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An expression of piety: the last will of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato (1561–1618)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Kate Gallagher
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 67 , November 1999 , pp. 303 - 321
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1999

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References

1 The material for this paper forms part of a doctoral dissertation, being undertaken at the University of Melbourne, on the art and architectural patronage of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of scholarships from the Italian Government and the University of Melbourne for this project. I would like to thank David Marshall, my supervisor, and Iris Jones for checking the transcription. My sincere thanks are also extended to both Maryvelma Smith O'Neil and Ilaria Bignamini: their enthusiasm for the study of art history is an inspiration.

2 The will of 1601 was drawn up by Sfondrato's notary, Mainardus. For the notice that this earlier will was consigned to Mainardus, see Archivio di Stato di Roma (hereafter, ASR) Notari Cancellieri del Tribunale dell' Auditor Camerae, Testamenti e donazioni, vol. 22 (Mainardus 1601) fol. 133, 7 Aprile, 1601, ‘Consignato testamento’. The actual will of 1601 has not been located. Sfondrato appears to have written his first will in 1597. For the consignment of this will, see ASR, Notari Cancellieri del Tribunale dell' Auditor Camerae, Testamenti e donazioni, vol. 21, fol. 361 cited by Stacchioli, S., ‘‘Amor sacro e profano’ nella Galleria Borghese’, in Tiziano: amor sacro e profano (exhibition catalogue, Palazzo degli Esposizioni, Rome) (Milan, 1995), 59, n. 7Google Scholar.

3 See ASR, Notari Cancellieri del Tribunale dell' Auditor Camerae, Testamenti e donazioni, vol. 25 (Ufficio 3, Palmerius, 1616–1621), fols 131–5v.

4 See Biblioteca Comunale di Como (hereafter, BCC), Archivio Sfondrati, cart. XXXIII.

5 For the copy which also records the enactment of the will after Sfondrato's death in 1618, see ASR, Congregazioni Religiose Femminili (hereafter, Congr. Relig. Femm.), Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fols 3v–9. There are five other copies in various hands in a busta which contains various documents relevant to Sfondrato. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4063 (Atti Diversi).

6 Sfondrato had begun excavating around the main altar and renovating the church as early as 1598. Given the proximity of 1600 it is probable that Sfondrato was in part motivated by a desire to make some impact on the Holy Year. See Morolli, G., in Tubello, L. (ed.), Restauri a Roma, Santa Cecilia, Villa Doria Pamphili, Sant'Eusebio (Rome, 1988), 43Google Scholar, and Renda, P. Mangia, in Roma 1300–1875. L'arte degli anni santi II (exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Venezia, Rome) (Milan, 1984), 219–20Google Scholar.

7 For this and the description of Sfondrato's renovation and redecoration of the church, see Bosio, A., Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis, Valeriani, Tiburtii et Maximi martyrum necnon Urbani et Lucii pontificum et martyrum vitae atque paschalis literae de eorundem sanctorum corporum inventione et in Urbem translatione … (Rome, 1600), 153–84Google Scholar.

8 Translated from Baronio, C., Annales Ecclesiatici 9 (Venice, 1602), 507Google Scholar.

9 For the approximate height that the apse pavement was raised, see Krautheimer, R., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae: the Early Christian Basilicas of Rome (IV–IX Cent.) I (Vatican City, 1937), 107Google Scholar.

10 A final payment of 65 scudi was made to Maderno for the statue on 16 December 1600 (ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, n. 4092 (Libro dei Mandati), 1600, no. 75). The statue would have been completed and in place before this date as it is described by Bosio. See Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 172. For studies of the statue, see O'Neil, M. Smith, ‘Stefano Maderno's ‘Saint Cecilia’: a seventeenth century Roman sculpture remeasured’, Antologia di Belle Arti 25–6 (1985), 9–23Google Scholar, with further references.

11 The inscription on the porphyry disc, which is still in situ, reads, ‘Paulus. Tituli. S. Caeciliae. S.R.E. Presb. Card. Sfondratus. Miserrime. Peccator. Atque. Eiusdem. Virginis. Humilis. Servus. Hic. Ad. Eius. Pedes. Humiliter. Requiescit. Vixit. Annos. LVII. Menses. X. Dies. XXV. Obiit. Anno. MDCXVIII. Mense. Febr. Die. XIV. Orate. Deum. Pro Eo’. For the inscription with the spaces to be filled in after Sfondrato's death, see Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 182.

