paul iii and the fagade of the casa crivelli in rome

Renaissance Studies Vol. 3 No. 3

Paul III and the faCade of the Casa Crivelli in Rome

GEORGIA CLARKE

The painted and stuccoed decorated facades of palazzi in Rome have not received their due in terms either of conservation or art-historical and architectural discussion. The large numbers of facades painted in Renais- sance Rome by such notable figures as Polidoro da Caravaggio, Maturino da Firenze and Baldassare Peruzzi have disappeared without trace. ’ A few survive in a very battered state. The continued existence of many sgraffito2 facades is due to nineteenth-century repairs or complete ‘restoration’.

W. Hirschfeld made a brief written catalogue of painted and sgraffito facades in Rome in 1911, including descriptions and references made earlier to facades which no longer existed even then. There was a further catalogue, based on Hirschfeld, by U. Gnoli in 1938, followed in 1960 by an exhibition and catalogue, based on Gn01i.~ There was, however, little analytical discussion of the contents of the catalogues. The conservation aspects of facades in general was treated at a conference which was published in 1986, but there was no specific work on the iconography of any Rome example^.^ Pier Nicola Pagliara is recorded as having given a talk on all’antica decorated facades at a conference in Rome, but this was not included in the published ~ t t i . ~ There is still much room for debate.

There were two basic types of figurative facade decoration. The first was of geometric patterning and ornamentation with elements such as garlands, discarded Roman armour and friezes of classical inspiration.

This article was first delivered as a paper at the conference Piety, Patronage and Power: Mediaeval and Renaissance Buildings in Italy held at The British School at Rome, 13-14 May 1988, organized by Dr John Law. My thanks to him and to my colleagues at The British School for their support, as well as to The British School at Rome for the award of a Rome Scholarship in Italian Studies for 1987-8.

’ G. Vasari, Le Vite. Testa, ed. R. Bettarini (Florence, 1976), IV 315-30, 455-72. * Sgruffito was a form of decoration created by overlaying a layer of light plaster on a layer of

dark plaster and then scratching a design through so that the dark plaster was exposed in those areas to form a contrast with the light plaster.

’ W. Hirschfeld, ‘Quellenstudien zur Geschichte der Fassadenmalerei in Rom in XVI und XVII Jahrhundert’, diss. (Halle, 1911); U. Cnoli, Facciate graffzte e dzpznte in Romu (Arezzo, 1938); C . Pericoli Ridolfini, Le case romane con facczate graffite e dipznte (Rome, 1960).

‘ Bolletzno d’arte, 35-6 Supplement (1986), 2 vols. M. Fagiolo (ed.), Roma e 1’Antico nell’arte e nellu culturu del cinquecento (Rome, 1985); for

the decoration and interpretation of an internal garden faCade see R. Kultzen, ‘Die Malereien Polidoros da Caravaggio im Giardino del Bufalo in Rom’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Insthut in Florenz, 9 (1959-60), 99-120.

@ 1989 The Society for Renaissance Studies, Oxford University Press

Paul 111 and the facade of the Casa Crivelli 253

The second was the inclusion, on a small or large scale, of human figures and narrative scenes. These scenes, in Rome, usually depicted either Old Testament stories, or, more appropriately, episodes of ancient Roman history. Palazzo Ricci is an example still to be seen, with facade paintings attributed to Polidoro and Maturino.

The facade of the Casa Crivelli is set within this tradition of the facade decorated all’antica, or in classically inspired style, yet the classical tradition was used in a different way from its Roman predecessors. Although the use of particular Roman myths or historical events may have been used before to make political statements on Rome palace facades, as Schweikhart has shown was the case for a facade in Verona decorated after the return of the city to Venetian rule in 1517, where the Justice of Trajan and the Continence of Scipio reflected the image of clemency which the Venetians wanted to promote. The Casa Crivelli went further and showed scenes of contemporary history in classical dress, giving a very overt and political message.

