Survival of the Pagan Gods-Jean Seznec
Short Description
Download Survival of the Pagan Gods-Jean Seznec...
Description
till
I*" 1
"
127 660
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS The Mythological Tradition and
Its
Place
j
in Renaissance
Humanism and Art
By
JEAN SEZNEC Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
BARBARA
F. SESSIONS
HARPER TORCHBOOKS/THE BOLLINGEN LIBRARY HARPER
&
BROTHERS, NEW YORK
TO
THE MEMORY OF
MY MOTHER
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS Copyright 1953 by Bolhngen Foundation Inc., New York, N. Y. Printed in the United States of America
This volume is the thirty-eighth in a series of books sponsored by Bolhngen Foundation Inc. This book was originally published in French as La Survivance des dieux antiques, STUDIES OF It
THE WARBURG INSTITUTE, Vol. XI, London, was first published in English in 1953
by Pantheon Books, It is
First
194O.
New York, for Bollingen Foundation. reprinted by arrangement.
Inc.,
HARPER TORCHBOOK
edition published 1961
Library of Congress catalog card number: 52-10520
Contents PACE
3
Introduction
BOOK TT^^JL
I
uNE: THE CONCEPTS
GENERAL ARGUMENT. The
ancient gods survive during the Middle of their origin and nature pro-
Ages by virtue of interpretations pounded by antiquity itself.
I.
The
11
Historical Tradition
Euhemerism and Christian apologetics, p. 12. Euhemerism in the Middle Ages, p. 13. The gods as precursors of civilization, p. 14; as founders of dynasties, p. 19. Euhemerism during the Renaissance, p. 20. Ethnological legends at the Burgundian court, in France, in Italy, p. 24. The historical tradition and iconography, p. 26
II.
37
The Physical Tradition Astral divinities at the end of the pagan era, p. 37. Attitude of the Church Fathers toward astrology, p. 42. Attitude of the Middle Ages: the role of the gods in science
and magic,
p. 46.
Astrology during the Renaissance:
The physical tradition and iconography, 64. The planets and their "children" in Italian fourteenth to the sixteenth century, p. 69. The
attitude of the humanists, p. 56.
The microcosms, p. monumental art from the gods of the Farnesina and
p. 63.
in.
the Cappella Chigi, p. 79
84
The Moral Tradition Mythological allegory in antiquity, p. 84; in the hands of the Church Fathers, p. 87; in the Middle Ages, p. 89. The Ovide moralise and its progeny, p. gi. Fulgentius metaforalis, p. p^. The Renaissance and mythological allegory, p. 95. Neoplatonism, p. 06. Hieroglyphs and emblems, p. go.
The moral
in art, p. /op. Titian, p. Jig
tradition
and iconography,
Symbolism in
Botticelli, p.
p. 104. The psychomachia 112; in Correggio, p. 117; in
CONTENTS
vi
PAGE iv.
222
The Encyclopedic Tradition Intermingling of the three cycles, historical, physical, and moral, p. 122.
The gods
The encyclopedic tradition spread in Italian monumental art of the
in medieval encyclopedism, p. 123.
and iconography,
its
125;
p.
The gods of the Tempio Malatestiano, p. 132. The Stanza della Segnatura, p. 143
fourteenth century, p. 127.
The Tarocchi
of Mantegna, p. 137.
PART TWO: THE FORMS GENERAL ARGUMENT. The
true role of the Italian Renaissance in
relation to the mythological material transmitted by the lies in restoring classical
manner of representing
Middle Ages
form, since from late antiquity on, the
the gods has undergone every variety of
change,
i.
The Metamorphoses of
the
149
Gods
THE PICTORIAL
TRADITION. Figures representing constellations, in manu-
scripts dating
from the Alexandrian period
to the fifteenth century,
p. 150; Greek types, p. 151; Oriental types, p. 233. Planetary
Michael Scot,
p.
Mythology in Byzantine
degli Spagnuoli, p. 160.
THE LITERARY
gods in
156; on the Campanile of Giotto and in the Cappella art, p.
163
TRADITION. The gods as described by late pagan and early
Christian writers and by the encyclopedists t p. 167* Representation of the gods in manuscripts: Remi of Auxerre and John Ridewall, p. 167. The Liber ymaginum deorum of Albricus and the Libellus de deorum imaginibus, p. 170. Petrarch
and Bersuire,
p, 172.
Sources of the gods of the
Profound alteration of the classical types of the gods under the influence of the two traditions by the end of the Middle Ages, Libellus, p. 175.
and
ii.
its
causes, p. 179
The Reintegration of
the
Gods
THE PICTORIAL TRADITION. Return
184 to the classical constellation types:
Durer's sky map, p. 185; planetary figures, p. 187
THE LITERARY
TRADITION. Diffusion of the types created by Albricus, Gradual evolution of these types toward classical form, p. 190. The Tarocchi of Mantegna, p. 199. The frescoes of Francesco Cossa in the
p. 189.
Schifanoia Palace, p. 203. Survival of medieval types at the height of the Renaissance, p. 210.
The
true junction of the Renaissance: the reintegra-
CONTENTS
vii
PACE tion of antique subject matter in the antique forms, p. 211. Italy, p.
BOOK
role of
II
The Science of Mythology in the Sixteenth Century THE PRECURSORS. Boccaccio and the Genealogia deorum, p. of the ancient and medieval mythographers, century compilations, p. 226
THE GREAT ITALIAN MANUALS. thology,
The
214
and Cartan's Images
p.
225; the
219 220; editions
first
sixteenth-
Giraldi's History of the Gods, Conti's
of the Gods, p. 22p. Sources of the
Mymanu-
als: return to the
medieval mythographic tradition, with incorporation of contemporary nonclassical elements, p. 234; neglect of figural monuments, p. 243 ; perpetuation of old systems of interpretation, p. 247. Aim of the manuals, assistance to poets and artists, p. 250. Proposed models often barbaric types, emphasizing symbolism and allegory to the detriment of plastic form, p. 252. Illustrations of the manuals never still
directly inspired by antiquity, p. 254
Theories Regarding the Use of Mythology ART CRITICISM. Armenini and Lomazzo, artists, p. 258. Insistence
p.
257;
-257 critics as
counselors of
upon thorough knowledge of mythology, espe-
cially of the attributes of the gods, p.
260
ECCLESIASTICAL CENSORSHIP. The Council of Trent and mythology, p. 264. Attitude of Paleotto and Possevino toward representation of the gods, p.
2(5(5.
The
3
artists
cendancy of allegory, p. 275.
p.
defense, p. 268. Results of the controversy: as9 269. Mythology "moralized' by the Jesuits,
The Iconologia of Cesare Ripa,
p.
278
279
The Influence of the Manuals The gods in festivals and processions after 1550, p. 280; in monumental frescoes after 1550, p. 286. V atari's Palazzo Vecchio decoy rations and the Ragionamenti, p. 2 88. Zuccaro s decorations at Caprarola and the instructions of Annibale Caro, p. 291. Zucchi's decorations in the Palazzo Ruspoli and the Discorso sopra li dei de'gentili, p. 29 8. The Venetians and mythological allegory: Veronese and Tintoretto, p. 303 IN ITALY.
IN
EUROPE OUTSIDE OF ITALY. France: lean Le Maire de Beiges, p. 309; Rabelais and Montaigne,
Ronsard, p. 307; du Bartas,
p.
306;
p.
311.
CONTENTS
viii
PAGE
England: knowledge of mythology among the Elizabethan poets, p. 312; Shakespeare, p. 3 14 ; the masques, p. 3 15. Germany, p. 316. Spain, p. 317
CONCLUSION The nature oj the Renaissance, its true role, and the causes ancient gods in seventeenthof its decline, p. 319. The fortunes of the century Europe, p, 321
Bibliography i.
ii.
Sources
327
Studies
332
346
Index
THIS TRANSLATION varies from the original text only where factual errors better
had
to be corrected; the illustrations are the
Institute,
London; the bibliography has been brought up
and rearranged
from
to date,
for the greater convenience of the reader.
In preparing assistance
press
same, and
photographs for them have been provided by the Warburg
this
new
edition, I have again received valuable
the staff of the
my special gratitude
to
Warburg
Institute. I
wish to ex-
Gertrud Bing, Assistant Director of
the Institute, for her unfailing
and friendly support. Jean Seznec
Illustrations
PACE 1.
CAELUS AND His DESCENDANTS
23
London, British Museum, ms. Egerton 1500, 2.
6
fol.
r.
BIBLICAL AND PAGAN HEROES
27
Collection of Sir Sidney Carlyle Cockerell, Picture Chronicle, 3.
5.
1 v.
APOLLO MEDICUS
28
Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, ms. 202, fol. 4.
fol.
90
v.
AS A PHYSICIAN London, British Museum, Florentine Picture Chronicle,
APOLLO
29 fol.
153
r.
HERCULES SLAYING CACUS (Andrea Pisano)
30
Florence, Campanile di Santa Maria del Fiore 6.
DIANA AND HER WORSHIPPERS
31
Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale, ms. 9242,
fol.
175
(Chromque de
v.
Hainault] 7.
RAPE OF DEIANIRA
33
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. fr. 301, fol. 34 v. (Les Livres des histoires du commencement du monde) 8.
RAPE OF PROSERPINA
33
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms.
fr.
6362,
fol.
161
r.
(UHistoire uni-
verseUe) 9.
JUPITER VANQUISHING SATURN
34
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. fr. 22 552,
fol.
39
v.
(Raoul Le Fevre,
Recueil des hystoires de Troye) 10.
THE ROYAL OLYMPUS: HENRI Chateau de Tanlay, Tour de
11.
II
AND His COURT
la
Ligue (fresco)
35
HERCULES AND THE LERNAEAJN HYDRA
36
Bergamo, Cappella Colleoni 12.
THE OLYMPIAN
JUPITER Madrid, Escorial, Biblioteca de San Lorenzo, ms. J-h-15, (lapidary of Alfonso
13.
THE SUN AND THE
54 16, fol.
102
r.
Xj 63
ZODIAC
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. lat. 7028, duodecim zodiaci signis et de ventis)
fol.
154
r.
(Scholium de
ILLUSTRATIONS
x
PAGE 14.
65
MICROCOSM Munich, Bayrische Staatsbibliothek, ms. lat 13003,
15.
66 fol.
160
fol.
25
r.
67
MICROCOSM Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, ms. 2359,
17.
r.
THE PLACETS AND THE HUMAN BODY
68 fol.
Copenhagen, Konegelige Bibliothek, G.Kgl.S. 78, 28.
v.
MICROCOSM Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, ms. 5327,
16.
7
fol.
THE PLANETS AND THE HUMAN BODY
(
8
r.
Livre des portraits et figures
du corps
68
humain, 1572) 19.
APOLLO AND THE CONSTELLATIONS
69
(Silvestro Giannotti)
Bologna, Archiginnasio (ceiling J 20.
THE PLANETS AND THE SPHERES Dijon, Bibliotheque Municipale, ms. 448,
21.
71 fol.
63
v.
THE PLANETS AND THEIR CHILDREN
72
Venice, Doge's Palace (capital) 22.
THE PLANETS AND THE LIBERAL ARTS
73
Florence, Santa Maria Novella, Cappella degii Spagnuoli 23.
74
MERCURY AND His CHILDREN London, British Museum, ms. Harley 4431,
fol.
102
r.
(Christine de
Pisan, Epitre cTOthee) 24.
MERCURY AND His CHILDREN
75
(school of Pintoricchio)
Rome, Vatican, Borgia Apartments 25.
ASTROLOGICAL MOTIF
77
Ferrara, Palazzo Schifanoia 26.
ASTROLOGICAL CEILING
77
27.
Rome, Farnesina, Sala della Galatea (ceiling) NIGHT SKY OF FLORENCE, July 8-9, 1422
78
Florence, San Lorenzo, Old Sacristy (chapel cupola) 23.
GOD AISD THE PLANETS (Raphael) Rome, Santa Maria
29.
30.
80
del Popolo, Cappella Chigi (cupola)
HOROSCOPE OF AGOSTINO CHIGI (Baldassare Peruzzi) Rome, Farnesina, Sala della Galatea (ceiling) JUNO-MEM ORIA Rome, Vatican Library, ms. Palat. lat. 1066, fol. 223
81
95 v.
(Fulgentius
metajorahs) 31.
VENUS-LUXURIA
Rome, Vatican Library, ms.
dum
diversos doctores)
107 Palat. lat. 1726, fol.
43
r.
(Ymagines secun-
ILLUSTRATIONS
xi PACE
32.
NATURE WITH VENUS, JUNO, AND PALLAS Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms.
fr.
108 143 (Le Livre des echecs amou-
reux)
AND THE GODS
33. JUPITER
110
Lyons, Bibliotheque Municipale, ms. 742, (Ovide moralise)
fol,
10
v.,
21
v.,
80
r.,
87
r.
110
36.
MERCURY AND ARGUS (ibid.) DIANA AND CALUSTO (ibid.) PALLAS AND THE MUSES (ibid.)
37.
WISDOM OVERCOMING THE VICES (Andrea Mantegna)
111
34. 35.
Paris,
38.
110
110
Louvre
COMBAT OF RATIO AND
Louvre
39.
VENUS AND THE TORTOISE
40.
PRUDENTIA (Titian?) London, Francis Howard
Collection
THE PUNISHMENT OF JUNO
(Correggio)
41.
Parma, Camera 42. JUPITER
di
113
LIBIDO (Baccio Bandinelli)
Paris, Cabinet des Estampes,
(Alciati,
Emblematum
115
liber}
116 117
San Paolo
AND MARS (Taddeo
129
di Bartolo)
Siena, Palazzo Pubblico 43. NARCISSUS (Girolamo Mocetto or Girolamo Santacroce)
44.
MARS (idem)
45.
SATURN (idem) Paris, Musee Jacquemart-Andre
131
132 132 (ceiling panels)
133
46. JUPITER (Agostino di Duccio)
48.
APOLLO (idem) APOLLO, THE PLANETS, THE MUSES, AND THE MODES
49.
L'HOMME
47.
133 (Gafurius, Practica
135
musice, 1496)
SCIENTIFIQUE (Geoffrey Tory,
Champfleury,
136
1529)
138
50. JUPITER (Tarocchi of Mantegna) 51.
PHILOSOPHY
138
(ibid.)
52.
THALIA
53.
PRIMUM MOBILE
54.
PERSEUS
139
(ibid.)
139
(ibid.)
150
London, British Museum, ms. Harley 647,
fol.
4
r.
(Cicero, Aratea, en-
larged reproduction) 55. PERSEUS
WITH THE HEAD OF MEDUSA
Leyden, Rijksuniversiteit, Bibliotheek, ms. Voss. lat, (Hyginus, Fabularum liber)
151 oct. 15, fol.
175
v.
ILLUSTRATIONS
xii
PACE 56.
152
VIRGO AND THE GEMINI Boulogne-sur-Mer. Bibliotheque Municipals ms. 188, manicus, Aratea
fol.
22
r.
(Ger-
>
57.
THE CENTAUR
153
Gottweig, Stiftsbibliothek. ms. 7, fol. 15 v. (Cicero, Aratea, ms. exactly reproducing a Carolingian original) 58.
154
VENUS
C
London, British Museum, ms. Royal 19 Beziers, Breviaire d' amour) 59.
(Ermengaut of 155
PERSEUS
155 fol.
21
v. (Sufi)
SATURN, JUPITER, MARS, AND VENUS
157
Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, ms. 2378, 62.
v.
5036 (Sufi)
London, British Museum, ms. arab. 5323, 61.
41
HERCULES Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. arab.
60.
fol.
i,
fol.
12
v.
(Michael Scot)
MERCURY AS A SCRIBE
159
London, British Museum, Add. ms. 16578, 63. JUPITER AS
A
MONK
fol.
52
v.
161
(Andrea Pisano)
Florence, Campanile di Santa Maria del Fiore 64.
THE PLANETARY GODS
165
Rome, Vatican Library, ms. Urb. 65.
1398
lat.
VULCAN, PLLTO, BACCHUS, MERCURY Monte Cassino, cod. 132, fol. 386 Rabanus Maurus, De rerum naturis)
166
VULCAN, PLLTO, BACCHUS, MERCURY
166
(
66.
Rome, Vatican Library, ms.
Palat. lat.
291 (Rabanus Maurus,
De rerum
naturis)
67. SATURN, CYBELE, JUPITER,
APOLLO, AND OTHER GODS
Munich, Bayrische Staatsbibliothek, ms. Auxerre) 68.
APOLLO ANO THE MUSES
69.
Rome, Vatican Library, ms. Reg. bus dedrum) MARS AND VENUS; MERCURY
1290,
72.
169 fol.
11
r.
(Remi of
fol.
1 v. (Libellus de imagini-
247
v.
180 fol.
(Qazwini)
VENUS AND HER TRAIN; MERCURY
181
Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms. Rawl. B. 214, 72.
14271,
177 lat.
Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, ms. 1438, 70.
lat.
fol.
198
v.
JUPITER
Rome, Vatican Library, ms. Barb, lat HERCULES (Diirer, sky map, 1515)
186 76, fol.
6
r.
(Germanicus, Aratea)
186
ILLUSTRATIONS
xiii
PAGE 73.
PERSEUS Paris,
74.
189
Musee de Cluny,
celestial sphere,
MARS
191
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms. 75.
1502
fr.
6986
MARS
191
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms.
fr.
143 (Le Livre des echecs amou-
reux) 76.
MARS
191
Copenhagen, Konegelige Bibliothek, ms. Thott. 399 77. 78.
MARS (Ovide moralise, Bruges, MARS (Agostino di Duccio)
190
Colart Mansion, 1480)
192
Rimini, San Francesco (Tempio Malatestiano) 79.
MARS AND OTHER GODS
193
Landshut, Residenz (overmantel) 80.
PLUTO AND PROSERPINA
196
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, ms.
fr.
143 (Le Livre des echecs amou-
reux) 81. HELLENISTIC
HERMES
Panticapeum 82.
MERCURY AND ARGUS
199
Paris, Bibliotheque de 83. 84.
55.
198
(relief)
1'
Arsenal, ms.
MERCURY (Tarocchi of Mantegna) APOLLO AND THE MUSES London, Victoria and Albert Museum
fr.
5066,
fol.
15
r.
200 203 (ceiling
from a palace
in
Cremona)
VENUS (Guariento)
204
Padua, Eremitani
87.
VENUS AND THE GRACES (Tarocchi VENUS
88.
Modena, Biblioteca Estense, ms. DCXCVll, DIANA, PAN, AND NYMPHS
86.
of
204
Mantegna)
205 fol.
11 (Liber physiognomiae)
207
Ghent, Cathedral Library 89.
TRIUMPH OF VENUS
(Francesco Cossa)
207
Ferrara, Palazzo Schifanoia 90.
PEGASUS AND PERSEUS Naples, San Domenico Maggiore, Cappella Caraffa
210
91.
MERCURY (Jacopo
210
Sansovino)
Venice, Loggetta 92.
Two IMAGES
OF JUPITER
(Cartari, Imagini degli dei, 1571)
237
ILLUSTRATIONS
xiv
PACE 93.
DIANA AND APOLLO
94.
MITHRA
95.
VENUS AND THE GRACES
I
237
(ibid.)
229
Herold, Heydemcelt* 1554)
96. JUPITER, JUNO.
I
239
Bote, Cronecken der Sassen, 1492)
NEPTUNE, AND MERCURY (du Ghoul, Discours de
la religion
242
des anciens Remains, 1556) 97.
MERCURY A>D PEACE
98.
APOLLO AND JUPITER
99.
MERCURY
244
(Cartari, Imagini degli del, 1571)
I
245
(ibid.)
246
Apianus, Inscriptiones, 1534
100. SACRED AND
)
PROFANE LOVE (Annibale Carracci)
270
Rome, Palazzo Farnese 101.
EROS AND ANTEROS (
102.
272
Cartari. Imagini degh dei, 1571
APOLLO, HADAD, AND ATARGATIS
)
(ibid.)
103. APOLLO^S CHARIOT Florence,
Uffizi,
280 281
Gabinetto delle Stampe (drawing for Mascherata della
genealogia degliddei, 1565) 104.
HARPOCRATES AND ANGERONA
105.
DIANA
{
Rome, Palazzo Ruspoli 106. SATURN (idem) 107.
(Cartari, Imagini, 1571)
OLYMPUS
I
297
299
Jacopo Zucchi) (ceiling)
299
Federigo Zuccaro)
302
Florence, Uffizi 108.
MERCURY AND THE GRACES Venice, Doge's Palace
(Tintoretto)
305
THE SURVIVAL OF
THE PAGAN GODS
Introduction
TITLE
THE
As
tion.
of the present
work requires a
certain
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
come
amount of explanato
be better known,
the traditional antithesis between them grows less marked.
The medieval
period appears "less dark and static," and the Renaissance "less bright and
sudden."
less
*
Above
all, it is
now recognized
experiencing a "rebirth" in fifteenth-century the culture life,
and
that
Italy,
Middle Ages. Even
art of the
pagan antiquity, far from had remained alive within
the gods
for they had never disappeared from the
were not restored
memory
to
or imagination of
man.
Many works
published in recent years have studied the underlying
causes and the means of this survival. here, developing the
dawn
attention
it
along new
lines
of the Renaissance but to
upon
sical texts
2
its
traces of
aim
to
resume
it still
very decline.
those centers of medieval
and the study of
We
and taking
this investigation
further, not
We
merely to
have not focused our
humanism where the reading of clas-
pagan art kept the memory of the ancient artists; Jean Ad-
gods alive in the minds of scholars and the imagination of
hemar has made a
contribution of the greatest interest on this aspect of the
question, limited to France. 1
We view the problem from a different angle, and
Haskins, The
We
Gottergestalten (Leipzig, 1931) ; also the article by E. Panofsky and F. Saxl, which is of f undamental importance: "Classical Mythology in
Renaissance of the Twelfth Cambridge, Mass., 1927) , Pref., p. viL name here only the most important: F.
Centitry 2
3
(
Mediaeval Art," Metropolitan Museum Studies, (1932-1933), pp. 228-280; and E. Panofsky's article, "Renaissance and Renascences,"
von Bezold, Da* Fortleben der antiken Gotter mittelalterlichen Humanismus (BonnLeipzig, 1922 ; H. Liebescmitz, Fulgentius
im
iv
metaforalis, em Beitrag zur Geschichte der antiken Mythologie im Mittelalter, Stndien der Bibhothek Warburg, rv (Leipzig, 1926) ; A. Frey-Sallmann, Aus dem Nachleben antiker
vi (1944), pp. 201-236. Influences antiques dans fart du Moyen-Age of Studies the t Warburg Institute, vn franc.ais
The Kenyan Review,
3
(London, 1939). 3
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
4
in concepts which attempt to show that the gods lived on in the Middle Ages
had already taken shape
at the
end of the pagan epoch
interpretations pro-
the ancients themselves to explain the origin and nature of their
posed by divinities.
''to
"It is by no means easy," observes Fontenelle in L'Histoire des oracles, know how the pagan peoples looked upon their own religion." In fact,
they found themselves in a dilemma from the
moment they
son about their beliefs; for "the myth really possesses
only in those epochs when
man
still
first
its
began
to rea-
full significance
believes himself to be living in a divine
world, with no distinct notion of natural laws ; but long before the end of pa-
ganism, this
first
naivete had disappeared."
*
Indeed, the effort of
modern
mythographers, since early in the nineteenth century, has been to recover the primitive mentality
by way of philology and anthropology, and
to recapture
the intuitions of the earliest periods.
The their
own
ancients, however, in their inability to "investigate the origins of culture, to learn
how
their legends
have been their earliest meaning," to render
them
intelligible
ample, in Cicero's
De
5
were formed and what
may
evolved contradictory theories in order
theories which are brought face to face, for ex-
natura deorum. In essence, these
may be
reduced
to
myths are a more or less distorted account of historical facts, in which the characters are mere men who have been raised to the rank of the three: (1) the
immortals; or (2) they express the union or conflict of the elementary powers
which constitute the universe, the gods then being cosmic symbols; or (3) they are merely the expression in fable of moral and philosophical ideas, in which case the gods are allegories.
Now
it
was thanks
to these interpretations,
which were proposed by the
and which integrate mythology in turn with world hisnatural science, and morals, that the gods were to survive through the
ancients themselves tory,
Middle Ages, preserved alike from oblivion and from the attacks of their enemies. But, as we have said, we plan to follow the fortunes of the gods well beyond the Middle Ages, up to the end of the sixteenth century. This will give us an opportunity to show
how
greatly the art and thought of the Renaissance 5 G. Boissier, La Fin du paganisme, n, p. 372. i,
* E. Renan, Etudes ffhistoire rcligieuse, chap,
"Les Religions de 1'antiquite," pp. 25-26.
INTRODUCTION were indebted
to that particular tradition
unsuspected prolongations we hope to
This traditional aspect of is,
in fact, less striking
time, what
come
first to
drunken revelry
by nymphs 'and its
and sixteenth-century mythology If one attempts to
fifteenth-
less well
known than any other.
mind are
the scenes of seduction or rape, of love or
and admittedly no parallel
to these
had been seen since
The kingdom of Aphrodite and Bacchus, peopled
the end of the ancient world.
tian as
whose astonishing persistence and
reveal.
example, the profane themes most often treated in Italy at this
recall, for 6
and
5
satyrs, with the
reigning princesses,
Antiope of Correggio and the Ariadne of Tiis in
truth a
new
universe, rediscovered after
the lapse of centuries ; while the predilection of artists and
men
of letters for
voluptuous themes hears witness to the spiritual revolution which has taken place.
Once again poets dare .
.
.
to sing of
F amour vainqueur
et la vie
opportune
and to glorify Desire as master of gods and of men. But alongside or above this mythical realm within which nature and the flesh
no
if
have come into their own again, there
exists another realm, less familiar
where reign the great planetary above all in monumental art that
less seductive,
the allegories.
met with
It is
in palace vaulting, in chapel cupolas
may
and
figures of this type are
and their role should not
be mistaken for a purely decorative one. Actually character
deities, the heroes,
their true
meaning and
be understood only by establishing their connection with their
immediate forerunners, the gods of the Middle Ages, who had survived as the incarnation of ideas. In
recognize in the
some cases the
relationship
is
in Mantegna's painting represents the triumph of
we
easily
train,
which
obvious:
combat of Diana and Pallas with Venus and her
Wisdom
over Vice, one
of the spiritual dramas (psychomachiae) dear to the preceding age. At the
same 6
time, however, the
meaning of other mythological compositions, such as
These themes have been enumerated by
S.
Reinach, "Essai sur la mythologie figuree et 1'histoire profane dans la peinture italienne de la Renaissance" (works prior to 1580, with Index), Rev. archeol., ser. v, vol I (1915), pp. 94-171. The list has been completed by R. C. Witt, "Notes complementaires sur la mytholola peingie figuree et 1'histoire profane dans
ture italienne de la Renaissance," ibid , ser. v, vol. ix (1919), pp. 173-178. Ci also L. Roblot-
Delondre, "Les sujets antiques dans la tapis(1917), pp 296 ff.; ibid. (1918), pp. 131 ff.; ibid. (1919), pp. 48 ff., 294 ff.; the first section of this list deals with "La mytholoserie," ibid.
gie, les cycles legendaires, et les
des dieux," with Index.
Triomphes
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
6
those of Francesco Cossa in the Schifanoia Palace at Ferrara or of Baldassare
Peruzzi on the ceiling of the Farnesina, becomes clear only
if
we
see them as
the outcome of the medieval astrological tradition; even the Parnassus of
Raphael in the Stanza della Segnatura forms part of a spiritual structural elements of which are still largely scholastic. It is difficult, it
must he confessed,
edifice, the
to trace the frontiers separating these
two great profane cycles (the second of which alone concerns us here), for one melts insensibly into the other. Even the games and dances, the idyls and the Bacchic triumphs,
whose sole object
is
apparently to delight the senses
and transport the imagination, often embody some meaning or arriere-pensee are intended, in short, as food for the mind. It is only our indifference to 7
the subject, or our ignorance,
ing
it.
at the
which has kept us from examining or identifysome cases reveal the secret of the work; and
Patient analysis would in
same time we should recognize,
in the classical motif thus "resur-
rected," the transposition of a medieval theme.
The
difference in styles acts as a further hindrance to our awareness of
this continuity of tradition, for Italian art of the fifteenth
and sixteenth cen-
turies invests the ancient symbols with fresh beauty; but the debt of the Ren-
aissance to the Middle Ages
how
is set
forth in the texts.
We shall attempt to show
was handed down from century passed, and the extent to which,
the mythological heritage of antiquity
to century,
through what vicissitudes
it
toward the close of the Cinquecento, the great Italian treatises on the gods
which were to nourish the humanism and art of to
When conceived of in these terms, in itself, forces us to cover an
challenge, with to
all
Europe were
still
indebted
medieval compilations and steeped in the influence of the Middle Ages.
its
our subject, already vast and complex
immense period of time. We have accepted this we have had to limit ourselves
inevitable risks. Frequently
a cursory sketch, but in such cases
we have
tried to indicate the
main
out-
For the sake of precision, we have at some series of special importance, like
lines without altering the proportions.
some
points restricted our inquiry to
that of the planetary figures,
certain 7
phenomena
whose history has served us as an example of
of survival and evolution.
See for example a characteristic comment a Veronese painting: "It is
made by Taine on
an allegory, but the subject hardly concerns us" (Voyage en Italic [1866], n, p. 433).
7
INTRODUCTION The
essential function of the visual image, which plays so important a
is the summing up of trends or currents of thought. Our exheen have chosen and analyzed at least for the most part not amples from the formal or stylistic point of view, but rather as documents and wit-
part in this book,
nesses. In
many
cases their
mere succession furnishes us with a guiding
thread; elsewhere they supplement or complement the texts. They allow us to recognize or to establish the continuity of a tradition and to trace the directions in
which
it
extends. In a word, iconography serves as a constant auxiliary
to the study of the history of ideas.
we have throughout subordinated our ambition to be comprehenour regard for clarity. To pioneer in a region which is still scarcely known because it is the meeting place of several disciplines and so belongs Finally,
sive to
specifically to none, to plant signposts there
help to orient other travelers directed.
this is the
end
and open up to
which our
vistas
which
efforts
may
have been
BOOK
I
PART ONE: THE CONCEPTS
The
Historical Tradition
THE APPEARANCE, early in the third century B.C., of the romance
ON
by Euhemerus which was destined
tellectual climate of the
vorable to
1
its
reception.
to exert so lasting
Greco-Roman world was
an influence, the
in-
in a state exceptionally fa-
Philosophical speculation and recent history alike
had prepared the way for an understanding of the process by which, in times long past, the gods had been recruited from the ranks of mortal men. Philosophy, from Aristotle onward, had recognized a divine element within the
by
human
the Stoics:
soul, the nature of
"Deus
via" ("For mortal to aid mortal 2
glory").
A noble
putations: those
which was thus more specifically defined
est mortali juvare mortalem et haec ad aeternam gloriam
formula
men have
tined for eternal life
this,
this is
God, and
this is the
road
to eternal
which Cicero develops in his Tusculan Dis-
within them a supernatural element and are des-
who regard themselves
as born into the world to help
and guard and preserve their fellow men. Hercules passed away to join the gods: he would never so have passed unless in the course of his mortal life he had
built for himself the road
he traveled.
8
superhuman career of Alexander, and above all where he became the object of adoration similar to had that which, according to the myth, had once greeted Dionysus there suddenly thrown light upon the origin of the gods. For the generations who
At
the
same
time, the
his expedition to India
subsequently witnessed the x
official deification
Dechanne, La Critique des traditions religieuses chez les grecs (Paris, 1904), pp. See P.
372-373, and chap, xh:
"L'Evhemensme
et
of the Seleucids and Ptolemies
2
Pliny, Historia naturalis, n, 7, 18; in all probability, a translation from Posidomus. 3 Cicero, Tusc , I, 32; see also ibid., 25-26,
and De natura deorum,
Finterpretation historique."
11
n, 24.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
12
there could be no further douht: the traditional deities were merely earthly rulers,
whom
in heaven.
the gratitude or adulation of their subjects
had raised
to a place
4
The appearance of Euhemerus* work was well timed. Its success was immediate. It was one of the first books to be translated from Greek into Latin; Ennius' version, as Picus, Janus,
is
well known, gave
it
general currency in
Rome, where
and Saturn promptly became princes who had once ruled over
Latium. The euhemeristic thesis set at rest for a time the disquiet that the
mythology had always inspired in the minds of educated men, who, though unable to accord it their literal belief, had nevertheless hesitated traditional
to reject as
Homer merism
a mass of outright falsehood the time-honored tales for which
himself stood guarantor.
A
few voices, however, denounced euhe-
5
as impious
and absurd. Above
all, its
prosaic character
made
it
number of persons who had succumbed craved a more emotional type of reliand supernatural
disappointing to the ever increasing
appeal of the
to the
6
gious belief.
But euhemerism was
to
enjoy an extraordinary revival
at the
beginning
of the Christian era. First the apologists, then the Fathers, seized eagerly this
weapon which paganism
against
its
itself
upon had offered them, and made use of it
polytheistic source.
was only too easy for Clement of Alexandria, who quoted Euhemerus Cohortatio ad gentes (PC, vin, 152) to declare to the infidel: "Those
It
in his
7
whom you bow were once men like yourselves." Lactantius, again, to whom we owe the preservation of a few fragments of Euhemerus and of Ento
nius* translation, proclaims triumphantly in his Divinae institutiones that the
gods, one and
all,
are nothing but mortal beings
4 Instances of deification of high Egyptian officials at an earlier date are given by Charles Picard in his article, "L'lnhumation *ad sane* tos' dans Tantiquite,** Revue archeologique (1947), pp. 82-85. Cicero, De natur. dear., I, 42. But in a passage in Tusc. (r, 12-13), Cicero seems implicitly to admit that all the gods are men i
5
whole mortal
hide
.
heaven
.
origin?")
et Osiride,
.
.
filled
LCL.
Cf.
raised
-with
from of
gods
De
Plutarch,
xm.
6
G. Boissier, La Religion romame, cTAuguste aux Antonins, n, vii, 2. On the fortunes of euhemerism in antiquity, see Gilbert Murray, Five Stages of Greek Religion (ed. 1935), pp. 152-160, and A. B. Drachmann, Atheism in Pagan Antiquity (Copenhagen, 1922) IQI vpotrxwovfievoi irop* iitt.lv &vdpairoi yev6-
who have been raised from earth to heaven, *Totum prope caelum . nonne genere humano completion est? w ("Is not almost the perot .
of
who have been
.
v6re.
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION
13
earth to heaven through the idolatry of their contemporaries (PL, vi, 190 ff.). Also euhemeristic in inspiration are the De idolorum vanitate of St. Cyprian, the
De
idololatria of Tertullian, the Octavius of Minucius Felix, the
Adversus nationes of Arnobius, the Instructiones adversus gentium deos of Commodian, and the De erroribus profanarum religionum of Firmicus Maternus.
Augustine, in the
St.
1056) and the
De
turn to this
Thus euhemerism became a a weapon which they
cists,
De
consensu Evangelistarum (PL, xxxnr,
Dei (vn, 18, and vm, 26), was to subscribe in his theory, which seemed bound to prove fatal to the adversary. civitate
9
shown, their
tactics
weapon of
favorite
made use
the Christian polemi-
8
of at every turn. In
fact, as
Cumont has
were not always wholly legitimate, being aimed for the
most part at an idolatry long since extinct, and at gods whose existence had been reduced to a mere literary convention. What matters to us, however, is that the Christian apologists bequeathed to the Middle Ages a tradition of euhemerism, with further reinforcement from the commentators of Virgil especially
from Servius, whose errors the Middle Ages accepted as
articles of
10
faith.
+
THE EUHEMERISTIC
tradition remains a living influence throughout the
Middle Ages, although
it
undergoes a
total
change of character. The
human
origin of the gods ceases to be a weapon to be used against them, a source of rejection
and contempt. Instead,
ing them a
it
them a
gives
right to survive. In the
end
it
certain protection, even grant-
forms, as
it
were, their patent of
nobility.
First of all,
euhemerism
at a rather early date loses
its
polemic venom,
become instead an auxiliary to historical research. Certain men have become gods; at what period, then, were they alive upon earth? Is it possible to to
assign 8
them a
And sometimes
definite place in
human history?
for contradictory ends. In the
towns, Christian preaching encountered a predominantly symbolic or allegorical explanation of the myths, which had to be refuted in a
summary and brutal way. In country districts, the chief obstacle to Christianity was offered by the tenacious survival of anthropomorphic cults; here the problem became one of still
further humanizing the divinities of springs, trees, and mountains, in order to rob them of
See P. Alphandery, "L'Evhemerisme et les debuts de 1'histoire des reliau gions Moyen-Age," Revue de fhistoire des their prestige.
en (1934), pp. 1-27, esp. p. 13. Religions onentales dans le paganisme remain (4th edL, 1929), pp. 186-187.
religions, 9 Les 10
See Alphandery, op.
cit^ p. 18.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
14.
This tendency
is
already apparent in Eusebius.
clesiastical History that the
He
explains in his Ec-
Babylonian god Baal was in reality the
first
king
of the Assyrians, and that he lived at the time of the war between the Giants
and the Titans (PG, xix, 132-133). The coincidence in time is still only approximate, and it is clear, furthermore, that Eusebius' main concern is to show the religion of the chosen people as antedating
who bequeathed
however,
It
was
he,
Middle Ages, through Jerome, the prosynchronizations which grouped all the events
to the
totype of those crude historical
and characters of human
pagan mythology.
history,
St.
from the birth of Abraham down to the
Christian era (including the gods themselves), into a few essential periods.
After Eusebius, Paulus Orosius does
much
the
same
thing.
Although
writing "adversus paganos" and under the inspiration of Augustine,
he
is
his
book
is
above
all
legend; this is all the
an attempt
more
to unravel the past,
significant since
it
even the past of fable and
remained a manual of the high-
throughout the Middle Ages and even into the Renaissance, go-
est authority
ing through twenty editions in the sixteenth century.
But that
we
it is
in the seventh century, in the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville,
find the
"De
most interesting application of euhemerism
diis
gentium" (Bk. vm, chap,
to history, in the
PL, LXXXII, 314). "Quos pau Not only does Isidore, gani deos asserunt, homines olim fuisse produntur." chapter
following Lactantius, accept this principle
xi;
he seeks to demonstrate
it.
He
"secundum ordinem temporum" in world periods: from the Creation to the Flood; from
attempts to "place" these gods history divided into six great
the Flood to
Abraham; from Abraham
to
David; from David to the Baby-
lonian Captivity; from the Captivity to the Birth of Christ; from the Nativity
onward. This scheme
may appear
abled him
with a wealth of marvelous detail concerning primitive
to enrich
it
rudimentary, but Isidore's erudition en-
Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome. Drawing by
way
of Lactantius on Varro,
and even on Ennius, be reconstructed mythological groups and dynasties: Belus, king of Assyria, of
Above
whom
Eusebius had spoken, was the father of
he singled out in these primitive ages the heroic figures who, from Prometheus on, had been leaders and pioneers in civilization slayNinus,
etc.
all,
11 "Those whom the pagans claim to be gods were once mere men."
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION and
ers of monsters, founders of cities, discoverers of arts
was
and independence
to restore dignity
factors of
And on
The
skills.
result
personages of Fable: as bene-
humanity they had every right to be held in grateful remembrance. was no reason for subordinating them to figures
the other hand, there
from Holy Writ
and prophets; they could be
to the patriarchs, judges,
they were not of the same lineage. By gaining a history, the gods had acquired new prestige.
ranked together, even hold in
to the
15
This icle of the
is
if
clearly to be seen, for example, in
Ado
foot-
of Vienne, whose Chron-
Six Ages of the World stems from the Etymologiae. After speaking
of Moses and the Exodus, he refers to contemporary events in the pagan
world: "In those days, fashioned
said, lived
it is
men out of clay;
garded as a great astrologer; skilled in several arts.
placed him
For
after his death
Prometheus, who
is
believed to have
same time, was reMercury, was a sage
his brother, Atlas, living at the
the grandson of Atlas,
this reason, the
vain error of his contemporaries
the gods" (PL,
among
Aside from the expression "vain error," of contempt or hostility; instead,
this
cxxm, 35). passage has lost
all accent
we observe a concern for fixing dates,
termining pedigrees and genealogies, with a view
to
for de-
making room for
the
heroes of Fable in the annals of humanity. Does this not constitute a recognition of the virtues which, in times long past,
heaven? Parallel
had earned them their place in
to the story of Scripture, this account of
no longer subordinate
to it; the first neither influences
profane history
is
nor overshadows the
Mercury has his own kind of greatness, as Moses has his. We have come a long way from Eusebius, who derived all pagan divinities from the Moses type, and for whom profane wisdom was merely a reflection of the wissecond.
dom of Israel. ADO OF VIENNE
* is
only one
among the innumerable
continuators of Isidore;
in fact, there is hardly a chronicler or compiler of universal history writing after the great encyclopedist
who
fails to
meration of ancient kings and heroes.
include humanized gods in his enu-
We shall not present the endless list of 12
these authors here, especially as
it
has already been compiled by others.
us mention only the most important of them 12
See Alphandery, op. cit^ and J. D. Cooke, "Euhemerism, A Mediaeval Interpretation of
all
Classical Paganism,** Speculum,
396-410.
Let
Peter Comestor.
n
(1927)
,
pp,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
16
the year 1160, this Peter Comestor, dean of the church of Notre
Around
Dame the
at Paris,
wrote under
of Historic, scholastica a history of God's people which penetrated to
title
all parts
[1294]
Dame
Troyes and later chancellor of Notre
at
of Europe in the translation
).
by Guyart des Moulins (Bible
In this work, which enjoyed tremendous authority,
fixed and, as
it
13
historiale
we recognize in
were, codified form, the euhemeristic orientation that
saw beginning to take shape
we
first
in the writings of Isidore.
As an appendix to his sacred history, Peter condenses the mythological him by Isidore and his predecessors, Orosius and St. Jerome, into a series of short chapters, or incidentiae. The parallelism between material furnished
the two narratives, sacred clearly, the figures
now achieved a
and profane,
presented with curious precision:
is
from the world of Fable, though of
different lineage,
have
basis of strict equality with the Biblical characters. In both
groups, Peter recognizes
men
of superior stature, geniuses endowed with pro-
found and mysterious wisdom. Zoroaster invented magic and inscribed the Seven Arts on four columns (Gen. xxxix) ters of the alphabet
;
Isis
eral arts, in particular that of weaving (LXXVI) his
wisdom,
is
taught the Egyptians the
and showed them how to write (LXX) ; Minerva taught
reputed to
let-
sev-
Prometheus, renowned for
;
have created men, either because he instructed the
ignorant or perhaps because he fabricated automata. All these mighty spirits are worthy of veneration, exactly as are the patriarchs, and for the
same
rea-
sons: they have been the guides and teachers of humanity, and together stand
as the
common ancestors of civilization.
This tendency of the Middle Ages to establish parallels between pagan wisdom and the wisdom of the Bible has long been recognized. It came clearly to light
when study was "
first
undertaken of the representations on cathedral
associating Sibyls and Prophets, and of the legend of Virgil, whom portals 15 the medieval imagination had transformed into a kind of sorcerer or mage.
The 13
Sibyls and the author of the Fourth Eclogue,
Yearly editions from 1473 to 1526; another edition, Venice, 1729. Huet quotes the work; Richard Simon refers to its lasting success, "See Enule Male, L'Art religieux du Sine siecle en France (6th ed^ Paris, 1925), p. 339; L'Art religieux de la fin du moyen age,
it is
true,
had had
intuitive
pp. 268-296.
"See ed.,
Comparetti, Virgilio net medioevo (new 1937) ; J. Webster Spargo,
Florence,
Virgil the
Necromancer (1934), chap,
Talismanic Arts."
ii:
"The
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION foreknowledge of Christian divinities of
paganism,
Not only does virtues, but
it
it
verity,
and had foretold
its
coming. Applied to the
tendency has, as will be seen, surprising results.
"justify" the false gods
by recognizing
in
even goes so far as to re-endow them with at
supernatural character. If
this
17
we now
them certain real
least
a part of their
16
look back at the diatribes of Arnobius and Commodian,
we
euhemerism was a weapon which cut both ways. What, in the intention of the apologists, it should have demolished, it actually confirmed and shall see that
exalted. "If deification," Tertullian
had argued,
"is a
reward of merit, why
was Socrates not deified for his wisdom, Aristides for his justice, Demosthenes for his eloquence?" Tertullian, in his irony, spoke better than he knew: the
Middle Ages were disposed to remedy this injustice. In his superstitious zeal, medieval man was ready to venerate sages whom antiquity itself had not placed
among
the immortals.
*
As WE have
said, the
pagan gods were no longer thought
to
have purloined
the magic gifts they were believed to possess from the treasury of Christian
wisdom. But might they not have inherited their power from the demons, with
whom the first apologists often sought to identify them? In the tradition with which traces of this idea
we are
concerned,
it
1T
might be possible to find
distant recollections, but nothing more. Neither Isidore
nor his followers attribute a demonic character
to the genius, the supernatu-
which have brought about the elevation of great men to the rank of True, Apollo and Mercury have taken on the look of magicians, but
ral gifts 18
gods.
no reason for regarding them with suspicion. They are good magicians, benevolent sorcerers. Humanity has much to thank them for.
this is
That
this
was indeed the common
Middle Ages can be Not only did the Historia of Peter
attitude in the
clearly seen in the works of popularization. X6 Peter Comestor may have had in his hands the De incredibilibus (TLepl dviffruv) of Pa-
tine,
laephatus, which he cites (Judges, zx), and which would still further have strengthened
xxxvi, 1231-32), verse 5: "Omnes dii gentium daemonia" ("All the gods of the heathen are
his appreciation of the element of prodigy in pagan science.
demons").
