The collection of Corradino Orsini by LOTHAR SICKEL, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome
28. Frescos in the loggia of the palace formerly belonging to Corradino Orsini, by Giuseppe Cesari, Cavaliere d’Arpino. c.1594–95. 315 by 565 cm. (Palazzo del Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni, Rome).
CORRADINO ORSINI , born in 1545 in Bomarzo on the estate of his father, Vicino Orsini, was already forty-eight years old when he decided to settle permanently in Rome and to acquire and decorate his own residence. On 24th November 1593 he bought a modest palace in the via di Parione, not far from S. Maria della Pace. From 1527 it had belonged to the Spinola family and, since July 1592, had been owned by the bankers Ottavio Costa and Giovanni Enriquez de’Herrera who sold it to Corradino for 7,000 scudi.1 The chronology of the interior decoration of the palace is uncertain, but it is safe to assume that in about 1594 Corradino commissioned Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino to paint frescos in the loggia on the piano nobile. The central scene
of the vault, Cupid’s victory over Pan (Omnia vincit amor), is surrounded by representations of Adonis, Ganymede, Proserpine, Leda, Juno and Venus, while twelve scenes from the life of Hercules are shown in the lunettes (Fig.28).2 These frescos are well known and have been much studied, but their precise meaning has remained obscure because so little was known of the personality of Corradino Orsini and of his patronage of the arts. Moreover, when Corradino’s nephew and heir, Orazio, sold the palace to the Castellani family in May 1613, all the furniture and portable paintings were removed. The present article presents new information on the art collection that Corradino assembled in the palace up until his death on 11th July 1610.
This article is drawn from my research in preparation for a monographic study of Corradino Orsini. The discovery of his posthumous inventory was the subject of a paper I gave in May 2002 in the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome. I am grateful to Horst Bredekamp, Valeria Brunori, Elisabetta Mori, Erich Schleier and especially to Roberto Zapperi for their help. A grant from the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung facilitated my research on the Orsini family. 1 The palace, formerly known as the Palazzetto di Sisto V, now the Palazzo del Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni, is at 7 via di Parione. On the history of the palace, see M. Cogotti and L. Gigli: ‘Il Palazzetto di Sisto V in Via di Parione’, in P.L. Porzio, ed.: Impronte sistine, Rome 1991, pp.119–35. The contract of November 1593 was referred to by
C. Astolfi: La presunta ‘casa di Sisto V’ a Via di Parione e le nozze di Flavia Peretti, Rome 1940, pp.25–26. Since the palace is often confused with the casa Peretti in the via Leutari, it should be made clear that there is no evidence that it was in the possession of either the Peretti or the Orsini families before 1593. A more detailed analysis will be given in my forthcoming study of Corradino Orsini. 2 For the frescos in the loggia, see H. Röttgen: Il Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino: Un grande pittore nella splendore della fama e nell’inconstanza della fortuna, Rome 2002, pp.35–38 and 276–81, no.50. His interpretation of the frescos is still the same as in his earlier study; see idem: ‘Giuseppe Cesaris Fresken in der Loggia Orsini. Eine Hochzeitsallegorie aus dem Geist des Torquato Tasso’, Storia dell’arte 3 (1969), pp.279–95. the burl ington m agazin e
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29. St John in the desert, by Ludovico Cigoli. Pen and wash on paper, 13.7 by 9 cm. (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence).
30. St John in the desert, by Pietro del Po after Annibale Carracci. Etching, 42.7 by 33.7 cm. (Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome).
Corradino must have been brought up to appreciate art: he was the eldest son of Pierfrancesco – called Vicino – Orsini, the creator of the famous ‘sacred grove’ at Bomarzo.3 As a child, he would have seen the park being filled with ‘monsters’, until in 1563 his father decided that Cardinal Alessandro Farnese should take charge of his son’s education, since the boy allegedly spent too much time daydreaming.4 The Orsini di Bomarzo and the family of Paul III had been closely linked since January 1541 when Vicino married Giulia di Galeazzo Farnese, Alessandro’s cousin. The cardinal supervised Corradino’s education and, in May 1580, arranged his marriage to Margherita Savelli, daughter of Vincenzo Savelli dell’Ariccia.5 Although the marriage lasted thirty years, it was childless. In June 1590, Corradino adopted his nephew Orazio (born August 1586), a few months after the death of the boy’s father, Marzio Orsini.6 Marzio’s inheritance was the subject of fierce and unresolved disputes between Corradino and his sister-in-law Porzia Vitelli – Marzio’s widow – throughout their lives. When he drew up his first will in July 1599, Corradino named Orazio as his universal heir, but the inheritance was dependent on the condition that Orazio
