II, Rome, I958, p. 93).
qui meruit portare Dominum ante secula Deum. Cf. Butler,op.cit., p. I I6.
DominasanctaMaria . . . virgoperpetua,ego peccator 14Henricus Harphius, Theologiae Mysticaelibri tres,
. . . deprecor te per Dominum nostrum Jhesum Cologne, I 6 I I, pp. 54I, 859.
Christum,quem tu meruisti portare in sancto utero 15 See M. Levi d'Ancona, Thc Iconography of the
tuo . . . Deprecare,Domina, Dominum nostrum. . . Immaculate Conception in the MiddleAges and the Early
qui ex te suscepit carnem immaculatam sine virile Renaissance, New York, I957, p. 27. Mrs.Levi d'Ancona
commixtione. . ." I have not been able to identify pointsout that the half-length'Virginof the Crescent'.
the "Mariologicalauthor" and the "holy and expert in most cases illustratesthe prayer "Virginis intacte
men" of the Soyonsbreviaryand of Mombaer'sRosetum cum veneris ante figuram, Pretereundo cave ne
(cf. n. II below). Cf. also the moral fable used by careaturAve", but by translating"Virgo intacta" as
Gautierde Coincy in his Mysteres deJ%otre Dameabout "VirginImmaculate"she makesthe image referto the
the heathen Saracenwho owned a "little panel with a Immaculate Conceptioninstead of the Virgin's per-
gracefullypaintedimage of the Virgin"and beforethis petual virginity. The image had a literaryprecedent
icon pondered on the perpetual virginity and pure in a prayer to the Virgin Intact ending with the
motherhood of the Virgin and the incarnation of benedictionquoted above (n. I0): "Ave, virgo, Patri
Christin her womb. See A. Mussafia,"Uber die von cara, plus quam sol in celo clara . . . Ave, Virgo
Gautier de Coincy benutzten Quellen", Denkschr.d. gloriosa, Dei mater speciosa; Ave celi nitens porta,
flCaiserl.
Akad.d. Wiss.,Phil.-hist.Cl., 44, Vienna, I896, per quam celis lux est orta; . . . Ave, pulchra plus
P 37 f. quam luna . . . Ave, decens et decora, clarior lucis
11Johannes Mauburnus, Rosetumexercitiorum spiri- auroras Ave, virgo et intacta Salvatorismater facta"
tualiumct sacrarum rneditationum,
Basle, I504, fol. I97V. (Douais, op. cit., p. I24. Cf. also U. Chevalier,Reper-
12 St. Augustine (De Gen. ad litt., XII. I-30, in toriumhymnologicum, I, Louvain, I892, 2I20-22). Later
Migne, P.L., 34, cols. 4s34o) distinguishedbetween instancesof the iconographyare providedin the 'Maria
corporeal, spiritual and intellectual vision and the in Sole'representationsillustratingthe "Andechtigvnd
correspondingimages. Corporealvision is the sight of fruchbarlob der glyderMarie"in title woodcutsof the
our eyes, spiritual vision consistsin imaginationand end of the Isth century. See two editions of Berthol-
recollection, and the intellectual vision is the con- dus'sgeitglocklein (MichaelGreyS,Reutlingenca. I490
templation of abstractentities (cf. C. Butler, Western repr. A. Schramm (ed.), Bilderschmuck derFrahdrtlske,
328 NOTES
looks as if no hard-and-fasticonographical Praeclara,makingthe indulgencefortydays,
distinctionwas made betweenthesetwo ideas and in the fourteenthcenturyJohn XXII is
so closely related but still so fundamentally reputed to have granted no less than ten
different.lfiThus the notion that the prayer thousandyearsfor the sayingof the rhymed
to the Virgin Immaculate should be read prayerSalveSanctaFaciesbeforean image of
beforean image may easilyhave been taken the Holy Face.20 This munificentpromiseis
over from the older tradition, which pre- a mark of the stupendousinflation of the
scribedthat the Benedictionof the Virginal indulgencemarket which set in during the
Limbs should take place beforean image of Jubilee of the year I300, when visitorsto the
the Virgin, be this corporeal, spiritual or holy places of Rome were given enormous
intellectual.The factthat the spiritualvision, remissionof sin. Towards the end of the
evenoutsidethe circlesof monasticmysticism, fifteenthcenturythe indulgencesin connec-
was thought to be superiorto a corporeal tion with the pictureof the Holy Face roseto
image is seen from certaindedicationminia- purely arbitrary numbers. Other icono-
tures of the fifteenth and early sixteenth graphicaltypesfavouredwith indulgencesfor