17
See, for example, Tertullian,
PL,
i, i,
De
spcctaculis,
641 and 643: Venus, Bacchus, Castor,
Pollux, etc., are "daemonia." Cf. St. AugusEnarratto in Psalmos, Psalm 96 (PI,
We
18 shall study the tradition of the demonic in the next chapter in connection with astrol-
ogy.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
18
Comestor, which had come into general use as a textbook fa \eritable "me-
mento of the history of
religions," as
Alphandery
calls it),
mold generations
of readers in orthodox euhemerist views and furnish Vincent of Beauvais
with all the essentials of what he wrote of the gods in the Speculum historiale; it
also directly or indirectly inspired the compilations in vulgar tongues 19
which brought science within reach of the layman.
These books go even
far-
They proclaim the gratitude of humanity toward men of genius whom antiquity had made into gods. The Book of the
ther in the the
same
direction.
Treasure of Brunette Latini places Hercules side by side with Moses, Solon, Lycurgus,
Numa Pompilius,
legislators,
who
by instituting codes of law saved the nations of
ruin to which their
them.
and the Gieek king Phoroneus as among the
own
first
men from
the
and impurity would have condemned
original frailty
20
Our medieval compileis
feel themselves indebted to all these great
For
they also feel themselves their heirs.
civilization is a treasure
men;
which has
been handed down through the centuries; and as no further distinction
made between
the sacred
forged that treasure,
it is
and profane precursois of Christianity medieval
at last possible for
man
who
is
first
unreservedly and
even with pride to claim the heritage of antiquity. In the twelfth century, cul-
men were
tivated 21
ture,
already aware of the Greco-Roman origins of their cul-
and Chrestien de Troyes affirms the idea
that
France has garnered the
patrimony of antique culture and viitue: Grece ot de chevalerie
Le p&mier 19
See
los et
P
de clergie
Meyer, "Les Premieres Compilations franchises d'histoire ancienne," Romania, xrv (1885), pp. 38-81. Cf., at a much later date,
m
the fourteenth century, the "historical" early interpretations found in a poem of essentially "edifying" character, the Omde moralise (i,
w.
859
ff.
andw
1101
Rois de Crete, et fesoit accroire Par Fart de son enchantement Qu'il ert Deus ... ("Jupiter, according to history, was King of Crete, and by his magic art caused it to be believed that he was God.")
Or vous
coment la fable d Pestoire acordable".
dirai
estre
I will tell
you how fable can be made
C
V. Langlois, La Connaissance de fa nature et du monde ait moyen age., in idem, La Vie en France au moyen age, in (Paris, 1927),
See
pp. 341-^342. 21
f.)
Jupiter fut, selon Testoire
Peut
("Now
to agree with history") 20
.
.
See E. Faral, Recherches sur les sources latines des contes et romans courtois (Paris, 1913) , pp. 398 ff. The idea of the continuity between the ancient and contemporary worlds is thus seen not to have been peculiar to the Renaissance humanists Cf., on this point, the controversy between Bremond and Hauser, in Bremond, Histoire htteraire du. sentiment rehgieux en France, vol. I- L'Humanisme devot, chap,
i,
section
11,
esp. pp. 4-6.
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION Puis vint chevalerie a
Et de
la clergie la
Qui ore
est
19
Rome
some
en France tenue
.
.
.^
This idea reappears insistently in the popular encyclopedias of the 23
teenth century.
And among
the "chevaliers"
and
"'clercs,"
thir-
whose glorious
French are so proud of continuing, appear valiant captains
tradition the
at
times called Alexander or Caesar, but at others Hercules or Jason, and great inventors,
now known
as
Ptolemy or
Aristotle,
and again as Mercury or
Prometheus. *
As WE have
just seen, the
French of the thirteenth century believed that the
heritage of antiquity was theirs by special right; other peoples had long ad-
vanced the same claim. In the boasts of being a genuine Seville,
were
Roman;
later, a
Gregory of Tours, an Isidore of
to see themselves as belonging to peoples especially privileged
comparison with "baibarian"
in
century, the Spaniard, Paulus Orosius,
fifth
stock.
But
this
pride of descent, which
is
hardly ever absent from the learned writings of the Middle Ages, brings with it
one curious consequence:
in order to justify his pretentions, the scholar
turns to the fabled past of antiquity for supporting witnesses, for ancestors
and
Thus originate those "ethnogenic" fables (as Gaston Paris called them) which name a hero or demigod as ancestor of a whole people. One such fable, which proved to be a paiticularly hardy one, is famed begetters.
above
that according to which the Franks
all
Francus, as the tion of
Romans were
24
Merovingian scholars,
were descendants of the Trojan
of the Trojan Aeneas. This legend
but
it
was an inven-
should not be dismissed as a mere fan-
was taken seriously as genealogy, and became a ^ Its plausibility was enhanced by "veritable form of ethnic consciousness." the apocryphal journals of the siege of Troy by the "Cretan" Dictys and the
tasy of learned minds.
It
"Phrygian" Dares, which had been popular ever since the Greek decadence: 22
W. Foerster), w. 32 ff. ("Greece the leadership in chivalry and then learning; chivalry passed to Rome together with the sum of learning, which now has come to France.") Cliges (ed.
had
once
^For
example, in L'Image
du.
monde
See
Langlois, op. cit^ p. 73. 24
The
25
Alphandery, op. dt.t
earliest evidence of this
is
met
legend with in the Chronique de Fredegaire; the Liber histonae Francorum adds new elements. p. 8.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
20
with their appearance of exact documentation they, as
it
were, secularized the
marvels of antiquity and gave them the color of true history. "These proces-
verbaux of gods and heroes presented them in such a light that they seemed more convincingly historical than Charlemagne, Roland, or Oliver. . . ."
But even when thus humanized, and brought near enough
to
look like prob-
able ancestors, these figures lost none of their mythical prestige; mortals
who
claimed relationship with them on historical grounds could boast of their supernatural origin. Did not the Trojan Aeneas, "de'
Romani
26
il
gentil seme,"
leave a quasi-divine imprint upon the whole race of his descendants?
The
exceptional popularity enjoyed by the legend of Troy in the
Middle
Ages was therefore not due exclusively to the interest of the romantic narrative in itself; the Roman de Troie of Benoit de Sainte-Maure contained a "sort of mythical substratum"
where the medieval
more or
"something of his moral genealogy."
less consciously detect
This, then,
is
one of the
effects of
listener or reader could
euhemerism in the Middle Ages: myth-
ological figures are no longer presented as
common benefactors
of humanity.
37
They are the patrons of this or that people, the parent stem from which the race has issued and from which it derives its glory.
IN THIS regard no break
is discernible
between the Middle Ages and the Ren-
aissance; the same considerations which have protected the gods continue to 26 Dante, Inferno, xxvi, 60 ("of Romans the noble seed") . In addition to the Romulus story and the legend of Trojan descent, Rome has other and purely mythological origins, In his Dittamondo, Fazio degli Uberti relates that Janus was the first king of the Latins; then came Saturn and his sons, "Iddii nomati
in terra,**
who
civilized Italy. Cf. supra, p. 12.
See A. Graf,
Roma
nella memoriae e nelle
immaginazioni del medioevo (1882). Or even of this or that city: medieval scholars did their utmost to prove that their cities had been named for a hero or demigod. According to Flodoard (PL, cxxxv, 28) Rheiras was founded by Remus; Sigebert de Gembloux (PL, cix, 717) held that Metz was founded by one Metius, "who lived under Julius Caesar," and whose name he had read upon an ancient stone. Other similar examples 27
,
could be given. Cf. also the legend of Hercules as protector and symbol of Florence; from the end of the thirteenth century he appears on the seals of the Signoria with the legend: "Herculea cla\a
domat Fiorentia prava"
(see
Muntz,
Les Precurseurs de
la Renaissance [1882], Tradition would have it, on the other hand, that the patron of pagan Florence was Mars, a supposed statue of whom was to be seen in the Middle Ages near the Ponte p. 48)
.
Vecchio
(Dante, Inferno, xin,
143-150). It
was believed by some that the fortunes of the city were intimately bound up with this statue (R. Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze, 11, The Florence statue is actually pp. 1156 ff.) of the group of Patroclus and Menelaus from which the Roman Pasquino was derived,
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION assure their survival.
They are
early chronicles, printed and
still
21
given a place in history: not only do the
times reissued, retain their full authority,
many
but the fifteenth-century chroniclers follow their lead, and never fail to devote one or
more
chapters to the pagan divinities. This
is
true of the Rudi-
mentum noviciorum (1475),
the Fasciculus
des hystoires (1488)
Annius of Viterbo, the pseudo commentator on
28
Berosus,
;
also of
temporum (1475), and the Mer
and Jacopo da Bergamo.
The last-named,
for example, in his
Supplementum chronicarum,**
and the pedigrees of the gods (Bk. in, f. 12). Jupiter is a king who has been worshipped under that name because of his resemblance to studies the origin
the planet Jupiter; other kings have borne the
who
Candia, a son of Saturn 30
Uranus, Vesta, little
etc.
later (f. 15, r
Next we pass
is,
Then Semiramis
is
dealt with, and Lot and Isaac; but a
and v) the gods reappear
Cybele, Pallas, the Sun, Diana.
and Rachel, and
to Jacob, Leah,
come Ceres and
same name, notably the king of
of course, historical, as are Ops, Caelus,
17
to the
monarchs of Assyria;
and after a paragraph devoted to Joseph, we meet Apollo, Bacchus, Vulcan, Apis, and Osiris. As in Peter Cothen
Isis
16,
(f.
r)
;
mestor, mythology alternates with sacred history. that this compilation
It is
of interest to note also
by Jacopo da Bergamo includes additional chapters on
the Sibyls and on the Trojan war, a geographical section containing a
famed
all cities
since the beginning
of time, and, last of all,
list
of
a contemporary
history.
The
sixteenth century
is
in this respect a repetition of the fifteenth: the
Promptuaire of Guillaume Rouille (Promptuarium iconum insigniorum a saeculo
hominum [1553]),
World Chronicle of Antoine du Verdier
the
(Prosopographie ou Description des personnes, patriarches, prophetes, dieux des gentils, roys, consuls, princes, grands capitaines, dues, philosophes 9 orateurs, poetes, juriconsuUes et inventeurs
tfaucuns tficeux
.
.
.
(Fax poetica sive genealogia 28
Commentaria
fratris
Joannis
et res gestae
Anna
.
.
.
su~
per opera diversorum auctorum de antiquitatibus loquentium confecta . (Rome, 1498). ^Venice (1483); our references are to the .
edition of 1485.
de plusieurs
arts,
avec les
effigies
[1573]), and the compilation by Eilhardus Lubinus
deorum gentilium, virorum, regum,
30
Similarly, Jacopo da Bergamo distinguishes several different Minervas, etc. In order to
make clear these mythological genealogies, he has recourse to Boccaccio's Genealogia deorum, of which we shall have much to say later.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
22 et
an apparphilosophers, and
Caesarum Romanorum [1598]), show us gods and heroes,
ently secure historical framework,
among
patriarchs,
in
Caesars.
THUS THE EXISTENCE
of the gods continues to be sanctioned on historical
grounds; furthermore, as in the Middle Ages, there
them as the forerunners of in Jacopo
da Bergamo. Minerva, he
the art of working in wool (f.
18, r),
first
musician ff.
rings
(f.
Hermes Trismegistus
15) the
was the
a disposition to regard
already very evident
is
woman
first
to
understand
Chiron was the inventor of medicine
first
astronomer
21, r),
(f.
20, v). Prometheus taught men to make
(f.
19, r)
says, ;
is
This tendency
civilization.
fire
Mercury the and to wear
Atlas taught the Greeks astrology (ibid.). Apollo, Aescula-
;
pius, etc., are placed in a section entitled "Viri disciplinis excellentes"; other
gods, like Faunus, Mars,
etc.,
appear under the heading: "Viri doctrinis
excellentes."
Even more
typical, 31
of Polydore Virgil. tion,
we
things
from the same point of view,
is
the
In the preface, already present in the
find first a declaration of euhemeristic belief:
may have
been attributed by us
to Saturn, Jove,
De
first
inventoribus
(1499)
Neptune, Dionysus,
Apollo, Aesculapius, Ceres, Vulcan, and to such others as have the gods,
we have
even though
edi-
"And whatsoever name
of
thus attributed to them as to mortal men, and not as to gods,
we
them by
still call
that
name." After
this declaration,
which
he obviously thinks should protect him from any quibbling on the part of the Polydore does not hesitate
ecclesiastical authorities,
to salute
each god as an
Hermes Trismegistus established time divisions Bacchus, man learned how to make wine (in, 3) ; Venus taught
innovator:
their art (HI, 17)
alphabet to the
;
from
Mercury, according to Diodorus and Cicero, taught the
Egyptians
(i,
6). Pliny attributes man's knowledge of the
heavenly bodies to Jupiter Belus; Diodorus, to Mercury 81
(n, 5);
the courtesans
Polidoro Virgilio da Urbino,
De rerum
inven-
toribus. The first edition (Venice, 1499) consisted of only three books, later increased to eight in the Basel edition of 1521. In spite of all his precautions, Polydore's
work was put
(i,
17).
upon the Index.
On
a copy of the
annotations
by
De
Rabelais,
rer.
invent,
with
see
Perrat,
"Le
Polydore Virgile de Rabelais,** Humanisms et Renaissance, xi (1949), pp. 167-204.
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION Thus the Renaissance only confirmed the those geniuses responsible for our civilization
23
right of the ancient gods to the gratitude of the
*:$
human
HH"
iS.n*S*-fcf
Jf.
race. It is
no exaggeration
Caelus and his descendants to
say that the Renaissance even restored them to
their place in heaven: "Shouldst thou follow in the footsteps of
wrote Zwingli to Francis I in 1531,
and near to
32
"thou wilt one day see
David,"
God Himself;
Him thou mayest hope to see Adam, Abel, Enoch, Paul, Hercules,
Theseus, Socrates, the Catos, the Scipios.
.
.
."
* 82
Christianas fidei brevis et clara expositio.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
24
FINALLY, we have noted during the Middle Ages a strange phenomenon
a
whole people claiming a mythological hero as ancestor, choosing him, as
it
were, for their progenitor and patron. This phenomenon persists into the Renaissance, even taking on new and striking forms.
The legend of the Trojan origin of the Franks was, as is well known, exde Gaule et singuploited by Jean Le Maire de Beiges, in his Illustrations larites
cess
de Troie, which attained immense popularity. One reason for this sucthat "nearly every nation could find there, as if in an archival set-
was
ting, its
most ancient
of nobility.
titles
Only the Germans and French could
boast undisputed descent from Hector himself, but others ings, Scandinavians,
asserting their
ambition."
ra
own
Normans,
Italians,
and Spaniards
Bretons, Flem-
also found
ways of
relationship with him, to justify either their pride or their
Now Le
Maire distributed the names of the various Trojan he-
roes, like spoils of war,
descendants of Brutus, Italians of Italus, the
among
first
men
these claimants: the Bretons were said to be
king of Brittany; the Spaniards of Hesperus, the
of Brabant of Brabo, the Tuscans of Tuscus,
the Burgundians of Hercules the Great of Libya.
and
8*
Let us further note that Jean Le Maire greatly strengthens the divine
element in the legend of Troy. The gods are given a preponderant role in his historico-mythological romance
Dares, or Benoit de Sainte-Maure.
something which we do not find in Dictys, 35
Ronsard's Franciade was less successful than the Illustrations; the ure and neglect which were to be the
lot
epic are well known. But the Franciade reveals a ticularly appropriate to the Renaissance:
sciousness" but position of the ,
fail-
of this enthusiastically anticipated
it is
new tendency which
is
par-
inspired not by "ethnic con-
by dynastic pride. Charles IX personally supervised the com38 in his concern to have it establish a direct connection
poem,
Marguerite d'Autnche
et
Jean Le
Afavre de Beiges, pp. 171-172. See G. Doutrepont, Jean Lemaire de Beiges et la Renaissance, pp. 273-274. Goropms Becanus (Jean Becan van Corp), in his Origines Antwerpianae (1569), invents a still more 34
extravagant ancestry for the Flemings They are Cimmerians, sons of Japheth; their wis*
dom conies to them from the Thracian Orpheus (Bk. vn). Etienue Pasquier, in his Recherches de la Frame, and Claude Fauchet, in his Antiquites gauJoises et franqaises, were at last to dispose of the 3%
Trojan legend. See Doutrepont, op. cit. t p. 387. Ronsard's "Avis an lectern-/*
M See
25
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION
between the sixty-three sovereigns of his own line and the most fabulous antiquity.
Princely pretensions of this
sort,
indeed, are seldom glimpsed before
the end of the Middle Ages. In 1390, however, Jacques de Guise wrote a universal chronicle which bore this revealing lustres princes
de Hainaut, depuis
dukes of Burgundy were
le
title:
god; the Trojan legends were in great favor 35
on
their descent
des
il-
Later, the
from a demi-
Late in the fifteenth, a Recueil des histoires de
prominence. The author, Raoul Lefevre, proposes three books, the second of which that
37
and that as early
at their court
Troyes (1464) was being read there, in which Hercules
show
I'histoire
commencement du monde.
to pride themselves
as the fourteenth century.
Annales de
is to treat
he twice destroyed the
city of
is
given unwonted
to deal with his subject in
of the Labors of Hercules, and to
Troy. Furthermore, Hercules ap-
peared in the tapestries decorating the hall where the Banquet of the Pheasant Oath
ding
w as held T
festivities of
(Lille,
emphasis upon Hercules? nasty. Olivier de la
long ago
1454), and in a pantomime performed
Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. It is
Marche
due
to his
relates in his
Why
at the
wed-
this special
reputed place as founder of the dy-
Memoires
into Spain, passed through the land of
that Hercules, journeying
Burgundy and there met a They were wed, and
lady of great beauty and noble lineage, Alise by name.
from their union issued the line of Burgundian princes. Another mythological hero, Jason, was well known
at the
Good put himself under his aegis when, founded the Order of the Golden Fleece. To be sure, a Biblical
court: Philip the
Burgundian in
1430, he
hero, Gideon,
seconded Jason in his functions as patron of the order. But this very partnership, bringing out as
it
does the parallelism between sacred and profane,
37 Annales histonae Ulustnum principum Hanoniae ab initio rerum usque ad annum Ckristi 1390; partially translated into French by Jean Wauquelin around 1445, and pub-
by E. Sackur, MGH, Scnptores, xxx, pL i (1896). (Of. cod. 9242 of the Bibliotheque Royale, Brussels; see fig. 6.) 38 The library of Philip the Good contained
lished
seventeen volumes destined to disseminate the legend. See Doutrepont, "La htterature frangaise a la cour des dues de Bourgogne," Societe d'Emulation de Bruges, Melanges, I
(1908). It should be recalled that the Illusof Jean Le Maire were published from 1509 to 1513 -that is to say, long after
(rations
the last duke of Burgundy had disappeared (1477).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
26
serves admirably to illustrate the persistence of the medieval point of view.
39
Princely pride found ample satisfaction in these claims of mythological
sponsorship and heredity. In addition to the dukes of Burgundy and the kings of France, should
who used
we perhaps
example of Pope Alexander VI, arms as warrant for having the ceiling of
also cite the
the Borgia coat of
his Vatican apartments decorated with frescoes representing the story of Isis, Osiris,
and the monster Apis
unexpected antecedents, indeed, for a Chris-
v"
tian pontiff?
Other comparable instances might be found in the seventeenth century. In 1600, the Jesuits of A\ ignon, charged with organizing the ceremonial reception given by the city to Marie de Medicis, bestowed on her royal consort the
title
flatten7
of Gallic Hercules ("Hercule Gaulois"), justifying the extravagant
on the following grounds:
source de Tancien Heicule,
fils
'"I/illustre
maison de Navarre a prins sa
d'Osiris, lequel ayant battu et
Lominiens, qui etaient les trois enfants
combattu
ayant affranchi ce peuple de leur ser\itude, etablit en cette monarchic son Hispalus, les neveux duquel succederent depuis a la couronne du
de Navarie."
les
de Geiyon, tyran des Espagnes,
et
fils
royaume
40
* ICONOGRAPHY,
and gives
in turn, attests the continuity of the
striking illustration to its varied aspects.
"euhemeristic" tradition,
We
shall limit ourselves
few examples.
to a
In the
first
place, for visual demonstration of the insertion of the gods
into history, let us glance at a Provengal chronicle
(
British
Museum, Egerton
ms. 1500) of the early fourteenth century (after 1313). This chronicle, in 39
See Doutrepont, op.
cit.,
p.
147
On Jason
and Gideon, see Olmer de la Marche, Epistre a Philippe le Beau pour temr et celebrer la noble feste de Toison d'Or. The Jason legend spread by Raoul Lefevre (Jason), Michaut Taillevent (Le songe de la Toison, cTOr}, and Guillaume Fillastre (La Toison d'Or). \va&
<
* 9*
See forthcoming volume of lectures by F.
Saxl, to be published by the
London. Labyrinthe
tute, *
royal
de
Warburg
I'Hercule
Insti-
Gaulois
. Tnomphant represent a Fentree triomphante de la Royne en la ate d'Avignon le 19 nov. de /'an MDC ("The illustrious house of Navarre issued from the ancient Hercules, son of Osiris, who, having fought and overcome the Lommians, the three children of Geryon, tyrant of Spam, and having freed the people of that country from their servitude, established as head of that monarchy his son, Hispalus, whose descendants later succeeded to the crown of the kingdom of Navarre"). .
.
.
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION the
farm of a
rotulus, is illustrated
by tables which are both genealogical and
synoptic, and which show us the head of each person named. The
2. Biblical
heads naturally represent ants,
Noah, Shem,
v)
;
first
two
and pagan heroes
Adam and Eve
etc. (f. 3,
27
(f. 3, r)
;
then follow their descend-
next appear the profane dynasties. Here
we
see, arranged in parallel, vertical rows (f. 6, r), the rulers of the various
TEE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
28
kingdoms of antiquity. In the Cretan dynasty we find Saturn, beneath Caelus and above Jupiter; on the same horizontal line with Jupiter are his wife Juno, his brothers Plato, Neptune, etc.
in the historical narrative
(fig.
The gods are included as a matter of course 1).
The most
typical
ex-
ample of the tradition of the heroes and sages that places profane and sacred history
on the same plane,
is
af-
forded by the famous series of drawings
Maso
attributed
to
Finiguerra, preserved
in the British
Museum
un-
der the tide of Florentine 1
Picture Chronicle* Sir Sid-
ney Colvin, who had studied the
drawings
and
dated
1455 them
and to
extensively
them
between
1465,
related
a Sommario,
or
Breve historia universale, in * , 3. Apollo
the Biblioteca Nazionale in
,
Medicus
Florence (Cat xxv. II.
iv,
icle;
their
348). These drawings,
they show us, after successors,
in fact, present another illustrated
Adam and
along
with
iv,
565,
world chron-
Eve, the patriarchs, Noah, Abraham, and
"contemporary"
Cecrops, Codrus, Saturn, Jupiter,
etc.
What
is
pagan figures
Inachus,
particularly notable is the
parallelism established between all these great figures of the past, historical or legendary,
Jew or Gentile
Prophets and Sibyls, judges, warriors, poets,
and lawgivers. Especially significant
is
the prominence given to heroes (Jason,
A Florentine Picture Chronicle, Being a Series of Ninety-Nine Drawings Representing
text
Scenes and Personages of Ancient History, Sacred and Profane . . . reproduced from
Sir Sidney
41
the originals with a critical and descriptive (London, 1898) To the same family belongs the fine manuscript (fig. 2) owned by
C CockerelL
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION Theseus) and to sages; the image of Apollo of the tenth century belonging to the
same
(fig.
4;
29
cf. also fig. 3,
an Apollo
tradition) is of particular interest
in this connection. It represents Apollo the Healer: .
.
.
dieu sauveur, dieu des savants mysteres, 42 et dieu des plantes salutaires.
dieu de la vie Standing at a patient's bedwith
side,
his
conjuring
books and imps, he seems
engaged in some terrifying act of exorcism. like
He
looks
an Oriental magician,
and in adjacent drawings
we do
in
fact
encounter,
similarly accoutered, Hostanes conjuring
up demons,
and Oromasdes
resuscitat-
ing a dead person. In the
^"rJT^
same group appear Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus,
dom ".
.
God *J
and Mu-
of Persia, Egypt, and
Greece. 42
Linus,
all the esoteric wis-
saeus
savior God, God of learned mysteries, and of health-giving plants . . ." the knowledge of Oriental magic and .
of life
On
4.
43
the influence of the Cabala in fifteenth-century see Colvin, op. cit, Introduction, paragraphs vi-vn. Cf F. Cumont and J. Florence,
Bidez, Les
Mages hellenises (Pans, 1939). the representation of the sages of in Renaissance art, see E. Muntz, antiquity Histou-e de Fart pendant la Renaissance, n,
On
p. 125.
Mention should also be made, among the of this tradition, of Giusto da Padova, whose frescoes in the church of the Eremitani, Padua, have disappeared, but who illustrators
has
Apollo as a physician
left
us his drawings for them, executed
the last years of the fourteenth century. See A Venturi, "II libro di Giusto per la Cappella degb Eremitani in Padova," in Le
in
Gallerie naaonali italiane, rv (1899), pp. 345M and, by the same author, fl libro di disegni di Giusto" (reproduced in its en-
376,
tirety), ibid^ v (1902), pp. 391 ff. Cf. also J. von Schlosser, "Giusto's Fresken in Padua ," Jahrb d. kunsthist. Samml. d. Allerh. Kaiserh^ xvn (1896), pp. 11-100. The miniatures of Leonardo da Besozzo (1435-1442) .
.
.
denve from Ginsto's drawings. See also La canzone delle
virtu
illustrations), published
e dette
and by L. Dorez (1904).
scienze di Bartolomeo di Bartoli
(text
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
30
The parallelism between cred and profane history set forth in
is
sa-
further
one of the most exquisite
works of the Renaissance, the fa-
gade of the Colleoni Chapel in Ber-
gamo, where alternating bas-reliefs represent events from the Old Tes-
tament and from mythology, the
Adam and
punishment of bors
of
the La-
At approxisame date, Lombard
Hercules.**
mately the
sculptors ornamented the zone at
the base of the fagade of the Certosa
of Pavia
with medallions
show Prophets **
perors
side
which
by side with em-
and gods
a strange series
of apocryphal portraits in which the infant Hercules strangles ser-
pents and Judas Maccabeus wears
a Mercury cap, and which recalls the 5.
numismatic fantasies of the
Hercules slaying Cacus
**
"prosopographies."
Of
the personages of Fable viewed expressly as inventors of arts
skills
we
gator,
we recognize Daedalus,
and
some celebrated images in the lowest zone of bas-reliefs on the Campanile in Florence. Not far from the first horseman and the first navi-
"The
possess
motifs
treated
are the
first
Creation
Adam, the Creation Punishment;
of Eve, their Fall the Sacrifice of Abraham;
Combats of Hercules with tie Cretan Bull, the
Nemean
Antaeus, Lion,
conqueror of the air; near the mathematiof
and the
with
and the
Lernaean Hydra (fig. 11). ** Chosen by reason of then* connection with "Die Christianity. See J. von Schlosser, Medafflen und die Antike," Jahrb. Samml. d. AUerh. Kaiserh^ xvra (1897), pp. 60-108.
46
See supra, p. 21. Several of the Certosa
furthermore, are inspired by forged medals: see von Schlosser, op. cxt, and our article, "Youth, Innocence, and Death. Some Notes on a Medallion on the Certosa of
reliefs,
Pavia," Journal of the (1937-38), pp. 29&-303.
Warburg
Institute,
1
Cf. also forthcoming volume by C. Mitchell the role of the classical coins in the Italian
altesten
on
d. kunsthist.
Renaissance, to be published by the Institute,
London.
Warburg
6.
Diana and her worshippers
cians Euclid and Pythagoras appears Orpheus, father of poetry;
of civilization's
early heroes and benefactors
victor over the monster Cacus (fig. 5). tion at
its
passage in zation:
is
which Cicero
a necessariis i,
Hercules, portrayed here as
purest and noblest; the best commentary on these sculptures exalts the
"Omnes magni: etiam
Tusc^
another
Here we have the euhemeristic
artificiis
25.
earlier still the
tradiis
the
animus divinus of the precursors of civili-
superiores, qui vestitum, qui tecta, qui cultum
vitae, qui praesidia contra feras invenerunt; a
47
still
quibus mansuefacti et exculti,
ad elegantiora defluximus.
("All these were great men; discovered the fruits
men under whose civilizing influence we have gradually passed on from the indispen-
.
,"
sable handicrafts to the finer arts."
men who
of the earth, raiment, dwellings, an ordered way of life, protection against wild creatures
47 .
Here,
again,
the
illustrated
LCL.) chronicles
would furnish many supplementary examples. Among the French manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Nationale we cite cod. 301, Les hvres des
histoires
du commencement
etu
monde,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
34
55
himself in a
hymne
must have taken
celebrating the virtues of the Coligny house.
his inspiration
9.
from
this
poem. Jupiter
The
artist
the king, Henri II;
is
Jupiter vanquishing Saturn
Mars, the Connetable de Montmorency; Themis, the Duchess of Ferrara. As for Mercury,
Cest ce grand demi-dieu Cardinal de Lorraine In the
same year that Ronsard composed these I,
Messeigneurs where Anne
iv
(1555). Cf.
Le Temple de
le Connetable et des Chastillons,
reigns
as
Mars,
Gaspard as
verses,
.
.
.
Leonard Limousin
Neptune, etc.; and Hymnes, II, n, where Odet de Chatillon appears as Hercules,
35
THE HISTORICAL TRADITION reproduced Raphael's Feast of the Gods on an enameled the place of Jupiter was taken
by
Fetes, ballets, dramatic "eclogues/'
summation
this
plate.
Here, again,
the king, while Catherine de Medicis ap-
peared as Juno, and Diane de Poitiers as Diana.
continued to support
00
5'
and the co-opeiation of
all the arts
royal apotheosis, which was to achieve dazzling con-
in the next century at Versailles.
10.
The Royal Olympus: Henri
and
II
his court
Thus, at the end of this evolution which has brought us down to the Renaissance, 56
we find
See Bourciez,
the euhemeristic spirit as
loc.
described
cit.,
pp.
176-177.
The
and
reproduced in the Rev. archeol. (1855), pp. 311 The persons instead of being represented, completely costumed a Cantique, are shown wearing plate
is
plumed toques. The reader will
57
recall the celebrated
Diana
much
alive as ever,
now
still
taking the
the same Louvre; a marble medallion (now in the Musee de Clun> ) representing Catherine de Medicis as Juno. See also the curious examples assembled by E. Wind, "Studies in Allegorical Portraiture," Journal at
Anet, chateau was
of
the
138
ff.
in
the
in
formerly
Warburg
Institute,
I
(1937-381, pp.
36
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
two main forms which we detected at the
outset.
At times we have
a tribute of gratitude and veneration offered to great men;
to
do with
at others,
with ex-
travagant adulation of worldly power. In both cases, the recipients are raised to the
rank of gods.
11. Hercules
and
the
Lernaean Hydra
II
The Physical Tradition
HEAVENLY
THE
l
to the stars."
was on the way
to
bodies are gods.
'u
We
must assign the same divinity
This opinion, at the time of
its
formulation by Cicero,
becoming general. For a Roman or Alexandrian of that
age, the stars were not as they are for us, "bodies infinitely remote in space,
which move according
to the inflexible
sition is chemically determinable."
laws of mechanics, and whose compo-
They were
2
"divinities."
Every mind which peiceives a governing intelligence behind the move3 ment of the spheres instinctively places this divine power in heaven. From this it is
divine.
but a step to considering the sun, moon, and stars as in themselves other determining factors,
Among
in obedience to the
given to the stars
it
same
was the mythological names which above
instinct
encouraged the Greeks, and after them the Romans, to take
men, numen
the
name alone was enough
luminous body moving achieved when
that
all else
this step. JVo-
to lend divine personality to
each
in the heavens, but complete identification
was
name was Hercules or Mars,
that
is,
the
name
of a god
whose appearance and history were already well known. And the mythological imagination of the Greeks, which had created gods on earth, could readily picture
them in the
However,
skies as well.
this identification of the
gods with astral bodies, which had
been fully accomplished by the end of the 1
"Tribuenda
est sideribus
natur. deor., n, 15) 2
.
.
.
divmitas" (De
le
.
F. Cmnont, "L'astrologie et la magie dans
pagan
paganisme
was
the
remain,"
in
end product of Les
Religions
orientates dans le paganisme romoi'n, p. 160. As in Plato, Laws,, x, 899 b, and Timaeus,
8
36d& 37
era,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
38
a complex evolution. For the constellations, as for the planets, the process of "mythologization" was steady,
For the
if
not continuous.*
were
stars
Ram,
still
etc.
in
Homeric times: Homer
6
But in general the stars and groups of known merely by the names of objects or animals the Scales,
himself speaks of "mighty Orion.**
the
had begun
constellations, the process
Toward
of the constellations had
many
the fifth century B.C.,
become associated with myths; in the fourth, the catalogue of Eudoxus of Cnidus
which, though scientific in
adopted the vocabulary of myth
spirit,
poem on the stellar configurations, still further same tendency. The famous Farnese Globe in the Naples Mu-
and, a century later, Aratus*
encouraged the seum, copied from a Greek original probably contemporary with Aratus,
shows us a sky in part invaded by the gods.
tion
8
Eratosthenes (284-204 B.C.), in his Catasterismi, completes this evoluand standardizes its results: each of the constellations is given mytholog-
ical significance,
and the
signs of the zodiac themselves are connected with
heroes of Fable. The Lion, for example,
come by Hercules;
fusion between astronomy and mythology tinction is
is
the
the Bull is the bull of the
made between them:
is
Nemean
Europa
lion
story.
who was
At
over-
this stage, the
so complete that no further dis-
the Augustan poet, Hyginus,
is
at one
and the
same time astronomer and mythographer. But a phenomenon to
is
already beginning to be apparent which
is
destined
involve this celestial mythology in fearful chaos: the traditional Greek
constellations are being supplemented or replaced
by exotic constellations. 7 be of Egyptian origin, the decans, insinuate themselves into the zodiacal band, each one having its own name and face First, thirty-six genii alleged to
(rcposyurcov)
which gives it concrete and independent personality; the decans, 8 and divinities. But these were not the only foreign elements
too, are both stars
*See E. Panofsky and
F.
Saxl,
"Classical
Mythology in Mediaeval Art," Metropolitan Museum Studies, iv (1932-1933), pp. 228280; Cumont, "Les noms des planetes et les chez grecs," classique, iv (1935), pp. 5 ff. * 20&.OS 'ttptuw, Iliad, xvni, 486.
1'astrolame
See
Thiele,
Antike
Vantiqiute
The term "decans"
Himmclsbilder,
See
W.
Scott,
Plates
derives from the division
and W.
I,
ed.,
Hermetic*
chap, xix, pp. 324
X
(Hennes ff.,
Asclt-
Gundel, op. p. 344. Firmicus Maternus, who on this point follows the Egyptian tradition, still calls them gods. Similarly Celsus alludes to Salves % fftot TLVCS ptos,
of the signs into three parts of ten degrees where the genii live. See Bouche-
each,
8
Trismegistus),
n-vi. 7
Leclercq, L'Astrologic grecque, chap, vii, 2, esp. pp. 221-222; and W. Gundel, Dekane und Studien der Bibliothek Dekansternbildcr, Warburg, xnt (1936).
aldc/uiu.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION to
invade Greek astronomy. Scholars had drawn up
i.e.,
39 of the paranatellons,
lists
the stars rising to the north and to the south of each of the zodiacal signs,
and we note
that the register of these stars, established in the first century of
our era hy Teucer the Babylonian, contains a great many glyphs or sigils 9 which are likewise of Egyptian origin, or perhaps even Chaldean or Anatolian. Finally,
from now on the Greek
celestial globe
(sphaera graecanica)
has as a kind of parasite a barbaric globe (sphaera barbarica) logical elements of which live on,
mingled with those of
and
the mytho-
in the course of the centuries
become
classical origin.
With the planets the process
is
Greeks singled out only one, Venus,
even more complicated. Originally the *Es
11-1
malus serpens, qm compukt Evam in laqueos mtae perfragilesque vices. tile
In the seventeenth century, attempts -were
made
mundi
Conches has been falsely attributed to Bede, Honorius of Autun, and William of Hirschau, t^ie L*^ text roust be sought in the Patrologia Lot*, either in xc, 1127-1178 (Bedae opera, ' bk h) r fa 39-102 (Hon - A -
signify the son of St. Mary. ) In the fifteenth century, Lorenzo Bomncontri (Dierum solemnium Christumae re.,
Coelum stellatum Chrts-
& &
61
Li multiuis
Schiller:
tianunt (1627). As e e phdosophia
found:
in-
and the Almagest
Aristotle,
to "Christianize** the sky.
See the
atlas
^e
des Mittelalters." Thorndike
(op.
,
pp< 690^9i) i s o f a different opinion. For the history of astrology in Byzantium. see Boll-Bezold, op. cit^ pp. 32-33. *
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
52
and Tetrabiblos from Ptolemy. In due time they were age
to the Occident,
own
scholars, like
to transmit this herit-
enriched by having passed through the hands of their
Alhumazar and Al-Kabisi. Thanks
to the Crusades,
and
to
Arab philosophy and science into Sicily and Spain, Europe came to know the Greek texts with their Arab commentaries, in Latin transw lations for the most part made by Jews. The result was an extraordinary increase in the prestige of astrology, which between the twelfth and fourteenth
the penetration of
centuries enjoyed greater favor than ever before. It
was during
this
period that the greatest princes took astrologers into
their service as intimate counselors
Frederick
II of
Hohenstaufen and Al-
fonso the Wise in the thirteenth century, and in the fourteenth Charles France. In Italy, astrologers directed the life of
cities, cortdottieri,
and
V
of
prel-
65
ates.
The
astrologers were anxiously interrogated, just as the "Chaldeans"
had been by Romans of the Empire; strong in its new prestige, astrology inspired new fears. Furthermore, the Arabs had developed one of its most threatening aspects in the theory of planetary conjunction. together in the
birth of
junction, 66
portent.
constellation of the three
The appearance
major planets
Saturn, Mars,
could precipitate illness, war, famine, and religious upheavals.
and Jupiter
The
same
Mohammed,
long ago, had actually coincided with such a con-
and the Black Death of 1348 again confirmed the same
terrible
There was a growing sense of inexorable doom threatening from the
skies.
Timor
fecit deos: the fear of
these threats which
demons revived
hung over them,
men
felt evil
at the
same time. In
presences at
looked to the magicians for means of escape or propitiation. *
all
work, and
We
are fortu-
There were also direct translations from the Greek. See Haskins, The Renaissance of the
Jourdam, "Nicolas Oresme et les astrologues de la cour de Charles V," Rev. des
Twelfth Century, chap, is: "The Translators from Greek and Arabic." Cf. also G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (1927), i, esp. chaps, xviu-xxiv (with detailed bibhog-
questions hist. t xvin (1875), pp. 136-159. Cf. an excellent portrait of the Renaissance astrologer in Soldati, La poesia astrologica net quattrocento, Florence (1906), pp. 107-118. Soldati distinguishes between the philosopher-mathematician and the ordinary
raphy). 85
The astrologer of Frederick II was the famous Michael Scot whom Dante placed in the abyss reserved for diviners and sorcerers (Inf., xx, 116-117). Thomas, father of Christine de Pisan, was official astrologer to Charles V.
Cf.
C.
magician or diviner. In actual often one and the same person.
^See
fact,
Boll-Bezold, op. cit^ p. 34.
they were
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION
53
nate in possessing a document of cardinal importance which throws into
sharp relief this recrudescence of the demonic in astrology and the state of
mind which
resulted. This is a manual of magic, composed in Arabic in the from Oriental and Hellenistic elements, translated into Spanish
tenth century
at the court of
Some twenty
Alfonso X, and widely circulated
Latin manuscripts are known.
This manual, the Arabic
title
of which
is
Ghdya and
(probably a corruption of Hippocrates),
trix
treatise
in the late
Middle Ages.
67
is
the Latin title Pica-
openly and professedly a
on the practice of magic, based on astral science. Indeed, its aim is to and to utilize their power, though for Picatrix spirits
conciliate the "spirits"
and planets are intimately associated, instructions are given
by
how
their aid, just as if they
For
all this there is
to
to
if
not actually interchangeable.
"Many
each of the planets and to work magic
pray * were demons."
an established ritual. Picatrix prescribes propitious
times and places and the attitude and gestures of the suppliant; he also indi-
what terms must be used
cates his
formula for a prayer
in petitioning the stars. Here, for example, is
to Saturn:
"0 Master
of sublime
name and
Master Saturn: Thou, the Cold, the
power, supreme Master;
Mournful, the Pernicious Thou, whose ;
life is sincere
great
Sterile, the
and whose word sure ;
Thou, the Sage and Solitary, the Impenetrable; Thou, whose promises are kept; other, ter of ity
Thou who
art
weak and weary; Thou who
hast cares greater than
or ruin, and makest
preme Father, by Thy
me what I ask.
.
.
men
to
be happy or unhappy!
great benevolence and
I
conjure Thee,
Thy generous
The Arabic
Su-
bounty, to do for
."
In this pagan prayer one finds, as F. Saxl has pointed out, 67
any
who knowest neither pleasure nor joy; Thou, the old and cunning, masall artifice, deceitful, \\ise, and judicious; Thou who bringest prosper-
text of the Picatrix
was pub-
cussion of the Picatnx
See,
69
the accent
on the same subchap. Ixvi; and
hshed for the
first tune by the Warburg Library in 1927. A critical edition of the mediLatin translation, based on the manuscripts, is in preparation. I am indebted to
ject,
eval
Handbuch hellenistischer Magic," Vortrage d. Bibl Warburg (1923), pp. 94-124, esp. p. 113.
Dr. E. Jaffe, the editor, for several important items of information. Two further volumes, prepared by Dr. M. Plessner, will contain a
^See
modern translation and a
full historical dis-
Thorndike, op. cit., n, Hellmut Ritter, "Picatnx,
"Nachleben antiker Cotter
als
m Thorndike, op. cit., n, p. 820. "Rinascimento
torium 220-272.
fur
ein
arabisches
Sterndamonen."
dell* Antichita,"
Kunstwissenschaft
Reper-
(1922),
pp.
54
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
and even the very terms of a Greek astrological prayer
to
Kronos. This
indication that the sources of Picatrix are in large part Hellenistic.
amazing
to
think that such prayers were
now being
70
one
is
But how
raised to the skies in
Christian Europe!
Let us
now
ask by what material means, what
to force the astral divinities to
lend
him
tools, the
One
their aid.
magician hoped
essential factor
was
the actual likeness of the god. Engraved, preferably on precious stones, ac-
cording to the aspect of the heavens at some particularly favorable
moment, such images were supposed
and
to receive the greatest pos-
amount of
sible
to store
it
celestial influence
away, so
to speak,
for future use. To this end, describes
some
the
images of and zodiacal
fifty
fixed stars, planets, signs,
Picatrix
efficacy
of which he
guarantees.
Surprises are in store for us as 12.
The Olympian
Jupiter
we read
these descriptions.
assure the favor of Jupiter, for
stance, a white stone should be engraved with the figure of a
To in-
crowned per-
sonage seated on a throne, his hand upraised (see fig. 22, taken from the lapidary of Alfonso X) ; each of the four feet of the throne should rest on the neck of a winged man.
Who
is this
personage? None other than the
Olympian Zeus as described by Pausanias: "The god he
is
hand
made of is
gold and ivory.
a scepter.
the throne.
.
.
."
.
n
.
.
On
There are four Victories
To win
sits
his head lies a garland. .
.
.
on a throne, and
...
In the left
one at each foot of
the benevolence of Mars, one needs a
graved with the image of "a young man, naked with hair knotted at the back of her head; his 70 It
denves also from Babylonian sources. Cf. the article of Dozy and de Goeje on the Ghdya,
Actes du vie Congres International des Ori-
left
at his right
hand
rests
gem
en-
a young girl
on her breast, his
entdistes (Leyden, 1885), n, pp. 285 71 Pausanias, v, 11, 1-10.
&
THE PHYSICAL TRAD1TIO^ on her neck, and he gazes
right
classical motif of
into her eyes." 7"
Mars and Venus.
The reader
learned Picatrix,
cock's spurs.
more
that of a
is
feet of a camel/'
We
man
will recognize the
Other images are even more perplexing.
Here we have a barbaric Saturn: "The foim of Saturn, and the
55
in the opinion of the
seated on a throne, having a crow's head
Elsewhere appears a Jupiter with
lion's
head and
shall have occasion later to study these puzzling figures
closely; here let us recall merely that ever since the end of the
era monsters out of the East had been making their
way
pagan
into the firmament,
mingling with the Greek gods who had won a place there.
As a matter of
gems bearing
fact,
effigies
of the gods had been in un-
interrupted use throughout the Middle Ages. Great monasteries had their col-
cameos and
lections of antique
seal of
is
Charlemagne
the surprising discovery of a
Gems
tical seal.
crosses,
Venus Anadyomene or a Leda on an
The
make
ecclesias-
with mythological subjects are often found mounted in
on book covers -and reliquaries."
Scholars have been selves
intaglios as early as the seventh century.
a head of Jupiter Serapis; sometimes we even
why and
The explanation
in
much
intrigued by this phenomenon, asking thempagan gems were put to such unexpected uses. some cases lies doubtless in mere ignorance, or misunder-
what
in
spirit
standing of the figure represented
could be taken for
Adam
:
and Eve.
thus Poseidon and Athena, under a tree, 74
But for the most part these stones were
used because they were thought to possess special lapidaries, both Hermetic
Ptolemy himself was thought
de impressionibus imaginum 72
in
The Alexandrian
w
.
.