12 Giovenale, G., ‘Recherches architectoniques sur la basilique de S. Cecilia’, Cosmos Catholicus. Le Monde Catholique Illustré 4 (1902), 660Google Scholar.

13 On Vanni's painting, see Cellini, A. Nava, ‘Stefano Maderno, Francesco Vanni e Guido Reni a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere’, Paragone 211 (1969), 18–41, esp. pp. 30–3Google Scholar; Riedl, S., ‘Zu Francesco Vannis Tatigkeit für Römische Auftraggeber’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institutes in Florenz 22 (1978), 313–54, esp. pp. 317–18Google Scholar.

14 On Baglione's three paintings, see Martinelli, V., ‘L'amor divino ‘tutto ignudo’ di Giovanni Baglione e la cronologia dell'intermezzo caravaggesco’, Arte Antica e Moderna 5 (1959), 82–96, esp. p. 91Google Scholar.

15 ‘Molto Magnifici Ss. Herrera Vi piacera di pagare à Ms. Giovanni Baglione Pittore scudi centocinquanta moneta, quali sono per il prezzo di tre quadri, che egli ha fatti per servitio della chiesa di Santa Cecilia, che pigliandone ricevuta di Casa à 16 di Dicembre 1603’. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4092 (Libro dei Mandati), 1603, no. 51. On these paintings, see Martinelli, ‘L'amor divino ‘tutto ignudo’ di Giovanni Baglione’ (above, n. 14).

16 ‘L'Anno 1600 … Detto Ill.mo Comincio a far dicorare sotto l'Altare mag. giorno et ferie la grotta più grande che nov.bre e la fece tutta dipingere vi fece quattro Altare uno con il quadro di S.ta Cecilia in Atto moribunda, l'altro di S.ta Caterina, il 3° di S.ta Agnese, il quarto di S.to Urbano con tutti le altri S.ti dentro a detti altari vi mise molte reliquie …’. See Untitled Chronicle in the Convent of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, fol. 49, cited by O'Neil, M. Smith, Giovanni Baglione: Seventeenth Century Artist and Biographer of Artists (University of Oxford, D.Phil, thesis, 1989), 321Google Scholar. All four altarpieces were moved to the adjoining convent in 1898 prior to Cardinal Rampolla's excavation and reconstruction of the underground chapel. See Guglielmi, C., ‘Intorno all'opera pittorica di Giovanni Baglione’, Bollettino d'Arte 39 (4) (1954), 325, n. 27Google Scholar.

17 For an inventory taken in 1618 of the chapel in the confessio, see ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073 (Inventario della confessione et propie in crypta), fols 191v–5.

18 The collection remained in the church until 1935 when most of it was transferred to the Museo Sacro of the Vatican. See M. Fagiolo, in Roma 1300–1875 I (above, n. 6), 173.

19 The importance of safeguarding sacred relics is expressed in Charles Borromeo's 1577 treatise on building and decorating churches. See Voelker, E., Charles Borromeo's ‘Instructiones Fabricae et Supellectis Eccelsiasticiae’, 1577. A Translation with Commentary and Analysis (Syracuse University, Ph.D. thesis, 1977), 207–16Google Scholar. A copy of this treatise is listed in the inventory of Sfondrato's library which was taken in 1618. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fol. 129.

20 The Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin developed out of the sixteenth-century reforms inaugurated by Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. Their mode of life was a return to the observance of the primitive Carmelite rule. They had their origins in Spain but soon spread to Italy and throughout Europe. In Rome they were based at the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Trastevere. In 1593 Pope Clement VIII established them as an independent order. In 1598 the flooding of the Tiber caused an enormous amount of damage to their monastery at Santa Maria della Scala. Cardinal Sfondrato provided the wood and financial assistance for the rebuilding of the monastery and he contributed money towards the building of the church during the early 1600s. On the order and Sfondrato's connection to it, see Fusciardi, A., Cenni storici sui Conventi dei PP. Carmelitani Scalzi della provincia romana (Rome, 1924)Google Scholar, and Tantillo, A. Miagnosi, ‘I dipinti dell'eremo Carmelitano di S. Silvestro a Montecompatri’, in Arte per i papi e i principi nella campagna romana: grande pittura del '600 e del '700 II (exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Venezia, Rome) (Rome, 1990), 55–66Google Scholar. For the payments Sfondrato made towards the building of the church, see ASR, Congregazioni Religioni Maschili, Carmelitani Scalzi, Santa Maria della Scala, b. 4 (Spese per la fabrica dal 1600–1608), fol. 2 and 10. My thanks to Arno Witte for this archival reference.

