Castello di San Angelo

“ The Castle of St. Angelo is, as I have said, over-against the Bridge: This is a great Tower, encompass’d with Bastions, which serves as a Citadel to the City of Rome, and a Place of Retreat to the Pope in a time of War or Rebellion; it communicates by a long Gallery with the Vatican Palace: As we go off of the Bridge of St. Angelo, we pass for some time on the Banks of the Tyber, over a Key that is on the left Hand. From thence we go thro’ several Streets to the famous Square of St. Peter’s Church, which may be term’d the chief Square in the Universe. ”

“ The castle suffered so much from the earthquake of 1560, that the then Visconte demolished the ruins, and engrafted upon them the more modern Italian villa, which I was now approaching. A large round-tower of dark red brick-work, with ponderous crenelated battlements, reared its time-worn front above the erection of the sixteenth century. It was a fragment of the ancient Castello di Santugo, and its superstructure rose on the foundations of a Grecian, Roman, or Gothic fortress, of unknown name and antiquity. From its summit the standard of Naples waved heavily in the light evening wind. ”

“ GOD CREATING THE SUN AND MOON
In the Sistine Chapel
around him was becoming gloomy. The Renaissance was declining. Rome was on the eve of being sacked by barbarians. The threatening shadow of a sad God was about to obscure the mind of Italy. Michael Angelo felt the tragic hour approaching, and suffered the keenest anguish. After dragging Michael Angelo from the inextricable enterprise in which he had become involved, Clement VII. resolved to direct his genius into a new channel, in which he could closely superintend him. He entrusted him with the building of the Medici chapel and tombs. ”

“ The Uffizi Gallery with its wonderful Tribune (a very shrine of exquisite relics) , the Palazzo Pitti, the Academy, Churches and Convents, all teem with masterpieces. But even here, in lovely Florence, Michael Angelo reigns supreme, from the proud eminence of that wonderful and overwhelmingly impressive Medici Chapel, on which, as on the Vatican at Rome, his genius has stamped its mark—unique, incomparable, overshadowing every other.
Wherever Michael Angelo's hand has been, devoutest attention is instinctively aroused; when the master speaks, all others hold their peace. ”

“ This colossal genius died in Rome, and was carried by the light of torches from that city back to his better loved Florence, where he was buried. His tomb was made in the Santa Croce, and upon it are three female figures representing Michael Angelo's three wonderful arts: Architecture, sculpture and painting. No artist was greater than he. ”

“ The little square marble chapel itself, which no visitor to Florence will have forgotten, is admired as an architectural gem of Michael Angelo, and is yet more celebrated as the shrine of some of his finest works, especially the sitting statue of Lorenzo and the recumbent statues of Twilight and Dawn on the tomb of Lorenzo. ”

“ This is a lovely piece of workmanship, built of solid masonry, and on the pont, or bridge, there are six statues on each side on pedestals, representing the various architects, sculptors and painters of ancient Rome, and as we crossed the bridge, right in front of us we saw the castle of St. Angelo, erected by one of the Emperors for his own tomb, and for the tombs of his successors. As most of the important buildings in Rome, it is lavishly decorated with marble sculpture, more fitted for a palace than for a mausoleum. ”

“ So much labour did not result even in the safe transport of the marble. Out of six monolithic columns sent to Florence four were broken on the way and one even in Florence. He was the victim of his workmen.
In the end the Pope and Cardinal de' Medici lost all patience over the precious time which had been uselessly lost in the midst of quarries and on muddy roads. On March 10, 1520, a papal brief released Michael Angelo from the contract of 1518 for the façade of San Lorenzo. Michael Angelo did not receive notice of this until the squads of workmen sent to replace him arrived at Pietrasanta. ”

“ Leonardo was not alone in feeling anxious over the heritage. All Italy was Michael Angelo’s heir, especially the Duke of Tuscany and the Pope, who were very desirous not to lose the drawings and plans relative to the constructions of San Lorenzo and St. Peter. In June 1563, at the instigation of Vasari, Duke Cosimo charged his ambassador, Averardo Serristori, in view of Michael Angelo’s physical decline, to enter into a secret understanding with the Pope, to the effect that a strict watch should be exercised over his servants and all who frequented his house. ”