.
to
have composed a Liber
gemmis. These varied traditions were trans-
Joan Evanfe, in her Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Particularly England (Oxford, 1922), p. 102, cites the text of a French lapidary derived from the un bacheher nu same source as Picatrix: ". estant et une pucele que estoit adestre de li nue que eit ses chevus hez entor et le bachetter ." (B. M. eit sur le col de la pucele sa main Add. 18.210 . 73 See Demay, Des Pierres antiques dans les }
virtues.
themselves derived from Egyptian
recorded the magic effects of stones bearing represen-
and Chaldean sources tations of divinities.
and Gnostic
sceaux du
May en-Age (Paris, 1877), F. de Mely, '*Du role des pierres gravees au Moyende Part chretien (1893). E. Revue Age," Babelon, "Les Camees antiques de la Bibhotheque Nationale," Part rv: "A quoi servaient
xxi
les
camees," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, W. S. Heckscher, Pagan Antiquity in Mediaeval Set-
(1899), pp. 101-116;
"ReKcs
of
Journal of the JParburg Institute, (1937-38), pp. 204 ff.
tings," 74
See de Mely,
art. eit.
r
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
56
mitted, directly or indirectly, to the
Middle Ages: Picatrix combines several
of them. But long before his day, belief in the power of engraved stones was
very general. Since the art of glyptics had been lost at an early date the second and third centuries A.D.
ancient
gems corresponding
between
such images were no longer made;
in color
and subject
lapidaries continued to be used as talismans. teenth century, however, that the treatises
It is
make
7S
but
to the prescriptions of the
not
till
the
end of the
thir-
the action of the stars respon6
sible for the properties
bod of Rennes
which they attribute to gems.' To be sure, as Mar-
says, .
.
.
Nul sage homme doter ne
Ken pirres
doit
grant vertus ne soitJ
7
But for the most part these virtues are regarded as being of a medical nature only; so, in his day, old Isidore, speaking "de lapidibus insignoribus,"
been at special pains
to share
7S
had
none of the "pagan superstitions" on the sub-
ject.
On century,
the other hand, and especially during the renaissance of the twelfth
men who were
true humanists
made
discerning selection
for rea-
some special personal appropriateness 79 gods. But in the thirteenth and fourteenth
sons of taste, or perhaps because of of
gems bearing images of it is
centuries,
the
unmistakably as amulets that they are used, and in a distinctly
The ferment
religious spirit.
of diabolism has regained all
its
old virulence,
and the "astrolatry" expressly recommended by Picatrix takes us back to the time of Apuleius to the days of incantation and sacrifice offered to the astral divinities.
IT
MAY
^
well be asked
how
velop to this point, wheie 75 The formula "Carve in stone in lapide
.
.") is
.
"Should you find ris in lapide
.
.
it
the
Church could have allowed astrology
constituted a direct threat to the faith.
. . ." ("Sculpe replaced at an early date by a stone . . .** (**Si mveneSimilarly, in the lapidaries
in
.**)
.
in vulgar idiom the formula begins, "If find . . ." 76
you
See Evans, op. cit^ chap, v: trology: Lapidaries of Engraved Gems.** 77
Gted
by
Evans
(ms.
2200,
BibL
lues.") 78
Etym., xvi, 4, *'. . . quibus gentiles in superstitionibus quibusdam utuntur." On the other
hand, a
Ste-
("No man of sense Genevieve, foL 120, v.) should doubt that in stones reside great vir-
list
of astrological seals will be found
in Vincent of
vm,
"Mediaeval As-
to de-
Not only
79
Beauvais,
Speculum
naturals,
35.
See Demay, op
at.,
and Adbemar, Influences
antiques dans I'art du Moyen-Age frangais, Studies of the Warburg Institute, vii (London, 1939), pp. 106-107.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION was
it
57
leading Europe back to one of the most demoralizing forms of idolatry,
but by representing the various religions and the earthly appearance of their
founders as dependent upon the
ranked Christianity on a level with
it
stars,
the other faiths and seemed to foreshadow
And,
in fact, the
Church did
its
decline.
Even though, as we have seen, she had and had not rooted it out, she under-
react.
conceded the principle of astrology,
stood the extent of the danger. This reaction, which can he detected as early as the twelfth century, rigor.
We
need only
50
was
recall
later to be carried at times to the point of
Cecco d'Ascolfs expiating
utmost
at the stake the
crime
of having calculated the date of the birth of Christ by means of the stars.
Such examples might
they did not arrest the
instill terror;
evil.
The dan-
gerous impetus that astrology had gained in the thirteenth century was accentuated in the fifteenth and sixteenth. Here, again, the Renaissance
was
to
prove a continuation of the Middle Ages.
We shall in a classic
not repeat in this connection all that Burckhardt has shown us
work:
81
never since antiquity had the science of the stars been
more highly or played a
rated
greater role in the lives of states or individuals.
The great Cinquecento popes alone may
serve as examples
Julius II basing
the date of his coronation on the calculations of the astrologers, as Paul III
did the hour of each consistory, or Leo
Sapienza which was
X founding a chair of astrology at the
to rival similar foundations at the universities of Bo-
logna, Padua, and Paris.
82
Here we see
to
what extent the Church, or
at least
the Vatican, yielded to the prevailing superstition. It is
of course true that at the same time profound intellectual forces
work which were one day, with Copernicus and Galileo, to lead far the astrological concept of the universe, and to liberate science from beyond it would be a mistake to view this development as the logical reBut magic. were
at
sult of a
more profound and enlightened culture.
On the contrary, the
first effect
of humanism was to encourage astrology.
The precursors of humanism, men like Petrarch and 80
According to Thorndike (op. at., n, pp. the reaction began somewhat earlier, at the end of the eleventh century.
5
ff.),
w The pt 82
Salutati, still
maintained
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy,
chap. iv. Boll-Bezold, op. vi,
cif., p.
36.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
58 the orthodox
and reserved
attitude of
Dante and Thomas Aquinas.
83
As time
went on, however, and profane learning gained ground, the harriers within
which the Middle Ages had attempted
Drawn new
to confine
it
were steadily weakened.
in large part from the literature and philosophy of late antiquity, the
studies confirmed the astrological concept of causality in a thousand 84
ways.
This concept ended hy penetrating
all
new
natural philosophy, just as
it
had formerly sustained the great intellectual structures of the encyclopedists and theologians. It continued to dominate physics and the other natural sciences.
The notion of
the intimate
bond between microcosm and macrocosm,
for instance, remained basic to the art of medicine. Paracelsus, following
Marsilio Ficino, proclaims that "the physician must have knowledge of man's other half, that half of his nature which
is
bound up with astronomical philos-
ophy; otherwise he will be in no true sense man's physician, since Heaven retains within its sphere half of all bodies
and of
all
maladies."
M
In
fact, in
order to account for the origin of syphilis and the ravages of the disease, physicians invoked the baleful conjunction of Saturn and Mars.
Attempts were doubtless
still
to differentiate in this connection
made, as in Ronsard's between body and
86
Hymne
des astres,
soul, the former alone
being subject to astral influence:
Les Estoilles adonc seules se firent dames tons les corps humains, et non pas de nos dmes.
De
83 Petrarch, who jests at the astrologers without being himself entirely immune, refers to SL Augustine, Epist. rer. famil^ m, 8. In the
De
fato et fortuna, Salutati regards the heavenly bodies as instruments in the hands of
God. because he is a humanist and Neoplatonist that Marsilio Ficino believes in classical antiquity is his guarantor. astrology: See, for example, his letter to Rinaldo Ursino, archbishop of Florence (Epistolae [Venice,
"In
fact, it is
astrological bases. Cf. Bonmcontri, who in a didactic poem, De rebus caelestibus, ofiers a
complete system of astrological physiology in verse, including, for example, an explanation of how all the planets in turn contribute to the formation of the foetus (cod Laur. xxxiv, c, 23 a, b) . ^See the Remede centre la grosse verolle
52
(Lyons, 1501) : "I affirm that the conjunction of two adverse aspects of Saturn and Mars . . and the . conjunction and evil look of the
there that all knowledge finds its
said planets were at its origin. . . . For Saturn causes ill to be suffered in the legs and other members. And Mars is the cause of begetting. . . . Hence the effect of the said conjunction is cause of this malady." Cited by K.
confirmation." Ficino, in his De vita tnphci, had attempted to construct all medicine on
Sudhoff, AILS der Fruhgeschichte der -Syphilis (Leipzig, 1912), p. 157.
1495], ra, p. Ixvi, v.). He adds: "What is a physician who knows nothing of cosmography? He ought, on the contrary, to have a special understanding of 83
it,
since
it is
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION
59
But physiology and psychology are inseparable; "temperament"
is
the un-
failing determinant of character.
Thus the Renaissance saw no contradiction between astrology and science; rather, the dominion of the heavenly bodies over all earthly things
was viewed by some
as the natural law par excellence, the law which assures phenomena. For Pomponazzi, it was the very form and pat-
the regularity of
tern of universal determinism. self
from the bonds of
mind than
87
And
this natural
though speculation gradually freed
philosophy
the bonds of theology
outcome should not be interpreted
this
merely as a victory of experience and exact calculation over fact, as Cassirer
has shown,
88
it
was
it-
even more tyrannous for the
essentially for
humanists finally rebelled against the tyranny of the
superstition. In
moral reasons that the
stars.
In a world system all parts of which are interconnected, with no single
creature possessing an existence independent of the cosmos, man's position is
impossibly humiliating.
To be
universe are undeniable; but they
sure, the
now
man
bonds which attach
to the
cease to be thought of as a form of
imprisonment. Marsilio Ficino
still adheres to the notion of "superior" powdominion over "inferior" beings (the stars sending their influences down toward the earth). Nicholas of Cusa no longer accepts this subordina-
ers with
tion of earth to sky;
he sees only harmony and correlation, not dependence.
Paracelsus goes even further; he suggests that the influence the other direction
from man
to the stars,
from soul
may
to thing,
89
operate in
from the
in-
ner world to the outer. "It might be said that Mars has more resemblance to
man
than
man to
Mars, for
man
is
more than Mars and
The decisive word has been spoken: mind
is
the other planets."
superior to matter^Even
where the astrological world picture remains unchanged, a tendency clearly manifested to create a
tem."
91
This tendency
For him, things 87
De
is still
new
is,
more proudly affirmed by Pico
naturalitan
seeing things not so effectuum
is
place for the individual within the sysdella Mirandola.
too, acceptance of astrology signifies a reversal of the true
that
M
much according
admirandorum
causis stve de incantationibus (Basel, 1556). Individuum und Cosmos in der Philosophic
88
der Renaissance (Leipzig-Berlin, 1927), chap.
hi: "Freiheit
und
w Cassirer, op. M Ibid p. 117. ,
&1
Ibid^ p. 118.
order of
to their essence as ac-
Notwendigkeit.**
at, pp. 116-117.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
60
and
cording to their worth matter over his
solemn
spirit. Against this, the author of the
He
protest.
refuses, so he says, to
which creates the genius,
ingenium melius."
And
it is
the second
dignitate hominis raises
to
is
a loftier mind:
in think-
It is
not a better
"Non astrum
melius, sed
the miracles of the spirit are greater than those of the
sky: "Miracula quidem animi first to
De
honor in great men
anything other than their humanity.
ers, statesmen, artists
star
tantamount to admitting the sovereignty of
is
.
.
.
w
coelo majora sunt."
To
deny and lower rather than rightly
attribute the
to understand
them.
Thus "the true impulse toward liberation came not from a new concept new concept of man's own worth." Humanist pride
of nature but from a
new methods
arose in opposition to astrology even before
reckoning had advanced far enough to condemn
However, one grave misunderstanding
of observation and
it.
fear of the stars
still persists:
does not disappear with these proud declarations. The humanists have fused to fetter ciple.
as
man
to
any system of physical
re-
causality, to a material prin-
But are the heavenly bodies purely material? From the earliest times, seen, they have, on the contrary, been viewed as animated by in-
we have
telligences (spirits, gods, or
by more or
less
demons) who determine
their
movements, and
malevolent forces. Have the Renaissance philosophers and
savants wholly renounced this conception?
To be
sure, it
is
rejected in unmistakable terms
by a Pomponazzi, who
denies that either demoniacal or divine forces can directly usurp power in violation of the natural laws which govern the production of
World order would be continually compromised able,
under cover of the heavenly bodies,
if spirits
phenomena.
or angels were
to exert a direct influence
upon
nature and man.
The stars, if
attitude of Marsilio Ficino is
but at the same time his sinister ancient 92
more
He
typical.
maintains that the
they do influence the body, have no compulsive power over the soul;
own
inner life is shadowed
who presided over
his birth.
In astrologiam, nr, cap. 27, foL 517 ff. On the controversies aroused by this work of Pico,
cf.
by fear of Saturn, the
He knows
Soldati,
that
La Poesia
he cannot escape
astrologies chap.
iv.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION that baleful influence, which
can try to turn
and
inertia tion.
sterility, is also the
But even
whom
so, Saturn's
extends, and
it
condemns him
it is
for good: Saturn,
demon of
presiding genius of intellectual concentrastrict limitations
only within these limitations that
friends try in vain to distract at the very
it
patronage imposes
shape his personality. This conviction
Thus
melancholy. At the most, he
to
into other channels, to use
it
61
literally ohsesses Ficino,
him from his somber thoughts.
moment when
on those
man
is
to
free to
and
his
83
great thinkers are striving to throw off
the humiliating yoke of the cosmic bodies as such, they tremble before the
mysterious divinities which inhabit them.
Man
proclaims the freedom of the
will; but there are other wills stronger than his own,
The premature death of Pico
prevails.
and
it
is
Destiny that
della Mirandola, which confirmed the
predictions of the astrologers to the day and hour, appeared to his contem-
poraries like a terrifying denial of his proud assertions. self,
and
who
94
And Luther him-
scoffed at astrology as irresponsible fantasy, or as an unhealthy
pitiable art, admitted that the awe-inspiring conjunction of several plan-
ets in the constellation Pisces
heaven.
which occurred in 1524 was a warning from
95
Outmoded of those
fears of this kind were stubbornly reborn even in the minds
who thought
much more reason
themselves most completely emancipated. With
did they persist
among
those
who lacked
how
the support of
philosophical meditation, while no longer wholly accepting the assurances of the faith.
Men
done, to conjure
like these turned to magicians, just as their ancestors
away
the evil powers.
93
Epistolae (Florence, 1495), m, p. Ixix, v.: Ficino complains to Cavalcanti of the malign influence of Saturn; Cavalcanti attempts to reassure him, saying that it is impossible for the stars to injure man ("Nullum hercle malum facere nobis possunt astra" ) . But Ficino continues his lament (p. Ixx, r.). Saturn may have good effects, but "I am too timorous
about the
evil
ones"; and he comes back to
his horoscope: "This melancholy seems to have been imposed on
temperament me from the
beginning by Saturn, set almost in the center my ascendant sign, Aquarius [the Water
of
had
They searched the treatises on magic Bearer] and being met by Mars in the same and by the Moon in Capricorn while looking toward the Sun and Mercury in the Scorpion, occupying the ninth zone of Heaven.**
sign,
4
95
Boll-Bezold, op.
See
A.
cit. f p.
41.
Warburg, Heidnisch-antike
Weis-
Wort und Bild zu Lathers Zeiten, sagung Gesammelte Schriften (Leipzig, 1932), n, pp. in
487-558. In this regard, the Reformation brought no more essential a break than humanism had done. Melanchthon was an astrologer, even Tycho Brahe, a devout Protestant, believed in the harmful influence of the stars.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
62 for images
and formulas with which
to placate the astral
demons, the very
recommended by astrologers of the thirteenth century. It is from the "Reverend Pere en diable Picatrix, recteur de la faculte diabo-
recipes once
logique," as Rabelais calls him, rives the chapters
he devotes
engraved on talismans;
Ragot belong
to the
9r
96
to the
that Cornelius Agrippa, for
the lapidaries of Camillo Leonardi
same
example, de-
images of decans and planets suitable to be 98
tradition.
and Hugues
Henri Estienne reports that Queen
Catherine de Medicis, whose passion for astrology
is
of course well known,
always carried a gem on which were engraved names of celestial
one side showed Jupiter, to
whom Anubis was
spirits
offering a mirror,
and the
other Venus, with her planetary symbol. This talisman had been designed
and executed by the Sieur Regnier, a famous mathematician and reputed 09 magician in whom she had great confidence. At about the same time, Benvenuto Cellini had his horrifying nocturnal vision of the Colosseum smarming with a troop of demons which a necromancer had
"in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin."
summoned
at his request
1UO
We need not multiply examples of this kind.
Still in full
force in the six-
teenth century, astrology continued to keep alive the veneration for the gods for
which
made
it
had served as
shelter since classical times. Attempts
to Christianize or laicize this veneration, to bring
ology or reduce
it to
a rational theory of universal law;
print of those mythological powers
it
might be
into line with the-
it still
bore the im-
whose names had been preserved by the
stars.
* 96
Ptmtagruel, m, 23; Pantagruel studied under Picatrix in Toledo. Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (French
97
: La philosophic occulte (Paris, 1919), Bk. H, chaps. 36-44. Picatrix also inspired Marsiho Ficino, who believed in the powers possessed by stones engraved with images of the gods.
tran.)
88 C.
Leonard, Speculum lapidum (Venice, 1502) : De figuris sive imaginibus quae similitudinem habent constellationum Caeh et ad quid valent. H. Ragot, Force et vertu des pierres qui sont entedllees. 89 H. Estienne, Discours merveilleux de la we, actions et deportements de Catherine de Medi-
(1575). Celhni, Vita (ed. Bacci [Florence, 1901]), Such demons, responsive to magic arts ("saepius ad magicos sohtos conscendere
cis 100
p. 127.
cantus"), are, according to the astrologer Bonincontn, angels who have remained uncertain in their allegiance, belonging neither to God nor to Lucifer. (Rerum naturalium, cod. Laur. xxxiv, 52 c, 69 b) The view r, held by the Church Fathers may be recognized here, especially that of St Augustine. For the rest, Bonincontn affirms the astral nature of
demons: "astraeumque genus cunctis." Cf. Hymne des dtamons (ed. A. M. Schmidt [1939], with commentary). all
Ronsard's
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION To ILLUSTRATE
different aspects of this
63
mythology of the heavens and to
convince us that the gods survived as sidereal demons, posal an extremely rich and curious iconography.
73.
in our study (pp. in the course
step
by
step.
149
ff.)
We
all that
at
our dis-
shall investigate later
The sun and the zodiac
the process
by which
this
of the centuries, and shall try to trace
Here
we have
we plan
to
do
is to
iconography took shape its
singular vicissitudes
point out a few of the pictorial
themes in which medieval and Renaissance ideas of the nature of the gods
found expression.
How
are the gods represented in the cosmology of the Middle Ages?
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
64
Before the twelfth century,
we
find little
by way of
illustration of the
systems of which the gods form part beyond an occasional diagram of or less
sort.
summary
These diagrams
world
more
are usually circles containing in-
scribed rosettes, the interlacings of which form symmetrical compartments:
each such compartment bears the of an element, humor, season,
who
is
name
etc.
of one of the fundamental qualities,
At the center we read the name of Man,
shown as surrounded and hemmed
thus
universe. It
is
easy
lents (supra, p.
47) which, in
interdependence of
all parts
appears also, accompanied astral deities.
As
in
to recognize in this decorative
all sides
by the physical
scheme the table of equiva-
late antiquity, expressed the correlation
of the cosmos.
first
on
by
the
101
The theme of melothesia
names and
later
and re-
by the images of the
early as the eleventh century a miniature depicts the Sun,
a halo of rays about his head, standing at the center of a circular zone
made up the
of the zodiacal signs.
names of the
As
parts of the
Each sign
body which
is
marked with
own name and
its
102
it
controls
(fig.
13).
the astrological doctrines spread, there is an increase in the
number
of figures showing the zodiacal symbols distributed over parts of the
body
the
Ram
on the head, the Fishes under the
feet, the
the shoulders. In the fourteenth century, this figure is
from these centuries
it
it
passes to
prayer books, where in the
human
Twins grasping
common fifteenth
in calendars ;
and sixteenth
serves as a sort of frontispiece. It appears, for example, on a 103
page of the Tres Riches Heures of the Due de Berry. But of greater interest for us are the microcosm pictures in which the planets are represented. One of the earliest examples is a miniature in a manuscript in Munich (cod. lat Monac. 13002) showing 101
man among
the
102
eighth-century manuscript of Isidore of Seville (ms. 423, BibL de Laon), reproduced E. Fleury, Les Manuscrits a miniatures de by la Bibliotheque de Laon (1863). The same ms.
Bibl. Nat., ms. 7028, fol 154. Wickersheimer has mistakenly seen heie an image of Christ. The original ms. of the Liber Floridits cornposed in 1120 (see Leopold Delisle, Notices et extraits, vol. xxxvin [Paris, 1906]), and pre-
a miniature "De positioae septera stellarum errantium." Ms. 422, a ninth-century copy of 423, includes miniatures representing the constellations. Cf. Wickersheimer, art ciL,
served in the University Library of Ghent, no. microcosm representing the "six ages of the world" (foL 20, v) and an image of the sun surrounded by the planets
and J. Baltrusaitis, "L'Image du monde celeste du ixme au xnme siecle," Gazette de$ Beaux-
103
Cf., for
example, a miniature in a seventh-
or
contains
Arts (Oct^ 1938), pp. 134-148.
92, contains a curious
(foL 38, v)
.
See H. Bober, "The Zodiacal Miniature of the Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry:
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION
65
make up his being as they do the world itself. From the eyes, and mouth issue scrolls hearing the names of the planetary
elements, which nostrils, ears,
A
deities.
nimbus surrounds the head, inscribed with
sort of
star celestis spere" (sic).
of the sky. presses
curve
firmament and
its
of
seven
as
it
the legend, "In-
were, a small-scale image
the ori-
to the
seven
great planetary lights
(fig.
fices
is,
roundness ex-
Its
the
Thus man's head
correspond
14).
Aside from
this
which faithfully
image,
reflects the
concepts of an Honorius of
Autun or a Hildegard of Bingen as
to
man's relation 10*
to the universe,
of
others,
later
there are in
date,
which a new sentiment
finds
some of these
expression. In
man
the figure of a
is
en-
closed in a series of concentric
circles,
may be
to
attached
which he
by rays;
;__
frangoys (Petit: Paris, 1525). The calendars, almanacs, lot books, and collections of prognostica of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries contain a great many mythological-astrological conjunctions of the planets, for instance, are frequently represented. Cf. the rich documentation in Warburg, op. c/t, pp. illustrations;
489-565. 104
Honorius
rT.XTrn,
1116:
of
Autun, Eluddarium> PL, is a little world composed . . His head is round, like sphere, within which his eyes
"Man
of four elements.
the celestial
.
we
-
in
1
Sources and Meaning,* in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, xi (1948), pp. 1-34. See further, Pierre Gringoire, Les Heures de Ifostre Dame translatees en Its
_-
_
^T.-jiAiiySfiSs-.--*--
14.
=
Microcosm
shine like two of
its
luminaries."
Hildegard of Bingen, Causae
et
curac (ed.
P. Kaiser), pp. 10, 33, 36. "The firmament is man's head, the Sun, Moon, Stars like his
like
eyes," etc.
On
representations of the microcosm, see d Heidelb. Akad. d.
Saxl, Sitzungsberichte
Wissen^ Philos.~hist. Klasse (1925-26), pp. It is interesting to note that these drawings combine, from the first, the "scientific" theory of the microcosm with aesthetic theory as to the proportions of the human body. In 40-49.
other words, microcosms inscribed in rectangles or circles are at the same time canons.
Herwegen, "Ein mittelalt. Kanon des Korpers," Rep. fur Kimstto., xxxii (1909), pp. 455 ff.
Cf. P. J.
menschl
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
66
others, the figure appears alone, tattooed with inscriptions of the 105
planets.
106
manuscript, planet
names of the
Elsewhere, as in a most curious miniature in a Copenhagen
(fig.
the
body
is
covered with disks, each hearing the image of a
17). These small images have
much
to tell us
on
attentive ex-
amination. They betray the conviction which had begun to assert itself in the fourteenth century that
man
is
the prisoner of the heavenly bodies, entirely
15.
at their mercy. This
15) if
in
is
Microcosm
the impression given
by other representations
which he appears as a victim or martyr,
(fig.
fettered, helpless, pierced as
with arrows by the rays of the twelve constellations, his body divided into
segments each of which belongs to a given planet or this
tyranny
is
the figure of a 105
sometimes expressed as well. In one case
happy
child,
E.g., cod. Vindob. 3162, foL 196, 106 GL KgL S. 78.
107
107
star.
But resistance
(fig.
to
26) we have
unconcernedly plucking flowers and paying no r.
E.g., cod. Vindob 5327, fol. 160, r. This fifteenth-century manuscript, of German origin,
contains several treatises on the practice of The illustrations of the other mss., on the other hand, are no more than visual ex-
astrology.
pressions of cosmological theory.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION attention to the nine spheres which gravitate
dread symbols.
108
In their
own way,
67
around him charged with their
these naive images raise the whole prob-
lem of necessity versus freedom of the will, the heart-rending conflict which Renaissance thinkers were to make so great an effort to resolve. Microcosm pictures of this type survive throughout the sixteenth cen-
16.
tury.
Microcosm
We have an example as late as 1572 in the Livre des portraits et figures
du corps kumain, published by Jacques Kerver. In place of a frail puppet and a set of summary inscriptions, we are here shown finely developed athletes, surrounded by circling the clouds (figs.
18
deities
a, b).
old astro-medical theme.
who
gracefully launch their hostile bolts from
But these new pictorial
More than a century
merely clothe the on the ceiling o the
qualities
later,
astronomical theater of the Archiginnasio at Bologna, Silvestro Giannotti
was
to carve
an array of stellar demigods around the 108
Cod. Vindob. 2359,
fol. 52, v.
central figure of Apollo
This miniature
belongs to the Italian pre-Renaissance.
17.
The
planets
and
the
human body
>.
The
planets
18 a. The planets and
and the human body
the
human body
19. Apollo (fig.
19)
homage
and the
constellations
to the inventor of medicine, but also, without doubt, a
by such men as Paracelsus and
distant echo of the principles proclaimed
Marsilio Ficino: without knowledge of the stars, no one can pretend to the
human body
know
109
or to cure its ills.
Images of the microcosm are
essentially illustrations of the influence
of celestial forces on man's physical being. Another iconographical series
shows us the same influence as destiny. 109
it
bears upon his moral existence and his
These representations show us the planets with
At Milan a medical calendar was
still be-
ing published in 1754: II corso de'Ptaneti detto Effemeridi osi il Diario de' moti celesti pla-
"a work needed by physicians aud surgeons for administering bleedings and netari,
etc.
medication under the proper aspects of the
110
their "children.**
moon." This corresponds exactly
to
the rac-
dieval theory. See supra, p. 50, n. 55. 110
See Hauber, Planetenkinderbilder und u SternbUder (Strassburg, 1916); Saxl, Prob-
leme der Planetenkinderbilder," Kunstchronik, LTV
f
1919), pp. 1013
ff.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
70
Illustrations of this type
nomenon which would of period, and
its
first
appear
in the fourteenth century,
itself suffice to attest the revival
a phe-
of astrology at that
popularity. In all astrological calculations the planets are of
course the predominant factor. Yet up to this date they have held only a rela-
modest place in medieval iconography. In the miniatures decorating
tively
astronomical manuscripts they are sometimes met with in the form of husts disposed along the circumference of the sphere, or inscribed in small medal111
From the
lions.
fourteenth century on, the planets are not only found
more
frequently in manuscript paintings, but they are revived in Italy in monu-
mental cycles as well. In Venice, they appear on the Gothic capitals of the Doge's Palace
(fig.
21); in Padua, among the
grisailles frescoed
riento in the choir of the Eremitani; in Florence,
Maria del Fiore just
(fig.
by Gua-
on the Campanile of Santa
63), where they occupy the second zone of bas-reliefs,
above the legendary heroes, inventors of the
the preceding chapter. Also, in Santa
arts,
whom we
studied in
Maria Novella we see them ornament-
ing the backs of the thrones occupied by the allegorical figures of the arts in the Cappella degli Spagnuoli (fig. 22).
century,
Taddeo
in the first years of the fifteenth
the Palazzo Pubblico
in Siena, four mythological divinities,
Apollo, Mars, and Jupiter It
And
di Bartolo represents, in the vault leading to the
must be admitted
(fig.
Chapel of
among them
42).
that in these great cycles, as well as in the con-
temporary miniatures, the gods often take on unwonted aspects
aspects so
strange, indeed, that there has sometimes been hesitation in identifying
them. They are unmistakably themselves, however, even in the most unex113
pected disguises,
and they are once more beginning
ful patronage over humanity. It is they tudes, the activities of those born
receives visual expression.
who determine
under their influence
Each planetary
111
its
''children," whose vocations
For the
first
it
the humors, the apti-
and
this idea, also,
divinity presides, so to speak,
over an assemblage of persons disposed beneath are
to exercise their power-
it
in series or groups.
These
has determined. Thus, Mercury presides
case, see cod. 448 of the Bi-
bliotheque Municipale of Dijon, fol. 63, v. (fig. 20). For the second, cod. Vatic, Reg. 123; and cod. lat 8663 in the Bibliotheque National^
foL 24. 112
The reason
for these profound alterations
in the classical type representations of the gods will be explained later (infra, pp. 158 fE.).
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION
71
over an assemblage of painters, writers, and merchants. Schematic representations of this sort, which
first
fruit in the fifteenth century in a
the gifts of the
114
Holy
11=
bore
whole family of images, often as beautiful
We may cite
as they are curious.
Christine de Pisan,
took shape in the late Middle Ages,
the illustrations of the Epitre cTOthee of
where the "children" resemble the Apostles receiving
Spirit; the
frescoes in the Borgia apart-
ments of the Vatican
24)
and a whole
;
gravings
and
(figs.
23,
series of en-
drawings
in
which the planets are usually
shown riding
in chariots, as in
the trionfi of Petrarch. these,
in
Florence,
Among are
the
prints of Baldini, of which two
versions exist, and which in-
spired the frescoes in the
Cam-
bio in Perugia; and, in Ger-
many, the Berlin Blockbuch, also the Hausbuch belonging Prince Waldburg-Wolfegg-
to
Waldsee
at
The
planet$
and
Wolfegg, and a
Cassel manuscript of 1445.
U3
^ ^^
In the sixteenth century, Giolito de'Ferrari and
Hans Sebald Beham took up the same theme again, with variants and toward the end of the century it was treated, with varying success, by a whole group ;
of Dutch and Flemish engravers
Martin de Vos, Crispin de Passe, Goltzius,
Sanredam, Thomas de Leu, Gerard de Jode.
The appearance
of this theme in so
116
many
parts of
Europe
is
sympto-
matic of the wide diffusion of astrological beliefs during the Renaissance. 113 11
E.g.,
BodL, cod. Or.
*Bibl. Nat., cod. 4431; Bodl. 421.
fr.
133.
606; Brit. Mus., Harley
115
See Lippmann, Les Planetes et leurs enby the Societe Internationale de Chalcographie (1895) ; J. Mesml, UArt OIL nord et OIL sud des Alpes a fants, reproductions published
de la Renaissance, Brussels-Paris (1911), chap, iv: "Sur qnelques gravures du
Vepoque xve
siecle,"
116
The Cabinet des Estampes of the Bibliotheque Nationale owns a rich collection of these series: Imagines septem planetarum, De effectu
septem planetarum,
etc.
(vol.
Td
28).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
72 But not
in all cases are
superstition
hy means
we
dealing merely with the spreading of a
of the visual image; sometimes an original
born of the encounter between
artist
and scholar
common work
an encounter which
is
may
be especially significant when one is of the South and another of the North. This was the case with Albrecht Diirer's Melencolia. This famous figure is, in
21.
fact,
an
isolated
The planets and
example of the type of subject which we are discussing; she
symbolizes the contemplative to the
their children
laws of their
star,
life
of the "children of Saturn," who, obedient
meditate gloomily and at length on the secrets of
wisdom. Diirer, as penetrating studies have shown,
work from a distinguished humanist
for this
1
"
took his inspiration
none other than Marsilio
Ficino himself. 117
See
E.
Afelencolia
n
Panofsky and F. Saxl, Durer's Studien der Bibhothek Warburg,
I,
(1923).
Further study has led to the tracing of Cornelius Agrippa's influence in the Diirer
design. See K. A. Novotny, "The Construction of Certain Seals and Characters in the Work
of
Agnppa
of Nettesheim," in Journal of the
Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes, xii (1949),
pp. 46-67. Cf. supra, p. 62, n. 97.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION Lastly,
cycles which
we
73
find the "children of the planets" in two vast Italian fresco
constitute a different category, since they incorporate
in a complete cosmological ensemble.
The
first
our theme
of these series decorates the
Palazzo della Ragione in Padua, more commonly known as "il Salone." The
22.
The planets and
the liberal arts
upper part of the immense fresco which covers the walls of
this hall is di-
vided into horizontal zones. These show us, from the lowest
to the highest,
first
the planets
and 118
twelve Apostles
make
it difficult
their "children"; then the signs of the zodiac, with the
and the Labors of the Months. Although
later restorations
to judge, the orientation of the hall is apparently such that
each month the beams of the rising sun would strike the zodiacal sign which 118
On
the association of the twelve Apostles twelve zodiacal signs, see Piper,
with the
Mythobgie and Synbolik der christlichen Kunst (Weimar, 1847-51) , I, 2, pp. 292 ff.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS the sun
was actually traversing
in the sky.
The uppermost zone holds a row
of
mysterious figures which have only recently been identified: they are the
decans and paranatellons of the "barbaric sphere." system
119
is
A
complete world
thus presented in the
Salone: the zones correspond to the concentric
veloping
which
the
spheres enwithin
earth,
the
reign
ordering
forces of the cosmos.
In the frescoes of the Palazzo Schifanoia, in Ferrara,
we
find an analogous disposi-
tion.
Here we have three hori-
zontal
bands:
the
topmost
shows not the planetary gods, but the twelve great gods of
Olympus
("masters
of
the
months," as Manilius calls them), each mounted on a chariot and
surrounded by
his "children"; in the central
band appear the signs of the zodiac,
and the decans (each
controlling ten days of the
month-) 23.
119
On
Mercury and
the Salone, see
W
his children
u Surges,
;
finally, in
the lowest
band, we see the pastimes and
La Ragione
de Padoue," Annales archtotogiques, xvrn, pp. 331-343; xix, pp. 241-251; xxvi, pp. 250-271. Also A. Barzon, / Cieli e la loro influenza negli
Vindob. 2359, fourteenth century), and
(2) intensive analysis of the Astrolabmm plenum of Pietro d'Abano, published in Augs-
in an
burg by Johann Engel in 1488, the illustraof which are in turn derived from a manuscript of Albumazar (cod. Vat. Reg. 1283). Pietro d'Abano is believed to have provided the original program for the Salone (as is
Salone in Padova (Padua, 1924) Interpretation of the frescoes as a whole was first given by Dr. Saxl tSitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften
tions
[1925-1926], pp. 4,9-68), who found the key them (1) in the miniatures illustrating the
usually said, for Giotto), but the frescoes in their present state are not earlier than 1420.
affreschi del
.
to
Anima
astrologiae
of
Guido Bonatti
(cod.
24.
Mercury and
his children
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
76 occupations of
Duke Borso
at different seasons of the year
in other words, a
sort of illustrated chronicle or calendar of the life of palace, court,
and
120
city.
Here, again, the three superposed zones are merely the projection of a spherical system
( fig.
25) of which the lowest zone, the earth, forms the nucleus or ,
121
core.
These two great fresco cycles
one ornamenting a public palace and
the other a princely dwelling, but both bringing together, in an astonishing
synthesis with familiar scenes real
and episodes of daily life, figures of the 123 often from barbaric sources
side-
demons drawn from antique and
essential
documents for any true estimate of the place of astrology
fifteenth century.
They are
the exact
and
are
in the
full translation in visual terms of a
concept of the universe in which the pagan gods have regained the place of
cosmocrats (KoapOKpatopes), of sovereign masters.
But even in the
same time
ecclesiastical buildings, there
appeared
astrological representations of an entirely
the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence, at Santa Croce,
it
may
and again
here, as has
been proved,
is that 120
On
123 *
123
they represent no merely this score the Tres Riches
is
Chapel
27) .
We have to
do
remarkable about the Florentine cupolas
Heures of the
shown, for instance, feasting and fighting in the months of January and February, beneath the corresponding planet and signs of the zodiac: Saturn, Capricorn, Aquarius. See A. Warburg, "Italienische
(fig.
random arrangement
Duc de Berry may be compared with the fresPalace; the duke is
of the stars : the artist
type appears in a fresco in the Palazzo Castelbarco at A\io, in Tirol, and in a miniature illustrating a poem of Francesco da Barbenno (see F. Egidi, in the Gwrnale storico della letteratura italutna, xcvn, pp. 49-70; Zonta,
Storia
della
letteratura
italvaia,
I,
pi.
14),
by Boccaccio in the Genealogia deorum, EX, 4: "Pedes illi gryphis apponuntur." Here we have Love transformed into a monster, like cited
Kunst und
Internationale Asjtrologie im Palazzo Schifanoja zu Ferrara," in Gesammelte Schriften, n, pp.
476
in the Pazzi
with a type of antique decoration already re-
But what
coes of the Schifanoia
121
about
significance. In
surprise the visitor to find, just above each altar, a
cupola containing mythical figures of constellations
vived by the Arabs.
in Italy at
new
ff.
122
These same "demoniacal" figures are found in the lapidaries and the treatises on magic of which we have already spoken (see supra, pp. 54 ff.). Outside the astrological cycle, we sometimes meet with one of the gods conceived of and represented as a diabolical also
being. A noted example is the Cupid painted by Giotto in the cupola of the Lower Church at Assisi, above the tomb of SL Francis: he has the talons of a bird of prey. The same
the
Apollo
who tormented
St.
Benedict
a
cruel downfall for the fairest gods of Olympus! As if to restore the balance, Christ will be
given the features of Love or of Apollo by artists of the Italian Renaissance.
^See
F.
Saxl,
La Fede
astrologica
di
Agostino Chigi, published by the Reale Accademia d'ltalia (Rome, 1934) , pp 12-20. 123 * See Excursus by F. Saxl on the zodiac of Qusayr' Amra, in K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture (Oxford, 1932-1940), i, pp. 289-294.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION has preserved the aspect of the sky exactly as hour.
Why
was
this
done? Without the
it
77
appeared at a given day and
slightest doubt, because
some event of
decisive importance for the Church had taken place at that very
moment
an
event over which the celestial powers then above the horizon had presided.
Aby Warburg was
able, in fact, to prove that the arrangement of the stars
shown in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo corresponds exactly
26. Astrological ceiling
25. Astrological motif
tions in the sky
of the
main
above Florence on July
9,
1422, the date of the consecration
124
altar.
These astral bodies which the Church welcomed
were
later, as
popes.
The
to their posi-
we need
into her sanctuaries
hardly remind ourselves, to invade the palaces of her
zodiac, the constellations, the planets, play a curiously prominent
part in the decoration of the Vatican.
To
cite
only one example, the vault of
the Sala dei Pontefici, in the Borgia apartments, decorated
shows the names of Peter's successors surrounded by Boniface IX, Cygnus
is
seen in
flight
by order of Leo X,
celestial
symbols; above
between Pisces and Scorpio, while in
medallions at each side Mars and Jupiter ride past in chariots. 124
See A. Warburg, "Eine astronomische Him-
melsdaistellung in der alten Sakristei von S.
Lorenzo in Horenz," in Gesammelte Schriften, i, pp. 169-172.
27. Night sky of Florence, July 8-9, 1422
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION And lized in
finally, the
79
most radiant period of the Italian Renaissance crystal-
two celebrated works the visual and spiritual elements of
astro-mythological scheme. Both works were executed
at the
this great
dawn of
the
Cinquecento for an outstanding epicurean and humanist, Agostino Chigi.
One
profane in character and the other religious, for one
is
the vault of his
is
palace and the other the cupola of his tomb.
The
hall in the Farnesina Palace where Raphael painted his Galatea
shows us a vault peopled with mythological figures
we
recognize at first glance Perseus slaying
Leda and the Gemini. In our
(fig.
29),
^
among whom
Medusa, Venus with her doves,
instant admiration for Baldassare Peruzzi's
decorative fantasy and for the skillful distribution of his vivid images in
groups and tableaux, we
not at
may
grasp the connection between this
first
ensemble and the astrological cycles with which we have been dealing. What, in fact,
do these noble
deities,
moving through the serene heights of the ether
with an elegance that reminds us of Ovid, have in
bound demons of the
realistic
common
Paduan and Ferrarese
with the earth-
frescoes, or with the
schematized sky plan of the Florentine cupolas?
However, the two central scenes of
What does
background of starry sky.
the Peruzzi vault are set against a
this indicate if not that here, again,
astrology alone can provide the key? And, in fact, careful analysis has shown that precise scientific data underlie the choice
ures
126
the corresponding sky
shown
made
so precise indeed that they have
to
map
(fig.
and arrangement of the
fig-
possible a reconstruction of
26), which astronomical calculations have
be identical with the aspect of the sky of
Rome on December 1, 1466
127
the very
day of Agostino Chigi's birth.
Thus the same
fateful
garments of Fable. But
owes his fortune and glory
among 125
powers hold
vigil here, disguised in the iridescent
now they herald
the destiny of an individual,
to their favor:
Fame,
as she sounds her trumpet
the stars of the vault, publishes the fact triumphantly.
See F. Hermanm, La Farnesina (Bergamo,
F. Saxl, La fede astrologica . . . , , and p. 11 The Galatea evidently had her own significance in the ensemble so learnedly conceived: she doubtless represented one of the
1927)
elements, Water.
On
the other walk, myths
who
relating to the other elements
Whenever he were probably
to figure. 126 owe this analysis to Saxl, op. czi-,
We
22-23
pp. "Interpretazione astronomies dei singoli
quadn
della \olta."
^Arthur
Beer, in Saxl, op. cit, pp. 61-67.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
80
glances up at this ceiling, the master of the house
may read anew the promises
of his horoscope, his heart full of confidence and pride.
Nothing in the Farnesina
recalls the Christian
gods of Olympus reign there alone. But
28.
God and
let
world of the
spirit; the
us not on that account
jump
to
the planets
conclusions as to Agostino Chigi's "paganism." Rather let us turn to Santa
Maria del Popolo
to the
other aspect of his thought
chapel where he rests for is
all eternity.
There an-
revealed. In the cupola, against the blue
and
gold mosaic background, the divine forms of the planets come again into view, ranged in a circle according to the order of the spheres this
(fig.
28). But
time they are not alone; an angel hovers over each, while surmounting
the whole, in the round central aperture, the Creator appears in imperious
pose, his
arm
raised in a gesture at once of benediction
and command.
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION The meaning of this earth
and the
the composition
lives of
men
is
81
clear: the planetary gods, to
whom
are subject, are themselves suhject in turn.
29. Horoscope of Agostino Chigi
They are dependent upon a supreme
will,
of which they are merely the in-
struments. If
we wish
to confirm this interpretation,
we need
only turn once
more to
THE Sl'RVIVAL Of THE PAGAX GODS
82
contemporary texts. In hi? "sacred hymns" the poet-astrologer Lorenzo Boninwhich make His pre-eminence
contri addresses the Eternal Father in terms
clear:
Te duce, effulgent Jovis astra coelo, et clarum Veneri nitorem,
Reddis
Atque Fortunam variare cogis Infima
Even more
explicitly, Bonincontri
creating the stars, to 9
cutricesque*
summis^
make them His
elsewhere explains God's intent, in
auxiliaries
and agents
"'ministras exe-
(
in the government of the sublunary world:
)
Principio Pater omnipotens, ut legibus orbem Flecteret.
.
.
.
Sublimes caelo
statuit stellasque
globosque
Errantum: quibus et numeros et nomina finxit, Naturamque illis praefecit, ut omnia certis Temporibus mundo starent His hominum ftnxit mores, et corpora, et omnem .
Fortunam,
Exfremum,
et
.
.
casus varies, vitamque, diemque
fati
seriem finemque laborum
129 .
.
,
Thus, the stars which determined Chigfs death, after having regulated the
whole course of
his life, did
no more than
to execute the decrees of Provi-
dence.
But
it is
in the Urania of
Pontano that the best commentary may be
found on the half-pagan, half-Christian composition of the Cappella Chigi. The celebrated episode of the Assembly of the Gods, in fact, furnishes an exact parallel.
The Eternal
Father,
ject to mortality, convokes in the
beings,
who are
to
when about
to create inferior beings sub-
empyrean a gathering of the most noble
be His collaborators. The motivating Intelligences of the Him the seven planetary numina, each bearing at-
seven spheres approach
tributes (as in the Cappella Chigi) suggestive of the zodiacal signs in which solemnium Ckristianae religionis laws, set high in the sky the stars and the libn iv (1491). I, I, 41-44. ("Under your globes of the planets: He gave them numbers and names, and assigned to them such a naguidance, Jupiter shines in the sky; you restore her brilliance to Venus, and by you is ture that everything would be determined at Fortune obliged to diversify earthly destinies definite times. Through them he shaped the of men and their bodies, and their morals through superior influence.") 129
Laur. Bonmcontri, Rer. nat. et dwm. sive de 12fL: "In the beginning, the Almighty Father, in order to rule the world by rcb. coel^ n,
whole fortune, accidental happenings, man's life and his ultimate day, sequence of his fate, end of his labors.**
THE PHYSICAL TRADITION it
has
houses,"
its
that
is
where
to say,
its
83
influence is greatest.
Ranged
about Him, they wait respectfully:
Ergo ubi convener e animisque opibusque parati Quotes jussi aderant, intend
.
.
.
3*
Exspectant signum atque alacres praecepta capessunt}
God then
addresses them solemnly:
Turn gentior Their role,
He
solio placidus sic coepit
tells
ab
alto
m .
,
.
them, will be to co-operate, each accorcjjng to his is entrusted the completion of
powers, in the great work of creation. To them
the work: they are to give shape to the terrestrial sphere and to habitants, as
He
Quare
agite, et celeres
quam primum ascendite omne animantum
Agressi mortale opus et genus
He
mortal
its
in-
himself has formed heaven :
ceases to speak, and with a nod sets
Olympus
currus 132 ,
.