should never lodge his own mother in the palace in Rome, nor even welcome her there.7 In spite of this harsh stipulation, Corradino seems to have been good company, and to have enjoyed entertainment as much as his father, so much so that Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte called Corradino the ‘king of comfort’ (‘re delle commodità’).8 After the death of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, Corradino maintained a close friendship with the cardinal’s nephew, Odoardo Farnese, who in March 1591, at the age of only seventeen, had been created a cardinal but continued to commit ‘many mad pranks’ and conducted several love affairs.9 On 22nd October 1593, Corradino wrote a humorous letter to the young cardinal inviting him to observe a certain noblewoman, ‘la bella Maccarana’, from the palace in via di Parione. Allegedly Corradino bought the palace only in order to please his new patron, Odoardo. The letter describes where and how the cardinal could see the lady in question, and although it may not provide an exact key to the subject of Cesari’s frescos in the loggia, it serves as a reminder that we should not overemphasise their allegorical interpretation:10 new documentary evidence reveals Cupid featured in
3
dence; see Rome, Archivio di Stato (cited in these notes as ASR), Collegio Notai Capitolini (Curzio Sacoccio), vol.1553, fols.313 and 317v–321r. 6 See ASR, Notai AC (Pietro Cataloni), vol.1538, fol.789. 7 See ASR, 30 Notai Capitolini, uff.9, vol.1035 (testamenti 1602–11), fols.1–6; there is a copy in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano in Rome (cited in these notes as ASV), Archivio Ruspoli Marescotti, vol.653, fasc.21. 8 Quoted from a letter written by Del Monte in January 1608 to Virginio Orsini
See H. Bredekamp: Vicino Orsini e il bosco sacro di Bomarzo: un principe artista ed anarchico, Rome 1989. On the history of the palace, see also C.L. Frommel and F. Tiziano Fagliari Zeni Buchicchio: ‘Il Palazzo Orsini a Bomarzo: opera di Baldassare Peruzzi’, Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 32 (1997–98), pp.7–134. 4 See Vicino’s letter dated 4th July 1563, published by Bredekamp, op. cit. (note 3), p.251. 5 The contract was drawn up in the Cancelleria, Alessandro Farnese’s Roman resi-
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31. St John in the desert, attributed to Annibale Carracci. 117 by 90.5 cm. (Private collection).
several other works of art that Corradino had on display in his palace. The discovery of Corradino’s posthumous inventory, drawn up on 2nd August 1610 (see Appendix I), provides details of his small but remarkable art collection. It confirms the brief accounts of Giovanbattista Cardi and Giovan Pietro Bellori, according to which Corradino commissioned paintings from Annibale Carracci and Ludovico Cigoli. Writing in
1628, Cardi states that his uncle Ludovico Cigoli had painted a St John the Baptist in the desert for Corradino which, he claimed, was the best painting Cigoli ever made.11 Unfortunately, its present whereabouts are unknown, but Luciano Berti identified a drawing in the Uffizi, Florence, as a possible preparatory study for the lost painting (Fig.29).12 According to the inventory, Cigoli’s St John once hung in the central room, today called the sala del consiglio, on the piano nobile, next to
from Naples; see Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini (cited in these notes as ASC, AO), ser.I, vol.118 (I), no.100. 9 On Farnese’s ‘pranks’, see R. Tofte: ‘Discourse’ to the Bishop of London, ed. R.C. Melzi, Geneva 1989, p.75. A biographical sketch of the cardinal is given by R. Zapperi: Eros e controriforma: preistoria della Galleria Farnese, Turin 1994, pp.76–84. 10 The main extracts from this letter were published by Zapperi, op. cit. (note 9), p.87, where he correctly identifies ‘la bella Maccarana’ as Laura di Antonio Maccarani,
whose sister Camilla lived in the same neighbourhood as Corradino Orsini. A more detailed account will be given in a forthcoming article on Laura Maccarini. 11 See G.B. Cardi: Vita di Lodovico Cardi Cigoli (1559–1613), Città di San Miniato 1913, p.36; A. Matteoli: Ludovico Cardi-Cigoli. Pittore e architetto, Pisa 1980, p.30. 12 See L. Berti: ‘Disegni del Cigoli’, Pantheon 18 (1960), pp.133–34. It seems less plausible to relate other drawings of Cigoli’s to the lost painting; see M.L. Chappell: Disegni di Lodovico Cigoli (1559–1613), Florence 1982, pp.56–58, nos.34 and 35. the burl ington m agazin e
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32. St John in the desert, by Annibale Carracci. c.1597. Chalk on paper, 26.2 by 32.7 cm. (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
