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Rice PomisSuaNomina 2007
Rice PomisSuaNomina 2007
Rice PomisSuaNomina 2007
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G eorge Frideric Handel's opera Serse (I737-38) open with one of the composer's
most famous arias, 'Ombra mai fu', a ravishing love song addressed by the title
character to the object of his affections. These are the words that Xerxes sings:
Fair and tender foliage of my cherished plane tree, may fate smile on you; may thunder, lightning,
and storms never shatter your sweet peace and may the fierce winter wind do you no harm. Never
was the dear and delightful shade of a plant more pleasing.'
The scene transposed into song by Handel is based on a curious episode first recorded
by Herodotus, describing the Persian king's progress through western Turkey:
This was the road which Xerxes took, and it was hereabouts that he came across a plane-tree of
such surpassing beauty that he was moved to decorate it with golden ornaments and to appoint a
guardian for it in perpetuity.2
Half a millennium after Herodotus, the Roman rhetorician Aelian retold the story,
emphasising its comic aspect:
The famous king Xerxes was ridiculous, if it is true that he ... was a devotee of a plane tree. In
Lydia, they say, he saw a large specimen, and stopped for that day without any need. He made the
wilderness around the tree his camp, and attached to it expensive ornaments, paying homage to
the branches with necklaces and bracelets. He left a caretaker for it, like a guard to provide security,
as if it were a woman he loved. What benefit accrued to the tree as a result? The ornaments it had
acquired, which were quite inappropriate to it, hung on it without serving any purpose and made
no contribution to its appearance, since the beauty of a tree consists of fine branches, abundant
leaves, a sturdy trunk, deep roots, movement in the wind, shadow spreading all around, change in
accordance with the passing of seasons, with irrigation channels to support it and rain water to
sustain it. Xerxes's robes, barbarian gold, and the other offerings did not ennoble the plane or any
other tree.3
What John Donne called 'Xerxes's strange Lydian love, the platan tree'4 is the
subject of a print designed in I632 by the Roman Baroque painter Andrea Sacchi and
i. Libretto by Silvio Stampiglia after a play by religious significance of Xerxes's act see F. Stubbings,
Nicol? Minato, Serse, act I: 'Frondi tenere e belle del 'Xerxes and the Plane-Tree', Greece & Rome, xv, 1946,
mio pl?tano amato, per voi risplenda il fato; tuoni, lampi, pp. 63-67.
e procelle non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace, ne giunga 3. Aelian, Historical Miscellany, 11.14 (Loeb edn,
a profanarvi austro rapace! Ombra mai fu di vegetabile, trans. N. G.Wilson, Cambridge, MA 1997, pp. 84-87).
cara ed amabile, suave pi?.' See also ix.37 (pp. 308-09), where he tells us that
2. Herodotus, vu.31 (trans. A. de S?lincourt, revised 'Xerxes conceived a passion for a plane tree'.
by A. R. Burn, Harmondsworth 1972, p. 456). On the 4. John Donne, Elegy IX: The Autumnal, 29.
I95
.7~~~~~~~~~~S.
S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PE
i. Andrea Sacchi and Charles Audran, Xerxes and the plane tree, I632
engraved by Charles Audran, a professional printmaker (Fig. I).5 At the centre of the
composition, Xerxes, dressed in armour and crowned as befits his royal status, orders his
men to adorn the tree with coronets, golden chains, and jewels. On the tree's broad trunk
is inscribed CRESCENT ILLAE CRESCETIS HONORES (literally, 'those wil grow [and] you,
honours, wil grow'; or to put it more colloquial y, 'as they grow, their honours wil grow
with them'). The phrase is taken from Virgil's tenth Eclogue, but artfully altered to give
it fresh meaning. Virgil is portraying the lover Gallus, who wanders through the woods
inscribing his beloved's name on the tender trunks of young trees; it is Gallus who
exclaims 'Crescent il ae, crescetis, amores', il ae referring to the tenerae arbores on which
he writes ('as those young trees grow, my love wil grow with them').6 In the print, honores
is substituted for the poet's amores. We are nevertheless meant to recognise the Virgilian
origin of the phrase and, having recognised it, to construe Xerxes's action, like Gallus's,
in an amorous light. This tree, instead of merely providing the surface on which lovers
carve each other's names, has itself become the beloved.7
5- See Appendix, no. 23. 7- On this famous Virgilian passage and its many
6. Virgil, Eclogues, x.52-54: 'Certum est in silvis, inter imitators see R. Lee, Names on Trees: Ariosto into Art,
spelaea ferarum, / malle pati tenerisque meos incidere Princeton 1977, esp. pp. 9-11.
