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Power Made Visible: Pope Sixtus IV as "Urbis Restaurator" in Quattrocento Rome Author(s): Jill E. Blondin Source: The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 91, No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp. 1-25 Published by: Catholic University of America Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25026778 Accessed: 15-06-2015 19:41 UTC

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The Catholic Historical

Review

VOL.XCI JANUARY, 200?" No. 1

POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

BY

Jill E. Blond?n*

A single medal, commemorating the completion of the bridge, the

Ponte Sisto, captures the duality of Pope Sixtus IV's (Francesco della

Rovere, 1471-1484) official role as spiritual leader and his chosen role

as urban renovator. The medal features a profile portrait of Sixtus sur

rounded by the words "SEXTVS IIII PONT MAX SACRICVLTOR," while

on the back a three-line inscription above a small image of the Ponte

Sisto (fig. 1) proclaims "CVRA / RERVM / PVBLICARVM." The obverse

depicts Sixtus as the high priest of Christendom, while the reverse shows

the pontiff as the caretaker of urban projects. This article explores what

the medal makes visible: within his extensive patronage of art, Sixtus

commissioned public works that advertised his refurbishment of Rome

while communicating the message of his secular and sacred authority to observers throughout the Eternal City. The Capitoline Museum, Aqua

Vergine, Ponte Sisto, the Vatican Library, and newly paved streets not

only built upon and recalled ancient power and history, but they also

publicly proclaimed the success of Sixtus' papacy. By extending his vi

sion to all of Rome (see map, fig. 2) and not just particular areas of the

city, as his papal predecessors had, the pope exhibited a new supremacy.1 In restoring the grandeur of ancient Rome, Sixtus claimed both tempo ral and spiritual importance.

*Dr. Blondin is an assistant professor of art history in the University of Texas at Tyler. She wishes to thank Dr. Jeryldene Wood, Dr. Starleen K. Meyer, Dr. Paul Streufert, and

Thanh Tran.

'See Dale Kent, Cosimo de'Medici and the Florentine Renaissance:The Patron's Oeu

vre (New Haven and London, 2000), pp. 3-5; Charles Rosenberg, The Este Monuments

1

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2 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

Figl

Lysippus the Younger, Ponte Sisto Medal of Pope Sixtus IV, 1473, bronze. Biblioteca

Apost?lica Vaticana

Fifteen hundred years before Sixtus became pope, the emperor Au

gustus restored temples, built a new forum in the Campus Martius, founded Latin and Greek libraries in a wing of his imperial residence on

the Palatine Hill, and paved several major roads. By fashioning himself as

Urbis Restaurator, Sixtus aligned himself more with this tradition than

with the example of his papal predecessors.2 Sixtus commissioned proj ects similar to those completed by Augustus: he built churches, estab

lished the Latin and Greek libraries in the Vatican Palace, paved major streets and piazzas, constructed the Ponte Sisto, and reconstructed the

Aqua Vergine. Contemporary eulogists drew parallels between Sixtus

and the illustrious emperor, sometimes praising the pope as being the

reincarnation of Augustus himself.3 The humanist Ludovico Lazzarelli

extolled the pope's achievements in relation to ancient leaders,"For you

repair churches once deformed in ugly ruins. You stretch out new

bridges, and even pave streets, that Agrippa took up, which Augustus had from this time encouraged! You [Sixtus] repair the waters of the

and Urban Development in Renaissance Ferrara (Cambridge, 1997), p. 86; Allan Ceen,

The Quartiere de' Bancbi: Urban Planning in Rome in the First Half of the Cinque cento (New York, 1986), p. 36.

2Egmont Lee, Sixtus IV and Men of Letters (Rome, 1978), pp. 123-124, denies such a

connection. Also see Mandell Creighton,i4 History of the Papacy from the Great Schism

to the Sack ofRotneyWol 4 (London, 1901), p. 69, and Leopold Ettlinger, "Pollaiuolo's Tomb

of Pope Sixtus TV? Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, 16 (1953), 266-267.

3Lee, op. cit., pp. 123-124; Isabelle Frank, "Melozzo da Forli and the Rome of Pope Six

tus IV, 1471-1484" (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1991), pp. 57-58; Elisabeth

Schr?ter,"Der Vatikan als H?gel ApoUons unter der Musen: Kunst und Panegyrik von Niko

laus V bis Julius EL," R?mische Quartalscbrift, 75 (1980), 218-219.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 3

Fig. 2

Map of Rome during the reign of Pope Sixtus IV, drawn by Thanh Tran

Fountain Vergine."4 The urbanism of Sixtus recalled the classical city, wrote Raffaelo Maffei, since the pontiff "made Rome from a city of brick

into stone just as Augustus of old had turned the stone city into mar

ble."5 The poet Aurelio Brandolini echoed this sentiment, and congratu lated Sixtus for surpassing the ancient Rome rulers:

But Sixtus dared this and he alone ordered old Rome to rise up again; no, actually he

himself founded a new Rome!

This man returned beauty to the city and he removed the old ruins and he laid out in

all directions a road of baked brick.

4Ludovico L?zzareUi, Fasti Cbristianae religionis, Biblioteca Apost?lica Vaticana (FJAV),

Cod. Vat. Lat. 2853, fol. 255r, writes, "Turpibus enim reparas iam deformata minis Templa, /

novos Pontes sternis et ecce vias. / Quas Agrippa tulit, quas dehinc Augustus adrexit! / Vlr

ginei reparas tu quoque fontis aquas."On Lazzarelli, see Lee, op. cit., p. 113, and P Oskar Kris

teller,"Marsilio Fidno e Lodovico Lazzarelli: contributo alla dif?isione delle idee ermetiche

nel Rinascimento," in Studies in Renaissance Thought (Rome, 1956), pp. 221-247.

This quote is found in Loren Partridge, The Art of Renaissance Rome 1400-1600

(New York, 1996), p. 21. Also see Raftaello Maffei, Commentarium urbanorum XXXVIU

(Paris, 1526), fol. 316'.

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4 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

He built a famous work of a bridge and he restored churches, many to be sure, but he

built still more new ones.

He collected books of the ancients, he collected books of recent writers.

He himself brought back the Aqua Vergine to the Campus Martius.

And what those and others did in 1500 years, this man himself accomplished in ten

years.

Father Romulus, yield! All ancients, yield!6

Just two days into his reign, Sixtus began his civic renovation program when he attempted to protect the public property of Rome by proclaim

ing that no type of column or marble statuary could be moved for other

uses.7 Early in his papacy, the pontiff repaired several ancient temples that

long ago had been turned into churches, cleaned the Cloaca Maxima in

the Foro Boario, issued new conservation laws, and commissioned the

restoration of the statue of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 a.D.), thought to be

of Constantine, in front of the Lateran.8 Despite these efforts at conserva

6Aurelio Brandolini, "De urbe Roma a Sixto iterum condita," epigram XVIII, BAV, Cod.

Urb. Lat. 739, fol. 82rv; BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 63r:

Ausus at est Sixtus veteremque resurgere solus

Iussit Romam, immo condidit ipse novam;

Reddidit hic urbi formam veteresque ruinas

Substulit : et passim coctile fecit iter.

Nobile pontis opus struxit delubra refecit.

Multa quidem : fecit sed nova plura tarnen.

Congessit veterum, congessit scripta recentum,

Campo virgineas ipse reduxit aquas.

Quodque alii atque alii lustris fecere trecentis

Condidit hic lustris omne duobus opus.

Romule, cede pater, veteres concedite cuncti

7August 11,1471, in Archivio Segreto Vaticano (ASV), Div. Cam., 1471 -1478, fol. 5, cited

in Starleen Kay Meyer,"The Papal Series in the Sistine Chapel" (Ph.D. dissertation, Univer

sity of Southern California, 1998), pp. 198,257, and in Eugene M?ntz, Les arts ? les cours

des papes pendant le XV et le XVIe si?cle, III (Paris, 1882), 168-169, note 3. The brief

reads, "by the road to the port of Ostia, no type of marble, whether statues and images, or

columns, or any type whatsoever, may be taken away (per viam portus Ostiae nullum

genus marmoris, tarn in signis et ymaginibus, quam in columnis aut quacumque alia forma

per quoscumque extrahatur)." Also see Lucina Vattuone, "Esaltazione e distruzione di

Roma antica nella citt? di Sisto iy in Sisto IV: Le arti a Roma nel Primo Rinascimento,

ed. Fabio Benzi (Rome, 2000), p. 175.