33. The infant Hercules strangling snakes, by Annibale Carracci. c.1597. Panel, 16.4 by 14.6 cm. (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Annibale Carracci’s painting of the same subject as recorded by Bellori.13 Apparently, the two paintings, the most important works in the collection, were shown as pendants. The inventory states that Cigoli’s work was placed to the left of Annibale’s so that each saint pointed towards the other. This supports Berti’s hypothesis, since the gesture of the saint in the Uffizi drawing mirrors that in Carracci’s painting. While Cigoli’s painting must be considered lost without trace, Annibale’s St John gained some fame during the seventeenth century, for its composition is known from an engraving by Pietro del Po (Fig.30), as well as from several copies. It is probable that the original was discovered in France about ten years ago (Fig.31), but its autograph status as a work by Annibale has still to be established definitively.14 It has recently been pointed out that Bellori owned a copy of Annibale’s St John which he inherited from his teacher, Francesco Angeloni.15 In fact, Bellori’s admiration for Annibale was stimulated by Angeloni who, in addition to the artist’s self-portrait, kept a large collection of Annibale’s drawings in his ‘museum’ on the Pincio.16 Moreover, Angeloni’s personal recollections seem to have been a major source for Bellori’s biography of Annibale, something that would explain how Bellori came to claim that Ludovico Cigoli added the small figure of Christ to Annibale’s canvas. His account has given rise to speculation on the iconography and the alleged late date of the painting, but the striking similarity, already observed by Donald Posner, between the figure
of St John and the ignudi in the Farnese Gallery makes it clear that the painting was conceived at about the same time as the ceiling frescos, that is between 1597 and 1601 at the latest.17 In fact, among the preparatory drawings for the Gallery and the Camerino Farnese is a sketch of a seated youth pointing into the distance, which obviously represents an early idea for a St John in the desert, datable to c.1597 (Fig.32).18 Annibale probably dropped the idea after he made use of the same figure type in his St Margaret, painted c.1598 for the Bombasi chapel in S. Caterina de’ Funari, Rome.19 Annibale’s readiness to work for private individuals such as Corradino Orsini or Gabriele Bombasi depended on the permission of his patron, Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. We can assume that Corradino would have had little difficulty in obtaining this privilege because he and the cardinal were close friends. Their good relations declined notably in the years after 1600 when Corradino forged increasingly strong ties with Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, the head of the Orsini family.20 In Corradino’s second will, drawn up on 11th July 1610, the day of his death,21 Corradino reneged on his decision of 1599 to entrust Odoardo and Ranuccio Farnese with the administration of the estate and assigned this task to Virginio’s confidant, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte.22 The Farnese are not even mentioned in his second will, and it is clear that the commission to Odoardo’s artist, Annibale Carracci, must have preceded the rift between Corradino and the Farnese family.
13
15 See D.L. Sparti: ‘Giovan Pietro Bellori and Annibale Carracci’s self-portraits: from the Vite to the artist’s funerary monument’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Instituts in Florenz 45 (2001), pp.60–101. 16 Idem: ‘Il Musaeum romanum di Francesco Angeloni’, Paragone 49 (1998), no.17, pp.46–79, and no.22, pp.47–80. 17 See D. Posner: Annibale Carracci. A Study in the Reform of Italian Painting around 1590, London 1971, II, p.59, no.133. A late date is proposed in Guarino and Masini, op. cit. (note 14). To support Bellori’s account, it has even been suggested that a large drawing in the Uffizi (2060 S; 39.6 by 20.5 cm.) is a preparatory drawing for the small figure of Christ in the painting; see M. Chappell: ‘Lodovico Cigoli and Annibale Carracci: a collaboration and other connections’, in Per A.E. Popham, Parma 1981, pp.137–45. 18 The drawing (Louvre, Paris, inv.no.7328) once belonged to Francesco Angeloni. For attempts to interpret it as a preparatory study for the figure of Polyphemus or that of Euclid in the Camerino Farnese, see J.R. Martin: The Farnese Gallery, Princeton 1965, p.182.
‘Corradino Orsini, che verso Annibale si mostrò sempre amorevolissimo, [. . .] ebbe dal suo pennello la figura di San Giovanni colorito al naturale, giovinetto nel deserto, il quale sedendo in terra sopra la pelle d’una tigre, con una mano tiene la Croce fatta di canna, con l’altra addita Cristo e dispostissimo è l’atto, poiché essendo veduto di profilo, volge la faccia avanti, cadendogli un panno rosso dalla spalla; Ludovico Civoli vi aggiunse la figurina di Cristo in lontananza, oggi si vede nel palazzo del Eminentissimo Signor Cardinale Flavio Chigi’; see G.P. Bellori: Le Vite de’pittori, scultori e architetti moderni, ed. E. Borea, Turin 1976, pp.95–96. The ‘sala dei consigli’ is the central room of the piano nobile; see Cogotti and Gigli, op. cit. (note 1), p.123. 14 See S. Guarino and P. Masini, eds.: exh. cat. Il San Giovanni Battista ritrovato. La tradizione classica in Annibale Carracci e in Caravaggio, Rome (Musei Capitolini) 2001. It was first published by D. Mahon and D.S. Pepper: ‘Il San Giovanni Battista di Annibale’, Ars 2 (1998), pp.58–61. In addition to the two copies mentioned in the exhibition catalogue, there is a third copy in Mainz; see L. Sickel: ‘Annibale Carraccis “Johannes der Täufer” aus der Sammlung Orsini. Ein umstrittener Fund und eine weitere Kopie’, Kunstchronik 55 (2002), pp.162–66.
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34. Venus Cesarini, by Giambologna. c.1583. Marble, 150 cm. high. (U.S. Embassy, Palazzo Margherita, Rome).
