DOI Artikel:
Krasny, Piotr: Exempla viva: the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church as inspirers of Charles Borromeo’s instructions on shaping sacred srt
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38234#0048
47
only of the spatial disposition of the basilicas - composed
of one, three, or five aisles, transept and chancel - but also
of their splendor’. While characterising it, he stated that
this feature of ancient churches, which had been eloquen-
tly, copiously and practicably treated by writers proficient
in the art of architecture’78, manifested itself not only in
the construction of the churches, but was attested by their
centuries-long use as well. ‘Experienced architects’ (‘periti
architecti’) had noted that ‘the piety and religiosity of the
faithful, excited in them [the churches] incessantly since
the Apostolic times, had shone both in those sacred edifi-
ces [...] and their furnishings most splendidly’.79
Regrettably, the archbishop of Milan did not indi-
cate the means that should be used in order to impart
to churches the Early Christian splendour, but it may be
inferred that it was precisely his objective when, around
1560, he started his first ‘fabrica ecclesiae’, namely, a thor-
ough restoration of Santa Prassede in Rome (Fig. 11), his
cardinal titular church. It was built in the fourth century
on the site of St Praxedes’s house and the nearby water
well in which the saint was believed to have hidden, in
the first half of the second century, the remains and blood
of several hundred martyrs. In order to recall the ancient
roots of the church, Borromeo restored to its interior (that
had been significantly revamped in the ninth century and
then transformed several times in the later period) fea-
tures characteristic of early Christian architecture, such as
columns bearing an entablature separating the nave and
aisles, and wooden ceilings over the nave and aisles (Figs.
12, 13).80 He described these features in his Instructiones
University 1977, p. 16 (Art & Music Histories - Theses. 3) (hereaf-
ter referred to as Borromeo-Voelker). See also: V. Russo, ‘Archi-
tettura nelle preesistenze tra Controriforma e Barocco. “Instru-
zioni”, progetti, e cantieri nei contesti di Roma e Napoli’, in Verso
una storia dell’restauro. Dall’età classica al primo Ottocento, ed. by
S. Casiello, Florence, 2008, p. 142; G. Simoncini, La memoria del
medioevo, pp. 119-121,160 (as in note 49).
78 ‘architectonicae artis scriptoribus sapienter, copiose utiliterque
tractata’, C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 6-7 (as in
note 8). According to Giorgio Simoncini (G. Simoncini, La me-
moria del medioevo, pp. 116-118,159-160 [as in note 49]), the pro-
fessionals in the art of architecture who inspired Borromeo were
Sebastiano Serbo (I sette libri di Architettura, bk V: I tempi, com-
piled between 1547 and 1551), Pietro Cattaneo (Iprimi quattro libri
di architettura, 1554), and Cosimo Bartoli (free Italian translation
of Leon Battista Alberti’s L’architettura, published in 1565).
79 Apostolicis usque temporibus excitatam fidelium pietatem ac re-
ligionem, quae in iis aedium sacrarum [...] supellectilis aparatu
praeclerae eluxit’, C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 6-7
(as in note 8).
80 M. Caperna, ‘San Carlo Borromeo cardinale di S. Prassede e il ri-
novamento alla sua chiesa titolare a Roma’, Palladio, 12,1993, no. 1,
PP- 45-58; V. Russo, Architettura nelle preesistenze“, p. 141 (as in
note 77); G. Simoncini, La memoria del medioevo, p. 121 (as in
note 49).
11. Santa Prassede in Rome, rebuilt c. 1560, pian. After M. Caperna,
‘San Carlo Borromeo cardinale di S. Prassede e il rinovamento alla
sua chiesa titolare a Roma’, Palladio, 12,1993, no. 1
as solutions typical of early Christian basilicas.81 Conse-
quently, he identified the imitation of the splendour of ar-
chitecture dating from the ‘Apostolic times’ with a faith-
ful replication of its motifs, so that, as noted by Giussano,
other Cardinals followed his example and from that time
begun to restore and adorn their titular churches’.82 So, in
the biography written by his secretary, Borromeo was pre-
sented as an important disseminator of the early Christian
81 C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 18-19 (as in note 8);
see also, G. Simoncini, La memoria del medioevo, p. 120 (as in
note 49).