8Sixtus issued Cum provida sanctorum patrum decreta, April 7,1474, to protect an

cient objects and church property. The new bull was designed to safeguard churches and

their property, not to care for antique items. The statue of Marcus Aurelius, refurbished

from 1473-4, was originally placed on four columns in front of S. Giovanni in Laterano.

See M?ntz, op. cit., Ill, 176-177; Paul Borchardt,"The Sculpture in Front of the Lateran as

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 5

tion, Sixtus did not shirk from using some antique structures as marble

quarries and demolish others when they interfered with his renewal

plans.9 The pope ordered the ruined Stadium of Domitian torn down

when he had the market moved from the Capitoline Hill to the Piazza

Navona. Sixtus' destruction of ancient monuments angered some contem

poraries, who criticized the pope for taming a blind eye on the city's her

itage. The humanist Fausto Andreiini accused the pope of pillaging Rome:

What madness persuaded you alone to convert Caesar's Amphitheater more worthless

than the country of Illyria, Sixtus?

It is obvious that your hands damaged the great Amphitheater so that the foundations

of the small bridge could stand.10

Nevertheless, the pope established the Capitoline Museum, the first

public collection of antiquities in Europe. Sixtus ordered that ancient

bronze sculpture, including the Spinario, the She-Wolf, the Palla San

sonis, the Camillus, or Gypsy, and, slightly later, the Hercules, be moved

to the fa?ade of the Palazzo dei Conservatori from the piazza of the Lat

eran, where the statues had been displayed on single marble columns.11

Only four months after the della Rovere pope assumed power, on De

cember 14,1471, the museum opened.

Sixtus' donation and placement of the ancient statues had consider

able political implications. Not only was the Capitoline Museum intended

Described by Benjamin of Tudela and Magister Gregorius? Journal of Roman Studies, 26

(1936), 68-70; Christof Thoenes,"Sic Romae: Statuenstiftung, und Marc Aurel," in Ars na

turam adiuvans: Festschrift f?r Matthias Winner zum 11 M?rz 1996, eds. Victoria V

Flemming and Sebastian Sch?tze (Mainz, 1996), pp. 86-99; Tilmann Buddensieg,"Die Sta

tuenstiftung Sixtus' IV im Jahre 1471," R?misches Jahrbuch f?r Kunstgeschichte, 20

(1983), 66-67.

^Vattuone, op. cit., pp. 174-187, maintains that Sixtus actually destroyed few monu

ments for civic development, and never deliberately destroyed ancient ruins as an end in

itself. She justifies her hypothesis by asserting that no one at the time really felt the need

to preserve antiquities. Humanists such as Andrelini felt otherwise.

10Fausto Andrelini's entire poem,"In Sixtum IIII Pont. Max.," is published in M?ntz, op.

cit., III, 177. The original poem is located in BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 3351, fol. 76r: Quis tibi Cae

sareum suasit furor amphitheatrum vilior illirico verter?, Sixte, solo? Scilicet, ut parvi sta

rent fundamina pontis ampia tuae tulerunt amphitheatra manus?

nMiintz, op. cit., III, l68ff.; Rodolfo Lanciani, Storia degli Scavi a Roma (Rome,

1902-1912), 1,94-95; Meyer, op. cit., pp. 138-139; William S. Heckscher, Sixtus IIII, Aeneas

Insignes Romano Populo Restituendas Censuit (The Hague, 1955); Buddensieg, op. cit.,

pp. 33-74; Claudio Parisi Presicce, "I grandi bronzi de Sisto IV dal Laterano in Campi

doglio," in Sisto IV:Le arti a Roma nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio Benzi, pp. 189-200.

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6 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

to please the citizens; it was a deliberate and symbolic attempt by Six

tus to return Rome to its former magnificence.12 The first inscription

composed during Sixtus' pontificate underlines this point by proclaim

ing, "the outstanding bronze statues are proof of the historic excellence

and capability of the Roman people who created them.'13 The estab

lishment of the museum helped in producing an atmosphere in which

it became desirable to model public ceremonies, entries, and festivals

on antique examples.14 Members of the Roman Academy, a circle of hu

manists devoted to studying and celebrating Rome's classical past, had

been considered dangerous and even imprisoned during the reign of

the previous pope, Paul II (1464-1471).15 From the beginning of his pa

pacy, however, Sixtus' donation of ancient sculpture to the Capitoline Museum and his reopening of the Roman Academy demonstrated a po

litically shrewd acceptance of the humanists. Sixtus himself had no per sonal interest in pagan antiquity, but he used Roman history and

ancient objects for political advantage. Without a second thought, he

dispersed antique items collected by Paul II, including gems, cameos, and classical busts. When Lorenzo de' Medici visited Rome, Sixtus gave the Florentine leader two busts from the papal collection as gifts:

In September 1471,1 was elected ambassador to Rome for the coronation of

Pope Sixtus IV, where I was treated with great honor. This pope gave me two

12Charles Stinger, "The Campidoglio as the Locus of Renovatio Imperii in Renaissance

Rome," in Art and Politics in Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy, 1250-1500, ed.

Charles Rosenberg (London, 1990),pp. 135-156;Thoenes,qp. cit.,pp.87-89. I3The full text of the inscription reads: SIXTUS Iin PONT(IFEX) MAX(IMUS) // OB IM

MENSAM BENIGNITA // TEM AENEAS INSIGNES STA/TVAS PRISCAE EXCELLENTIAE // VIRTUnSQUE MONUMEN/TUM ROMANO POPULO // UNDE EXORTE FUERE RESTI/ TUENDAS CONDONANDAS/QUE CENSUIT // LATINO DE URSINIS CARDINA/LI CAME RARIO ADMINSTRA/NTE ET IOHANNE ALPERINO // PHIL(IPPO) PALOSCIO NICOLAO PI/NCIARONIO URBIS CONSER/VATORIBUS PROCURA(N)TIBUS // AN(N)0 SALUTIS NOSTRE MCCCC/LXXI XVIII K(A)L(ENDAS) IANUAR(II). See Paola Guerrini, "L'epigrana sistina come momento della 'Restauratio Urbis,'" in Un Pontiftcato ed una citt?:Sisto IV

(1471-1484), edd. Massimo Miglio et al (Rome, 1986), p. 457.

NSee Andr? Chastel,"Rome in the Renaissance, 1480-1540,"in The Sistine Chapel:The

Art, the History, the Restoration (New York, 1986), p. 8.

"The Roman Academy was suppressed in 1468 and revived in 1478. The group in

cluded Bartolomeo Sacchi, also known as Platina, who became Sixtus' biographer and li

brarian. On the Roman Academy see Richard J. Palermino, "The Roman Academy, the

Catacombs, and the Conspiracy of 1468," Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, XVIII (1980),

117-155; Ludwig Pastor, The History of the Popes, From the Close of the Middle Ages,yo\.