21 Cardinal Sfondrato was particularly devoted to the votive image of the Madonna di Loreto. See Sorelle Sfondrati, Vita di Madre Angelica Agata Sfondrati (unpublished manuscript composed by Agata's nieces between 1631 and 1635), 85 (page number refers to a twentieth-century transcript which is kept at the Istituto di Santa Rita di Roma; the original manuscript is kept in the Archivio Generalizio delle Angeliche di Roma, fondo antico, ms n. 17). During his lifetime Sfondrato made at least three visits to the Sanctuary at Loreto, where he presented the image with a ring valued at 500 scudi, a cross studded with emeralds and a precious diamond that was placed on the finger of the Baby Jesus. See Cardella, L., Memorie storiche de' Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa V (Rome, 1793), 312Google Scholar. Sfondrato also kept a solid silver figurine of the Madonna di Loreto on the altar dedicated to Saint Cecilia in the chapel in the confessio. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073 (Inventario della confessione et propie in crypta), fol. 192.

22 The Sfondrato family had been connected to the Monte Olivetani abbey of San Pietro in Civate in Lombardy for several generations. On a visit there in 1555 Niccolò Sfondrato found the monastery virtually derelict and occupied by only two monks. After consultations with the abbey of San Vittore in Milan it was decided that a number of Monte Olivetani monks should be sent to Civate and the old monastery repaired. During the 1590s Paolo Emilio had the monastery's sacred relics, seven rings from the chains of Saint Peter, transferred to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. For Paolo Emilio's connection to the monastery, see below, n. 31. For the monastery and the family's connection to it, see Magistretti, M., Appunti per la storia dell'abbazia di Civate (Milan, 1898), 26–34 and 106Google Scholar. On Sfondrato's transferral of the relics, see Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 181–2.

23 Correspondence from Cardinal Acquaviva to Sfondrato indicates that Sfondrato was on good terms with the Jesuits from as early as 1588, when he was the abbot at Civate. See BCC, Archivio Sfondrati, cart. XXIII, fol. 122, and below, n. 30.

24 The convent was founded in 1535 to house the female order of the Barnabites (the Angelics of Saint Paul). For over a century the Sfondrato women dominated the positions of authority at the convent and the Sfondrato males made it a focus for their patronage. On the convent, see Baernstein, P., The Counter-Reformation Convent: the Angelics of San Paolo in Milan, 1535–1635 (Harvard University, Ph.D. thesis, 1993)Google Scholar.

25 Odoardo Farnese, who was elected cardinal by Pope Gregory XIV in 1590, was a patron of the Jesuits. He was a close friend of Cardinal Sfondrato and executor of his will.

26 Benedetto Giustiniani was a good friend of Sfondrato. Like Sfondrato, Giustiniani had close ties to Filippo Neri and the Congregation of the Oratory.

27 Barbara (1566–1631) took her religious vows at the convent of San Paolo Converso, Milan, in 1582 and assumed the monastic name of Angelica Agata. She was prioress of the convent for three separate terms (1605–8, 1611–14 and 1617–21). See Sorelle Sfondrati, Vita di Madre Angelica Agata Sfondrati (above, n. 21).

28 On the importance of the church to Sfondrato, see F. Calvi, Storia e genealogia della famiglia Sfondrati (Bologna, n.d.), table III.

29 On the subject of universal heirs, see Hallman, B., Italian Cardinals, Reform, and the Church as Property (Berkeley, 1985), 83Google Scholar.

30 Paolo Emilio was the second son of Baron Paolo Sfondrato (1538–87) and Sigismonda d'Este. He grew up in the family's palace in the parish of Sant'Eufemia, Milan. Between 1576 and 1580 he was educated by Filippo Neri and the Congregation of the Oratory at Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome. Between 1580 and 1584 he attended the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia. On his promotion to the cardinalate he moved back to Rome. See Castano, L., Gregorio XIV, Niccolò Sfondrati (Turin, 1957), 355Google Scholar, and Calvi, Storia e genealogia della famiglia Sfondrati (above, n. 28).

