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Some Painters and the Counter-Reformation before 1600

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Ellis Waterhouse
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Extract

It was not until the twenty-fifth and last session of the Council of Trent, in 1563, that the assembled Fathers made reference to the arts, and that only in very general terms: ‘The Council forbids placing in churches any image which illustrates false doctrine and can mis-lead the simple … it forbids placing in any church even if it is not subject to diocesan visitation, any unusual image, unless it has been approved by the bishop’. The Council recommended the retention of images in churches, but otherwise its decree was purely negative. It did not contemplate using religious art as one of the weapons of controversy in its war against Protestantism. That was to come later.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 22 , December 1972 , pp. 103 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1972

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References

1 Mâle, Emile, L'art réligieuR après le Concile de Trente (Paris, 1932), p. 22Google Scholar.

2 Conveniently reprinted in Trattati d'arte del Cinquecento, ed. Paola Barocchi, iii (Bari, 1962).

3 It is probable that the perusal of the gigantic number of MSS which contain records of S. Carlo's visitations would give a clearer picture of his views about painting—but these would only be negative views.

4 For instance, Niccolo Pomarancio's frescoes in S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome; Haskell, Francis, Patrons and Painters (London, 1963), p. 67Google Scholar.

5 The painting expert during this period was padre Valeriano: for him and his promotion of arte sacra see Zeri, Federico, Pittura c Contrurijoma (Torino, 1957)Google Scholar; Pirri, P., Giuseppe Valeriano S.I. (Roma, 1970)Google Scholar.

6 The best-documented book on Baroccio is Harald Olsen, Federico Barocci, of which the first (unillustrated) edition was published in Stockholm, 1955. Later an illustrated edition appeared. Full bibliographies are given in Olsen's catalogue raisonné under each picture: the Visitation is no. 37 (other pictures by Baroccio mentioned will simply be indicated by their numbers in Olsen's catalogue).

7 Gronau, Giorgio, Docmnenti artistici urbinati (Firenze, 1936), p. 156Google Scholar.

8 Bellori, Giovanni Pietro, ‘Vita di Federico Barocci’, in Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori et Architetti moderni (Roma, 1672), pp. 169–96Google Scholar.

9 Olsen, no. 26. The best version is that in the National Gallery, London.

10 In the Uffizi; but Raphael's picture is not a scherzo as there is no cat.

11 Olsen, no. 31, with bibliography.

12 Freedberg, S. J., Painting in Italy 1500–1600 (Harmondsworth, 1970), P. 439Google Scholar.

13 Olsen, no. 34. The earlier version is now in the Brussels Gallery. See also Gronau, , Documenti artistici urbinati, pp. 158ffGoogle Scholar.

14 Gronau, , op. cit., p. 162Google Scholar.

15 Olsen, no. 65: Gronau, , op. cit., pp. 176 ffGoogle Scholar.

16 Notably the pictures in S. Polo and S. Trovaso, Venice; but Tintoretto's intentions were very different from Baroccio's.

17 For the role of Monsignore Agucchi, see Mahon, Denis, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory (London, 1947), passim.Google Scholar

18 See the avvisi quoted in Orbaan, J. A. F., Documenti sul Barocco in Roma (Miscellanea della R. Società Romana di Storia Patria, Roma, 1920), p. 187Google Scholar. Admittedly one of the objections was that the scale of the figures in the painting was too small to compete with that of the sculpture in the chapel.

19 The best book on El Greco, with the fullest catalogue, is Wethey, Harold E., El Greco and his School (Princeton, 1962)Google Scholar. I shall give Wethey catalogue numbers for each picture discussed.

20 See Pecchiai, Pio, Il Gesù di Roma (Roma, 1953)Google Scholar.

21 Reprinted in Trattati d'arte del Cinquecento, ed. Barocchi, ii (Bari, 1962), pp. 3–115.

22 Mancini, Giulio, Considerazioni sulla Pittura, ed. Marucchi, Adriana, i (Roma, 1956), pp. 230/1Google Scholar.

23 Wethey, no. i.

24 Wethey, no. 89; now in Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo.

25 Certain of these new images of Saints in penitence or in a state of enthusiasm are also found in th e works of Baroccio an d Cigoli: see Friedlaender, Walter, Mannerism and Anti-Mannerism in Italian Painting (New York, 1957). PP. 73 ffGoogle Scholar.

26 A different view is pu t forward in Maclaren, Neil and Braham, Allan, National Gallery Catalogues: The Spanish School (London, 1970), pp. 27Google Scholar , which is carefully reasoned but does not convince me. The subject matter is also very fully gone into.

27 Wethey, no. 116: the Escorial picture is no. 117.

28 Wethey, no. 265.

29 Wethey, no. 78.

30 Wethey, no. 123.

31 Wethey, nos. 104 to 110: the Minneapolis picture is no. 105.

32 Wethey, no. 127.

33 The fullest and best book on Caravaggio is Friedlaender, Walter, Caravaggio Studies (Princeton, 1955)Google Scholar. This contains a catalogue and full documentation. The Valetta picture had not, however, been cleaned when this book appeared and is best seen in Alinari photograph 52881.

34 Friedlaender, no. 22a. The picture was later in the Berlin Gallery and was destroyed during the last war. The second S. Matthew is Friedlaender no. 22d.

35 Bellori's life of Caravaggio is in his Le Vite de' Pittori, Scultori et Architetti moderni (Roma, 1672)Google Scholar.

36 Friedlaender, no. 25.

37 Friedlaender, no. 28; now in the Louvre.

38 Friedlaender, no. 27.

39 Friedlaender, no. 36; but see note 33.