.
in motion.
Each god
leaps into his chariot and speeds toward the allotted task.
The poem accords
so perfectly with the Chigi cupola that
be a direct description of
it.
And
spired by a recollection of Plato, 2 amoves
around the Demiurge.
133
it
might almost
without doubt Pontano himself was
who
in the
But his primary concern was
the principles of astrology with Christian
in-
Timaeus assembles a council of to integrate
dogma. This reconciliation of
science with theology, of Providence with necessity
this
balancing of two
universes, so anxiously striven for by Renaissance thought
sudden, for one brief moment, realized. But art alone
134
is
here on a
has achieved the
By some special magic the pagan and and the sacred, sensual grace metaphysical grandeur, are blended here in an exquisite and tranquil light. miracle
130
the art of Pontano and Raphael.
921-923. {."When they are gathminds and resources, as they had been ordered to appear, they await the signal, eager to execute the commands.") On Pontano's astrological ideas and their evolution, see the interesting analysis by Soldati, op. cit^ chap, iv, pp. 232-253. Urania,
I,
ered, with ready
m Urania,
I,
924.
ing had been so strictly scientific and pagan as to exclude all possibility of a theological concept of the universe, attempted toward the end of his life to introduce a religious corrective into his doctrine. It was then that he adopted the theory of the hea\enly bodies as instruments. He even admits the freedom of the will though with strong reservation , a <
>
lz2
Ibid, 946-947.
factor
133
Timaeus, 40 D, 41 D. true that Pontano, whose early think-
with these tardy corrections, his philosophic system lacks harmony and unity.
134 It is
which he had previously neglected. But
Ill
The Moral Tradition
METHOD
E
J_
of interpolation which consists in endowing mythology
with edifying meaning goes back at least as far as the Stoics." Their great
desire to reconcile philosophy with popular religion led not only to their at-
we have already
tempt, which
noted, to regard the gods as symbols of the
physical world; they also undertook at times to discover spiritual significance in the figures
and even
in the
names of
the gods,
and moral lessons
in their
adventures.
At
glance, this undertaking
first
would seem
to
have had small chance
of success; the Olympians, by and large, were anything but models of virtue.
The
story of their orgies and cruelties, their incests and fornications,
oughly unedifying.
was both
It
was
is
thor-
for this very reason that the exegesis of the Stoics
legitimate and necessary.
It
went without saying that Homer, who
recounted all these disgraceful acts of the gods, was a great and noble poet.
Could he conceivably have
told such
impious tales without some hidden 2
tent? No, the thing
is
manifestly impossible;
we must
therefore
in-
make every
meaning when he speaks of the gods to disand the deeper meaning. The first may be frivo-
effort to understand his real
tinguish between the literal
lous but the second has weight, and
it is
the second
meaning which
is
the
true one. 1
See Decharme, Critique des
ligieuses
.
.
.
,
traditions
pp. 274-275, 288 ; Gilbert
terms,** says Heraclides, "he was guilty of the greatest impieties." It therefore follows that
re-
Mur-
Homer must have used allegory. See R. Hinks, Myth and Allegory in Ancient Art (London,
Greek Religion, chap, iv, pp. 165-169; G. Boissier, La Religion romaine, n, chap, vii * ulf Homer was not speaking in allegorical
ray, Five Stages of
1939)
84
,
Introduction: pp. 3-4.
THE MORAL TRADITION Thus the
3
method came
allegorical
85
We
into being.
find
it
systematically
applied, at the end of the pagan era, in two small treatises
the
Homeric
Allegories of Heraclitus, and Phornutus*
Commentary on the Nature of the
Gods* From them we
attributes of Mercurius
learn that the
manly
Quadratus
3
fullness and fecundity of reason, and
signify the
that the Harpies
who rob
Phineus of his food are courtesans devouring the patrimony of young men.
The Neoplatonists scale
and
revive the
in a different spirit.
same method, but they use
They apply
it
not only to
it
on a broader
Homer
but to all re-
ligious traditions, including foreign cults; the entire universe
is
for
them
nothing but a great myth, endowed with spiritual meaning. Their attitude
no longer one of rationalization, aimed ties; it is the attitude
at explaining
away
of meaning within a sacred
text.
One example
On
the
is Sallust,
Gods and
the
As proof he
In the that
is
Em-
7
fervently de-
apparent only to
deliberately selects fables of the grossest surface
the tale of Saturn devouring his children, or of Attis
latter, for
we
friend of the
World
fends mythology, the true meaning of which, he declares,
immorality
is
shocking absurdi-
of belie\ers and mystics, reverently seeking the depths
peror Julian, who in his treatise
the initiate.
and Cybele.
example, he proves by analysis of the myth and the ritual
are to see "the trials of the soul in
its
search for God."
Without
losing anything of their value as a source of religious emotion, these legends
which Cicero and Seneca scorned as ''absurdities" and "old wives' tales" are thus given pious and philosophical explanation,
The weakness of
this
system of interpretation
ideas in old images which are no longer understood 3
The
physical
interpretations
are
also
alle*
gories, but for the sake of clarity we have reserved the term for interpretations of a moral
character.
mythologica physica et ethiccL, Latine . . . (Cambridge, 1671), for Palaephatus, Herachtus, Phornutus, Sallustius, etc. On the interpretation of myths bj the
*0puscula Graece
et
Stoics, in general, see
Decharme, op.
<
it.,
pp.
Phornutus, 1505), p. 32.
6
Heraclitus,
chap.
De
De
natura
deorum
incredibilibus
(Venice,
s icat serious thoughts playful
with
much truth with fiction.**) 2. Epigrammatum libn in, i, p.
ones,
Poemata, pL. 15. This formula recalls that used by Theodulph of Orleans in speaking of Ovid. Cf. supra, p. 92.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
98
He
further taught them the necessity of concealing truth beneath the
mantle of myth, and how
do
to
it:
... Comment On
doit feindre et cocker les fables proprement,
Et a bien deguiser la verite des ckoses 9 fabuleux manteau dont elles sont
D un But in the
light of Neoplatonism, the
much
something other and
humanists discovered in mythology
greater than a concealed morality: they discovered
the Christian doctrine
religious teaching
encloses.**
itself.
by means of symbols, in fact, made it possible not only wisdom beneath fictions of the most diverse character and
Interpretation to discern a lofty
the most unedifying appearance:
immutable in
its
further led to a grasp of the fundamental
it
profane wisdom (variable teaching) and the wisdom of the
relationship between
05
and Socrates '^confirms"
cords with Moses, that of a prophet.
this
And
the
in
its
outward form, but
Bible. Just as Plato ac-
M
so Homer's voice
Christ,
Magi of Persia and Egypt, who
masked sacred maxims under a cloak of Fable, are linked 67
Israel.
this
Against
background,
declining paganism had evolved that all religions have the
&
was inevitable
that the
that
in seeming, is
under
namely,
their varied forms,
hidden a common
09
According
to others,'
its
the ancient peoples, even including the bar-
barians, shared from the beginning in the Christian revelation; either
came altered it
Mar-
truth.
Ficino leans toward a sort of universal theism, with Platonism as
gospel.
of
to the sages
same idea which
should occur to the humanists
same worth, and
however puerile and monstrous silio
it
is
in their turn
it
be-
in their hands, or the sages of each nation deliberately disguised
in order to protect
it
from vulgar profanation.
This will explain certain strange utterances, "Ronsard,
Hymne
Laumonier) ,
rv, p.
^Concordat Mosis
de
Uautomne
(ed.
P.
313.
best to tiamty,
Marsdi Ficini
among them Erasmus'
make Homer
sug-
into a prophet of Chris-
and to reconcile Plato and Jesus.
07 Cf. the parallel between Biblical "wise men" and those of the Gentiles, supra, pp. 16 2. 08 Byzantine writers had taken up the same
Furthermore, Gemistos (=Plethon) is known to have influenced Marsilio Ficino. ^Ficino's biography of Plato, placed at the head of his translation (Omnia divini Platonis opera tralatione M. F. [Lyons, 1584] ) , has the character of the life of a saint TO See Agostmo Steuco, De perenni philoso-
idea; in the eleventh century Psellos does his
phialibrix. (1540).
et Platonis.
opera ( Basel, 1561 ) , I. "Confirmatio Christianorum per Socratica,"
66
op. cit^ p. 868.
THE MORAL TRADITION gestion that
more
of Fable with
merely goria, this
its
literally:
profit is
perhaps to he derived from reading the literature
allegorical content in
"Immo
99
mind than from
the Scriptures taken
cum
fortasse plusculo fructu legetur poetica
quam narratio sacrorum librorum,
si
consistas in cortice."
n
alle-
Or, again,
somewhat disturbing admission of Mutianus Rufus to one of his friends: et una dea. Sed sunt multa uti numina ita et nomina: Jupiter,
"Est unus deus Sol, Apollo,
Moses, Christus, Luna, Ceres, Proserpina, Tellus, Maria. Sed
haec cave enmities. Sunt enim occulta silentio tamquam Eleusinarum dearum mysteria.
Utendum
T2
est fahulis
Thus we may see how this path;
atque enigmatum integumentis in re sacra."
far certain humanists
were willing
to
go along
they did not stop e\en at heresy. Neoplatonic exegesis, which had
presented them with hitherto undreamed-of possibilities of reconciliation be-
tween the Bible and mythology, had now so obscured the distinction between the two that Christian
an allegorical
sense.
dogma no longer seemed
While
it
acceptable in anything but
was no doubt best for people as a whole
to con-
tinue to accept the traditional teachings with naive faith, learned men, with their
more enlightened minds, should be able
played in Christianity, as in
A
PARALLEL
pagan
belief,
to discern the inevitable part
the
by
weaving of fables.'
3
influence reinforced that of Neoplatonism. In 1419, Cristoforo
de'Buondelmonti, a Florentine priest traveling over the island of Andros,
bought there a Greek manuscript which he brought back with him to
Italy.
This was the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo Niliacus, an obscure Alexandrian of the second or fourth century A.D.,
who claimed
71
Enchtrid ion militis Chnstiam (Basel, 1518), 63. Erasmus gives as examples Circe, Tantalus, Sisyphus, and the Labors of Herp.
coles. 73
("There is but one god and one goddess, but many are their powers and names: Jupiter, Sol, Apollo," etc. "But have a care in speaking these things. They should be hidden in silence sacred as are the Eleusmian mysteries; things must needs be wrapped in fable and Der Briefwechsel des Mutianus enigma.**)
in this
work
to set forth the
Rufus (ed. Krause [Cassel, 18851), 28. Mutianus adds: "Tu, Jove, hoc est Optimo Maximo Deo propitio, contemne tacitus deos minutos. Quum Jovem nomino, Christum . ." ("You, since intelhge et verum Deum Jupiter, the best and greatest god, is propi.
tious
to
you,
When
may
despise
lesser
gods
in
say Jupiter, understand me to mean Christ and the true God**) 73 See the biography of M. Rufus in F. Halsilence.
I
bauer, Mutianus Rufus (Leipzig, 1929).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
100
hidden meaning of the sacred symbols used in ancient Egypt. lieved that a real discovery
was
to sanction the
had been made. In
Everyone he-
reality, all that
Horapollo did
mistaken view of hieroglyphics which had arisen by
of Apuleius, Plutarch, and Plotinus of rebuses designed to
make
religious precepts incomprehensible to the pro-
showed the greatest enthusiasm for
which so admirably confirmed their
they supposed that the great
minds of Greece had been
which, in their turn,
Egyptian ""mysteries"
way
namely, that they formed an ensemble
fane. Later, Marsilio Ficino and his circle this little treatise,
74
theories. Naturally, initiated into these
were of course one more pre-
figuration of the teachings of Christ.'"
The Hieroglyphica played a considerable role both in humanistic think7" in art. The work was printed for the first time by Aldus in 1505,
ing and
but well before that date
De
it
had inspired a chapter of Leon
Battista Alberti's
re aedificatoria," and had manifestly influenced the illustrations of a fa-
mous book,
the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or
Dream
of Poliphilo,
by
Francesco Colonna.'* But Horapollo's example inspired the humanists, above all, to
look for some contemporary equivalent of the ancient cryptograms.
This equivalent was offered by the emblemata, the prototype of which was
provided by Alciati in his is
first
collection, published in
153 1.
70
The "emblem"
a picture which hides a moral lesson; an accompanying explanation
~*0ri Apollonis Xiliaci de sacris notts et sculp tuns hbn u title of the Kerver edition [ Paris, 1551] ). Furthermore, Horapollo knows the hieroglyphics of the Roman period much I
than his contemporaries do. See the critical edition by Fr. Sbordone, Hon Apolbetter
(Naples, 1940), and
lonis Hieroglyphica
The
translated
by George Boas (Bollingen Series xxm, New 1950 York, 75 Cf. the address to the reader in the Hleroglyphica of Pieno Valenano fed. of 1575): ". . ut sane non temere Pythagorara, Platonem, aliosque summos \iros ad Aegyptios of
Hieroglyphics
Horapollo,
) ,
nature of things, divide and human.") 70 "We shall naturally treat of the Hieroglyphica
to mythology. General be found in K. Giehlow, "Die des Humanismus in der Hieroglyphenkunde Allegone der Renaissance,** Jahrb. d. Kunst' samml. d. Allerhoch. Kaiserhauses, xxxii (1915), and in L. Volkmann, Bilderschnften der Renaissance, Hieroglyphik und Emblematik in thren Beziehungen und Fortimrkungen
divinarum apenre."
humanarumque (".
.
.
you
rerum
naturam
will understand that
it
not by mere chance that Pythagoras, Plato, and other great men went to the Egyptians to is
acquire learning, as speaking through hieroglyphs means nothing less than revealing the
only
studies
(
in
relation
will
Leipzig, 1923 ) . Bk. VIH, ch. iv.
7T
TS
.
doctrinae gratia profectos mtelligas: quippe cum hierogljphice loqui nihil aliud sit, quam
makes
Published in 1499, but written as early as
1467. T9
See the invaluable work of Mario Praz, Studies in Seventeenth Century Imagery* I, Studies of the Warburg Institute, HI (1939), a study of the origin and later history of the emblems and devices, seen by the author as products of the same spirit which produced the epigrams and concetti.
THE MORAL TRADITION
101
possible to recognize the meaning behind the image. Alciati, of course, borrowed from Horapollo, his model, but he used many other sources as well.
it
He
took his texts from the Latin fabulists and historians, especially from
Martial and the poets of the Anthology; the epigram, in brevity, lent itself ideally to his purpose.
As
its
for the pictures, aside
beings,
lastly, gods.
Mythological characters play a prominent part. Alciati's
from a few
human
bizarre figures these represent animals or plants, sometimes
and sometimes,
sententious
Emblematum
liber^
we
80
Leafing
through
find Pan, Bacchus, Juno, Thetis, Minerva,
Hercules, the Graces and Harpies, Scylla and Niobe, Tantalus and Pro-
metheus, Ganymede, Actaeon, Icarus, Narcissus, Proteus, dwells on these figures
\\ith delight;
many
must not forget that they have a further function vice or virtue or to
embody
The eye
either to symbolize
some
a moral truth. Faunus represents luxuria; Tanta-
Bellerophon, intelligence and courage overcoming obstacles;
lus, avarice;
Ganymede, the unsullied soul finding at
etc.
of them are charming. But \\e
its
joy in God. Pallas, with the dragon
her side, signifies the virgin's need for
tection against the snares of
Vera haec
strict
guardianship and for pro-
Love (Emblema xxii)
effigies
innuptae
:
est Palladis: ejus
Hie draco, qui dominae constitit ante pedes. Cur dirae comes hoc animal? Custodia rertim Huic data: sic lucos, sacraque templa colit. Innuptas opus
est
cura asservare puellas
Amor*
Pervigili: laqueos undique tendit
1
Venus placing her foot on a tortoise (fig. 59), an image borrowed from Pausanias, teaches that women should remain at home and be chary of
(Emblema cxcv)
speech
.
s
.
.
:
Manere domi,
81 *
et tacitas decet esse puellas.
Dinet, in his Cinq Lures des HieTOglvphes 1614), demotes an entire book the
(Paris,
the hieroglyphs which can be drawn from the ancient gods. 81 "This is the true portrait of Virgin Pallasthis is her dragon, at the feet of his mistress, Why is that animal a companion to the goddess? Because it has the custody of things: thus it protects the sacred woods and fifth
I
pp. 548
ff
)
to
the
temples.
guarded with his nets
Unmarried
girls
ever- watchful
care:
be Love la>s
should
'*
f snares]
M * Venus
with
everywhere foot on tortoise
occurs
in
ancient examples (Berlin Museum, 5th century B.C.) and in Hellenistic statues, especially
(The symbol at Dura-Europos, Gyrene, etr seems to have been preserved chiefly in the East.) Thus the source may have been not solely literary.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGA.\ GODS
102 For
Alciati's imitators, this figure took
riched with
on new
significance,
and was
en-
new details: La tortue dit que femme n'aille loing, Le doigt lere, qua parler ne s'aiance, La clef en main denote qu'avoir soing Doibt sur les biens du mary par prudence.**
Each
Bacchus exhibits one of the harmful
attribute of
effects of intem-
53
perance, and each of the various aspects of Mercury conceals some sage 6* maxim. But it is the likenesses of Cupid which offer the emblem-maker the richest material if not the
chariot
drawn by
irresistible
fcv)
;
lions
most varied. One image shows him riding in a
which he has tamed, proof that the power of Love
again, he holds a fish in one
hand and flowers in the
is
other,
showing that both land and sea are subject to the laws of Love (en). Else-
where (evil) we see lightning expending his wings
ments tells
he
is
critically
us
how he
but
made the stronger.
on the
itself in
vain against his weapons and
Finally, Alciati enumerates
attributes usually assigned to the
god by the poets, and
himself interprets them; he then offers his 85
Love, conforming to the god's true nature.
and com-
own
This theme and
description of its
variations,
derived from the Anthology (two of the emblems also portray
wounded
Love), were certainly thoroughly familiar to the Renaissance academies,
where Cupid's arrows, his wings, and his bound eyes were favorite topics of discussion.
At
this juncture,
one
may pause
of the emblems. "What!" one
may
in
some surprise
at the
banal character
well exclaim, "is there anything mysteri-
ous here? Are these subjects profound, these teachings sacred?" The disappointed reader, finding nothing but commonplaces clothed in transparent dress, begins with
wonder
presumption which placed under the patronage of the Sphinx. The truth is that the science 86 of emblems had two contradictory ends in view. On the one hand, it did insuch
good reason
to
futilities
82
La Pemere, Emblemes (ed. 1599). (**The tortoise means that a wife should not go far, the lifted finger, that she should refrain from talking; the key, that she should take good care of her husband's possessions.**) 83
at the
xxv : In stctuam BacchL
^vm, xcvra, CXVIIL Junius, another celebrated erablematist, analyzed Mercury's attribates one by one: Insignia Mcrcurii quid? ^cxin: In statuam Amoris.
w This op.
cit.
has been clearly seen by
M.
Praz,
THE MORAL TRADITION deed aim
an esoteric means of expression; on the other, how-
wished to be didactic, offering lessons which, through their visual
it
ever,
at establishing
103
presentation,
would be within reach of everyone.
Its
ambition was to be at one
and the same time an occult and a popular language. The humanists do not appear to have been disturbed by this contradiction, and unfailingly regarded
emblems as a sublime
the
human
creation of the
67
spirit.
It
should thus not
surprise us that this pseudo science led them, as their pseudo Platonism did, to carry their reconciliation of
the point
pagan mythology and Christian teaching
where the two were actually merged.
In the science of emblems, furthermore,
movement which culminated ffl
soul enraptured
by God; one of
the words of Christ, "Suffer all.
in "the
we
see the
first
outlines of a
embrace of profane and sacred philoso-
"We have already seen Ganymede incarnating the joys of the innocent
phy."
not
Alciati's glossators even recalls at this point
little
children to
come unto me/'
S9
But
Alciati offers us, in addition to a lascivious Cupid, a modest
step
is
them
THUS THE GREAT flows on in
in the
But a further
soon taken: Cupid yields his bow and arrows to the Infant Jesus, who
in his turn uses
still
'AvTepco? to "Epcoq (figs. 100, 101).
vir-
divine
Alexandrian eroticism had been spiritualized and moralized
same way by opposing
this is
and
tuous Cupid (Emblems cix, ex) who symbolizes love of virtue love.
to
in
to pierce
human hearts.
allegorical current of the
90
Middle Ages, far from shrinking,
an ever widening channel. And the gods of the Renaissance are
many
instruments for the edification of the
cases didactic figures
soul.
Certain later contributions in
its
may have
outward look; they brought to
it
rejuvenated mythological allegory
nothing essentially new. Neither Neo-
platonism nor the study of hieroglyphics, in spite of the high expectations 87
As
serious a scholar as Scaliger laid great upon them; they are such, he says, as
tianae philosophiae (1601).
cumquovis ingenio
^This commentator is Claude Mignault (= "Minos"), who issued numerous editions of
certare possint" {/. C. Scdigcn Judicium, at the head of the published editions of Alciati.)
Alciati, beginning in 1571. *>E g., in O. Vaenms, Amoris divini emble-
stress
to vie with
any mind:
Mutio,
De
**ut
osculo ethnicac et Chris-
mata.
We
shall study the Christian
emblems
of the late sixteenth century in Bk. n, chap.
ii.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGA.\ GODS
104
and the bold ventures they provoked, brought about any de-
that they raised
son.
and
from the medieval tradition
cisive deviation
As a whole, they merely
between the mythological
sixteenth centuries sixth.
believed that he had recovered the secret of the lost
antiquity was
that the Fathers
moralities" of the fifteenth and
and those of the twelfth century, or even of the ninth or
The scholar who
wisdom of
w<
to the ultimate sources
sometimes almost amount-
of that tradition. Hence the curious resemblance
ing to identity
that for a very simple rea-
back
led the humanists
had
in reality
inherited
merely returning
from the
to the
hybrid doctrine
defenders of paganism.
last
91
He
prided himself on walking in the footsteps of Plato, but the paths he followed
had been well worn since the time of Fulgentius.
When
Alciati
comments on the
92
attributes of Cupid,
of Carolingian scholars. Turning back to Theodulph Tela, puer, virus, fax tuus ardor,
And
if
we
Amor
he echoes the voice
find:
w .
.
,
the Renaissance transforms Alexandrian eroticism into Christian
not new: as
we have
seen, the Middle Ages read and nuns of the thirteenth cenScriptural meaning Metamorphoses, Ars of readers the amatoria. were devout tury
teaching, such boldness
is
into the
Moral or theological
truths discovered beneath the
mask of Fable and
the figures of the gods, the fleeting reflection of divine
knowledge It
wisdom
in
in profane
nothing of this had actually been invented by the Renaissance.
was, in the words of Pierre de Nolhac, the "reverie medievale"
the Renaissance
had succumbed
94
to
which
the haunting chimera, born on the ruins of
paganism, of an impossible reconciliation.
The
survival of the gods in these different systems of moral allegory
is
here again confirmed by a wealth of iconographical material from which only
a few examples can be chosen.
The
first
century of the Christian era
to go
furnishes us with two convincing illustrations. 91 It is significant that for his
commentary on
Mignault invokes now Plato, the Fathers of the Church. 92 0. Gruppe, who emphasizes this fact
Alciati,
now
op. cit* pp. 27-28), is nevertheless surprised that
Platonism
did
not
inspire
more
<
daring
no farther back in time
The
95
delicate stucco reliefs of
theories. 93
Cf. supra, p. 90. et rhumanisme,
M Ronsard OT
p
71.
See R. Hinks, Myth and Allegory in Ancient Art Q939).
THE MORAL TRADITION the subterranean basilica at the Porta
Maggiore
in
105
Rome offer eloquent proof
of the spirituality with which the ancient mythology had come to be suffused.
These
genii, bacchantes,
and demigods are charged with symbolism. Thus the
rape of Ganymede by Jupiter's eagle and that of the daughters of Leucippus
by
the Dioscuri typify the ascent of the soul to immortality; Marsyas, Agave,
the Danaids, on the other hand, image the punishments meted out to ignorance
and pride.
86
As Carcopino has shown,
97
the decoration as a whole embodies
the great esoteric doctrines associated with the Pythagorean sects. recall,
Need we
moreover, that the Christian art of the catacombs borrowed from my-
thology the symbolic motif of amorini as vintagers which later caused the Basilica of Constantine to be mistaken for a temple of Bacchus!
Similarly,
we
see the Middle Ages Christianizing, or "moralizing," pa-
gan figures. In the previous chapter
made by
9r "
we have remarked upon
the singular use
gems engraved with likenesses of the gods.
scholars of
They were
not always prompted by ignorance or naivete, but sometimes deliberately
transformed the meaning of an image by means of a simple inscription. Cupid became the Angel of the Annunciation, and Minerva the Virgin Mary.*
But above divinities
ous
sets
all,
18
the allegorical treatises in which the attributes of pagan
were systematically interpreted in a moral sense gave
rise to curi-
of miniatures. Within their moralizing framework, these treatises
contained extremely precise and visually clear descriptions
ready inspiration
a source of
to the illustrator. It is thus, for example, that
a Vatican
manuscript (Palatinus 1066) has been provided with lively images of Juno, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn, which, 96
Lucretius (in, 976-1021), who denies the of Hell and Tartarus, saw the tonnents of the Danaids, and those of Tantalus, Tityos, Sisyphus, etc ... as the suffer-
it is
true,
bear
little
resemblance
existence
Goblet en argent des amours vendagenrs da Musee d'Alexandne,** Societe Royale d'Archeo-
ings of souls agitated by vain terrors or guilty
logic d'Alexandrie, Cahier 1 (1939). 9S In the thirteenth century, an abbot of St. fitienne in Caen had the following words
engraved around a Cupid: "Ecce mitto ange-
passions:
Sed Tityos nobis hie
estf in
Quern volucres lacerant ("But our Tityos love, 97 J.
whom
.
.
amore jacentem
.
is here, cast
down
in
the winged things tear": LCL.) La Basiiique pythagoricienne
Carcopino,
de la Porte Majeure, 3rd ed. (Paris, 1926), w tt esp.n, l: Mythologieetmysteres. 97 *See also the silver vase from Alexandria with 'flr subjects. Cf. A. Adrian!, "Le
lum meum";
in 1296, the chapter of
Noyon
surrounded a Minerva with the inscription: "Ave Maria gratia plena." See E. Miintz, "La tradition antique au Moyen-Age" (reviewing Springer, Das Naehleben der Antike im Mittclalter [Bonn, 18863), Journal des Savants (Oct. 1887 Jan.-March, 1888 >; and Alma Frey-Sallmann, Aus dem Naehleben antaker Gottergestaltcn (Leipzig, 1931 >, chap, li, D.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
106 to the rulers
of Olympus, but in which every pictured detail embodies some
moral idea. \Te thus see Juno: quae pingitur: tertice telata, iride sertata,
unguentis et
sceptro decorata
afflata,
auro ligata
.
.
.
atibus vallata
humore
The
39
rigata et luce lustrata.
miniaturist has provided a point-for-point reproduction of this por-
30), the meaning of which receives a learned explanation in the
trait (fig.
Fulgentius metaforalis.^
Such
descriptions, issuing
from the edifying
Marti anus Capella, and collected, as
we
tradition of Fulgentius
compilations, passed from these sources into literature. ized that the French epics
and
shall see later, in mythographical
and romances are
full of
It
has long been real-
mythological characters.
Frequently these figures issue straight from Ovid; often, however, following the ancient use of eic^pasis (descriptio) , they slip into the rhetorical description of a 101
iot,
But
which
work of if
of a statue, wall painting, tapestry,
art
we turn to the Roman de
interests us.
la
Rose,
we
or war char-
tent,
shall find there the tradition
The predilection of Guillaume de Lorris for allegory is 102 it was from the Vatican Mythographers I and II
well known; furthermore, that
Jean de Meung derived his knowledge of mythology. That great scholar
was unquestionably
fitted to
recognize, beneath the "integumenz" of Fable,
une grant partie des secrez de philosophic 99
.
.
.
Liebeschutz, op. at, p. 88. (. . . "who is depicted with a veil on her head, wreathed by a rainbow, fanned with perfumes, decorated with a sceptre, bound by a golden chain, surrounded with birds, moistened by
4713-4774), Jupiter, fighting against the giants, is seen on the chariot of Amphiaraos
dew, iUununated by Ught.
A,
another
ms.
of
(Rome, Vatican, 101
.
.
.-)
Liebeschutz
(holding thunderbolt and spear)
u
the Palat. lat. 1726
[fig.
* *. Im A V *nus
37]).
Fu
On
&c0parts in antiquity, see R. Hinks, op. cit. y pp. 11-12; and A. Frey-Sallmann, op. cit, chap. i. In the Roman, de Thebes (w.
:
Jupiter est de Fautre part, n famre ^en
102
la diesse
frs (Opere fed Milanesil, n. 312 1, another Venus, flower-strewn by the Graces; Venus and Mars, in the National Gallery, London; Pallas and the Centaur, in the Uffizi. Another Pallas has been lost. See Poggi, "La giostra medicea del 1475 e la Pallade di Botticelli," VArte 1902 1, pp. 71-77, and the complementary note on the subject of the raaro^ietry Venus in Urbino; also A. Warburg, "Die (
verschollene Pallas," in Gesammelte Schriften,
i,
pp. 23-25. that need be mentioned here are the
U5 A1I
penetrating analyses by Warburg, reproduced in the Gesammelte Schriftcn, pp. 1-61, with
important appendices, pp. 307-329, and the by E. H. Gombrich, A Study on the Neoplatonic Symbolism of his Circle," Journal of the Warburg and Courtaudd Institutes, vm (1945), pp. 6 ff. 11G See W. von Bode, Sandra Botticelli^ 2nd recent
remterpretation
"Botticelli's
edition
Mythologies,
(1922),
allegorische
iv:
"Mythologische und im Auftrage der
Darstellungen
Mediceer." 7 The Birth of Venus and Venus and Mars.
La
giostra di Giultano, by Politian, shows the close connection between these paintings and the tournament,
THE MORAL TRADITION
113
i:s
the conspiracy of the Pazzi.
They
also represent, in disguised form,
amo-
rous memorials and tributes dedicated by the two brothers to their "nymphs,"
Simonetta Vespucci and Lucrezia Donati.
119
Yet there
is
nothing anecdotal
about these figures, with their air of remoteness and the unreality of their
38.
ting.
They 120
Shades,
set-
Combat of Ratio and Libido
transport us to another world
to the Elysian fields
among
the
or to a universe of abstractions. The great enigmas of Nature, of
Death and Resurrection, seem
to hover about these dreamlike
forms of Youth,
Love, and Beauty, phantoms from an ideal Olympus. In this skein of symbol118
Pallas
and the Centaur (Wisdom taming
brute Force). 119
op.
Perhaps to others as well; see A. Warburg,
of, appendix,
p. 325.
120
The Primavera. "When the picture was painted, Giuliano and Simonetta were dead, Simonetta's death having occurred in the month
of April, as Lorenzo notes
(Commento
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
114
ism, profound speculation
and gallant gesture are
intertwined,
and
the chron121
small princely court blends with legends from the old cosmogonies.
icle of a
Modern commentators have undoubtedly
at times
been guilty of further
entangling the skein under pretext of identifying the strands that compose it
But
there
if
is
any domain
in
which ingenuity
is
called for,
and
in
the most daring hypotheses have a chance of arriving at the truth,
which even it is
that of
the circle of humanists, poets, and philosophers where this singular series of
mythological scenes was conceived.
The advisers,
whole entourage, his
painter's
formed
121 *
a coterie of litterateurs
and
clients
protectors, friends
and
and pedants, men who delighted in
the spinning of farfetched theory. Politian, the learned interpreter of myths,
who paraphrased
m
in his Giostra di GiuliaHomeric hymn to Aphrodite 12S and as well as for for numerous themes no, provided sculpture painting 12 * where mania in the for "emamorous rebuses, much demand at this court the
alcuni de t>uoi Sonetti, Opere fed Simiom], i, 27 > : **Mon questa ecceUentissima donna nel mese d'apnle, nel quale tempo la
sopra
terra sj suole vestire dj diversi
excellent lady died in the in which season the earth
("This April,
is accustomed to with a variety of flowers.") An Elysian Venus appears also in Tibullus, Jacobsen has earned this funereal 3, 57 fL
clothe
I,
herself
to
interpretation della Primavera," (
"
fieri-
month of
1897
>
,
u extremes. AUegona Architio stonco delVarte
its
pp. 321 fL, and ''Merkur als PsychoJahrb. d, komgl. preuss. Kunst1900) , pp. 141 ff.
pompos,"
samml 121 The
{
birth
of
Venus
(castration of Saturn),
by
Politian,
st.
Giostra,
is
and
a is
99;
it
cosmic myth so recounted takes place
"sotto diverse volger di pianeti"; similarly, it is the appearance of the planet Venus which
the retnrn of Spring (Pnmavera), with its dances and its lo\e-making. (Cf. the planetary series by Baccio BandinellL) A. "Warburg and his commentators fesp. heralds
have pp. 325-326) how, at this point,
tions relate directly to cal tradition. 1211
brought out two composithe medieval astrologi-
strikingly Botticelli's
E. Gombrich, op. crt, pp. 7-60. This (unfinished) work by Politian remains the capital source for explanation of the three Venuses. It contains two sections: 122
(1) a description, according to the principle of Ac^poffct , of the bas-reliefs which decorate the palace of Venus (six cosmogonic allegories,
one of which concerns the birth of the
goddess; twehe scenes of amorous seduction, demonstrating Venus' power over the other gods>; the appearance of the nymph
who
is to
convert
123
GiuHano
to love.
of Michelangelo's Centaurs and Lapiths. It was in the Giostra that Raphael found the theme of the Galatea. See E. Muntz, Les Precurseurs de la Renaissance, p. 206.
Including bas-rehef of
the
subject
the
124
Politian composed the impresa, or device, of Giuliano: branches of greenwood, in flames, with the motto: "In vindi teneras exitnt 9
flamma medullas' See Vasari nesi),
viii,
118.
fed. G. MilaIn the 1513 edition of the
an engraving represents Giuliano praying before an altar on which these branches burn at the feet of a statue of Pallas (see Warburg, "Die verschollene Pallas,** loc. cit.) Lorenzo had as his emblem the laurel Giostra,
tree (Lorenzo = Lauro), and for motto **Ie temps revient" (Luigi Pulci, La giostra fatta . . dal Magnifico Lorenzo, st. 64) ; he bore this in the tournament of 1469 We thus see .
that these paintings by Botticelli are closely allied to the impress amorose commonly painted on tondi and cassoni.
blems"
12B
was so
THE MORAL TRADITION
115
was
also Lorenzo the subtle,
strong. Lorenzo the Magnificent
and one might be tempted nothing more than a
Pico della Mirandola
he invites us
to
deeply into the
to see in the
Primavera, pensive among her flowers,
veiled echo of his songs. is
126
But here the learned voice of
heard;
look more
mystery of
Venus and the three Graces:
"Qui profunde
et intellectuali-
ter divisionem unitatis Vene-
reae in trinitatem Gratiarum .
.
.
dum
intellexerit,
debite
videbit
mo-
procedendi
in
12T
Orphica Theologia."
And from
the whole Flor-
entine circle, gorged as they
were
with
there
antiquity,
seems to arise a confused mur-
AbnAVaws
jtfi oat! late f&ic$3 emphasizes it in the edition of 1551. 14
See K. Giehlow, op. cit^ and L. Volkmann, have indicated the role of "emblemop. cit. atics" in the allegories of Botticelli,
We
M1 D. von Hadeln, "Some Little-Known Works by Titian," Burlington Magazine, pp. 179180, reprod.
pL
H, b.
XL.V (1924),
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGA.\ GODS
120
representing three male heads
one seen in fullface, the other two in profile
above three animal heads, dog, wolf, and lion
{fig.
40). The painting had
been believed to represent the three ages of life, although astonishment
had
been expressed at strange features in the composition. Admittedly, Titian's 142
allegories are not always clear,
but this six-headed monster
is
of an un-
wonted barbarity. In reality, as recent analysis has shown,
143
we have
here a curious com-
The human heads represent Prudence, in the terms moral theology. If we turn to Fulgentius metaforalis, in fact, we
bination of two symbols.
of scholastic
composed of three faculties Memoria, Intelligencia, and Praevidentia, whose respective functions are to conserve the past, to know find that Prudentia is
the present, and to foresee the future: "Tripartita perlustrat tempora vitae."
"*
Hence the frequent representation of Prudence with a triple head 1 pavement of the Siena Cathedral. Thus this first sym*
as, for example, in the
bol belongs to medieval philosophy and allegory. It
remains for us to interpret the second
we must go much
a statue of Serapis whose hand
rests
on a monstrous
wolf, and dog. Only the three heads are together, being
the three animal heads.
farther back in time. In his Saturnalia,
wrapped
What
the
is
creature, at once lion,
visible, the bodies, which are fused
in the coils of a serpent.
draco conectit volumine suo."
For this
Macrobius describes
meaning of
Macrobius himself gives the explanation. "The presses the present; the wolf, which drags
"Easque formas animalium this strange attribute?
lion, violent
away
its
and sudden,
victims, is the
the past, robbing us of memories; the dog, fawning on
its
ex-
image of
master, suggests to
us the future, which ceaselessly beguiles us with hope." The three symbolic
animals are thus the three aspects of Time. 146
spired Titian.
The
text
was familiar
142 To mention only the Sacred and Profane Love ot the Borghese Gallery. 143 E. Panofsky and F. Saxl, "A Late Antique Religious Symbol in Works by Holbein and
Titian," Burlington
Magazine, XLIX
(1926),
pp. 177-181. 114
See supra, p. 94. 145 See also the Prudentia in the Baptistry of
Bergamo; in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, the
It is
manifestly this text which in-
to the Renaissance humanists.
With
Prudentia of Lorenzetti holds a torch with
on which is written: praeteritum praesens futurum. In the Stanza della Segnatura, Raphael has painted a Prudentia with two heads. triple flame
W6 A
direct deriration in the sixteenth cen-
tury
from the statues of Serapis
improbable.
is
most
THE MORAL TRADITION their taste for pseudo-Egyptian allegories, they
the enigmatic character of the monster tion. In fact, this
signum triceps
Poliphilo, and was
must have been attracted by
and by Macrobius' ingenious explana-
had already come
to be seen later
121
to light in the
Dream
of
by Pierio Valeriano as a perfect model of
14T
the "hieroglyph."
What seems Titian
is
to
us particularly interesting in the painting attributed to
the combination of the two symbols.
completely distinct ideas. The sents the three phases of
Time
first,
will
show
embody two
borrowed from medieval morality, repre-
as encompassed in Prudence; these are purely
intellectual concepts, personified in
human
form. The second, issuing from
the Oriental cults of the late Empire, depicts
up of
A moment's thought
blends two images which
the significance of this synthesis. It
Time
as a mythical force
three ravening beasts. But what does this contrast matter?
made
Humanism
is
a stream into which flow all the waters of the past, mingling the most diverse
forms and ideas, fusing Christian allegory with the ancient symbols of the barbarian religions. 147
is
A
1 *3
detailed history of the signum triceps . Panofsky, Herkules can by
given
Scheidewege (Leipzig, 1930), pp 12 f. 148 We have intentionally disregarded the Psyche myth (see supra, p. 86), which is of
late
and
deliberately charged with implications. In the humanism art of the Renaissance, it was to achieve
origin
spiritualistic
and
exceptional importance. See Gruyer, Raphael et Fonto-quite, n, p. 169.
IV
The Encyclopedic Tradition
To
Up
this point
we have been
torical, physical,
studying the three great traditions
his-
within which the gods survived. For the
and moral
sake of clarity we have distinguished between them, and kept them as separate
from one another as possible. In actual fact, from the very beginnings
were often intermingled.
If in antiquity, as
up
to the sixteenth century,
we have
they
seen, the different philo-
sophical schools proposed different interpretations "of the nature of the
gods," these interpretations were not mutually exclusive; they were accessible simultaneously to cultivated minds,
which did their best
to reconcile
them. Logic would doubtless have demanded the adoption of one to the exclusion of the rest, but
men
felt that
three keys were better than one.
times one key, sometimes another, seemed
more appropriate
Some-
to the character
of a given myth. Similarly, the scholars of the
We
Middle Ages made no
1
clear-cut choice.
frequently find them applying all three methods to a single personage or
episode, or employing one
method
after the other in connection with different 2
events or people. Thus Pierre d'Ailly, a remote disciple of Isidore, considers
Compendium cosmographiae, sometimes as heavenly bodies, and sometimes as rulers who gave their names to various parts of the world
the gods, in his
thus unhesitatingly advancing contradictory explanations.
On
the other hand, intersection of the three systems
early date.
The
may be
noted at an
points of contact or of overlapping between the historical,
physical, and moral spheres are easy to find; at need, intermediate terms 1
See Alphandery, op. at.
2
Petrus de Aliaco,
Ymago
[Paris, 19301
miaidi (ed Buron
122
) 7
chaps, xxiii, xrv, xzviiL
THE ENCYCLOPEDIC TRADITION
We
bridge the gaps between them.
123
have already seen, for example, how the
physiological notion of "temperament" facilitates passage from the physical 3
moral world, from the planetary gods to the virtues. But morality can also offer a helping hand to history. Boccaccio, for example, in composing
to the
his
De
casibus virorum et jeminarum illustrium, goes to the heroes of Fable,
viewed as historical personages, in search of edifying anecdotes. Finally, and most important of all, these three domains of knowledge in which we have till
now attempted
to keep the gods confined
and partitioned were in the Middle
Ages not circumscribed nor distinguished from one another. On the contrary, the whole effort of scholasticism was rather to fuse them into one, and to en-
them
close
in a vaster sphere,
which should encompass the whole of human
knowledge.
The encyclopedic
character of medieval culture,
scientia universalis, are strikingly shown,
learned and popular compilations
the
obsession with a
its
from the time of
Summae,
tresors,
Isidore, in both
or miroirs, where
From
the "natural," the "moral," and the "historical" all have their place. the twelfth century on, they are apparent in the
A hierarchy
of the sciences does of course
exist,
domain of scholarship.
with Theology at their sum-
mit; but they form an organic whole, a bloc which resisted disintegration for centuries.
As
Soldati has justly observed,
manism were beginning trinal teaching,
What was
left
4
to ripen in art, the
which only gradually
"Even when the Middle Ages
felt the stirrings
of encyclopedic science had great being, that is to say, classical in
'encyclopedism'
Numbers, as
is
first fruits
still
lived
of 'renewal.
vitality, since its
of hu-
on in doc-
it
.
.
.
antedated
sources."
well known, play a capital role in this reduction of the
diversity of the universe to unity. In
tween the themes dear
to
many cases,
the relations established be-
medieval learning are purely numerical. Like the
twelve Prophets and the twelve Apostles, the seven celestial Spheres and the
seven
gifts
of the Holy Spirit, the four Elements, the four or the seven Ages,
the nine Worthies and the nine
Muses lend themselves
ment, to balanced combinations which seem, after the 3
See supra, pp. 46
ff.
*La
Poesia
p. 105.
to
symmetrical
fact, to
astrologica
treat-
bear testimony
nel
quattrocento,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN CODS
124 to
profound inner
ics," a
relations,
and
a secret harmony between the
to manifest
and those of nature and history. This "sacred mathemat-
truths of the faith
renewal of Pythagoras, would of
itself
account for the integration of
mythology in the encyclopedic system of knowledge.
We
have already
seen, in Chapter II,
how, in the concept of the micro-
cosm, the seven planetary divinities brought about the reconciliation of as-
tronomy and anatomy, and how Dante established the concordance between 5
Ages, Spheres, -and Arts. This type of equivalence, moreover, has very dis-
same chapter we recalled the synoptic tables drawn up by Antiochus of Athens. It would be easy to go still further back by way of the tant origins; in the
Apocalypse, where the seven Seals, the seven Angels, the seven Spirits of recur constantly
God
where the seven tables of destiny are oddly rethe seven Heavens, the seven colors, and the seven
to Assyria,
lated to the seven Seals, 6
days of the week. The hieratic meaning of the number seven would thus be sufficient to assure to the
planetary deities an outstanding place in all the
world systems elaborated throughout the centuries.
A
7
strange document, recently published, shows the unbelievable com-
plexity which these numerical combinations had attained at the end of the
Middle Ages. This
is
a series of outline drawings in which a fourteenth-cen-
tury scholar, a native of Pa via in Italy
who
lived at the court of Avignon, has
attempted to translate his conception of the Universe into geometric terms.
What we have
here are no longer primitive designs like the rosette-shaped
8
which gave summary expression to the relationships between Man, the Elements, and the Seasons, but learned diagrams in which notions of evforms
ery sort
theological, geographical, mineralogical, medical
are combined
according to the laws of number and the divisions of physical space. consists of a
map
One
9
of Europe on which are superposed circles and ovals con-
taining medallions inscribed with the signs of the zodiac, the names of the
5
Convito, n, 14; rv, 24. See supra, p. 49.
a
E. Kenan, UAntecknst, pp. 472-473. Codex palaL laL 1993; facsimile reproduction, with commentary, by R. Salomon, Opicinus de Canutris, Weltbild und Bekenntnisse 7
eines
Avignonesiscken Klenkers des xrv. Jahrhimderts (The Warburg Institute, London,
1936) . Another work of Opicinus was found in the Vatican Library during the second world war, and is to be published by the Warburg Institute. 8
9
See supra, p. 63, Op. cit^ pi. vu.
fig.
