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"Pomis Sua Nomina Servant": The Emblematic Thesis Prints of the Roman Seminary

Author(s): Louise Rice


Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes , 2007, Vol. 70 (2007), pp. 195-
246
Published by: The Warburg Institute

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20462763

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POMIS SUA NOMINA SERVANT:
THE EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS
OF THE ROMAN SEMINARY*
Louise Rice

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

* For Jennifer Montagu, with admiration and affection.

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

JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES, LXX, 2007

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i96 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

.7~~~~~~~~~~S.

S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PE

B~~~~~~~~~~i SV- JbS1NA

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.

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LOUISE RICE I97

Taken at face value, Sacchi's print is


Xerxes and the plane tree as told by He
print, and learned prints are rarely me
more going on here-that there is a d
implied by the presence of extraneou
the story: an odd patch of seedlings spr
motto-POMIS SUA NOMINA SERVANT
understand these elements and how the
know something of the purpose and cir
Sacchi's Xerxes is a thesis print, com
sheet he issued on the occasion of his
have listed the points (variously called
that the student was prepared to deve
his examiners; it also would have named
his defence. Unfortunately, thesis broa
very large and their size made them aw
in I644 by a student at the Collegio R
of the larger ones, at nearly a metre in
(Fig. 2). The two parts of a thesis bro
printed separately and glued togethe
production left the broadsheet particula
happened that print collectors, uninter
the image and discarded the rest. Thus
the text is lost and with it the inform
engraving, such as the name of the stu
the date of his defence, and so on. Ind
very fact that it is what it is-a thesis p
is a case in point. Not a single copy of
to have survived and as a result the i
meaning unclear, its purpose mysteriou
of the engraving and set it within the
to arrive at a correct interpretation.
To appreciate Sacchi's print in all its m
nise that it contains, embedded in its n
student who commissioned it was en
century, colleges, schools, and academ
and communicate their institutional ide
the emblem inserted into the lower r
Roman Seminary, a Jesuit-run boardi
in I564. The emblem is present in its pu
first decade of the seventeenth century

8. Different technologies were involved. The im


was pulled from a copper plate whereas the text w
with moveable type, and this meant that the two
had to be put through separate presses.

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I98 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

_~~~~~~~"O"A _ .62 "O Wbp 'a

l n~~~~~~~~~~~

L g.
C.O

l I ll ~~~ROIA 1~y b

> Xt #~~~~fr hs a ot t

- -**** ,.-.,..-.,......,,...,.,,..... *1 **,v *1*

o e i I ;'

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LOUISE RICE I99

:S~~~
~\kNOMINVA

3. Anonymous, Emblem of the Roman Seminary

3)29 It consists of a cluster of seedlings, tender litt


set in the protective enclosure of a walled garden,
SERVANT.I0 As is so often the case with mottoes, t
late. It means, roughly: 'They preserve their fame
again, Virgilian in origin. The source is book ii of
different kinds of soil that farmers have to conte
'the salty land, the kind called bitter', he writes:

frugibus infelix ea, nec mansuescit arando


nec Baccho genus aut pomis sua nomina se

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.

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200 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

([this kind of soil] is unfruitful for crops, nor does it mell


it does not preserve for the vine its lineage nor for the fr

In the borrowing, the phrase has been subtly modified. It


same time the verb expands from the singular to the plur
as its subject a third person plural pronoun in place of th
the words remain essentially Virgilian but their meaning
poetic context, the phrase becomes fluid and open to m
sense, it refers to the noble families who send their boys
will preserve their fame-i.e. their family name, their
fruits, that is, through their aristocratic offspring. The
this reading, the next generation of the family tree, the
called in one seventeenth-century text.I2 But the motto a
selves, the young boys entrusted to the care of the Semin
lofty trees: they will preserve their fame-in other words
cratic lineage and titled rank-with their fruit, i.e. with t
and noble deeds. Understood in this light, it calls to m
gospel of Matthew, 'Ye shall know them by their fruits'.'3
incorporated into a Jesuit emblem, take on Christian
tations.
The emblem of the Roman Seminary was devised probably between i6oo and i6io
by Famiano Strada (I572-I649), one of the leading Jesuit literati of the first half of the
century. It is described and discussed in several early Jesuit texts. Here, for example, is
Silvestro Pietrasanta (I590-I647), an authority on heraldry and emblematics:

... 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

Another author, Girolamo Nappi (I584-I648), confessor at the Seminary throughout


much of the first half of the seventeenth century and the author of a manuscript Annali
covering the first seventy-five years of the Seminary's history, gives us a slightly different
reading:

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.'

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LOUISE RICE 20I

Out of the great multitude of young m


Roman Seminary since its foundation in
out of the Seminary and embedded in th
some who have produced marvellous fru
Seminary to give a brief account [of
selection offers a perfect illustration, I
panies the emblem of the Roman Seminar
group of illustrious young men makes i
the plants sown in the Roman Seminary

These ideas find visual expression


Pallas purpurata, a book published
who went on to become cardinals
Guillaume Chasteau, the frontispi
on the right by Nobility, who direc
an attendant putto; and on the left
Putti are at work in the garden, plan
and up above, harvesting the fruit o
sheltering walls of the Seminary. Th
the full cycle of a boy's education: f
in the garden to its maturity and f
sapling comes already equipped by
acquires through the constant and a
At the root of the emblem is, of
seminary is, literally, a nursery, a p
strong young plants. Thus the me
tion is implicit in the very name
specifically, a school for priests-w
been Ignatius Loyola, the founder of
sense sometime around I550.I8 It w
of Trent. Of the decrees issued by

15- APUG, MS 2802 POMis sua Nomina


(Girolamo Nappi,serva
'Ann
huomini
Seminario Romano', in), illustri,
p. 4: 'Da da ben
una gran mo
di Giovani, che come quelli
tante Pomi
Piante, che s'aspett
si sono all
Seminario Romano dall'Anno 1565, che fu
Romano Seminario, f
quali
poi dal detto Seminario
lorofurono
Impresa.'transpiantat
On Nappi s
nel bel Giardino di questo
sviluppo nostro mondo, R
del Seminario h
io scelte alcune, ch'hanno
pp. 8-9;dato frutti
L. Rice, mera
review
ho stimato dover esser cosa molto
adventu..., ed. grata
Girolamoalla
seminariana darne una
147-48. breve notitia con u
d'alquanti pi? segnalati, 16. Annibale
che Adami,per?
Seminarii Romani
mi Pallas son
purpu pigli
di ridurli insieme alcuni, con
rata, sive Eminentissimi S. R. E. distinguerli
Cardinales qui ad haec i
usque tempore
classe: e prima quelli che sie Seminario
sono Romano prodiere imaginibus
dimostrati illu
Dignit? Ecclesiastiche; seconda,
espressi etc., Rome 1659. coloro che s
conspicui in nobilt? et 17. Atitoli
drawing made presumably
signalati; in preparation forterza,
in vita virtuosa son stati insegni;
the same frontispiece edesign
illustrates an alternate finalmen
but
with identical
che in Dottrina e libri iconography. See B. Davis,si
stampati The Drawings
sono fatt
Con questa scelta cosi
of Cirodistinta pens? che si s
Ferri, New York 1986, p. 156.
ben esplicato il significato di
18. J. O'Malley, S.J., The First quel Motto
Jesuits, Cambridge MA V
posto sopra l'Impresaanddel
London 1993, pp. 237-38.
Seminario Romano,

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202 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

z M V d i , ~~~~~ d E ^ 's X s - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t; q~~~~~~~~~~.. . . . . . . . .