To understand this the Casa Crivelli and its owner must be set within their historical context. The Casa Crivelli is a modest palazzo in the via dei Banchi Vecchi in Rome (plate 1). It has a well-preserved stucco facade of four storeys. The ground floor, in travertine, has a rusticated entrance and an opening for a shop or workshop. A string course with an inscription divides this from the first floor (plate 2), where there are three rectangular windows with stucco representations of Roman military trophies between them, and grotesque masks, ribbons and lions’ heads above. A string course and frieze in turn separate the first from the second storey; in the frieze there are three sets of flying put t i supporting coats of arms. The faces of these have been chiselled away and there was a third coat of arms which must have been destroyed when a balcony was put in, but the names of the owners, Julius 11, Paul [111] and Urban 111, are inscribed underneath. The second storey (plate 3) also has rectangular windows, but with alternate segmental and triangular pediments. Between these windows are hanging bunches of fruit, and put t i with short cloaks stand at the bottom with baskets also filled with pro- duce. These elements hang from festoons which run over the space between the windows and are held by naked male figures seated above the pediments. Eagles with outstretched wings sit on the middle of each fes- toon. There is a final string course and then a top-floor loggia, now blocked up. The loggia (plate 4) consisted of two rectangular side- openings with figured panels above them, and a central, higher arched opening with two victory put t i in the spandrels of the arch. The openings were separated by simple strip Corinthian pilasters. The fourth floor, fourth window and set of decoration were added later.’

G. Schweikhart, Le caze affrescate di Verona (Verona, 1977), Via Carducci. ’ The drawing of the facade by Letarouilly reproduced in C. Pietrangeli, Rzone V - Ponte. Parte

4 (Rome, 1981), 73, is inaccurate.

254 Georgia Clarke

Plate 1

Paul 111 and the faCade of the Casa Crivelli 255

256 Georgia Clarke

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258 Georgia Clarke

Gianpietro Crivelli, born in 1463, was a Milanese jeweller, goldsmith and silversmith who had moved to Rome by at least 1504.8 He was one of the important colony of Lombard goldsmiths in Rome, centred on the via dei Banchi, who were favoured by the papal court. He was wealthy, own- ing a number of properties in and outside Rome and in Lombardy, and in 1518 he acquired a burial chapel in S. Lucia del Gonfalone, which was near his house on the via dei Banchi Vecchi.

Gianpietro was closely involved with Pope Julius 11’s court in the second decade of the sixteenth century, where he knew Lorenzo Lotto, who painted a portrait of him, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum in C a l i f ~ r n i a . ~ He also held important posts in the Universit2 degli Orefici, or goldsmiths’ guild, more than once, and at one time was praised as ‘celeberrimus in urbe aurifex’ (‘most noted goldsmith in the city’).’’ Surprisingly he is not mentioned by name in Cellini’s Vita, but he has been identified as perhaps the Gianpietro della Tacca whose workshop Cellini shared to make a water vase for the Bishop of Salamanca.” Crivelli continued to be involved with the papal court under Paul 111, and was overseer in the zecca, or mint, in 1537; and he must have had close relations with the court and its members as he was later made a Pauline knight by Paul 111, and in 1546 Cardinal Gambara, a close political supporter of Paul I11 and the Farnese family as well as a patron of scholars, and Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, the humanist and church reformer, were witnesses to his will. ’ *

Between 1538 and 1539 the house on the via dei Banchi described above was completed.’3 The inscription placed on the first string course reads ‘ I 0 PETRUS CRIBELLUS MEDIOLANEN[SIS] SIB1 AC SUIS A FUNDAMENTIS EREXIT’ (Giovanpietro Crivelli, Milanese, built this from the foundations for himself and his heirs). The inscriptions under the coats of arms in the first-storey frieze name three popes: ‘JULIUS I1 PONT MAX, PAUL[US I11 PONT MIAX, URBANUS I11 PONT MAX’. Julius I1 (1503-13) was Crivelli’s patron and protector when he came to Rome, Paul I11 (1534-49) his patron at the time of building, and Urban I11 (1185-7) had been a Milanese pope from the noble Crivelli family, to whom perhaps Gianpietro was related. Thus on the facade of his house Gianpietro stated his allegiances, and both honoured his patrons and his possible forebear as well as glorifying himself by associa- tion. The following discussion will show how the facade of his house related to Paul I11 in particular and to his political policies.

a D. Gnoli. ‘La casa dell’orefice Giampietro Crivelli in Roma’, Arch Stor deLL’Arte, 4 (1891), 236- 42; Dizionario biografico degli Italzani (Rome, 1985), 139-41; E. Muntz, ‘L’oreficeria a Roma durante il regno di Clemente VII (1523-34)’, Arch Stor delZ’Arte, 1 (1881), 14-23.

