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#0057
56
22. Coat of arms of Lodovico di Canossa in the chancel floor of Verona Cathedral, after 1531. Photo: P. Krasny
Instructiones that new tomb monuments of lay people co-
uld be erected in churches only with the consent of the
bishop and prohibited such monuments from being situ-
ated in the chancel, adding that they should have the form
of slabs in the church’s floor which ‘will not project in any
way from the floor of the church, but will be perfectly le-
vel with it’.127 According to Giussano, at the beginning of
the reconstruction of his cathedral, ‘In accordance with
the decree of the Council of Trent, he [Borromeo] swept
away all the trophies of worldly pomp which filled the
Church. Although by the decree, monuments of the sto-
ne and metal were allowed, he would not spare even the
bronze monument of his uncle, the Marquis of Melegna-
no [Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, 1498-1555, Fig. 20], brother
of Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV, but put it away as an exam-
ple to others’.128 Yet, this exhortation was unfavourably re-
ceived by the faithful. Borromeo’s orders to remove the
sarcophagi of the members of the Trivulzio family, along
with their ‘trophies’, from the niches in their family tomb
1997, p. 220; W. Góralski, Reforma trydencka, pp. 357-358 (as in
note 7).
127‘nullo modo emineative extent, sed illud plane adaequent’,
C. BORROMEUS, Instructionum fabricae, p. 130 (as in note 8). Eng-
lish translation after Borromeo-Voelker, p. 92.
128 ‘Perchè fece prima in esecuzione del Concilio di Trento, levar tutti
quei depositi e vani trofei, ch’erano appesi per la chiesa, e sebbeno
sono permessi i sepolcri di pietra, ovvero di metallo, volle nondi-
meno che fosse levata l’arca ossia deposito di bronzo del Marche-
se di Melegnano, suo zio e fratello di Pio IV, Sommo Pontifice, e
ciò per dare buon’essempio in questa parte’, G.P. Giussano, Vita
di S. Carlo Borromeo, p. 91 (as in note 53). English translation after
J.P. Giussano, The Life, p. 149 (as in note 82). See also K.B. Hiesin-
ger, ‘The Fregoso Monument’, p. 287 (as in note 126). According
to Giorgio Vasari, the tomb of Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, erected
in 1560-1564, was designed by Michelangelo. Sculptures in its de-
coration were executed by Pompeo Leoni. See A. Spiriti, ‘Leone
Leoni nel Duomo di Milano. Il mausoleo del Medeghino’, in Leo-
ne Leoni tra Lombardia e Spagna, ed. by M.L. Gatti Perer, Como,
1991, pp. 11-20.
chapel in San Nazaro in Brolio in Milan (Fig. 21), repeated
by the cardinal in 1565-1569, caused a widespread outra-
ge which discouraged him from taking further actions to
‘purge’ the churches of such monuments.129 But it also re-
sulted in Borromeo’s widespread fame of a prelate who
took up uncompromising struggle against ‘the insolence
of tomb monuments’ which undermined the respect be-
fitting God in his churches.130
But also in this regard Borromeo had predecessors
among north-Italian bishops who were no less radical in
criticising the practice of erecting sumptuous memorials
in church interiors, and no less resolute in their actions
intended to removing such ‘decorations’ from churches.
During the reconstruction of Verona Cathedral in the
1530s, Gian Matteo Giberti ‘purged’ its chancel of numer-
ous tomb monuments, including the memorial to Pope
Lucius III (Ubaldo de Lucca, 1100-1185)131, and, by marking
the resting place of bishop Canossa exclusively by means
of a floor inlay of pieces of coloured marble in the form
his coat of arms (Fig. 22), suggested a new, modest way of
commemorating the deceased.132 In the constitutions is-
sued for his diocese he pithily criticised the custom which
allowed the dead from wealthy families to be interred in
a ‘honourable and elevated mausoleum’, and stated that he
was scandalised by ‘tomb monuments executed with won-
derful artistry and at a considerable expense, erected in
129 C. Baroni, ‘Un episodo poco noto della vita di San Carlo. La ri-
mozione delle tombe dei Trivulzi nell’edicola Nazariana’, Aevum.
Rivista di Scienze Storiche, Linguistiche e Filosofiche, 9,1935, no. 3,
pp. 430-440.
130 G.P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carlo Borromeo, p. 91 (as in note 53).
See also A. Iodice, ‘Influenze del primo concilio provinciale’,
pp. 166-167 (as in note 7); H. Colvin, Architecture, pp. 220-221
(as in note 126).
131 J.K. Nelson, R.J. Zeckhauser, ‘Theories and Distinction. Mag-
nificence and Signality’, in The Patrons Payoff. Conspicuous Com-
misions in Italian Renaissance Art, ed. by J.K. Nelson, R.J. Zeck-
hauser, Princeton, 2008, p. 59.
