Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T17:04:02.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Christian Pessimism on the Walls of the Vatican Galleria delle carte geografiche

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Walter Goffart
Walter Goffart*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Vatican Map Gallery (1579-81) contains fifty-one historical paintings in its vault and twenty-three historical vignettes on its monumental maps of Italy. Inspired by an early-Christian conception of the past, the vault paintings illustrate a "perfect" history, typified by saints' miracles. The contrasting vignettes demand more painstaking interpretation. Embedded in geography, they appear to exemplify a terrestrial history (reminiscent of Orosius) that, when not bathed in blood, teaches the vanity of earthbound strivings. Maps for history did not again take this form.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1998 , pp. 788 - 827
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almagia, Roberto. Lepitture murale delta Galleria delle carte geografiche. (Monumenta cartografiche Vaticana 3). Vatican, 1952.Google Scholar
Almagia, Roberto. Le pitture geografiche murali della terza loggia e di altre sale Vaticane. (Monumenta cartographica Vaticana 4). Vatican, 1955.Google Scholar
Ambrasi, Domenico. “Gennaro, vescovo di Benevento.” In Bibliotheca sanctorum 6:135–51.Google Scholar
Archives biographiques francaises [microfiches], ed. Bradley, Susan. London, ca. 1988.Google Scholar
Arnaud-Lindet, Marie-Pierre. Orose Histoires contre les paiens. 3 vols. (Collection des university de France). Paris, 1990-91.Google Scholar
Atkinson, C. F. “Ravenna, Battle of, 1512.” In Encyclopedia Britannica 22:926–27.Google Scholar
Augustine. The City of God. Trans. Bettenson, H.. Harmonswordi, Middlesex, 1967.Google Scholar
Banfi, Florio. “Maps of Wolfgang Lazius in the Tall Tree Library in Jenkintown.” Imago mundi 15 (1960): 52–65.10.1080/03085696008592178Google Scholar
Baronio, Cesare. Annates ecclesiastici. Ed. Theiner, A.. 37 vols. Bar-le-Duc, 1864–83.Google Scholar
Bibliotheca sanctorum. 12 vols. Rome, 1961-69.Google Scholar
Brandmair, Eduard. Bibliographischer Untersuchungen iiber Entstehung und Jintwicklung des Ortelianisches Kartenwerkes. Amsterdam, 1954.Google Scholar
Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Trans. S. Reynolds. 2 vols. New York, 1976.Google Scholar
Bridge, J. S. C. History of France from the Death of Louis XI. 5 vols. Oxford, 1921-36.Google Scholar
Brincken, Anna-Dorothee von den. “Mappa mundi und Chronographia: Studien zur imago mundi des abendlandischen Mittelalters.” Deutsches Archiv fur Erforschung des Mittelalters 24 (1968): 118–86.Google Scholar
Broc, Numa. La gdographie de la Renaissance, 1420-1620. (Comite’ des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Memoires de la section de geographic 6). Paris, 1980.Google Scholar
Brown, Peter. Augustine, A Biography. Berkeley, 1967.Google Scholar
Brunacci, Aldo. “Costanzo, vescovo di Perugia.” In Bibliotheca sanctorum 4:268–69.Google Scholar
Caraffa, Filippo. “Laverio, santo, martire di Grumento.” In Bibliotheca sanctorum 7:1133–34.Google Scholar
Cary, Max. History of Rome. 2d ed. London, 1954.Google Scholar
Cheney, Iris. “The Galleria delle Carte Geografiche at the Vatican and the Roman Chutch's View of the History of Christianity.” Renaissance Papers (1989): 21–37.Google Scholar
Courtine, Andre\ ed. Histoire militaire de la France. Vol. 1. Paris, 1992.Google Scholar
De Marinis, Tammaro. “Pavia, storia.” In Enciclopedia italiana 26: 547–49.Google Scholar
Duchesne, Louis, ed. Le Liberpontificalis. 2 vols. Paris, 1886. Enciclopedia italiana. 36 vols. Rome, 1929-39.Google Scholar
Encyclopedia Britannica. 11th ed. 29 vols. Cambridge, 1910-11.Google Scholar
Eutropius. Breviarium ab urbe condita. Ed. Droysen, H.. (Monumenta Germaniae historica [hereafter MGH] Auctores antiquissimi 2). Berlin, 1879.Google Scholar
Ewart, K. Dorothea. Italy from 1494 to 1790. Cambridge, 1909.Google Scholar
Ewig, Eugen. “Das Bild Constantins des Grossen in den ersten Jahrhunderten des abendlandischen Mittelalters.” Reprinted in Ewig, Sp'dtantikes undfrdnkische Gallien. Gesammelte Schriften (1952-1973), ed. Atsma, H., 1:72–113. Munich, 1976.Google Scholar