31 Niccolò Sfondrato awarded Paolo Emilio the Monte Olivetani abbey of San Pietro in Civate in 1578. In 1582 he was promoted to the subdeaconate by Cardinal Charles Borromeo. Between 1607 and 1610 be was bishop of Cremona and from 1611 until his death he was bishop of Albano. As a cardinal he retained the titulate of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere until his death. See Cardella, Memorie storiche de' Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa V (above, n. 21), 310, and Castano, Gregorio XIV, Niccolò Sfondrati (above, n. 30), 355.

32 Cardella, Memorie storiche de' Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa V (above, n. 21), 310–13.

33 See, for example, Foley, R., in McDonald, W. (ed.), The New Catholic Encyclopaedia 13 (Washington, 1967), 153Google Scholar.

34 Various letters written between 1591 and 1596 refer to Sfondrato's desire to own an ornamental watch on a chain and a painting by Federico Barrocci, whose drawing and use of colour he particularly admired. See Gronau, G., Documenti artistici urbanati, con una tavola fuori testi (Florence, 1936), 191–4Google Scholar.

35 Raphael's Portrait of Pope Julius II is now in the National Gallery, London, and The ‘Loreto’ Madonna is now in the Musee Condé, Chantilly. On these paintings and the theft, see Gould, C., ‘The Raphael portrait of Julius II, problems of versions and variants, and a goose that turned into a swan’, Apollo 92 (July, 1970), 186–9Google Scholar; Gould, C., in Béguin, S., La Madone de Lorette (Paris, 1979), 6–13Google Scholar; Gould, C., ‘Afterthoughts on Raphael's so-called Loreto Madonna’, Burlington Magazine 122 (926) (May, 1980), 337–41Google Scholar.

36 See von Urlich, L., ‘Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kunstbestrebugen und Sammlungen Kaiser Rudolf II’, Zeitschrift für Bildende Kunst 5 (1850), 47–53, 81–5, 136–2Google Scholar; Gronau, Documenti artistici urbanati (above, n. 34), 251–4; Gould, ‘The Raphael portrait of Julius II’ (above, n. 35), 187.

37 ‘1608 giungno 28 … Il Cardinal Borghese ha comprato novamente dal Cardinale di Santa Cecilia per 4 mila scudi 71 pezzi di quadri di pitture bellisime fatti da pittori principali di questa città, di quali non ha sborsato denari, scomutandosi la pensione, che detto Santa Cecilia deve al Cardinal Borghese sopra il vescovato di Cremona’. See Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (hereafter, BAV), Urbinate Latini, vol. 1075, fol. 469v.

38 See Bentivoglio, G., Memorie del Cardinal Bentivoglio con le quali descrive la sua vita, nel corso di essa, ma insieme le più notabili ancora occorse nella città di Roma, in Italia, e altrove (Venice, 1648), 66–8Google Scholar.

39 della Rocchetta, G. Incisa, Il primo processo per San Filippo Neri II (Vatican City, 1958), 84Google Scholar. On Filippo Neri and the Oratorians, see Ponnelle, L. and Bordet, L., S. Filippo Neri e la società romana del suo tempo (Florence, 1931)Google Scholar, and La regola e la fama: San Filippo Neri e l'arte (exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Venezia, Rome) (Milan, 1995)Google Scholar. On Baronio and the revival of early Christian art and architecture, see Herz, A., ‘Baronio's restoration of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo and S. Cesareo de'Appia’, Art Bulletin 70 (4) (1988), 590–620CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On Bosio, see Valeri, A., Cenni biografici di Antonio Bosio (Rome, 1900)Google Scholar.

40 Cardinal Baronio had his titular church, Santi Nereo ed Achilleo, restored between 1596 and 1597. In 1597 he began the restoration of San Cesareo on the Via Appia. See Herz, ‘Baronio's restoration of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo and S. Cesareo de' Appia’ (above, n. 39).