IV, trans. F. I. Antrobus (London, 1949), pp. 439-442; Presicce, op. cit., pp. 194-195; Lee,

op. cit., pp. 194-204; and Nicholas Clark, Melozzo da Forli, Pictor Papalis (London,

1990), p. 22.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 7

ancient busts of the images of Augustus and Agrippa, which I have brought

back from there. I also brought back our intaglio chalcedony cup, and many

other cameos and medals which were for sale, among them the cup.16

Sixtus co-opted the Capitoline Hill's function as a civic center by in

scribing his name on a multitude of symbols, including commemorative

inscriptions and antique statues, all over the hill. He appropriated the

renowned emblem of the foundation of Rome, the She-Wolf, and had it

placed over the entrance of the Palazzo dei Conservatori.17 The marble

statue of Charles d'Anjou, included in the pope's donation of sculpture, evoked the power that he sought.18 The pope's papal crest and the

words, "XYSTVS QVARTVS PONT MAX VRBIS RESTAVRATOR" appear

prominently over the east portal of the Palazzo Senatorio, the seat of

secular government. The inscription conveys Sixtus' temporal and spir itual authority and also marks the new wing of the Palazzo Senatorio

that he had built. Such intense interest in the Capitoline Hill was unpre cedented in the history of the papacy. Although Nicholas V (1447-1455) restored the Palazzo Senatorio and built the Palazzo dei Conservatori

and Paul II had glorified his own family, the Barbo, with building pro

jects and monuments at S. Maria in Aracoeli and at nearby S. Marco, no

pope had so boldly placed his name in a zone traditionally associated

with Imperial Rome. The holy oak that had sprung from Romulus' staff

on the Capitoline Hill to mark the caput mundi in ancient times was re

placed with the oak of the della Rovere.19

Until Sixtus' pontificate, Roman civic improvements and expenses had been entrusted largely to the municipal authorities. Through nu

merous papal bulls and proclamations, Sixtus extended papal authority to the previously secular realm of civic management.20 He chose

a rela

"The passage is printed and translated by Meyer,op. cit.,p. 137:"Di Settembre, 1471,fui

eletto Imbasciatore a Roma per 1'incoronazione di Papa Sisto IV Dove fui molto onorato,

e di quindi portai le due teste di marmor antiche dell'immagine di Augusto, e di Agrippa, le quali mi don? ditto Papa, e pi? portai la scodella nostra di Calcidonio intagliata con

molti altri cammei, e medaglie, che si comprarono allora fra le alter il Calcidonio." Also see

William Roscoe, The Life of Lorenzo de'Medici (London, 1862), p. 427, and Lee, op. cit., p.

149 and note 108.

,?Massimo Miglio, "II Leone e la Lupa," Studi Romani, 30 (1982), 177-186.

,8Paola Guerrini,"Un'epigrafe sistina per il re Carlo d'Angi?," in Sisto TV:Le arti a Roma

nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio Benzi, pp. 143-150.

,9Randolph Starn and Loren Partridge, A Renaissance Likeness: Art and Culture in

Raphael's Julius II (Berkeley, California, 1980), p. 56.1 thank Dr. Laura Flusche for bring

ing this point to my attention.

2,See Fabio Benzi, Sixtus IV Renovator Urbis Architettura a Roma 1471-1484

(Rome, 1990), pp. 22-27; Marcello Fagiolo and Maria Luisa Madonna, Roma 1300-1875:

La Citt? degli Anni Santi Atlante (Milan, 1985), pp. 107-110; Manuel Vaquero Pineiro,

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8 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

tive, Leonardo della Rovere, as prefect of Rome in 1472, and employed another relative, Giorgio della Rovere, to help with urban planning. To

stimulate civic development, Sixtus also created new appointments. In

1473 the pope appointed a special commissioner, Girolamo Giganti, to

oversee the repair of public streets and squares.

It was the Maestri di strada, responsible for the upkeep of the streets

of Rome, who became the principal force behind Sixtus' civic develop ment. The magistrates first served as papal appointees under Nicholas

V, but their role was minor until the reign of Sixtus. He gave the Maestri

di strada a salary and placed them under the direct authority of the Car

dinal Chamberlain, Guillaume d'Estouteville. The Maestri were charged with implementing the pope's orders, which focused on aiding the cir

culation and safety of visitors. Their duties were to clean, to pave, and to

widen the thoroughfares, to clear all balconies, stairways, and galleries

obstructing the streets, and to impose fines for the unauthorized dump

ing of trash.21 The Maestri set guidelines that controlled the conception and construction of squares, market places, palaces, and private homes.

With another bull, Ampliatio Jurisdictionis, Sixtus even gave himself

and the magistrates the authority to expropriate private property for ur

ban planning and to buy any edifice needed for the improvement of

public space. So important were the Maestri to the pope's civic pro

grams that the names of the two magistrates, Battista Arcioni and Lu

dovico Margani, were included at the end of an inscription celebrating the completion of Sixtus'Via Mercatoria et Florea.

The Maestri were also responsible for the proper functioning of the

ancient Aqua Vergine, the only surviving Roman aqueduct of the an

cient eleven. Unfortunately, the Aqua Vergine had become the sole

source for water in Rome by the fifteenth century. To make matters

worse, the aqueduct was almost completely obstructed at the begin

"Una citt? da cambiare: intorno alla legislazione edilizia di Sisto IV in Sisto TV: Le arti a

Roma nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio Benzi, pp. 426-433- Etsi universis of 1475 and

Etsi de cunctarum civitatum of 1480 encouraged urban renewal and the maintenance of

privately owned buildings and homes.Etsi de cunctarum is printed in M?ntz, op. cit.,Ill,

182-187.

2,See Richard J. Ingersoll,"The Ritual Use of Public Space in Renaissance Rome" (Ph.D.

dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1985), pp. 76-77. The Maestri di strada

were selected from citizens who were eligible to hold office. One to three people served

at a time. Francesco Porcari and Battista Staglia became the first new Maestri di strada

under Sixtus. For a list of the Maestri di strada, see Emilio Re,"Maestri di strada," Archivio

della R. Societ? Romana di Storia Patria, 43 (1920), 80-81,97. Also see Ceen, op. cit., pp.

30,93. The poet Brandolini celebrates these changes in the introduction to De laudibus

Sixti IIII, BAY Cod. Urb. Lat. 739, fol. 62r v; BAV Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 47r.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 9

ning of Sixtus' reign. In 1472 the pope had the structure repaired and

extended so that it could serve a greater number of people. To advertise

these improvements, an elaborate inscription reminding the observer

of Sixtus' achievement was placed at the terminus of the aqueduct, the

Trevi Fountain.22

All of these steps gave Sixtus control over the development of the

city, but substantial sums of money were needed to complete his proj ects. With no personal wealth to finance his renovation projects, the

pontiff tried to raise money by doubling the number of non-spiritual

posts available for sale, putting the Datary in charge of fixing prices and

collecting the money, reopening the College of Abbreviators, and taxing wine.23 The Datary held all of the money collected for the personal use

of the pope, but Sixtus still turned to other sources for revenue. He ap

propriated funds from the budget of the University of Rome, called the

gabella studii, despite Pope Eugenius IV's measures to protect it from

arbitrary papal expenditure. Infessura, one of Sixtus' most negative and

outspoken contemporary critics and a professor at the University of

Rome, reports that the della Rovere pope confiscated the stipends of all

professors in order to fund his building projects.24 Although Infessura

exaggerated, Sixtus did take from the gabella studii to finance his civic

improvements. Between September of 1472 and December of 1474, the

gabella studii contributed at least 2,652 florins toward the repair of the

Aqua Vergine and the Trevi fountain. Another 2,663 florins appropri ated for the Ponte Sisto constituted the majority of its cost.25

22See John Pinto, The Trevi Fountain (New Haven, 1986), pp. 5-31. Improvements had

been made during the pontificate of Nicholas V On Sixtus' improvements, see M?ntz, op.

cit., Ill, 174-176; Pastor, op. cit., pp. 274-275. The inscriptions and decorations were exe

cuted by Antonio Lori of Florence and Giacomo of Ferrara. The only surviving commem

orative of Sixtus' work on the Aqua Vergine is located at Via del Nazareno, 2 near the Trevi

Fountain. The inscription, dominated by the della Rovere coat of arms, reads "SIXTUS

PAPA IIII"

23Five months after becoming pope, with loans already totaling 107,000 florins, Sixtus

continued to spend money on a massive scale, ultimately financing two crusades and a

war with Florence. Sixtus reorganized papal finances and attempted some changes, in

cluding the development of long-term credit institutions. On papal finances during the

reign of Sixtus, see Clemens Bauer,"Studi per la storia delle finanze papali durante il pon tificate di Sisto," Archivio della R. Societ? Romana di Storia Patria, 50 (1927), 319-400, and Peter Partner, "Papal Financial Policy in the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation,"

Past & Present, No. 88 (August, 1980), 21.