“ Similar figures exist nowhere, even in Italy. You will see there young, handsome, well-dressed men, peasants with bright eyes and a fierce expression, academy models with firm muscles and a proud bearing; but neither in a village nor at festivities, nor in the studios of Italy or elsewhere, at the present time or in the sixteenth century, does any real man or woman resemble the indignant heroes and the colossal despairing virgins which this great artist has placed before us in this funereal chapel. Michael Angelo found these types in his own genius and in his own heart. ”

“ The heirs of Julius II. continued greedily to claim the money which they alleged had formerly been laid out for him. The Pope told him not to think about it, but to concentrate all his attention on the Pauline Chapel.
"But," replied Michael Angelo, "we paint with our head, not with our hands. He whose mind is not at ease dishonours himself. That is why, so long as I have these worries, I do nothing good. . . . I have been chained to this tomb the whole of my life. ”

“ Everything appears brazen and hard and mighty, suggestive of Angelo's own throbbing spirit and maddened soul. Most of his work, when illustrated, must be shown not as a whole but in sections, but one can best mention them as entire picture themes. On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are nine frescoes describing "The Creation of The World," "The Fall of Man" and "The Deluge." "The Last Judgment" occupies the entire altar wall in the same chapel of the Vatican. "The Holy Family" is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. ”

“ Angelo into the new district which was being built over the former castle meadows*; and there, on the first floor of an abandoned house which was already falling into ruins, though the plaster was scarcely dry, he had come upon a frightful spectacle which still stirred his heart: a whole family, father and mother, children, and an infirm old uncle, dying of hunger and rotting in filth! He selected the most dignified words he could think of to describe the scene, waving his hand the while with a gesture of fright, as if to ward off some horrible vision. ”

“ The Renaissance, with its mighty intellectual impetus, its reverence for the arts and culture, and its resistance against the absolutism of the Papacy came as the salvation of Rome from the terrors and the stagnation of the dark days.
The birth of Michael Angelo, in 1474, came with a new era of enlightenment. Angelo, painter, sculptor, poet, and philosopher, was commissioned by Pope Julius II. to carve a great work in Rome, and to adorn the Sistine Chapel with frescoes. Three years were spent on these superb paintings. This is the most wonderful ceiling painting in the world. ”

“ Angelo is a vast and ancient building, dating back at least eight centuries, but devoid of regularity, and not indicating the date of its erection by the style of its architecture. The ground floor consists of innumerable small rooms, a few large and lofty apartments, and an immense hall. The walls, which are full of chinks and crannies, are of that immense thickness which proves that our ancestors built for their remote descendants, and not in our modern fashion; for we are beginning to build in the English style, that is, barely for one generation. ”

“ Often, as at Venice, we leave our home without any definite object, and wander about the deserted part of Rome—that which once was the centre of its magnificence. Thus we viewed the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built by Michael Angelo, with materials, columns and marbles, remnants of the Baths of Diocletian; it is one of the most striking and majestic of the Roman churches. Thus we found ourselves at the foot of the Capitol, and an inscription led us to visit the Mamertine prisons, a spot held sacred since St. Peter and other Christian martyrs were confined there. ”

“ Then the Rio Michiel and then the Tornielli, very dull, the Curti, decayed, and the Rio dell'Albero. After the rio, the fine blackened Corner Spinelli with porphyry insets. At the steamboat station of S. Angelo are new buildings—one a very pretty red brick and stone, one with a loggia—standing on the site of the Teatro S. Angelo. After the Rio S. Angelo we come to a palace which I always admire: red brick and massive, with good Gothic windows and a bold relief of cupids at the top. It is the Garzoni Palace and now an antiquity dealer's. ”

“ THE CASTLE OF S. ANGELO
AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE The Ponte S. Angelo is the Pons Elius of Hadrian, built as an approach to his mausoleum, and only intended for this, as another public bridge existed close by, at the time of its construction. It is almost entirely ancient, except the parapets. The statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, at the extremity, were erected by Clement VII., in the place of two chapels, in 1530, and the angels, by Clement IX., in 1688. The pedestal of the third angel on the right is a relic of the siege of Rome in 1849, and bears the impress of a cannon-ball. ”