41 For Sfondrato's rediscovery of Saint Agnes's body and his restoration of the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, a project which he took over from Alessandro de' Medici after he became pope in 1605, see Boldetti, M., Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de' martiri ed antichi cristiani di Roma (Rome, 1720), 684–6Google Scholar; Bartolini, D., Gli atti del martirio della nobilissima vergine romana S. Agnese (Rome, 1858), 111–20Google Scholar; Frutaz, A., Il complesso monumentale di Sant'Agnese e Santa Costanza (Rome, 1992), 82–3Google Scholar; and Zuccari, A., Arte e committenza nella Roma di Caravaggio (Turin, 1984), 94–7Google Scholar. Various payments for the new ceiling and other work done at the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura are recorded in ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4092 (Libro dei Mandati), Oct., 1605–May, 1607.

42 Sfondrato became the Protector of the Lombard Confraternity in Rome in 1604. The Confraternity played a key role in the push to have Charles Borromeo canonized in 1610. After the founding of the church of San Carlo on the Corso, the confraternity was elevated to the status of Archiconfraternity in a papal brief of 1612. On the church and the Archiconfraternity, see Drago, G. and Salerno, L., SS. Ambrogio e Carlo sul Corso, e l'arciconfraternità dei Lombardi in Roma (Le chiese di Roma illustrate 96) (Rome, 1967), 13–15Google Scholar.

43 For the attempts to buy the land, see the ‘Urbinate Latini, (Avvisi)’ quoted by Orbaan, J., Documenti sul barocco in Roma (Rome, 1920), 187, 189, 195, 199, 201, 204Google Scholar, and della Rocchetta, G. Incisa, ‘La chiesa di San Carlo sulla piazza di Monte Giordano’, Strenna dei Romanisti 22 (1961), 43–8Google Scholar. For the drawings showing the intended site and a proposal for the design of a church dedicated to Saint Charles at Monte Giordano, see Rome, Archivio Vallicelliano, C.11.8, no. 107 and 108; and Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, 0 572, fol. 48. (They have been reproduced in Connors, J., Borromini and the Roman Oratory, Style and Society (Cambridge (Mass.) and London, 1980), figs 97–9.Google Scholar)

44 The Oratorians brought a lawsuit against the Milanese on the grounds that the intended location of the Milanese church was too close to their own and that it would be uncanonical to have two major churches so close together. For the documents regarding this dispute, see ASR, Congregazioni Religiose Maschili, Oratorio dei Filippini, vol. 140, fols 390r–9. (They have been partially reproduced and discussed in Connors, Borromini and the Roman Oratory (above, n. 43), 11–12 and 142.)

45 ‘1611, dicembre 7 … Crescendo giornalmente la devotione e l'elemosine per la fabrica d'una chiesa da erigersi a San Carlo Borromeo, dove è hora quella di Sant'Ambrogio nel Corso, la Nation Milanesi ha cominciato a gettar a terra li muri del giardino di far una chiesa grande di tre navi con una piazza avanti, dedicata a Sant’ Ambrogio et a San Carlo, nella quel spesa il Cardinal Santa Cecilia si è già tassato il buona somma.’ See BAV, Urbinati Latini, vol. 1079, fol. 825. On the founding of the church on the Corso, see Drago and Salerno, SS. Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (above, n. 42), 15.

46 On the church and Saint Frances of Rome, see Lugano, P., Santa Maria Nova (Le chiese di Roma illustrate 1) (Rome, 1923)Google Scholar.

47 Fragnito, G., ‘Cardinal's courts in sixteenth century Rome’, The Journal of Modern History 65 (1) (1993), 26–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

48 Pastor, L., History of the Popes 24 (London, 1952), 520Google Scholar.

49 San Carlo on the Corso is one of three churches dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo which were founded in Rome within the first ten years after the Milanese saint's canonization. For the canonization and its impact, see Rasmussen, N., ‘Liturgy and iconography at the canonization of Carlo Borromeo, 1 November 1610’, in Headley, J. and Tomaro, J. (eds), San Carlo Borromeo, Catholic Reform and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century (Washington, 1988), 264–76Google Scholar.

50 Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 161–70.

51 ‘Roma li 25 Novembre 1600 … Mercodi matt.a su le X hore Il Papa partendosi à lume di torcie da Palazzo si transferi alla chiesa di S.ta Cecilia, ove disse messa passandosene poi di nuovo alle chiese con haver lodato molto. Ill.mo Card.1 Sfondrato, che come Titolare di detta chiesa hà speso nella restauratione di essa, et habilimento oltre 25,000 scudi, havendo anche animo di voler gliene spendere dell' altri per magg.r decoro’. See BAV, Urbinate Latini, (Avvisi), vol. 1068, fol. 787.

