DOI issue:
Faculty of archeology, history and letters
DOI article:Mann, Horace K.: The portraits of the popes
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70028#0223
The Portraits of the Popes.
203
us by his marble effigy at Avignon. As he was buried in the abbey of
St. Victor at Marseilles, and as a magnificent monument was there raised
to him, it might have been supposed that we should there find a good
portrait of him. But in course of time it has been damaged to a greater
extent than the majority of the tombs of the Avignon Popes, so that
E. Muntz could even declare that the engraving of it given by the
Bollandists is ‘ well nigh all that is left of one of the most sumptuous
monuments of the fourteenth century.’1 Fortunately, a cenotaph was
erected to him at Avignon in the Benedictine Church of St. Martial, and
its 'chief ornament, a beautiful figure of the Pope in alabaster, is still
preserved in the Musee Calvet. The head of the statue is covered with
the triple crown, while its face offers to our view large, well-shaped eyes,
a big mouth, thin lips and a prominent chin. Even the unfortunate
mutilation of the nose does not destroy the expression of happy sleep
which the statue suggests, so that the eminent antiquarian we have just
cited might well say that we are not in this case in front of a conventional
or ideal statue, but that we have before us a true speaking likeness.
Thus in possession of a good portrait of this art-loving and holy Pontiff,
we need not be so much concerned that frescoes of him by Pietro Cavallini,
and Tommaso, called Giottino, have perished.2
Of the last of the Avignon Popes, Gregory XI., who brought the
Babylonian captivity to an end, we do not appear to be possessed of a
portrait of the same degree of authenticity as that supplied by the
recumbent figure of Urban V. According to Vasari,3 Taddeo Bartoli
‘ sent to Arezzo a picture which is in S. Agostino ’ containing a portrait
of Pope Gregory ‘ the one who returned to Italy after the papal court
had been so many decades in France.’ But of this picture there is now
no trace, and as there does not appear to be a portrait of him in Avignon,
we naturally turn to Rome to look for one. In the Church of Sta.
Francesca Romana in the Forum, there is a relief executed by Olivieri in
the days of Gregory XIII., representing the Pope on horseback making
his triumphal entry into Rome. But, though interesting and well
executed, it is not only not contemporary, but is seemingly of no value
1 See his article in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1884, pp. 84-104, ‘ La statue du P.
Urbain V. au musee d’Avignon.’ He gives an engraving (Pl. 15) of the statue, and mentions
a fresco of the Pope in a ruined church at Ninfa, another portrait on wood in the Museum
at Bologna, etc.
2 Vasari, i. 539, 626. 3 ii. 38.
203
us by his marble effigy at Avignon. As he was buried in the abbey of
St. Victor at Marseilles, and as a magnificent monument was there raised
to him, it might have been supposed that we should there find a good
portrait of him. But in course of time it has been damaged to a greater
extent than the majority of the tombs of the Avignon Popes, so that
E. Muntz could even declare that the engraving of it given by the
Bollandists is ‘ well nigh all that is left of one of the most sumptuous
monuments of the fourteenth century.’1 Fortunately, a cenotaph was
erected to him at Avignon in the Benedictine Church of St. Martial, and
its 'chief ornament, a beautiful figure of the Pope in alabaster, is still
preserved in the Musee Calvet. The head of the statue is covered with
the triple crown, while its face offers to our view large, well-shaped eyes,
a big mouth, thin lips and a prominent chin. Even the unfortunate
mutilation of the nose does not destroy the expression of happy sleep
which the statue suggests, so that the eminent antiquarian we have just
cited might well say that we are not in this case in front of a conventional
or ideal statue, but that we have before us a true speaking likeness.
Thus in possession of a good portrait of this art-loving and holy Pontiff,
we need not be so much concerned that frescoes of him by Pietro Cavallini,
and Tommaso, called Giottino, have perished.2
Of the last of the Avignon Popes, Gregory XI., who brought the
Babylonian captivity to an end, we do not appear to be possessed of a
portrait of the same degree of authenticity as that supplied by the
recumbent figure of Urban V. According to Vasari,3 Taddeo Bartoli
‘ sent to Arezzo a picture which is in S. Agostino ’ containing a portrait
of Pope Gregory ‘ the one who returned to Italy after the papal court
had been so many decades in France.’ But of this picture there is now
no trace, and as there does not appear to be a portrait of him in Avignon,
we naturally turn to Rome to look for one. In the Church of Sta.
Francesca Romana in the Forum, there is a relief executed by Olivieri in
the days of Gregory XIII., representing the Pope on horseback making
his triumphal entry into Rome. But, though interesting and well
executed, it is not only not contemporary, but is seemingly of no value
1 See his article in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1884, pp. 84-104, ‘ La statue du P.
Urbain V. au musee d’Avignon.’ He gives an engraving (Pl. 15) of the statue, and mentions
a fresco of the Pope in a ruined church at Ninfa, another portrait on wood in the Museum
at Bologna, etc.
2 Vasari, i. 539, 626. 3 ii. 38.