82 ‘essempio mosse poi altri cardinali e prelati a fare il medesimo
nelle loro chiese titolari’, G.P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carlo Borromeo,
p. 32 (as in note 53). English translation after: J.P. Giussano, Life
of the Saint Charles Borromeo, ed. by J.H. Newman, voi. 1, London
and New York, 1884, p. 50.
only of the spatial disposition of the basilicas - composed
of one, three, or five aisles, transept and chancel - but also
of their splendor’. While characterising it, he stated that
this feature of ancient churches, which had been eloquen-
tly, copiously and practicably treated by writers proficient
in the art of architecture’78, manifested itself not only in
the construction of the churches, but was attested by their
centuries-long use as well. ‘Experienced architects’ (‘periti
architecti’) had noted that ‘the piety and religiosity of the
faithful, excited in them [the churches] incessantly since
the Apostolic times, had shone both in those sacred edifi-
ces [...] and their furnishings most splendidly’.79
Regrettably, the archbishop of Milan did not indi-
cate the means that should be used in order to impart
to churches the Early Christian splendour, but it may be
inferred that it was precisely his objective when, around
1560, he started his first ‘fabrica ecclesiae’, namely, a thor-
ough restoration of Santa Prassede in Rome (Fig. 11), his
cardinal titular church. It was built in the fourth century
on the site of St Praxedes’s house and the nearby water
well in which the saint was believed to have hidden, in
the first half of the second century, the remains and blood
of several hundred martyrs. In order to recall the ancient
roots of the church, Borromeo restored to its interior (that
had been significantly revamped in the ninth century and
then transformed several times in the later period) fea-
tures characteristic of early Christian architecture, such as
columns bearing an entablature separating the nave and
aisles, and wooden ceilings over the nave and aisles (Figs.
12, 13).80 He described these features in his Instructiones
University 1977, p. 16 (Art & Music Histories - Theses. 3) (hereaf-
ter referred to as Borromeo-Voelker). See also: V. Russo, ‘Archi-
tettura nelle preesistenze tra Controriforma e Barocco. “Instru-
zioni”, progetti, e cantieri nei contesti di Roma e Napoli’, in Verso
una storia dell’restauro. Dall’età classica al primo Ottocento, ed. by
S. Casiello, Florence, 2008, p. 142; G. Simoncini, La memoria del
medioevo, pp. 119-121,160 (as in note 49).
78 ‘architectonicae artis scriptoribus sapienter, copiose utiliterque
tractata’, C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 6-7 (as in
note 8). According to Giorgio Simoncini (G. Simoncini, La me-
moria del medioevo, pp. 116-118,159-160 [as in note 49]), the pro-
fessionals in the art of architecture who inspired Borromeo were
Sebastiano Serbo (I sette libri di Architettura, bk V: I tempi, com-
piled between 1547 and 1551), Pietro Cattaneo (Iprimi quattro libri
di architettura, 1554), and Cosimo Bartoli (free Italian translation
of Leon Battista Alberti’s L’architettura, published in 1565).
79 Apostolicis usque temporibus excitatam fidelium pietatem ac re-
ligionem, quae in iis aedium sacrarum [...] supellectilis aparatu
praeclerae eluxit’, C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 6-7
(as in note 8).
80 M. Caperna, ‘San Carlo Borromeo cardinale di S. Prassede e il ri-
novamento alla sua chiesa titolare a Roma’, Palladio, 12,1993, no. 1,
PP- 45-58; V. Russo, Architettura nelle preesistenze“, p. 141 (as in
note 77); G. Simoncini, La memoria del medioevo, p. 121 (as in
note 49).
11. Santa Prassede in Rome, rebuilt c. 1560, pian. After M. Caperna,
‘San Carlo Borromeo cardinale di S. Prassede e il rinovamento alla
sua chiesa titolare a Roma’, Palladio, 12,1993, no. 1
as solutions typical of early Christian basilicas.81 Conse-
quently, he identified the imitation of the splendour of ar-
chitecture dating from the ‘Apostolic times’ with a faith-
ful replication of its motifs, so that, as noted by Giussano,
other Cardinals followed his example and from that time
begun to restore and adorn their titular churches’.82 So, in
the biography written by his secretary, Borromeo was pre-
sented as an important disseminator of the early Christian
81 C. Borromeus, Instructionum fabricae, pp. 18-19 (as in note 8);
see also, G. Simoncini, La memoria del medioevo, p. 120 (as in
note 49).
82 ‘essempio mosse poi altri cardinali e prelati a fare il medesimo
nelle loro chiese titolari’, G.P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carlo Borromeo,
p. 32 (as in note 53). English translation after: J.P. Giussano, Life
of the Saint Charles Borromeo, ed. by J.H. Newman, voi. 1, London
and New York, 1884, p. 50.