centuriesin whichthe manuscriptownersare special prayers were, to mention only the
representedmeditatingbeforea vision of the mostpopular,the 'Manof Sorrows'forwhich
Mariain Soleinsteadof being depictedkneel- Gregorythe Great,accordingto late fifteenth-
ing in prayerto a paintedimage, which was century sources, had given up to fourteen
the more frequentway of illustratingprivate thousand years,2l and the ArmaChristifor
devotion.l7 whichvariouspopeshad allegedlygrantedas
The prescriptionthat the prayerAveSanctis- manyyearsof remissionas therewerewounds
simawas to be read before an image had, on the body of Christ.22Someof theseindul-
moreover,numerousprecedentsin the history gencesdo actuallyseem to be genuinewhile
of the "imagesof indulgence". The earliest others,of course,revealtheir absurdityupon
instance of this remarkable phenomenon inspection.
seems to date from the beginning of the The diffusionof the "imagesof indulgence"
thirteenthcentury,when Pope Innocent III in the form of illuminationsin prayer-books,
granted ten days of indulgenceto whoever block-prints,small altar-pieces and devo-
said a certainprayerand a certainpsalm to tional images, made them something of a
the veraiconin St. Peter'sin Rome.l8 Later massmedium. The persuasivepower of this
InnocentIV introducedthe hymn AveFacies mediummusthave been obviousto anybody
who had some doctrine to vindicate,and it
would seem as if Pope Sixtus IV- assuming
Leipzig, IX, Ig26, figs. 68445 Konrad Dinckmut that he was responsiblefor the AveSanctissima
Ulm, I493, repr. in Schramm,VI, Ig23, fig. 593). indulgence- choseto regardthe imageof the
16For the confusion between the doctrine of the Virginity Devotion as a tangible, manufac-
ImmaculateConceptionand the idea that Christwas
conceivedimmaculately,a confusiondeliberatelypro-
moted by the Dominicanswho opposed the doctrine
of the ImmaculateConception,see Levi d'Ancona,op. 19 Dobschutz,loc.cit.
cit., pp. 36 f. 20 Dobschutz,loc. cit.; Paulus, op. cit., p. 295. The
17 See e.g. the dedication page of the Boucicaut diffusionof this promisemust be one of the reasonsfor
Hours (Paris,MuseeJacquemart-Andre, fol. 26v, repr. the immense popularity of the Holy Face in Isth-
in E. Panofsky,Early;Netherlandish Painting,Cambridge centuryprayer-bookillumination. For a detailed dis-
Mass., I953, pls, fig. 64), where the Marechaland his cussion of the indulgences in connection with this
wife venerate a "spiritualimage" of Maria in Solein motif, see K. Pearson,Die Fron*a,Strasbourg,I887,
the privacy affordedby the riddel customaryin con- pp. 69 ff.
nectionwith the privatedevotionof mightyor princely 21 Paulus, op. cit., p. 294 f.; Schreiber, op. cit.,
persons. A later, strikingexample is seen in Gerard nos. 866, 869, I455-60, I463, I467, I469 I47I-72
Horenbout's Prayer Book of James IV (Vienna The importanceof the indulgencesfor the diffusionof
National Library, MS. I897, fol. 243v, repr. in F. this motif was alreadyemphasizedby E. Male, L'Art
Winkler,"NeuentdeckteAltniederlanderII", Pantheon religieuxdc la fin du moyendgeen France,5th ed., Paris,
XXXI, I943, pp. 5344, fig. 5), where Queen Mar- I949, p. I00.
garet is meditating on a vision of the Maria in Sole 22 Reallexikon
zur deutschen
Kunstgeschichte,
s.v. Ablass
(not unlike our P1. 4sb). The contrastbetween the Paulus,op.cit., p. 296; Leroquais,LesLivresd'heures,I,
Queen's meditation and the King's more homely p. cxxi; R. Berliner,"ArmaChristi",Mu'nchner yahrbuch
prayer to a painted image of Christ (fol. 24v repr. der bildenden Kunst,3. Folge, VI, I955, pp. 35-I57@
ibid., fig. 4) stands out as an illustrationof tle dis- p. 64, and nn. 23I, 796. The questionof the influence
tinction betweenspiritualand corporealimages. of indulgences,be they genuine or spurious,on late
18 E. von Dobschutz,Christusbilder(TexteundUntersu- mediaeval iconography deserves separate treatment
cingen zurGeschichte deraltchristlichen
Literatur,N.F., III (cf., e.g., the incomplete article in the Reallexikon,
Leipzig, I899), p. 224. quoted above).
a b c