amores / arboribus: crescent il ae, crescetis, amores.'
The translations are mine unless otherwise indicated.
l n~~~~~~~~~~~
L g.
C.O
l I ll ~~~ROIA 1~y b
> Xt #~~~~fr hs a ot t
o e i I ;'
:S~~~
~\kNOMINVA
io. A
9- Appendix, no. 1.1 am obliged to rising
the latesun shining down
Wiktor
Gramatowski, S.J., and Lydia Salviucci
nurturing Insolera,
the past with its
little plants
and present archivists of thean Pontificia Universit?
optional feature which appears
of the
Gregoriana in Rome, for providing emblem
the beginning arou
photograph.
Appendix, nos 9,12-13.
... the boys of the Roman Seminary, who come from the leading noble families of Italy, use as their
symbol a little grove, or plantation, of young shoots, to which my teacher, the author Famiano
Strada, added this motto: POMIS SUA NOMINA SERVANT. These little shoots are remarkable for the
glory neither of their leaves, nor of their flowers, nor of their fruit, while at first they take in sap in
the planting beds. Thus tender adolescents, as yet virtually unknown, are put in this place as in a
nursery, where once they have grown up on the sap of virtue, having attained the honour of their
names, they will make nobler their nobility and achieve immortal praise.I4
ii. Virgil, Georgics, 11.239-40 (Loeb edn, trans. H. R. 14- Silvestro Pietrasanta, Symbola heroica, Antwerp
Fairclough, revised edn, Cambridge, MA 1935, pp. 132 1682, pp. 423-24: '... ibi Seminarij Romani iuventus,
33). quae est ex prima Italiae nobilitate, puberum stirpium
12. Rome, Archivio della Pontificia Universit? nemuscolo seu plantario utitur pro Symbolo. Ei vero
Gregoriana (henceforth APUG), MS 2801 (Girolamo adscripsit auctor Famianus Strada magister meus hoc
Nappi, 'Annali del Seminario Romano', 11), p. 411. lemma: pomis sua nomina servant. Nulla frondium,
13. Matthew 7.16-20: 'Beware of false prophets, nulla florum, aut fructuum gloria conspicuae sunt
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly arbusculae, dum primum hauriunt succum in plantario.
they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their Sic adolescentes ingenui, etsi paene ignoti haerent in eo
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of this veluti solo plantationis; ubi ex virtutis sueco tarnen
tles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; adoleverint, honorem nominis adepti, famam suam
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.' nobilitabunt, & referent laudem immortalem.'
- = _ >XkW=. .\ L-
~~~urFerrusj~~~~~~~~~~~~~um-dc1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -C-01
most significant concerned the establishment of diocesan seminaries for the education
of parish priests.'9 Every diocese was to have at least one seminary and it fell to the
bishops to start up and maintain these new schools. The bishop of Rome, Pope Pius IV,
The room was decorated with matching gold and red hangings,
to create a majestic appearance, made all the more gorgeous by
and others, among them two cardinals, the Most Illustrious
Music was provided by the papal chapel and one can judge the b
quality of the singers ... The student defended in logic, to his g
his learning...24
5. Antonio Pomarancio and Christian Sas, Diana and her nymphs besid
Per la m?sica ... 10.00 scudi suggests that Nappi based his calculations on the
Per fiori e verdura ... i. i o scudi assumption that the student would be re-using an exist
Per portar 12 sedie ... .60 scudi ing plate. This was, in fact, common practice and it is
possible that the Seminary owned one or more generic
Al Mastro di Capella basta darli scudi tre per comporre
et indirizzar la m?sica.' plates (such as Appendix, nos 1-5), which it lent its less
The fact that the list includes no payment to an
wealthy students to use in decorating their broadsheets.
