Rome in the Age of Bernini

Outline for Lectures 1 and 2

As mentioned in class on March 30, I'm going to give you a rough outline of the lectures for the beginning of the course. If you are uncertain about your grasp of the background material described below, you might wish to take a look at one of the standard art history surveys, such as Gardner, Janson, Adams, etc.

Rome--Ancient and Early Christian period

Architectural types:

• The Temple--reminder of pagan religion
• The Basilica--the ancient Law Courts taken up as the model for the new Christian church. Becuase:
  1. No association with pagan religion
  2. Large enough to hold the crowds of people attending services
  3. Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine In the Roman Forum, 312-327.
• The Baths
  • Famous and noted for their sophisticated engineering, esp. in the creation of great domed spaces. Survive only part.
  • Shown: Baths of Diocletian, ca. 306. Later renovated by Michelangelo into the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Reconstruction of the Frigidarium
• The Triumphal Arch--both sculpture and architecture. Several survive.
  • Arch of Titus, after AD 81.
  • Arch of Constantine, early 4th century. From the 16th century the rather haphazard collection of marble reliefs that decorate its surface will begin to make it famous as a visual symbol of the decline of the good classical style. Not a view that is widely shared today.
• Round Buildings: martyria
  • Temple of Vesta In the Forum of Rome, founded 715 B.C.
  • Santa Costanza, Rome Fourth century. See below also.

The Great Exception: the Pantheon (all the gods). Built by Hadrian, 118-125. Circular plan with temple front. Interior Enormous dome (141 ft in diameter; oculus is 27 ft across). Set a standard for construction (see Brunelleschi's dome for the Cathedral of Florence). Use of concrete.

Sculpture

• Images of the gods
• Images of the Emperor
• Portraits
• The Equestrian Monument

  Marcus Aurelius, ca. AD 175. Bronze. Almost the only example of this subject to survive from the ancient world; certainly the most famous and influential on the arts. Saved because it was thought to show the Emperor Constantine. The subject with its ancient associations was first revived in the 15th century with Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua; but it will become even more popular from the 17th century. See, for example, Bernini's Equestrian statue of Constantine (1645/70)

• Funerary sculpture--the Sarcophagus

Along with the development of new architecture, older Roman (ie, pagan) types continue, but with enormous changes in style

• The Four Tetrarchs, ca. AD 305 Porphyry
• The Arch of Constantine, Ad 312-315. See above.
• Remains of the Colossal statue of Constantine, ca. AD 315-330. Formerly in the Basilica of Constantine (Basilica Nova) AD 306-312.

The New Christian Architecture:

Recognition of Christianity prompts development of early church types esp: .

• the martyrial shrine (Santa Costanza, Sto Stefano Rotondo)
• Santa Costanza, Rome Fourth century.
• Interior of Santo Stefano Rotonda (detail) If you look very closely at this, you'll see indications of frescoes on the walls.

• the Basilica

Edit of Milan 325. Christianity recognized as official Roman religion.

• Old St. Peter's Begun ca. 320.

  A site on Early Christian art Includes drawings of Old St. Peter's. Note that the images on this site will not enlarge.

  Drawing showing building at St. Peter's The dark lines trace the plan of Old St. Peter's (ca. 320), built over the ancient hippodrome (left). The fainter lines indicate new St. Peter's. Plan: Atrium, Narthex, Aisles, Transept, Apse

After Constantine:

• Church of Santa Sabina, Rome, 422-432. View from the southeast
• Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, ca. 425.
• Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna ded. 504.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Center for what remains of the Roman Empire moves elsewhere: Constantinople (Hagia Sophia, 532-537)

From 539 Ravenna Western Capital of the Byzantine Empire

• San Vitale Ravenna, 526-547. Interior with detail of the mosaics

Rome falls to the invading Odoacer in 476; end of the Western Roman Empire. From the fifth century to just about the fifteenth, Rome is for our purposes a backwater. Only its position as the location of the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, keeps it from oblivion.