a "The Virgin and child." Studio of Gerard

David, NationalGallery,London. (p. 326)

b "Virgin on the Crescent". Vatican Library

MS. vat. lat. 3770, fol. I78r. (p. 329)

c "Virgin of the Rosary". Vatican Library MS.

vat. lat. 3770, fol. 200r. (p. 329)

d Pope Sixtus IV praying to the "Virgin in the

Sun", BritishMuseumAdd. MS. 353I3, fol. 237r.
(p. 326)

e "Virgin of the Rosary". Block-print, British

Museum. (p. 329)
d
 MARIAIX SOLE AND THE VIRGIN OF THE ROSARY 329
tured image, thereby makingit an effiective not a brotherhood,but a married couple
means of propagatingthe theory of the Im- receivinga rosaryfrom Christ.
maculateConception. St. Bonaventure23 had The indulgencesconnectedwith the Maria
observedthat picturesalways have a much in Soleand the Virgin of the Rosaryaccount
greater impact on our feelings than speech for the remarkablepopularity of the two
can ever have, and combinedwith the pros- motifs in the late fifteenth- and early six-
pects of salvation, the images of indulgence teenth-century devotional art. We come
must have been highly effiective. across them, not only in numerousblock-
AlthoughSixtusIV's own sharein the Ave prints and woodcuts, but also in the more
Sanctissima promiseremainsan open question, costlymanuscriptsof the Ghent-Bruges school
there is one interesting indulgence which and the circleofJean Bourdichon.In a Book
demonstrablygoes back to the Pope himself. of Hours attributed to Gerard Horenbout
In I478 he concededindulgenceto the mem- (Vatican Library,MS. rrat.lat. 3770) both
bersof the Brotherhoodof the Rosary,and in thesemotifsarerepresented(P1.4sb-c).27The
a Bull of the followingyear he increasedit 'Virginof the Crescent'(fol. I78r) is seen in
from seven years and seven quadragenesto half-lengthsurroundedby a bright aureole.
five yearsand five quadragenesfor the saying Here the frame is indicatedvery discreetly,
of a rosaryof fifty Aves,which made fifteen while,in the 'Virginof the Rosary'(fol.200r),
years and fifteen quadragenesin all for a P1. 4sc, it is elaboratedin full detail. The
complete"Psalter".24Two mainfactorsseem rosary placed on the frame further under-
to have concurredtowardsspreadingthe cult lines the fact that we have, here, a "painting
of the rosary. In I474 the Brotherhoodof of a painting"* Standingon the frame and
the Rosary had been founded by Jacob supportedby the Virgin, the Ghrist Child
Sprenger,and duringthe subsequentdecades offersa rosaryto the beholder. This gesture
it spreadwith remarkablespeed. The other correspondsto the action in the German
strong impetus was given by the persistent woodcut (P1.4se), althoughin the one case
work of the Dominican friar Alain de la the devout receives the rosary from the
Roche whose Psalterium MariaeVirginiswas picture,while, in the othercase, the worship-
widely read and translated into several pers receiveit in the picture.
languages. The cult of the Rosarygave rise The two concepts, then, the Immaculata
to a distinct iconographicalformula,25and Devotion and the rosary,are fused together
the block-printswith the indulgencesfor the in the National Gallery triptych, P1. 46a.28
rosarywere frequentlyXillustrated according On the wingswe read the prayerAveSanctis-
to this tradition. A casein point is a German simabut the centralpanel does not, however,
print in the BritishMuseum (P1.4se). Sur- representthe Mariain Soleof the indulgence,
roundedby a rosary,the ChristChild, sitting but a 'Virgin of the Rosarr'. The Christ
in the Virgin's lap, is seen offering a rose Child is playing delicately with a string of
garlandto a piouscouplekneelingto the left. beads which gives the image a genre-like
Below the picture is the promise of indul- quality absent in the earlier representatiorls
gence,whereit is said that "alsoSt ainsainen of the Rosary. At the same time the fusion
rosenkranzmarieund irem kind ihesuzw lob of the two ideas gave the triptycha twofold
und ere petten ist . . . So oSt empfacht es religiousfunction. The ownercoulduse it for
virtzig tag und auf iede unserfrauentag xiv two distinctpious exercises,the Immaculata
iar ablas dotlichersunden. . ."26 This print prayer and the Rosarr, and both these
representsa special branch of the icono- exerciseswere connectedwith the munificent
graphyof the rosary in so far as it depicts, indulgences attributed to Pope Sixtus IV.
The suggestionmade in the NationalGallery