artist for designing the invention and no payment to28.
a Appendix, no. 18.
printmaker for engraving (as opposed to printing) it
a~~~~~~~4 _
1
G_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3
I _ WDIA
... in fact there was never a day on which he was not supplied w
cucumber beds mounted on wheels which they moved out into
withdrew under the cover of frames glazed with transparent st
1-HORTI s LARES.
_ I \SP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-J
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~1
r -I - --
io. Andrea Lilio and Johann Friedrich Greuter, Emblematic garden of th
-E X
I2. Anto
diaboli
to be s
Trees f
tree, C
contac
Michel
for pat
with h
print
Camass
backgr
triden
maritim
In a pr
the dov
the ban
Aeneid
47- 48.
App A
.1.8.>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 V
.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -7 7 4 - !-* 7='t<
As king Artaxerxes was travelling through Persia, Omises brought him a very large pomegranate on
a winnowing fan. The size of it caused the king great amazement and he asked: 'From what estate
do you come with this offering?' When the other replied: 'From my home, from my own farm', he
was quite delighted and sent the man royal gifts, adding: 'By Mithras, with care such as he displays
this man will even be capable, as far as I can judge, of making a small city into a great one.' This
remark seems to acknowledge that by care, continuous thought, and unremitting zeal anything may
be improved beyond its natural state.54
One can imagine the Jesuit professor who seized upon the story recognising in that
edifying last line the perfect definition of education.55 But the charm of the print, its
particular brand of lighthearted comedy, lies in its playful interaction with the texts on
49- Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 143-44 (Loeb edn, trans. H. 51. After the death of Duke Alessandro de' Medici,
R. Fairclough, revised edn, Cambridge, MA 1935, pp. his successor Cosimo I adopted the motto uno avulso
516-17). Although modern editions usually give the line non deficit alter to illustrate the idea that when one
as 'primo avolso non deficit alter / aureus', the variant branch of the family dies out, another sprouts in its
in Romanelli's print is found in several Renaissance place; see ibid.; also J. Sparrow, 'Pontormo's Cosimo il
editions. Vecchio, a New Dating', this Journal, xxx, 1967, pp. 169
50. For similar imagery see the emblem of Isidoro 72.
Ruberti, which shows a withered olive tree nourishing 52. Appendix, no. 14.
with its sap the offshoots that are growing among its 53. Appendix, no. 26.
roots, with the motto moriens reviviscit (G. and L. 54. Aelian, Historical Miscellany, 1.33 (Loeb edn, as in
Bauer, 'Bernini's Organ-case for S. Maria del Pop?lo', n- 3? PP- 56-59). Aelian derives the story from Plutarch,
Art Bulletin, lxii, 1980, p. 119). Artaxerxes, iv.4.
The print does not illustrate this passage, however, but a subsequent episode in book
viii of the epic, in which Alcinous and his guest Odysseus are entertained by the noble
6i. For the Montevecchio arms see G. B. di Crolla Bologna 1986, m, p. 235, s.v. Gabrielli di Fano; Polverari
lanza, Dizionario storico-blasonico delle famiglie nobili e (as in n. 60), p. 56.
notabili italiane estinte e fiorenti, 3 vols, 1886-90, repr. 62. Appendix, no. 20.