- = _ >XkW=. .\ L-

wa eae to se aneapeadwti.'ero heCuclsdce no

~~~urFerrusj~~~~~~~~~~~~~um-dc1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -C-01

4. Ciro Ferri and Guillaume Chasteau, frontispiece to Annibale A


Rome i659

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,

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LOUISE RICE 203

foundation of the Roman Seminary


Seminary has the distinction of be
under the circumstances, that its e
seminarium, or nursery. By invoki
nary is the first and foremost of i
model and example for all other s
The Roman Seminary opened to
foundation.20 Following the dicta
to educate Roman boys of modest
for careers as parish priests. Thi
school was chronically underfunded
entirely of non-paying fellowship
taxes imposed on the Roman clergy
insufficient to cover the costs. To
been put in charge of the Seminary
by admitting large numbers of secu
aristocratic families and who were
board.2' Unlike the clerical student
necessarily preparing for the pr
and their educational needs were the
century, the secular students far
continued to serve as the diocesa
changed dramatically as it simultan
school for young noblemen, who c
Rome. The Seminary's motto, devis
the school's increasingly aristocrat
As at the Collegio Romano, the
dedicated to educating the nobilit
plenty of opportunities for display
competitions, and formal Latin o
were scientific demonstrations co
productions, punctuated with balle
crowds to the school.22 Above all
accomplished and talented boys
before an invited audience. At th

19. H. J. Schroeder, 20. Onand


Canons theDecrees
early histor
of th
of Trent, RockfordD.
ILRocciolo,
1978, pp.'Fonti per S
175-79. l
O'Donohoe, Tridentine Ricercheper
Seminary Legislation: la storia rel
and its Formation, Louvain
453; 77 Seminario 1957; M. Romano Guaseo
zione del clero: i seminari',
e dipiet?, in Storia ed. L. d'ltalia MezzadI
(as inG.
e ilpotere politico, ed. n. 15). Chittolini and G. Mi
1986, pp. 631-715; G. 21.Pelliccia,
Il Seminario Romano (as in
'In. seminari
20), pp. 31-40; e
formazione del Testa (as romano
pr?te in n. 15), pp. 159-206. nel Cinque e
Ricerche per la storia22.religiosa
Il Seminario Romano (as indi n. 20), Roma,
pp. 259-76. On vu,
134 theatre at the Roman Seminary see, in particular, B.
Filippi, II Teatro degli argomenti. Gli scenari seicenteschi
del teatro gesuitico romano, Rome 2001.

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204 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

categories, differentiated in contemporary documents by


piccoli. The atti grandi were the prerogative of students w
year course in philosophy and/or the additional four-y
reached the level of the doctorate, in other words, an
philosophy' or 'all of theology'. Theirs were the grand
enrolled at the Seminary for no more than two or three
were qualified to make an atto grande. For them there wa
a kind of junior defence usually undertaken at the end of
course in philosophy. That first year was dedicated to
works, so the students enrolled at that level were called lo
took was called an atto di logica. It should be noted tha
grande and the atto piccolo, only a fraction of the studen
sary coursework were permitted and encouraged by their
defence in public. The Jesuits had their reputation as
granted only their most brilliant students, those guarantee
such a conspicuous spot in the limelight. Most studen
usually without printed broadsheets and with little fanfa
In contrast, public thesis defences-even the attipicco
pageantry. The engraved thesis print was just one of t
panied the disputation: the event also featured poetry
and polychoral music, and oratory of the most exquisi
tion, it was a multi-media entertainment that combin
elements within a carefully orchestrated programmati
own atto di logica in I628, Fulgenzio Mascheroni, a chieric
some sense of the pomp surrounding these occasions:

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

23. For more on the subject Music


see L.for
Rice, 'Jesuit Defense (Rome, 16
an Academic
Thesis Prints and the Festive Academic Defence
Madison, at the
WI 2004.
24. Archivum
Collegio Romano', in The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences,Romanum
and Societatis
[MS
the Arts, 1540-1773, ed. J. O'Malley, annals
S.J. of
et al., the Congregation of th
Toronto
1999, pp. 148-69. See also eadem,the'Pietro da 1603-78],
Virgin, Cortona fols 57v~58v: 'Er
and the Roman Baroque Thesis tutta
Print', inparati
con Pietrouniformi
da gialli e ros
benissimo
Cortona 1597-1669 (atti del convegno, Rome and distribuid
Florence rendavono una m
quale tanto
1997)5 Rome and Milan 1998, pp. 189-200; pi? compariva
eadem, 'Apes bella, quanto
philosophical. Bees and the Divine Design
dalla in Barberini
presenza di molti prelati et tra l'a
Thesis Prints', in / Barberini e la cultura europea
cardinali, del
cio? delPIllustrissimo Signor
Seicento (atti del convegno, Rome et2004), ed. L. Mochi
del Illustrissimo Signor Cardinale
maggiore
Onori et al., Rome 2007, pp. 181-94; eadem,fu 'Simon
stimato il favore qua
Vouet's Hesperus and the Mythopoetics
sogliono of Praise',
venire inSignori a simili co
detti
Dialogues in Art History, ed. E. Cropper
fu la (in press,
m?sica di Studies
cappella di Sua Santit?, on
in the History of Art). On the musicbella m?sicafor
composed ognuno
these lo potra raccogli
events see eadem, 'The Philosophy
cheDefense of Ilario
vi vennero.... Le diffese furono anc
Frumenti', introductory essay toil Domenico
che avrebbeAllegri,
grand'honore al deffend

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LOUISE RICE 205

Maybe the most revealing thing ab


his thesis print.

These festivities were in no way diminish


to be among the most attractive of all th
of the Seminary. The fable on which the
in an expansive landscape, one sees a d
abundant water from his urn, which, fal
placidly along, bathing the sandy shor
nymphs in the company of Diana, who,
pleasantly on its shores. Diana stands o
because of other adornments that the en
things, she carries a quiver engraved wit
the thesis print was provided by Father
and priest of our Congregation.25

Mascheroni devotes considerably m


of the defence, including his own
defences, although rarely as detailed
if they mention nothing else.26 On
alike were more keenly interested in
rate, as the one tangible and materia
the thing they, quite literally, took a

da questo ognuno puote amprehendere


Reverendo Padre Rostriil sur
perche nel primo anno della
di nostra
Filosof?aCongregatio
in cui gl
pena ne sanno discorrere 26. The
egli most
non valuable
solamente ne
ma la diffese.' It seems thesis
to have defences at the R
been common
for students to hireNappi's
members manuscript
of the papal 'An
(APUG,
perform at their defences. MSS
See, 2800-2802
e.g., APUG,
p. 554: 'Alii 6 Settembretion[1606]
with fece
the centena
un atto
D. Pietro d'Aragona continued
al quale intervenne
until 1647. ilNC
Ascanio Colonna e Cardinale Panfilio
these events are con molt
generally
e con m?sica del Papa.' the emphasis put on the
25. Ibid., fols 58r-58v:nn.
'Ne 58, 83, 90-93,
punto defraudo97,101
le
pompe la bellezza del scudo,
27. For imperoche fu te
the atto piccolo,
was
pi? belli di tutti quelli cheusually
sono sin printed in a f
hora stati
paper, with La
dendo all'impresa dell'Seminario. an favola
additionso
edged che
? fondato lo scudo ? quella in gold lace,in
si legge these
Vir
libro primo dell'Eneide ... other
and [here prominent
the author lea
mem
blank lines, where he ofevidently
such an event,
intended incluto
Virgilian passage] ... . Onde
festive si vedeva
decorations, in u
gener
lontananza una rupe could
oscura dove 100
reach stava assiso
scudi or
Eurota, quale spargendo molte
relatively aque
small sum dal
comu
cadendo in terra unite on the atto grande.
scorrevano in fiume, Nap
i
n'andava con placido itemises the costsle
piede bagnando involve
spiag
'Perripe
a quali egli scorreva. Aile gl'Atti piccoli
di questo nel S
fiume
in compagnia di Diana sioni. La spesa
molte sar?
ninfe chela alle
seg
mormorio di detto Per
fiume carta
gustavano per 600lec
d'habitar
Diana poi se ne Per
stave tra tafeta di 16 co
l'altre avanz?ndo
Per anche
altezza del corpo come metterci merletti
in d'oro ... 1.80 scudi
molte altre le
Per stampare il gl'haveva
che per distinguirla dall'altre rame ... 7.33 scudi fatto
tore. Portava tra Per la tiratura
l'altro nella del faretra
rame ... 2.75 scudi
scolpi
parole: Exercet Diana Per stampare detta
choros. 600 L'inventione
... conclusioni ... 5.50 scudi de
fu del Reverendo PadrePer stampar
Ciboin seta 16 ... 1.60
nostro scudi
confessor

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206 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

5. Antonio Pomarancio and Christian Sas, Diana and her nymphs besid

On the basis of his description, Mascheroni's thesis prin


engraving by Antonio Pomarancio and Christian Sas,
nymphs advancing along a river bank (Fig. 5) .28 The co
to the mythological narrative, the seedlings and mott
Mascheroni refers to others that do the same ('tutti quelli
alludendo all'impresa dell'Seminario'). It turns out, in
thesis prints that feature the inscription POMIS SUA NOMIN
two of them in an Appendix to this article and others wi
future. All of them were commissioned by students unde
Roman Seminary. At that school, at least, different co
prints made for the atto piccolo from those made for the
by the logici almost always involved some sort of emblem
Seminary's motto; those commissioned by the more adv

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

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LOUISE RICE 207

of philosophy' or 'all of theology


instead on the student's illustrious
heraldry or other identifying imag
category of thesis prints, defined b
one other comparable group of em
by students defending in logic a
Accademia Partenia and all of them
in exactly the same years for the l
This, then, was the festive academ
and his plane tree was created. Th
a young nobleman from Como who
three years later, in I632.31 His
seedlings at the foot of the tree.
to us, none of the poetry and none
and even the theses are lost. Only
ago event. But understanding the c
to appreciate the subtlety of the in
inscription on its trunk applies no
