Notes and Queries, Number 226, February 25, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 226, February 25, 1854: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
Though it is much to be regretted that the dates in question are not
recorded on the Stuart monument in St. Peter's, yet the deficiency is in
part supplied by the cenotaph raised to the memory of his elder brother by
Cardinal York, in his cathedral church at Frascati. From it we find that
Charles Edward deceased on 31st January, 1788, at the age of sixty-seven
years and one month. This date also fixes the year of his birth at 1720,
and the month December; most probably the 28th, though often given as the
31st. We give a copy of the inscription below.
The date of the birth and decease of James III. is correctly given in "N. &
Q.," Vol viii., p. 565.
An account of the sepulchral monument of the last of the Stuarts may
interest the readers of "N. & Q." In the south aisle of St. Peter's, and
against the first pier of the nave, is the monument of the Stuarts. It was
sculptured by Canova to the memory of James, the old Pretender; Charles
Edward, the young Pretender; and Henry Benedict, the Cardinal, who was
known in Rome as Cardinal York. Part of the expense of the monument was
defrayed by George IV., who sent a donation of fifty pounds for the purpose
to Pius VII. The monument is built on to the masonry of the pier, of white
marble, about fifteen feet high, and is in the form of the frustrum of a
{178} pyramid, and surmounted above the entablature by the royal arms of
England. Below the arms are profile portraits in bas-relief of James,
Charles Edward, and Henry Benedict, surmounted by a festoon of flowers.
Beneath the portraits is the following inscription:
"Jacobo III.
Jacobi II. Magnæ Brit. regis filio,
Karolo Edvardo,
Et Henrico, decano Patrum Cardinalium,
Jacobi III. filiis,
Regiæ Stirpis Stuardiæ postremis.
A.D. MDCCCXIX.
Beati mortui,
Qui in Domino moriuntur."
There is a representation of panelled doors, as if leading to a vault,
below the inscription, though their sepulchre is not in this locality; a
small triangular slab of marble surmounts the door, with the words "Beati
mortui," &c. A weeping angel in bas-relief guards the doorway on each side;
the head of each angel resting on the bosom, the wings drooping, the hands
elevated, joined together, and resting on the end of an extinguished and
inverted torch. The figures of the two angels are exquisitely beautiful,
and among Canova's finest works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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