24Stefano Infessura, Diario della Citt? di Roma di Stefano Infessura scribasenato, ed.

O. Tommassini (Rome, 1890), p. 158.

"Arnold Esch,"Il giubileo di Sisto IV (1475)," in La Storia dei Giubilei: 1450-1575y??.

II, edd. Marcello Fagiolo and Maria Luisa Madonna (Rome, 1998), pp. 111-112.

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10 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUSIV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

The Improvement of the Streets in Rome

The success of Sixtus' new Christian Rome depended on the quality of infrastructure, particularly the streets, as the pope underlines in a

1473 brief:

Amongst countless other cares we must also attend to the purifying and

beautification of our City, for if any other city should be clean and fair, cer

tainly this one, which is the head of the world, should be so, since, by reason

of the chair of St. Peter, it ranks first among aU others. Considering, then, that

through the tolerance or negligence of those whose duty it is to keep the

streets and squares of the said city in good order, they are in many places foul

and unsightly, we, trusting confidently in your more often proven industry

and prudence and by the tenor of the present letters, command you for the

future to pay special attention to this matter.26

The pope did not exaggerate the poor condition of the Roman roads.

The streets remained unpaved, despite traces of ancient paving. Exist

ing roads were narrow and obstructed by porticoes, and the complete absence of thoroughfares made it difficult to visit some sites. Improve

ment to the streets would enable the Church to accommodate and to

profit from the constant influx of pilgrims and travelers, as well as the

crowds expected for the 1475 Jubilee. Development of the roads also

maximized the number of visitors who saw Sixtus' own art and architec

tural projects, which visually dominated the Roman cityscape in the late

fifteenth century.27 Specifically Sixtus used new and enhanced routes to

^Translated by Pastor, op. cit., pp. 276-277. The original brief, ASV, Divers. Cam.,

I471-l478,fols.210v-211r,is transcribed and printed by M?ntz,op.cit.,Ill, 179-180:"Nam

si quam mundam ornatamque esse decet, earn profecto decet quae caput est orbis, et

propter beati Petri cathedram inter omnes alias obtinet principatum. Considerantes igitur

quod sive per indulgentiam, sive negligentiam eorum quibus reparandarum publicarum viarum et platearum dicate urbis cura demandan solet pluribus in locis viae plateaeque

ipsae sordide et incomposite [sic] reperiantur: de tua saepius spectata industria atque

prudentia confisi,praesentiiim tibi tenore committimus ac mandamus ut deinceps viarum

ipsarum reparandarum praecipuam curam sumas, officialesque p?blicos ad id deputatos vel deputandos ad reparationem necessariam procurandum excites et admoneas." On the

streets improved by Sixtus, see R Tomei,"Le Strade di Roma e Topera di Sisto WfL'Urbe, II

(1937), 2-12.

27The Hospital of Santo Spirito, built by Sixtus, dominated the approach to the Vatican.

It even rivaled the dimensions of Old St. Peter's. See Eunice Howe, Pope Sixtus TV and the

Hospital of Santo Spirito (New York, 1978), pp. 57-58. Also see Lisa Passaglia Bauman,

"Power and Image: Delia Rovere Patronage in Late Quattrocento Rome" (Ph.D. disserta

tion, Northwestern University, 1990), p. 144.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 11

showcase his improvements in the Vatican-Borgo, the area of the Tiber, the Capitoline Hill, and the Campo dei Fiori (see map, fig. 2).

Facilitating travel around the Vatican-Borgo was a top priority for Six

tus. He commissioned two streets that ran from the Castel Sant Angelo to the square in front of St. Peter's. The Via Sacra, part of the Via Papale, connected the Vatican Palace with the Castel Sant'Angelo, and provided access to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Library.28 Borgo Santo Spi rito was built specifically for visiting the Hospital of Santo Spirito, one

of Sixtus' most ambitious projects that featured an extensive biographi cal fresco cycle of the pope. Several other streets, including the Via a

Cruce Montis Marii, that led to St. Peter's from outside the city walls, re

ceived the pontiff's attention in preparation for the 1475 Jubilee.29

For the 1475 Jubilee, Sixtus paved and widened the Via Papale, the

principal processional route in Rome. The route begins with the Via

Sacra at the Vatican, crosses the Ponte SanfAngelo, runs past the Piazza

Navona, and terminates at the Lateran. Sixtus focused on improving the area between the Vatican and the Piazza Navona, the site of the new

market. By traveling the entire route, moreover, a visitor would walk

near to prominent Sistine churches as well as the Lateran.50

In 1473 Sixtus created the Via Sistina to facilitate pedestrian traffic

and to provide a more direct route for himself from St. Peter's to S. Maria

del Pop?lo, a church so beloved by the pope that he had the edifice com

pletely rebuilt.31 The street runs northwest parallel to the Tiber toward

S. Maria del Pop?lo and made travel between the two areas quicker. Be

fore the Via Sistina, pilgrims entering the city at the Porta del Pop?lo had to travel sovith along the Via del Corso to the Capitoline Hill in or

der to visit the Vatican-Borgo. The road benefited Sixtus, who frequently visited S. Maria del Pop?lo to pray and to celebrate political victories.

-8See Ceen, op. cit., pp. 32,167,269; and Pio Pagliucchi,/ Castellani del Castel S. Angelo

(Rome, 1973), pp. 1 Iff.

-The full name of the street, taken from its commissioning document, is Via a Cruce

Montis Marii ad ipsam Urbem. On this thoroughfare, see Ceen,op. cit.,p. 222.

'These churches include S. Maria della Pace and SS. Quirico e Giulitta.

"This was mentioned in Sixtus' brief of December 14,1473, and later in a papal bull

see Jacopo Gherardi da Volterra, 77 diario romano di Jacopo Gherardi, ed. E. Carusi,

Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, Vol. XXIII, part III (Citt? di Castello, 1904), p. 115. Also see

Bauman, op. cit., pp. 142-145. Brandolini's epigram XXII, "De via quae ducit ad aedem

beate Marie de Populo," celebrates the new street leading to S. Maria del Pop?lo; BAV, Cod.

Urb. Lat. 739, fol. 84v; BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 63r'1'.

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12 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

The new street became a visual symbol of Sixtus' sacred and secular

authority, since he made a civic improvement specifically to link two

holy sites sacred to him. A 1475 epigram inscribed on an ancient wall

near the Castel Sant'Angelo extols the pope's role in perfecting Rome.32

With the development of the Via Mercatoria et Florea in 1483, which

ran from the Ponte Sant'Angelo through the Campo dei Fiori to the

Capitoline Hill, Sixtus improved accessibility to traditional commercial

centers in Rome and extended the importance of the street as a pro cessional route.33 The widening and paving of the Via Mercatoria et Flo

rea benefited the hotels around the Campo dei Fiori. The road could

also be used by the pope to return to the Vatican from the Lateran. Six

tus himself used the street to return home after visiting another church

he restored, S. Susanna. Visitors who walked along this street would see

Sistine monuments such as the Capitoline Museum, as well as a plaque,

prominently displayed near the Campo dei Fiori, that emphasizes im

provements made by the pope and the Maestri:

Campo Marzio, until just recently, you were putrid and dirty with smelly filth,

and full of foulness. Under the rule of Sixtus you exchanged the ugliness for

beauty. All things are marvelous in bright places. Just praises are owed to Six

tus, the bringer of health. Oh, how much Rome owes to its highest leader! Via

Florea. Maestri di strada. Battista Arcioni and Ludovico Margani. In the year of

salvation 148334

Contemporary poets praised Sixtus' civic improvements and remarked

on individual works within the pope's oeuvre. They also called atten

tion to the pontiff's success in recapturing the glory of ancient Rome.

Adamo de Montaldo lauded the Ponte Sisto and the Via Papale:

'-Fagiolo and Madonna, op. cit., p. 105. The inscription reads: SIXTI IV PONT MAX.