honours, but to the little saplings
too, the aristocratic students of th
nets, gold chains, and other insign
verb crescent turns out to be just
which it is taken, and the viewer
but to recall the Virgilian antecede
emblematic seedlings of the Semin
At the same time, the image is
one in a series; as a variation, in
composition is not primarily about
noble youth. The school's emblem i
a plane tree is merely an ornament
tive life but remains essentially
unusual and sophisticated class of i
better still, the narrative emblem.
begin with a complex, multivalent f
reflects and inflects the emblem's
several levels simultaneously, and w
of the viewer that far exceed thos

29- In at least two regularly


instances, to study,
prints en
comm
by students makingdisputations,
an atto di l?gica
and putat th
on
were later re-used by1998the
(assame
in n. students
23), pp. 1
affiliated
defended 'all of philosophy.' Into the case,
each Collegth
the Seminary features prominently
their in the
courses there, so fir
it
the engraving, but the tradition
is erased of comm
in the second
Appendix, nos 26-27 and Figs
prints 32-33).
for their atti di l
30. The Accademiaarticle on the
Partenia wasarcanis
an eliten
society at the Roman 31. See n.
College, 104 below.
whose membe

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208 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

having recognised the subject, to put the pieces of the pu


and the textual, the historical and the actual, the concr
it expects of him a familiarity with classical poetry suffic
the learned lacuna, supplying the missing fragment of
cedent to illae that makes the inscription on the tree t
emblem is, by definition, a union of text and image, c
without the other is essentially devoid of meaning. Sacchi
an emblem but is itself conceived emblematically. Each of
or implicit, elaborates and enriches the significance of th
sition like this lies in the inventive intelligence with which
iconographies-are fused together into a harmonious an
is one of a number of prints that have the Seminary's em
success is gauged not only in absolute but in relative term
others in the series.
Collectively, the emblematic prints commissioned by
nary constitute a fascinating body of graphic material: in
arcane. This is not to say that they are all of equal com
opment can be traced over time, the earliest examples bei
first to incorporate the Seminary's emblem was design
Maggi, whose death in i6i8 provides a terminus ante qu
Of all the surviving prints in the series, it is the one c
simply taken the motif and expanded it, turning it into a
a walled garden is set between rocky cliffs, with terra
cuses, grottoes, and everywhere parterres planted with se
on the balustrade in the foreground. All diocesan seminar
the local bishop; the Roman Seminary is under the aut
i.e., the pope, and the print alludes to his identity in t
featuring the eagle and the other the dragon of the coat
(I605-2I). There is no indication given as to the studen
sible that the print was meant to be used by multiple stu
kind of narrative content are a couple of other prints tha
series. Again, the emblematic garden, the seminarium, is
enclosure is peopled with sculptured personifications
meaning and make salient the idea of the garden as a m
designed and engraved by Matthaeus Greuter, the garden
a palace (Fig. 7) .33 Statues representing Liberal Arts stand
from left to right, Physics, Metaphysics, Astronomy,
garden is a fountain featuring the marble image of Dia
ises Nature; from her multiple breasts jets of water irrig
The Seminary's motto is inscribed in topiary along th
background, surmounting a perspectival pergola, a tiny
modelled on Giambologna's famous bronze) represents
engraved by Greuter after a design by Paolo Guidotti,

32. Appendix, no. 3. 33- Appendix, no. 4.

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LOUISE RICE 209

a~~~~~~~4 _
1
G_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3

lonnnes Ma,g7us 13omanis.F.

6. Giovanni Maggi, Emblematic garden of the Roman Seminary, c. I6Io-i8

7. Matthaeus Greuter, Emblematic garden of the Roman Seminary, c. i6Io-20

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2IO EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

of arts and sciences (Fig. 8).34 Logic, Physics, Met


Astronomy, and Rhetoric stand like guardians around
enclosure three additional figures collectively represent t
little seedlings to fruition: namely, Industry with her be
and Time with his mirror, scales, and wings. These a
gardens), the inscription tells us, and their Roman-nes
she-wolf with the infants Romulus and Remus at her teat
the garden, between hedges labelled with the Seminary
stand on mounds symbolising the city's seven hills, and in
of the ancient aqueducts winds its way across the Rom
tain that waters the seedlings.
More elegant than Guidotti's HORTI ROMANI, but simil
designed by Pietro da Cortona and engraved by Claude
defended in logic in I628, dedicating his theses to Card
9).35 The Borghese villa provides the setting. The build
background, and the statues on their high pedestals ca
eagles and dragons are all instantly recognisable. At the c
the personification of Logic, identifiable by the four keys
according to Ripa signify the four ways to arrive at truth
The women to the right of Logic are temporal personif
the daily round. One of them wears a diadem adorned wit
is veiled and girdled with stars, indicating night; and the
side, indicating the passage of time. Logic draws the atten
the patch of seedlings in the lower left corner, as tho
these infant plants need to be cared for morning, noon, a
inscribed with the Seminary's motto, two additional pers
generic to allow certain identification, look on with in
the gardens of Villa Borghese, Cortona neatly confla
parterres with the cardinal's family estate, thereby imply
link the student and his sponsor. He takes the emblem as
it out, infuses it with life, and even hints at a narrative st
In their pursuit of clever ways to incorporate and v
responsible for providing the iconography (the task no
rhetoric) scoured classical literature for references to gar
anything to do with plants, however obscure, that might
thesis print. An engraving by Andrea Lilio and Johann

34- Appendix, no. 9. unwary with her intricate and inesca


35. Appendix, no. 21. reasoning (compare Logic's emblem in
36. Cesare Ripa, Iconolog?a, 1618, ed. P. Buscaroli,
in Appendix, no. 4; Fig. 7).
Turin 1988, 11, p. 20: 'Le quattro37.
chiavi
One significano
of the women holds a com
i quattro modi d'aprire la verit? inbeside
has ciascuna figura
her a wooden object that mi
syllogistica, insegnate con molta diligenza
an easel,da
orprofessori
a right angle or measuring
di quest'arte.' I suspect that the some
reticular
sort. pattern of
In all probability, they repr
the lining of Logic's cloak, particularly
Arts andnoticeable
Sciences or inpedagogical virtue
Cortona's preparatory drawing in Instruction and
the Albertina, isGood
also Guidance.
meaningful and alludes to her power to ensnare the

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LOUISE RICE 2II

8 . Pal Gudot an Matau

I _ WDIA

_ 5~~~~~~~~~~~e _W -jx -ii r -Y7-= _--7

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2I2 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

complex with gardeners busily carting potted plants in


left and right (Fig. io).38 Near the centre of the comp
of saplings beneath a rising sun alludes to the emblem of
POMIS SUA NOMINA SERVANT appears on a marble plinth
by seated statues of Metaphysics and Logic. The build
windows, doors, and basement apertures, all fitted with g
of the scene is provided by the inscription borne aloft b
HORTI SPECULARES, or 'gardens of transparent stone'
passage in Pliny's Natural History, in which the author d
passionate fondness for, of all things, cucumbers:

... 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

Lilio, then, has depicted a nursery, a complex of greenho


protect tender seedlings from the cold chills of winter,
professors of the Seminary protect their young charges
the outside world.40
The famous gardens of antiquity provided genial subjec
their students to choose from. Cyrus the Younger's garden
designed by Andrea Camassei and engraved by Reinie
De senectute is the source:

Cyrus the Younger, a Persian prince, eminent for his intellige


visited at Sardis by Lysander the Spartan, a man of the highes
the allies. Among other courtesies to Lysander while his guest,
planted park. After admiring the stateliness of the trees, regu
clean and well-cultivated soil, and the sweet odours emanating
remarked: 'I marvel not only at the industry, but also at the s
arranged this work.' 'But it was I', Cyrus answered, 'who planne
the arrangement, and many of those trees I set out with my ow

The story presents gardening as an honourable and ar


vation of the soil as a metaphor for the cultivation of th
Cyrus proudly points to a tree from which hangs a plaqu
phrase MEA MANU SUNT SATAE ('they were planted by m
companion react with wonder and admiration. Above

38. Appendix, no. 12. of the American Academy in Rome, XL,


and fig.
39. Pliny, Natural History, xix.22.64 28.
(Loeb edn, trans.
H. Rackham, Cambridge, MA 1950, 41. Cicero,
v, pp. De senectute,
462-63).xvn.59 (Loeb edn, trans.
40. The print was copied in a W. dedicatory drawing
A. Falconer, Cambridge, MA 1923, pp. 70-71).The
presented by Giacinto Gigli to Pope Urban
passage paraphrases VIII,Oeconomicus,
Xenophon, with iv.20-25.
the addition of Barberini bees converging ongarden
The description of Cyrus's an iris
also inspired Thomas
(giacinto) and a lily (giglio). SeeBrowne's
L. Nussdorfer, Civic
eccentric book on the number five, The Garden
Politics in the Rome of Urban VIII,of Cyrus, or The Quincunciall,
Princeton 1992,Lozenge,
p. inor Net-work
and fig. 10; J. B. Scott, 'Patronage
Plantations ofand theArtificially,
the Ancients, Visual Naturally, Mysti
Encomium during the Pontificate cally of Urban
Considered, LondonVIII:
1658. The
Ideal Palazzo Barberini in a Dedicatory Print', Memoirs

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LOUISE RICE 2I3

1-HORTI s LARES.

_ I \SP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-J