Pietrangeli, Rzone V, 71; Dizzonario, 159. I ” C. von Fabriczy, Italian Medals (London, 1904). 172. I ’ B. Cellini, Vita, ed. 0. Bacci (Florence, 1901), 43, where it is said that Gianpietro’s nephew

knocked a pigeon from Palazzo Sforza Cesarini with a sling shot from the loggia of Gianpietro’s house.

’’ D. Gnoli, ‘La casa . . _’, 240. ” D. Gnoli, ‘La casa . . _’, 238.


Paul I11 was elected to the papacy in 1534 and was then caught up in a balancing act trying to maintain an active neutrality between the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Francis I King of France, while actually leaning towards Charles V. In 1535 Paul I11 sent a small fleet from Civitavecchia to the North African coast in order to help Charles V in his campaign against Barbarossa. This resulted in a victory at Goletta and the taking of the city of Tunis, which was presented as the ostensible reason for Charles V's triumphal entry into Rome on 4 April 1536.14 The theme of the triumphal arches and decorations erected for the occasion stressed the spiritual power of the pope and the temporal power of the emperor handed down to them by Romulus seen as the first king of Rome and possessing both religious and political power.'5 Charles V was paralleled with early Roman heroes, such as the Scipios who had defeated the North African Carthaginians, who were defenders of Rome against its enemies, as Charles V was now defending Rome against 'infidels' in the form of the Turks. Throughout the honorific inscriptions to Charles V there was the reminder that he held his position through the grace of God and the Rome that was being defended was the centre of Christendom.

Uneasy relations between France and the Emperor continued, especially as Francis I had an alliance with the Turks. The pope maintained con- tacts with both sides as much as he could, and in July 1538 went to Nice in the hope of bringing the two leaders together. Difficult negotiations en- sued and Francis I refused to meet Charles V face to face. Eventually through the pope and intermediaries an agreement on a ten-year truce was reached, although the two had still not met. Paul I11 returned to Italy, and while he was on his way back to Rome news came that they had finally met. When Paul I11 reached Rome on 24 July 1538 he too was provided with a triumphal entry into the city.16 The theme of his entrance was the peace and riches that he had brought about by the reconciliation of the two leaders, refered to very specifically as Christian princes, and thus the new pact that would be formed for the defeating of the Turks.

The Casa Crivelli showed episodes from these political exploits of Paul 111. But let us first set the facade within its architectural context and see how it took part in an established visual language and used it for making its overt political statement.

The design of the stucco work has variously been attributed to Giulio Mazzoni, who was later to work on Palazzo Spada, and indeed to Crivelli himself." I would propose that the iconographic programme if not the execution (since Crivelli was 75 at the time) can be given to Crivelli,

' I L. Pastor, trans. and ed. F. I . Antrobus, The History ofthe Popes (London, 1923), XI, 224-45; M . Caravale and A. Carracciolo, Storiu d'ltalia (Turin, 1978), XIV, 245-6; V. Forcella, Tornei e giostre, ingressi trionfuli e feste carneualesche in Roma sotto Paolo I l l (Rome, 1885), 36-49.

' I Forcella, Tornei, 43, in the description of the entry by Andrea Sale, 5 April 1536. '' Pastor, Popes, 293; Forcella, Tornei, 57-62. " P. Portoghesi, Roma del rinascimento (n.p.. n.d.), 11, 466.

260 Georgia Clarke

especially considering his connections with artists and intellectuals at the papal court. Sixteenth-century Rome was, as I noted above, filled with all’antica decorated facades and most were sgraffito or grisaille like the decoration of Palazzo Massimo Istoriato. Stucco was much rarer, and only the facades of the Casa Crivelli and Palazzo Spada have survived complete. One of the most important early sixteenth-century stucco facades was that of Palazzo Branconio d’Aquila (now destroyed), designed by Raphael before 1520. The choice of stucco for Casa Crivelli, while echo- ing Palazzo Branconio, also reflected the reinvention of Roman decorative techniques. Thus Giovanni da Udine formulated the recipe for Roman stucco and used it in the Vatican Logge (1512-18) and the Villa Madama (project c. 1516-17), which was seen by Raphael as a recrea- tion of an ancient Roman villa. l 9 The all’antica reference was therefore not only iconographic but also reflected in the choice of materials and techniques.

