Historic buildings : $b as seen and described by great writers
History
Historic buildings : $b as seen and described by great writers
Architecture -- History; Art -- Study and teaching; Historic buildings
The most remarkable are certainly those by Lenoncourt and those of the
Clovis set. The first were offered to the cathedral by the Archbishop
Robert de Lenoncourt; one of them bears the dedication of 1530. They
represent the _Life of the Virgin_. They are of Flemish origin
and of a very fine execution. The composition is rich, spirited and of
an extremely graceful style. Some of them have not lost the freshness
of their colours and can still be counted among the best specimens of
the art of tapestry at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. These
precious hangings occupy the wall surfaces of the side-aisles of the
nave, where they produce a sumptuous effect.
[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF S. ANGELO, ITALY.]
THE CASTLE OF S. ANGELO
AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE
The Ponte S. Angelo is the Pons Elius of Hadrian, built as an approach
to his mausoleum, and only intended for this, as another public bridge
existed close by, at the time of its construction. It is almost
entirely ancient, except the parapets. The statues of St. Peter and
St. Paul, at the extremity, were erected by Clement VII., in the place
of two chapels, in 1530, and the angels, by Clement IX., in 1688. The
pedestal of the third angel on the right is a relic of the siege of
Rome in 1849, and bears the impress of a cannon-ball.
These angels, which have been called the “breezy maniacs” of Bernini,
are only from his designs. The two angels which he executed himself,
and intended for this bridge, are now at S. Andrea della Fratte. The
idea of Clement IX. was a fine one, that “an avenue of the heavenly
host should be assembled to welcome the pilgrim to the shrine of the
great apostle.”
From the Ponte S. Angelo, when the Tiber is low, are visible the
remains of the bridge by which the ancient Via Triumphalis crossed
the river. Close by, where Santo Spirito now stands, was the Porta
Triumphalis, by which victors entered the city in triumph.
Facing the bridge, is the famous Castle of S. Angelo, built by the
Emperor Hadrian as his family tomb, because the last niche in the
imperial mausoleum of Augustus was filled when the ashes of Nerva were
laid there. The first funeral here was that of Elius Verus, the first
adopted son of Hadrian, who died before him. The Emperor himself died
at Baiæ, but his remains were transported hither from a temporary tomb
at Pozzuoli by his successor Antoninus Pius, by whom the mausoleum was
completed in A.D., 140. Here also were buried, Antoninus
Pius, A.D., 161; Marcus Aurelius, 180; Commodus, 192; and
Septimius Severus, in an urn of gold, enclosed in one of alabaster,
A.D., 211; Caracalla, in 217, was the last Emperor interred
here. The well-known lines of Byron:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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