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~1
r -I - --
io. Andrea Lilio and Johann Friedrich Greuter, Emblematic garden of th

i i. Andrea Camassei and Reinier van Persijn, Cyrus the Younger

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2I4 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

dered with the Seminary's emblem is held by winged


and eagle. Minerva, goddess of wisdom, contemplates
pointing toward the banner on the right, her pivotal po
significance of story and emblem, while a statue of the
the effect of transplanting the scene from Sardis to Rom
two coats of arms, in addition to the heraldic animals o
that it was commissioned by a pair of students, who
sheet or had separate broadsheets adorned with a com
right are those of Giovanni Carlo Biringucci from Siena
Those near the centre of the composition are harder
fellow Tuscan, Francesco Sardi, who made his atto di
if so it is con-ceivable that the print's subject was chose
name (Sardi/Sardis).43
Another print to treat cultivation of the soil as an
illustrates the story of the Roman Republican hero Cinc
spent in the service of his city, Cincinnatus retired to h
his days as a private citizen engaged in honest, humb
interrupted when Rome, facing disaster, called on him
of dictator. Each time he accepted the responsibility thr
but each time, as soon as the danger had passed, he
returned to his farm-thus a rare example of someon
of power. The story is well known; the print, desig
engraved by Johann Troschel, is nevertheless strangely
correctly, it represents both times Cincinnatus was
left, he is shown leaning on his plough while three y
sceptre, and cloak of office. On the right we see him ag
sapling, and again he is interrupted by three Romans ho
of power. In the background, he is shown twice mor
(centre right) and relinquishing them (centre left). Up a
the harvest of the farm, is wrapped about with a bandero
DIGNAE ('the woods are worthy of a consul'), a variant o
of Virgil's fourth (or so-called Messianic) Eclogue.45 T
age in which 'every land shall bear all fruits. The earth
vine the pruning-hook; the sturdy ploughman, too, s
yoke.'46 One might almost imagine that it is this passag
natus, that is represented in the engraving; certain elem
from it, such as the oxenless plough on the left, or the g
playfully lobbing pears, apples, and quinces from on
not fit with anything else in the print, however, and
story, somewhat cumbersomely narrated, as the most li

42. See n. 107 below. 46. Virgil, Eclogues, iv.39-41: '... om


43. See n. 108 below. tellus. / Non rastros patietur humus,
44. Appendix, no. 17. / robustus quoque iam tauris iuga sol
edn,silvas,
45. Virgil, Eclogues, iv.3: 'si canimus trans.silvae
H. R.sint
Fairclough, revised
consule dignae.' MA 1935, pp. 30-33).

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LOUISE RICE 215

-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

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2 I6 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

$,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. .t. ..j;....;;. .... . .i., .. . ....,. . ... .. X

.1.8.>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 V

.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -7 7 4 - !-* 7='t<

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LOUISE RICE 2I7

15. Andrea Lilio and Johann Trosche

i6.Giovanni Antonio Lelli and Camillo C

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2I8 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

[branch] grows in its place') .49 The deep dark woods of V


parterres of neatly clipped box hedge, inscribed with
the previous print by Camassei nor this one by Romanell
atic seedlings. Camassei replaces them with the little off
the base of Minerva's olive tree, drawing their sap from
replaces them with the golden bough, which perpetually
In other words, both are images of regeneration. The
understood metaphorically as family trees. They symboli
the uninterrupted line of descent and the succession of g
new growth that springs directly from the old. It is not
the student's coat of arms, the badge of his lineage, is po
the tree.
The Seminary's motto has to do with fruit and not surprisingly fruit is the subject
of several of the POMIS prints. The golden apples of the Hesperides are featured in a
print commissioned by Carlo Fiorenzuola, a Florentine nobleman who enrolled at the
Seminary in I623 and defended in logic three years later, in I626 (Fig. I5).52 Designed
by Andrea Lilio and engraved by Johann Troschel, the print is based on a passage in the
Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes. Less obvious is the source of a humorous print
designed by Giovanni Antonio Lelli and engraved by Camillo Cungi, in which a Persian
king, richly and exotically dressed and accompanied by an entourage of soldiers, civil
ians, and pages, reacts with wonder at the sight of a giant pomegranate offered to him
by a suppliant (Fig. i6).53 As was first recognised by Jennifer Montagu, the scene is
based on an episode recounted by Plutarch in his Life of Artaxerxes and repeated in a
more detailed version by Aelian in his Historical Miscellany:

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.

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LOUISE RICE 2I9

which it is based. Neither Plutarch nor


as something monstrous. It was merely
a freak of nature as it is represented h
gerating the size of the pomegranate th
remains a serious one. Glimpsed throug
the emblematic garden with its neat ro
relevance as a metaphor of education.
There is more to this print, howeve
granate. Behind the figures, a secondary
who leave the laurel on the left to take
curling around its trunk reads MELLA D
text is a variant of a passage in Virgil's

But when once thou shalt be able now to re


knowVirtue as she is, slowly the plain shall
grape trail from the wild briar, and hard oa

The favoured tree is the stylised hera


the heraldic bees of the reigning pop
Pace has suggested that the allegory m
Papal States after the death of Duke F
the duke's principal seat, had already
although whether the reference is to P
Rovere hands is open to question. Th
Giulio Maria Montevecchio, who enro
later made an atto di logica 'with a be
came from Fano, which is just a few m
Ippolito, was the hereditary lord of
bordered on Della Rovere properties.5
Porzio, was annexed to the Papal State
tory were purchased by the Barberi
negotiations, in i649.6' Giulio Maria de

55- The idea of improving the child


avviso records beyond
the event
natural state reminds one'Giovedi il Conte
of Francis Giulio
Bacon's fa
studente
remark that 'natural abilities nel
are like Seminario
natural R
plants,
need pruning, by study' lode publiche
{Essays, l: 'Onconclusion
Study').
presenza
56. Virgil, Eclogues, iv.25-30 delli Eminentiss
(trans. J. W Mack
London 1889). 'At simul altriheroum laudes et
signori cardinali et fa
n
parentis / iam legere Vaticana,
et quae sitMS Barb. cognos
poteris Lat. 63
virtus, / molli paulatim59.flavescet
L. di Montevecchio
campus aris A
incultisque rubens pendebit
vecchio: sentibus
compendiouva / et d
geneal?gic
quercus sudabunt roscida mella.'
1909, pp. 68-69. Giulio Mar
poet and
57. U. Fischer Pace, Disegni academician;
del he
Seicento roma
exhib. cat., Florence 1997, pp. 48-49.
Africanus first performed
life in Rome
58. Giulio Maria Montevecchio and died
of Fano was unm
the
of Count Ippolito di Montevecchio
60. A. Polverari,and Giov
Montepo
Palazzi. He entered the storia,
SeminaryUrbino 1980,and
in 1631 pp. a6
later made 'un Atto di died
l?gica inin1647, Montevecch
Seminario con un
scudo stampato in rame' States. (APUG, MS 2801, p. 844

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220 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

Della Rovere set this process of territorial acquisition in m


sioned by him, the heraldic take-over of the Della Rov
might indeed be a reference to some aspect of this tangled
But the identity of the student who commissioned the
The young Conte di Montevecchio was greatly favoured by
was attended by Cardinals Barberini and Colonna, amon
the Barberini bees supports the idea that the print is his.
that appears on the shield held by a shield-bearer at the fa
vecchio family.6' Consisting of an oak tree al naturale ben
which grow three or four blades of corn, it has so far res
all attempts to identify it (Fig. I7). It is an unlikely-loo
escutcheon but not, I think, an impossible one, and it
certainly part of the original design: a comparison of
engraving with Lelli's preparatory drawing in the Uf
confirms that the arms have not been recut or altered in
way. There is, moreover, a striking correspondence bet
the coat of arms and key elements in the print. The armo
tree (it is identifiable as an oak by the fat acorns that dot
branches) relates to the stylised Della Rovere oak above, w
the combination of oak tree and corn field evokes the
passage from Virgil's fourth Eclogue alluded to in the inscr
tion on the banderole: 'the plain shall grow golden with th
soft corn-spike ... and hard oaks shall drip dew of hon
Here is an example of a print that would be a great dea
to interpret if we had the original broadsheet of whic
formed part. We would then know for certain who comm
to work out on that basis whether the heraldic goings-
contemporary political reference or merely a fusion of
student and his sponsor.
The garden of King Alcinous, described in book vii o
tion for a print designed by Antonio Pomarancio and e
sometime in the I620S (Fig. i8).62 Here is how Homer p
tion:
Outside the courtyard, close to the doors, is a great orchard of four acres, and a hedge runs about it
on each side. In it grow trees tall and luxuriant, pears and pomegranates and apple trees with their
bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. The fruit of these neither perishes nor fails in
winter or in summer, but lasts throughout the year; and continually the west wind, as it blows,
quickens to life some fruits, and ripens others; pear upon pear waxes ripe, apple upon apple, grape
bunch upon grape bunch, and fig upon fig.63

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.

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LOUISE RICE 22I