There were striking similarities between the Casa Crivelli and Palazzo Branconio, not only in the use of stucco, but in the decorative elements as well. There were festoons hanging above the windows, eagles and figured panels on the top storey. In the courtyard of Palazzo Branconio the rhythm of the windows, the use of decoration between them and the for- mal use of roundels within the overall composition are all paralleled on the Casa Crivelli. That Palazzo Branconio should have served as a model for the Casa Crivelli is hardly surprising since Giovanni Branconio dell’A- quila, friend and patron of Raphael, was a jeweller who became treasurer of Leo X’s jewels and rose within the ranks of the papal court. Thus he and his house would have seemed an eminently appropriate model for Gianpietro Crivelli. *’

Both these facades and many other decorated ones in Rome, drew on a common source, that is, the vocabulary of ancient Roman sculpture and decoration. This was widespread in sixteenth-century Rome, but that did not mean that these visual elements were cliche‘d and without significance - mere decoration. The specific choice of elements and their combination on the facade taken in conjunction with the two figured panels on the upper loggia show that even in the late 1530s, when the all’antica style had been commonplace in Rome since the mid fifteenth century, mean- ing was attached to them.

Large-scale sculpted Roman military trophies were known from the so- called ‘Trophies of Marius’ (transferred from what is now Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele to the balustrade of the Campidoglio in 1592), as well as

’’ P. N. Pagliara, ‘I1 palazzo Branconio dell’Aquila di Raffaello ricostruito in base ai documenti:

I s N. Dacos, Le Logge di Ruffaello (Rome, 1977), 44; P. Foster, ‘Raphael on the Villa Madama:

J. Shearman, ‘I1 doppio ritratto’, in Ruffaello urchztetto, ed. C. L. Frommel, S . Ray and M.

classicismo o maniera?’, Controspurio, v (1973), 68-92.

the text of a lost letter’, RomtrchesJuhduchfur Kumtgeschichte, 1 1 (1967-8), 308-12.

Tafuri (Milan, 1984), 107.


from sculpted reliefs on triumphal arches, and on a small scale, from coins. Roman coins were widely available in the Renaissance, and would have been a source of particular interest to Crivelli as a jeweller and minter.’l The trophies on the faCade were, perhaps, not only an all’antica motif, but can also be seen as referring to the victories of Julius I1 - restorer of the Papal States through his military campaigns - as well as to the end of war and the beginning of an era of peace under Paul 111.’’

There were six figures seated above the pediments of the second floor windows. Four of these are now only fragmentary, but their positions are clear from the marks on the wall. They have been identified as satyrs, but I can see no evidence to support this view.” The four central ones hold the festoons with eagles above the windows, while the far left-hand figure holds a trident and the one on the far right perhaps a thunderbolt. The theme of victory and the end of war appears again as the figures are seated on discarded armour. The trident may refer to the naval victory of Paul I11 and Charles V, or together with the thunderbolt(?) signify domi- nion over the world.

The festoons that the men hold are like those to be found on many Roman monuments, often with an eagle sitting on the middle of the swag, a motif which Raphael again had used in the Chigi Chapel in S . Maria del Popolo (c. 1519-20). The bunches hanging between the windows also had an antique source like those painted by Giovanni da Udine in the second Vatican Logge. Like mosaic fruit and flower garlands decorating the archivolts of early Christian churches, they would seem to show abun- dance and prosperity and to offer a vision of Paradise or a Golden Age.

The little flying putti supporting the papal coats of arms have their origin on Roman sarcophagi where putt i hold a central tondo with a portrait or inscription. They also appeared holding arms on Renaissance doorways and tombs: examples of this in Rome are the tombs of Pope Martin V (c. 1443) and Cardinal Chiaves of Portugal (1447), both in the Lateran. Filarete too used them on the bronze doors of St Peter’s in the 1430s and 1440s. Thus in Rome they could be said to have a certain curial and papal resonance.

The two panels above the loggia have been identified as representing two major political events of Paul 111’s reign, which would also appear later in the cycle of paintings showing Paul 111’s life in Palazzo Farnese at Cap~arola.’~ On the right is Charles V kissing the pope’s foot at the end of his triumphal entry in 1536 (plate 5), and on the left Paul 111’s

” J . Cunally, ‘The r61e of Greek and Roman coins in the art of the Renaissance, PhD diss. (University of Pennsylvania, 1984). ” G. Galasso (ed). Stonu d’ltalia, vol. XIV, M . Caravale and A. Caracciolo, Lo statopontifizo da

Martino V a Pio IX (Turin, 1978), 165-89; B. Mitchell, Italian Civic Pageantry in the High Renaissance (Florence, 1979), 114-16. ” Pietrangeli, Rione V , 74-6. ’‘ I . Faldi, I1 Palazzo Farnese di Caparoh (Turin, 1981), 168, 172.