IVSSV OPT AC PUS // QUAM BENE SLXTINA HAC QUE PRAETER FLUMENIS VNDAS // AC TORIS MERVIT NOMEN HAVERE SVI // HAEC MARIAE QVAE TEMPLA DEDIT VIA TRAMITE RECTO // FECIT VT PETRI SEDIBVS ESSET ITER // SLXTE TUUM MVNVS IAM NUNC SLXTINA VOCARI ROMA POTES MINVS EST CONDERE QUAM COLERE.

?3Ceen, op. cit., pp. 35-36,225; Esch, op. cit., pp. 116-120.

MThe inscription is now located on the wall of a house on the southeast corner of the

Campo dei Fiori on the Via dei Balestrari: QVAE MODO PVTRIS ERAS ET OLENT? S?R

DIDA COENO // PLENAQUE DEFORMI MARITA TERRA SITV // EXVIS HANC TVRPEM XYSTO SVB PRINCIPE FORMAM. // OMNIA SVNT NITIDIS CONSPICIENDA LOCIS. //

DIGNA SALVTIFERO DEBENTVR PREMIA XYSTO. // O QUANTVM EST SVMMO DEBITA ROMA DVCI. // VIA FLOREA. // BAPTISTA ARCHIONIVS ET // LVDOVICVS MARGANIVS/

/ CVRATORES V?AR // ANNO SALVTTS // MCCCCLXXXIII.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 13

You restored a Rome fallen from magnificence. You remade the Tiberian

bridge, broken by the flood of waves of the river after much time: they even

call the bridge "Sixtus" taken from your name. You straightened out the com

mon road, which was long ago rather filthy, from the bridge of Sant'Angelo all

the way to the Palatine intersection."

Pacifico Massimi amplified Sixtus' achievements through literary hyper bole, "Through you Rome has now been returned to itself, the Tiber is

covered with bridges, the extensive streets are restored. You built mar

ble towers, golden palaces, you restored ancient churches, and estab

lished new ones."36 So important were the roads improved under Sixtus

that Albertini mentioned them before celebrating Julius Ils new and re

stored churches in his Opusculum:

Sixtus IV, the highest and greatest pontiff, began to restore the city. First,

namely, he destroyed the dark porticoes and also extended the streets and

squares of the city and covered them with brick, and brought back many

completely destroyed churches into their original form. To be sure, his suc

cessors attempted to copy the man himself. Finally your sanctity conquered even Sixtus himself and others in the space of brief time: indeed the struc

tures themselves demonstrate the truth of the matter plainly, so that the city

is able deservedly to be called new.

Nevertheless, it differs much from that first ancient time. For the ruins them

selves teach how great Rome once was.3"

Brandolini wrote poems praising Sixtus' individual achievements, in

cluding the Ponte Sisto, the Via Sistina, the Via Mercatoria et Florea, and

35Montaldo, De laudibus Syxti, BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 3568, fol. 3V: "Tu Romanam urbem a

magnitudine delapsam restauravisti. Tu pontem tyberium, ab undarum diluvio fluminis

multo tempore prerumptum et refecisti:et pontem Sixtum a tuo nomine dictm vocant.Tu

viam communem a divi ponte angeli adusque palatinum compitum directam pridem sor

didiorem."

^Pacifico Massimi, Carmina Pacifici Maximi Poetae Ascvlani (Parma: Galeatium Rosa

tum, 1691), p. 60, writes, "Per te nunc Roma est sibi reddita, pontibus urgens Tybrim, sunt

latae strata refecta viae. Marm?reas turres, aurata Palatia ponis, Antiqua instauras Templa,

locasque nova."

?7Ceen, op. cit., p. 31; Francisco Albertini, Opusulum de Mirabilibus Novae Urbis

Romae,ed.h\i%\xst Schmarsow (Heilbronn, 1886), p. 1, writes,"Syxtvs Quartvs summus et

maximus Pontifex cepit Vrbem instaurare. Primus enim obscuras porticus destruxit, ac

vias et plateas urbis dilatavit et lateritio opere stravit, ecclesiasque multas dirutas a funda

mentis in pristinam formam redegit. Successores vero ipsum imitari conati sunt. Postremo

sanctitas tua et Syxtum ipsum ceterosque brevi temporis spatio super?vit: opera enim

ipsa dilucide veritatem rei demonstant, ut nova urbs m?rito appelari possit. Multum

tarnen differt ab illa prima antiquitate. Nam quanta Roma fuit ipsa ruina docet."

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14 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

the Via Papale. In this poem, he focuses on the measures taken to im

prove the Via Papale:

This street, hardly passable for the common people because of its squalor

and filth, was nevertheless called "Pontifical."

Sixtus was distressed that there was a name so noble for a vile place and said,

"it certainly will not be thus."

He ordered that it be cleaned and paved and with the houses moved back he

again made the way worthy of the name "Pontifical."38

The 1475 Jubliee motivated Sixtus to change decaying Rome, which

had been described as a "cadaver" and "a great stable for sheep," into a

beautiful city capable of accommodating crowds of visitors.39 The Holy Year would allow Sixtus to present an improved Christian Rome to a

large number of people. In addition to designing and paving streets, re

pairing walls and gates, improving squares and existing bridges, and re

furbishing the Aqua Vergine, the pope erected the Ponte Sisto over the

Tiber to ease pedestrial traffic and to display his authority publicly.

The Construction of the Ponte Sisto

The Ponte Sisto (fig. 3) was the most ambitious and visible commis

sion of Sixtus' papacy. Constructed upon the three piers of the ancient

Ponte Valentinianus, the Ponte Sisto was the first bridge built over the

Tiber since antiquity. On April 29,1473, Sixtus initiated construction by

placing a stone inscribed with the words, "XISTVS QVARTVS PONT.

MAX FECIT FIERI SVB ANNO DOMINI 1473" and several gold medals

bearing his portrait into the foundation of the bridge.40 Work on the

3*Brandolini, "De via quam papalem vocant," epigram XXIV, BAV Cod. Urb. Lat. 739, fol.

85v; BAV Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 65r:

Sordibus et coeno immundae vix pervia plebi

Haec via dicta tarnen Pontificalis erat.

Indoluit Sixtus vili tarn nobile nomen

Esse loco et ceter non ita, dixit, erit.

Mundari sternique iubet : domibusque reductis

Pontificis dignum nomine fecit iter.

39Brandolini, "De urbe a Sixto instaurata et classe in Turcas missa," epigram XVII, BAV

Cod. Urb. Lat. 739, fol. 81v; BAV Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 62r; "De urbe Roma a Sixto iterum

condita," epigram XVIII, BAV, Cod. Urb. Lat. 739, fol. 82v; BAV Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 62\

40Infessura, op. cit., p. 158, writes, "Papa Sisto quarto con i cardinali, e molti vescovi, si

conferi a palazzo in Trastevere, et a Ponte Rotto acanto lo flume, dove egli aveva destinato

raconciar detto ponte, descese nel flume, e mise ne i fondamenti del detto Ponte una pietra

quadra, ove stava scritto: Xistus quartus pontifex maximus fecit fieri sub anno domini

1473 Dietro a quella pietra mise lo Papa certe medaglie doro con la sua testa, e dopo fece

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 15

Fig. 3

Ponte Sisto, Rome, 1473-1475

Ponte Sisto was then pushed ahead so rapidly that the pope had to com

pensate some fishermen for destroying their pier and the monks at

nearby S. Salvatore de Unda for damaging the church and its gardens.41

With the Ponte Sisto, Sixtus presented himself as a magnanimous builder. The bridge was badly needed in order to improve pedestrian traffic for the 1475 Jubilee, and also provided access to the remote areas

across the Tiber from central Rome, including the Vatican and Traste

vere. Until the completion of the Ponte Sisto, only two other bridges connected these regions with the city center.42 When Sixtus ordered

the construction of the bridge, he wanted to avoid the tragedy that oc

curred on the Ponte Sant'Angelo during the previous Jubilee. Paolo

dello Mastro described the event in his diary:"On December 18,1450, a

edificare quello Ponte...." The brief initiating the building of the bridge was issued on

March 15,1473. See Luisa Cardilli,"Ponte Sisto restaurato, considerazioni in margine," 5ftto

IVLe arti a Roma nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio Benzi, pp. 434-443.