“ One day he saw across the garden the statue of a faun that had no head.
“I will make a head for that statue,” said Angelo.
He made a head of a laughing faun. The mouth was open so that the teeth could be seen.
About this time the Grand Duke was walking in his garden. He stopped to look at the statue made by the boy artist.
“Well done, Angelo!” said the Grand Duke. “But, see! You have made an old faun. He should not have all his teeth.”
“That is so,” said Angelo, and he quickly took out some of the teeth.
This pleased the Grand Duke so much that he asked Angelo to live with him in his castle. ”

“ He almost put his hand on some of the statues intended for the tomb of Julius II. in order to use them for the ornamentation of his own chapel! Michael Angelo had to consider himself fortunate in being allowed to sign a fifth and last contract with the heirs of Julius II.—a contract by which he agreed to deliver his completed statues [71] and pay two sculptors to finish the monument, after which he was released from any other obligation for ever. ”

“ In 1532 a fourth contract was signed between the representatives of the Duke of Urbino and Michael Angelo on the subject of the mausoleum, the latter promising to make a new model of the monument, very reduced in size, [40] to complete it in three years, and to pay all the expenses, as well as 2000 ducats, in view of what he had already received from Julius II. and his heirs. "It will suffice," wrote Sebastiano del Piombo to Michael Angelo, "if a little of your odour (un poco del vostro odore) is found in the work." ”

“ However, the misfortunes which he had foreseen occurred. On August 2, 1530, Malatesta Baglione betrayed the city. Florence capitulated on the twelfth, and the Emperor handed it over to the papal commissary, Baccio Valori. Then the executions began. In the early days nothing stayed the vengeance of the conquerors. Michael Angelo's best friends, including Battista della Palla, were the first to suffer. Michael Angelo hid himself, it is said, in the steeple of San Niccolò-oltr' Arno. He had good reasons for fear: the news had got abroad that he had intended to demolish the Palace of the Medici. ”

“ His artistic genius was early displayed, and he was put under masters to study. Lorenzo de’ Medici, pleased with his ability, took him to his palace, where he studied until his patron’s death in 1492. He was summoned to Rome by [187] Julius II., to design his tomb, and in 1508 he began the decoration of the Sistine chapel. When seventy years old he was called upon to take up architecture, and finish St. Peter’s, then under way. For the rest of his life he was engaged upon this church, together with several other buildings of Rome. Michael Angelo was not only an artist, but a writer ”

“ Here, therefore, under the shadow of these noble shapes, and in the silent influence of this solemn place, let us cast a hurried glance over the career and character of Michel Angelo as exhibited in his life and his greatest works. To do more than this would be impossible within the brief limits we can here command. We may then give a glance into the adjoining and magnificent Hall, which is the real mausoleum of the Medici, and is singularly in contrast with it. ”

“ Ten colossal angels, formerly much admired, and executed in 1688, testify to the low ebb of plastic art at that period. The tomb was built by Emperor Hadrian for himself and his successors. The massive circular tower stands on a square basement on the banks of the Tiber. The bronze statue of St. Michael, the Archangel, which is seen on the summit, gives the tower its present name, Castello S. Angelo. ST. PETER'S AND VATICAN, Rome, Italy.—St. Peter's is fronted by an elliptical piazza, enclosed by imposing colonnades, and is the largest and most beautiful Catholic Cathedral in the world ”

“ He strove against himself. What had he accomplished between 1515 and 1520, when in the fulness of his strength and overflowing with genius?—the lifeless "Christ" of the Church of S. Maria Sopra Minerva—a work by Michael Angelo in which Michael Angelo is absent! Moreover, he could not even complete it. [31]
From 1515 to 1520, during these closing years of the great Renaissance, before the overwhelming disasters which were to put an end to the springtime of Italy, Raphael had painted the Loggie, the Incendio di Borgo, the Farnesina Palace, and masterpieces of every description ”