262 Georgia Clarke

Paul III and the facade of the Casa Crivelli 263

reconciliation of Francis I and Charles V in 1538 shown as an actual en- counter between the three (plate 6).

Let us look at some of the iconographic resonances of the panels before going on to discuss their possible source. There are ancient models for many of the elements within the panels. For example, the kneeling figure of Charles V, dressed in Roman armour, recalls in particular the Dacian on the Trajanic Frieze on the east side of the central passage of the Arch of Constantine.*’ The pope sits on a Roman stool and in a pose which is very similar to the emperor in the Aurelian relief of liberalitas on the north side of the Arch of Constantine.26 The group of three accompany- ing soldiers appears on reliefs, on adlocutio coins, such as those drawn by Pirro Ligorio in the 1540s and 1550s, as well as having parallels with figures on Trajan’s Column. 2 7

The common image which the relationship between Paul 111 and Charles V evokes is that of the submission of a ‘barbarian’ leader to a Roman emperor or general, found for example on a sarcophagus which formed part of a fountain in Julius 11’s Vatican Belvedere, or again on Trajan’s Column. ’* This formula continued from Antiquity into medieval and Renaissance ruler and papal iconography, where the pope was shown granting favours or establishing a religious order, or a ruler receiving an ambassador. On Filarete’s bronze doors Eugenius IV was shown receiving the Emperor Sigismund in the same way as Paul I11 was to receive Emperor Charles V. This submission of the empire to the papacy was to be seen as a submission of temporal power invested in the emperor to the primacy of spiritual power embodied in the pope. The pope’s gesture of blessing, in combination with this obeisance, also recalls pictures of the Adoration of the Magi where too the temporal, in the form of ancient ruins, is overcome and superseded by the spiritual under a new Christian age offered by Christ, and then his representative the pope, as can be seen for example in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Adoration in the Uffizi.

The second panel shows Francis I and Charles V, again in Roman dress and accompanied by Roman soldiers, shaking hands with Paul I11 raised up between them, hands on their shoulders, bringing them together, a cross behind them. Once more there is a Roman model seen for example on the sarcophagus used for Cardinal Fieschi’s tomb in S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura (d. 1256) and that is the image of marriage, and therefore of agreement and peace. The two parties face each other and join hands, while a figure between them looks outwards. The idea of agreement and harmony, or concordiu, was one found also on Roman coins known in the

A. Giuliano, Arco di Constantino (Milan, 1955), fig. 7 . ’‘ Giuliano, ATCO, fig. 23. *’ P. Ligorio, MS Bibliotheca Nazionale, Naples, Cod. XIII B 7 , 154, 202; K. Lehmann-

* * W. Amelung, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Mweums (Berlin, 1908), vol. 11, Tafdn, pl. 10; Hartleben, Die Trujunssuule (Berlin-Leipzig, 1926), vol. 11, scenes III , LXXII, CVI, CVII, CXXXI.

Lehmann-Hartleben, Trajanssuule, scene XLIV.

264 Georgia Clarke


Renaissance. There are examples of ‘concordia augustorum’ (agreement of the rulers) with two men shaking hands, and ‘concordia aeterna’ (eter- nal agreement) where there are two men shaking hands and a third figure between them.29 It was a theme that was very appropriate to the two most powerful rulers in Europe. Piety was also evoked on coins, as on one where there are two men shaking hands with the legend ‘pietas augusta’ (venerable piety), which links the theme and image of concord to religion. O

The Roman depiction of marriage and union was one taken up too in the early Christian and Renaissance periods for the Sposalizio of Mary and Joseph where the two figures face each other and join hands and the high priest stands between bringing them together. Both this and the em- bracing of Mary and Elizabeth in the Visitation, when both women were to bear children who would change the world, heralded the birth of a new era of peace and harmony under Christianity.