35. Cleopatra, by Cristoforo Stati. c.1607. Marble, 125 cm. high. (Dexia Crediop, Rome).
According to Bellori, Annibale painted a second work for Corradino, an Infant Hercules strangling snakes.23 This small picture is first mentioned in Bellori’s Nota delli musei, published in 1664, when it was in the collection of Camillo Massimi; once again Bellori had a fine copy of it.24 Thus, it is possible that Bellori had specific information of the painting’s provenance, although this is difficult to ascertain. It is very likely, but still unproven, that the painting he described is now in the Louvre, Paris (Fig.33).25 If it was painted for Corradino, as Bellori asserts, then he must have given it away during his lifetime, since no painting of Hercules is mentioned in the inventory. Given the work’s small scale, it is not improbable that Corradino gave it to somebody as a token of friendship. In any case, he must have acquired it at about the same time as the St John, for the depiction of the agile child with tousled hair is reminiscent of one of the putti Annibale painted in chiaroscuro in the vault of the Camerino Farnese in 1596.26
The inventory of Corradino’s art collection poses another, even more puzzling, problem. It begins with a description of the objects kept in the ‘sala’, and the most surprising entry is the listing of a marble sculpture of Cleopatra by Giambologna, obviously of substantial size since it was placed on a marble pedestal. However, in the literature there is no indication that Giambologna ever made such a sculpture. As far as we know, the Florentine court artist made only one marble sculpture for a Roman patron, the famous Venus, commissioned by Francesco de’ Medici in 1582 as a gift for Giovan Giorgio Cesarini (Fig.34).27 The presence of such a work in the possession of an obscure Roman noble would have been sensational, and it is hard to conceive that it would have escaped attention. The rarity of Giambologna’s marble sculptures outside Florence raises doubts as to whether the attribution of the Cleopatra can be correct, yet the other entries in the inventory seem perfectly reliable.
19
cuna, espressi gli eroici liniamenti sopra una tavoletta di noce circa un palmo; ed è dedicato al genio di Monsignor Illustrissimo Patriarca Camillo Massimi: fu dipinto per lo signore Corradino Orsini’; Bellori, op. cit. (note 13), p.95. 24 G.P. Bellori: Nota delli musei, librerie, gallerie [. . .] di Roma, Rome 1664, p.33. 25 See Posner, op. cit. (note 17), p.53, no.121, and S. Loire: Musée du Louvre, Département des peintures, Ecole italienne, XVIIe siècle: 1. Bologne, Paris 1996, pp.149–53; Sparti, op. cit. (note 15), p.100, also refers to the copy mentioned in Bellori’s will of January 1696: ‘un’quadretto d’un Ercole di mano d’Anibal Caracci.’ 26 The painting can also be compared to the preparatory drawing for a putto in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle (inv.no.2024); see exh. cat. The Drawings of Annibale Carracci, Washington (National Gallery of Art) 1999, pp.126–27, no.29. 27 On the statue’s provenance, see C. Avery: Giambologna. The complete sculpture, Oxford 1987, pp.106–07, and E. Bruschini: ‘“La Venere del Giambologna” dalla collezione Cesarini alle collezioni dell’Ambasciata Americana’, La Venere del Giambologna dal Palazzo dell’Ambasciatore degli Stati Uniti a Roma, Rome 1993, pp.9–12.
See Posner, op. cit. (note 17), II, pp.46–47, no.106. On Virginio Orsini, see G. de Miranda: ‘Giambattista Marino, Virginio Orsini e Tommaso Melchiorri in materiali epistolari inediti e dimenticati’, Quaderni d’italianistica 14 (1993), pp.17–32; R. Zapperi: Virginio Orsini. Un paladino nei palazzi incantati, Palermo 1993. The relation between Corradino and Virginio is difficult to analyse. There is a notable increase in their correspondence after 1600. In 1605 Corradino even supervised the new decoration of Virginio’s Palazzo di Montegiordano. 21 For Corradino’s second will see ASR, 30 Notai Capitolini, uff.9, vol.1035 (testamenti 1602–11), fols.310–311. There are two copies in ASV, Archivio Ruspoli Marescotti, vol.669, fasc.170. 22 Francesco Maria Del Monte maintained close relations with Grand Duke Ferdinando de’ Medici who was Virginio’s uncle; see Z. Wa=bin´ski: Il cardinale Francesco Maria del Monte (1549–1626), Florence 1994. As indicated at note 8 above, Del Monte knew Corradino well. 23 ‘Non v’è essempio che pareggi la forma di Ercole fanciullo che strangola i serpenti entro la 20
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36. St John in the desert, by Caravaggio. 1602. 125 by 95 cm. (Musei Capitolini, Rome).
