British School at Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome (9.1920)

190 The British School at Rome.
in adding to the Lateran palace two fresh rooms,1 and in ornamenting
one of them at least with historical frescoes. These latter were seen
by Panvinio in the sixteenth century, and were connected with the
coronation of the Emperor Lothaire II. at St. John Lateran. They
depicted among other events his being received and embraced by the
Pope,2 and the coronation itself.3 We need not pause to consider if the
copy which Rasponi has preserved of one of these frescoes is of more
value than the others just spoken of, but may perhaps conclude, from the
mosaic with which Innocent Riled the apse of Sta. Maria in Trastevere,
that he wore a beard, was rather old, and was short and thick-set.4
Of Innocent’s third successor, namely, Eugenius III., we give a portrait
which the Bollandists took from the series of Cavalieri. It reveals,
as we should expect from our knowledge of his life, an ascetic face,
and is believed to be authentic—for one reason because he is depicted
not in the customary pontifical garb but with the robe and cowl which
he had worn as a Cistercian (Fig. 9).
Some forty years after the death of Eugenius (f 1153), there
succeeded to the pontifical throne Celestine III. whose portrait frequently
occurs among the miniatures of the original manuscript of his contem-
porary, Peter of Eboli.
The figure in high relief on the left wing of the bronze doors of the
Oratory of St. John the Evangelist in the Lateran Baptistery—made
in the fifth year of Celestine’s Pontificate by Cencius Camerarius—-was
long famous as a portrait of Celestine and is given here (Fig. 10) on that
account. This figure, however, is now generally thought to be allegorical
and to represent the Church.5
1 Lib. Pont. ii. 384. Fig. 8 shows the features of Lucius III. (1181-5).
2 A copy of this may be seen in Rasponi, loc. cit. p. 391.
3 Cf. Chron. reg. Colon, an. 1156, and Panvinio, De basilica Lat. ap. Lauer, Le palais
de Latran, pp. 478-9.
1 This mosaic is often reproduced. It may be seen, e.g. ap. Bertaux, Rome, i. p. 67,
Paris, 1916. In the contemporary mosaic of the facade of Sta. Maria in Trastevere both
Innocent II. and Eugenius III. are depicted kneeling at the feet of the Blessed Virgin.
Cf. J. B. de Rossi, Musaici Cristiani delle Chiese di Roma, Rome, 1899.
5 Ciampini, Vet. mon. i. p. 239. The figure is clad in a tunic which reaches to the feet,
and in a chasuble of the ancient pattern, i.e. round and completely closed except for an
opening for the head. The kind of hood which rests immediately upon the head is
believed by Ciampini to be that distinctively papal vestment known as the fannon. which
in the portraits in St. Paul’s is depicted for the first time on the figure of Pius X. But
neither in the time of Celestine III. nor at any other was a Pope ever represented in this
attire. By some this figure has been interpreted to be the Blessed Virgin Mary.