The Civilisation of the Renaissance in ItalyBurckhardt, Jacob
History
The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy
Burckhardt, Jacob
Italy -- Civilization; Renaissance -- Italy
And when there were in reality no triumphs to celebrate, the poets found
a compensation for themselves and their patrons. Petrarch and Boccaccio
had described the representation of every sort of fame as attendants
each of an allegorical figure (p. 409); the celebrities of past ages
were now made attendants of the prince. The poetess Cleofe Gabrielli of
Gubbio paid this honour to Borso of Ferrara.[962] She gave him seven
queens--the seven liberal arts--as his handmaids, with whom he mounted a
chariot; further, a crowd of heroes, distinguished by names written on
their foreheads; then followed all the famous poets; and after them the
gods driving in their chariots. There is, in fact, at this time simply
no end to the mythological and allegorical charioteering, and the most
important work of art of Borso’s time--the frescoes in the Palazzo
Schifanoja--shows us a whole frieze filled with these motives.[963]
Raphael, when he had to paint the Camera della Segnatura, found this
mode of artistic thought completely vulgarised and worn out. The new and
final consecration which he gave to it will remain a wonder to all ages.
The triumphal processions, strictly speaking, of victorious generals,
formed the exception. But all the festive processions, whether they
celebrated any special event or were mainly held for their own sakes,
assumed more or less the character and nearly always the name of a
‘Trionfo.’ It is a wonder that funerals were not also treated in the
same way.[964]
It was the practice, both at the Carnival and on other occasions, to
represent the triumphs of ancient Roman commanders, such as that of
Paulus Æmilius under Lorenzo the Magnificent at Florence, and that of
Camillus on the visit of Leo X. Both were conducted by the painter
Francesco Gronacci.[965] In Rome, the first complete exhibition of this
kind was the triumph of Augustus after the victory over Cleopatra,[966]
under Paul II., where, besides the comic and mythological masks, which,
as a matter of fact, were not wanting in the ancient triumphs, all the
other requisites were to be found--kings in chains, tablets with decrees
of the senate and people, a senate clothed in the ancient costume,
praetors, aediles, and quaestors, four chariots filled with singing
masks, and, doubtless, cars laden with trophies. Other processions
rather aimed at setting forth, in a general way, the universal empire of
ancient Rome; and in answer to the very real danger which threatened
Europe from the side of the Turks, a cavalcade of camels bearing masks
representing Ottoman prisoners, appeared before the people. Later, at
the Carnival of the year 1500, Cæsar Borgia, with a bold allusion to
himself, celebrated the triumph of Julius Cæsar, with a procession of
eleven magnificent chariots,[967] doubtless to the scandal of the
pilgrims who had come for the Jubilee (vol. i. p. 116). Two ‘Trionfi,’
famous for their taste and beauty, were given by rival companies in
Florence, on the election of Leo X.
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