A sculpture that corresponds to the inventory’s description is Cristoforo Stati’s Cleopatra whose early provenance is still unknown (Fig.35). It is first recorded in the 1633 inventory of the Villa Ludovisi in Rome, when it was placed at the villa’s entrance, where Giambologna’s Venus also stood.28 It has been noted that the two female nudes are very similar in type which is not altogether surprising for Stati (b.1556) was Giambologna’s pupil and must have known his master’s Venus well. Stati’s patron, Virginio Orsini, occasionally ordered works from the sculptor to give to his close friends: in 1605, for example, he gave Stati’s allegory of Amicitia to the Roman nobleman Ciriaco Mattei.29 Given the close relationship between Virginio and Corradino, it seems quite possible that Orsini gave Stati’s Cleopatra to Corradino; certainly the acquisition of Cigoli’s St John seems to have been mediated by 28
See B. Palma: ‘I Marmi Ludovisi: Storia della Collezione’, in A. Giuliano, ed.: Museo nazionale romano. Le sculture, Rome 1983, I/4, p.79, no.310, cat. no.39b; C. Avery: ‘Cristofano Stati of Bracciano and Giambologna’, in idem, ed.: Studies in Italian Sculpture, London 2001, pp.315–38; P. Tosini: La collezione d’arte di Dexia Crediop, Milan 2002, pp.68–71. 29 For a long time, the Amicitia was mistakenly attributed to Pietro Paolo Olivieri. Jennifer Montagu identified the sculpture as Stati’s work mentioned by Baglione; see E. Borsellino: ‘Una nuova acquisizione sulla collezione Corsini: La “Cleopatra” di Pietro Paolo Olivieri’, Paragone 40 (1989), pp.3–14. On Stati’s relations with his master, Giambologna, see Avery, op. cit. (note 28). 30 With Virginio Orsini’s assistance, Cigoli obtained the commission for an altarpiece in St Peter’s; see G. Baglione: Le Vite de’pittori, scultori, et architetti, Rome 1642, p.290. Virginio’s posthumous inventory lists four paintings by Cigoli; see the Getty Provenance Index, I–3442. 31 In a letter dated 23rd August 1591, Corradino salutes Virginio Orsini on behalf of Giambologna; ASC, AO, ser.I, vol.105 (III), no.416. 32 The frescos are almost completely lost. They are attributed to Bril in a stima of 1659; see Cogotti and Gigli, op. cit. (note 1), p.131. Bril may have made the acquaintance of Corradino Orsini through Giuseppe Cesari with whom he collaborated frequently; see L. Pijl: ‘Figure and Landscape: Paul Bril’s Collaboration with Hans Rottenhammer and other figure painters’, in S. Eiche et al., eds.: Fiamminghi a Roma 1508–1608, Florence 1999, pp.79–91. 33 See F. Cappelletti and L. Testa: Il trattenimento di virtuosi: le collezioni seicentesche di
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Orsini who, by 1603, had become the principal Roman patron of the Florentine artist.30 This date seems to correspond with the execution of Cigoli’s painting, which was to accompany Annibale’s. However, it cannot be excluded that the entry in the inventory is correct and that Corradino did indeed own a Cleopatra made by Giambologna, especially considering the fact that he must already have made the acquaintance of the Florentine sculptor by August 1591 at the latest.31 In fact, almost all of the objects in Corradino’s art collection need to be rediscovered. For instance, it should be possible to find Paul Bril’s painting of The Virgin Mary and St Peter, a rather unusual subject for this artist who specialised in landscapes and painted some of the frescos on the terrace of the former Palazzo Orsini.32 Some of the other inventory entries deserve mention, as does the display of the collection and its later history. Obviously, Corradino could not compete with art collectors of the stature of Ciriaco Mattei,33 but his collection has interesting features, and even Mattei seems to have been impressed by Annibale’s St John because in 1602 he commissioned Caravaggio to paint the same subject for his own collection (Fig.36). It has been suggested that Caravaggio tried to challenge Annibale’s style, but the assertion that the two artists were rivals seems to have been exaggerated,34 and it is uncertain if Caravaggio was ever granted permission to see Annibale’s painting in Corradino Orsini’s palace. Comparison of the two paintings is more revealing of the divergent tastes of their owners who were, nevertheless, close friends.35 Evidently Corradino Orsini had a taste for erotic subjects which he shared with Giuseppe Cesari, who painted the loggia frescos.36 From the same artist, Corradino commissioned a Venus that, according to the inventory, was placed in the bedroom near a Venus and Adonis by an unknown artist. Like most of the paintings in Corradino’s collection, Cesari’s Venus was given a splendid frame and covered by a curtain. Probably it was this frame that Corradino bought from the painter and gilder Annibale Corradini in April 1596 at the high price of thirty-six scudi.37 This would establish a terminus ante quem for Cesari’s painting which ties in with the date of his frescos quadri nei Palazzi Mattei di Roma, Rome 1994; E. Schröter: ‘Caravaggio und die Gemäldesammlung der Familie Mattei. Addenda und Corrigenda zu den jüngsten Forschungen und Funden’, Pantheon 52 (1995), pp.62–87. 34 On Caravaggio’s painting, see also R. Vodret, ed.: exh. cat. Caravaggio e la collezione Mattei, Rome (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica) 1995, pp.120–23, no.2. On his supposed rivalry with Annibale, see C.E. Gilbert: Caravaggio and his two cardinals, University Park 1995, pp.79–97. 35 According to an avviso dated 17th July 1610, Ciriaco Mattei was desolate to hear of Corradino’s death; see Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (cited in these notes as BAV), Urb. lat.1078 (II), fol.509r. A few days later, on 26th July 1610, he drew up his own will. 36 See Röttgen 2002, op. cit. (note 2), pp.87–88. 37 The acquisition of this frame is recorded in a note concerning the valuation of Annibale Corradini’s work: ‘A di 6 di Aprile 1596 Annibale Coradini deve dare baiocchi 75 per una stima di una cornice indorata al Sig. Coradino Orsini stimata da Sallustio Biagioli scudi 36’; Rome, Archivio Storico dell’Accademia di S. Luca, giustificazioni, vol.1, no.271. Annibale Corradini lived near S. Agnese, not far from Corradino’s palace; see ibid., no.270. On the use of curtains in Roman private collections, see S. Rolfi: ‘Cortine e tavolini. L’inventario Giustiniani del 1638 e altre collezioni seicentesche’, Dialoghi di storia dell’arte 6 (1998), pp.38–53. Since many inventories lack the name of the artists, the reference to a curtain can help to identify certain paintings such as, for instance, those of Caravaggio in the collection of Gerolamo Vittrici; see L. Sickel: Caravaggios Rom. Annäherungen an ein dissonantes Milieu, Berlin 2003, pp.55–64.