"On the details of the compensation for the fishermen and monks, see Gaetano Mi

arelli Mariani et al, Ponte Sisto: Ricerebe e Proposte (Rome, 1977), pp. 9-12, 27-32,

73-78; Benzi, op. cit., pp. 174-175; Fagiolo and Madonna, op. cit., pp. 106-107; Lee, op. cit.,

p. 136. M?ntz, op. cft, III, 200-205; Esch, op. cit.,p. 110.

42These two bridges were the Ponte Sant'Angelo and the two bridges at the Isola Tibe

rina.

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16 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

large crowd panicked while crossing the bridge, apparently provoked

by a bucking mule, and more than one hundred pilgrims were crushed; two hundred more fell into the Tiber and drowned."43 Thus the Ponte

Sisto offered a southern route to the Vatican from Trastevere while alle

viating the congestion on the Ponte Sant'Angelo. At the same time, the

Ponte Sisto put Sixtus' name on the first bridge built over the Tiber

since antiquity. One of the two commemorative tablets affixed to the

entrance of the Ponte Sisto declares:

For the use of the Roman people and the crowds of pilgrims coming for the

Jubilee. For they rightly called this bridge "broken," [but] with great care and

expense [Sixtus] reconstructed it from the foundations and he wished it to

be called by his own name Sixtus.44

The growth of the areas around the Ponte Sisto also demonstrates the ef

fectiveness of its location. Sixtus' construction encouraged civic devel

opment, particularly in Trastevere, where many of the pope's friends

lived. After the bridge was completed, the districts surrounding the Tiber

became the sites of lavish homes, including the magnificent Palazzo della

Cancelleria, the Villa Farnesina, and the Palazzo Farnese.4s

As an emblem of Sistine civic and spiritual power, the Ponte Sisto was

not only exalted in inscriptions and poetry, but it appeared in Sixtus' auto

biographical fresco series at the Hospital of Santo Spirito and in medals.

To pilgrims, Roman residents, or members of the Curia, the unique ap

pearance of the bridge was easy to recognize. "Portraits" of the Ponte

Sisto portray it with extreme fidelity and celebrate its symbolic impor tance.46 Many depictions of the bridge, including the detailed Construe

tion of the Ponte Sisto (fig.4) at the Hospital of Santo Spirito, accurately

capture the four rounded arches, the three large plaques featuring Six

"Paolo dello Mastro, Diario e memoria dette cose accadute in Roma (1422-1482),

ed. Fr. Isoldi (Rome, 1910-1912). Also see Pastor, op. cit.,pp. 96ff.

44The text of the plaque reads: XYSTVS IIII. FONT. MAX. / AD UTILITATEM P ROM.

PEREGRINAEQUE MULTI / TUDINIS AD IUBILEUM VENTURAE PONTEM / HUNC QUEM M?RITO RUPTUM VOCABANT A FUN / DAMENTIS MAGNA CURA ET IMPENSA REST? / TVIT XYSTUMQUE SUO DE NOMINE APPELLARIVOLUIT. See Ceen, op. cit., p. 222; Inger

soll, op. cit., p. 81 ; Mariani, op. cit., p. 76.

4,Sigismondo dei Conti,Ze storie de'suoi tempi dal 1475 al 1510,1 (Rome, 1883), 204.

4fSee Giancarlo Altieri, "II Giubileo di Sisto IV attraverso alcune testimonianze numis

matiche dirette e indirette," in Sisto IV:Le arti a Roma nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio

Benzi, pp. 151-154, and Giancarlo Altieri, Medaglie Papali del Medagliere della Bib

lioteca Apost?lica Vaticana (Vicenza, 1995), pp. 98-99, #2; Roberto Weiss, The Medals of

Pope Sixtus IV (Rome, 1961), pp. 18-19; George Francis Hill,v4 Corpus of Italian Medals

of the Renaissance Before Cellini, I (London, 1930), 208, #806.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 17

:i?O

Fig. 4

Construction of tbe Ponte Sisto, 1478-1480, fresco. Hospital of Santo Spirito, Rome

tus* coat of arms, the large central oculus, the distinctive brickwork, and

the piers.

Richly decorated manuscripts featuring "portraits" of the Ponte Sisto

reminded Sixtus of his success as Urbis Restaurator. These tiny repro ductions were viewed not by a public audience, but by the pope him

self. Sixtus saw at least two of these manuscripts often, since the books

were dedicated to him, and were found in his private study after his

death.47 Around 1474 an anonymous artist decorated a presentation

47Meyer, op. cit., pp. 467-468. On the texts left in Sixtus' private study after his death, see Paola Scarcia Piacentini, "Ricerche sugli antichi inventari della Biblioteca Vaticana: i

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18 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SIXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

I % * ;

Fig. 5

Presentation page from Theodore Gaza's De historia animalium, fifteenth century.

Biblioteca Apost?lica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2094, fol. 8r, detail of the reverse of the Ponte

Sisto Medal

copy of Theodorus Gaza's translation and commentary of Aristotle's De

historia animalium that included replicas of the obverse and reverse

of the Ponte Sisto medal (fig. S).48 The artist's rendering is so convinc

ing that the two sides perfectly imitate the actual medal. Centered at the

top of the page and surrounded by Delia Rovere acorns, the bridge, jux

taposed with the words "CVRA RERVM PVBLICARVM," commemorates

the construction of the Ponte Sisto and the pope's success in promot

ing his benevolence. A miniature reproduction of the bridge, along with

Sixtus' portrait, his papal crest, and swags of tiny acorns adorn the fron

tispiece to Andreas Trebizond's preface to his father's commentary on

Ptolemy's Almagest (fig. 6).49 The artist duplicates every detail in this

"portrait'' of the bridge, including the ramps leading to the bridge, the

oculus, and the distinctive brickwork. Tiny piers even convincingly ex

codici di lavoro di Sisto IV in Un Pontificato ed una citt?, ed. Massimo Miglio, pp. 115ff.

48BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 2094, fol. 8r. The text was translated from Greek into Latin by Theodorus Gaza, and is dedicated to Nicholas V in the original preface.

"Andreas Trebizond, Almagestum and Commentarium in Almagestum by George

Trebizond, BAY Cod. Vat. Lat. 2058, fol. 1r. See Weiss, op. cit., pp. 20-21 John Monfasani, Col

lectanea Trapezuntiana: Texts, Documents, and Bibliographies of George of Trebizond

(Binghamton, New York, 1984); Monfasani, George of Trebizond: A Biography and a

Study of His Rhetoric and Logic (Leiden, 1976); Lee, op. cit., pp. 71-74.

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BY JILL E. BLOND?N 19

INDUEKt T1UTE 7.V M,l G E O IG i 1 1 lili \ P D ? Y M

?stvmfont \? \ v- i N r

TEJLNI5 A.D TTO1. E M \ I V M COMMENTA TU i S i R.A E . A. : I. "

VM A.NNO ?>\

per i r r r " '.

lema.fi \lm\ I F .S T \' M \ I? I Rv

DIT1S51M0 ET CHRl.STl AK 15

SIMO VIRO, GEORGIO "TX 4Lt>eZt*ntto, p*?rf

mfo? rpr ??co conuerHtmttuo ho? ? ?? rt\ yfk*

TOf?ttft* ?14V?me dedm??inrfmftmm tum me ?cnt?o? rr, c61nt"

t*ruk.jfLvt?*im ??tf?umopm i non ? ne -wm^ia feit

? i/>n<f l?i?,-1/> eo -?jfr- ??m/crif 6*

i ?|^?% ̂o/lri

c W? ? ni ?i?:< /u dort ?nnti^oi

H?tmkntim farmfmi^m\i*nr>et?'a?t paetafft. w.t?jc<?w f/ict>?'

p<fcfy#*n ?ift^aitn^H-nw*^ ?tetfn?tttm Ofntnontm fitmtno erudito^

eo-nfenfu tttnif?ttinmcLl utfUtuf f'rrrr non poffetpropfrtf-nj **

n*?>t ? ( ?*pi fetli ?k??d eU&idtret -?/a wmv i ?i<r- c tu>f> rt v t w ? wt*/jr a t ? ,t

tpf?jlt*tre- fif #i* Wlt?Tm* ?erif 4Hl?t*w fkctrtt mott?.wtt?tpw

ttHthit nHh jVttfr ?dAtlU MtTi?t,^ntnmm .tdieti?h F.-i ifiu^

.*w btf ,*i?mi?Ofm?w cormtf t? ?ipf

<u ?h?i??-imi r#l**?ir.ttrnf?if,ut .alupi <If

?lfi?fMM lit? ft ah trudttis *? pen fcf tmitttt enhit ?mi ti < rju> ? *t t <? t

tionem iMrtjsd rHtiont?>ttsitnme?toni iemppti frfftuj.ruiim purji-.i .