~~~ |

_ _ _ _ . _. = , .. . , . _, ___ ..._.. _. . . _,, _ _ S ,_ ,__ . :...._~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I8. Antonio Pomarancio and Matthaeu


at games, c. 1628

youth of the kingdom, who


far we excel other men in
Pomarancioa's print, Alcinou
inscribed ALCINOI REGIA, w
garden of seedlings. The scen
ings of the Seminary's emble
(the pears, apples, and pom
cratic youth (the young nob
conceit through the device o
insofar as it is alluded to in
therefore be sufficiently fam
link-the description of Alc
vance and ties it to the Semi
engaging thesis prints, this
rely on his own erudition to
the image.

64. Ibid., vin. 100-103


63. Homer, Odyssey, (i,pp. 278-79). 12-21 (Lo
vii.i
T. Murray, rev. G. Dimock, Cambrid
254-55)

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222 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

_/ _

I9. Gian Fran

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

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LOUISE RICE 223

Academy. On the left, the man wit


Cimon, who according to Plutarch
spot into a well-watered grove, wh
walks'.68 On the right is Sulla wh
sacred groves and ravaged the A
suburbs'. 69 The print abounds wit
in action-a teacher surrounded by
we have considered. Historians of
illustration of a Platonic dialogue
contradiction is more apparent th
seventeenth century was sufficien
Phaedrus includes one of Plato's m
At one point the author has Socrat
the dialectician who plants words i
seeds in fitting soil 'which he care
ery Plato here conjures up pertain
understood as the unspoken sub-
combination of artful juxtapositi
now familiar device of learned omi
Academe, to Socrates's plane tree
Collectively, the emblematic pr
Romano represent a kind of pict
variatio, or variation on a theme. T
educational practice. In his On the
be taught how to communicate a
express, again and again, the sam
Sometimes they should express the
the teacher has prescribed. Some
many forms and figures as possible
in precisely these techniques and s
the school, as for example in I643,
boys reciting fourteen panegyric
involving a different metaphor
arms.72 The aim of such an exhibit
tial patron; but it was also to demo
The Seminarians' thesis prints di
is the given; it is the one fixed thi

Academy grove. But metaphor


the presenceis a
oftangled
the pla
well as adialogue
the print to this particular rhetorical con
even if
71. Desiderius
sentation is in other respects Erasm
more generic.
68. Plutarch, Cimon, xin.8
trans. (Loeb edn,
B. McGregor, in t
Perrin, Cambridge MA erary and Educational
1914,11, pp. 446-47 W
69. Plutarch, Sulla, Toronto 1978,
xii.3 (Loeb edn,p.trans.
679; ciB
Cambridge MA 'The
1916, iv, Poetics of Variati
pp. 362-63).
70. Plato, Phaedrus, 276B Quarterly,
Language (Loeb edn,lxv
t
Fowler, Cambridge72.MA 1971,
APUG, MSpp. 566
2801,

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224 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

wheel, it is also the springboard to invention, generating


creative ways of implanting the emblem into appropriate n
and resourcefulness. Many of the prints, indeed most,
either rare or altogether unique in the visual arts; and
be matched for the imaginativeness of its iconography
at a learned audience and they revel in a kind of erud
light as air, that is surely meant to conjure up a smile.Ye
brio, at their core they share a common serious them
alliances-with family, sponsor, and school-that would
the society he was about to enter.
All of the engravings discussed above were produced
teenth century, and most of them in the I62os and I63os.
around I640. In I64I, Girolamo Ignazio Rospigliosi, neph
IX, who was enrolled at the Seminary from I636 to I
attended by seventy-five prelates; but the event was h
than at the Roman Seminary and the thesis print commis
leaves out his school's motto (Fig. 20).73 Only one print, o
to post-date I640. It is likely that the story of Aeneas
Venus's doves play a key role, was chosen in heraldic h
Pope Innocent X Pamphili (I644-55), whose coat of arm
This would mean that the print was made around I645
the hope of persuading the newly-elected pontiff to reinst
Roman Seminary, it evidently failed. The Seminarians c
other contexts but they seem to have stopped commi
prints that had been such a distinctive and charming feat
What happened around I640 to bring this graphic tr
may have to do with a decree issued in I639 by the Col
that its members would no longer attend 'thesis defen
ophy or Theology, nor will they go to the colleges and se
parti-cipate in other solemnities, except only that cardina
cated and no others'.75 Evidently, the pressure on cardina
events had got out of hand and the decree was an effort to
essential duties.76 If one cardinal only-the dedicatee-

73- Appendix, no. 30. di Filosof?a o Teologia, ne anco alli co


74. Appendix, no. 31. The Pamphili
per claimed
ascoltare a orationi,
mythic o assistere ad altre
ancestry going back to Aeneas andinsieme,
his mother maVenus.
quel Cardinale solame
Scenes from the Aeneid decoratededicate
the gallery of their e non altri, qua
le conclusioni,
minciato
palace in Piazza Navona and prominent among ad osservarsi
them is dall'anno passato
the Finding of the Golden Bough, which
76. At is thejuxtaposed
atti grandi, it was commo
with their coat of arms in such a catee
way asto to emphasise
invite a coterie of fellow cardin
the presence of doves in both. On the Pamphili
in some adoption
instances 20 or more cardinal
of Aeneas/Venus imagery see R. (see Preimesberger,
R. Villoslada, 'Pon
S.J., Storia del Collegio
tifex Romanus per Aeneam Praesignatus:
inizio [1551] Die Galleria
alia soppressione della Compag
Pamphilj und ihre Fresken', R?misches
Rome 1954, Jahrbuch f?r
pp. 267-73). Even at the att
Kunstgeschichte, xvi, 1976, pp. 221-83.
cardinals were not a rare sight. At Dieg
75. APUG, MS 2801, p. 956: '[1640]
di l?gica ...ci
at fusse un
the Seminary in 1628 his s
decreto fatto dall'anno passato da tuttoMaria
Pietro il Concistoro
Borghese attended 'con qu
di Cardinali, di non andar? alie conclusioni
nali e Prelatie in dispute
molto numero' (see n. 9

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LOUISE RICE 225

A. . -V~~~~~~~~~~A

20. Luigi Primo and Sebastien Vouillemont

grandi, the implication is that no c


enough, at Rospigliosi's I64I atto di
imagine that, hand in hand with
were put into effect, cutting bac
associated with these events. The I6
the Roman Seminary. Its finances,
a time that the school might have
increasingly difficult to control th
their charge. There were several qu
in an all-out armed rebellion by the
or so boys who were expelled on
plished young nobleman from G
formerly a great favourite of his t
deliver the Latin oration at the p
before the mutiny. Ironically, it wa
earlier, had commissioned the engr

Giovanni Carlo Biringucci's atto MS


77- APUG, di l?gica
2801, e
p
later 'furono 78.
presenti... APUG,
otto MS con
cardinali 2801,
molp
e con m?sica eccellente' (see
Romano n.
(as 107 below).
in n. 20), p

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226 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

. . _ ... .... . . _. ,........... ..... . . ....... . ,.

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

79- See n. 116 below. 'Conclusiones theologicae et philosophicae', conta


80. Appendix, no. 32. 185 thesis broadsheets, mostly 18th-century,
archives
81. See, e.g., the thesis broadsheet of Filippo of the Pontificia Universit? Gregoria
Parri,
a chierico at the Seminary who defended in Rome (APUG, uncatalogued, fol. I3r).
philosophy
in 1765. A copy is preserved in a volume entitled

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LOUISE RICE 227

print featuring the Seminary's emble


of the tradition. But its existence pr
still held a cherished place in the col
Enlightenment, it seems, the young
their garden.

APPENDIX
CHECKLIST OF THESIS PRINTS FEATURING THE EMBLEM
OF THE ROMAN SEMINARY82

I) Anonymous, c. i6io (Fig. 3)


Description: Putti and putto-herms hold an elaborate strapwork cartouche containing the emblem
of the Roman Seminary. Above the cartouche is the Jesuit monogram IHS and below it, the
Seminary's device, the papal keys and baldachin with an intertwined 'S'. 2I-5 X 23 cms.

2) Valerien Regnart (attrib.) (Fig. 22)


Description: A sloppy copy of the previous print. Whereas in the original, the thunderbolt, symbol
of military strength, on the shield in the lower left, and the caduceus, symbol of rhetoric and the
arts, on the shield in the lower right, are accompanied by heaped arms and objects of learning
(books, globes, musical instruments) respectively, in the copy the relationship has been accidentally
reversed, so that the thunderbolt appears next to the objects of learning and the caduceus next to
the implements of war.83

3) Giovanni Maggi, c. i6io-i8 (Fig. 6)


Description: View of a formal garden, with the Seminary's motto inscribed on the enclosing balus
trade. In the background, fountains left and right are decorated with the Borghese eagle and dragon.
Signed Ioannes Maggius Romanus F. I9-5 X 26 cms.

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).

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228 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

4) Matthaeus Greuter, c. I6I0-20 (Fig. 7)


Description: In a garden in a palace courtyard, a fountain featu
emblematic seedlings. Statues of Liberal Arts mark the corners
(with an armillary sphere), Metaphysics (with a crown and sce
and compass), and Logic (with a knotted rope). Pendant emblem
Logic represent, respectively, a geocentric cosmos with Explic
may understand'), and a maze with Implico ut maneas ('I entan
The figure of Mercury, god of eloquence, hovers over the perg
motto is inscribed in the parterre and its device adorns the ped
the devotional initials DOM appear at the upper edge of the pr
Bibliography: F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings, Etchings a
I954- [hereafter Hollstein German], xii, p. I56, no. 205.