52 The majority of payments from October 1605 onwards are for work done in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4092 (Libro dei Mandati, Jan. 1600–Oct. 1600), and above, n. 41.

53 BCC, Archivio Sfondrati, cart. 1, fol. 6.

54 For example, see BAV, Urbinate Latini 1079, fol. 825 (above, n. 45).

55 The work, which is unpublished, has been attributed variously to Guido Reni and Lavinia Fontana. According to Malvasia, Reni painted a portrait of Cardinal Sfondrato, and Pastor referred to a portrait by Reni of Sfondrato which was owned by the Marchese Alessandro Albicini at Forlì. See Malvasia, C., Vite di pittori bolognesi II (Bologna, 1678Google Scholar; 1841 edition), 47, and Pastor, History of the Popes 22 (above, n. 47), 358, n. 5. In spite of these references, the painting is more likely to be by Circle of Guido Reni.

56 The monument was constructed between 1623 and 1627 at the request of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese and Signor Pacinello, the executors of Sfondrato's will. It was originally positioned over the entrance to the Ponziani Chapel in the right minor nave. Around 1955 the monument was relocated to the portico after it was decided to reopen the entrance to the Ponziani Chapel. See Matthiae, G., S. Cecilia (Le chiese di Roma illustrate 113) (Rome, 1970), 48Google Scholar, and de Amicis, R. Roca, ‘Girolamo Rainaldi tra sperimentalismo e aperta del Barocco’, in Spagnesi, G. (ed.), L'architettura a Roma e in Italia (1580–1621) (Atti del XXIII congresso di storia dell'architettura Roma, 24–26 marzo, 1988 1) (Rome, 1989), 289–90Google Scholar.

57 The monastery of Sant'Angelo at Tivoli was founded in 1360 on the site of the villa of the Roman poet, Catullus. See Venditelli, M., S. Angelo in Plaiule. Storia di un monastero olivetano a Tivoli (1360–1811) (Rome, 1984)Google Scholar.

58 ‘… Ill.mo Sig.r Cardinale nel Convento di S. Angelo di Tivoli questa mattina a hore 14 incirca II Sig.r Pacinello ser.re del detto Ill.mo Sig.r Cardinale mi hà dato una lettera, e dettomi, che me ne venisse alia volta di Roma con quella celerità possible, et presentasse detta lettera al S.r Mastro di casa di detto Sig.r Cardinale, et dargli nova, che esso S.r Cardinale questa mattina su le 13 hore incirca hà resa l'Anima al suo Creatore, et anco si diceva publicamente da tutti li servitori di detto S.r Card.1, che era morto, per la qual morte piangevano …’ ‘… che V.S. si può Imaginare, si accommoda il Corpo per condurlo in lettiga, ci mandi sub.° i muli, et la Carrozza per noi, faccino costà quello, che bisogna per ricevere il Corpo, sia questa Commune à tutti perche no hò tempo, et li bacio la mano. Di Tivoli adi 14 di Febraro 1618. S'informi dal M.ro di Cerimonie, come di qua debbia venir' accompagnato di sacerdoti, di Torcie, e simili, et avvisi per gratia distintamente, ci mandi ancora li Cavalli, che sono in casa da cavalcare …’ For this description by Orazio Duzo, a member of Sfondrato's ‘famiglia’, see ASR, Congr. Ŕelig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fols 2–3.

59 ‘Adi 15 del d.° fa portato il Corpo del d.° Sig.r card.le positivamente nella n'ra Chiesa, dove stette sino al giorno seguente, che era il Venerdi, ne qual giorno gli si facero l'Essequie semplicemente, come lai lasciò nel suo Testam.to, essendovi presenti 31 Card.li…’ For this anonymous description, see ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4063 (Atti Diversi), fol. 12.

60 ‘Il Venerdi a sera dop ‘Essequie, avanti che possassero il Corpo alia Confessione sotto le grotte, dove lasciò di esser sepolco, lo portarono alia grata dove si communicono le moniche, acciò tutte lo potessero vedere et da tutte fu pianto grandissimente et fu sepellito la medissima sera, et fu messo in una cassa di piombo dentro ad un Pilo di marmo nella sepoltura, che si fece fare in vita sua vicino alia sepoltura di S. Cecilia.’ For this anonymous description, see ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4063 (Atti Diversi), fol. 12.