Ewig, Eugen. “Zum christlichen Konigsgedanken im Friihmittelalter.” In Spdtantikes und frdnkische Gallien. Gesammelte Schriften (1952-1973), ed. Atsma, H., 1:3–71. Munich, 1976.Google Scholar
Fiorani, Francesca. “Post-Tridentine ‘Geographia Sacra'. The Galleria delle Carte Geografiche in the Vatican Palace.” Imago mundi 48 (1996): 124–48.10.1080/03085699608592836Google Scholar
Fiore, F. P. “Danti, Egnazio.” In Dizionario biografico degli Italieni 32 (1986): 659–63.Google Scholar
Foster, K. “Catherine of Siena.” In New Catholic Encyclopedia, 3:258–60.Google Scholar
Gallois, Lucien. Les ge'ographes allemands de la Renaissance. Paris, 1890.Google Scholar
Gambi, Lucio. “Egnazio Danti e la Galleria delle Carte geografiche.” In Gambi, 1994,2:88–96.Google Scholar
Gambi, Lucio, ed. La Galleria delle carte geografiche in Vaticano. 3 vols. (Mirabilia Italiae, ed. Salvatore Settis 1). Modena, 1994.Google Scholar
Gebhardt, Bruno. Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte. Ed. Grundmann, H.. Stuttgart, 1970.Google Scholar
Giono, Jean. Le disastre de Pavie, 24 fevrier 1525. Paris, 1963.Google Scholar
Goffart, Walter. The Narrators of Barbarian History. Princeton, 1988.Google Scholar
Goffart, Walter. “Breaking the Ortelian Pattern: Historical Atlases with a New Program.” In Editing Early and Historical Atlases, ed. Winearls, Joan, 49–81. Toronto, 1995.Google Scholar
Gregory the Great. Dialogorum libri, ed. de Vogiie\, A. 3 vols. (Sources chrdtiennes). Paris, 1978-80.Google Scholar
Gregory of Tours. Historiarum libri decern. Ed. Krusch, B. and Levison, W. (MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 1). Hanover, 1938–53.Google Scholar
Guicciardini, Francesco. Storia d'ltalia. Ed. Menchi, Silvana Seidel. Turin, 1971.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. G. L. “Alexander (6).” In Oxford Classical Dictionary, 41.Google Scholar
Hauser, Henri. Les sources de I'histoire de France. XVf siecle. 4 vols. New York, 1967.Google Scholar
Heinzelmann, Martin. “Une source de base de la littirature hagiographique latine: le receuil de miracles.” In Hagiographie, cultures et sociMs, Pf-Xfsiicles, ed. Rice, R and Padagean, E., 235–57. Paris, 1981.Google Scholar
Jordanes. De summa temporum (Historia Romana). Ed. Mommsen, Theodor. (MGH Auctores antiquissimi 5). Berlin, 1882.Google Scholar
Kupfer, Marcia. “The Lost Mappamundi of Chalivoy-Milon.” Speculum 66 (1991): 540–71.10.2307/2864226Google Scholar
Kupfer, Marcia. “Medieval World Maps: Embedded Images, Interpretive Frames.” Word and Image 10 (1994): 262–88.10.1080/02666286.1994.10435518Google Scholar
Kupfer, Marcia. “The Lost Wheel Map of Ambrogio Lorenzetti.” Art Bulletin 78 (1996): 286–310.10.2307/3046176Google Scholar
Lacroix, Benott. Orose et ses idies. (University de Montreal, Publications de l'lnstitut d'Etudes meiieVales 18). Montreal, 1965.Google Scholar
Langer, William L., ed. An Encyclopedia of World History. Boston, 1948.Google Scholar
Lazius, Wolfgang. Typi chorographici Austrian Vienna, 1561.Google Scholar
Lemonnier, Henry. Les guerres d'ltalie. In Histoire de France. Ed. Lavisse, Ernest. Vol. 5, part 1. Paris, 1911.Google Scholar
Lemonnier, Henry. La lutte contre la maison dAutriche. In Histoire de France, ed. Lavisse, Ernest. Vol. 5, part 2. Paris, 1911.Google Scholar
Mac Vicar, T. “Franciscans, Capuchin.” In New Catholic Encyclopedia, 6:65–67.Google Scholar
“Malta.” In Encyclopedia Britannica, 17:507–14.Google Scholar
Mignet, M. La rivalite1 de Francois F et Charles-Quint. Paris, 1875.Google Scholar
Milanesi, Marica. “Le ragioni del ciclo delle carte geografiche.” In Gambi, 2:97–123.Google Scholar
Mommsen, T. E. “Orosius and Augustine.” In Mommsen, T.E., Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Rice, E., 325–48. Ithaca, 1959.Google Scholar
Myres, J. L. “Epirus.” In Encyclopedia Britannica, 17:507–14.Google Scholar
Nebenzahl, Kenneth. Maps of the Holy Land. Images of Terra Sancta through Two Millennia. New York, 1986.Google Scholar
New Cambridge Modern History. 14 vols. Cambridge, 1957-79.Google Scholar