5) Philippe Thomassin, c. I6I0-20 (Fig. 23)


Description: At the centre of a formal garden, a fountain with
breasts is surrounded by four statues probably representing M
Rhetoric. This is a later and much altered state of a print
Seminarian to decorate his philosophy theses; the original stat
Garzia Mellini and the heraldic M of the Mellini coat of arm
rounding the fountain and on the base of the second statue fro
Seminary's motto is a later addition; it does not appear in t
(Ad maiorem Dei gloriam). This state is unsigned but the orig
sinus fecit.

6) Matthaeus Greuter, c. I6I3 (Fig. 24)


Student: Francesco Platamone (Palermo)85
Description: In a walled garden lined with pavilions, a fountain with tritons waters the emblematic
seedlings. Eight allegorical statues fill the niches. The device of the Seminary decorates the statue
base on the left; the student's coat of arms the statue base on the right. Overhead, Fame carries a
banderole inscribed with the Seminary's motto. Signed Matthaeus Greuterf.86 I8-5 X 24 cms.

7) Valerien Regnart (attrib.), c. I620 (Fig. 25)


Description: In a semicircular teatro, modelled on the nymphaeum at Villa Mondragone in Frascati
(a Borghese property), fountains water seedlings growing in neat radial plots. The central fountain
features the eagle and dragon of the Borghese arms. A hill rises behind the hemicycle, where a
reclining river god feeds the fountains with his abundant waters. The Seminary's motto is written in

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.

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LOUISE RICE 229

22. Val6rien Regnart (attrib.), Emblem

perspectival lettering along the low


and the attribution to Regnart is m

8) Val&rien Regnart (attrib.), 1621


Description: In the gardens of Villa
her by a pair of unidentified person
stream in which Tiber and Po ming
Dupe'rac's I1573 veduta of Villa d'Est
at the lower edge. This print is a lat
i62I, commissioned by Giovanni An
to Prince Alfonso d'Este. Mora was a
prints made for the philosophy defe
as is the statue of Minerva in the m
unsigned; the attribution to Regnar

9) Paolo Guidotti and Matthaeus Gr


Description: The HORTI ROMANI., or
presided over by a Liberal Art (Log
Rhetoric), while in the foreground
tended by personifications of Culti
The she-wolf with Romulus and Re
the Seminary's motto. Signed Eques B

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230 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

t. tE,.H.,...Nt..,.E sS2"yot<. , ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

23. Philippe

. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~NMNS

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LOUISE RICE ..23I

.^ _1=z|Ix 'j A'' 1fi1


25. *a6e Renr _atib Emlmai gade o

Iv :4t Nt v ._

' -t , _I

i-A VnirfnR- nt(trh To T;utm vhl at ,-ill .Xn dFt i Tvl- TI

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232 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

io) Matthaeus Greuter, c. I623 (Fig. 27)


Student: uncertain87
Description: In a palace garden, two soldiers point to the wintr
head in a chariot drawn by reindeer, preceded by shivering com
The Seminary's motto is inscribed on the pergola in the backg
2I X 29 cms.
Bibliography: Hollstein German, XII, p. I57, no. 206.

II) Andrea Lilio andValerien Regnart, c. I625 (Fig. 28)


Student: unidentified88
Description: Aeneas, accompanied by the Cumaean sibyl, en
underworld and is shown a vision of their descendants who w
Aeneid, VI.756-892). In the background, the sun rises over t
with the Elysian Fields), while Mercury, god of eloquence, flies
of arms and the Seminary's motto. Signed Andreas Ancona In. /
Bibliography: M. Pulini, Andrea Lilio, Milan 2003, pp. 236-37.

I2) Andrea Lilio and Johann Friedrich Greuter, c. I625 (Fig


Student: Counts Bonifacio, Cristoforo, and/or Antonio Torelli
Description: In a palace garden, labelled HORTI SPECULARES, g
from the greenhouses in which they have wintered into the wa
the Seminary is inscribed on a marble block between seated p
Logic. Signed Andreas Anconae delin. IIFed. Greuter sculp. 24 X
Bibliography: Hollstein German, XII, p. 76, no. go; Pulini (cited

I3) Andrea Lilio and Camillo Cungi, I625 (Fig. 29)


Student: Counts Ottaviano and/orTommaso Sacrati (Ferrara
Description: In the foreground, two armies-one Greco-Rom
engage in battle on and around a bridge, while their respectiv
another from opposite banks. Above, the river cuts through a w
on a massive substructure. The scene is labelled HORTI THEBA
evokes Babylon rather than either Bceotian or Egyptian Thebe
fied. In the upper left corner, a radiant sun rises over the emb
appears at the upper edge. Signed Andreas de Ancona Inv. ICam

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

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LOUISE RICE 233

_ _ I w! ' ^~~~~~~ A

1RA ir- ii niV l'ri Riant AP.17 17" th .iu in; 'h un';,.mi'rLd- rT1

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234 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

29. Andrea Lilio and Camillo Cungi, Horti Thebani, 162

14) Andrea Lilio and Johann Troschel, 1 626 (Fig. I5)


Student: Carlo Fiorenzuola (Florence)91
Description: The emblematic garden of the Roman Seminary is
logical garden of the Hesperides. With several of the Olympian
dragon Ladon; the three Hesperides timidly emerge from the tr
fruit. On the left, the Argonauts, former companions of Hercu
(Apollonius of Rhodes, Iv. I393). Signed Andreas Anconae deli:/J_

I5) Antonio Pomarancio and Johann Friedrich Greuter, 1627 (F


Student: Carlo Caraffa (Naples)92
Description: In front of an emblematic garden, Apollo and Mar
while armies of putti and satirini engage in mock combat. Ove
Borghese dragons and eagles, sit five deities associated with agri
(flowers), Minerva (olives), Ceres (wheat), Bacchus (grapes), and
arms appear on Minerva's shield. Signed Ant. Pomer. delin. IL. Fe
Bibliography: Hollstein German, xii, P. 77, no. 93.

Tommaso became an OratorianFlorentine nobleman


priest (APUG, MS Carlo Fiorenzu
2801, pp. 708, 759, 772). For the Sacrati
student coat ofSeminary
at the arms, for five years,
1628.
prominently displayed on the bridge, cf.He made his
Rietstap atto di l?gica in 1
(as in
n. 87), v, pi. ccxx. l'impresa nuova del Seminario, quale disp
91. The engraver has, very considerately,
in Seminario,identified
presenti Cardinali e Pre
the student's arms for us. They belong
later, into the young
1628, he was selected to deliver

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LOUISE RICE 235

i6) Antonio Pomarancio and Luca Ciam


Student: Filippo Fossano (Milan)93
Description: In a chariot pulled by doves
ing May and June) and Pomona (wearing
sit side by side, surrounded by deities of
garden, a mock battle rages between t
flowers and fruits, breezes and floods. Si
X 33 cms.
Bibliography: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century, ed. P. Bellini and M. Carter Leach, New
York I983 (Illustrated Bartsch, XLIV), p. I74.

I7) Antonio Pomarancio and JohannTroschel, c. I627 (Fig. I2)


Student: unknown94
Description: Cincinnatus is twice summoned from his rural retirement to take on the role of dictator;
he willingly assumes and willingly relinquishes the authority entrusted to him (Livy, III.26-29; IV.I3
I5). A fruit garland held aloft by putti is encircled by a banderole inscribed SILVAE SUNT CONSULE
DIGNAE (cf. Virgil, Eclogues, IV.2-3); frolicking putti lob apples, quinces, and pears from on high.
Signed A. Pomer. delin. Ij_o. Troschelfe. 27 X 34 cms.

i8) Antonio Pomarancio and Christian Sas, I628 (Fig. 5)


Student: Fulgentio Mascheroni (Cremona)95
Description: Diana and her nymphs admire a pear tree growing on the banks of the Eurotas river
(cf. Virgil, Aeneid, I.498-503) .96 The phrase EXERCET DIANA CHOROS (Aeneid, I.499) is inscribed on
the goddess's quiver. Saplings, tagged with the Seminary's motto, grow at the foot of a tree. The
student's coat of arms is propped against the river god's overturned urn. Signed [torn] ... Pomerant.
Inv. /Christianus Sas sculp.

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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236 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

.. ..... .

kS ,'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~W
_ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . .. .. .. ....F ...

_ _E i' .. a- _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. ..... .

.. .. . . .._ 2

W.~~~~~~~N
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LOUISE RICE 237

:= ~~~~~
32. Antonio Pomarancio and Charles Audran

I9) Antonio Pomarancio and Charles Audr


Student: Ansaldo Grimaldi (Genoa)97
Description: The centaur Chiron welcomes h
prepares to sing to him of 'the heroes of anc
Achilles's mother,Thetis (Statius, Achilleid,
oak stump is inscribed with the Seminary's
latter-day 'lyre'. Signed Anto. Pomerantius inv
Drawing: Princeton (F. Gibbons, Catalogue of
Princeton I977, I, p. 82, no. 2I6, and II, fig.
Bibliography: R.-A.Weigert, Inventaire dufon
no. I57.