Q^*t?tii,iAm fl?fomm ?"morftiIiMm tnttnftr ?miUcc tito fvmfifu-Mf?f.i^??

ce?fniti&Uu nvfbvi homing^nauontm titz'.?t.itf?n p^ttttnf tnp-iiii? L?hotAritnt idtutxwi m i^ntrrpretAtto*ie f>

f t/?>.*>? ?r.uf A/h-?^^i* $ t w? to As / ? etfu i d ? a d Qrmjfm ft tperi ??rb??? twpwt

* *f tvitieunnn u^*

Fig. 6

Presentation page from Andrea Trebizond's preface to Ptolemy's Almagest, fifteenth

century. Biblioteca Apost?lica Vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2058, fol. lr

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20 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS IV AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

tend into the viewer's space and make the miniature bridge seem real.

Also on the page is a fictive inscription attached to an oak tree that

reads, "SIXTVS P.P. IIII," which is similar to the sort of plaques seen

throughout Rome. The frontispiece, replete with symbols of Sistine ac

complishments and crowned by a miniature version of Sixtus' most am

bitious project, no doubt reminded the pope of his civic and religious

supremacy.

Sixtus' "Foundation" of the Vatican library

Like all of Sixtus' public works, the Vatican Library joined the sacred

and profane in a single commission. Pope Nicholas V actually established

the library and built the rooms on the ground floor of the Vatican Palace

that comprised the institution. After his death, the library was neglected until Sixtus, who was widely acclaimed as a scholar and theologian, be

came pope. With his charter of June, 1475, Ad decorem militantis ec

clesiae, Sixtus officially "founded" the library, the first of its kind to be

fully accessible to the public, appointed a head librarian, Platina, and

outlined plans for the institution.50

Sixtus enlarged the public library, or Bibliotheca Communis, to four

rooms by renovating a suite of storerooms next to the Cortile del Papa

gallo. The largest room, the Sala Latina, contained Latin texts, while the

smaller Sala Graeca kept the books in Greek.51 The Biblioteca Segreta held

the rare and most valuable manuscripts, and the Biblioteca Pontificia

stored the papal archives and registers. The pope also worked on ex

panding the holdings of the Vatican Library. From 1475 to 1484, the col

lection grew by a thousand volumes and ultimately contained more

'The text of the bull is published by J. Ruysschaert, "Sixte IV, Fondateur de la Biblio

th?que Vaticane, 15 Juin 1475," Archiv um historiae pontificiae, 7 (1969), 523-524; J. Big nami-Odier with Jos? Ruysschaert,!? Biblioth?que Vaticane de Sixte TV ? Pie XI (Vatican

City, 1973), pp. 20-22; Clark, op. cit., pp. 21-22. Leonard Boyle, "The Future of Old Li

braries: The Vatican Library,"Liber, 8 (1986), 42ff., does not consider^ decorem as the

bull founding the Vatican Library. Sixtus had made the Vatican Library a priority from the

beginning of his reign. He ordered stone to be quarried for the library on December 17,

1471. See Frank, op. cit., pp. 52ff., and John Willis Clark,"On the Vatican Library of Sixtus

IV" Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 10 (1904), 11-61.

"It was traditional to house the Greek and Latin texts in separate rooms. John Willis

Clark, The Care of Books (Cambridge, 1901), pp. 204-205; Clark,"On the Vatican Library;

p. 23.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 21

than three times as many books as the libraries of such princely rulers as Federigo da Montefeltro and the Medici.52 So successful was Sixtus' li

brary that Ariosto honored it in a poem:

Of the antique books that you also may propose to me,

Sixtus collected most of them, for public use,

from all over the world."

The Vatican Library conveyed the pope's authority by recalling the

grandeur of ancient Rome and its libraries. The fictive books and open

cupboards that decorated the cabinets were taken from designs of an

cient libraries. Although this kind of intarsia decoration became popu lar in Renaissance libraries, the unusual cabinets at the Vatican were the

first of their type.54 Melozzo da Forli's Pope Sixtus W, His Nephews, and

Platina (cover illustration), the focus of the Sala Latina, evoked ancient

Rome with its depiction of Sixtus surrounded by his nephews and

Platina in a classical architectural setting. Melozzo's painting takes place in a classical basilica that shows Sixtus as an imperial ruler and certainly calls to mind the lost portrait of Augustus that dominated the Palatine

Library.55 However, the garments worn

by Sixtus, the camauro and

mozzetta, make it clear that the pope, as a religious leader, is using im

perial language to showcase the superiority of his Christian Rome.

Brandolini, in one of two poems that he devoted to the Vatican Library,

explains why Sixtus' new library surpasses the ancients:

Whatever Latium has, whatever the very learned Greece has, Whatever the Solimi

have, and whatever the anointed Arab has,

The glory of divine Sixtus has topped them all.

And I ask who of the ancients had such an abundance of books?

"M?ntz and Paul Fabre, La Biblioth?que du Vatican au XVe si?cle d'apr?s des docu

ments in?dits (Paris, 1879), p. 48. The library grew from 2,527 volumes in 1475 to more

than 3,500 in 1484.

"Excerpt from Ariosto's 1517-1525 Satire (VII): "Di libri antichi anco mi puoi pro

porre, il numer grande, che per publico uso, Sisto da tutto il mondo se raccore." See Pas

tor, op. cit., II, 656; Lee, op. cit., p. 118.

,4Maria Giulia Aurigemma, "Tarsie vaticane quattrocentesche: con una nota su dieci

anni di studi sulla Roma del Quattrocento," Arte documenti (1990), 68-75. The intarsia

cupboards, all that remains of the original interior, had been installed on the anteroom

walls of the Sistine Chapel.

"Frank, op. cit., pp. 43-43,112-113.

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22 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS rv AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

To each there was his own library, I confess, but each had (only) one;

Sixtus, father, you win: you alone have four.56

The juxtaposition of the sacred with the secular is even more obvi ous in the wall frescoes above Melozzo s Pope Sixtus TV, His Nephews, and Piatina. Domenico and Davide Ghirlandaio painted twelve sages of ancient and Christian learning in eight lunettes. The figures include

six philosophers of Greek antiquity, the four great doctors of the Latin

Church, and two contemporary Christian figures, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Each figure, identified by name, stands behind a fic

tive balcony and holds a scroll that contains an excerpt of his writing.57

Obviously the presence of these men calls to mind Sixtus' own erudition

and fame as a scholar, serves as learned exemplars for visitors to the li

brary, and suggests the importance of ancient learning in the service of

Christianity. At the same time, the depiction of these Greek and Chris

tian figures together advertises Sixtus' tolerance toward the humanists

of Rome and the benevolence of his rule.58

Sistine symbols and inscriptions also remind the viewer of Sixtus'

role as "founder." The Sala Latina displays the coat of arms of Sixtus on

the ceiling, in the stained glass windows, below Melozzo's fresco, and

above the sumptuous marble entrance. Fictive swags of acorns frame

the lunettes and run along the vaults of the ceiling. The words "SIXTVS

PAPA IIII" over the entrance door announce Sixtus' responsibility for

the project, and an inscription above the offices of the librarian pro

claim, "SIXTVS IIII PONT MAX // BIBLIOTECARIO ET CVSTODIBVS

*Brandolini,'De bibliotheca a Sixto condita," epigram XII, BAV, Cod. Urb. Lat. 739, fols.

