Part 7 (1/2)
Some of the helpers seem to come direct from Perugino's workshop. We find the prototypes of the greybeards in the Cambio--Socrates, Pericles, and the rest. In the execution of the ”Betrothal,” Steinmann sees signs of a Lombard's hand, in the dress and hair of the maids-of-honour, and the groups ma.s.sed in the background. Sodoma was possibly working with Pintoricchio; he was in Siena this year, and Rumohr thinks he sees his hand in the distant figures of the crowning of the poet. Eusebio di San Giorgio, the Raffaelesque Perugian, was helping, and possibly also Pacchiarotto.
Born in 1405, at the little village of Corsignano, afterwards re-named Pienza, aeneas Piccolomini early showed a keenness of intellect and an apt.i.tude for cla.s.sic learning which induced his tutor, the great scholar Fidelfo, to send the needy young scion of a great house out into the world to seek his fortune, with introductions which carried him into the service of Domenico Capranica, Bishop of Fermo, that Cardinal whose tomb may be seen in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. Domenico made him his secretary, and, as he was on his way to the Council at Basel, he took aeneas in his suite. The story told by the frescoes begins here.
The cavalcade, having narrowly escaped s.h.i.+pwreck on the Libyan strand and landed at Genoa, are setting forth on their ”Journey across the Apennines to Basel.” Behind them is the sea; in the sky the great storm-clouds are pa.s.sing away, and the rainbow s.h.i.+nes out. Above the bay we discern the town, the point where now stands the Doria Palace and its gardens; the solemn churchmen journeying forward on their sedate mules.
In the foreground rides aeneas and a youthful follower. The whole of the attention centres in the bright handsome figure of aeneas; our interest is at once bespoken on behalf of the gallant young adventurer going forth on his spirited white horse to seek his fortune. The young man on the bay horse beyond him, another layman among the throng of clerics and dignitaries, may be intended for his brother-secretary, Piero da Noceto.
This is one of the most charming of the frescoes, full of movement and gaiety. Pintoricchio does not give much prominence to the ”Conference at Basel,” which was one of anti-Papal tendencies.
In the next fresco we find the young Piccolomini on a ”Mission to James I. of Scotland,” to whom he was despatched by the Cardinal of Santa Croce, an able and influential man, into whose service he had entered in 1440, and who sent him to persuade the King of Scotland to cross the Border and to menace the King of England. His interview with James I.
forms the subject of the second fresco. The King, in yellow robes, and the two supporters on either hand, in blue and green, are the most prominent figures, and form between them a sort of triangle, a symmetrical manner of composition which was just coming into favour. We have to look for the beautiful and graceful figure of aeneas as, full of dignity, he comes forward to the side of the King's throne--his gesture in telling the points of his message upon his fingers is that which Pintoricchio makes use of in ”St. Catherine before the Philosophers”; but this is a much more natural and easy att.i.tude. His dark red robe and violet mantle hang in simple and voluminous folds. With his flowing hair he might be a young St. John taken out of one of Perugino's pictures.
The background here is very beautiful, seen through the airy row of cinque-cento arches, with the sunny little town in the distance reflected in the lake. In his memoirs, the young secretary has left us a most graphic description of his impressions of Scotland, of his journey north from Dover, of the comely blue-eyed women and scantily-clothed men, and comments on the singular kind of sulphurous stone which they burn instead of wood. He gives a vivid picture of these islands in the first half of the fifteenth century; but the painter had no knowledge to enable him to grasp it. He has apparently heard that Scotland was a land of lakes and mountains; but though the interview took place in mid-winter, he has made the trees in full leaf.
aeneas spent much time in study of the cla.s.sics and on verse composition, after the manner of Cicero. He had achieved a poem of two thousand lines, ent.i.tled ”Nymphilexis,” which was received with acclamations by his friends. Modern critics hold its merit to be as low as its easy morality, and in fact it was a true index of the discreditable life he was at this time leading at the German Court. In 1442 he was at Basel with the German Amba.s.sador, and was commended to the service of the King of the Romans, afterwards the Emperor, Frederick III. Frederick proposed to make him one of his Imperial secretaries, and to appoint him his Court poet. It was an honour which had hitherto been in use only in the more refined Italian courts, where it had been conferred on Petrarch, Dante, and others, and was esteemed an extraordinary mark of excellence in arts and literature. Only one person in the kingdom could hold it at a time, and after receiving it aeneas Silvius signed himself ”_poeta_” in all his letters, so that we need not wonder that this event was chosen as one of the most remarkable of his life. aeneas, in his flowing robes, kneels at the King's feet; the throne with its ample steps is set in a splendid, open _piazza_, with the n.o.ble flight of steps leading up to the _loggia_ and out into the blue landscape; little groups enliven the background; a man stabs at a woman on the balcony; handsome pages and courtiers stand about. It has been pointed out that, as if to mark the neutrality of Germany on the question of the Papacy, not a single ecclesiastic appears in the crowd.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Alinari photo_] [_Library, Siena_
FREDERICK III. CROWNING aeNEAS PICCOLOMINI AS POET LAUREATE]
The memoirs at this time show aeneas as a clever waiter on the favour of princes, not over-scrupulous in striving for advancement, watching the signs of the times, and chafing under his dependence and poverty. In 1445 he was sent by Frederick III. on an important mission to Pope Eugenius (fresco IV.), and from this time he becomes a figure in European history. He begins himself to plan definitely for the unity of the Church, and to desire to stem the forward movements of the Turks.