13.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIC TRADITION
125
planets and months, of minerals, parts of the body, the gifts of the Spirit,
and the corresponding
the rest. In another,
of the Church crucifix
is
sins,
Holy
with the seven Ages of Life dominating all
10
the five patriarchates, seats of the princes
five points
determine the surface of the earth.
reared; from the
wound
On
the site of Jerusalem a
in Christ's side issues a straight line, rivus
sanguinis, which crosses the picture diagonally. Another line, intersecting
emerges from the lance of Sagittarius. At the center of the zodiac
this one,
immense
stands an
versal, "spiritualis et sacramentalis," with the lines thus created,
Church Uni-
figure of the Virgin; circles symbolize the
on the circumferences of the
Pope
in their midst.
circles,
Along the
are arranged the Patri-
archs and the lesser Prophets, the Planets, the symbols of the stars, the Ele-
ments, the parts of the body, and the names of the Months. In 11
drawing,
another
still
two crucifixes symmetrically opposed are surrounded by a rose-
form made up of Winds, medallions containing Virgin and Child, Sponsus and Sponsa, animals, Evangelists, Dogmas, and Virtues, the Sun and like
Moon,
the Planets and Metals, the Doctors of the Church, and the monastic
orders.
Saturn and Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Minerva are of course no longer
shown as masters of falls into
this
Universe, where the whole normally gravitates and
place around some Christian symbol. But they are always present in
the general scheme ; they go to
make up
versalism of the Middle Ages which
compact networks of curved and
is
the
Summa.
It is
above
set forth here in its full
all the uni-
range; these
straight lines express the relations
between
the cosmic, historical, and moral components of the universe. In a world truly '"catholic," a "total" world, II
ne cesse point
continuite,
non plus que de fame au corps.
12
* THIS CULTURAL unity finds tic
its
expression in monumental
art.
Certain plas-
themes, assembled according to the laws of a more or less rigorous sym-
metry, present the medieval harmony and solidarity in concrete form. In the
iconography of the French cathedrals, in the sculptures of the porches and 10
Ibid.,
pL xx.
" Ibid^
PL XXL
^PauldaudeL
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
126
the motifs of stained-glass windows, Emile cent visual encyclopedia, where illustrated book,
own
all
human
Male has recognized
learning
from the humhlest aspects of nature
destiny. Even
after scholasticism as a
sections of the great edifice
to the secret of
whole began
sixteenth centuries
the zodiac and the Labors of the Months, but
to
man's
crumble, whole
it
still
associate the signs of
continued to develop sym-
metrical series of the Virtues and the Liberal Arts
the
first
dating from the
ninth century, and the second going back to Martianus Capella. inspiration of the
a great
remained standing for centuries. Not only did
and
Italian art in the fifteenth
a magnifi-
is set forth, as in
Dominican monk, Filippo de' Barbieri,
it
Under the
even renewed, in
the confrontation of Sibyls and Prophets, the old parallels between sacred
and profane history."
The are, at
gods, then, whose various
modes of survival we have
distinguished,
a very early date, ordinarily integrated with one or another of these
series, or
with several of them at once. Captured in "the immense net of learn-
ing," they figured from the beginning in the miniatures illustrating the ency14
clopedias;
in the late
Middle Ages and
at the height of the Renaissance,
they continued to have their share in vast decorative ensembles which seem like
imposing ruins of the temple of universal knowledge.
* IT
is difficult to
study these ensembles methodically.
They are of unequal im-
portance, not only as works of art, but also from the point of view of the
thought which they embody. Sometimes current decorative themes are used
with no sign of any organic arrangement which might indicate a carefully thought-out program. Sometimes, on the other hand, everything reveals the artist's
subservience to the order imposed by the mind.
This reservation made, pictured encyclopedias. 15 See L Dorez, La Canzone delle scicnze, etc.
(Bergamo, 1904)
;
let
us attempt to define the role of the gods in the
virtu e delle
P. d'Ancona,
"Le rappresentazioni allegoriche delle arti liberali," VAnc, v (1902), pp. 137-155, 211228, 269-289, 37jh looked even the
art.
originate exclusively in literary sources.
They are
four:
L
from the twelfth century on, In the mavjferip!:? nf those aHea^r-ica: tre-thef on the gods whose contents we ha\e already had o,-ca*.3or. to study." These treatises are
made up
of two parts: a descriptive section, generally brief, in
which the author outlines the figure and attributes of
much
a moral section,
and
its
the
more important of
attributes are interpreted in
the
ea,_h tf the
t^so. in
pagan gods:
v>hioh each figure
an edifying sense.
The elements of these descriptions, and often tho>e of the commentary as well, are
from
late
drawn
for the most part not
mythographers or
another in their inclination
scholiasts, to
neath the surface of Fable
from the
pagan or
classical authors, but
Christian,
who resemble one
search for the secrets of science or wisdcm be-
authors, for example, like Macrobius, Servius,
Lactantius Placidus, Martianus Capella, and Fulgentiut. U'e know, moreover, that in the fifth century mythology had long ceased to be a religion,
and had become instead a theme for didactic
discpiisitions.^ It is this
mixed
erudition, thoroughly impregnated with allegory, \\hich senes as a base for
our medieval compilers,
44
who
collect
and juxtapose material from
sources of this type and then, in turn, pile up their descriptive data which serve as
Remi
own
late
glosses on the slight
groundwork for the whole medley. Thus did
of Auxerre graft his commentary on Martianus; thus, later, did Ride-
wall remoralize Fulgentius."
Now from
around the year 1100,
margins of these
treatises.
illustrations begin to
appear
A manuscript of the commentary of Remi
tianus, for example,** contains a
in the
on Mar-
whole series of gods: Saturn, Cybele and
the Corybantes, Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Mercury. Without the inscriptions \\e 42
**
See Book
I,
Part
1,
chap,
iii,
Supra, pp. 88 ff. This has been demonstrated with extreme precision fay 0. Groppe, Gtschichte der klasu sischen Mythologie, chap. l t A, i: Die Quellen der raythologischen Kenntmsse des abendlandischen Mittelalters", B, "Mythologische Studien von der Volkerwanderung bis rur **
karolingischen Zeit"; C* v, "Die Erneuenmg dcr issenschaften unter Karl dezn Grossen", C, vi, "Das Wiederaufbluhen der symbohschen
^
Mythenauslegung.** This chapter is fundamenstudy of medie\ai mythology, ^In his Fulgentius metahralis- see supra*
tal for the
p. 94.
^'Cod. Monac.
lat.
14271,
fol.
11
\
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGA* GODS
168
would ha'e trouble
in identifying
them, for at
first
glance neither the sijle of
the drawings nor the trappirgs of the figure^ recall the classical Images:
these deities look
ors
i
fig.
much more
like ronteznp* rarie? of the first
German emper-
67 1.
Yet as we examine them more caiefall). indulged in pure fancy; on the contrary,
v,e ^er that
carefully as po^ilue the directions of a certain text.
each personage the attributes as-igned
to
it
the artist has not
has taken pains to follow a&
fie
hy
He
has, in fact, given to
that text: to Cybele, "nsater
her tympana and her sacred tree, the pine of Attis; to Apollo, the r bow, arrows, and aureole; to Jupiter, ihe raven of prophecy and the oak of
deorunV
Dodona, These
attributes,
however, do not Ly themselves provide a correct
portrayal of the gods, for in the absence of any sort of \isual model the
how
has not known
they ought
to
Le represented. The
text tells
from Macrobiu-s. who had
lacra
here
manu is
dextera Gratias gestant"
f
from Pausanias:
it
Saturnalia*
I.
'"Apollinis simu-
17 K What
thus a small replica of the croup of the three Graces.
however, who has never seen anything of the
soil,
Is
known
"caput relatum," says the
text.
called for
Our draftsman,
naively pictures a kind of
bouquet out of which emerge three female busts. Similarly, Saturn veiled head
in-
Remi has taken
stance, that Apollo carries the three Graces in his hand.*'* this detail
artist
him, for
is
given a
Representations of Saturn are
\\hich S!KM the god with a fold of his toga thrown over his head, as in
the fresco
from
the
the illustrator of
House of the Dioscuri, now
Remi has supposed
ample and majestic
is
Naples Museum. But
must be
Thus those \ery accessories which disguise them, and e\en when a classical
like a sort of canop\.
should identify the gods serve to representation
in the
that the veil to be represented
intended, the text, sedulously translated into visual form,
engenders images which are completely nonclassical.
At a distance of *5
metaforalis
several centuries, the illustrations of the FulgeTttius
offer us an even
cundum Fulgentium are *'
little
more singular pantheon; more than
is found in Ocero, De divination^ jupiterne . . . conum a deitra canere jussisbet"; i, 39- "Cur a deitra con us." *'* Cf. R PfeiSer on the Df*ian \po!Jr., in I,
The raven 7:
u
these
ymagines
se-
caricatures of antiquity (figs.
30
Journal oj the Warburg and Courtauld tutes. Vol. 4
Insti-
acv.
*Cud. Palat. 1st. 1066. These miniatures are reproduced in H- Liebfschutz, op. cit.
THE METAMORPHOSED OF THE GODS and 31
I.
Lar-king a model, a^
He
precece*?L-r, the Gothic
alto iu? naiuially adapted
the ta?te of the day. inlradu-'iLg crtrnelLtion*. turrets, ar-
67. Saturn, Cybele, Jupiter, Apollo,
mor, and long furred mantles; and
and other gods
he, also, has been completely 9
in his literal interpretation of the text before him.* Jupiter
a
flight
109
of heraldic eaglets; 49 It
Iris^
most be
itself
is
ingenuous
surrounded by
rainbow forms an aureole for Juno which
m
his behalf, that the text often departs from the classical data. said,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
1TO
might be the halo of a saint; a postilion drives the quadriga of Apollo, and Plutefs Inferno suggests the setting for a mystery play (fig. 80).
The
illustrations in these
two manuscripts show
us, therefore,
how
the
Middle Ages, with no help except that of the texts, attempted in different periods to restore the visual embodiments of the pagan gods, and that the resulting figures are completely foreign to antiquity.
ther
Remi
At the same time,
nei-
of Auxerre nor John Ridewall can he said to have created types.
They founded no
tradition, for the
images which they inspired seem not
to
have enjoyed any great diffusion. The case is quite otherwise with another treatise, which exerted a profound and lasting influence on the iconography of the gods; this
FROM
is
the
Images of the Gods of the "philosopher Albricus."
a very early date and until quite recently, two distinct authors were
confused under the name Albricus.
A
Latin manuscript in the Vatican Library, Reginensis 1290, seemed
to substantiate this error.
The manuscript contains two texts:
2) a fairly long treatise, Albrici philosophi liber
ymaginum deorum
(fol.8v.-29r.); 2) a series of very short chapters, illustrated with pen drawings, and attributed to Albricus, with the
The
title,
De deorum
attribution of these two texts to a
imaginibus libellus
common author seemed
(fol.
at first
perfectly convincing, since to a superficial view they appeared to be two different
forms of the same work, the Libellus being only an abridgement of
the Liber.
*The mythographer Albricus," says R. Raschke, "as Varro had to the form of an epit-
already done before him, reduced his larger work
ome." is
50
much
In reality, as less
we
shall prove, the relationship
immediate, and more complex. But
first
between the two of all
we must
texts
clarify
the personality of Albricus, the "first" Albricus, author of the Liber.
The Liber ymaginum deorum fied
is
known under
other titles;
it
was
identi-
long ago with the anonymous treatise published in 1831 by Angelo 50 De Albenco mytkologo (Breslau, 1913).
Mai
THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE GODS
171
E1
and by him attributed to a "Mythographus tertius." Furthermore, in the the known as it was fourteenth century Poetarius, or again as the commonly Scintillarium poetarum.
de Presles refers the
list
to
it
It is
in his
under the
latter title, for
commentary on
which he draws up of the "docteurs
example, that Raoul
the Ciritas
et auteurs
Dei
(c.
1375)
;
in
desquieux a este prinse
1'exposicion de ce livre," he cites "Albericus Londoniensis in sintillario 02
poetarum/'
[sic]
One
is
struck by the adjective "Londoniensis."
M
Was
Albricus, then,
an Englishman, or the pseudonym for an Englishman? In certain manuscripts in Cambridge (cod. Cantab. Trinity College
884), Oxford (cod. Digbeianus 221), and
at
Worcester Cathedral (cod.
154), the incipit or the explicit of the Scintillarium replaces the name Albricus with "Alexander
M Nequam."
mentary on the Wisdom of Solomon,
For
his part,
Robert Holkott, in his Com-
"Alexander Nequam in Scintillario
cites
poetarum," while another Englishman, Ridewall, author of the Fulgentius metaforalis, calls the text which is one of his principal sources Mithologia Alexandri Nequam. According to this tradition, then, Albricus would be the pseudonym of the celebrated philosopher Neckam, author of the De naturis rerum, who died in 1217. The oldest known manuscript of the Images of the
Gods
cod. Vat.
graphus tertius," person.
Some
3413
of exactly contemporary origin. The "MythoNeckam would thus be one and the same and Albricus, is
caution must
still
be maintained, however, with regard to this
hypothesis.
are
What, now, are the sources of the Liber ymaginum deorum, and what true connections with the text and pictures of the Libellus?
its
51
Cod. Vatic. 3413. See A. Mai, Classicorum auctorum e Vaticanis codicibus editorum (Rome, 1828-38), m, preface, pp. x-xv. Jacobs
gan
(Zeitschnft f. d. Altertumsmssejischaft [1834], pp. 1059-1060) was the first to demonstrate the identity between the "Mythographus tertius" and Albricus. 32 BibL Nat. ms. fr. 22912, foL 1. Albricus is,
of earlier mythographers by of them in his work."
indeed, the chief authority referred to by Raoul de Presles for mythology. See A. de Laborde, Les manuscnts a figures de la Cite de Dieu (Paris, 1909), chap, iv, p. 60: "For the my-
thology of fable and the representation of pa-
divinities,
Albricus,
He
whom
he has recourse chiefly to he seems to know by heart.
quotes him frequently, and
is
led to speak finds said
what he
M The same adjective reappears in the editio prmceps: Allegonae poeticae sen de ventate ac expositione poeticarum fabularum hbn iv Alberico Londoniensi authore (Jehan de Marnef,
Pans
1520).
^The name
Albncus is preserved in the margin of cod. Digb. 221, and at the end of the Worcester manuscript See the discussion in Liebeschiitz, op. citn pp. 16-18, n. 28.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
172
Like the other treatises of the same general
sort,
work
Albricus'
con-
denses the mythological material collected by the grammarians and compilers of the last centuries of antiquity.
He
enriches this material with addi-
from his medieval forerunners. His chief sources,
tions
logiae of Fulgentius, Servius*
Commentary on
in fact, are the
Mytko-
the Aeneid, the Saturnalia
and the Commentary on the Dream of Scipio by Macrobius, the Marriage of Mercury and Philology by Martianus Capella, the Etymologiae of Isidore, and the Commentary of Remi of Auxerre on Martianus. There are very few from
direct borrowings
orum
classical literature, if
we
(utilized only for the interpretation of the
rare citations from the poets, for
whom
except the
names of
De
natura de-
the deities),
and
Albricus seems to have consulted
50
chiefly the scholiasts.
Like the other treatises, that of Albricus
searches the myths for
still
their "'hidden" meaning, lending them in turn historical, physical, and,
above
all,
moral significance. The story of Venus and Mars, for example, be-
comes Lust dishonoring Virtue.
When the Sun unveils their guilty love, Venus
revenges herself by leading astray the five daughters of the Sun say, the five senses: Pasiphae, the sense of sight;
that is to
Medea, hearing; Circe,
touch; Phaedra, smell; Dirce, taste.
Such as to
it
was, with
its
heavy allegorical apparatus, the work appears
have enjoyed a great vogue and great authority among the educated.
have an example in Raoul de Presles, who knew as a mythological
manual or dictionary,
reading the poets. Hence
tarum. But
it
was
themes of inspiration; we nect the
become an aid
shall see this
to artists, furnishing
It
does indeed derive from
it,
is
importance, since has
made
it is
not a simple abridgement of
but indirectly, and after an interval
of two centuries. Between the two works stands,
He
them with
when we examine the links which con-
work with the Libellus de imaginibus deorum.
the Liber.
55
We
and, in fact,
constituted a precious auxiliary in
In spite of appearances, the Libellus
prime
by heart;
appellations of Poetarius and Scintillarium poe-
its
also to
it
M it
first
of
all,
an intermediary of
no other than Petrarch himself.
use of the scholia on Horace,
Statius, Persius, Lucan. See the detailed analy-
sis of his sources in
x See supra,
R. Raschke, op.
p. 171, n. 52.
cit.
THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE GODS Pierre de Nolhac noted years ago
5T
173
that Petrarch's library contained
a collection which, among other manuscripts, included the Liber mytholo-
giarum of Fulgentius, and the Poetarius Albrici viri illustris, unde idolorum ritus inoleverit, ubi omnis vetustas deorum antiquorum exprimitur. Petrarch, it
thus appears,
made use
of our Albricus, and drew from
his mythological knowledge. Better
still,
he
made
a good part of
it
direct use of
it
the third canto of his Latin epic, Africa, composed to honor the
in writing
memory
of
Scipio.
In the
Numidia, at length.
is
poem
Lelius, on a mission as
ambassador
to
Syphax, King of
received in a splendid hall, the decorations of which he admires
Among these decorations appear the gods of Olympus: Undique fulgentes auro spedesque Deorum Et formae heroum stabant atque acta priorum.**
Petrarch describes them individually, in 123 verses (140-262),
lowing step by
and
step the indications of Albricus. However,
be even more interesting for us to moralize, of the
since his
aim
is
this
fol-
should
simply to describe and not
mythological material from which he thus borrows, he
retains only the pictorial elements, the visual details indicative of the pose,
costume, and attributes of each god: Jupiter ante alios, augusta in sede superbus
Sceptra
manu fulmenque tenens; Jovis armiger ante
Unguibus Idaum juvenem super astra leiabat. Inde autem incessu gravior tristisque senecta Velato capite et glauco distinctus amictu, manu falcemque gerens Saturnus agresti
Rastra
Rusticus aspectu natos pater ore vorabat; Flammivomusque draco caude postrema recurve
Ore tenens magnos 57
sese torquebat in orbes
Petrarque et rhumanisme (Pans, 1892), pp. 169-171, and p. 133. Petrarch also made use of Albricus in drawing up his De viris. 58 Africa, in (ed. Festa [Sansoni, Florence, cud.]), w. 138-139. ("Everywhere, glittering with gold, stood the figures of the gods and heroes, and the deeds of the forefathers.**) 59 Op. cit., w. 140-148. ("Fust Jupiter, superb
on his majestic
seat,
.
.
/*
holding in hand his
scepter and thunderbolt, Jupiter's armorbearer, with its claws, lifted above the stars the young Idean; then, with heavy pace and
saddened by old age, with veil on head and clothed in a grayish cloak, came Saturn, holding in his hand like a peasant a rake and a sickle; he devoured his own children, while a
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
174
Thus Petrarch preserves only those details which have the value of images; as a humanist and man of taste, he disregards what was meant to improve or
instruct.
But stripped thus
to essentials, the
"images of the gods"
which he traces one after the other with his elegant and precise hand, form a little
repertoire at once clear, detailed, and likely to he of immediate use to
the artist
who might turn
to
it
for inspiration. In short,
we
find in this third
Canto of the Africa the prototype of a Libellus de imaginibus deorum; better still,
as
we
shall soon see,
we
find in
it
the true
model of our Libellus.
But the road which leads from Petrarch to the "second" Albricus
is
not
a direct one. Once again the figures of the gods, to which the classicizing poet
had attempted
to restore their purity of contour,
are to serve as themes of
medieval allegory. Between the Africa and the Libellus comes the Ovide moralise composed in Avignon, around 1340, hy Petrarch's friend, Pierre 00
Bersuire,
following the counsels of the poet and the lines of his Africa.
This Ovide moralise,
is
in fact a sort of
work
in
which Bersuire laboriously,
rale^
the great
moral meaning
appendix
to the
Reductorium mo-
in thirteen books,
In order to complete this vast
work of
moralization, he
added
to
it
three
books: the fourteenth treats of the marvels of nature, the sixteenth of passages in the Bible.
As
for the fifteenth,
interpreted according to the
introduction to this fifteenth
form of each god. In truths,
more or
less
gave
de proprietatibus of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.
to the Liber
same
it
principles
more
difficult
brings us the Metamorphoses,
and with the same
intent.
As
book come seventeen chapters dealing with the
this section, as in all the others, the
author
is
seeking
profound, beneath surface appearances; but at the begin-
ning of each chapter he gives us a short introduction which, this time, treats only of the god's image as such. flame-vomiting dragon, holding
its
He pens
curved
tail
in its mouth, twisted itself in great circles.") This is the work which was later published in a French translation in 1484 by the Bruges 00
printer Colart Mansion (see Part I, chap, iu, was long attributed to the Dominican, Thomas Waleys as, for example, in the Latin p. 93). It
edition of F. Regnault (Paris, 1515) : MetaOvidiana moraliter a magistro
morphosis
a brief description which
is to
serve
Thoma Waleys anglico de professions predicatorum sub stmctissimo patrc Dominica cx~ planata. B. Haureau ("Mernoire sur un cornmentaire des Metamorphoses d'Ovide," Memoves de fAcademic des Inscriptions . . . xxx, Part n, pp. 45-55) restored the work to ,
its
true author,
'"See supra,
p. 93.
THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE CODS From whom
as profane nucleus for the moralization. portraits of the gods?
175
has he borrowed these
He tells us in the clearest of terms:
"Sed antequam ad fabulas descendam, primo de formis et figuris deorum aliqua dicam. Verumtamen, quia deorum ipsorum imagines scriptas vel pictas alicubi
non potui
reperire, habui consulere venerabilem
magistrum Franciscum de Petato
facundum
tia et
ciplina
:
in eloquentia et
qui prefatas imagines in
[sic],
poetam utique profundum in
expertum
quodam
secundum rationes
However was
it
**
et
Rabani, ut de diversis parti-
diis istis ficticiis voluerunt antiqui
ra
phisicas assignare."
distorted the
to translate
quam
et historica dis-
opere suo eleganti metro describit,
discurrere etiam libros Fulgentii, Alexandri
bus traham figuram vel imaginem,
omni poetica
name may be
as "Frangois
(the edition of Colart
du Pre"),
6*
it is
"Petato" as Petrarch; as for the "opus quodam," assist his friend in his search for
not difficult to recognize
information "de formis
which he has described the palace of Syphax
might have made
it
sources: Fulgentius, It
is
Mansion
this is evidently Africa.
m
To 1'
et figuris
Petrarch, with his customary generosity, has communicated to in
virum
in scien-
and
him
deorum, the verses
this, incidentally,
unnecessary for Bersuire to turn to the poet's
own
Rabanus Maurus, and Albricus.
these brief introductions
of Bersuire on each
of the
gods,
brought together and once more freed of their commentaries, that finally
made
up, toward 1400, the Libellus de imaginibus deorum which, as a whole,
follows very closely the text of the Ovide moralise 62 63
Alexander Neckami?), Albricus. Second edition Regnault, fol. 11 r.
(
"But be-
come to the fables, I will say something about the shapes and figures of the gods. Since, however, I could nowhere find descriptions or fore I
paintings of the gods themselves, I had to consuit the venerable master, Franciscus de Petato, poet as profound in learning as he is well
versed in every poetical and historical discipline: he did describe the said figures in one of his works, in elegant verse. I also ran
through the books of Fulgentius, Alexander, and Rabanus, in order to extract from these various sources the images or figures which
The author of the work
the ancients, in giving them physical interpretation, assigned to these fictitious creatures.")
w See
M
D
Henkel,
De Houtsneden van Man-
1484 lAmsterdam, 1922 p. 5 w P. de Nolhac, op. cit , pp. 71 and 424. w There exists in the Ambrosiana (cod. G in f.) a version of this text in verse: Carmina composite per me Bertiluium de Vaoassonbus super figuras deorum 17. This poem, like the
sion's Ovide moralise, Bruges, > ,
m
Libellus, text,
adheres very closely to Bersuire's it in the manuscript: Prometamorphosim moratisatam: de
which follows
m
logus formis et figuns et imaginibus deorum.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
176
has remained anonymous, but
we now have no
he could have been confused with Albricus.
how
trouhle in understanding
We
need do no more than com-
pare the image of Saturn, for instance, as found in Alexander Neckam(?), Petrarch, Bersuire, and the Libellus, to satisfy ourselves that the tradition has
varied but slightly from one author to another
However, the difference between the is
profound, for the
spirit
(
see
"first"
accompanying table)
.
and the "second" Albricus
has changed. Whereas the Liber ymaginum brought
together the mythological substance encumbered with the medieval glosses,
and again separating the images from the which Bersuire had reinserted them, offers us a
the Libellus, renewing Petrarch, allegorical ensemble in
clear text, determinedly profane
mula recurs
in
it
and purely iconographical. The same
for-
constantly: "Pingebatur." This formula tends to freeze the
god in some one typical and immutable 67 Liebeschutz, op. tit., pp. 58-64, gives other synoptic tables, invaluable for the history of the formation of the Libellus. He goes back
attitude
to Fulgentius,
Maurus.
and
setting,
which can be
Martianus Capella, and Rabanus
THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE GODS easily studied
and
tration,
and endlessly reproduced.
illustrations of
it
seems, in
It
fact, to
ITT
demand
illus-
were not lacking.
Cod. Reginensis 1290, which contains the text of the Liber as well as that of the Libellus, is decorated, as
we have
seen, with curious
executed around 1420. These drawings lack neither
68. Apollo
and
the
life
pen drawings,
nor charm, but the
Muses
which they present offer almost no kinship with the antique types. In the absence of any sort of visual model the lack of which we have
divinities
already
noted in the case of Remi's and RidewalTs illustrations artist will inevitably fall into
lus
we have a
of this
sort,
therefore
vivid
due
blunders and anachronisms. But in the Libel-
example of another weakness inherent
to the fact that they are based
made up
clear
its
in reconstructions
on heterogeneous
texts
and are
of unrelated fragments. Let us, for example, analyze the
image of Apollo as the Libellus has described represented by
the most scrupulous
the artist
(fig.
composite origin.
68). The
table
it
and as
it
has been faithfully
on the following page makes
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
178 Thus,
speaking, the illustrations of the Libellus are grounded
strictly
not on any one text, but on a mosaic of texts.
doubly
artificial character:
It is this
which gives them their
they are composite portraits, formed of scattered
Source
Pictured Detail Apollo a beardless young man. Golden tripod on head,
Bow, arrows, and quiver
68
Fulgentius, MythoL, I, 17 Remi, Comm. ad Mart., fol. 83 a, v, 28 ff.
in right
hand; in
left,
the
Comm.
Servius,
v,
m,
Aen.,
138
zither.
Three-headed monster beneath the god's feet, frightful in aspect, its body that of a serpent and its heads
Macrobius,
Sat.,
20,
I,
13-14
those of dog, wolf, and lion. (The heads are separate,
but the body
Crown
common
to
them
all.)
of twelve precious stones on Apollo's head.
Martianus Capella,
I,
75
(p.
22,3-4) Laurel tree at his side, with black raven flying above The raven sacred to Apollo.
Under the At a
laurel tree, the nine Muses,
it.
forming a choir. Python, which
slight distance, the great serpent
Apollo pierces with an arrow. Apollo seated between the two summits of Parnas-
14
Fulg.,
MyihoL,
schol.
on Theb., m, 506
Fulg.,
MythoL,
I,
15
Fulg.,
MythoL,
I,
17
Isidore,
I,
EtymoL,
xiv, viii, 11
sus,
from which springs
the Castalian Fount.
69
Mart. Cap.,
vi,
651
(p.
221,
12-16)
features, of
membra
disiecta,
sarily lacking in unity.
welded together after a fashion, but neces-
Hence the awkward and bizarre look of these gods,
burdened with anomalous
attributes
which they do not know how to carry
all
at once.
But, all the same, these artificial and "synthetic" gods live and multiply. There can be no doubt, in finitive state, or
even in
its
fact, that the text
of the Libellus, in
preceding phases, often inspired artists, to
its
68 The text adds: **. nunc in facie puerili, nunc juvenili, semper imberbis nunc autem in
man**). This feature comes from Martianus,
cana diversitate apparentis" (". . . sometimes with the face of a child, or that of a young man, always beardless, or again as an old
ro
.
.
de-
whom I,
76.
See Raschke, op.
other descriptions.
citn
for analysis of the
THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE GODS it
served as a repertory or manual of iconography. Aside from Reginensis
1290, there are
many manuscripts 70
Vat. Reg. 1480,
71
earliest
may have been
In any case,
we
French, Flemish, and Italian
for all standardized
founded,
Paris
first
6986 and
common model
half of the four'
possess a very rich series of miniatures
which bear witness alike
to the diffusion
2
and
whose features have been once and
by the Libellus.
WE have dwelt at some length upon is
gods pictured accord-
now known,
executed in the
the stability of the Albricus types, all of
it
find the
till
hardly go back farther than 1370, but the
which served for both teenth century.
which we
in
The
ing to the tradition of Albricus.
IF
179
Albricus and upon the tradition that he
because of his exceptional importance.
He
is,
in reality, not
merely a precursor, but one of the principal agents of the Renaissance, since it is
in part
by way of
his text
and the visual images engendered by his Im-
ages of the Gods that the Olympians regain their sovereignty. Indeed, as rectly or by
we
shall soon show, the text of Albricus is to continue, di73
way
of Boccaccio,
source to humanists, while artists
its
to serve as a base to
illustrations
mythographers and a
remain the standard types for
throughout the Quattrocento and even beyond.
THE FOREGOING
exposition has brought us
teenth century
in other words, to the threshold of the "Renaissance."
this date, the
late antiquity
down
to the first years of the fif-
By
two great iconographical traditions which we have traced from
have led, each in
its
own way,
to a
profound alteration of the
classical types of the gods.
We have observed the reasons for these alterations as we went along. we omit by 70
the cases of substitution (such as the replacing of
the Babylonian planetary types), they The Omde moralise
Chretien
Legouais
in verse, attributed to
by
Gaston
Paris,
who
studies its relations with the moralization of
Ovid by Bersuire; see supra, p. 92. 71 See F. Saxl, "Rinascimento delF antichita/*
may
If
Olympian
figures
be reduced in essence
to two:
220 ff. f. Kunstwiss. (1922), pp Several of these manuscripts will be studied in the next chapter. 73 That is to say, through the Genealogia
Rep. 72
deorum, see Bk.
11,
chap.
i.
THE SURni'AL OF THE PAGA\ GODS
180
either the artist has a visual
model
to say, lacking
an explanatory
nothing but a
text,
made,
is
bound
and in
but, being ignorant of the subject
text
is
unable
to
render
it
this case his reconstruction,
to entail a certain risk,
because there
that is
correctly, or he has
even when carefully
no model which would
is
permit him to check
its ac-
curacy.
A typical example of the first
case
the curious trans-
is
formation
head
of
in the illustrations of
astronomical
Arab
the
Medusa
the
nothing
manuscripts:
copyist,
knowing
Greek mythol-
of
ogy, mistook the blood drip-
ping from the severed head for a beard,
Gorgon
and changed the a hirsute de-
into
4
mon.' His error
is
even per-
petuated in the terminology of
modern astronomers, who
still
name
give the
Algol,
meaning "demon," to the strange star in the constellation Perseus 69. -1/ars one? Venus;
On
the other hand,
Mercury
we have
seen
whose
bright-
ness varies periodically. (figs.
67 and 22) what amusing
cari-
catures result from the attempts of the medieval illustrators to reconstruct,
on the basis of Pausanias, a It
by one 74
7S
statue of Apollo
might be instructive and diverting specific deity.
As we do
so,
we
See, for example, cod. Vat. 8174, cod. Vindob. 5415 (sky map), and the Perseus of the lapidary of Alfonso X; a Sufi ms., Pans, Bib. Nat. cod, arab. 5036; a ms. of Qazwini,
or of the Olympian Zeus.
to list the
manifold forms taken on
shall be unable to decide whether corinf'inn ic cttTl '*/armt Ala-nl
"
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
188
such was to be the dream of the great-
as they did, mythology and geometry est spirits of the Renaissance.
The
great gods, like the heroes, were eager to resume their rightful vis-
age. Curiously enough,
ing attempts
it is
in
Germany again
them in doing
to aid
so.
that
we
witness other interest-
In the course of the fifteenth century,
certain Northern artists appear to have
hecome suddenly aware of
the incon-
gruity of representing Jupiter or Mercury under the extravagant aspect which he had taken on, either through Michael Scot or in the illustrated encyclo-
pedias; these artists turned to the pre-Gothic period for models closer to antiquity.
Thus, in the Palatinate, the illuminator of Palatinus
around 1430, the
De rerum
illustrations of the celebrated treatise of 7
naturis;
now among
of the Olympic gods
these figures, as
we have
lat.
291 copies,
Rabanus Maurus, seen,
were images
images crude and in many respects faulty, but as a
whole of indisputably classical descent. For more than four centuries they had fallen into complete oblivion, and were looked at by no one. A local miniaturist
now
and
discovers
has a contemporary flavor of great pictorial tradition,
sets out to
its
own, but
copy them. Admittedly, his copy it
establishes a
new
link with the
same time prepares the way for the classical form (fig. 66). their and
at the
re-
appearance of the gods We have seen how, in the manuscripts of Michael Scot, the figures of the in
planetary gods had, toward the end of the Middle Ages, assumed the most
unexpected forms.
We have explained the relevant influences, finding descend-
ants of the Babylonian gods clothed in Giottesque costumes. But now, in the first
half of the fifteenth century,
we
note in certain copies of these manu-
scripts the disappearance of the barbaric types,
figures
much
closer to the
Greco-Roman
and their replacement by How is this to be ex-
originals.
plained? Like the painter of the Rabanus Maurus illustrations, one of the illuminators of Michael Scot
8
has turned back to a relatively pure source: he has taken as model a Carolingian copy of the "Calendar of 354," and in so doing he also, despite his lack of skill, has placed himself in contact with the classical prototypes. 7
The
original manuscript of the ninth century but we possess a replica of it in the Monte Cassmo manuscript, executed in 1023: is lost,
see supra, pp. 166 f., and Cod. Darmstadt 266.
8
fig.
65.
THE REINTEGRATIOX OF THE GODS These are, of course, isolated examples.
189
We should nevertheless note the
symptomatic character of the German "p re-Renaissance," \\hich makes use
73. Perseus
of the most authentic documents available to
and
it,
until such time as the statues
bas-reliefs themselves shall again be ready to hand.
*
LET us now bered, this
see what has become of the literary tradition.
term designates the ensemble of figures
mythological treatises
the
common
As
will be
remem-
illustrating the allegorized
character of these figures (which begin
in the fourteenth century to supplant other types) being that they are based
exclusively on texts.
They are reconstructions.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
190
We
have sketched the history o
this tradition, in
graphus tertius," Albricus, occupied a leading place.
emerged from
his Liber
ymaginum deorum and
Conceived without the benefit contact with classical
art,
which the "Mytho-
A whole family of gods successive recastings.
its
of any real model, and without the
these artificial gods might
to
appear
slightest
have had but
small chance of survival; nevertheless, not only did they beget offspring of their own, but against all expectation
they gradually prepared the return of the rightful gods.
The
not a hard thing to ac-
quire, since they are distinct
others
hand.
will It
with
familiarity
slightest
these types
show them
would seem
its
from
all
us on every
that, outside the
astrological tradition,
eral adhered to
to
which in gen-
own types and
laws,
they constituted the chief repertory
which
artists
continued to draw upon
from the fourteenth
meet with them
to the
and even
fifteenth century,
77.
It
Mars
would be easy to
in a chariot
by a wolf.
tapestries,
and
in minia-
trace, for
example, the type of Mars in fury, mounted
horses, helmeted,
whip
in hand,
and accompanied
thus that Petrarch describes him, following Albricus,
has constructed his
own
in
enamels,
painting and sculpture.
drawn by two It is
We
later.
in France, England,
Flanders, Germany, Italy tures,
end of the
who
picture out of fragments of Servius and Statius: .
.
.
Mavortis imago
Curribus insistent aderat furibunda enteritis: nine lupus, hinc rauce stridentes tristia Dire; Cassis erat capiti fulgens manibusque flagellum* 9
Africa, in, 186-189. ("The furious image pi Mars stood on a bloody chariot: on this side
a wolf, on the other the hoarse Furies with their shrill and mournful cries. He had a
J
74.
/'
Mars
76.
75.
Mars
THE SVRVIVAL OF THE PAGA* GODS And
he appears
thus
12
11
in
French, 13
and
Flemish,
Italian
drawings and min-
iatures;
in Flemish,
1*
13
and German
ian.
ings; in the fresco di
Ital-
lfi
engrav Taddeo by
Bartolo in the Palazzo
Pubblico, Siena in a relief
(fig.
42)
;
by Agostino di
Duccio in the Tempio Mala testiano
78) the \v
;
at
Rimini
(fig.
on a chimney piece
Landshut Residenz
in
*'
to-
ard the middle of the six-
teenth
century
79)
(fig.
and on a Flemish tapestry the royal collection in
;
in
Ma-
drid."'
Although these Mars
78.
differ-
ent representations are un-
The pedigree
gleaming helmet on his head and a whip in his
13
hands.**
"Mars" is not certain, n is the beautiful miniature by Francesco Pesellmo, executed around 1450, and described by C. Bartoh to Va^an, who copied the description in the second edition of the Vite, in the note on Attavante (ed. Milanese n, p. 523). See reproduction in DedaJo (Feb., 1932). 14 In the Owde moralise of Colart Mansion (Bruges, 1484). See fig 77. 15 The Tarocchi of Mantegna.
Chaucer (The Knightes Tale, w. 2041-2, 2046-8, in Works, ed. W. W. Skeat > describes him in almost the same terms
The statue of Mars upon a carte stood, Armed, and loked grim as he were wood, This god of armes was arrayed thus: wolf ther stood biforn him at his feet JTith eyen rede. . . ."
A
Boyd Ashby Wise (The Influence of Statins upon Chaucer (Baltimore, 19113), Chaucer is here following Statius According
(Thebais, (Teseide, ll
vn, vir,
to
70)
by
37). See
Bibl. Nat., mss.
fr.
way
figs.
of
Boccaccio
74-77.
6986 and 143
(figs.
and 75) ; Vat. lot. 1480; Brit. Mas., Cott. F. vn ; Bibl. de 1'Univ. de Geneve, ms, fr. 13
Regm. 1290; Marcian.
4519.
of
this la&t
)
1(t
Copenhagen, ms. Thott. 399
(fig.
761.
74
Jul.
176.
lrt
The
illustrations
of
Herold's
Heydenwelt,
1554. 17
See A. Warburg, Gesammelte Schriften, n, p. 457 and fig- 105; also Mitterwieser, Die Residenz von Landshut (Augsburg, 1927). 1S One piece in the series of Vices and Virtues; see reprod. in Guiffrey, La Tapisserie, p. 124. Mars is on foot, but he carries a flail; other details in the
Albricus.
same tapestry (Amor,
etc.)
recall
79.
Mars and other gods
mistakably related, curious variations aie
to
be noted between them. At times,
these even affect the iconographical details. Thus, the war-god holds in his
hand in some
cases a whip, in others a sword, halberd, or
variations can be explained as Thott.
399 and
mere
errors. Thus,
flail.
Several of these
when the illuminator of ms.
the engraver of the Ovide moralise of the Colart
tion replace the
whip by a
flail, it is
Mansion
edi-
because the French text had translated
Albricus' Latin flagellum as flayeu (fleau)
Even more curious than
this
substitution of attributes is the appearance of quite different persons as escort
for the god. Thus, the
Mars of
the
Tempio Malatestiano
18
Cf. another amusing error in the image of Juno: the peacocks appear to be licking her feet "Pavones autera ante pedes ejus lambebant," (ie., "peacocks were pecking before her feet"), says the Libellus, and the Ovide
moralise
translates,
"ils
lui
leschoient
les
is
pieds." Again, in the Bibl.
preceded by an Nat
ms.
fr.
373
(end of fourteenth century), foL 207, Venus has hi her hand not a shell, but a duck, which
she holds by the neck. This is probably the result of a faulty reading: cuco marina for concha marina.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
194
advancing female in the other
hut this
who holds
figure,
an object that appears
combat beneath
On the bas-reliefs at Lands-
the chariot. It is apparent that here the sculptor has followed 20
fondatores, scilicet
Romulus Remum et
the reins of the horses in one hand, and
be a trumpet.
figure does not appear; instead, two men are seen engaged in mortal
"Et quia Romani
the version of the Libellus:
qui
to
fratrem
Duccio seems
Romulum
et
Remum,
fratres
Martis
filios
ideo sub ejus curru idem
interfecit,
Remum occidebat.'*
geminos urbis primes
esse finxerunt,
quorum Romulus depictus erat,
At Rimini, on the other hand, Agostino di
have been following the text of Petrarch which we have
to
quoted above:
....
hinc raucae stridentes tristia Dirae.
The divergencies between 21
this case
to
But the variants
upon the
the two representations
would thus correspond
in
different branches of the Albricus tradition. in
which we are now most interested are those bearing
style of the figures; in
one case, for example, Mars
is
seen driving
through a rural landscape in a heavy peasant's \\agon, much after the fashion ""
elsewhere he resembles a
of Lancelot, the knight, in his cait;
ary mounted on a the type
1
veritable battle chariot."
alia francese to the
At the same time,
Roman legion-
in passing
type aWantica* the formal character of the
from
image
undergoes marked changes. It is the stages in this
we now wish
formal evolution of our series of images which
to sketch in their
main
outlines. This story,
allels that of the geographical diffusion of the types ;
like a struggle or an
20
("And
since the
brothers
Romulus
founded the
the god they depicted killing Remus.**)
The
Romulus Libellus
and developing a Albncus: *'Romulum et over
brief
in the act of
here taking reference by
is
Remum
ejus fingi constat." ("It appears that Romulus and Remus were supposed to be his sons.") filios
21
Cf.
also
the
be said, par-
broadly seen,
it
appears
Italy,
which they are
to conquer.
Romans claimed that the and Remus, who were sons of Mars, and since city, Romulus lulled Remus., under the chariot of twin
may
exchange of influences between Northern and Western
Europe, the region from which the images come, and doing their best
it
representations
of
the
wolf,
which sometimes carries sheep in its jaws, or even on its back (Regin. 1290). This detail agrees with the text of the Libellus: "ante ilium vero lupus ovem portans pingebatur" ("before him they painted a wolf bearing a sheep"), but it is not found in Albricus, Petrarch, or Bersuire.
^ E.g. ^In
f ms. Copen. Thott 399. the Tempio Malatestiano;
the Tarocchi,
A 45.
cf.
the
Mars
of
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS The
treatise of Albricus,
it
should be remembered,
Englishman; of the miniatures which derive from in French manuscripts of the Ovide moralise
(
it,
Paris
195 the
is
work of an
the earliest are
found
6986 and Vat. Reg.
lat.
1480), both dating from the end of the fourteenth century. The Gothic accent in these miniatures
strongly marked. Apollo wears an elegant doublet
is
and
long, pointed shoes; Mars, a helmet and gauntlets; Juno, an ermine cotte. But their
anachronism
images adhere
is
not the only distinguishing feature of these naive
they also tend to
;
become
distinctly
more sober and
faithfully to the text in all essential points, but they
restrained.
They
do not translate
every detail. Generally speaking, they reduce the overrich content of the
its
Albricus descriptions. Thus, the illustrator of the Vatican manuscript shows neither the his
Muses
Mercury. The
in his picture of
Apollo nor the merchants and thieves with
significance of these simplifications will easily be gathered :
they eliminate all that would overload the composition and disturb the lay-
out on the page or the framing. The images, thus disencumbered, are clearly
organized ; sometimes they are even quite symmetrical. This effort at stylization
not,
by
the way, equally advanced in all the manuscripts
larly striking
Auxerre
2*
if
we
is
recall the illustrations in the manuscript of
particu-
Remi
of
the tradition of which was followed by Albricus. There, the artist
spared us no detail, no accessory; in his concern tent of the text, he scattered
its
to
reproduce the whole con-
details diffusely over the page.
These qualities of the French miniatures, which they were to retain throughout the fifteenth century engraving;
we
find
them
(figs.
Bruges in 1484 by Colart Mansion
Are we to
75 and 80), later passed into Flemish Ovide moralise printed in
in the woodcuts of the 25
(fig.
77)
.
see here the traditional qualities of French art,
and
in particu-
lar that mastery of composition which gives such legibility to the little scenes
inscribed on the bas-reliefs of the cathedrals?
Or
shall
we
Saxl, look for a reflection of Giottesque style? At about this 2
*Monac.
lat.
14271, foL 11
25
r.
(fig.
67).
These woodcuts take over the miniatures of a manuscript of Bersuire (Copen. Thott. 399) ; cf. M. D. Henkel, De Houtsneden van Mansion's Ovide moralise , Bruges, 1484 (Amsterdam, 1922), and E. Schenk zu Schwemsburg, ;
rathei, with
same time,
"Bemerkungen zu M. D. Henkel, De Hout. sneden (1924), ,** etc., Der Cicerone, xvi pp. 321 ff. Their influence may still be felt in the sixteenth century, in certain woodcuts illustrating the Heydenwelt of Herold (1554). .
.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
196
Taddeo **
ties 27
tion,
di Bartolo, in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena, represented four divini-
who are but
serving a
not connected
who have
at least not directly
with the Albricus tradi-
also been reduced to the simplest lines, even though pre-
marked medieval flavor in
80, Pluto
attitude
and costume.
and Proserpina
Around 1420, we find the images of the gods entering upon a new phase. The pen drawings illustrating the Libellus text in ms. Vaticanus Reginensis 1290 contrast in several points with the sober Gothic
are gay, imaginative, free, and exuberant figures, this artist
(fig.
they
.
has invented them as he pleased. Thus, in the group around
Venus, he adds a woman as target of one of Cupid's arrows; 26
effigies:
68) Far from suppressing any
See supra, pp. 128 f. 27 The Mars type, however, is that of Albricus. See supra, pp. 189 ff., and fig. 42.
**
M
at Mercury's
a confusion with Apollo. The text says: "Cupido . . Apolhnem sagittaverat." In ms. Rawl. B. 214 (foL 198 v.), Possibly,
it is
true,
.