132 D. Moore, ‘Sanmicheli’s Tornacoro’, p. 227 (as in note 61).
22. Coat of arms of Lodovico di Canossa in the chancel floor of Verona Cathedral, after 1531. Photo: P. Krasny
Instructiones that new tomb monuments of lay people co-
uld be erected in churches only with the consent of the
bishop and prohibited such monuments from being situ-
ated in the chancel, adding that they should have the form
of slabs in the church’s floor which ‘will not project in any
way from the floor of the church, but will be perfectly le-
vel with it’.127 According to Giussano, at the beginning of
the reconstruction of his cathedral, ‘In accordance with
the decree of the Council of Trent, he [Borromeo] swept
away all the trophies of worldly pomp which filled the
Church. Although by the decree, monuments of the sto-
ne and metal were allowed, he would not spare even the
bronze monument of his uncle, the Marquis of Melegna-
no [Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, 1498-1555, Fig. 20], brother
of Sovereign Pontiff Pius IV, but put it away as an exam-
ple to others’.128 Yet, this exhortation was unfavourably re-
ceived by the faithful. Borromeo’s orders to remove the
sarcophagi of the members of the Trivulzio family, along
with their ‘trophies’, from the niches in their family tomb
1997, p. 220; W. Góralski, Reforma trydencka, pp. 357-358 (as in
note 7).
127‘nullo modo emineative extent, sed illud plane adaequent’,
C. BORROMEUS, Instructionum fabricae, p. 130 (as in note 8). Eng-
lish translation after Borromeo-Voelker, p. 92.
128 ‘Perchè fece prima in esecuzione del Concilio di Trento, levar tutti
quei depositi e vani trofei, ch’erano appesi per la chiesa, e sebbeno
sono permessi i sepolcri di pietra, ovvero di metallo, volle nondi-
meno che fosse levata l’arca ossia deposito di bronzo del Marche-
se di Melegnano, suo zio e fratello di Pio IV, Sommo Pontifice, e
ciò per dare buon’essempio in questa parte’, G.P. Giussano, Vita
di S. Carlo Borromeo, p. 91 (as in note 53). English translation after
J.P. Giussano, The Life, p. 149 (as in note 82). See also K.B. Hiesin-
ger, ‘The Fregoso Monument’, p. 287 (as in note 126). According
to Giorgio Vasari, the tomb of Gian Giacomo de’ Medici, erected
in 1560-1564, was designed by Michelangelo. Sculptures in its de-
coration were executed by Pompeo Leoni. See A. Spiriti, ‘Leone
Leoni nel Duomo di Milano. Il mausoleo del Medeghino’, in Leo-
ne Leoni tra Lombardia e Spagna, ed. by M.L. Gatti Perer, Como,
1991, pp. 11-20.
chapel in San Nazaro in Brolio in Milan (Fig. 21), repeated
by the cardinal in 1565-1569, caused a widespread outra-
ge which discouraged him from taking further actions to
‘purge’ the churches of such monuments.129 But it also re-
sulted in Borromeo’s widespread fame of a prelate who
took up uncompromising struggle against ‘the insolence
of tomb monuments’ which undermined the respect be-
fitting God in his churches.130
But also in this regard Borromeo had predecessors
among north-Italian bishops who were no less radical in
criticising the practice of erecting sumptuous memorials
in church interiors, and no less resolute in their actions
intended to removing such ‘decorations’ from churches.
During the reconstruction of Verona Cathedral in the
1530s, Gian Matteo Giberti ‘purged’ its chancel of numer-
ous tomb monuments, including the memorial to Pope
Lucius III (Ubaldo de Lucca, 1100-1185)131, and, by marking
the resting place of bishop Canossa exclusively by means
of a floor inlay of pieces of coloured marble in the form
his coat of arms (Fig. 22), suggested a new, modest way of
commemorating the deceased.132 In the constitutions is-
sued for his diocese he pithily criticised the custom which
allowed the dead from wealthy families to be interred in
a ‘honourable and elevated mausoleum’, and stated that he
was scandalised by ‘tomb monuments executed with won-
derful artistry and at a considerable expense, erected in
129 C. Baroni, ‘Un episodo poco noto della vita di San Carlo. La ri-
mozione delle tombe dei Trivulzi nell’edicola Nazariana’, Aevum.
Rivista di Scienze Storiche, Linguistiche e Filosofiche, 9,1935, no. 3,
pp. 430-440.
130 G.P. Giussano, Vita di S. Carlo Borromeo, p. 91 (as in note 53).
See also A. Iodice, ‘Influenze del primo concilio provinciale’,
pp. 166-167 (as in note 7); H. Colvin, Architecture, pp. 220-221
(as in note 126).
131 J.K. Nelson, R.J. Zeckhauser, ‘Theories and Distinction. Mag-
nificence and Signality’, in The Patrons Payoff. Conspicuous Com-
misions in Italian Renaissance Art, ed. by J.K. Nelson, R.J. Zeck-
hauser, Princeton, 2008, p. 59.
132 D. Moore, ‘Sanmicheli’s Tornacoro’, p. 227 (as in note 61).