61 apostolica.

62 Cardinal Sfondrato's body was rediscovered in front of the altar dedicated to Saint Cecilia during the late nineteenth-century excavations of the confessio. See F. Caraffa and Massone, A., Santa Cecilia martire romana (Vatican City, 1983), 167Google Scholar.

63 A request for 3,000 votive Masses is a lot but not unique. It is definitely a sign of Sfondrato's piety. On votive Masses, see Gardner, J., The Tomb and the Tiara. Curial Tomb Sculpture in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1992), 12 and n. 67Google Scholar.

64 Padre.

65 In this respect Sfondrato is, in part, imitating Saint Cecilia who, according to her legend, gave away her belongings to the poor. For the legend of Saint Cecilia, see Mombrizio, B., Sanctuarium 1 (Milan, c. 1480), 187–92Google Scholar, and also Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 1–26. Bosio's version of the legend comes directly from Mombrizio. At his death Cardinal Sfondrato owned a copy of Mombrizio's Sanctuarium. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fol. 115. Cardinal Sfondrato also owned several copies of the ‘Vita di Santa Cecilia’, which in all likelihood were copies of Bosio's book. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fols 115, 143 and 152v.

66 Not wishing to draw attention to oneself, by requesting that candles are not placed on the catafalque during the funeral, was a standard sign of piety.

67 Obtaining the pope's permission for an individual cardinal to make a will was not compulsory. It was, however, prudent to obtain this permission, in the event that the will was challenged after the cardinal's death. See Hallman, Italian Cardinals (above, n. 29), 81.

68 This is unusual as the cardinalate ring usually reverts to the pope. See Hallman, Italian Cardinals (above, n. 29), 82.

69 The cathedral of San Pancrazio, Albano. Sfondrato was made bishop of Albano in 1611 and retained that title until his death. See Caraffa and Massone, Santa Cecilia martire romana (above, n. 62), 98.

70 nostra.

71 In 1548 Francesco Sfondrato (Sfondrato's great uncle) left money so that a Sfondrato family chapel dedicated to the Blesed Virgin could be decorated in the external church of San Paolo Converso, Milan. See Archivio di Stato, Milano (hereafter, ASM), Fondo di Religiose, Milano, Monasteri S. Paolo Agostiniiane dette Angeliche, b. 2208, cart. VII, fol. 1. The initial decoration of the chapel has not been determined, although today it contains an altarpiece depicting The Rest on the Flight into Egypt signed by Giulio Campi and dated 1567. The fresco scenes in the vault of the chapel, which depict three episodes from the life of the Virgin, have been attributed to Antonio Campi. On the decoration of the chapel, see Bora, G., in Gregori, M. (ed.), I Campi, cultura artistica cremonese del cinquecento (Milan, 1985), 143Google Scholar. In 1598 Sfondrato provided money so that two Masses could be said daily in this chapel. He further stipulated that candles be kept lit and the chapel kept clean. See ASM, Fondo di Religiose, Milano, Monasteri S. Paolo Agostiniane dette Angeliche, b. 2208, cart. VII, fol. 2.

72 Nostro Signore here refers to the pope.

73 Paolo Emilio's older brother Ercole, duke of Montemarciano. Calvi, Storia e genealogia della famiglia Sfondrati (above, n. 28).

74 Here the will is referring to a ‘donation’ of 1580, in which Paolo Emilio, who had decided to pursue a religious career, gave up the right to any of his father's inheritance. See BCC, Archivio Sfondrati, cart. XXXIII.

75 For this list, see ASR, Notari Cancellieri del Tribunale dell' Auditor Camerae, Testamenti e donazioni, vol. 25 (Ufficio 3, Palmerius, 1616–1621), fols 131–5v.

76 Interest-bearing bonds on mortgaged property. See B. Hallman, Italian Cardinals (above, n. 29), 91.

77 A reference to ‘monti non vacabili’ which were interest-bearing shares in the papal debt transferable to heirs. See Hallman, Italian Cardinals (above, n. 29), 91. Sfondrato stresses he does not want his estate invested in these.

78 principale.

79 The Madre Abbadessa's appointment of the caretakers is recorded in the ‘Libro dei Mandati’ of the church. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4092 (Libro dei Mandati), 1618–32.