THE REINTEGKATION OF THE GODS
197
side he places a kneeling figure who, like the god himself, is playing a flute. Another striking novelty is the introduction of several nude figures. For the most part, to be sure, the figures are clothed and in the fashion of the time:
Orpheus might be a troubadour and the Corybantes mace-bearers. But Venus is
once more Anadyomene, and the three Graces sport with her
among
the
waves.
We
same freedom
shall find this
in composition, this mingling of
naked
bodies with contemporary costume, in other representations from the
first
half of the fifteenth century, such as the miniatures of an English manuscript at
Oxford (Rawlinson B. 214;
Print Cabinet.
29
fig.
70), or a series of drawings in the Dresden
Even outside the Albricus
circle, indeed, a parallel evolution
of mythological types is to be noted. This becomes clear series of pictures of the planets of
frescoes
we compare two 30
the
by Guariento in the choir of the Eremitani in Padua, and the minia-
tures of a
The two
if
which we have already spoken
Modena manuscript,
the Liber physiognomiae (figs.
been recognized;
series are connected, as has long
C1
85 and 87). but the four-
teenth-century Venus, with her solemn bearing and her drapery, recalls the allegorical type of the French cathedrals
holds a mirror;
w
around 1430, Venus
is
who has shed her
quasi-ecclesiastical
It
Luxuria, for instance,
in contrast, in the Liber
would seem,
also
a young woman, naked and smiling, her hair unbound,
therefore, that a
thology; but the transformation
group of representations Minerva, for instance form, the majority
who
physiognomiae, which dates from
still
is
is
dignity along with her garments.
new
spirit
On
not yet final.
characterized
by
its
has begun to animate mythe contrary, this
whole
ambiguity. If certain deities
are obviously striving to recover their classical
wear
their bourgeois disguises.
And
the
nude forms
themselves have not the slightest sculptural quality; they suggest rather the fragile Eves of the French manuscripts. In reality, these images offer us
a sort of compromise between Franco-Flemish naturalism and the idealistic of the artists who worked for the due de Berry, referred to below, it is really Apollo who is wounded by the arrow: in the Dresden drawa nude woman who holds a lyre. ^Reprod. in P. Lavallee, Le Dessin frangais
and of the Burgundian masters (pp. 16-17).
xnic au xvie siecle (Paris, 1930), fig. 27. Lavallee sees in these drawings the influence
57.
ing, it is du.
30
See supra, p. 127, n. 17. A. Venturi, L'Artc, xvii (1914), pp. 49-
^See
But Venturi, counter to all probability, sees in the manuscript the model for the frescoes. 82
See supra,
p. 107.
THE SIRVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
198
whims of
Italy.
The phenomenon
is
particularly apparent in the illustra-
tions of the Libellus executed in northern Italy
that is, at the meeting point between Western and Southern influences. Moreover, as we know, the relations
between Flanders and the Florence of the Medici were
to bring
about an e\*en
greater penetration of the Western
We must not
style.
finding these
be surprised at
same
Chronicle
trated
and
contrasts
famous
contradictions in the
illus-
to
attributed
Finiguerra: demigods accoutered
as pages or knights, but posed like statues
(Paris,
Romulus) nin
;
headdress
forms already
(Helen)
drawn
recreated by
Deucalion and Pyrrha) alia francese
nude
;
skillfully
men and women
(the
Jason,
Troilus,
ladies wearing the hen-
;
a couple
under a frieze
al-
Vantica (Rape of Helen). At the
same
time,
these
disparate
ele-
ments do not clash; instead, we find
everywhere the same balance
between realism of character and 81. Hellenistic
idealism of attitude which
Hermes
give Florentine Quattrocento art
its
is
to
unique savor.
In these gropings, this timid showing of the nude
among
figures heavily
draped, this alternating rhythm of serene immobility and gay vivacity, we should perhaps not only see an effort to reconcile two different spirits, two distinct artistic climates, but also distinguish
between the two concepts of classical
antiquity which alternately attracted the precursors of the Renaissance. The ambiguity that we note in this period in the form and attitude of the
gods
is
doubtless due in part to their allegiance to both North and South, 33
See supra,
p. 28.
THE REI\TEGRATIO} OF THE GODS but also to the fact that the spirit which animates them in essence
199
sometimes Dionysian
is
and sometimes Apollonian.
LET us now
see what has
become of
We
of the fifteenth century.
the gods of Albricus in the second half
re-encounter them, around 1465, in the famous
Tarocchi of Mantegna, the
matter
subject
of
'
i ,/cfffa Gcflx t fatc uiiv uiwB
^ XV
-^V*. '
of planetary powers.
The
of
pedigree
these figures
is
<
not open
Thus, the im-
to doubt.
age of Venus (A 43;
86)
fig.
'MHICVRE1
corresponds
point for point with the in
description bellus.
She
("nuda
et in
is
the
Li-
bathing
mare
na-
tans") and holds a shell in
her right hand ("in
manu sua
dextera con-
cham
marinam
nens")
;
conti82.
Mercury and Argus
beside her are
the Graces ("et
coram ipsa
dicebantur") and cecus assistebat
.
Amor .
.
with
tres astabant juvencule nude,
bow and bandaged
sagitta et
arcu
.
.
.")
;
tfc
eyes
fluence of the Western miniatures
50)
is
34
makes
is
et
a
tres
flight
.
.
.
of doves
the other hand, the in-
itself felt;
thus Jupiter
would have
See supra, pp. 137
Gracie
Cupido
throne, as the text
still
shown seated not on a
On
que
Huic
above her
("et columbis circa se volantibus comitabatur").
fig.
(
(A 46; it,
but
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
200 in a
rainbow 35
6986)
;
Christ in
just as
he
is in
a French fourteenth-century manuscript (Paris.
even more significantly, his position exactly recalls that of the take a Majesty on Romanesque tympana and capitals (or, to
later example, in the
the Christ, also, Apocalypse tapestry at Angers), for is surrounded by an almond-shaped frame
which cuts across the rainbow. However, certain types have been 3G
modified. Apollo
still
has his crown, but
instead of treading on the three-headed
monster beneath his
feet,
he
is
seated on
two swans, and his feet rest on a celestial globe.
Mercury has kept some of his atthe flute, the cock, and the Argus
tributes
but he
head
is
dressed in a loose tunic,
wears a sort of cap with pointed shod in
is
visor,
83). What
soft boots (fig.
is
and the
source of these alterations in the traditional types?
The origin of
the
new Apollo
is still
shrouded in mystery. But Saxl succeeded in discovering that of the 83.
Mercury
it is
true)
was a
**
a discovery, as will be seen, of the high-
model which inspired the
est interest: the
new Mercury
artist
of the Tarocchi (indirectly,
Hellenistic relief.
This bas-relief had been found some years earlier, and copied by
Cyriacus of Ancona during a voyage to Greece and the Archipelago. of his drawing
we
is
recognize in
it
copy
280)
;
a Hermes of archaic or rather of archaistic type, with
pointed beard (fffavonriayw), as he vases.
A
in the Bodleian today (ms. Canonicianus lat. misc.
is
ordinarily represented
The same image appears, moreover,
30
The same rainbow is seen in the Dresden drawing (see Lavallee, op. at, fig. 26). 38 The Apollo shown here is the leader of the
choir, in the series of the
Muses (D 20)
;
in
on black-figured
in line-for-line identity, in a relief
the planetary series (A 44) only the chariot of the Sun is represented, with Phaeton's fall. 37
Rinascimento deirandchitOy pp. 252
21.
ff.,
fig.
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS from Panticapaeum
which
is
an exact replica of the one seen by Cyriacus.
Delighted by his discovery, in which he saw a happy 39
Cyriacus
eler,
let his friends
201
know of
omen
for a trav-
Carlo Avellino, for instance, writes
it.
in this connection to Poggio:
Kyriacus nobis misit modo munera, Poggi,
Mercurium,
propria pinxerat
Ut vidi obstupui It is
began Virgil,
a
in a
manu;
,
it
it
on the cassoni* in the Riccardiana 3
illustrating the
Metamorphoses"
etc. It is
natural, there-
should have been introduced into the series of the Tarocchi;
" but,
was not substituted for the medieval type it was comThe general look and pose, and the costume, are derived from
curiously enough,
bined with
one finds
medal made by Noccolo Fiorentino for Lorenzo Tornabuoni,* in
wood engraving
fore, that
.
thus clear that the drawing passed from hand to hand; the type soon
to penetrate Italian art: 42
ille
40 .
it.
it
the relief, but the accessories are
still
those enumerated in the Libellus. These
diverse elements, however, do not clash, perhaps because the archaizing
houette of the Hermes, ancient but not classical in the easily falls into line, in ages.
However that may
an antique figure
is
its
be,
strict
sil-
sense of the word,
picturesque oddity, with the other Albricus im-
we have here
a singular instance of assimilation:
grafted onto the medieval stem, and draws from
it
the
nourishment of Western naturalism. **
See S Reinach, "Un bas-relief de Pantiau Musee d'Odessa," Monuments ct memoires Piot, n (1895), pL vn (fig. 81). The relief has now been identified as Helcapee
lenistic. 30 BolUttino
del? Isti.tu.to di CorrisponSee denza Archeologica per Fanno 1861 1 pp. 183 ff.: "Intorno alcune notizie archeologiche conservateci de Ciriaco d'Ancona. Lettera del Prof, 0. Jahn al Cav. G. B. de Rossi." *Ibid. ("Cyriacus has just sent us a present, Poggio: a Mercury painted with his own hand;
when 41
saw it I was amazed.") See P. Schubnng, Cassoni I
(Leipzig, 1915) : cassone of Ulysses, Lanckoronski ColL, Vienna,
plates LIV and LV. The Neptune representation has also been influenced by this type: ibid., pL
See A. Heiss, Les medailleurs de la Renaissance florentine, Pt. I (Pans, 1891), pL vn, 3.
**0wdio Metamorphoses vulgare (Venice, 1522) , pL xvi, v. 15 0ne of the engravers, who reproduces certain details correctly (the headdress, for ex-
ample), seems to have followed Cyriacus' drawing closely; the other has reproduced it only indirectly, though without apparently having copied the exist:
f ol.
66 v.
on
first.
Two
their differences
series do, in fact,
and
similarities, see
A M.
Hind, Early Italian Engraving (London, 1938) , vol. iv ( plates 320-369) and Catalogue, Part i, pp. 221-250. See also the Mercury in the Bibhotheque de 1'Arsenal, cod. fr. 5066 in(fig. 82). This manuscript is particularly
it contains three cyclic series: of Petrarch, Tarocchi, Proverbs. See V. d'Essling and E. Miintz, Petrarque (1902), p. 271.
terestmg in that
the
XLVIII.
Cod. 492,
43
Triumphs
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
202
Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the mythological types of the Tarocchi
mark
a certain progress toward classicism.
half of the century, they strike one at
composition. They
Compared with
first
hy number of
eliminate a large
figures of the first
their sobriety details
ages in the interest of a more concentrated arrangement. view, they recall the severe, stylized types of the
and balance of
and secondary person-
From
this point of
French fourteenth century.
40
But an entirely new elegance and dignity have now appeared, serving as a corrective for the Gothic dryness.
The previously slender forms are more
ample, and the proportions have gained in breadth ; there
is
generosity in the
movements, and a quiet harmony seems gradually to do away with any sharp or shrunken look left over from the miniatures. A slight grimace or a frown may still distort the faces of the gods, but we feel gestures
and rhythm
in the
that they are on the point of recovering their
superhuman serenity along with
marble physique.
their
Before leaving the gods of the Tarocchi, we should note that they serve,
manuscript of a poem by Ludovico Lazzarelli,
around 1471,
to illustrate the
De
deorum imaginibus.
gentiliuTn,
Muses decorate a cupola
47
in a palace
Around 1500, Apollo and his train of 48 on the Via Belvedere, Ciemona. At this
period they have already emigrated northward; by 1490 we find them in 49
Nuremberg. Pursuing his strange destiny, the famous Hermes of Cyriacus 50 of Ancona becomes a naturalized German, thanks first to Durer and later lo
Hans Burgkmair. endar
fl2
51
He
so popularizes
for the fagades of
:
him
that
he becomes a common motif of decoration
German and Austrian
46
See supra,
47
Vatican, cod. Urb. 716.
48
This cupola
bert
even travels to the Hanseatic provinces a Liibeck cal-
p. 195.
is
now
Museum, London
in the Victoria (fig 84)
and Al-
.
49
See V. von Loga, "Beitrage zum Holzschnittwerk Michael Wohlgemuts," Jahrb. d. preuss. Kunstsamml. (1895), pp. 236-238. 50 Durer copied the Tarocchi several times, though the copies are only in part by his own hand. See H. Tietze, Der junge Durer (Augsburg, 1928), pp. 306-309, and F. Wmkler, Die Zeichnungen A. Durers, VoL I (Berlin, 1936). The copies of the Tarocchi are reproduced in figs. 122-141. Durer knew the Mercury type from another source as well (see infra, p. 203, n. 58) . On the relations between Durer and Cyriacus of Ancona, see O. Jahn, AILS der
houses.
53
Altertumswissenschaft (Bonn, 1868), pp 333352: "Cyriacus von Ancona und Albrecht Durer." Cf. also: R. Egger, Osterreichischer Jahresbencht, xxxv (1943), pp. 99 ff, and A. 68; Gremer, Comptes-rendus de fig. FAcademic des Inscriptions (1946) ; J. Martin, Jahresbencht (1946), pp. 359 ff. Wu.rzbu.rger 51 See A. Warburg, Gesammelte Scknften, n, p. 486 and fig. 118. 52 See Warburg, loc. cit. ("Uber Planetengotterbilder
im mederdeutschen Kalender von
1519"), pp. 483-486 and fig. 117 Warburg tells the story of this figure in detail, and determines exactly how it passed from Italy into Germany by way of a citizen of Hamburg resident in Perugia. 53
Ibid , p. 486 and Appendix, p. 646.
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS In too,
Nuremberg we
was copied hy
203
also find traces of the Apollo with the two swans. 54
Diirer,
He,
and Peter Vischer gives him a place of honor 55
among the bronze figures on the base of the shrine of St. Sebald. The diffusion of these mythological types throws a curious
light
penetration of the Italian Renaissance into Germany. Engravings, as
84. Apollo
were extremely
seen,
on the
we have
and the Muses
active as agents in this process, even where, as at
remberg, the humanists
men
like Celtes, Schedel,
and Pirkheimer
Nu-
were
56
acting as advisers to artists.
Thus, Schedel's Collectanea contains a drawing
of Mercury which corresponds exactly to the bas-relief copied by Cyriacus; it
was this drawing which inspired
With rara,
Diirer's Gallic Hercules.
the frescoes of Francesco Cossa in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Fer-
we reach
the concluding stage of this evolution. graved
55
For the other mythological representations on the tomb and their role, see A. Feulner,
m
Fischers Sebaldusgrab Ntirnberg Reau, (Munich, 1924), pp. 19, 34-37; also P. Vischer et la sculpture francomenne (Pans, 1909), and our note in the Journal of the
Peter
L
Warburg Institute, n, p. 75. Reau points out (pp 122-123) that one of the Muses on the tomb is taken from an en-
50
6r
68
illustration
Amorum, 67
As
of
be recalled,
will
Celtes'
Quatuor
libri
etc.
Cod. Monac. 716.
08
Durer thus knew the type via two different See A. Springer, "Vorbilder von zwei Durerschen Handzeichnungen in der Ambraser Sammlung, Mittheil d. k k. Centralcommission, vn, 80; and the frontispiece of channels.
the
Inscription.es
1534).
of
Apianus
(Ingolstadt.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
204
these frescoes, painted around 1470, represent (or rather, represented, for
several of
them have been ruined) a complete
have already had occasion
astrological system,
which we
59
to analyze.
In the upper zone of the paintings reign the "masters of the months," as
named hy Manilius
85.
that is to say, the twelve great
Olympian
deities.
These
86. Venus and the Graces
Venus
gods, also, derive from the Albricus tradition.
The connection
ohvious, because of the difference in presentation.
is
not at
fiist
The gods are no longer
surrounded by their legendary companions, as in the Libellus illustrations;
from a tals,
chariot, each deity
dominates a crowd of figures that are mere mor-
dressed in contemporary costume. Near Minerva, a group of young
women busy
themselves with weaving and embroidery; and lovers embrace
each other tenderly on the banks of the river where glide Venus' swans. Each scene
is
thus organized according to the traditional scheme of the "children of
the planets," and illustrates the thesis 59
60
00
we have already seen evolving, namely,
See supra, p. 74. See supra, pp. 69
ff.
THE RE1NTEGRATION OF THE GODS that
the
human
beings share in the properties of the divinity
month of their
presides over
birth.
But though the positions, his types
artist
has followed the astrological tradition in his com-
conform
Thus Venus, though she
is
to the piesciiptions
not shown
87.
in the Libellus, with a wreath of white
swimming
son, no longer at her side,
of medieval mythography."
in the sea, is still
ciowned, as
Venus
and red roses ("rosis candidis
sertum gerebat in capite ornatum").
Amor, her
who
205
62
is
She has not even
lost
et
rubeis
her escort:
painted on hex girdle, and at a
little
distance appear her attendants, the three Graces, standing on a rocky plateau (fig.
89).
These details betray the continuity of the literary tradition; others, still more striking, attest the persistence of influences from the North. At Venus' 01
See A. Warburg, "Italienische Kunst und
Internationale AstroJogie im Palazzo Schifanoja zu Ferrara," in Gesammelte Schnften, II, p.
471. 02
In certain manuscripts, in consequence of
one of those misunderstandings of which we have already cited so many examples, these roses are scattered around the goddess (e.g. f ms. fr. 373, foL 207 v.) or are arranged in a M>rt of halo or aureole (e.g., Rawl. B. 214, foL 198 v.).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
206
feet kneels a warrior, attached to
her chariot by a chain.
Who would
recog-
nize Mars, the terrible, in this gallant knight who, as the code of courtly love prescribes, kneels before his lady, at the
mercy of her glance? He might be a
Lancelot, even a Lohengrin. This group invites comparison with a Flemish 63
miniature,
or with a curious salver in the Louvre, which expresses, in a
somewhat crude form, the sovereignty of Venus over
the knights of all his-
04
tory. **
This conversion of an antique fable into a romance of chivalry
ample proof of
the degree to
gives
which the court of Ferrara was impregnated
with Occidental culture.
But This
is
be said, hardly seems like a reversion to classicism.
all this, it will
true; the Ferrara
Mars and Venus, as well
as the Minerva, Jupiter,
and
Cybele, look indeed so much like the ladies and gentlemen of their entou-
rage that
if
they descended from their chariots they might easily be mistaken
for any of these. But
gods that clear if
is
it
is
precisely this familiar association between
symptomatic of the new time;
we compare
its
significance will
men and
become more
the Schifanoia frescoes with the miniatures of a Flemish
manuscript of the same period*
66
In one of these miniatures, which represents Diana, a profane personage
has joined the cortege of nymphs
but in
how humble
a fashion!
He
as a tiny figure, timidly kneeling in a corner in the pose of a donor, as
if
he
felt
is
looking
completely out of his element in this fabulous world. At Ferrara,
on the other hand, the contemporary figures seem
to
consider the presence of
the gods as the most natural thing in the world; the gods, for their part,
appear
ill
at ease in the midst of this little Italian court
w The Swan Knight, ms Gall 19, Bayrische Staatsbibhothek, Munich, reprod. in F. Winkler, Die fldmische Bachmalerei des xv und xvi Jahrhunderts (Leip/ig, 1925), pi. 60. 64 Venus is nude, in a mandorla, rays emanating from her womb strike the faces of six kneeling adorers, one of whom is Lancelot. See S. Reinach, Tableaux medits ou peu, connus des collections frangaises, pi. xxx. Cf. also a
French miniature of the early sixteenth century, Bibl. Nat. fonds fr 594; d'Esshng and Miintz, Petrarque, p. 226. On the influence of the knightly spirit on
05
shown
07
do not
and they ought, by
the representation of antique personages, see E Fatal, Recherches sur les sources la tine da* contes et romans courtois (Paris, 1913),
pp. 394-395 (for the twelfth century) ; and J. Adhemar, Influences antiques . . . , pp. 292296: "L'antiquite romanesque" M Ghent Cathedral (fig. 88) , cf. cod. 9242 of the Bib! Roy. of Brussels (fig. 6). 7
This figure is undoubtedly the poet Horace; in fact, at the foot of the miniature are several verses of
hit,
the
of which
first
mouth.
hymn
Diana Cam., in, 22), seems to is*.ue from his
to
I
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS lights, to feel at
home
And now
at last the
and their compatriots.
gods begin to recover their ancient look. In the same
38. Diana,
89.
frescoes,
Northern countries, they have
there. Exiles in the
recovered in the South their true climate,
207
Pan, and nymphs
Triumph
of
where for the most part they are
Venus
still
costumed and posed like Quat-
trocento princes, one group stands out in contrast. This
three Graces, in which, perhaps for the
first
is the
time in centuries,
group of the
68
the classical
de Mely ("Lea Tres Riches Heures du due de Berry et les trois Graces de Sienne,"
believes that he has found in the figures of the Microcosm (supra, p. 64) reminiscences of the
Gazette des Beaux Arts [1912], pp. 195-201)
antique group in Siena.
F.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
208
They reappear
qualities reappear.
first
of all in the proportions and model-
meagre, mark a step on
the
way
to full plasticity.
But
slightly frail
still
ing of the three bodies: these youthful nudes, though
it is
above
all the
and
com-
position that merits our attention.
The antique motif of
the three Graces,
which goes back
to the
end of the
had undergone a gradual
fourth or the beginning of the third century B.C.,
the disintegration during the Middle Ages. In the twelfth century,
graphus
tertius"
vius (Aen.,
I,
(
Albricus)
still
described
it
correctly, in the
720; ed. G. Thilo [1881], pp. 199
seen from the front, the third from the back, and
f.)
all
:
"Mythomanner of Ser-
two of the figures are
three hold one another
by
the arms:
Quorum prima quidem
nobis aversa, sed
ambe
Ad
nos converses oculos vultusque tenebant Innexae alternis percandidis brachia nodis 68
was
as Petrarch
later to say in his polished hexameters.
But in Bersuire
the tradition alters: their arms are no longer linked, and two of the
scripts of the
of Gafurio, file.
Ovide moralise, in the Tarocchi, and even in the Practica musice they merely stand side by side, two seen from behind or in pro-
In the Libellus,
shown as separate the one It
it is
true,
two again face the spectator, but they are
figures, frolicking
facies versus nos adverse erant, tercia vero T1
bat."
No
still
each by herself in the sea. Furthermore,
who turns her back is not the one in the center;
this detail is significant.
has not arisen through an error, for the text says only:
rum
fig-
number of manu-
ures are seen from the back. This explains why, in a great
"Ex quibus dua-
dorsum in contrarium
verte-
text, furthermore, expressly indicates the relative positions of
the three goddesses.
What has happened
is
rather that the artist has lost his
concern for certain aesthetic laws. If the anonymous painter to whom, according to Pausanias, girl 69
whose back
Africa, nr,
we owe
is
72
the original motif of the three Graces,
turned between her two companions,
w. 216-218. ("The
her back turned
to us,
first
one had
but the other two had
their eyes and faces toward us; their arms were interlaced in ties of exquisite white-
ness.") 70
See supra,
p. 140,
and
fig.
48.
it
placed the
was for reasons of
71 "Two of them were facing us, the third one " turned her back 73 Pausanias, ix, 35, 6, 7. The original might have been a painting, the group thus being seen from one side only. See Roscher's Lexi-
kon,
I,
884
(s.v.
"Charis") .
THE RE1NTEGRATWN OF THE GODS
209
alternation and balance:
it was these qualities which gave the group its Middle Ages on the other hand, its meaning was derived mainly from the supposed moral content from the principle, that is, to which the group seemed to give ingenious illustration: "A benefit conferred
significance. In the
is
twice repaid." For
was enough
this, it
that
any one of the Graces should
turn her back to the spectator; her place with reference to the other two was a
matter of no interest, since
it
did not affect the meaning.
With Cossa, the three Graces have returned once more to their original positions and posture; their interrupted round has been formed again. The graceful inflection of their bodies, the bending of their heads, and the garland of their intertwined arms once more begin to outline in space their lovely curves, their "enceintes
qui tourne lentement,
magiques"
comme
to
By way
We
now
see all that is implied in
the renewal of an order, the reawaken-
the restoration of this classical group
ing of a harmony.
compose "un petit temple rose et rond, n
la nuit."
of this literary tradition, of which his
work marks
the final outcome, Francesco Cossa has regained contact with the pure plastic tradition of antiquity. His Graces are sisters to those of Raphael.
74
*
AND
WE
have gradually arrived at the threshold of the Renaissance. By a of long and laborious evolution, artists have at last begun to restore an way ideal youth to the antiquated medieval models ; or, more often, they abandon so
these models in favor of the statues and bas-reliefs which
now smile
at
them
with a beauty undiramed by time. The gods who return to people the vaults 75 and walls of the Farnesina, all more or less freely inspired by antiquity,
seem 73
to
have been reinstated overnight in
Paul Valery. 7 *Musee Conde, Chantilly; cf. also the reverse of a medal made by Niccolo Fiorentino for Giovanna Tornabuoni, showing "Castitas, Pulchntudo, Amor." On Botticelli's dancing n Graces, see A. Warburg, "Der FrLJiling, in Gesammelte Schriften, I, pp. 28-29. On other fifteenth-century representations of the Three Graces, see ibid., p. 29, n. 3; and the article by W. Deonna, "Le groupe des trois Graces nues et sa descendance," Revue archeologique, xxxi (1930), pp. 274-332.
all their ancient splendor.
75
Peruzzi and Giulio Romano, for example, copied sarcophagi; Raphael a&similated classical types -without forcing himself to imitate any precise modeL See F. Saxl, La Fede astrologica di A. Chigi, pp. 41 ff.: "L'antichita negli aftreschi della Farnesina." The importance should be stressed of the part played by the engravers (such as Marc Antonio Raimondi and Bonasone) in giving currency to the antique types which had been
thus rediscovered; these types became so popular that they were adopted by decorators of majolica and other artisans.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
210 But
this dazzling
have heen needed
revenge should not
to bring
it
make
us forget the centuries which
about. Sometimes, indeed, at the height of the
Renaissance and of the gods' new glory, some sign or detail will intervene to
remind us of
their long years of exile
90. Pegasus
and adventure. In the church of San
and Perseus
91.
Mercury
Domenico, in Naples, the funeral chapel of the princely Caraffa family
namented with
bas-reliefs executed
is
or-
around 1512, on which the constellations
are represented. For the most part these reliefs reproduce the beautiful classical types of the first Aratea, but in the
Medusa head,
the
hero's strange past: the head which
posed on him by the Arabs. tradition with
Some
its
It will
the
It
he holds
(fig.
is
see, instead of the
90}. This detail recalls the
a remnant of the disguise im-
proves the survival, in Italy,
of the pictorial
century-long process of change.
vestiges of the literary tradition also survive.
1545, Jacopo Sansovino 76
hand of Perseus we
head of a bearded demon
made
be recalled that in Germany
same tune (1515)
at
Between 1540 and
four admirable statues for the Loggetta in about
Diirer corrected this
error (supra, pp. 186 f.).
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS Venice which are
There
is
still to
be seen there: Apollo, Mercury, Pallas, and Peace.
a singular contrast between the
nudity, recalls the
He
severed head of Argus
two figures Apollo, in his radiant :
has no other attribute, but his right foot rests on the
We
91).
(fig.
we know: he is the Mercury of the by Albricus.
first
recognize this Mercury, whose history
Tarocchi, in
whom the traits of the archaistic
so oddly combined with those of the medieval type transmitted
78
THE PRECEDING
study has rested upon a too restricted and specialized body
of material to serve as a basis for general theories and laws. authorize us to define first
of
77
Apollo Belvedere; Mercury, in a tunic, wears a triangular
hat and soft boots.
Hermes were
211
all, the
more
It
does, however,
exactly, or to rectify, certain ideas
very notion of "Renaissance"
and terms
itself.
In the light of these analyses, the Renaissance appears as the reintegration of antique subject matter within the antique form:
we can speak
of a
Renaissance from the day Hercules resumed his athletic breadth of shoulder, his club,
and
his lion's skin.
Not for a moment
urrection" ; Hercules had never died, any cepts
and as names,
man.
It
was
at least, they
there any question of "res-
more than Mars or Perseus. As
con-
had survived tenaciously in the memory of
their appearance alone
his Turkish disguise
is
which had vanished, Perseus living on in
and Mars as a knight of chivalry.
Nor must we conclude
too hastily that the classical
form under which
the gods had once been known had completely disappeared from view. In as a spite of long periods of eclipse, it survived during the Middle Ages
memory maintained and
revived at certain privileged epochs by the sight of
ancient ruins and the reading of the poets. 77
See F. Sapon, Jacopo Tatti detto
sovino (Rome, 1928) , 78 See supra, pp. 199
pis.
il
San-
43-46.
ff Tiziano Aspetti represented Mercury in the same way, in a bronze formerly in the Figdor Collection, Vienna: see L. Planiscig, Venezianische Bddhauer der Re-
naissance
(Vienna,
1921),
figs.
Aspetti, again, alternately models a
647,
648.
Venus
of
79
Better
still,
a vivid feeling for
antique inspiration, and a Mars in contemporary costume, with a plumed helmet and a gun (ibid, figs. 619, 618). 79
This has been shown methodically and
at
Adhemar, Influences antiques . . cf. also A. Goldschmidt, "Das Nach; leben der antiken Fonnen im Mittelalter," Vortrage d. Bibliothek Warburg (1921-22), length
by
.
pp. 40-50.
J.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
212
sculptural beauty in the representation of the gods breathes through
Rome in the twelfth century by Hildebert
verses written in .
.
.
Hie superum formas superi mirantwr
Et cupiunt
Non
some
de Lavardin: et ipsi
vultibus esse pares.
fictis
potuit natura deos hoc ore creare
Quo miranda deum signa creavit homo Vuhus adest his numinibus potiusque coluntur Artificium studio
The gods are jealous of
their
deitate sua
quam own
statues ; they
it is,
and not the gods them-
selves, that inspire devotion.
This admiration did not remain a matter of words only. Certain aspects of medieval sculpture give evidence of an effort to perpetuate or to redis-
cover the ancient canon of beauty; and
if the
understanding of the plastic gen-
ius of antiquity is frequently of only a superficial order, at other times
Rheims, for instance, in the
first
years of the thirteenth century
in
it is inti-
mate and profound. But saints esty.
at
Rheims
it is
no longer the gods who are represented; instead,
and virgins stand before us, draped in their noble and tranquil majqualities from the past, like the togas and peplums, serve to
The formal
clothe
new
ideas ; they
appear somewhat
now belong to Christian subjects. This observation may we recall that the manuscripts have pre-
less obvious if
sented the opposite phenomenon, that of the pagan gods taking on contem-
porary costume and even ecclesiastical attributes and gestures. Have seen a tonsured Jupiter, a mitered Mercury
Rheims Virgins might These examples
chosen from
last centuries of antiquity.
among
Form and
speak, each distinct from the other.
80
De Roma,
the extreme cases
in art, Christian
highlight the
had begun
in the
subject survived in isolation, so to
As pagan ideas gradually became severed ideas came forward to inhabit the forms
1049. ("Here the gods look at the figures of the gods, and they in
not
easily be taken for a priestess of Vesta?
process of disintegration or dissociation which in reality
from expression
we
whereas one or another of the
PL, CLXXI,
themselves would like to resemble their own images. Nature could not create gods with faces as on the admirable statues of the gods
created by man. They are revered for the of the artist rather than for their
own
work divin-
See E. Mile, "Etudes sur les eglises romaines," Revue des Deux Mondes (Dec. 1, ity.")
1938) , p. 592.
213
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS thus abandoned, just as the Christian cult took over the
imperial baths.
And
ter within the priest's
emperor, an Alexandrian shepherd, or an Orpheus, the other hand, Jupiter
may appear
may become
form as
81
remains,
we
find
Roman
is
now represented
in his
a divinity, fine mythological heritage, like the classical
patrimony as a whole, has so disntegrated that in order its
a
and Eve a Venus, On
as one of the Evangelists, Perseus as a
George, Saturn as God the Father. But no god
traditional
the
robe or the knight's armor.
In this strange game of changing places, Christ
St.
empty temples or
the heroes of Fable, for their part, at length sought shel-
it
to take stock of
necessary to distinguish between a pictorial and a
lit-
erary tradition which had become completely separate. Neither tradition, by itself,
was able
to
keep
intact the
memory
of the gods. Without a pictorial
model as corrective and support, the descriptions of the mythographers were powerless to evoke their true forms; but even where the model had been handed down,
it
could engender only more and more debased replicas, since
understanding of the subject had been obscured or
82
lost.
Linked together, and
checked one against the other, these two traditions would have sible to rebuild the unity of ancient art; this, indeed, is
made
it
pos-
what took place when
the figures of the constellations
first began to regain their mythological sigand as the bizarre nificance, types issuing from Albricus took on once more the gestures and proportions of statues. More than once during the Middle
Ages, a revival of ancient arts and
went far enough for us
to
be able
letters
twelfth century as having been, each in quite true that the two traditions
appeared
to
be coming about, and
to refer to the Carolingian its
period and the
own way, a "Renaissance.!*
moved nearer
together at those
It is
moments:
there were scholars capable of explaining the sarcophagi to the artisans
who
copied them, while the same scholars, like true humanists, observed the ancient marbles
and made collections of works of art.
Thus the Renaissance, the
81
end of a long divorce.
rightly seen, is in no sense a sudden crisis;
It is
it is
not a resurrection, but a synthesis.
Cf J. von Schlosser, Prdludien pp. 9 ff. See supra, pp. 154 ff. .
82
83
M See 200 ff.
J.
Adhemar, op.
cifc,
esp.
pp. 104
ff.,
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAX GODS
214
FROM
another angle, what
we have
light at certain points on the part
importance, hut
is
was of
Italy. Italy's role
played by
capital
differs slightly from the one usually attributed to her. Italy received a great many classical themes from outside
it
First of all,
sources; this
said of the migrations of the gods throws
particularly striking in the case of the gods.
cient divinities were reborn, as has usually
Not
all the an-
been imagined, on the
soil
where
they once reigned; they returned from distant exile, some after strange detours. It is impossible to overestimate the significance of Petrarch's
having
turned to an Englishman, "Albricus," as his authority in delineating the
ure of Jupiter or Neptune
fig-
Petrarch, the greatest Italian humanist of the
fourteenth century.
Furthermore,
it
was not merely her own indigenous
thus received from abroad; the legends of other nations in the Trecento,
When, was merely adapting
Guido delle Colonne revived the
the
deities that Italy
came
to her as well.
Roman de
Troie, he
work of Benoit de Sainte-Maure, a French poet of
the twelfth century; similarly, the Fails des Romains, which recounted the exploits of their ancestors to the Italians of the late
posed in Paris in the
first
to all expectation, it is
Thus, contrary classical
Middle Ages, were com-
years of the thirteenth century.
84
not always on classical soil that
memories have remained most alive more than once ;
it
happens that
material from antiquity turns up in Italy not as a direct heritage, but as an
imported product.
At
all events,
similated
it.
This
it
is
will
be said, Italy transformed this material and reas-
of course true, but not of Italy alone.
The countries of the
North and West, which played so essential a role in the conservation and transmission of antique themes, contributed also to the restoration of forms.
We need but recall the curious experiments of the German artists who, fifteenth century, began again to
decisive corrections **
made by
in the
copy the Carolingian manuscripts; or the
Diirer in the types of the stellar divinities;
See L. F. Flutre, Li Fait des Romains dans
les Literatures frangaise et italienne du 13e 16e siecle (Paris, 1933) , and Sneyders
an de
Vogel, "La date de la composition des Faits 1 des Remains,* Neophilologus, 17 (1932), pp. 213-214, 271.
However, Flutre points out that the legend of Caesar, the last to appear in France after the tales of Alexander, Thebes, Troy, etc. preceded the others in Italy, for the very reason that there Caesar had the character of a "national" hero.
215
THE REINTEGRATION OF THE GODS above
all,
the influence of French and Flemish naturalism on the Trecento
and Quattrocento
Lombardy, Siena, and Florence. In
in
moreover, the story of the gods art :
it
is
this last respect,
but one episode in the general evolution of 8S
has long since been shown
coming from
that the ^Gothic" spirit
France, Flanders, and the Rhine valley breathed over Italy as early as the Trecento, and
made
itself felt
down
to the sixteenth century. This
was one of
the influences which "a wakened" Italy, and prepared her to understand the
teachings of her
own past.
Admittedly, the mere mention of a Niccolo Pisano, and later of a Ghiberti,
should be enough to prevent us from pushing
paradox; these
names should
also
remind us
uniform, and that the sculptors were the the painters were difficult to
the North
still
groping.
And
this
view to the point of
that the evolution of art is not
first to
lastly, as
discover truths toward which
we have
seen,
it is
determine the direction in which influences move:
and West,
for instance, left their
mark upon
if
sometimes those from
the Italian primitives,
the French illuminators weie in their turn influenced from the South. Diirer
is
drawn toward
and Mantegna, and
is
the classical style, he has been preceded
When
by Pollaiuolo
following their example.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the North prepared the
way
for the
reintegration of the gods, furnishing the necessary elements and, in order to
bring them to 85
life,
lending them something of
See L. Courajod, Legons professees a PEcole
its
du Louvre, (1901).
own blood and ii:
soul.
Les origines de la Renaissance
BOOK
II
The Science
of Mythology
in the Sixteenth Century
HE TRIUMPH
of the ancient gods in Renaissance Italy and then in
J[ Europe as a whole, and the immense place which they occupy in the art and literature of the sixteenth century, have often heen emphasized, but less often accounted for on specific grounds. nels,
By what means, through what
did the knowledge of mythology become so diffused that
it
chan-
took on the
It has usually been thought enough to give some such reply as this: "The ancient poets weie by this time in every hand. The humanists drew their nourishment from Virgil and Ovid, profane
character of a veritable invasion?
.
.
.
Bibles which they
knew by
and medals which the
heart.
collectors
The
artists,
for their pait, copied the reliefs
were so avidly assembling. Thus the knowl-
edge of Fable became moie and more widespread, and the images of the gods
were multiplied." Actually, however, in the special case of mythology the
men
of the Ren-
aissance did not always turn straight to the sources for their inspiration. shall try to
throw
light
on the obscure but extensive
role played
by
We
certain
intermediaries in making generally known the religious traditions of antiquity.
These intermediaries were contemporary works, manuals and diction-
aries in aspect, shall
which information concerning the names of the gods, their outward
and
their adventures
have occasion
was made easily available
to prove later,
men of letters and
to all readers.
artists as
As we
well were often
The disadvantages and dangers of the method are obvious, though no great harm would have re-
content with secondhand information of this kind.
219
THE SVRVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
220 suited if the
upon
What
the case.
works
manuals had offered a true image of classical antiquity, based But this was by no means
a judicious choice of texts and illustrations.
is
is
demonstrated in fact by even a superficial study of these
that all of them, to a certain extent, derive
from the Middle Ages and
continue, both in spirit and content, that medieval mythographical tradition
we have sketched the history.
of which
THE CHIEF LINK between Middle Ages
is
the mythology of the Renaissance
Boccaccio's Genealogy of the Gods.
The Genealogy, indeed,
is
essentially a
and
that of the
1
work of
ante retroque prospiciens," looking both forward
"simul
transition
and backward,
to
use an
expression of Petrarch's. In date, in general conception, in sources
method, the
it still
belongs to the
and
Middle Ages, yet here and there symptoms of
new time may be found. Boccaccio undertook the work at the request of Hugues IV, king of Cy-
prus, toward the middle of the fourteenth century, twenty-five years of his z
but in
pilations ;
its
life. Its
and devoted
to
it
the last
range greatly exceeds that of the earlier com-
very breadth the plan of the
dieval encyclopedias, the tresors, miroirs, or
work
mers des
recalls the great
me-
histoires, while the
tempt "to reduce the whole of classical mythology to a system, and
to
at-
bring
each god, demigod, and hero into connection with the mighty father of the race,
marks Boccaccio as a child of the Middle Ages." Let us see from what materials the work
is
3
composed. Boccaccio would
have us believe that he always obtained his materials at
first
hand. In the
Dedicatory Epistle he claims that he knows no other study of the subject; furthermore,
it
would be absurd
:
est
The
best general study of the Genealogy of the Gods since the great work by A. Hortis, Studu suite opere latine del Boccaccio
(1789), pp. 155-219, is that of Cornelia C. "The Genealogy of the Gods," in Vassar Mediaeval Studies (1923), pp. 317Coulter,
341, 2
Boccaccio touches upon
many
minor rivulets for what can be drawn
to look in
from the main spring: "Insipidum
other subjects
ex rivulis quaerere quod possis ex
m
the last mythology, especially but mythology remains the essential theme of the work, and the reason for its besides
books;
success. 8
C. Coulter, op, cit. This view is, however, open to question; -what of the Theogony of Hesiod?
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
221
fonte percipere" (xv, 7). Both affirmations are exceedingly ill-advised.
reader soon sees:
( 1) that Boccaccio's
knowledge of classical literature
the most part indirect; (2) that he has not scrupled to
make
The
is
for
extensive use of
his predecessors' works.
Certainly, he knows a
from
Greek; he has heard Leonzio Pilato read
little
4
Homer, and takes legitimate pride in the fact. But his quotations from the Greek generally derive from Latin authors, or even from medieval compilations. With the Roman poets and prose writers, Virgil, the original text of
Ovid, Cicero, Seneca, he seems to be familiar; but in
read them or quotes them by
way
many
instances
he has
of writers from the period of decadence,
even when the originals were immediately accessible for example, from Lactantius and Theodontius.
to
Much
him.
He
quotes Ovid,
of his material conies
him from Apuleius, Servius, Macrobius, and Martianus Capella; much from the Fathers of the Church, especially Lactantius and St. Augustine.
to
also
He
even draws occasionally upon the encyclopedists, from Isidore
nus Maurus and Vincent of Beauvais. Lastly, he
to
utilizes the treatises
Raba-
devoted
mythology alone, and even those of most recent date not only Hyginus and Fulgentius, but also his immediate precursors, i.e., Albricus, whom for
to
that matter he holds in high esteem,
5
and another and most mysterious
figure
whom he calls Theodontius. This Theodontius, whose work has been
known
to Hortis ;
7
Hauvette supposed
8
that he
lost,
was
still
completely un-
was some "Latin compiler of
the extreme decadence" ; but Carlo Landi in his monograph *
"Meum
est
decus
mea
est
gloria,
scilicet
inter Ethruscos Graecis uti carmimbus."
And
he adds, "Etsi non satis plene perceperim, percepi tamen quantum potui." ("It is my privilege and my glory among the Tuscans to make use of Greek poems. ... If I did not understand everything, much as I could") 5
He
at least I perceived as
him frequently
thus, in the Italian Betussi (1606), p. 143: "Et Albenco . . . afferma ella (Giunone) aver allevato Nettuno"; p. 144: "poi come dice Alberico"; p. 145: "dice poi Albenco . . . testimonia Alberico . . . Favonia poi, secondo Alberico"; p. 148: "Secondo Albenco," etc. C. Coulter (op. cit., p. 333) wrongly assumes cites
edition
of
G.
is
more pre-
an abridgement of Albricus 6 In his youth, he copied from the Collectiones of Paolo da Perugia "ea quae sub nomine Theodontii apposita sunt" (xv, 6) ; but he speaks elsewhere (x, 7) as if he had actually had a manuscript of Theodontius in his hands, 7 Op. cit, p. 464: "Perhaps that much-talkedof Theodontius will one day be discovered, on account of whom Boccaccio was accused of
that the Libellus is merely
being an impostor." *Boccace (1914), p. 425. Demogorgone, con saggio di nuova edizione delle Genealogie deorum gentilmm del Boccaccio e silloge dei frammenti di Teodonzio
8
(Palermo, 1930), esp. pp. 18-20.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
222 cise.
Theodontius was probably a philosopher of Campanian origin who
wrote between the ninth and eleventh centuries.
He
furnished Boccaccio with
tradition; he knew the Olympic pan-
the debris of a curious and very mixed
theon, but there are also signs of a syncrelistic mythology,
memories of the
cosmogonic speculations of the Greek philosophers, and even fragments of a
Greek historian of the fourth century
10
B.C.
It is to
Theodontius that Boc-
"Demogorgon," whom he presents as founder of the but of whom classical antiquity never heard. Demo-
caccio owes his famous
whole race of gods, is
gorgon
u
a grammatical error,
become god.
12
This detail alone should serve to put us on our guard as far as Boccaccio's
documentation
As a matter
sources.
is
concerned, and his independence with regard to his
of fact, Boccaccio treats all the authorities and histories
which he uses as equally
reliable.
His own claim
as with regard to Jason, for instance.
is
"Verum
of course quite different
ego," he says, "plus fidei
antiquae famae exhibeo: qua habemus Jasonem Esonis fuisse filium, auctori
novo"
(xin,
31 ).
13
But
this declaration of principle
quam
does not prevent
him from following the Latin poets rather than Homer (ix, 2; xn, 15), or from confidently quoting opinions as late as those of Gervase of Tilbury. Similarly, we find him rejecting this or that fable because of its improbability,
and in the next breath accepting some no
cally, all writers of the past, Christian or
less
absurd fabrication. Basi-
pagan, inspire him with the same
reverence: they are, without exception, recipients of It is in this
respect that, in spite of stirrings of a
mains essentially a
Through
same
his
wisdom from on
moie
critical spirit,
high.
he
re-
man of the Middle Ages. method of interpretation,
category. In the
first
place, he
is
also,
he places himself in the
not concerned with resolving the con-
tradictions that he notes in his authors or in the myths themselves; his busi10
This historian
tin,
is
Philochoros. See Lenchan-
"Nuovi frammenti
filologia
e
di Filocoro,"
d'istrusione
classics
Rwista
10
di
(1932),
pp. 41-57. 11
Theodontius himself owed to a Byzantine, the pseudo "Pronapides, Athenian,*' the idea of presenting all the gods as descendants of
Demogorgon. 12 Landi, op. cit., pp. 14-17. Demogorgon was destined for a long career in literature and
Landi (pp 46-53) studies his adventures magic, alchemy, poetry, etc. M. Castelain ("Demogorgon ou le barbarisme deine,'* Association G. Bude, Bulletin; No. 36 [July, 1932], pp 22-39) studies what happened to art.
m
him m English literature. M "But I would rather trust the old tradition, according to which Jason was the son of Aeson, than a recent author."