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in the loggia, completed around 1595. To protect precious or venerable religious paintings with curtains was common practice, but Corradino’s habit of covering almost all the paintings in his collection was quite unusual. In addition to its frescos, several paintings were hung in the loggia, including a portrait of the Ferrarese jester Gonnella, apparently to contrast with the heroic deeds of Hercules depicted in the lunettes. We know nothing of the painting’s appearance. In the sixteenth century, the now rather obscure personality of Gonnella was so famous that almost any representation of a buffone was identified as him.38 The last mention of the portrait of Gonnella and of Cesari’s Venus is found in Orazio Orsini’s posthumous inventory drawn up in August 1643 at his Bomarzo residence.39 Cesari’s Venus may have survived, but so far has not been identified.40 Although Corradino owned some devotional works including a copy of the famous Annunciation fresco in SS. Annunziata, Florence, it would seem that he preferred less pious images.41 For example, he owned an anonymous copy after Correggio’s Magdalene, a small painting once in the Gaddi collection in Florence which was well known at the end of the sixteenth century (Fig.37).42 Correggio’s depiction of the saint lying comfortly on the ground, absorbed in her reading, has little in common with the post-Tridentine image of the penitent Magdalene; nevertheless it was often copied during this period. Corradino’s copy of Giulio Romano’s Madonna della gatta was, in his day, considered to be an autograph work by Raphael. The original painting, which had been in Mantua, only entered the Farnese collection in Rome in 1612, but several early copies prove that Roman artists must have known it before that date.43 The best copy is now in the sacristy of S. Maria in Aracoeli (Fig.38); given that it is painted on panel it is tempting to identify this painting with the version once in the Orsini collection which was also painted on wood, as we know from the inventory of Orazio Orsini’s collection.44 Corradino’s heir, Orazio Orsini, kept many of the paintings in a small apartment in the via Sistina which he used secretly on his rare visits to Rome (see Appendix II).45 It seems to have been arranged as a kind of museum dedicated to the memory of his uncle. Orazio apparently tried hard to keep the collec38 See G. Schizzerotto: Gonnella: il mito del buffone, Pisa 2000. In 1665 two portraits of the clown were owned by Olimpia Aldobrandini-Pamphilj; see the Getty Provenance Index, I–296. One of them may have come from the collection of her cousin Cardinal Giovanni Battista Deti; see R. Lefevre: ‘Un cardinale del Seicento: G.B. Deti’, Archivio della società romana di storia patria 94 (1971), p.208. 39 ‘[. . .] Nella sala di Bomarzo [. . .] Un quadro di una Venere grande con cornice di legno, cinque quadri di paese a fresco, un quadretto di una testa huomo, un quadro di paese con cornice negra. Nella camera. Un retratto del Gonnella [. . .]’; Terni, Archivio di Stato, Fondo notarile di Torre Orsina (Giovanni Battista Tanchi), vol.1159, fol.132r. 40 On Cesari’s paintings of Venus, see Röttgen 2002, op. cit. (note 2), p.348, no.111 (Failla collection, Rome), and pp.505–06 (lost paintings). 41 On the many copies of the fresco, see Z. Wa=bin ´ski: ‘Il modus semplice: un dibattito sull’ars sacra fiorentina intorno al 1600’, in M. Sambucco Hamoud and M.L. Strocchi, eds.: Studi su Raffaello (atti del congresso internazionale di studi, Urbino–Firenze, 1984), Urbino 1987, pp.625–48. 42 On the painting, which has been missing from the Dresden Gemäldegalerie since 1945, see C. Gould: The Paintings of Correggio, London 1976, pp.279–80. On the many copies, see C. Pizzorusso: Ricerche su Cristofano Allori, Florence 1982, p.35; E. Schleier, ed.: exh. cat. Giovanni Lanfranco: un pittore barocco tra Parma, Roma e Napoli, Parma (Reggia di Colorno), Naples (Castel Sant’Elmo) and Rome (Palazzo Venezia) 2001, pp.214–15, no.54; M. Spagnolo: ‘Correggio’s reclining Magdalen, Isabella d’Este and the cult of St. Mary Magdalen’, Apollo 157 (June 2003), pp.37–45.