23St. Bonaventure,Sent.Iib.III: 2 (Operaomnia,III, 27 Miniatures de la renaissansc.Cataloguede l'exposition

Quaracchi[Florence], t887, p. 203).
24 Paulus,Op. cit., p. 298.
25 K. Kiinstle, Ikonographie der christlichen
Kunst,I,
Freiburg-im-Breisgau,I 928, pp. 63S46; also, E.
Panofsky,AlbrechtDurer,3rd ed., Princeton, x948, I,
pp. I II2.
26 In Schreiber,op. cit., no. Ix33 (II, p. I55), the
leaf is dated to "shortlyafter x475". Since SixtusIV's
first indulgence for the Rosary dates from t478, it
wouldseem that the printmustbe fromafterthat date.
tIgso], Vatican City, I950, pp. 6647.
28 For e.g.s of the fusionof the 'Mariain Sole'and the
'Virgin of the Rosary',see Schreiber,op.cit., no. I Io7
(cf. Male, op. cit., p. 2II); also a title woodcut in
Informatio pulchra. . . de Rosario,Lubeck (?), before
I500 (repr. Schramm, op. cit., XII, I929, fig. 337;
cf. VIII, tg24, fig. 872). Outside the graphicarts we
come across the same fusion, e.g. in reliefs from the
beginning of the t6th century; see Kunstle, op. cit.,
figs. 373-74
 NOTES
33o
Catalogue29that the paintingwas "perhaps
[intended]for privatedevotion"may also be
acceptedall the more readilyif we regardit
as an "imageof indulgence",since the read-
ing of the prayersstipulatedwas, naturally,a
matterof privatepiety. The Flemishminia-
turist,paintingSixtusIV in prayer(P1.4sd),
set the scenein a Gothicbed-chamber,where
29 Davies, loc cit.
the little devotionalimagewith its text on the
lower half of the panel hangs on the wall
aboveaprie-dieu behinda curtaindrawnback.
We may thusbe justifiedin inferringthat the
little NationalGallerytriptychonceoccupied
a place, and performeda function,similarto
the place and the function of the image of
indulgencein the miniature.
S. RINGBOM

SOME EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY wasnot restoredthere.RestorationafterI 540