78v and 79r; BAV, Cod. Vat. Lat. 5008, fol. 60r and 60v:

Quicquid habet Latium, doctissima Graecia quicquid,

Quicquid habent Solimi, quicquid et unctus Arabs,

Omnia divini cumulavit gloria Sixti,

Et rogo cui veterum copia tanta fuit.

Bibliotheca fuit, fateor, sua cuique, sed una.

Sixte pater vincis : quatuor unus habes.

"Albertini, in his Opusculum, described the lavish decoration in 1510: "the illustrious

library was built by Sixtus IV in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, with a portrait of him

and the most beautiful pictures decorated with these poetic inscriptions." See Frank, op.

cit., p. 90.

'"Guido Cornini,UiDominico Thomasii florentino pro pictura bibliothecae quam in

choavif.? contributo di Domenico e Davide Ghirlandaio nella Biblioteca di Sisto TV? Sisto

IV:Le arti a Roma nel Primo Rinascimento, ed. Fabio Benzi, p. 225.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 23

LOCVM ADDIXIT.'Two crests of the library's actual founder, Nicholas V, remain on the keystones of two vaults in the Sala Graeca. Although the

coats of arms have been heavily embellished with the oak and acorns, this is the only instance where Sixtus acknowledges his indebtedness

to his predecessor.59 In a sermon of 1508, Battista Casali exalted books

and writings over works of art as the vehicles that perpetuated Pope Sixtus' personal fame.60 Thus, with his foundation of the Vatican Library, Sixtus was able to link books with art and the sacred with the secular to create another lasting emblem of himself as Urbis Restaurator.

Based on Sixtus' conspicuous use of inscriptions?approximately 115 are extant?it is clear that civic refurbishment constituted what he

thought to be his most important achievement.61 Located throughout Rome, these inscriptions emphasize the pope's munificence, spiritual

leadership, and the diversity of his undertakings. An entrance plaque on

the Ponte Sisto exclaims:

You who cross over [the Tiber river] by means of the gift of Sixtus IV ask God

to save and preserve for us for a long time the best supreme pontiff. And

blessings to you, whoever you are, when you will have prayed for these

things.62

Sixtus even had his urban accomplishments inscribed over the main

portal of a Roman church that he had restored, SS. Quirico e Giulitta:

"The oak [i.e., della Rovere] sees restored those things, together with

the Julita Mother, which were long-ruined churches; at the appointed time under the prince Sixtus there is no aging to churches. This man re

,9See Toby Yuen, "The 'Biblioteca Graeca': Castagno, Alberti, and Ancient Sources,"

Burlington Magazine, 112 (1970), 725-736; Clark, "On the Vatican Library," p. 33; Gio

vanni Morello,"Tra due giubilei: la fondazione della Biblioteca Vaticana," in La Storia dei

Giubilei: 1450-1575, II, 93-99.

<,0See John W. O'Malley, Praise and Blame in Renaissance Rome: Rhetoric, Doctrine,

and Reform in the Sacred Orators of the Papal Court, c. 1450-1521 ("Duke Mono

graphs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies," 3 [Durham, North Carolina, 1979]), p. 272. In

this sermon, given during Julius ITs pontificate, Casali explains the importance of the Vat

ican Library and Sixtus' contribution. Michael Baxandall, Giotto and the Orators: Hu

manist Observers of Painting in Italy and the Discovery of Pictorial Composition,

1350-1450 (Oxford, 1971), p. 90.

61At least 115 inscriptions commemorate Sixtus' building activities throughout Rome.

See Fagiolo and Madonna, op. cit.,p. 104.

62MC XXV QUI TRANSIS XYSTI QUARTI BENEFICIO / DEUM ROGA UT PONTMCEM OPTIMUM MAXI / MVM DIV NOBIS SALVET AC SOSPIT ET BENE / VALE QUISQVIS ES UBI HAEC PRECATUS FUERIS.

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24 POWER MADE VISIBLE: POPE SLXTUS W AS URBIS RESTAURATOR IN QUATTROCENTO ROME

makes bridges, waUs, churches, streets."63 Perhaps the most telling adver

tisement, though, is Melozzo's Pope Sixtus IV, His Nephews, and

Platina. Platina kneels before Sixtus and points to the epigram below

the painting:

Rome owes to you, Sixtus, temples, a home for foundlings, streets, market

squares, walls, bridges, the repairs done to the Aqua Vergine of the public

square, the decision to give the sailors a harbor, their ancient privilege, and

the walls around the Monte Vaticano. But it owes even more to you; for the li

brary that was hidden in dirt, can now be seen in a prominent place.64

Rather than depicting Sixtus with a book or a pen to memorialize his

patronage of the library, Platina honors the pope with this inscription

commemorating his building activities.65

Besides inscriptions, Sixtus used other means to advertise his role as a

cultural patron and Urbis Restaurator. At least two different papal medals

emblazoned with the words, "SIXTVS IIII PONT MAX VRBIS RESTAVRA

TOR" were struck. Ten of the paintings in Sixtus'biographical fresco cycle at the Hospital of Santo Spirito were devoted to his civic projects.66 One

of the frescoes toward the end of the series, Sixtus IVPresents His Works

to God (fig. 7), features public works, such as churches, the hospital, and

a bridge. Although the bridge likely represents the Ponte Sisto, it may also

allude to all of Sixtus' civic improvements, just as the two churches next

to it portray the pope's ecclesiastical patronage in general.67

Sixtus drew on antique symbols, sculptures, and buildings to create a

glorious, new Christian Rome fashioned to represent him squarely in

charge of the civic and spiritual dimensions of the city.68 Exploiting the

archetypes of ancient Rome, the pope's urban improvements, albeit

?The entire inscription reads: "INSTAVRATA VIDET QVIRICVS CVM MATRE IVLITA //

QVE FVERANT LONGA DIRVTA TEMPLA DIE // PRINCIPE SVB SLXTO DELVBRIS NVLLA VETVSTAS // HIC REFICIT PONTES MENIA TEMPLA VIAS."

^The translation is by Howe, op. cit., p. 372. The original inscriptions reads,"TEMPLA, DOMVM EXP?SITO, VICOS, FORA, MOENIA, PONTES, // VIRGINEAM TRTVII, QVOD REPARARIS AQUAM, // PRISCA LICET NAVTIS STATVAS DARE COMMODA PORTVS // ET VATICANVM CINGERE, SLXTE, IVGVM, // PLVS TAMEN VRBS DEBET, NAM QVAE SQVA LORE LATEBAT,// CERNITVR IN CELEBRI BIBLIOTECA LOCO."

65Matthais Winner,"Papa Sisto IV quale exemplum virutis magnificentiae nell'affresco

di Melozzo da Forli," in Arte, Committenza ed Econom?a a Roma e nette Corti del Ri

nascimento (1420-1530), eds. Arnold Esch and Christoph Luitpold Frommel (Turin,

1995), p. 9.

^On the Hospital of Santo Spirito, see Howe, op. cit.

6rBenzi, op. cit., p. 206.

^Frank, op. cit., pp. 31 -33,61.

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BY JILL E. BLONDIN 25

?.l?i?hs?l

W^^^'^?P'^

*P* 7? ;^**$?F? 'I

?T, ? : Ai

Flg. 7

Sixtus IV Presents His Works to God, 1478-1480, fresco. Hospital of Santo Spirito,

Rome

worldly, were not motivated by a love for all things ancient. Instead Six

tus used antiquity to harness the powers of history for himself and to

display the success of his reign. Sixtus' urban renovation, which extended

to all areas of Rome, bound together the pope's temporal and spiritual

authority like two sides of a medal.

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