37. St Mary Magdalene in the desert, by Correggio. c.1525. Oil on copper, 29 by 39 cm. (Formerly Gemäldegalerie, Dresden).
tion together even after he was forced to sell his uncle’s palace in May 1613 because of his many debts. A comparison between the inventory drawn up after his death on 18th July 1643 by his nephew and heir, Marzio Orsini, and that of August 1610 reveals that, of the major works of art, only Giambologna’s Cleopatra was missing from the collection. This may support the hypothesis that the piece may have been by Stati, but does not prove it. Significantly, the two principal paintings, Annibale’s and Cigoli’s images of St John, were still kept together: Francesco Angeloni was allowed to visit the small apartment in via Sistina where he saw them both. His Historia augusta, published in 1641, includes a brief appreciation of the art collection and noble character of Orazio Orsini, who had sent him an antique coin from Bomarzo.46 However, Angeloni mentions only Annibale’s painting and remains silent about Cigoli’s St John which vanished without trace. The dispersal of Corradino’s collection began some years after Orazio’s death. In July 1645 Marzio Orsini was forced to cede the title deeds of Bomarzo to the Apostolic Chamber. In September 1660, he sold Annibale’s St John to Cardinal Flavio Chigi, who seems to have kept it until his death in September 43 See N. Spinosa, ed.: La collezione Farnese: I dipinti lombardi, liguri, veneti, toscani, umbri, romani, fiamminghi. Altre scuole. Fasti Farnesiani, Naples 1995, pp.121–22. During the pontificate of Gregory XIII (1572–85) Cherubino Alberti published an engraving after the painting (Bartsch 40). There is also an anonymous sixteenthcentury copy in the Pinacoteca nazionale in Siena; see J. Hunter: Girolamo Siciolante pittore da Sermoneta (1521–1575), Rome 1996, p.254, no.C–29. 44 The entry in Corradino’s posthumous inventory is very brief. That it was painted on wood is shown by the description in the posthumous inventory of Orazio Orsini (see Appendix II). According to this inventory, the Virgin held the Child in her arms (in braccio), so it cannot be identified as one of the many copies of Raphael’s Madonna del divino amore; see C. Pedretti: ‘La “Sacra famiglia” per Leonello da Carpi’, in Sambucco Hamoud and Strocchi, op. cit. (note 41), pp.581–93, figs.278–88. 45 Orazio died in Bomarzo on 9th July 1643; see the avviso dated 18th July 1643, BAV, Ottob. lat.3345 (II), fol.324v. His Roman house, which was demolished in 1929, stood in front of S. Francesca Romana; see A. Menichella: ‘Santa Francesca Romana a Capo le Case’, Alma Roma 20 (1979), pp.54–59. According to the ‘anime’ of the local parish church, Orazio had lived there since 1639; see Rome, Archivio storico del Vicariato, S. Nicola in Arcione, anime 1636–40, fol.167r. 46 See F. Angeloni: La Historia augusta da Giulio Cesare infino a Costantino il Magno illustrata con la verità delle antiche medaglie, Rome 1641, p.246. Angeloni lived in a house next to S. Isidoro, not far from Orazio’s studio; see Sparti, op. cit. (note 16).
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1693.47 By that time, the Orsini di Bomarzo had already lost all their estates. Marzio Orsini, the last descendant of the family, had to seek shelter in the palace of Flavio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, to whom he left all his remaining goods. The inventory, drawn up immediately after his death on 16th May 1674, proves that nothing remained of Corradino Orsini’s collection.48 Appendix I. The principal works of art listed in the posthumous inventory of Corradino Orsini, drawn up on nd August , on behalf of his nephew and heir, Orazio Orsini. The numbers refer to the paintings listed in Appendix II. (Rome, Archivio di Stato, Notai AC [Gerolamo Fabri], vol.2585, fols.346–366 and 387–392). Nella sala dell’appartamento del Sig[no]re Horatio [Orsini] Item p[rim]a una statua di marmo di Cleopatra fatto da Gio[vanni] Bologna con la sua bascia [base] di marmo sotto. Item un quadro grande di una Venere con cornice di pero negra. Item quattro paesi di Fiandra con li suoi cornice d’albuino. [. . .] Item un tavolino da giocare à sbaraglini [backgammon] Item uno scabello lungho di albuino da tenere il lume nella sala. [. . .] Nella prima camera [. . .]