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

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238 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

20) Antonio Pomarancio and Matthaeus Greuter, c. I628 (Fig


Student: unknown98
Description: In the gardens of the palace of King Alcinous, where
Odysseus and his host look on as the noble youth of the kingdo
tainment (Homer, Odyssey, VII.II2-I32; VIII.97-I32). The emb
Seminary appear in the foreground; the architectural backdrop
Jesuit tag AMDG is inscribed at the upper edge of the print. Sign
Greuter scul. 24 X 33 cms.
Bibliography: Hollstein German, xii, p. I55, no. I99.

2I) Pietro da Cortona and Claude Mellan, I628 (Fig. 9)


Student: Diego Fontana (Rome)99
Description: In the gardens of Villa Borghese, Logic invokes the p
fications (with the attributes of Day, Night, and the Hourly Pa
seedlings in the lower left corner, while behind a balustrade in
two additional personifications, representing either Arts and S
instruction and supervision, look on. The student's coat of arm
right corner, while the setting as a whole alludes to his sponsor
Signed Petr. Berrettinus Cortonensis delin. / Cl. Mellan Gallus sculp.
Drawings: i) Bayonne (La donation J7acques Petithory au musee
Paris I997, cat. 282); 2) Sotheby's London, 23 Mar. I972, no.
I992, no. 37; 4) Vienna (V. Birke and J. Kertesz, Die italienischen
verzeichnis, i, Vienna I992, pp. 469-70, no. 903).
Bibliography: Claude Mellan, gli anni romani, exhib. cat., ed. L.
IO9; J. Merz, Pietro da Cortona. DerAufstieg zum fiihrenden Male
pp. 22I-22.

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.

by Jennifer Montagu. Cardinal Pietro Maria Borghese (Minneapolis Institute


98. The print lacks heraldry of any kind. of Art). One commission may have stemmed from the
99. Diego Fontana entered the Seminary in 1627 and other.
in 1628 'diffese... conclusioni di L?gica, che leggeva il ioi. Ludovico Betti, from a Florentine family based
Padre Gattino, con l'impresa del Seminario, dedicate in Ancona, entered the Seminary in 1625 and stayed
five years. In 1630, he made his atto di l?gica 'con un
per? al Cardinale Pier Maria Borghese, quale fu presente
con quattro altri Cardinali e Prelati in molto numero'bel scudo dedicato al M?rchese de Bagni, entrandosi
(APUG, MS 2801, pp. 781-82,795).The student's arms l'impresa del Seminario qual si vede in stampa' (APUG,
MS 2801, p. 754). For the Betti and Guidi di Bagno
are 'canting', i.e. they illustrate, rebus-like, the bearer's
name (cf. Rietstap, as in n. 87,11, pi. cccxl). arms see Rietstap (as in n. 87), 1, pi. cciii; in, pi. cxv.
100. It is worth noting that, around the time Cortona102. I am indebted to Ann Kuttner for the suggestion.
designed the thesis print, he also painted a portrait of103. The drawing features the arms of Annibale Albani

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LOUISE RICE 239

. ;'X'Stwt;
.. t.. .- . at i ss s s Y, _ s -ffwii.-' 't; ? -f!st -tt,b-wr w% .ss-; ft? ?-; 7gf _ ! ;

}HS
[. ^ g?: ' _ l/ . . . . . . . . . . . . ,., . _J --# _ tJ J iw _ . . *=rt _; _ _N7g
El
_
f H Y=!iia3
a_v_ots
_a_ss.N s D :! b a
_ - _s ^ J__& %t..->-> .^ z ..@ , .is _

w. ff

s >,: Z = xt a r-- N
p_
_ . _ _. . _ ._s . =,. , SU lMf AM:] i v is _E__
9 *_ t,^ i.2 Itwr
K% a \\

*jE
t)

33.

. ns.. .fi.,[,,
Ox\C S\s N

Jacques
%.R

it- =-,. v _ _&v,..


tANN\E

. s>s ,

Stella
mn, ,( X RS

and
-a-_ .. ..

Johann
.

Friedrich Greuter

.n. . '-&E s w.wS"X- tW;-.At,{


s._ , . i 5r I , ..

G. . W[rJut!n

_; w w _ I , . , t s X , ! 48 _
st
:I. t p i; h.

;__w 2Z: 9h@-iax +

q_ _k _,[ ! ' Ji !| _ K _
.t .,?_=,< v ,k, .^ .s, , , ,, j _ X .< , ,, r_

wg
,X<'.i''''w''
{B'
- * 'st's

s\.' X+wt'
_ >' 1: b? . . F _ .. . . .l_ t __,

w -#s astt i?S--_< - :({-4xT =


)ti ' z* s _ f i'.,. J2-' 0
Ar's '<Fi1,>Jsse,..; ,,<

a_VLNst't ji a'=,s&,.+h_>.^) i\;g>g,>,i_X _,/ t$.hs'as v r


+hP- :_ * w_ _t ^}s,4*
AS; j;t7>t..^iLr > ) + s Z

34. Jacques Stel a, preparatory drawing for Fig. 3 , c. I627

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240 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

23) Andrea Sacchi and Charles Audran, I632 (Fig. i)


Student: Pietro Raimondi (Como)104
Description: Xerxes directs his soldiers to decorate the plane tr
(Herodotus, VII.3i; Aelian, Historical Miscellany, 11.14). Inscribe
CRESCENT ILLAE CRESCETIS HONORES (cf. Virgil, Eclogues, x.54)
of arms lies beside the emblematic seedlings and motto, while t
feature of the Seminary's emblem is alluded to in the sun that
Audran sculp. 26-5 X 35 cms.
Drawings: i) Paris (R. Bacou and J. Bean, Le dessin a Rome au XV
I05, no. I32); 2) NewYork (J. Bean, I7th Century Italian Drawings
NewYork I979, pp. 260-6I, no. 344); 3) London, Courtauld In
Bibliography: Weigert (cited in Appendix no. I9), I, p. i86, n
Oxford I977, p. I02, cat. 85.

24) Andrea Camasseil05 and Michel Natalis, I635 (Fig. I3)


Student: Giovanni Battista Sauli (Genoa) I06
Description: Minerva and Neptune compete for the patronage of
inscribed on the banderole wrapped around Minerva's olive tree
on from the clouds overhead. Signed A. C. del. I Michael Natalis
Drawing: Darmstadt (W. Vitzthum, Master Drawings, II, I964, p
Bibliography: J. Renier, 'Michel Natalis, graveur liegeois', Bulleti
Ix, i868, p. I24, no. 83; A. S. Harris, 'A Contribution to Andrea
I970, p. 64 n. 33.

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

and Taddeo Barberini in place ofinterpretation


those of Bettiof and
its content see S. Brun
Guidi di Bagno. Since Taddeo's escutcheon is impaled
il loro entourage in Francia', in / Barb
europea del
(i.e. vertically bisected), with the Barberini Seicento,
bees on one ed. L. Mochi On
side and the Colonna column on the 2007, pp.the
other, 321-22.
drawing
must postdate the announcement 104. Pietro
of his (or Pirro)
marriage to Raimondi, the
Anna Colonna in 1627. Two Albani Paolo Raimondi
brothers, sonsandof Marta Odescalc
Orazio Albani of Urbino (who served as the representa
Seminary in 1629 and stayed there a li
tive of the duke of Urbino in Rome anddefending
years, later became
in logic in his third ye
the Senator of Rome), were students He went at the onSeminary
to get a doctorate of law (
around that time. Annibale enrolled pp. in800,1621889). For the Raimondi arms
and Giorgio
in 1625 (APUG, MS 2801, pp. 706, in754).
n. 87), Annibale
v, pi. cxxii. was
the scholar in the family and very105. much Andrea
a prot?g? Camassei,
of who design
the Barberini, who in 1641 appointed thesis
him prints
prefectfor of thestudents at the Semi
Vatican Library; his younger brother,ticular by connection
contrast, com to the school, in
pleted only one year of 'Humanit?' before taking
brothers, Vincenzo up a and Sebastiano, wer
military career (Giorgio was killed at
as the battle of
chiericim the L?tzen
1630s (APUG, MS 2801
in 1632). It must have been Annibale, 106. therefore,
The son of Alessandro who and Emilia
commissioned Stella's design shortly before
Battista leaving
entered thethe Seminary in 1634 a
school. Nappi tells us that, at the and
Seminary,a half:Annibale 'fece un atto di l?gica l
un'impresa
studied 'Humanit? e Retorica e comincio del Seminario
la L?gica'; the rinovata' (A
p. 905).
fact that he evidently did not complete theFor year the in Sauli
Logic arms see Rietstap
probably explains why he did not, pi. ccxlv.
in the end, make an
atto di l?gica, although at one point 107.
he Sonmustof Pietro Biringucci
have hadand itGirolama Strozzi,
in mind to do so. I am grateful to Giovanni
Jennifer Carlo enrolled
Montagu at the Seminary
for in 1635 and
bringing the drawing to my attention; for
stayed through theafollowing
differentyear, when he undertook

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LOUISE RICE 24I

emblem, carried aloft by putti mount


R. A. Persyn fe. Romae. 28 X 38 cms.
Bibliography: F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch
Amsterdam I949- [hereafter Hollstein

26) Giovanni Antonio Lelli and Cam


Student: unidentified'09
Description: In front of an emblemati
Artaxerxes receives a magnificent pom
Aelian, Historical Miscellany, I.33). A s
Della Rovere oak, the latter with a band
There exists a second state of the prin
motto as well as the arch on which it
defended philosophical theses a couple
state) IoannesAntonius Laelius Invento
Drawing: Florence (Disegni del Seicent
48-49, cat. 23).