RESTORATIONSOF was popular;the master,fledgling,and hack
MYRON'S 'DISCOBOLOS'* sculptorsof Rome were then constantlyem-
ployed in repairingantiquities,often as soon
Tn these few pages, several versions of as they were unearthed. But there was still
1 Myron's'Discobolos'can serveto illustrate occasionalfascinationwith, or at leastaccept-
the major,and mostcrucial,phasesin restora- ance of, untouchedfragments,as the 'Torso
tion, between the last years of the baroque Belvedere'and the 'Pasquino'bear witness;4
and moderntimes. in addition,this trunk,unlikesuch fragments
Myron's'Discobolos'was famousin anti- as the Ephebustorsothat Gellinirestoredas
quity; it is known at the presentday from a tauntingGanymede,5 did not invitefashion-
more than twentyfull copies,fragments,and able experimentin serpentineattenuation;
representationson gems.l One of the frag- and, furthermore,collectorsoften could not
ments, a torso, apparentlyhad alreadybeen then affiordto restoreeverypiece.
sketchedin Rome by I5I3,2 some decades It was not until the first third of the
beforeit was acquiredby the CardinalsCesi, eighteenthcenturythat the torsowas restored
whosecollectionof repairedand decoratively (P1. 46a)-in the studio of Pierre lS:tienne
displayed antiques was among the city's Monnot,the Frenchemigresculptorworking
carliestand largest.3Interestinglyenough,it in Rome. It has been in the Gapitolinesince
I734,6a year afterhis death. Monnot'slast
decadeswere spentin independentwork;7 he
* The text of this paper was originallypresentedas is not known to have made other restora-
a short talk in the Baroque and Antique Seminar
(Chairman,Sir Anthony Blunt) at the XXth Inter-
national Congressof the History of Art, New York,
September196I . antichitddella Citta di Roma,Venice, I 556, and the
1 H. Bulle, in PhotographischeEinzelaufnahmenantiker archivistA. Bertolotti'spublicationsbeforethe turn of
Skulpturen, eds. P. Arndt, W. Amelung, G. Lippold, the century,introducethe principalcharacterstraffick-
Munich, I893, no. 500; P. E. Arias,Mirone,Florence, ing in antiquitiesin Rome duringthe x6th century.
I940, pp. I7 f.; E. Paribeni,MuseoAazionale Romano: 4 H. Ladendorf,Antikenstudium undAntikenkopie, 2nd
sculturegrechedel V secolo,Rome, I953, pp. 20 ff. ed., Berlin, I958 (Abhandlung derSachsischen Akademie,
G. Lippold, Die Skulpturen des vaticanischen
Museums, XLVI, 2), pp. 3x-32, 36, 37, 95 ff., I00 f.; also R.
Berlin, I956, III, 2, p. 89. Lanciani,SN^ew Ealesof OldRome,Boston, I9OI,p. 47.
2 Ridolfi drawings,vol. B, fol. 2I, ChristChurch, 5 Vita, Bk. II, ch. I0, SS 6, x2, ch. II, S I; H.
Oxford, labelled as in the Zampolini (Giovanni Dutschke,AntikeBildwerke in Oberitalten,
Leipzig, I 878,
Ciampolini) collection (R. Lanciani, Bollettinodella III, p. 532; M. Neusser, Wienerjtahrbuch fu'rbildenden
Commissione archaeologica comunaledi Roma,V, I 899, Kunst (hereafter Wien. jrb.), VI, Ig2g, pp. 3x-
p. I05). Sold in I520 to Giulio Romano, thence to F. Rossi, II MuseoSN^azionale di Firenze,Rome, Ig32
the Cesi, possibly the Mellini, collection (H. Lucas, pl. 82, Sala del Cellini.
RomischcMitteilungen(hereafter RM), XVI, I9OI, 6 H. S. Jones (ed.), TheSculitureof theMuseoCatito-
pp. 24e46) lino,Oxford, I9I2, pp. x23 f., pl. 2I, Galleriano. 50;
8 R. Lanciani,StoriadegliscazXi
di Romae notizieintorno M. Cagianode Azevedo n gustonel restauro delleopere
lc collezioniromanidi antichita, Rome, I902, IV, di arteantiche,Rome, I9i8, p. 35. Both brieflydiscuss
pp. I I4 ff.; P. G. Hubner, Le statuedi Roma,Leipzig, the restoration.
I9I2, pp. 92 ff.; C. Huelson,Abhandlung derHeidelberger 7 S. Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs
de l'ecolefranfats
Akadernie der Wissenschaften,
IV, I9I7, pp. I-42; these, souslc rigncde LouisXIV, Paris, I906, pp, 38I ff.; P.
with U. Aldrovandi,Di tuttele statueantichc chepertutta Francastel,GazettsdesBeaux-Arts (hereafterGBA),VI,
Romain dtrersiluoghie casesi veggono, in L. Mauro,Le 9s I933, pp. I49 ff.