. Item un quadro di una Mad[onn]a copiata da Raffael d’Urbino con la cornice indorata con il suo armessino cremesino sotto. [1] Item un quadro di un San Gio[vanni] Batt[ist]a grande fatto d’A Cicuoli [Cigoli] con la cornice indorata e taffettano cremesino et rancie d’oro e seta. [2] Item un’altro San Gio[vanni] Batt[ist]a fatto dal Caraccioli con la cornice indorata e suo taffettano verde. [3] Item un San Gironimo con la cornice indorata. [4] Item un quadro d’ Campo vaccino con la sua cornice indorata due filetti et il suo taffettano cremesino con le sue francie e seta. [5] Nella seconda stanza del Sig[nor]e [Orazio Orsini] [. . .] Item un quadro di una Madalena con la cornice negra con sui filetti d’oro e suo taffettano verde. [6] Item un quadro del Salvatore con la cornice negra e un filo d’oro. [7] Item un San Giacomo con la cornice tutta indorata e taffettano verde con rancie d’oro e seta. Item un quadro di paese di Pauolo Brilla con tre file d’oro alla cornice con il suo taffettano verde. [8] Item una testa di Aless[andr]o Magno ovata. Nella terza camera [. . .] Item un quadro di una Maria con un San Pietro del Brilla con cornice negra e taffettano verde sotto. Item un’altro quadro di Cristo nell’horto senza cornice. [9] Item due quadri in pietra del Bassano della Passione di N[ostro] Sig[nore] con suo taffettano verde. [10] Item una Nuntiata di Fiorenza con cornice negra e taffettano verde con un’filetto d’oro. Item una Mad[onn]a con la sua cornice d’ebano con suo taffettano cremesino. Item un quadretto di una Madalena comp[iat]a dal Corregio taffettano pavonazzo. [11] Item un crucefisso di San’Pauolo con’ S.ta Brigida e taffettano cremesino. Item cinque cordoni di capecciola per attacare alli detti quadri. Nella logietta dipinta tutta da Gioseppino [Cesari] tutto parata di dopletti cangante pezzi no. 3 con la sua francia di sopra Item un tavolino di Marmo meschio con il suo piede di noce [. . .]. Item un quadro del Gonella con le cornice negra.
47
On the sale of the painting, see Guarino and Masini, op. cit. (note 14), p.30. In 1664 Bellori saw it in the apartment of Chigi’s maggiordomo, Giacomo Nini; see Bellori, op. cit. (note 24), p.35. Nini had previously belonged to the household of Pompeo Colonna, the former owner of the palace (currently Palazzo Odescalchi), and was permitted to live there for the rest of his life; see M. Teodori: I parenti del Papa. Nepotismo pontificio e formazione del patrimonio Chigi nella Roma barocca, Padua 2001, p.146. On the sale of Bomarzo, see G. Silvestrelli: Città, castelli e terre della regione romana, Rome 1940, II, pp.458–60. 48 See ASR, 30 Notai Capitolini, uff.18 (Pacicchello), vol.451, fols.236–240 and 271–272. Marzio Orsini was buried in S. Giovanni in Laterano in the chapel of the dukes of Bracciano.
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38. Madonna della gatta, after Giulio Romano. Late sixteenth century. Panel, 170 by 149 cm. (S. Maria in Aracoeli, Rome).
Item due quadri di frutti e robbe di cucina depinte in esso quadro con sue cornice negre. [12] Item due quadri dipinti di ucelli con sue cornice negre. [13] Nell’ult[im]a camera [. . .] Item un quadro di una Madalena con le cornice indorate. [14] Item un quadro di una Venere con due filetti d’oro alla cornice fatto dal Gioseppino [Cesari] con il suo taffettano verde e francietta d’oro atorno. Item un quadro con Adone e Venere cornice rabescata d’oro con il taffettano verde [. . .]. [15] II. List of paintings kept in the Roman apartment of Orazio Orsini, drawn up on th July , on behalf of his nephew and heir, Marzio Orsini. The numbers refer to the inventory of Corradino Orsini (Appendix I). (Rome, Archivio di Stato, 30 Notai Capitolini, uff.21 [Francesco Arigoni], vol.192, fols.188–189). In primis una tavola di pietra fina lavorata con suo piede di noce. Un quadro grande con un S. Gio[vanni] Battista del Cicoli con sua cornice indorata. [2] Un altro quadro grande con un S. Gio[vanni] Batt[ist]a del Caraccio con la sua cornice indorata. [3] Un paese del Brillo grande con sua cornice negra. [8] Un quadro grande con cornici di noce con un Campo Vaccino con diversi animali e figure. [5] Un quadro da testa con un S. Gio[vanni] Batt[ist]a con cornice indorata. [4] Un quadro da testa con un Salvatore con cornice negra. [7a] Un quadro grande con una Venere ignuda, et un Adone con la cornice negra et oro. [15] Un quadro da testa con una Madalena con cornice negra. [6] Un altro quadro da testa d’un Salvatore con cornice negra et oro. [7b] Un quadro da testa senza cornice con un Christo nell’Orto. [9] Un quadretto piccolo d’una Madalena con il Cristo in braccio con cornice. [14] Un altro quadretto in rame con cornice con una Madalena. [Correggio] [11] Doi quadretti di pietra con la passione di N[ost]ro Sig[no]re Giesu Christo con sue cornici d’ebano. [Bassano] Doi quadri con sua cornice negra con frutti et ucelami. [12] Doi altri quadretti da testa con ucelli che volano e cornice negra. [13] Un copia di Raffaele grande in tavola con la Madonna e Cristo in braccio con S. Anna e S. Giovanni con sua cornice indorata. [. . .] [1]