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 223 ness,
he expressly says,
is to
and others are erroneous,
record
all this,
my
not
it is
not to unravel
it:
"If these things
intention to disprove them, nor to cor-
them in any way, should they not lend themselves to some kind of orderly redaction. I shall be content with reporting what I have found, and shall leave rect
14
He
philosophical controversies aside."
will not even attempt explanations:
"nedum
explicare queam" (vn, 24). At the most, following an expedient already practiced by Cicero and the Stoics, and transmitted to him by Theodontius, he makes an effort to reconcile conflicting versions of the same myth
by recognizing ties
that the
to three Jupiters,
same name has been applied
to several different dei-
four Minervas, five or six Bacchuses. But on the other
hand, however passive and timid he
may be
in analyzing the content of the
fables, he shows abundant energy and boldness when
into them. Convinced as
meanings is
the sense hidden under
its
he
is
it
comes
to reading
that the chief raison d'etre of
a poem
surface (xiv, 10, 12), he develops Rabanus
Maurus* idea that there may be several ways of interpreting the same story. Thus the fable of Perseus decapitating the Gorgon and rising into the air with the help of his winged sandals
may
be taken
literally, as the
account of an
actual happening; morally, as a symbol of the wise man's ascent to virtue after his conquest of sin; or allegorically, as a
symbol of Christ triumphant
over the Prince of this Woild and rising toward His Father.
We
recognize this method ;
15
we have followed
Phornutus to Fulgentius, from Ridewall
its
applications from
to the moralizations of Ovid.
Here,
too, Boccaccio borrows from his predecessors. For example, he takes from
Fulgentius his allegorical interpretation of Antaeus, image of earthly lust
which the virtuous 14 si
man
can overcome only by chastity et alia
Dedicatory Epistle: "Quae quidem quae sunt a debito vanantia non est meae
redarguere vel aliquo modo corngere, nisi ad aliquem ordinem sponte sua se smant redigi. Satis enim mihi erit comperta intentionis
rescnbere, et disputationes philosophicas tinquere." Cf. Boccaccio's conclusion, after his
expose of conflicting views of lo and Isis: "Sane solertibus hujus vanetatis inquisitio relinquatur," iv, 46 ("Surely an inquiry of this experts"), and, a propos of Apis: "Deus rei hujus videat ven-
kind should be
left to the
(i,
13). But he yields
tatem: ego quidem has mtricationes non intellego," vn, 24 ("Let a god perceive the truth of this: as for me, I don't understand these intricacies"). 15
See supra, Bk. I, Pt. 1, chap. iii. Boccaccio an express account of his method of interpretation in his Vita di Dante (ed. Moutier [1833]), pp. 56-^57. On the other works gives
by Boccaccio rich in allegorical content, L'amorosa visions and the L'Ameto, see D. M La mitologia nelle prime imitazioni Bassi, della Divina Commedia," Aevum, xi (1937), fasc. 1-2, pp. 203-235.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
224
nothing in ingenuity to the earlier writers when he himself allegorizes on his
own
account: Pasiphae, daughter of the Sun,
consort, Minos,
is
human
the right path. Venus, her enemy, this
the soul, child of
is
God; her
reason, which governs the soul and leads
it
along
the hull represents the pleasures of
is lust;
world, and from the union of the soul with pleasure
is
born the Minotaur,
the vice of bestiality (iv, 10).
which consists
This approach
in
a determination to reveal edifying
meanings everywhere, come what may tates of prudence. In
the
pagan
is in line,
moreover, with the dic-
showing the great lessons of Christian morals beneath
fables, Boccaccio is safeguarding himself against criticism or re-
proach on the score of impiety.
He
is careful,
furthermore (and there
question of his sincerity), to give constant assurance of his orthodoxy
is
no
16
in
order to ward off attack from the theologians.
Thus, in spite of some symptoms of a new rooted in the medieval past, which nourishes
way
detracted from
its
spirit, the
it
Genealogy
and animates
contemporary success or
its
it.
is still
This in no
wide circulation, which
are attested by the large number of manuscripts and, after the invention of printing, the laige 18
Spanish.
It
number of
17
editions bi ought out in Latin,
Italian,
and
became, and remained for two centuries, the central storehouse
from which educated men drew their knowledge of the gods.
IT WAS NOT, indeed, until the middle of the sixteenth century that Italy saw a
renewal of the authentic mythographical tradition. Renaissance, in
its
It is
a curious fact that the
most brilliant phase, produced no work in
this field
the
reason perhaps being that the very contact with and immediate intuition of antiquity rendered such scholarly aids unnecessary. Perhaps, also, other publications, besides the Genealogy of Boccaccio, were a response in at least
a provisional manner to the needs of the time.
What were
these publications?
Were
ined, the most important classical texts, 16
Each book opens with a prayer
a profession of faith ends the work. 17 Eight between 1472 and 1532.
to Christ;
they perhaps, as might be imag-
made generally 38
available through the
See E. H. Wilkins, "The Genealogy of the
Editions of the Genedogia deorum" XVH (1919) , pp. 423-438.
Philology,
Modern
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY advent of printing? No;
this
was not the
225
case. Indeed, the truth of Michelet's
must be acknowledged: "Printing at first served for little more than to . propagate and assure the survival of barbaric literature. Though some verdict
.
classical
works were published, they were far outnumbered by the recurrent
editions of medieval writings, especially the textbooks, the cis
.
or abridgements."
"
Summae,
the pre-
As a matter of fact, printed editions of ancient mythog-
raphers did appear, from the end of the fifteenth century on; but as Gruppe
has observed,
20
with the exception of the
De
natura deorum, these were chiefly
the works on which the Middle Ages had most thrived. Also, they were
printed in an order almost exactly inverse to that of their true value: the
between 1470 and 1475)
mentary of Servius
(six editions
Homeric Allegories
of Palaephatus, the treatises of Heraclitus
(Aldus, 1505)
;
;
Com-
Fulgentius; the
and Phornutus
Macrobius (Macrobius "integer," Paris, 1515 and 1524;
Basel, 1535; Lyons, five editions between
of Apollodorus was to appear only
1522 and 1544). The Bibliotheca
much later (1555) On the .
other hand, the
medieval mythographers were constantly reissued. Aside from Boccaccio's Genealogia, the success of which
we have
described, and which continued to
be the leading mythological source book through the
first
century, Martianus Capella, for instance, went into no
half of the sixteenth
less
than eight editions
between 1499 and 1599; the Images of the Gods of Albricus and the Libellus
de imaginibus deorum were brought out, the first at the end of the fifteenth century (Rome, c. 1480; Florence, c. 1492, and 1495-1500; other editions: Vienna, 1510 and 1523; Rome, 1510; Basel, 1549 and 1570; Paris, 1578;
Lyons and Geneva, 1608,
etc.), the
second in 1520 (Paris, Jean de Marnef:
Allegoriae poeticae seu de veritate ac expositione poeticarum fabularum libri
quatuor Alberico Londoniensi authore nusquam antea impressi). The Libellus, which, as
century on, was
we have
seen,
was attributed
to Albricus
from the
fifteenth
presented to the public in glowing terms:
Arma deum,
for masque velis si noscere lector Albrici exiguo codice cuncta leges
Histoire de France an xvie siecle: Renatssance (1857), Introd., pp. 105-106. 20 Geschichte d. klass. Myth., p. 31, par. 17.
Dr. E. P. Goldschmidt has kindly communicated valuable information concerning the editions of Albricus.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
226
or in what might be the accents of a dithyramb
Numquid opus
:
Phidiae, vel Mentoris, anne Myronis?
Falleris. Albrici labor est,
dum conderet ista 1
Archetypes habuit qui (mihi crede) Deos.*
Making due allowance would
there
still
seem
and for the desire
for rhetoric
to
to publicize the work,
or a strange blindness
be a certain effrontery
in
proffering "Albricus" as a rival of Phidias, and in claiming that he copied the gods "d'apres nature."
THESE VARIOUS
treatises, of ancient
or more modern date, were several times
where mythographical, allegorical, and astrobrought nomical texts of very unequal value were juxtaposed. Thus the Libellus, supposedly by Albricus, appeared in Basel in 1549 together with the Fables and together in collections
Astronomy of Hyginus, Palaephatus' On Incredible Things, the Mytholo-
the
On
gies of Fulgentius, Phornutus' allegorical
Sphere of Proclus, and the tion
was
to
the Nature of the Gods, the
Phenomena of Aiatus.
22
Later,"" this
same
collec-
be enriched by the new History of the Gods of Giglio (Lilio) Gre21
gorio Giraldi (Lilius Gregorius Gyraldus)
;
later
still,
through resumes and
commentaiies by Maciobius, Marsilio Ficino, and a contemporary mythog25
rapher, Conti.
In the same period, Italy and all of Europe were of course
inundated by editions of the Metamorphoses, but these were moralized ver28
sions. 21
Thus
knowledge of the gods during the
the chief sources for
Edition of Vienna, 1523: Albrici pkilosophi
doctissimi libellus de Deorum et poetae imaginibus (with Fenestella, De magistratibus . . RomanoTum). ("If you want to know the arms and the figures of the gods, you will read . about them m Albricus' small treatise. Is this the work of Phidias, of Mentor, of Myron? You are mistaken It is the work of Albricus, who, believe me, had the gods .
.
.
themselves as original models.") 22
An
earlier edition of this collection (1535)
does not include the Libellus. 23
24
25
Basel, 1570.
Lyons, 1608. the history of the publication of the
On
mythographers teenth
m
centuries,
the see
sixteenth Struve,
and seven-
Syntagma
.
.
.
first
(1701), pp. 50 ff "Mythographi Latim"; pp. 55-56: "Recentiores scnptores de Diis"; and J. A. Fabncius, Bibliographia antiquana, 3rd ed. (1760), chap, vhi: "Scriptores de Dns," etc.,
esp. par. 8,
"Deorum nomina, imagines,
genealogiae." 28
We
have given (Bk. I, Pt. 1, chap, lii) a list of these editions. The moralization attributed
Thomas Waleys, alone, was published five times in Italy between 1510 and 1519. See E. Rand, Ovid and his Influence (London, 1926) ; on the illustrated editions of the Metamorphoses, see M. D. Henkel, Illustrierte Ausgaben von Ovids Metamorphosen im XV., to
K
und xvii Jahrhundert, Vortrage der BibL Warburg (1926-27), pp. 58-144.
xvi.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY whom
half of the sixteenth century were either the authors
the
227
Middle Ages
had read, or the medieval authors themselves.
* NEVERTHELESS, need hegan to be felt for a more systematic treatment which would collect these scattered notions and bring them into some kind of order, replacing the old Genealogy, which in the meantime continued to do fairly
good
service.
Some works which appeared in the first half of the century prepared the for this new "codification" of mythology: thus, dictionaries of ancient way proper names, like that of Robert Estienne,
27
performed a certain summariz-
ing function with regard to the material of Fable. Similarly, the books of
"examples" or "lessons" (antiquae to say, the
culled at
lectiones, or
exemplorum
that is
libri)
haphazard compilations of anecdotes, sayings, and curiosities
random from
partial as the
ancient authors, to which the sixteenth century
Middle Ages had been
M
was
concerning the pagan divinities. The model of the genre, the enormous cina of Ravisius Textor,
29
is
as
usually contained a mass of detail Offir
a mine of information on the origins and pedigrees
of the gods, their attributes, the places, offerings, and festivals sacred to them, etc.
;
moreover, 30
gorgon.
it
has
its
source in Boccaccio, for
it
again introduces Demo-
Lastly, the books of hieroglyphs and emblems, in which, as
already seen, the gods played an important part, tion, citations,
and even
thus offered, in their
31
made a mass
we have
of informa-
illustrations readily accessible to the reader; they
own way,
the rudiments of a mythological
compendium.
Nevertheless, none of these works performed the service of a specialized and
complete
treatise.
27
Dictionarium nonunum virorum, mulierum, populorum, idolorum, urbium etc quae passim in libris prophanis leguntur (Paris, 1512) : "Fabulas," says Estienne, "ex Servio nobilibus Acrone ceterisque grammaticis deprompsimus" ("As for the Fables ... I have borrowed them from Semus, Acron, and other famous philologists"). Analogous works are: Herman Torrentmus, Elucidanus carminum et historiarum, vel vocabularius
poeticus: continens fabulas, etc. (Strasbourg, 1510 [?]), Montefalco, De cognominibus deorum (Perugia, 1525) , R. Textor, Epithe-
torum opus absolutissimum
.
.
.
lexicon, vere
poeticum, ttberem omnium et verborum copiam complectens (Basel, 1558). 28 See J. T. Welter, FExemplum dans la literature religieuse et didactique du Moyen-
Age
(Paris, 1927)
.
a Ravisius
Textor, Officina partim historicis partim poeticis referta disciplines (Basel, 1503). Cf. the compilations by CaeLus Rhodi-
gmus and
Petrus Cnnitus. ln a chapter entitled, "De deis, et heroum," foL 256v.-259r., etc. 81 See supra, pp. 101 ff. so
filii
deorum
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
228 It is to
the
first
it is
sixteenth-century author to renew Boccaccio's undertaking
true, 32
a German, Georg Pictor, that the credit belongs of having been
on a more modest
and republished
1532,
in
scale.
though,
His Mythological Theology, appearing in
1558 as the Magazine of the Gods,
33
is
presented
in dialogue form. Theophrastus, a professor, teaches his disciple,
Evander,
and "allegory" of each god, beginning with the Dei" and "Magni arriving thereafter at the "Selecti," and the "Indigetes," or
the names, appearance,
tutelary divinities.
Evander
is
especially curious about the appearance of the gods:
"Die
imaginem!" he insists, when the description has not yet been given. It is therefore on this point that Theophrastus dwells at greatest length. He usually offers several descriptions of the
same god, based upon
and documents. Several of the authorities
whom
different authors
he invokes are old friends of
and the Libellus (which Pictor para34 word for word). We find him basing a de-
ours: Fulgentius, Martianus Capella, phrases,
when he does
not copy
it
Juno on the statue by Polycletus of which Pausanias speaks, or even on a medal of Faustina (p. 19). But these types are a little too familiar scription of
to satisfy Evander,
who demands something new and rare: "Habes ab hac (p. 12). To satisfy this taste, Theophrastus some-
communem?"
aliam minus
times leaves Greece and (fig.
94} . Thus,
Rome to hunt
in treating of the great
for less well-known images in the East
Greco-Roman gods, he does not
call attention to their Oriental equivalents: the
ketlike headdress, or the bearded Cypriote Venus.
chapters to the Egyptian gods :
Isis, Osiris,
fail to
"Assyrian" Apollo, with bas-
He
even devotes several
Harpocrates,
etc.
Here we merely
note the appearance of this exotic tendency, this mythology of other peoples
("exterarum gentium," says the
title).
^Theologia mythologica ex doctiss. virorum promptuanOy labore Pictorii VilL in compendium congesta. Videlicet De nominum deorum gentihum rations. De imaginibus out formis, insignibusque; earumd. et omnium imaginum iB., explanationcs allegoricae (Freiburg 1532) ; another edition was published in
Antwerp 83
in the
same
year.
exterarum gentium quam Apotheseos Romanorum deorum Hbri tres, nominee imagines et
tarn
earumdem imaginum complectentes
allegorias, auctore D. Giorgio Pictore Villin-
We shall gano
.
.
.
meet with
(Basel,
it
soon again.
1558). Pictor
also
is
the
author of the Physicarum quaesdonum cen-
tuna tres , . quis verus deus, dei (Basel, 1568).
unde gentiles
34
See, for example, p 26 (ed. 1558): "audi nunc quam totam fere ex Albrico philosopho
habemus" ("such from
the
as
we have almost
philosopher Albncus") , 38: "Albricus hoc ferme
entirely said of
hnearum
Apollo; p ductu hanc depingit'* ("Albricus describes thus clearly"), of Mercury; "Albricus fingit" ("Albricus represents") , of Ceres, etc.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY As each
description ends, Evander asks to have
229
35
it
explained,
taking
up one after the other various details of the god's features, clothing,
"Why has
Jupiter no ears?
derbolts in his right?"
etc.
Why does he hold a scepter in his left hand, thun-
With
untir-
ing compliance the master provides
some-
the desired interpretation
times a physical or cosmogonic
more
interpretation, but
often an
edifying or moral one. The book ends, as
began, with a com-
it
orthodox
pletely
expression
of
faith, a prayer to the true and eter-
nal
God
"verus
of gods,
et
Him who
to
omnium
sempiternus
deorum deus
est."
In short, Pictor's treatise falls
thoroughly into line with the medieval tradition. the
Libellus
method
It
by
is
its
related to 94. Mithra
descriptive
3e ;
in
its
allegorical preoccupations
forerunners.
it is
a sequel to Boccaccio and his
^
BETWEEN 1548 and 1556 there appeared, one after the other, three Italian manuals of much greater importance, both in size and popularity. These are: The History of the Gods, by Lilio Gregorio Giraldi: De dels gentium varia et multiplex historia in qua simul de agitur, etc. (Basel,
eorum imaginibus et cognominibus
Oporinus, 1548).
The Mythology of Natale Conti: Mythologiae larum libri decem (Venice, Aldus, 1551). 35
For
each
intelligendus"
one, (p.
of
course, 20). Cf
is
p.
"cum 9:
sale
"Habent
fortassis smgula plus in recessu quam promittant" ("They have perhaps in the background more than they promise in the front") , f rente
sive explicationis fabu-
-The
edition of 1558 is illustrated, but the engravings do not correspond to the text; they are taken from another German mythological treatise, the Heydenwelt of Herold (see fig. 94) , published at Basel in 1554. As
Herold
we
a large extent derives from Giraldi, be dealing with him somewhat later.
to
shall
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
230
The Images of the Gods, by Vincenzo Cartari: Le imagini colla
sposi-
zione degli del degli antichi (Venice, Marcolini, 1556). It
would be well
to recapitulate briefly
thors, of their lives, work, and reputation
what
among
is
known of
these three au-
their contemporaries.
Lilio Gregorio Giraldi is one of the great figures of
humanism.
Ferrara in 1479, he led a wandering existence, encountering
37
many
Born
at
setbacks
of fortune. In Naples, he became the friend of Pontano and Sannazaro; in
Milan, he studied Greek under Demetrios Chalcondylas (1507). In Modena,
he became the tutor of Ercole Rangone; when Rangone was made a cardinal,
him
Giraldi accompanied
to
Rome, where he had lodgings
in the Vatican
(1514). There his reverses began: his ambitions were frustrated, his health began to
fail.
Then came the
lost all his possessions,
Rangone died
disaster of the sack of
Rome
in
1527; he
even his books. As the crowning misfortune, Cardinal
same year. Giraldi then sought refuge with GianfranMirandola, but this patron was assassinated in 1533. Ill, em-
in the
cesco Pico della
bittered, without resources,
he then returned
to his native city,
where the
benevolence of Duchess Renee and the friendship of Manardi and Calcagnini rescued
him from want and brightened
his latter years.
He
died in 1550
or 1552.
Author of Latin poems, of the celebrated Discourse against Letters and the Literati, which expressed his bitterness and disillusion,
learned works (Treatise on the Muses, the Pythagorean Symbols,
On
38
and of several
On
the Years
the Enigmas of the Ancients and and Months, History of the Poets of
Antiquity, etc.), he undertook his great History of the Gods only toward the
end of his
He
insists
"senex
life
and
et
aeger
.
.
.
his editors will insist after
57
See C. Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura (Rome, 1782-1797), vii, pp. 190-195; Giannandrea Barotti, Memorie istoriche di italiana
letterati fcrraresi (Ferrara,
Giraldi himself furnishes
1792-93),
r,
p. 265.
many autobiograph-
for instance in
the History details, of the Gods (Dedication, Chaps, iv and xrv: his disappointed hopes; his affairs and health ical
as
iam grandaevus
ruined) and in the Poemata (Opera, n, p. 914: sack of Rome; death of Cardinal
him
et
paene moribundus."
on the painful conditions
Rangone). 3S
Progymnasma adversus
literas et /iterates,
in Opera, ii, pp. 422-455 (Basel, 1580) This discourse was probably written under Leo .
X
and revised around 1540. On the condition of the humanists and their decline, see J. Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in chap, xi: "Fall of the Humanists in the "Sixteenth Century." Italy,
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 231 under which he brings the work
to
an end,
39
ravaged by gout which nails him
to his bed, "gravato decumbens, saevissima arthritide correptus."
whom
Giraldi,
Jensius, in the
1696
as one of the pioneers of the Renaissance,
edition of his complete works, hails 40
is,
to quote Moreri, "generally re-
garded as one of the greatest geniuses produced by Italy in the last centuries/' in fact,
And,
he was held in high esteem by the contemporary humanists Sea-
Casaubon, and Vossius, while Montaigne writes: "I regard
liger,
our century that we have, as
grace to
I
understand, allowed two
it
as a dis-
men
of the
highest learning to die in extreme want: Lilius Gregorius Gyraldus in Italy, 41
and Sebastianus Castalio
We
know
in
Germany."
less of the life of
Milan around 1520, and turned to his native
Natale Conti
*2
only that he was born in
that after several years of study in
Venice he
serving in the household of the jurist Gabrio Pani-
city,
garola as tutor to his son, the future Fra Francesco Panigarola. relations,
senators,
and
his milieu,
re-
Of his
other
we know very little. He addresses verses to Venetian
composes a poem on the Hours for Cosimo de' Medici.
He seems
to
have had correspondents and patrons in France, for he dedicates one of the 3
editions of the
he
is
Mythology
to
Charles IX.* In addition to the last-named work,
the author of several translations (for example, of a Latin version of the
Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus) , of Latin elegies in the manner of Ovid (Carmina), and still in Latin of a treatise on hunting (De venatione) and
works on contemporary history (Commentarii de Turcorum bello in insulam 39 .
.
At the end .
laborem
of
Syntagma v he
omnem
writes:
exegi xvii calend.
"Hunc Novem-
bns MDXLIII," 40
".
.
.
primum
trate,
quasi
ver renascentibus ac
respirantibus a barbane htteris." Essais, i, 35: "J'entends avec une grande honte de nostre siecle qu'a nostre veiie deux 41
tres excellens personnages en savour sont morts
en estat de n'avoir pas leur soul a manger." *2 See G. Tiraboschi (vn, pp. 195-196), who makes use of Foscarmi (Delia letteratura veneziana, p. 284). Johann Fabncms (Htstoria bibliothecae,
332)
attnbutes
vn, p. Latin works to Conti. Edition of 1567; another edition
43
cated to G. B. Campeggi, bishop of Majorca. Conti refers several times to a Parisian magis-
other
Arnaud du
dedi-
one source of enwork; another
his
Valerio
inquisitor,
Mythologia is discussed in the article by D. Bassi, "Un* opera mitologica del sec. xvi," R. Istituto lombardo di scienze e letters, Rendiconti, LXX (1937), pp. 9-20; Conti's
Bassi points out that Conti was of noble birth, and refers to G. Ardm di Casteltevere, "Memorie delle famighe Conti ed Arditi,"
Re-dfta is
Ferrier, as
couragement to him in source was the Venetian FaenzL
1933).
di
araldica
The same
e
genealogia
(Naples,
article contains errors con-
cerning the editions of the Mythologia.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
232
Melitam gesto anno 1565; Universae historiae
temporis libri xxx
sui
[1572?]). It is to
even
so, his
his Mythology, apparently, that he
fame came
late
passed for one of the most learned
homines de son temps")
;
We
very mysterious figure. in
men
tells
us that he
of his time ("1'un des plus sgavans first
of my-
him
disdainfully as a negligible compiler
this
group of
44
Vincenzo Cartari, the third of
was horn
his chief reputation;
Heinrich Ursinus considers him the
thographers. But Scaliger refers to not worthy to he quoted.
owed
and was not undisputed. Moreri
Italian
know almost nothing
mythographers,
of his
life,
is
a
except that he
Reggio Emilia early in the sixteenth century. Like old Giraldi,
he was a protege of the dukes of Ferrara, and probably lived in their entou46
rage.
He
dedicated his treatise on the gods to Luigi d'Este, as Giraldi had
dedicated his to Ercole
must have been
II.
Furthermore, through his publisher, Marcolini, he
in contact in
Venice with the circle of humanists surrounding
Aretino.
All of Cartari's works are in the vulgar tongue; aside from his Images of the Gods, he
was author of a
Ovid (Fasti cFOvidio fasti
tioned 48
commentary on the Fast i of
lingua volgare, 1551;
Flavio intorno ai
//
volgari, 1553), and of an abridgement of Paolo Giovio
dell'istoria di
ity,
translation of and
tratti alia
by
M. Paolo
Giovio, 1562).
The name of
his contemporaries; nevertheless,
Armenini
and Lomazzo recommends his Images to
As we
see, the three
Cartari
(// is
him
cites
compendio
rarely men-
as
an author-
47
artists.
mythographers were by no means equal
in celebrity,
but the success of their works was not directly related to the more or less brilliant place
which they occupied in the history of humanism and the opinion
44
In a letter (Epistolae, xiv, 309, p. 614) to (Setho Calvisio) he definitely recommends "ut scnptorum quorumdam minorum Calvisius
gentium mentione, quahs est Natahs Comes, abstmeas Dolet enim magms
vir futilissimus,
vins
"
pannos tuae purpurae assui ("Refrain from mentioning minor writers such as Natahs Comes, a very untrustworthy man. It is painful to the great to see you sew illos
these rags to your purple.") 45 See the allusions at the beginning of the Flavio. in
Giovanni Battista Armenini, Precetti delta cf 1820 edition, p.
Pittura (Ravenna, 1587) 318. *7
;
Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, Trattato dell'arte delta pittura (Milan, 1584) ; cf. 1844 edition, III,
p. 272.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 233 of scholars: Cartari, the most obscure of the three, found more readers than
did Giraldi, the most learned and highly regarded.
THERE
is
no need, we
feel,
48
for separate analyses to be
made of the History
of
the Gods, the Mythology, and the Images, since the resemblances between the three works greatly outweigh the differences. Let us note merely:
1) That Giraldi, the earliest in date, other two; Natale Conti,
amazement
that
it is
"no one, up
49
undoubtedly influenced the
true, affects not to
to this date,
know him, and even
feigns
has undertaken a comprehensive ex-
planation of these fables, based on the ancient authors"
which rightly amazes Tiraboschi (vn, 195),
is
(i,
1)
proof not so
;
this attitude,
much
of igno-
rance on Conti's part as of an excessive vanity, which we shall have occasion to note elsewhere;
Cartari,
rowings from Giraldi 51 him as a plagiarist.
on the other hand, willingly acknowledges his bor-
borrowings so extensive that Lessing could regard
2) That they bring different aptitudes and aims
mon
thets, etymologies, to the detriment of the
fesses himself a philosopher,
if
is
upon names,
epi-
myths themselves; Conti pro-
and takes special
interpretation of the fables ; Cartari
nant
bear upon a com-
to
subject: Giraldi, the learned philologist, concentrates
interest in a
essentially
more profound
an iconographer
his domi-
not exclusive preoccupation being to describe the gods.
With these and look
at
reservations,
them
we may place
the three works
collectively. For, in spite of appearances,
on the same
level
none of them rep-
resents a really decisive advance over the earlier tieatises; not one contains 48 This will be shown as we study the dissemination of the three works, Book n, chaps. li
and
iii,
Ill-informed critics have tried to maintain the contrary. Scipione Casah (cited in the
Dictionnaire universel, article Cartari) affirms that "Cartari was the first writer after Bocto
summon mythology from
the
ob-
which it had fallen- in fact, the Latin works on the same subject by L G. Giraldi and N. Conti did not appear till scurity into
several years
later.*'
^ He
that this assertion also omits all
whom, however, he
infra.
*
caccio
show
The
dates given above
is
baseless,
mention of Boccaccio, to is
much
indebted.
One
of
Contfs editors (Frambottus, 1637) was later to 51
name G.
E.
gebildet,
Giraldi
among his predecessors. Lessing, Wie die Alien den Tod edition (Berlin, 1769), p. 79.
first
According to Lessing, Cartari is nothing more than a pocket Giraldi. In our opinion, Cartari also owed much to Pictor; any case, the two have an astonishing number of common
m
sources.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
234
anything essentially new. tions, but in all three
On
the contrary, what
we
find
in varying propor-
are the materials, methods, and even the images of
the past.
* IT CANNOT be di jputed that the information brought forward by these authors broader, and their erudition
is
more
by the medieval
classification of sources, they abide
ers
self-assured.
But in their choice and habits.
Although they have a better and more direct knowledge of classical writConti, for instance, borrows extensively from the Greek tragedians
they continue to draw largely upon the late scholiasts and compilers, Hyginus, Servius, Lactantius Placidus, Macrobius, Martianus, Fulgentius;
the Church Fathers and the encyclopedists ; lastly,
upon
their
upon 52 upon Albricus and Boccaccio ;
sometimes those who are least
own contemporaries
trust-
worthy. That Giraldi should evoke the authority of Politian, of Pico della
Mirandola, Leon Battista Alberti, and Bude
is
certainly admissible.
repeats the tales of a certain Alexander of Naples,
53
But he
whose fables are made
use of by Pictor also and later by Cartari in describing the gods.
At is
the
same
not without
its
time,
when
carefully sorted, this confused mass of evidence
value; for "it is not to the writers of the most brilliant period
that the mythographer should turn for evidence; in order to recover the
genuine expression of a myth, one must look is
which would otherwise have been
may have 56
lost.
cites both, with reservations to shall call attention later. Conti not to know them. pretends 53 P. 170: "Scribit vero Alexander Neapolita-
Giraldi
which we
tempore visum hominem melle servatum, ex Mauritania in delatum." ("Alexander of Naples Hispaniam writes that in his day a merman was seen,
nus
much
most
later."
M
a great deal to be gleaned
are not necessarily negligible: they
52
earlier or
from the mythographers of the late Emwho were themselves gleaners. Even the compilers of the Middle Ages
There pire,
much
suo
marmum
quoque
et
preserved in honey, and brought from Morocco G. Tiraboschi (vn, p. 211) gives this Alessandro degli Alessandri (1461-1523). His Dies gemales (1522), an imitation of the Attic Nights,
to Spain.")
a summary biography of
collected the debris of
But did our Italian authors
myths
sift this
contains descriptions of the gods. See ed. 1550, 204-205: ''Imagines variorum deorum quomodo pmgi solitae" (". . . as they are usually painted"). In reality, his descriptions are by no means the usual ones. See the
pp.
Dicttonneure of Bayle.
M P.
Decharme, Mythologie de la Grece and-
(Paris, 1879), Introduction, "This is true of Boccaccio; see
que
222. It
is
supra,
p.
also true of Natale Conti himself,
Louis Menard
(Du Polytheism* hellenique
[Paris, 1863], p. 81) finds in Conn's Mytho(vn, 13) "three verses of the Little
logia
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 235 heterogeneous matter with an eye to the relative value of their authorities?
On
this score, they themselves offer
lieve their
own
many
assurances; if
protestations, the
we
are to be-
which their predecessors
critical sense
lacked forms their own chief virtue. Not in their pages will be found, as in Boccaccio, "invented deities, of 56
thor."
whom
there
actual manuscripts ;
5T
Cartari, in his turn, boasts that he uses only the
authors, the writers most deserving of belief.
with
Hermes Trismegistus, whom Giraldi
whom he begins his 59
ing the gods;
good
58
Unfortunately, they fall into
and hence authority
the error of attributing too great an antiquity ers like
no trace in any ancient au-
is
Giraldi prides himself on working from authentic texts, and from the
to writ-
places earlier than Plato,
and
enumeration of the opinions of the ancients concern-
but above
all,
not prevent them from quoting
as
we have
many
seen, these
proud declarations do
nonclassical authors.
True enough, they speak of these authors with mistrust and disdain. M tt Hyginus is merely a compiler; Fulgentius is not to be relied upon; Albri62 cus still less, and he contains ridiculous tales. As for the Genealogy of Bocwhich I have not as yet discovered in any edition of the Epic Cycle." Conti, like Boccaccio, preserved fragments of Philochoros. See Lenchantin, art. cit. 56 Giraldi on Demogorgon: "Nusquam DemoIliad of Lesches
gorgon iste, nusquam inquam apparuit" ("Nowhere, nowhere did this wretched Demogorgon appear). Cf. Cartari: "But I have never yet found or seen mention of him in any ancient "
writer 57 P. 152: "ut in aliis codicibus legitur" ("as is read in other manuscripts") ; p. 403: "ne si in citandi Phornuto non edita exemplana plerumque sequor: nam apud me
mirere
est manuscriptus codex,
illis
et castigatior et
author"; p. 181: "I have already said several times that I do not wish to assume anything about which the ancients have not written.** 50 P.
On the slips and errors made by due less to negligence, his publishers tell us (16%), than to old age and illness, and also to the fact that he did not have at his disposal the aids and instruments of scholarship which were available to later students 26.
Giraldi
mehonbus
("destitutus
mentis
ac
subpeditarunt op,
cit. t p.
rei
literariae
instru-
quae secuta demnm see 0. Gruppe, tempera")
praesidiis
33.
60
See Frambottus, editor of Conti (1637): "Julius, quaeso, Hyginus, quid praeter fabu-
larum
("What
does
quoting Phornutus I for the most part do not follow the printed editions, as I have in my possession a manuscript which is both richer and more correct than they are"); p. 463: "quod et agnoscitur ex Cardmalis Maffei codice manuscnpto" ("which is also made clear by a manuscript belonging to Cardinal Maffei"); pp. 252, 277, 301, '388: discussion of his lessons; p. 391: "in graeco codice haec
Julius Hyginus bring us, I wonder, than a chaotic mass of fables?")
other
nomina corrupte leguntur" ("these names are
est
incorrectly given in a Greek manuscript"). 58 1571 edition, p 43: "I do not affirm this,
in
since I have not found
scriptore.
locupletior"
("do
not
be
it
surprised
in
if
in
any trustworthy
61
adfert?"
congenem
Giraldi,
"quamvis hie autor non
158
p.
omnino mini,
rerum, vel loquendi probatur" ("although this propnetate author does not seem to me entirely reliable, vel
fide
satis
either for factual accuracy or for propriety of
expression") . 82
Giraldi, p. 153: "qui auctor mihi proletanus nee fidus satis" ("this author stands low
my
estimation,
trustworthy")
;
p.
Risum
and
is
not
sufficiently
178: *'ex Albrico ignobili vix continui cum apud
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
236 caccio,
"one
astounded at finding persons who accord him so
is
as if his testimony
much
belief,
had any value. Certainly, Boccaccio was a cultivated M
spirit
for his time, but he committed gross errors."
After strictures like these, one would expect the untrustworthy authorities to
be avoided. But not only are Martianus Capella
cited in extejiso; they are even cal authors themselves. iot is
on occasion quoted
w
and Fulgentius
**
in opposition to the classi-
For instance, while according to Ovid Apollo's char-
drawn by four horses, Cartari hastens to add that Martianus mentions 06 As for the most recent authors, Albricus and Boccaccio, Giraldi
only two.
deam supra pinnaculum templi and Boccaccio in several connections. On such
quotes Albricus apropos of Vesta ("Sunt qui statuant, ut scribit Albricus"),
subjects as Eternity, the Sirens, Apollo,
testimony from Boccaccio.
Cartari often brings forward
etc.,
07
*
THE
FIRST result of this mingling of sources
is
the surprisingly high propor-
tion of barbarian or pseudo-antique divinities.
From
the chapter
titles
one would judge that our manuals dealt exclu-
Greco-Roman gods: Jupiter, Mercury, Juno, Diana, etc. These Olympians, however, are in fact lost in a crowd or, to recall an expression
sively with
nescio quern legi, Cereris sedentera cum legione et
effigiem
seminum
in
bove
calatho,
agncohs, alusque" ("from Alan obscure writer. ... I nearly bricus, laughed when I read in I don't know what author that Ceres was represented seated on an ox, with a basket full of seeds, among peasants and other people"). This nescio qiiis is the author of the LibeUus Frambottus (toe, assistentibus
writes of the Libellus- "Quid succincta deorum Iconologia Albricus philosophus proficit?" ("What is the use of Albricus* short cit
)
iconology of the gods?")
^"Saepe miratus
.
.
.
nescio quos, qui tan-
tarn illius genealogiis auctoritatera impenderint ut non illas modo in testimonium citent,
etiam (ut audio) sint": interpretati Giraldi, Dedication to Ercole d'Este. In this same dedication, Giraldi congratulates himself on having composed not only a more learned work, but a more complete one as well: "Non sed
genealogias dico, sed et effigiesque, etc.
("I
nomma,
et
cognomma,
speak not of the genealo-
gies only, but of the names, figures," etc.)
;
cf. p. 219: "Buccatms insure tnpodem putavit laun speciem" ("Boccaccio foolishly thought that a tripod was a kind of laurel"). True to
his system, Conti pretends not to know the Genealogia. Cartari notes, after Giraldi (see supra], that Demogorgon is nowhere found in antiquity. *
By Giraldi for the figures of Jupiter and Saturn, by Cartari for all the gods who are described the De nuptiis. ** Giraldi quotes Fulgentius apropos of Neptune, and does so with rather great frequency
m
(pp. 15, 118, 134, 138, 140, 142, 158, 194, 207, 212, 218, 251, etc ) 80 Cf. p. 282: "The ancients gave him f Pluto] .
a chariot drawn by four wild black horses . . . although Boccaccio says that there were only three." P. 176: "But Boccaccio would have it otherand says . . * ," and p. 177: "But Boccaccio has a long tale to tell," etc. 67
wise,
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 237 of Nietzsche's, a "cosmopolitan carnival" of divinities. One's
on turning the pages of the
ment; not one in ten of the gods represented could be
92.
Two
1
^
we ha\e
in his right two globes
one of gold, the other of
148.
Cartari, Imagim (1571 edition), pi This Jupiter has already been described by
Mmei
n.
Capellae
it is
by Martianus Capella.
08
Martiani
certainty.
His footgear, the text
silver.
woven of peacock's
recognize Jupiter with these accouterments? Yet
Syntagma
amaze-
Diana and Apollo
emerald green in color; he has a trident beneath his
seat is covered with a sort of drapery
Giraldi,
\titli
a strange peisonage dressed in white, his
stars.
the description of him given
impression
In his left hand he holds a nine-stringed lyre,
mantle bespangled with
tells us, is
named
93.
images of Jupiter
Heie, for example,'
fiist
illustrated edition of Cartari arouses
De nuptus
philo-
It is
Mercurh The other
logiae et
12-13.
he
00
feet,
feathers.
and his
Who would
point for point like not on
lib.
vi
Olympus
that
(Basel, 1532), pp.
engravings inspired by Martianus are as follows* Saturn, p. 42 (De nuptus, 12-13) , Apollo, 68 (31) ; Hecate, 117
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
238
he thus appears, but plate,
Mercury and Philology. On the same
at the nuptials of
moreover, Zeus appears with his lightning and his eagle: thus the
clas-
sical gods are brought together in surprising promiscuity with their hybrid
descendants
(fig.
As for
92).
the foreign gods,
sum up and continue all to the last
many
alone,
Monac.
lat.
goddess
14271 (11 at
to
is,
Mercury- Anubis;
Palat.
Libellus, Apollo receives the
But in our manuals,
;
Rabanus Maurus of Monte Cas-
the
1066 (224
Osiris, Isis,
Ammon.
v.), a Jupiter
signum triceps belonging
In the
to Serapis.
divinities of the Oriental cults are given extraordi-
nary prominence, especially in Cartari. First of
lis," the
a period when -all the cults
us a Cybele (who, admittedly, became
v.) offers
an early period) '
sino, a
that
gods amalgamated. Medieval mythology pre-
all the
traces of this intermingling: to speak of illustrated manuscripts
served
Roman
should be recalled that our mythographers
adherents of paganism
were being merged and
a
it
a syncretistic tradition; they turn for information above
all,
the Egyptians: Serapis,
Horus, Harpocrates, Anubis, Typhon, the
"Apollo of Elephantinopolis"
93)
(fig.
;
"Moon
of Apollinopo-
the Egyptian Jupiter, be-
neath the lotus ; Canopus, the god formed like a vase. Then come the Syrian gods, Jupiter
Ammon,
the Assyrian Apollo,
Hadad, Atargatis, the Phoeni-
cian Venus, Juno Syria of Hierapolis ; then the gods of Asia Minor, the Black Stone, Jupiter Labrandeus, also those of Persia (Mithra), and even those of
Scythia and Arabia Petraea
Mars
in ihe
mounted on a pyre of wood. We have already had occasion to note
form of a
stone,
and Mars as a
scimitar
in Pictor
71
the
same unusual or
even disproportionate place given to the Oriental divinities; opinion, to a contemporary influence
drew the attention of humanists
72
to
After Aldus Manutius published the (30); Isis, 120 (30); Juno, 180 (13); Cybele, 207 (14) ; Neptune, 250 (14) : Mercury, 326 (2) and 331 (31). 70
Cf.
Bersuire
vi
(1509 edition), chap, "Aliqui etiam, ut dicit ibidem Rabanus, de"Some, pingebant eum cum capite canino" as Rabanus says in the same passage, depicted (
it is
due, in our
which
that of the "hieroglyphics,"
Egypt, and little
to the
Orient in general.
book by Horapollo, and Pierio
him with Libellus:
the
head of a dog");
"Aliqui
vero
eum
pingebant" ("Some, however, with the head of a dog") . 7l See supra, pp. 228 f. Ta See Bk. I, PL 1, chap. iii.
capite
and the canino
depicted
him
239 SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY Valeriano, the most fertile of
its
commentators, had drawn from
it
a veritable
of mysbible of symbols, the Eastern religions, with their intriguing qualities exerted a steadily increasing attraction. tery and the picturesque,
95.
Venus and the Graces
eleventh hook of ApuIn fact, Giraldi and Cartari not only pillaged the of Macrobius, etc.; Saturnalia the the Hsp; a-raXtiarGW of Porphyry,
leius,
73
them as authorities. Some of they read Horapollo and Valeriano, quoted 74 from Alexander of Naples. their most bizarre descriptive details are taken
To aggravate fact, that
_
the confusion, our
they treat of
all the
manuals
whose authors claim,
in
w
gods of paganism,
"tutti
i
dei della gentilita"
Germanic mythology, introduce into their pantheon remnants of Celtic and Giraldi, p. 384:
"Sed Horus Apollo, quern
creditor transtubsse creitor graecam bnguam transtusse ita quidam,, Annum described,, Phitopus p " propemodum de Isidis Stella haec prodit
in
have ("But Horapollo, who is believed to been translated into Greek by a certain has Year the descnbes he when Philippus
meS
like
this
to
say
of
the star
Valenano's descriptions and Mithra, Serapis, Hecate Tergemina,
Isis").
Pierio
of of Jsis
are identical with those of Cartan; he also ciai. cites Alciati. cies exaner oof Naples Cartari takes,, for From rom Alexander
branUbranexample, the figures of Serapis, Jupiter deus, Jupiter Ammon, Vulcan as protector of the king of Egypt, the
Cypriote Aphroditos), 75
It
aim
male Venus (the
etc.
will be recalled that this
of Pictor:
was
also the
^tam exterarum genuum quam
Romanorum deorum.'
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
240
or of what passes as such. Cartari describes a Celtic Jupiter, another borrowing from Alexander of Naples; following Pictor and Giraldi, he makes use
of the Saxon Chronicle. In this source he finds
among
others a
Venus crowned with
76
many
singular figures,
whose breast supports a lighted
flowers,
hand holds a globe, and her right three golden apples (fig. 95) The history of this "Saxon" Venus is not easy to unravel. The Saxon Chronicle torch; her left
a work by Conrad Botho (Bote). Under the
itself is
Sassen
it
was '
4
lustrations ;
Le Rouge to
.
issued at
first
Mainz
1492 by
in
title
of Cronecken der
Schoffer, with engraved
in 1488,
La Mer des
hystoires,
which contains several chapters is already to be found (p.
LX) on the gods, the following description
col.
2)
:
"Selon Theoctetus,
femme nue de
le
simulacre
et
Pimaige de Venus
estoit telle.
(xi Ix,
Une
plaisant regard les cheveus pendans sur les espaules aiant une
couronne de mirte sur sa
teste entrelassee
de roses vermeilles riant
sa bouche
une autre rose vermeille. En son coeur une facule ou
ardant
une sayete
et
il-
but in an earlier French chronicle published in Paris by Pierre
T8
de
trois darts.
en trois parties cest assavoir ou
Tenoit en sa senestre le
mer: en sa dextre
ciel terre et
et aiant
en
petite torche
monde trois
divise
pommes
d'or."
Of
the mysterious Theoctetus
cestry of this Venus
is
we know
nothing.
exceedingly doubtful.
It is
As
will be seen, the an-
therefore all the
more puz-
manuals of mythology besides in Giraldi and those of Cartari. She appears two German handbooks the Theologia mythologica of Pictor, and the Heydenwelt of Herold her preszling to find her in several sixteenth-century
ence being in these cases somewhat easier to explain. 70
As, for example, a Saturn standing on a carrying a vase and a wheel as attributes, See Leibniz, Scnptores rerum Brunsvicensium . . (Hanover, 1707), m, pp. 247-423: "Chronicon Brunsvicensium picturatum, dialecto Saxonico conscriptum autore Conrad Bothone cive Brunsvic."; cf. Schaer, Conrad Bates medersachsische Bilderchromk, ihre Quellen zaid ihr historischer Werth (Hannover, fish, 77
.