His journey from Germany to Italy in the depths of winter was an arduous one. He encountered swollen torrents and broken bridges, and guided by peasants had ”to scale most high and trackless ways, and precipitous, snow-clad mountains. On the road he visited his parents at Siena, and when they tried to dissuade him from approaching the fierce and unforgiving Pope Eugenius, declared that he would carry out his emba.s.sy to a prosperous end, or perish in the attempt.”
He was eminently successful in his negotiations, and effected a reconciliation between Rome and Germany, and the fresco represents him kneeling humbly before the Pope and kissing his foot. On either side sits the long row of cardinals; outside we see the busy life of the Papal Court. Here Pintoricchio has brought in a rather (for him) unusual harmony in greens on the carpeting, the baldacchino, and the Pope's robes. The two figures in the foreground are said to be portraits of the Cardinals of Como and Amiens, who were both powerful friends of aeneas.
The little scene through the arches on the right of the Pope brings in another episode, where the envoy receives (fresco V.) invest.i.ture as Cardinal.
After this successful mission the Secretary for the first time turned his mind to the ecclesiastical life, and began to reckon on all the bright prospects it was likely to open to him. He had hitherto had the honesty to regard the license of his life as a barrier to religious orders; but his pa.s.sions were growing more controllable with advancing years, and his dislike to the idea of the priesthood had pa.s.sed away. He writes that he has pa.s.sed from the wors.h.i.+p of Venus to that of Bacchus, and appears to think nothing more could be required of anyone. In 1446 he received the tonsure, and was speedily named Bishop of Trieste; and three years later was appointed to the See of Siena. It was in this capacity that he was chosen to welcome to Italy Leonora of Portugal (fresco VI.), the bride of his late patron. Frederick III. was to come to Siena to meet her, and to proceed to Rome for the wedding. After some delays, aeneas received the princess on her landing at Leghorn; and on her arrival at Siena she was met by Frederick, accompanied by a splendid retinue, which included a hundred citizens ”in scarlet and samite,” a thousand knights under Duke Albert of Austria, the young King of Hungary, the precious relics of the city and clergy innumerable. The royal pair met outside the Camollia gate, and memoirs tell us that when the bride came in sight Frederick leapt from his horse and hastened to meet her, and that ”he was rejoiced to see her so young and fair.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Alinari photo_] [_Library, Siena_
aeNEAS PICCOLOMINI SENT BY FREDERICK III. TO POPE EUGENIUS IV.]
This is the moment chosen for the fifth fresco, and gives the artist every scope for lively action and gay and brilliant colouring. aeneas, standing between the King and his young bride, is still the most prominent figure. The ladies of her train are grouped around the Infanta, as the attendant maidens round Mary in many a version of the ”Sposalizio.” Behind the Bishop stands a dignitary with a white cross on his breast, who we identify from Pintoricchio's lately finished portrait in the Baptistry, as Alberto Aringhieri, the Knight of Rhodes. The man on the left, with heavily-draped mantle and looped-up hat, is Hans Leubin, the King's Court poet, who had been appointed to deliver an address of welcome, which he is represented as just beginning to recite.
Behind the group is set up, by a pardonable anachronism, the marble column which was afterwards placed there as a memorial of the meeting-place. On either side is a tall, stately plane-tree and a fruit-bearing palm, typical of the bridal pair. The road winds up to the Camollia gate, beyond which we espy the tall towers of the city, ”Siena of the rosy walls and rosy towers,” the cathedral with its dome and campanile, and the ground falling away into the ravine which lies between it and San Domenico.