80 scommunica.

81 In this section of the will, as a way of making his memory live on, Sfondrato leaves a number of items such as paintings and books to various beneficiaries. The identification of these paintings will form part of a separate paper about Sfondrato's private collection.

82 Sfondrato had previously given another of Saint Cecilia's relics, the coffin in which her body had been placed while it was on display in the church in 1599, to the convent of San Paolo Converse See Bosio, Historia passionis B. Caeciliae virginis (above, n. 7), 159. During her first term as prioress, Agata had commissioned a chapel in the internal (nuns') church attached to the convent which was dedicated to the Holy Virgins, where the coffin, along with that of Saint Agnes, also donated by Sfondrato, was displayed as a relic. See de Klerk, B., ‘La chiesa di San Paolo Converso a Milano nel seicento. Appunti sulla committenza e sulla funzione della decorazione', Arte Lombarda 1–2 (1994), 87–94Google Scholar. The chapel must have been completed by 1607 before Sfondrato gained the titles of bishop of Cremona or bishop of Albano, as, according to an anonymous document which records the various inscriptions in the church and convent, there was an inscription near the two coffins which read, ‘Paulus Sfondratus Tit. S. Ceciliae Has Areas Roma Agathae Sorori, Mediolani missit’. See Archivio Storico di San Barnaba, Milano, A cart. 12, fasc. n. 6.

83 The sale and division of Sfondrato's belongings after his death records a ‘Quadretto di Raffaello in penna al Papa per mano del Abbate Niccolo Visconti’. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4190, fol. 74.

84 Sfondrato's younger brother, Francesco, Marchese di Montafia. Calvi, Storia di genealogia della famiglia Sfondrati (above, n. 28), table II.

85 Sfondrato owned several writings by Aquinas. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fols 122v–5b. By leaving the church a painting of the saint, Sfondrato is paying homage to the ‘Collegio di San Tommaso d'Acquino’ which was founded at Santa Maria sopra Minerva in 1577. On the church and the college, see Iotti, N., Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Rome, 1990), esp. p. 42Google Scholar.

86 In the sacristy of the Gesù, Rome, there are today two paintings of this subject, one attributed to Giovanni Baglione and the other to Francesco Vanni. For the paintings, see Pepper, S., ‘Baglione, Vanni and Cardinal Sfondrato’, Paragone 211 (1967), 69–74Google Scholar. Sfondrato's inventory at his death lists only one painting of this subject: ‘Un quadro per lungo con Santa Cecilia, et cinque altri santi con il Cardinale inginocchione con cornice tinte di nero’. See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fol. 25. From the inventory and will, however, it is not clear which painting Sfondrato owned and subsequently left to the Gesù. Furthermore, the painting cannot be identified on the basis of its frame because currently both paintings in the sacristy have similar gilded frames.

87 Padri.

88 From 1592 onwards there were several miracles that were connected with an image of the Madonna that was in the church of Santa Maria della Scala, Trastevere. Sfondrato may have been paying homage to this miraculous image by leaving the church a painting of the Madonna. See Fusciardi, Cenni storici sui conventi dei PP. Carmelitani Scalzi (above, n. 20), 8–9.

89 Sfondrato owned an extensive collection of both religious and non-religious books which was housed in the four front rooms of the ‘piano nobile’ of the Palazzo Capodiferro (now Spada). See ASR, Congr. Relig. Femm., Benedettine a Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, b. 4073, fols 75–161.

90 The danger of having one's will challenged post mortem made it wise to name a powerful person at the papal court, such as Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, as an executor. See Hallman, Italian Cardinals (above, n. 29), 88.

91 It was standard practice for the members of the cardinal's household to be issued mourning clothes and the salaries owed to them. Further to this, they were allowed to stay for 40 days in the cardinal's home at his expense. See Richardson, C., ‘The lost will and testament of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (1439–1503)’, Papers of the British School at Rome 66 (1998), 203CrossRefGoogle Scholar, nn. 46 and 47; and Dykmans, M. SI (ed.), L'oeuvre de Patrizi Piccolomini ou le cérémonial de la premiere renaissance (Studi e testi 293) (Vatican City, 1980), 221–2Google Scholar. My thanks to Carol Richardson for allowing me to read her article before its publication.