~~~ |
_/ _
A print d
another ex
The settin
disciples h
source and
tion of Ph
we may e
Socrates
By Hera, a
plane-tree..
delightful i
And so, si
noon in d
additional
65. Appendi
himsel
66. Plato, P
Socrate
Fowler,
as Cam
Plat
67. Recognis
title ch
nor
standing atis t
A. . -V~~~~~~~~~~A
2I. Giovanni Paolo Pannini and Giovanni Girolamo Frezza, Emblematic garden of the Rom
the last, was certainly one of the last in the series of thesis prints feat
motto.79 Conditions at the Seminary did eventually improve, but by then
had replaced the old ones and the atti piccoli were no longer conduct
emphasis on pomp and spectacle.
Only once, a century later, did the students of the Roman Seminary
effort to resurrect this long-lost tradition. In I737, the painter Giovann
and the engraver Giovanni Girolamo Frezza created what may well be
the series (Fig. 2I).8oThe design is theatrical but bland: a curtain is draw
through a proscenium arch, a stage set of a garden planted with rows of y
with a putto flying overhead holding the Seminary's motto. In its th
and its avoidance of narrative subject matter, the design hearkens back to
prints in the series. Its disappointingly generic quality is probably due t
it was commissioned communally and meant to be used by multiple stud
remained in circulation for at least twenty-eight years, showing up in
commissioned by Seminarians as late as I765. 8 This, the only eighteenth
APPENDIX
CHECKLIST OF THESIS PRINTS FEATURING THE EMBLEM
OF THE ROMAN SEMINARY82
82. In addition to the thesis prints listed here, there To these should be added Andrea Lilio and Johann
are several engraved frontispieces that feature the Semi Friedrich Greuter, title-page to [Alessandro Donati,
nary's motto. These include: S.J.], Memnonius ad Philosophicas Guglielmi Dondini
i) Gregorio de' Grasso and Michel Natalis, frontisBonon. Sem. Rom. Con. Disputationes concentus M.Antonio
piece to Gioseffe Caraffa, Peripateticae Philosophiae
Gozadino Card. Illustrissimo Lucem Amplissimam inf?rente
pronunciata auspiciis Eminentissimi Principis Franc. Card. excitatus atque editus in aula Collegii Romani Societatis
Barberini S.R.I, propugnata in Seminario Romano a D.lesu, Rome 1623, which lacks the motto but includes the
Ioseph Carafae eiusdem Seminarii convictore, Rome 1635. emblematic seedlings and rising sun of the Seminary
2) Gregorio de' Grasso and Camillo Cungi, frontis (Rice 1999, as in n. 23, pp. 160-63).
piece to an unidentified book, representing personifi
cations of Fame, History, and the Eternal Good Fortune 83. The print may have been commissioned by
Gasparo Squarciafico, a Genoese student at the Semi
of the Barberini, with putti holding medallions of ancient
emperors. nary who made an atto di l?gica in 1641 'col l'impresa
3) Ciro Ferri and Guillaume Chasteau, frontispiece del Seminario che fu fatto anticamente e fu la prima
to Annibale Adami, Seminarii Romani Pallas purpurata, che fusse stampata, quai piacque grandemente la sua
Rome 1659 (discussed above, Fig. 4; see n. 16). antichit?' (APUG MS 2801, p. 983).
84. The original state features, in place of the harpy College, dedicating them to Cardinal Bonifazio Caetani,
fountain, a kneeling Hercules carrying the orb of the who attended the event along with Cardinals Giusti
earth on his shoulders, out of which spurts a jet of water niani, Bandini, Bellarmino, S. Eusebio, Mellini, Filo
that splits in two and forms the Mellini M as it falls. nardi, Aracoeli, Lancellotti and 20 other prelates. (BAV,
In the sky above the statue, the cardinal's coat of arms MS Urb. Lat. 1083, fol. 46ov; APUG, no. 2801, pp. 611,
is flanked by the Borghese eagle and dragon. As is 641.)