Whether Raphael's inspiration really was withdrawn at this period, or whether Pintoricchio's own fancy flagged, it is undeniable that the remaining frescoes show a falling off, and are less satisfactory than the earlier ones. The next scene shows us ”aeneas Silvius receiving the Cardinal's hat.” On the ride to Rome with the bridal pair, Frederick had drawn rein as they came to the brow of the hill, from which they first looked down on the valley of the Tiber, and said to aeneas, ”Look now--we go up to Rome; methinks I see thee a Cardinal, and in truth thy fortunes will not tarry there, thou shalt climb yet higher; St. Peter's chair awaits thee; look not down on me when thou shalt have reached that pinnacle of honour.” And though aeneas modestly disclaimed such a prospect, he confessed afterwards how great were his efforts to enter the Sacred College. His hopes were frustrated by the reigning Pope Nicolas, who was notoriously unfriendly to him, and it was not till the election of Alonso da Borgia as Calixtus II. that he saw his way to further advancement. Calixtus, who was an old man and almost bedridden, appointed, among others, his kinsman, Roderigo Borgia (after Alexander VI.), as Cardinal. To this ambitious and intriguing man aeneas attached himself, and bade farewell to Germany and his royal patron.
It was shortly before this that he began to devote all his energy and eloquence to preaching a new crusade against the Turks, whose conquest of Constantinople and succeeding inroads into Europe began seriously to alarm the civilised world. It was the only question which roused the old Pope to eagerness and determined him to invest the eloquent advocate as Cardinal in spite of bitter opposition from the Sacred College, who dreaded his keen intelligence. Though the architectural drawing, as usual, is good, the flat wall with two white windows has a bad effect.
The altar is loaded with heavily embossed gilding; the groups behind are confused, and the figure of aeneas himself is lacking in dignity and distinction. In the foreground stand two Greek patriarchs, whose presence is intended to convey their satisfaction at the elevation of their champion and that of the cause of Christendom.
We now find the Cardinal of Siena working his way to the Papal throne.
He had a powerful friend in Cardinal Borgia, with whom he was engaged in anything but reputable transactions in benefices, by which he contrived to ama.s.s sufficient wealth; but besides this he really worked hard in the cause of the Church, and his courtly manners and attractive personality, as well as his real kindliness, won him many friends. When the old Calixtus died, in August 1458, he was ready to come forward, and has left us a striking account of the incidents of the election. His only rival was the Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen, a Bourbon, rich and ambitious.
All the night before the election the princ.i.p.al of each party and his immediate supporters were holding secret meetings, pa.s.sing from cell to cell with arguments and persuasion. When at length all met, pale and trembling with excitement, to deposit their votes in the chalice, aeneas was found to have nine votes and the Cardinal of Rouen six. Three Cardinals who had voted for another candidate were now to give casting votes. ”Long the whole conclave sat in silence; the slightest rustle of a robe, the turn of a head, the movement of a foot, sent a thrill of anxiety round the whole circle. At last the fine figure of Roderigo Borgia was seen to rise. Amidst breathless stillness, he in the usual form declared that he acceded to the Cardinal of Siena.” After a short delay the two others followed, and thus, at the age of fifty-three, aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini became Pope, by the t.i.tle of Pius II.
The fresco seizes the moment when the Pope, borne through the aisles of St. Peter's, is stopped, according to ancient usage, by the Master of the Ceremonies, who kindles a piece of tow dipped in spirit, and, as the light dies away, delivers the solemn warning, ”Sancte Pater, Sic transit gloria mundi.” The Pope, under the baldacchino, heavy with armorial bearings, and wearing the dark-blue mantle which accorded with the colours of his house, lifts his gloved fingers solemnly in blessing. He is painted here as an older man, already worn with anxiety. In the foreground two figures in Oriental dress remind us that a.s.sistance against the Turk was the mission to which the newly-made Pope had specially pledged himself. St. Peter's is, of course, the old basilica which was destroyed by Julius II.
Fresco VIII. ”Congress at Mantua.” In pursuance of his proposed crusade, Pius II., in 1459, summoned the powers of Christendom to hold a congress at Mantua to consider the necessary measures. It lingered on for eight months, when war against the Sultan was formally declared, but gave occasion for more intrigues and self-seeking on the part of those a.s.sembled than for any real sacrifices for the cause. Pius II. is here represented directing the deliberations of the Congress. The person of distinction pleading with the Pope is said to be the Greek Patriarch, the envoys of the persecuted Eastern Christians are grouped in the foreground, Cardinals sit on the Pope's right hand, and others--princes, ecclesiastics, and suppliants--form a crowd behind. The arrangement of this scene is not happy. The figures are cut up in an awkward way and the perspective is questionable. It is redeemed by the airy arches and the charming landscape beneath them.