Let us now look at what the choice of images and their resonances may have meant in the context of the Casa Crivelli facade. The upper loggia on which these panels were placed is in the form of a Roman triumphal arch with figured panels over the side openings and flying victories in the spandrels of the central arch, the same format as, for example, on the Arch of Septimius Severus. The form of the triumphal arch was not only suitable for recording the achievements of a ruler, as in Paul 111’s political victories, but it gains added significance if we see it in relation to the two triumphal entries into Rome of 1536 and 1538. The first, that of Charles V, made its way through a series of real and wooden painted triumphal arches decorated with trophi.es, garlands, coats of arms, imperial eagles, putti and scenes from the emperor’s life.31 These are all elements which we find on the facade of the Casa Crivelli. This entry ended on the steps of St Peter’s where Paul 111, four cardinals and his household were waiting. The emperor, accompanied by his soldiery, dismounted and kneeled to kiss the pope’s foot.’*

No drawings appear to have survived for the upparati, or temporary decorations, for Paul 111’s entry, but there are written descriptions. 3 3

Decorations were added to the Roman ‘Arco di Portogallo’, including a panel showing Charles V kissing Paul 111’s foot, while on the arch put up in Piazza S. Marco outside the papal residence was a panel with the pope standing between the emperor and the French king:34 the first symbolic

Ligorio, Naples MS, 329, 335, 374 - with three figures for concordia augwtomm, 386. For the identification of these types of coins see H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage (London, 1936), I V , pt 1 , 123 no. 255, 133 no. 330A, 339 no. 164, and with C. H. V. Sutherland (London, 1938), IV, pt 2, 46 no. 215, 59 nos 386 and 187.

29

” Mattingly and Sydenham (London, 1926), 11, 128 no. 96. ” Mitchell, Pageantry, 125-9; Forcella, Tomez, 36-48; Pastor, Popes, 241-5. ” Forcella, Tornei, 49. ’’ Mitchell, Pageanty, 129-30; Forcella, Tomei, 57-62.

Forcella, Tornei, 60, 61.

266 Georgia Clarke

rather than factual treatment of this event which was then to become the established representation, as for example at Caprarola. 3 5

Thus on the faGade of the Casa Crivelli perhaps we have a record of the lost apparati for Paul 111’s 1538 entry. Furthermore, it reveals the extent of the manipulation and use of the classical past by Paul 111’s regime to support his papal claims to power. Even the transfer of his papal residence from the Vatican to Palazzo Venezia reveals a subtle understand- ing and use of Rome’s past to assert his right to power within the city of

Palazzo Venezia was practically next to the ancient political centre of Rome, where local Roman government still functioned to some extent on the Capitol. Physical monuments in Rome had always exercised considerable influence on inhabitants and visitors, witness the legends attached to specific places in the medieval guide book, the MirabiZia.37 Paul I11 thus effectively annexed the area and refocused attention on his own residence and therefore his role as ruler of Rome.

More specifically the panels on the Casa Crivelli show the application of ancient imperial iconography to give visual support to Paul 111, as well as using iconographic precedents from triumphal and victorious ancient imagery, such as the Arch of Constantine and Trajan’s Column. The facade of the Casa Crivelli was therefore firmly set within this papal use of all’antica images and themes to declare the legitimacy and primacy of papal power; to the extent also of the inclusion of the two panels where the participants were translated back into a Roman past as Paul I11 created his own history. The panels thus reflected Crivelli’s involvement with the papal court, and in the promotion of Paul 111’s papacy through powerful visual imagery.

The placing of Gianpietro Crivelli’s house on the via dei Banchi Vecchi allowed this political message to be seen by many people passing from the main part of Rome to St Peter’s and the Vatican, still centre of the papal administration. The via dei Banchi Vecchi was one of three important roads leading to the Ponte S. Angelo. It also at times formed part of the ceremonial route through Rome to the Vatican used by ambassadors and rulers. The first to pass the Casa Crivelli processionally was Margherita of Austria, natural daughter of Charles V, who in November 1538 entered Rome on her own triumphal passage to meet her future husband Ottavio Farnese, Paul 111’s nephew.38 This political marriage alliance had been agreed by Paul 111 and Charles V at the meeting in Nice in July 1538 which was celebrated on the Casa Crivelli: a marriage of imperial preten- sions such as fitted the image which we have seen Paul I11 and his sup- porters were interested in promoting in the influential form of a visual statement.

Courtauld Institute, London

See Faldi, n. 24 above. ’6 Caravale and Caracciolo, Stato ponti/izo, 269. ’’ R. Valentini and G. Zuchetti, Codice topogl-afico della cztt& diRoma (Rome, 1946), 111, 17-65. ” Forcella, Tornei, 65-7.

paul iii and the fagade of the casa crivelli in rome

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