almost always the case with thesis prints made for the 86. A later state of the engraving is included as page
philosophy defence, this one omits the Seminary's motto, 1 in Domenico de' Rossi's reprinted edition of Giacomo
although the name and emblem of the school are alluded Lauro 's Collectio antiquitatum urbis una cum alijs recen
to in the garden setting. I am greatly indebted to Chris tioribus, first published in Rome in 1613; in it, the device
topher Etheridge for bringing to my attention the later and the coat of arms on the statue bases are replaced by
state of this print, as well as the states discussed below emblems representing a pomegranate with hinc fore
in Appendix nos 6-8. ductores (Aeneid, 1.235: 'hence will come rulers') and a
85. Francesco Platamone enrolled at the Roman palm grove with metas nec t?mpora pono (Aeneid,
Seminary in 1612 and three years later, in 1615, defended 1.278: 'I set neither boundaries nor time limits'). The
philosophical theses in the great hall of the Roman signature is missing and the plate badly worn.
5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
23. Philippe
. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~NMNS
Iv :4t Nt v ._
' -t , _I
Nappi
87. The arms on the shield at the does not
far right, mention that any of t
featuring
a lion holding a sword, are identical todi
an atto those of nevertheless,
l?gica', the the pr
Guarnieri family (recorded by J.-B. Rietstap:by
commissioned see V. of them and ma
one
Rolland and H. V. Rolland, Illustrations
by all to the After
three. Armorial
leaving the school,
g?n?ral by J.-B. Rietstap, 2nd edn, 3 vols,
a page London
to the 1967and eventually h
emperor,
91, in, pi. cix), but since I have found
joinedno evidence
the thatarmy and partici
emperor's
any member of this family attended of Mantua in 1630the
the Seminary, (APUG, MS 2801,
identification remains open. 90. Counts Ottaviano andTommaso
88. Embroidered on the banner hanging
Marquis from
Camillo and nephews of Ca
Mercury's trumpet, the unidentified escutcheon
Sacrati, features
entered the Seminary in 1621.
a tree overlaid by a horizontal band.
four Iyears
am grateful
'sin alia to
L?gica, quai diff
Massimo Pulini for kindly providing
scudothenuovo
photograph.
con l'impresa del Seminar
89. The coat of arms on the Tommaso
column pedestal
stayed six on years, until 1627
full three-year
the left is that of the Torelli family course in Philosophy
(for an identical
made
escutcheon see V. Barbieri, / Torelli, 'una
Conti didisputa
Montechiadi l?gica... quale
rugolo, 1406-1612,1998). Three sons of Marquis
scudo nuovo con Marsilio
l'impresa del Seminar
Torelli?Bonifacio, Cristoforo, and Antonio?entered
da Cardinali e Prelati'; and a year later
the Seminary in 1621. Bonifacioatto
stayed until 'con
di f?sica around
l'istessa impresa d
1625, Cristoforo until 1627, and Antonio went
Ottaviano until on
1629.
to inherit their fa
_ _ I w! ' ^~~~~~~ A
1RA ir- ii niV l'ri Riant AP.17 17" th .iu in; 'h un';,.mi'rLd- rT1
during the papal mass at Pentecost, an honour bestowed del Seminario che fece fare di nuovo intagliata di rame'.
annually on a convittore at the Seminary (APUG, MS Returning to his native Milan after completing his
2801, pp. 730, 772, 795). On the annual Pentecost education, he died of the plague during the epidemic of
sermons delivered in the presence of the pope by aris 1631 (APUG, MS 2801, pp. 756, 785).