New Catholic Encyclopedia. 17 vols. New York, 1967-79.Google Scholar
Oberhummer, Eugen, and von Wieser, Franz R., eds. Wolfgang Lazius Karten der osterreichischen Lander und des Kbnigreichs Ungarn aus den Jahren 1545-1563. Innsbruck, 1906.Google Scholar
Oddasso, Adriana Cartotti. “Caterina Benincasa da Siena.” In Bibliotheca sanctorum 3:996–1044.Google Scholar
Orosius. Historia adversum paganos. Ed. Zangemeister, C.. (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticarum Latinarum. 5). Vienna, 1882.Google Scholar
Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum orbis terrarum Antwerp 1570. Ed. Skelton, R. A.. (Theatrum orbis terrarum). Amsterdam, 1964.Google Scholar
Ortelius, Abraham. The Theatre of the Whole World London 1606. Ed. Skelton, R. A.. (Theatrum orbis terrarum). Amsterdam, 1968.Google Scholar
Oxford Classical Dictionary. Eds. Hammond, N. G. L. and Scullard, H. H.. 2d ed. Oxford, 1970.Google Scholar
Partridge, Loren. “Divinity and Dynasty at Caprarola: Perfect History in the Room of Farnese Deeds.” Art Bulletin 60 (1978): 494–530.10.1080/00043079.1978.10787591Google Scholar
Partridge, Loren. “The Room of Maps at Caprarola, 1573-75.” Art Bulletin 77 (1995): 413–44.10.2307/3046119Google Scholar
Patrides, C. A. The Grand Design of God. The Literary Form of the Christian View of History. London, 1972.Google Scholar
Pastor, Ludwig von. History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages. 40 vols. St. Louis, 1952.Google Scholar
Paulus (Diaconus). Historia Romana. Ed. Droysen, H.. (MGH Auctores antiquissimi 2). Berlin, 1879.Google Scholar
Picotti, G. B. “Giulio II.” In Enciclopedia italiana, 17:324–25.Google Scholar
Pinelli, Antonio. “Sopra la terra, il cielo. Geografia, storia e teologia: il programma iconografico della volta.” In Gambi, 2:125–40.Google Scholar
Rigoli, Aurelio. “Agata.” In Bibliotheca sanctorum, 1:320–35.Google Scholar
Rottgen, Herwarth. “Zeitgeschichtliche Bildprogramme der katholischen Restauration under Gregor XIII. 1572-1585.” Miinchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 26 (1975): 89–122.Google Scholar
Scafi, Alessandro. Review of Gambi, 1994. Imago mundi 47 (1995): 193–94.Google Scholar
Scaramella, Gino. “San Miniato,” In Enciclopedia italiana, 30:736–37.Google Scholar
Schulz, Juergen. “Maps as Metaphors: Mural Map Cycles of the Italian Renaissance.” In Art and Cartography: Six Historical Essays, ed. Woodward, D., 97–122. Chicago, 1987.Google Scholar
Schiitte, Margret. Die Galleria delle Carte geografiche im Vatikan. Eine ikonologische Betrachtung des Gewolbeprogramms. Hildesheim, 1993.Google Scholar
Scullard, H. H. “Marcellus (1).” In Oxford Classical Dictionary, 646.Google Scholar
Sereno, Paola. “La fortuna del ciclo delle carte geografiche.” In Gambi, 2:156–67.Google Scholar
Smith, Catherine Delano. “Maps as Art and Science: Maps in Sixteenth Century Bibles.” Imago mundi 42 (1990):65–83.10.1080/03085699008592692Google Scholar
Smith, Catherine Delano and Ingram, Elizabeth Morley. Maps in Bibles 1500-1600. An Illustrated Catalogue. (Travaux d'humanisme et Renaissance 256). Geneva, 1991.Google Scholar
Sorbello, Alfonso. “Mirandola.” In Enciclopedia italiana, 23:428.Google Scholar
Strabo. Geography. Trans. Jones, H. L.. 8 vols. (Loeb Classical Library). London, 1917-32.Google Scholar
Supino, I. B. “Bologna.” In Enciclopedia italiana, 7:332–41.Google Scholar
Taylor, F. L. The Art of War in Italy 1494-1529. Cambridge, 1921.Google Scholar
Tooley, R. V. “Maps in Italian Atlases of the Sixteenth Century.” Imago mundi 3 (l939):U-47.Google Scholar
Vanni, Manfredo. “Mortara.” In Enciclopedia italiana 23:877.Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. Early Germanic Kingship in England and on the Continent. Oxford, 1971.Google Scholar
Weiss, Ch. “Lautrec, Odet de Foix, viconte de.” Biographie universelle 23: 388–89. Repr. Graz, 1966-70.Google Scholar
Woodward, David. “Medieval Mappaemundi.” In The History of Cartography, eds. Harley, J. B. and Woodward, D., 1:286–368.-Chicago, 1987.Google Scholar
Woodward, David. “Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps.” Annals of the Association of American GeographerslA (1985): 510–21.10.1111/j.1467-8306.1985.tb00090.xGoogle Scholar