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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242 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

. . = _ffi-os i . . . . . , biX S . 8 fi I N wE i .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. . .

3.GoanALtoio Lll an Cail Cugi Wisdo cofudn *. maican fis stte !_

',: l E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7
: r x a, {.:n W! S E S " 7 7
A. ., . N k, A
_s s ' * a * * _ __ s V?! ? _IO

~~~w t * _ 7-2_. *s ii'_

3.Goan An]tonoLliadCmloCni idmcnonigamgca,scn state i 63

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LOUISE RICE 243

The block of stone at her side is in


FRAUDES SAPIENTIA SOLVIT ('Wisdom di
delusions'). The comets and flames
garden portal as well as the lion ru
t .
rampant to the right of
. De
Wisdom are h
and allude to the student's coat of arms,
appears in the second state of the print '1\1 - . SAPIENTIA
by Bonelli two years later for his phi
defence.I'I
C. Cungius
Signed
F. 27 x
Ioan.
42
;ijcms.
SOLVIT
Antonius Laelius

Drawing: Paris (Bacou and Bean, ci


Appendix no. 23, pp. 73-74, no. 90).
37. Detail of Fig. 36

28) Gian Francesco Romanelli and Mich


Student: Cristoforo Schinchinelli (Cremo
Description: In a palace garden, Chromis,
(Virgil, Eclogues, VI. 13-30). The Seminary
the student's coat of arms."`3 Signed Fr. R
34 cms.
Bibliography: Renier (cited in Appendix no. 24), pp. I23-24, nos 8I-82; B. Kerber, 'Kupferstiche
nach Gianfrancesco Romanelli', Giessener Beitrdge zur Kunstgeschichte, II, I973, pp. I54 and I69 n. 76.

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.

assortment of emblems and the the Latinside of verses that were


the marble tablet to t
set to music and sung during Hidden
the defence as it is in shadow
(Fig. 36). Forand shar
the second state see APUG, MS is hard2801, top. make
960: out but seems to s
'Li versi
tower,
che furno cantati si leggono nel fregio surmounted
di dette conclu on one side b
sioni stampati in rame, qual other
fregioby a lion (perhaps
aggionse alio scudo holding
che fece fare quando diffese topped
la L?gica.' by a knight's helmet (F
conclusion
in. On the second state see the previous isnote.
that NappiGirolamo, eve
identifies Bonelli as a Roman but does
brought upnot otherwise
in Rome, stemmed fr
of the means
give his parentage, which probably family thatratherhe knew than the b
branch. of the Roman branch
very little about him. The arms
of the Bonelli family, which was112. The son of Marquis
related by Cesare Schinchinelli and
marriage to
the family of Pope Pius V andAnna de' Torre, Cristoforo
boasted a couple attendedofthe Seminary
cardi
between 1632 affair
nals of its own, is a complicated and 1637. In 1636,
inhe which
delivered the Latin
the
oration during
Bonelli bulls are quartered with thethe papal mass at Pentecost
diagonal (for this
stripes
of the Ghislieri, under a crossed chief.
practice see above, None
n. 91), and of
probably in these
the following
elements, singly or together, year
is he made his 'atto in
present in Seminario'
either (APUG,state
MS 2801, of
the print. On the other hand, pp.another
884, 923). For the Schinchinelli family
Bonelli arms see Rietstap
(or
(as in n. 87),Sicilian
branch of the family), supposedly v, pi. cclxiii. in origin, has
an entirely different coat of 113.
arms:The print'd'azzuro,
exists in several states,
alwith alternate
castello
inscriptions and da
d'argento chiuso di ?ero, accostato heraldry
un (see leone
Kerber, citedd'oro,
in this
e sormontato da una cometa'appendix
(Crollalanza,
entry). as in n. 61,
1, pp. 150-51). This description114. The conforms reasonably
student's arms in the lower left corner consist
of a crowned
closely to the coat of arms added, in spreadeagle
the undersecond a crossed state,
chief. to

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244 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

7~ F7 -.-..=. --

..... ...

38. Gian Francesco Romanelli and Michel Natalis, Chromis, Mnasyllos, andAegle binding the drunken S
vines, c. i637

30) Luigi Primo and SebastienVouillemont, I64I (Fig. 20)


Student: Girolamo Ignazio RospigliosiII5
Description: Near the summit of Mount Parnassus, Apollo sets his lyre on a marb
inscribed DIFFICILEM SUADET INIRE VIAM ex poem. p.o Card. Barb. nunc URB. VIII ('It [i
smoothes the difficult path [to learning], from the first book of poems by Cardinal Bar
Pope Urban VIII'). A woman personifying Hard Work or Application, accompanied
holding scientific instruments symbolic of learning, approaches from the right, encour
arduous ascent by a winged genius representing Poetry or Eloquence. In the backgroun
takes to the air while the nine Muses pick laurel branches and twist them into wreath
poet-scholars. The three bees of the Barberini coat of arms converge on the tree behind
student's coat of arms is inscribed on a stone in the lower left corner. The frame artfu
heraldic lozenges of the Rospigliosi with the Barberini devices of laurel trees and radiant

115- Rospigliosi was the son of Camillo andtuttithe


invitati dal detto Monsignor, quale fece stampar
nephew of then Monsignor Giulio Rospigliosi who in rame per detta diffesa, facendo rapprese
un scudo
went on to become Pope Clement IX. He enrolled at inventioni poetiche c?vate dal libro di po?s
tare varie
diyears,
the Seminary in 1636 and stayed there for five Papa Urbano Ottavo, le cui armi si vedevano n
completing the year in logic, during which 'fecescudo. Detto Girolamo diffese tanto eccellentemente per
una
solennissima Disputa di L?gica nella scuola del il
Collegio
suo singolar ingegno, che diedi occasione di stupore
tutto
Romano, nella quale si legge la detta L?gica, tutta l'auditorio' (APUG, MS 2801, pp. 920-21, 979
appa
rata di damaschi cremesini con trine d'oro del Palazzo
The omission of the Seminary's motto can be attribut
Papale con dieci ordini di sedie, cinque per parte, nelle
to the fact that Rospigliosi, although a con-vittore at th
Seminary,
quali sederono settantacinque prelati, li primi della corte had his defence at the Collegio Romano.

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LOUISE RICE 245

with ribbons inscribed with phrases from


is omitted, the laurel branches and rising
linking it at the same time to the pope's p

3i) Gian Francesco Romanelli and Corne


Student: probably Ferdinando Raggi (Geno
Description: Venus sends her doves to gui
bough (Virgil, Aeneid, VI. I90-209). A bande
NON DEFICIT ALTER AUREUS (cf. Aeneid,
inscribed with the motto of the Seminary
Romae. 27 X 38 cms.
Drawing: Vienna (Birke and Kertesz, cited
Bibliography: Filippo Baldinucci, Notizie de
I845-47, IV, pp. 599-600; Hollstein Dutch
no. 28), pp. I52-54.

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.

New York University

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.

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246 EMBLEMATIC THESIS PRINTS

INDEX OF ARTISTS

anonymous, no. I Mellan, Claude, no. 2I


Audran, Charles, nos I9, 23Natalis, Michel, nos 24, 28
Bloemaert, Cornelis, no. 3I Pannini, Giovanni Paolo, no. 3
Camassei, Andrea, nos 24-25 Persijn, Reinier van, no. 25
Ciamberlano, Luca, no. i6 Pomarancio, Antonio, nos I5-
Cortona, Pietro da, no. 2I Primo, Luigi, no. 30
Cungi, Camillo, nos I3, 26-27
Regnart, Valerien, nos 2, 7-8, I
Frezza, Giovanni Girolamo, Romanelli,
no. 32 Gianfrancesco, nos
Sacchi,
Greuter, Johann Friedrich, nos I2, I5,Andrea,
22, 29 no. 23
Greuter, Matthaeus, nos 4, 6, 9-I0,
Sas, 20
Christian, no. i8
Guidotti, Paolo, no. 9 Stella, Jacques, no. 22
Lelli, Giovanni Antonio, nosThomassin,
26-27 Philippe, no. 5
Lilio, Andrea, nos I I-I4 Troschel, Johann, nos I4, I7
Maggi, Giovanni, no. 3 Vouillemont, Sebastien, no. 30

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