tocratic Seminarians see L. Rice, 'The Pentecostal 94. The Pignatelli coat of arms, topped by a coronet,
Meaning of Borromini's Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza', in features in the only state of the print that I have come
Francesco Borromini, 1599-1667 (atti del convegno, Rome across so far (reproduced here). Many members of this
2000), ed. C. L. Frommel and E. Sladek, Rome and extended Neapolitan family attended the Roman Semi
Milan 2000, pp. 259-70. nary in the 1620s. Nappi mentions none of them in
92. Don Carlo Caraffa was the son of the Marquis connection with an atto di l?gica, but the one most likely
of Castelvetro and Diana Vittori, the cousin of Prince to be associated with the print is Antonio, son of Prince
Marcantonio and Cardinal Scipione Borghese. He Fabrizio Pignatelli of Minervino and Porzia Caraffa,
entered the Seminary in 1624 and stayed five years. In who later became Pope Innocent XII (1691-1700).
1627 he was chosen to deliver the prestigious Latin Antonio was briefly enrolled at the Seminary in 1625
oration at the papal mass at Pentecost and in that same (when he was only ten years old) and then returned
year 'fece una diffesa di tutta la L?gica con l'impresa from 1629 until 1633, completing his studies through
del Seminario fatta stampare di nuovo, alia quale the year in logic. In his last year at the school, he recited
diffesa vi furono molti Cardinali et in particolare il the Latin oration at the papal mass at Pentecost (APUG,
Cardinale Borghese suo parente ch'invit? molti altri' MS 2801, pp. 757, 802). The print cannot have been
(APUG, MS 2801, pp. 745-46, 785). The inclusion of made for him, however, since the engraver died in 1628
heraldic dragons and eagles in the design is clearly in and the designer in 1629; he must have re-used an
homage to the student's distinguished Borghese relative. existing plate, replacing the original arms with his own.
For the Caraffa arms see Rietstap (as in n. 87), 11, pi. Thus, until an earlier version surfaces, it may not be
xxiii. possible to establish with certainty who originally com
93. Once again the engraver has helped us out by missioned the engraving.
inscribing the student's name around his coat of arms. 95. This print was commissioned, rather unusually,
Filippo Fossano arrived at the Seminary in 1625 and by one of the chierici, that is, one of the clerical students
made his atto di l?gica in 1627 'con una nuova impresa at the Seminary, rather than one of the convittori. (See
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5.88.238.246 on Tue, 26 Sep 2023 06:51:57 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
LOUISE RICE 237
:= ~~~~~
32. Antonio Pomarancio and Charles Audran
vita
above, p. 203.) Fulgentio con cattivo
Mascheroni, fine'
the son (APU
of'M
Pollidoro cremonese', 96.
wasThe
assigned a place
pear tree is anati
with
Seminary in 1621 through the the Virgilian
offices text Pe
of Cardinal a
student's
Montalto. He stayed there sponsor,
seven years Cardin
and in 1628
his atto di l?gica 'quai coat of arms
stamp? features,
con l'impresa am
del
branch. p. 704). For a rather m
nario' (APUG, MS 2801,
detailed account of the 97. Son and heir of written
event, Marquis Agostino Grimaldi
by and Masche
himself, see above at nn. 24-25.
his wife Placida, Alas,
Ansaldo enrolled the
in the Seminary in young
1625 and
came to a bad end: 'Si dice in 1628 'fecefatto
haver un ...atto di l?gica
gran con far un
mala riu
si finse una volta sacerdote
bellissimo scudoe celebr?
in rame con l'impresa delmessa
Seminario; senz'h
l'ordinatione sacerdotale, et ein
vi furono Cardinali Prelati' Polonia
(APUG, MS 2801, pp. 756,si dice h
795). For the
finto d'esser officiale del Papa Grimaldi arms
e fu see Rietstap (as in n. 87),
castigato per
in, pi.
stato scoperto; fece altri xcvi. The drawing
simili was brought to my attention
indignit?, terminand
22) Jacques Stella and Johann Friedrich Greuter, I630 (Fig. 33)
Student: Ludovico Betti (Ancona),',
Description: A king and a general on horseback, at the head of a vast army, arrive at a garden and
seem to be discussing the saplings they see there. The subject is unidentified with any certainty, but
may represent Artaxerxes and his general Teribazus who, returning from their campaign against the
Cadusians, came upon 'a royal halting-place which had admirable parks in elaborate cultivation,
although the region round about was bare and treeless' (Plutarch, Artaxerxes, XXV.I-2; Loeb edn,
trans. B. Perrin, Cambridge, MA I926, xi, pp. i86-89).IO2 The student's coat of arms is inscribed
on a boulder just to the right of the garden enclosure; the arms of his sponsor, Marquis Guidi di
Bagno, are engraved on a shield near the lower right corner. Signed Iac. Stella delin. IFed. Greuter
incid. 28 X 4I-5 cms.
Drawings: Drouot Richelieu, Paris, 27 Apr I990, no. 239 (Fig. 34).3
Bibliography: Hollstein German, XII, p. 77, no. 9I.
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25) Andrea Camassei and Reinier van Persijn, I636 (Fig. ii)
Student: Giovanni Carlo Biringucci (Siena) I07 and probably F
Description: In the garden of his palace in Sardis, Cyrus the Yo
the neat rows of trees he has planted with his own hand (Xenop
De senectute, XVII.59). Overhead Minerva points to a banner
27) Giovanni Antonio Lelli and Camillo Cungi, I637 (Fig. 35)
Student: Girolamo Bonelli (Rome)'`'
Description: In front of an emblematic garden, its portal inscribed with the Seminary's motto, a
sorcerer waving his wand dances in a magic circle. Responding to his incantation, monsters
frighten two personifications of virtues of the left; but Wisdom on the right breaks the spell with her
instruments of persuasion, the caduceus signifying eloquence and the whip signifying discipline.
'una diffesa di l?gica in Seminario con haver fatto lower half. However, to complicate matters further,
stampare l'impresa s?lita del Seminario con una nuova Spreti contradicts Crollalanza and reverses the colours
inventione, e spese in essa diffesa da scudi cento, e of the Sardi arms, depicting them as argent over azure
furono present? a dette conclusioni otto Cardinali con (V. Spreti, Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana, 9 vols,
molti prelati e con m?sica eccellente.' A year later, he Milan 1928-36; repr. Bologna 1968-69, vi, p. 136).
delivered the Latin oration at the papal mass on Good 109. The student's coat of arms appears on the shield
Friday. He then took up a military appointment, becom held by the shield-bearer at the far left: an oak tree al
ing a captain of infantry (APUG, MS 2801, pp. 913,923, naturale beneath which grow three or four blades of corn
929). For the Biringucci arms, represented at the far (Fig. 17). See pp. 219-20 above.
right of the composition, see Crollalanza (as in n. 61), 1, no. Girolamo Bonelli was enrolled at the Seminary
p. 136. between 1636 and 1639, before moving on to Perugia to
108. Francesco Sardi, son of Count Bartolomeo, study law. In 1637 he made 'una diffesa di l?gica, stam
enrolled at the Seminary in 1633 and stayed there two or pando le conclusioni con una nuova impresa s?lita del
three years before making 'un atto di l?gica in Semi Seminario, e fu presente il Cardinale di Bagni con altri
nario' (APUG, MS 2801, p. 893). My hesitation in Cardinali e Prelati' (APUG, MS 2801, pp. 919,930). He
ascribing the arms near the centre of the composition returned to the school in August 1640 to defend philo
to him has to do with colour. The Sardi escutcheon is sophical theses, this event having been postponed for a
bisected horizontally, azure over argent (Crollalanza, year because his patron, Cardinal Giovanni Francesco
as in n. 61,11, p. 492). Engravers have at their disposal Guidi di Bagno, had been prevented from attending at
established conventions for rendering heraldic colours the originally scheduled time by a debilitating attack of
in the black-and-white medium of print. Azure, for gout. The print Bonelli used to decorate his philosophy
instance, is represented graphically by parallel hori broadsheet was the same he had corn-missioned for his
zontal hatching and argent by no hatching at all. The atto di l?gica three years earlier. A comparison of the two
arms in this print, if the rules are strictly applied, should states is illuminating. The first state, made for the atto
be read as sable over azure. This minor inaccuracy need piccolo, includes the Seminary's motto inscribed over the
not worry us too much. Printmakers often abandoned portal leading into the emblematic garden; in the second
the heraldic colour rules when representing coats of state, reissued for the atto grande, the Seminary's motto
arms in perspectival settings, for obvious reasons of has been removed and the print has been enlarged with
visual harmony, and in this instance what matters is that the addition of a fancy engraved border featuring the
the upper half of the arms is distinctly darker than the coat of arms of Cardinal Guidi di Bagno as well as an
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29) Gian Francesco Romanelli and Johann Friedrich Greuter (Fig. I9)
Student: unidentified"14
Description: Socrates and his disciples converse beneath the plane tree in the grove of Academus (cf.
Plato, Phaedrus, 230B). Scenes in the background, left and right, allude to the beginning and the
end of the Academy (Plutarch, Cimon, xiII.8; Sulla, XII.3). On the left is a statue of Minerva, her
shield inscribed with the Seminary's motto. Signed Io. Fr. Romanellus delin. I IFed. Greuter incid. 27 x
36-5 cms.
Bibliography: Hollstein German, XII, p. 77, no. 92; Kerber (cited in Appendix no. 28), pp. I54-55.
7~ F7 -.-..=. --
..... ...
38. Gian Francesco Romanelli and Michel Natalis, Chromis, Mnasyllos, andAegle binding the drunken S
vines, c. i637
32) Giovanni Paolo Pannini and Giovanni Girolamo Frezza, I737 (Fig. 2I)
Description: Through an ornate proscenium arch inscribed with the Jesuit monogram IHS is a
garden planted with neat rows of young fruit trees. A putto flutters overhead holding a banderole
with the Seminary's motto. Signed and dated P. Pannini inv. et delin. Anno I737 IHieronymus Frezza
sculp. Romae Sup. per.
ii6. The son of Marquis Tommaso Raggi and nephew which he represented Aeneas taking the golden bough,
of Cardinal Lorenzo Raggi, Ferdinando briefly attended of which we have in Virgil uno avulso, non deficit alter'
the Seminary in 1641 and returned in 1643 with two(trans. M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his
younger brothers, Massimiliano and SigismondoSons: Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk 1993, 1, p. 516).
(APUG, MS 2801, pp. 970, 1028). In 1646 FerdiIn support of a late date is also the choice of subject
nando, like Carlo Fiorenzuola, Carlo Caraffa, Antonio matter, with its emphasis on Venus's doves, which prob
Pignatelli, and Cristoforo Schinchinelli before him,ably allude to the heraldry of Pope Innocent X Pamphili
delivered the Pentecost oration in the presence of the (1644-55). As for the choice of artists, Ferdinando's
pope (see nn. 91-92, 94, and 112 above). Nappi doesuncle the cardinal may have had a hand here: his own
not mention that he or any other Raggi made an atto di thesis broadsheet, issued for his philosophy defence
l?gica, but the coat of arms on the shield at the far rightat the Collegio Romano in 1637, was designed by
tells us otherwise (for the Raggi arms see Rietstap, asRomanelli and engraved in part by Bloemaert. On
in n. 87, v, pi. cxxi), as does Filippo Baldinucci, whoLorenzo Raggi's thesis broadsheet see Hollstein German,
mentions, in his biography of Cornelis Bloemaert, 'axii, p. 64, no. 53; Kerber (cited in Appendix no. 28), p.
thesis designed by Romanelli for Monsignor Raggi, in142; Rice 1999 (as in n. 23), pp. 152-53,157.
INDEX OF ARTISTS