1880). All the engravings in the
first
edition
are reproduced by A. Sckramm m Der Bdderschmuck der Fruhdrucke, xrv: Die Drucker in Mainz (Leipzig, 1931), pis. cxrv to ccrv. The 1492 engravings reappear in all later editions, at least up to 1596. Several actually
79
represent old Germanic divinities, Abgotter der alien Sachsen, such as Armetule, Prono, Eidergast but these are difficult to identify. In the Magdeburg edition of 1570, the Venus image appears to be denved from a statue which once stood in Magdeburg and was there
worshipped as a goddess ("Bildnis der Veneris Myrthiae, wie ehmals zu Magdeburg gestanden und als eine Cottin geehret worden"). 78 Cartan does not repeat these details, but they are in Botho. Herold, whose text owes much to Giraldi, has derived his illustrations from fifteenthcentury
engravers.
Heydenwelt
were
The taken
illustrations
over
(see
of
the
supra,
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 241 It
should be added that
tors of Cartari
were
later, early in the seventeenth century, the edi-
publish as an appendix to the Images a discourse on
to
Mexico and Japan.
the gods of
80
With
Olympus, overrun from
this,
all sides,
became sheer pandemonium. * IN ORDER to find their bearings in
this
motley array,
it
would have been nec-
essary for the authors to introduce some kind of order, to organize the material
along geographical and historical
more lacking
lines.
But our mythographers are even
in historical sense than in critical faculty.
tion to place or time.
They mix
They pay no
atten-
together all the gods, regardless of their
place
of origin, the most ancient with those of later times. Giraldi seems to have 81
had some notion
of the importance of localizing the divinities, but not to
have suspected any need for establishing their chronology.
He outlines
a geo-
no thought to a division into periods. He does not even distinguish between Greek and Roman deities. Ideas of milieu and evolution are, admittedly, recent achievements, and graphical classification, but gives
would be a manifest
it
injustice to reproach scholars of the sixteenth century
for not having possessed them. Furthermore, classical antiquity itself its
own example encouraged
at so early
had by
intermingling and disorder. The ancients,
who
a date had forgotten the meaning of their own myths, possessed no
As Renan says, "Homer, even for his 82 The a was very poor theologian." Olympus of Virgil contains gods of day, 83 all times and peoples, while the fictitious chronology of the Metamorphoses clear idea of their origin or relative age.
p. 229, n. 36)
,
in
one of the
later editions of
Pictor (Basel, 1558). 80
Lorenzo
Pignona,
intorno
le
deita delte Indie Orientali et Occidentals, con le loro figure, etc. . . . appended to the Ima-
We
have published a study gini (Padua, 1615). of this Discorso in an article in the Melanges d'histoire et tfarcheologie
(1931)
:
"Un
essai
de mythologie comparee au debut du xviie siecle," pp. 268-281. 81
Syntagma
it
par. 3: "Topici dei *qui loco-
rum, regionum, urbium peculiarem tutelam gerebant'" ("Local gods 'who assumed the special protection of places, regions, towns' ") 82
Fantiquite, p. 27.
mythology Discorso
tudes d'histoire rehgieuse
.
Les religions de
that
of
it
its
tion is
is
not
Renan
further admits that
referable
to
history
and
eludes critical examination, by virtue mobility and multiplicity: "Contradicof its essence" (pp. 36-37). This does
not prevent him from reproaching Creuzer for his lack of historical sense: 'Time does not appear to exist for M. Creuzer'* (p. 14) ; and from congratulating 0. Muller and L. Preller for having "opened the way to a truly mythology," the first by distinguishing different races (p. 43), the second by distinguishing periods (p. 45). ** See G. Boissier, La Religion romaine, I, pp. scientific
278 fi.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
242 is
in reality full of
anachronisms
ing compilations and manuals).
84
(
Ovid, for that matter, was already consult-
Why
should our mythographers have seen
any necessity for clarifying what the ancients themselves had fusion?
left in con-
*
96. Jupiter, Juno, Neptune,
Even with
this reseivation,
however,
we
and Mercury are forced to pass rather severe
judgment upon their methods of documentation and presentation. For the most part, what they offer us is a confused mass of erudition, a jumble that neither criticism nor history has done anything to bring into shape. 84
See Lafaye, Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide et leurs modeles grecs (Paris, 1904), pp. 57 ff., 77 ff., 110-112. 85 L. .
Menard
cit. chap, xrv) begs mmodern mythographer: "In
(op.
diligence for the order to find his
t
way through the tortuous labyrinth of mythology ... he has need of the thread of Ariadne. The road is a difficult one,
and error
is
excusable, since the ancients
themselves,
who
lived in
80
From
the midst of their
mythology, lost their way more than once." The chief effort of contemporary criticism, on the other hand, has been to localize the
86
and to distinguish their different phases. This tendency may be seen, for examM. P. Nilsson, A History of Greek (Oxford, 1935), and in Gilbert Religion
myths ple,
m
Murray,
Five
Stages
of
Greek
Religion
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY this point of view, their superiority
over their predecessors
is
243
a purely rela-
tive one.
*
THERE to
is
another domain, however, in which that superiority ought by rights
be absolute
the study and turning to account of figural
monuments. In
addition to the literary sources, our mythographers did, in fact, have at their disposal a documentation of infinite value which had been
unknown
to their
medieval forerunners.
When
Pierre Bersuire, in the middle of the fourteenth century, apolo-
gized for having borrowed elements of his iconographical notes on the gods
from
his predecessors," he alleged in his
choice
for,
he
said,
own defense
he had been unable anywhere
that
he had no other
to find real
images of the
gods themselves: "quia deorum ipsorum figuras alicubi non potui reperire.^
The
defects of Boccaccio's Genealogy, as Tiraboschi rightly observes, stem
from the same cause: "What could be accomplished at a time when there was so little knowledge of the monuments which would have served as the surest
" guide?"
Two
centuries later, coins, reliefs, and statues had been excavated
thousands; collections were overflowing with marbles and bronzes; material was being
listed,
reproduced,
made
as our manuals, in the very year of the
first
available. At the
by
all this
same moment
publication of Cartari (1556),
the catalogue of Aldrovandi appeared as an appendix to the Antichitd of
Lucio Mauro: Tutte
le statue antiche
che
in
Roma
were multiplying of icones statuarum, executed 89 Cavalieri, Franzini, and Vaccaria. (Oxford, 1925). Certain writers even refuse "venture" further, renouncing mterpretation on the grounds that all effort to explain the myths presupposes a definitive classification (see, for example, J. Toutain, Uttudes de to
mythologie et d*histoire [Pans, 1909], pp. 81-84, Nouvelles etudes de mythologie et Our sixteenth-century d'histoire [1935]). scholars, who make no attempt to classify, are on the contrary, as we shall see, eager to interpret. 87
See supra, pp. 174 f.
Rs
si
veggono. Collections
in the studios of Lafreri,
Storia della lett ltd
,
vn, 190-191.
80
See Salomon Remach, L'Album de Pierre Jacques (Paris, 1902) , Huebner, Le statue di Roma, Grundlagen fur eine Geschichte der antiken Monumente in der Renaissance (Leipzig, 1912).
Remach observes (Introduction, p. 15) that the taste for archeology develops above all in the second half of the sixteenth century, a time when the great creative spirits have disappeared. "The Renaissance, sensing its appreaching end, recapitulates its conquests, and draws up its balance sheet" at
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
244
One would this treasure
naturally expect to see Giraldi, Cartari, and Conti profit
which was within their reach. But Giraldi appears
one of the three who thought of making direct use of
it;
familiarity with archeology. Doubtless his long stay in
to
by
be the only
he alone shows some
Rome was
to a large
extent responsible for this, since there the vestiges of the past were daily before
We
his eyes.
saw two Neptune
cum
know
159: "sed
(p.
buccino
et
.
et
fuscina,
qualem marmoreum .
he
that
different statues of
vidi;
mine nudus etiam cum
.
tridente
modo
et
quo
concha,
at
ipse conspexi");
San Martino
ai
Monti he
read the epitaph of an archi-
He
gallus (p. 140).
visited
private collections, those of
Cardinals Salviati, Maffei,
and (p. trix
and others as well
468: "Fortuna conservae
cippo utrinque in-
sculpto
97, Mercury and Peace
cellis
Cesi,
et
Capicasi"; p. 385: "Isis triumphalis in marmore, in
Caesii
Romae,"
etc.).
inscripto
Romae ...
domo
His friends kept him informed of the
385: "Sane hujus modi simulachrum repertum Romae
timam viae meae partem
ingratis contererem
etiam cognominatur, ut datur
intelligi
.
.
.";
fuit,
in
.
.
.
domo MarCardinalis
latest finds (p.
cum
ego ibi op-
ibid: "Isis Pelagia
ex marmore quodam vetusto, reperto in
vinea Joannis Poggii pontificii quaestoris, extra portam Flaminiam"). While
working on his history, he still took an interest in excavated objects, as for example in a statuette of Harpocrates found in Modena (p. 57: "His pro-
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 245 xime diebus Augustinus Rheginus Magister theologus Franciscanus mihi ostendit aeneam imagunculam hujus Harpocratis Dei, nuper exfossam ex Mutinensibus minis").
But
90
does not take long to see that Giraldi's curiosity
it
limited to inscriptions
is
in general
and
81
medals,
which, at the most,
help him
to trace certain al-
Fortune
images:
legorical
(pp. 387, 458, 463), Virtue
(27), Health is
(36),
also
(30).
It
that he
knows some
Hope
apparent divinity
types only from engravings.
"I have seen," he says (p.
297), "in a book of antiquities
an image of Mercury:
youthful face,
beardless
body,
wings above the ears;
entirely
nude except for a
short mantle; in his right
hand a pouch
resting on a
ram's head, in his
caduceus ; at his
left the
feet,
a cock
and a ram." This book of antiquities 90 ".
.
.
with
spear, as I
was the a
horn
saw him
in
98. Apollo
Inscripand
a
marble;
naked, with trident and
shell,
three-pronged .
.
as
.
sometimes I
saw him
recently."
"Fortuna conservatnx from a gravestone carved on both sides with an inscription . . . in Rome ... in the house of Marcello Capicaso." "Isis triumphant in marble in the house of Cardinal Cesio in Rome.'* "A statue of that kind was found in Rome at the time when I was treading there, thank." "She lessly, the best part of my road . is also called Isis Pelagia, as it appears from .
and Jupiter
an old marble found on the estate of Giovanni Poggi, pontifical quaestor, outside the Porta Flaminia."
"A few days ago a Franciscan theologian, Agostmo Reggio, showed me a small bronze image of this god Harpocrates, recently excavated from the ruintf in Modena." 91 The 1696 edition of the History of the Gods contains a plate of mediocre reproductions of medals: "nummi quorum auctoritate Gyraldus passim nititur" Giraldi alludes to other medals, pp. 118, 383, 387, 393 (Diana Lucifera)
,
etc.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
246
tiones sacrosanctae vetustatis
1534
(figs.
97, 99). In that
by Petrus Apianus, published
work we
to
be
93
priated
other, even
92
to us.
by Cartari, who appro-
literally pillaged all the
Mercury de-
come down
scribed by Giraldi, the original of which, indeed, has
These same inscriptiones were
in Ingolstadt in
find (p. 422) exactly the
engravings,
one after the 9*
when they represented
forgeries.
In Cartari's documentation, indeed, original
works of
art play
a very small part. At
rare intervals he notes that
some
figure or
other is being described "after ancient medals
and marbles," and 05
edition,
in the preface of his Latin
du Verdier goes so far
as to praise
Cartari for having brought together in a cor-
pus "imagines multiplices ex veterum
scriptis,
lapidibus et antiquis numismatibus." But in reality even Cartari took tle
more
Mercury
Roman people.
Further-
more, the suspicion arises that he knew these only through the Imagini of Enea Vico,
the Religion des anciens
lit-
than allegories: Virtue, Victory, For-
tune, the genius of the 99.
from the medals
Romains
of
du Ghoul.
96
or
97
This work by du Choul, "gentilhomme frangais," merits something more 92 S. Reinach, Repertoire de reliefs grecs et remains, n, pp. 86, 5. 93
Apianus and his engraver very frequently copy an earlier illustrated collection, containing inscriptions collected by Peutinger and Huttich (Mainz, 1520). On the real or supposed relations of the Apianus engravings with Durer, see E. Panofsky, Dtirers Stellung zur Antike (Vienna, 1922), Excursus i: "Die Illustrationen der Apianischen Inscriptiones in ihrem Verhaltnis zu Durer" It should be noted that Apianus cites authorities like Rabanus Maurus and Boccaccio in identifying the statues which he reproduces. Cf also J. Colin, Les antiquites romaines de la Rhenanie (Paris, 1927), chap, viii: "Les images et les residences des dieux."
94
For example, the "Three Fates" (Apianus, 385), copy of a pseudo-antique plaque found in Styria in 1500 by Conrad Celtes. This plaque is also reproduced in one of the medallions which decorate the base of the Certosa of Pavia. The original is a medal executed in 1458 by G. Boldu. 95 Imagines deorum ohm a V. C. ex warns auctonbus in union collectae, . nitnc vero ad communem omnium utihtatem Latino sermone ab A. V. expressae (Lyons, 1581). p.
.
90
Le imagini con
vite
tutti
i
.
nversi trovati e le
degClmperaton tratte dalle medaglie e dalle historic degh antichi (1548) . 07 Discoun, de la religion dei, anciens Romains illustre d'un grand nombre de figures retirees des marbres antiques, etc. (Lyons), 1556.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY than passing mention. in
its
It is
a beautiful book, magnificently illustrated,
own time enjoyed a high
reputation."
Du
98
2*7 which
Ghoul also undertook the
composition of a Traite sur les images des dieux, more classical in conception, it
would seem,
100
and
less exclusively
based on literary sources, than our
Italian mythologies. Unfortunately, this treatise never
Archeology thus plays a singularly limited role tion, just as
nonexistent
On
it
light of day.
in Cartari's
or virtually
the other hand,
still
role is
so.
we
often find in all three authors descriptions taken
this results
when, instead of referring
to
which they have actually seen, they copy what they have read
are
its
102
tratus or Pausanias. Thus, even in this domain, texts texts alone
101
documenta-
does in that of Giraldi himself. With Natale Conti,
from other descriptions; art
saw the
works of in Philos-
and nearly always
their source of information.
EVEN THOUGH devoid
of
new documentation
the sixteenth-century manuals offer
at least
new mythological content, do some renewal of spirit and interor
pretation?
Further disappointments await us here, and further surprises. Interpretation,
though developed by each
in different degrees, appears to all three
08
tion taken
Petit
work which " deorum
Perhaps by Bernard Salomon (called le Bernard or Bernardus Callus), who is probably also responsible for the fine medallions of Strada's Thesaurus. Strada and du Ghoul were friends; in his note to the reader, Strada speaks with admiration of the learning of du Choul and the wealth of his collections (see fig. 96)
.
owned a copy of the work which bore his signature (now in the collecM. Henri Bordes in Bordeaux). In
"Montaigne tion of
the opinion of P. Villey (Sources et evolution des Essai$> I, p. 121), he made use of it in the Apologie de Raimond Sebond. 100
An inference which may legitimately be drawn from the spirit of the Religion des anciens Romains and its illustrations; and from a phrase which appears on p. 133 of the same book: "as will be seen from the illu&tra-
101
In 1572,
rumque
Abraham
capita
[Antwerp], lius,
m
from antique sources the Latin I have written, De imagimbuv
p. 4)
Ortelius
(Deorum
dea-
ex
antiqius numismatibtis includes Gughelmus Chou-
De imagimbus deorum,
in a list of
my-
thographers, but adds "nondura excusus" ("not printed"!. Cf. Struve, Syntagma (ed. 1701), p. 56: "Idem quoque Chouhus librum suum de natura Deorum citat, qui tamen cum ahis ab eodem promissis adhuc latet"
yet
("This same du Choul quotes his book on the nature of the gods which, however, like other works promised by the same author, has not yet appeared"). ia "In Book vn, chap. 16, in connection with Daedalus Conti draws up a long list of and painters and sculptors of antiquity, enumerates their works.
THE
248
SURl'It
AL OF THE PAGAX GODS
mythographers as an essential part of their task. system
to apply.
tiquity itself
the
1 "2
But they have no original
revert to the three types of explanation offered
They
physical, and moral
historical,
Middle Ages we have studied
at length.
by an-
the fortunes of which during
They do not choose between these
divergent explanations, being content in general merely to place them side by side. Giraldi, for
perfectly aware that the ancients were not in
is
example,
agreement as to the nature of Saturn (Syntagma iv)
:
was
for some, Saturn
Heaven, or Time; for others, an early king of Italy; for
still
others, Fertility.
But he does not linger over these contradictions nor choose between them; neither does he attempt to reconcile them.
With
Conti, this attitude
becomes
a veritable method. At the end of his book he adds, in condensed form, a summary' in which the interpretation of each god
At the same time, a philosopher, he
given according to the three
it is
ethice, etc.
where Conti's own preferences
easy to see
it
is true,
only to those
who
are not satisfied merely with
the outward shell of the fables, their literal meaning:
cem fabularum, hoc
From
As
lie.
convinced that mythology holds teachings of the highest
is
wisdom, accessible,
is
de Jove historice, physice,
traditional points of view
"ad exteriorem
corti-
ad simplicem omnibus obviam explicationem."
est,
the earliest times, says Conti
fi,
i), the
thinkers
first
104
of Egypt,
then of Greece, deliberately concealed the great truths of science and philoso-
phy under the veil of myth in order to withdraw them from vulgar profanation. With this aim, they invented not only the stories of the gods, but even their very figures :
it
was they who gave the lightning
Neptune, bow and arrows
to
to Jupiter, the trident to
Cupid, the torch to Vulcan. Later, when
it
was
possible for the great sages to teach publicly, without subterfuge, disclosing their precepts in the full light of day, the earlier vehicles of knowledge, the fables,
but
it is
seemed
like nothing
more than
Pursuant
to this principle, Conti
pend upon the type of teaching
to
Highly developed in Giraldi, with Conti assumes a disproportionate importance; it Cartari, whose interest is m the figures themselves rather than in their meaning, restricts entirel}
eliminating
it
makes
his grouping of the
myths de-
be found in them. Some myths contain
103
without
deceitful fiction or old wives' tales;
the task of the mythographer to recapture their original content.
Le imagini
colla sposizione 104
Hence
have
degh
dei.
.
se-
.
his scorn for his predecessors, who unable to penetrate the deeper
been
meaning of the myths. It he does not quote them.
that
.
is
for this reason
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY crets of
Nature: the myths of Venus, the Cyclopes,
morality: man's duty
to
249
etc.; others, lessons
of
endure the vicissitudes of fortune (Phoebus herding
the flocks of Admetus), to be courageous (Hercules), and neither miserly
(Tantalus) nor overbold (Marsyas), eral times
(i, vii:
mant"), and the stration
etc.
Conti reverts to this distinction sev-
"Partim res naturae occultas habent; partim mores infor-
last
book of his mythology, the
which has been aimed
tenth, concludes the
at throughout: "o^iod
dogmata sub fabulis contineantur."
demon-
omnia philosophorum
10j
In the nineteenth century, Conti was hailed as a precursor by the
reli-
gious historians of the symbolist school, Louis Menard, for example, praises "the excellent
work of Natalis Comes, much more complete and
106
dis-
cerning than most of the treatises on mythology published since his day." In point of fact, Conti was anything but a precursor. his
own
denials, he
is
we have followed down tradition,
which
On
107
to
Boccaccio,
and even
to Pictor
persists in seeking the fruit of ancient
"integuments" of Fable (Conti uses the word often)
Thus
the contrary, in spite of
heir to an agelong tradition, the development of which
Conti's mythological exegesis offers
rist
errors.
of exact research, could
still
the allegorical
wisdom beneath the
.
no innovation, and marks no
advance. Is this to be wondered at? Bolder minds than
were enmeshed in the same
10S
his,
coming after him,
A critical genius like Francis Bacon, theo-
make every
effort to discover the "sapientia
veterum" hidden beneath the forms and adventures of the gods. derbolts of Zeus, stolen by
Typhon and
109
The thun-
restored by Hermes, symbolize, he
and the fiscal power that a revolution sweeps away, but be recovered by eloquence informed with wisdom. Every youth may who rushes forth to meet perils in reckless self-confidence is a son of the says, the authority that
105
("AH
the doctrines of the philosophers are
hidden within fables.") **. . . mamfestum esse ducimus ex lis quae hactenus explicata fuerunt: omnia priscorum instituta turn ad cognitionem rerum naturalium, turn ad rectorum morum rationem pertinentia, fuisse ab antiquis sub fabulosis integumentis occultata" (**... we consider it obvious from what has been thus far explained that all the teachings of the ancients relating either to the knowledge of natural things or to moral conduct
were hidden by them under the cloak of Fable"). 106
Op. cit., Introd., p. m. See supra, pp 223 f. See supra, p. 228. 109 De sapientia veterum liber
10T
108
1609).
On
.
.
.
(London,
Bacon's mythology, see Ch.
Lemmi, The
Classical Deities
in
Bacon
W.
A
Study in Mythological Symbolism (Baltimore, 1933).
made
Lemmi
proves,
in
fact,
that
Bacon
extensive use of Conti's Mythohgia.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
250
Dawn, a Memnon
to
be mourned at sunrise
that is to say, at the outset of
110
any great
enterprise.
However, in the
last
years of the sixteenth century an interesting evolu-
tion in the interpretation of
movement
The
lies the
myth hegins
to take
form;
at the root of this
powerful impetus given by the Reformation to Bible study.
Hebrew was
false but fertile hypothesis that
the
first
m
language
led, in
fact, not only to the view that other languages were derivatives of Hebrew,
but that the myths of other peoples were corruptions of the original revela112
In this
tion.
way
foundations were laid for a kind of comparative mythol-
produce its monuments in the following century in the works of Huet, Bochart, and Vossius. ogy, which
It
was
to
might be possible to see in Conti the very sketchy outline of an analo-
gous method. In his
first
book (chap,
vii)
he hints
at a theory that the gods,
coming originally from Egypt, were imported into Persia and Greece, then into Rome, spreading from Rome over the entire rest of the world. But he does nothing to develop this idea.
* IN SHORT, fered,
if
a collective judgment of the three Italian manuals
we must admit that, from
is to
be
the scientific point of view, they are far
of-
from
marking any decided advance. Their extremely mixed contents are not critically sifted, not brought into order by an historical sense, nor illuminated by
new
hypotheses.
Let us
now examine
must remember
that each
their value is,
from the
aesthetic point of view.
in fact, addressed to poets
content with supplying simply one
more lexicon
and
to aid in the
artists,
We
and, not
comprehension
of ancient works, undertakes to offer models and themes of inspiration. 110 Bacon doubtless was under no great misapprehension as to the value of his interpretations. His allegorical tendency is to be ex-
plained in part by his lack of poetic instinct: can see in mythology only intellectual concepts deliberately transformed into symhols. This was later to be the attitude of
he
Voltaire; art.
cf.
the Dictionnaire philosopkique,
Fable: 'The older the fables, the more
allegorical they are.'* 111
See P. D. Huet, Dissertation de Uongine
de la langue hebralque (ed. Tillardet [The Hague, 1720], i, 2). This hypothesis had already been antici-
112
pated by the Fathers, by Annius of Viterbo, but the progress of linguistic studies was to bring it out into the light. On the Creek
etc.,
myths compared
to those of the
Old Testa-
ment, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see A. H. Krappe, Mythologie universelle,
parag. xvi.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY work may be of use
Giraldi, for example, hopes that his
sculptors
(Syntagma VH,
p.
251)
:
"Nunc
igitur equos solis,
251
to painters
quos
illi
and
poetae
ceterique scriptores ascribunt, tibi assero, ut pictoribus et statuariis non-
nullam opem his nostris Syntagmatibus afferamus."
With
Cartari's Images, this
becomes the
of the publisher, Francesco Marcolini,
"Many tari,
have written of the ancient gods
is
essential object.
explicit
.
.
113
.
The foreword
enough on
this point:
but none, until Vincenzo Car-
has spoken of their statues and representations. This initiative will be
agreeable and useful to all
who take an
interest in antiquity;
it is
also of a
nature to be gladly welcomed by painters and sculptors, providing them
with themes for a thousand inventions with which to adorn their statues and painted panels."
Thus the work was meant not only
to
promote a better understanding of
the ancient literatures ("ad intendere bene tori"), but also,
and
to
an even greater
i
poeti antichi e gli altri scrit-
extent, to furnish subjects for artists.
This must be insisted upon, for the author himself reverts to It
it
incessantly.
sometimes happens, for instance, that he pauses over details of a fable
which have no direct bearing on the representation of the gods, but he invariably catches himself up with the words "This has no interest for those :
114
wishing to delineate this divinity." fies
Sometimes, on the other hand, he
digressions or long parentheses on the ground that they
may
justi-
serve an
iconographical end. For instance, the story of the Vestal Claudia and the 115
Magna Mater,
if told at full length,
could perhaps serve to inspire a painter
of allegories: "della quale ho raccontato, perche questo fatto potrebbe servire a chi volesse dipingere la Pudicitia."
11G
Cartari never loses sight of his
mission as "provider of pictorial subjects," and herein
lies,
indeed, the chief
originality of the Images, which is inferior to the History of the
the
"Now then I am mentioning the horses of the Sun, ascribed to him by poets and other writers, in order that this work of ours may
113
be of some help to painters and sculptors.** 114 See 1571 edition, pp. 45, 48, 108, 293, etc. Idem, pp. 210-211. 116 Cf., in reference to the Judges of the Nether World and the Fates, p. 273: "Of 115
Gods and
Mythology in erudition and thought. what is to he read of it seems to me most beautiful and delight-provoking, and since it shows us how these three ought to be depicted. Therefore I have recounted all these these I shall
them
in
first
Plato,
tell
since
things after him, in order that anyone wishing to represent one of the figures on his authority, may have the necessary information."
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
252 It is
therefore relevant to examine the value of the three treatises from
the standpoint of art; let us ask
what gods they
present,
gods might conceivably inspire the imagination of an
and whether these
artist.
*
THE MANUALS
IN
It is
honor
the place of
is
we know,
given, as
and especially those imported
the late periods,
into
to divinities
Rome from
from
the Orient
not the Olympians alone, but a complete barbaric pantheon which
summoned before our three-headed Hecate
eyes by
(fig.
93)
;
the illustrations in Cartari :
m
is
the horrible
Aphroditos, the bearded Venus, with
comb
in
hand; the Apollo of Elephantinopolis, with blue skin and ram's snout; the unspeakable Typhon, whose scaly body bows his
soft,
word, creatures of the strangest and most misshapen thology, the vision of St. Anthony in the desert.
snakelike legs sort,
in a
a nightmare my-
118
In comparing the religious imagination of the Greeks with that of the 119
Renan
Orientals,
observes the great difference in plastic quality. In the
gods of the Orient, "conceived in the absence of
all
proportion," he decries
especially the complex weight of allegory beneath which all
"India sees no
better
way
form
of extolling her gods than to pile
is stifled.
up sign upon
symbol upon symbol; Greece, better inspired, fashions them in her own image: Helen, in honoring the Minerva of Lindos, offers her a cup of yellow sign,
amber made to the It is
exact measure of her
meaning." This
seen in late antiquity,
is
filled
at
us from every page of Cartari's
117
The
first
illustrated edition of the
that of 1571. In a
nal
when
the
d'Este
form
to
Roman pantheon came
to
same images which look book. As Cumont writes in this connec-
with enigmatic and monstrous images
be
is
own breast."
the very essence of the Oriental cults, in fact, to "sacrifice
(1569)
new
Imagini
dedication to Cardi-
the author expresses his
the
close to Zaltieri in their inspiration. See infra, p. 256, n. 132.
" s ln La
Tentation de St. Antome, a great Oriental gods represented in
satisfaction with the "belle e bene accomodate
many
figure" provided by Bolognino Zaltien for the enrichment of the work. Later Lorenzo Pignoria, editor of the 1615 and 1647 editions, lays great stress on the new illustrations by Filippo
made to pass before the eyes of the saintly hermit. Flaubert has chosen them for their very ugliness or deformity. On monsters in ancient art, in Asia and the Occident, see Focillon, L'Art des sculpteurs romans
Ferroverde, which, he
insists,
are far ahead
of those of Zaltieri. In reality, in spite of several notable additions and a different set-
ting
on the page, these
illustrations are very
of
the
Cartari are
(1931), pp. 168-180
us Etudes
d*histaire
rehgieuse: les religions
de Fantiqtiite, pp. 30, 31, 61.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 120
tion,
"The Levantines impose on symbolism
plicated
.
.
lights.
The
,
it
Increasingly,
the plastic arts
253
and on painting the com-
which their own abstruse and subtle mentality de-
in
paganism does not aim
religious art of declining
at beauty.
obeys a tendency to give expression to learned ideas." Our
manuals, in their manifest preference for the Eastern rather than the Olyma preference furtheied by the contemporary
pic divinities
Egyptomama
121
and the
for enigmas
taste
consequently emphasize symbolism
detriment of plastic sense. Artists are turned
to
the
away from the pure nude forms
of Greece toward the portrayal of terrifying or baffling allegoiies.
By way
of a parenthesis, a backward glance over the century
be permitted us. this
We
here
type of inspiration: an illustrious example has brought them to our
tention.
in the
When
Agostino
di
Duccio started
to represent the
at-
planetary deities
was not always the Greco-Roman types which Apollo, and Mercury are disconcerting in aspect.
Tempio Malatestiano,
he adopted. His Jupiter,
The
may
are already familiar with the dangers inherent in
it
whip in one hand and holding in the other a sheaf an Assyrian sun symbol, as described by Macrobius (Sat. I, 23:
Jupiter, brandishing a
of wheat,
is
"dextra elevata
cum
flagro, in
aurigae
modum;
laeva tenet fulmen, et spi-
cas"). The Apollo is hardly less strange. He wears a shield on his back; one hand holds the three Graces, the lyre and laurel, and the other, the bow
and arrows.
He
his feet. This
appears
to
be walking on a globe, with a swan and raven
overabundance of attributes alludes
in the
main
to aspects
at
of
the solar system, to the deadly or benevolent effects of the planet, etc. Por-
phyry has commented upon these
effects,
the Egyptian cult of Osiris as the Sun.
1 "*2
and explained them,
As
for Mercury, he
in his study of
is
a sort of ma-
gus capped with a pointed bonnet. Small winged beings, who seem to emerge
from a
well, grasp the stalk of his
enormous caduceus, about which are en-
twined four serpents; other similar puttini seem to is this figure,
which belongs, as Yriarte remarks,
Assyria, nor Persia? 120
It is
Les Religions orientates dans
See Cartari
and
fall back.
What
Rome, Greece,
reminiscent at once of Hermes, the guide of souls le
paganisms
Tomain, pp. 8, 15, 28, 29. 121 See supra, pp. 238 f. 122
slip
to neither
(1571 ed.), p. 62: "Servius
reports all this, takmg it from a certain book of Porphyry called that of the Sun" Some
elements of the same figure are also to be found in Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 17 < figs. 46,
47,98).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
254
underworld or psychopompos, and of the Egyptian Thoth, who teaches
to the
the soul to raise itself
by degrees
to a
knowledge of divine
things.
Art historians have underlined the bizarre nature of these figures that matter, they have not always recognized)
(whom, for
123 ;
they have
agreed in criticizing their "lack of composition, of solemnity, and of character" (C. Ricci). But if the images betray a certain lack of ease,
cause of the
difficulties
encountered by the
artist in
attempting to
rhythm and unity, the vibrant harmony of the work of and predominantly
intellectual material of allegory. If
in spite of a perceptible effort at stylization,
124
it is
art,
upon
it is
be-
impose the
the
complex
he has not succeeded,
because the problem was
very nature insoluble, at least for an artist of the South. Excess of meaningful content is a hindrance to plastic expression. After a certain level
by
its
of symbolism has been reached, the balance between form and idea can no
longer be successfully maintained.
THE PLACE of
accorded by the manuals
to the Oriental
itself justify certain fears as to the aesthetic
mythologies would thus
value of the models which
they propose. But another and more general consideration
still
the descriptions of
contain are based on texts, and not on the
monuments themselves.
We have dwelt at some length on this point:
125
further re-
monuments they
stricts that value, i.e., the. fact that all
our three mythographers
have read many more or less trustworthy authors, but with rare exceptions they seem not to have looked at statues or reliefs. As a general rule, their descriptions reproduce other descriptions; sKippaaets are brought together, 123
C
Yriarte
(Un
condottiere
au xve
siecle,
of
the symbols with which his
deities
are
1882]) says nothing of a figure of Jupiter, hut reproduces it (p 26) under the name of Saturn. E. Burmeister Der bddnerische SchmucL des Tempio Malatestia-
hardened (figs. 46, 47). One curious detail: in representing the three Graces in Apollo's hand, he resorts to a device analogous to that
no zu Rimini (Diss. [Breslau, 1891], pp. 27-
Monac. lat, 14271 {fig. 67), showing them as issuing from a tuft of laurel Let us recall that the colossal Apollo of Delos, by Tectaios and Angelion, held the Charites in his right
Rimini
[Paris,
(
29) does not arrive at exact identifications. 124
This
effort will
the Rimini
he apparent if we compare and Apollo with those
Jupiter
represented in Cartari's Imagmi (p. 60; see 98), which are derived from the same sources. Agostino di Duccio has suppressed several attributes; he has attempted to preserve a certain freedom of attitude in spite fig.
used by the Carohngian miniaturist of cod.
hand. This statue had been reproduced on coins, and these might have been seen by Agostino di Duccio. 125 See supra, pp. 243 ff.
SCIENCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
255
but never, or almost never, brought face to face with
recopied, juxtaposed
a classical model.
This method, which, as
we have its
sixteenth-century Italy, develops lustrations of Cartari. Zaltieri,
Images of the Gods,
often said, seems paradoxical in middisastrous effects to the full in the
who designed
the
il-
engravings for the
first
in 1571, does not once take his inspiration directly
from
the antique. His engravings are not copies of works of art, but reconstruc-
based upon written accounts. Frequently his gods are composite por-
tions
made up from
traits,
this, it
quotations given
him
in the text of the
will be seen, Zaltieri proceeds exactly in the
work
manner of
In
itself.
the medieval
composed his Apollo out from Servius, Lactantius Placidus, Fulgentius, Martianus, or so Zaltieri assembles the membra disiecta of the immortals, and
illuminator. Just as the illustrator of the Libellus
of extracts 126
Isidore,
combines them as best he can into awkward and baroque shapes. Sometimes, however, the plete in itself, as
when
text
it cites
does provide a representation that
is
com-
Pausanias' detailed description of the works
of art that he saw during his trip to Greece. At such times the engraver's task is easier,
but he does not necessarily achieve a happier
result.
Among
such
representations are the statue of Juno at Corinth by Polycletus (p. 180; Paus., n, 17, 4)
;
the celebrated painting of the Cnidian Lesches at Delphi,
where Polygnotus had depicted the demon Eurynomus 7;
cf.
Decharme, MythoL,
p.
392)
;
(p.
279; Paus.,
x, 28,
Night, Sleep and Death, Diana, and the
other sculptured images on the chest of Cypselos (pp. 336, 105, 265, 468; 127
Paus., v, 18, 1, etc.).
But however meekly Zaltieri
may
have followed the
indications of the text, his figures have not retained the faintest Greek character
a deficiency which
of his talent, but even 127
may
more
be ascribed, without doubt,
to the
mediocrity 128
to his complete ignorance of classical style.
See supra, pp. 177 f. Another image taken from Pausanias, but
Neptune (250) Bacchus (413, 420, 424, 433) 1S8 The greatest artists of the Renaissance, Botticelli to Mantegna, Raphael, and Titian, attempted more than once to recon.
,
appearing only in the 1647 edition, revised by Pignoria, is that of the Zeus of Phidias
from
(p. 87). The god is unrecognizable in this "reconstruction" as lamentable in its way as X (fig. 72).
struct or resuscitate masterpieces of ancient art, taking their inspiration more or less
that in the lapidary of Alfonso The Imagines of Philostratus also Zaltieri
trations:
provided
with elements of several of the
Comus (p 416),
illus-
the Rivers (265),
from Philostratus, Callistratus, or Lucian. See A. Pelltzzari, / Trattati attorno le arti figurative in Italia . . . dairantichitd literally
classic*
al
Rtnascimento
(Naples,
1912),
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
256
Cartari sometimes boasts,
it
will
be recalled,
129
that
he has utilized
marbles and medals as part of his documentation, but actually
it is
and only there, that he has seen them. His
same method.
He
illustrator follows the
copies, not the objects themselves, but engravings
works: for medals, Enea Vico and 131
in books,
from contemporary
^ for bas-reliefs and statues, du Ghoul;
Thus, even his purported copies of antique objects are merely
Apianus.
reproductions of reproductions.
mythographers
From this
depart as widely
firsthand documents, even
it
will be seen that the Renaissance
from the original models as they do from
when they claim
them most
to adhere to
faith-
132
fully.
On ish
to characterize
the whole, this mythology
and barbaric ; seen
lastly, it
marks a
in this light,
it is
it
briefly
is
both book-
antiaesthetic in a double sense.
striking regression, a return to the
Middle Ages;
it
And
forces
the gods back into the matrix of allegory, decking them out again in the exotic finery
period.
It
which they had shed with such
fifteenth century on, the
in
human It is
difficulty at the
end of the earlier
interrupts the contact with classical art through which,
gods had been gradually regaining
from the
their incarnation
133
shape.
thus essential for us to investigate the extent to which the manuals
were read, especially among the poets and
artists for
whom
they were in-
tended. If they were generally used, they must have influenced in curious
ways the manner in which the declining Renaissance envisaged the gods and their world. i; and esp. R. Foerster, "Wiederherstellung aatiker Gemalde durch Kimstler der Renaissance," Jakrb. d. preuss. Kunstsamml^ XLIII ( 1922), pp. 12-13. 129 See supra, pp. 246 f. 130 See supra, pp. 246 f.
chap,
131
See supra, pp. 246
133
The 1615
.
edition of the
Imaging revised and corrected by Pignoria, marks an inter* esting reaction. Pignoria criticizes Cartari for taking his information entirely from literary sources, and calls attention to the inaccuracies
or errors of Zaltien. However, the new illusFerroverde, as we have already said
trator,
(see supra, p 252, n. 117) , for the most part reproduces Zaltieri's plates. But he adds a
number of new engravings, either in the text or in the Aggiunte. Several of these
certain
are
still
borrowed from works of contemporary
but numismatists, Vico, Erizzo, Agostini; others are directly inspired by intaglios or cameos that Ferroverde has actually seen. He even copies with remarkable accuracy a Mithraic relief seen in 1606 on the Piazza del
Campidoglio, and the Diana of Ephesus found under Leo X. And other interesting additions introduce into Cartan's book some of the classical images of the gods which were not previously there: Apollo in his chariot, Apollo and Daphne, Apollo and the Muses, Diana and her companions of the chase, etc. All these at-
tempts, however, do not profoundly alter the essentially bookish character of the work, nor even its bizarre aspect as a whole. 13S
See Bk.
I,
Part
2,
chap.
ii.
II
Theories Regarding the Use of Mythology
TURNING
and humanism of the declining
to the art
six-
teenth century for positive proof of the influence of the mythological BEFORE
manuals, we wish to show their appropriateness to the
tastes
and needs of
the time.
The books on the theory
of the fine arts published in Italy during this pe-
riod will provide the
main material
are of two kinds, the
first
for such an investigation. These writings
group arguing from aesthetics and the second from
theology. Both discuss at length the use properly to be figures ;
lem
in
made
of mythological
they thus interpret for us the contemporary attitude toward the prob-
which we are
THE AUTHORS
interested.
of dogmatic treatises on painting have
much
of consulting books in which he
to say of the im-
how
portance for the
artist
treat the subjects
which he himself chooses or which are proposed to him by
others.
may
learn
to
These subjects, generally speaking, are drawn either from the Scrip-
tures or
from Fable; landscape, genre
subjects,
and
historical scenes are al-
1
most never dealt with on their own account. Thus, information about the gods is
indispensable to the
artist. 2
In his Precetti della pittura,
Giovanni Battista Armenini enumerates
the authors who, in his opinion, should be in every artist's library. After 1 The portrait, of course, is in a class by itself, Historical painting is known in Venice and Florence, but is saturated with allegorical and
mythological elements. Cf. Ch. Dejob,
De
Fin-
fluence du Concile de Trente sur la litterature et les beaux-arts (Paris, 1884) , p. 261. 2 Giovanni Battista Armenini, De'veri precetti della pittura (Ravenna, 1587) ; the reference to the 1820 ed., Milan, p. 318.
is
257
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
258
mentioning the standard authorities on sacred history, he recommends for the fables Boccaccio's Genealogy of the Gods, Ovid's Metamorphoses,
work of "Alberico,
and the
cioe del Cartaro." This confusion between the
Albricus and Cartari
is
most peculiar. But above
Images of the Gods put on the same
names
all it is striking to see the
level with that "painters' Bible" of the
epoch, the Metamorphoses.
The famous Lomazzo,
on Painting* devotes almost a
in his Treatise
whole book (vn)
to the
"Much
can be in large part studied in the authors cited in the
else
.
.
.
iconography of the gods, and says in conclusion:
Genealogia [sic] dei Dei degli antichi and in the exposition of their images there presented it
A
the winch I omit for reasons of space,
by Vincenzo Cartari
being too long a task to report
few pages
them here.
.
.
."
4
earlier, in
speaking of the image of Eternity,
Lomazzo has
already referred to Cartari as the translator of a passage from Claudian.
He
forgets, however, to tell us that all the poetic passages about the other gods
that
he quotes are likewise Cartari's translations. Above
lects to tell
own
us that his
text, in the
major
all,
Lomazzo neg-
Book
part of that
vii treating
5
of the gods,
more than The hands of
is
substantially Cartari's. In twenty-one chapters, he has
done no
to plagiarize the Imagini degli dei in abridged form.
fact that our critics feel artists is
remarkable in
of culture and imagination.
had received only a
necessary to put books of this type in the
it
itself,
for
it
exposes the
of them were, in
Many
artists' limitations
ignorant men, or
fact,
6
superficial education.
This, however,
is
a minor fault
(for surely the great Renaissance masters had not in every case been scholars!), but they also lacked creative force. This is
why we
find the artists of
7
the time so often appealing to a learned adviser for aid, not merely in plan-
ning an entire work, but even in the execution of its
One can 3
easily imagine that the
Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, Trattato delUarte
della pittura (Milan, 1584) to the 1844 ed., in, p. 272.
;
the reference
slightest detail.
manuals of Boccaccio, of Giraldi, Conti,
is
*Ibid. t p. 257. 5 Of the thirty-three chapters of Book vn, four only are reserved for sacred iconography. All the rest, with the exception of the Introduc-
tion, the Conclusion, and chapters 23 and 28, deal with the pagan gods.
8
See in this connection Dejob (op. 261 ff) on the Zuccan, Carracci, Guide, Vasari. 7 See zn/ro, p. 287 and passim.
cit.,
pp.
Albani,
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY and especially thetic taste, It
Cartari, to which they
appeared
may
to
were referred hy the arbiters of aes-
them as providential
be asked, of course,
if the
manual. tury
When we
we
events,
is
make
artist's
many men
of letters
canvas, and prodigal of de-
somewhat needless for him
to consult a
study the great mythological cycles of the end of the cen-
have occasion
shall
it
aids.
presence of so
capable of tracing the broad lines of the tailed instructions, did not
259
clear: the
to
deal with this objection. One thing, at all
manuals became steadily easier
to consult.
The
revisions
that they underwent for each new edition shaped them more and more into
the form of reference works or catalogues. Thus, the
first
Mythology was already provided with an extremely names, referring, for each episode, not only well. In the
1581 Venice
to the
edition of Conti's
clear table of proper
page, but to the line as
edition the lines are numbered. In the Latin edition
of Cartari of the same date, the translator, du Verdier, emphasizes the con-
venience of the
summary placed
at the
end of the volume,
in
which he has
condensed "imaginum designationem absque explicatione, ex universe libro collectam."
Indeed, du Verdier himself was one of the very writers
who emphasized
work for painters; he even saw in this usefulness one of success. The 1608 Padua edition shows an even greater
the usefulness of the
the reasons for
its
concern for making the book easy to consult. Cesare Malfatti vaunts ity: the illustrations, instead
u
of being confusingly mixed, will
its clar-
now be found
piu ordinate ed a luoghi suoi meglio accomodate." In opening the book at a
given picture, so he says, one will immediately grasp
"its.
allegory, with the aDegorical explanation of the animals
meaning and
its
and hieroglyphs,
thus saving the trouble of reading two, three, or four pages in order to learn the meaning." tion,
which
is
The words "saving trouble" sum up apparent
in the illustrations as well.
the dominant preoccupa-
These are
still Zaltieri's
engravings, crudely reproduced. But beneath each one, an explanatory leg-
end of several lines
make
it
identifies the scene for the reader, or at least
intelligible to
begins to
him. Furthermore, synoptic tables have been added at
the beginning of the book: one page, divided in four compartments, presents
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
260
the ensemble of the gods
and the
forests.
gods of the heavens, the sea, the infernal regions,
Another page brings together the four seasons of the year,
with their attributes and the animals sacred to them. Lastly, Malfatti thought
de 100 dei
piii
autori.
."
.
.
The
it
best to add, as appendix, a "Catalogo
famosi Dei, loro natura e proprieta estratto da questo e
intention is to
make
work
Cartari's
tionary-album, easy of consultation
.
.
.
altri
into a convenient sort of dic-
when time
is
lacking to read text and
8
references in their entirety. Other contemporary works show the
same
tend-
ency to select certain arguments from the whole body of mythology, then to classify
and
offer
them
in,
as
it
were, predigested form "alii Poeti, Pittori,
e Scultori." In addition to the abridgements of Ovid which are nothing but a 9
sequence of pictures, we must note the Mythologia of Tritonio, published in
1560. This aims to present the fables in a condensed and convenient form, thus
making them generally
morph.
accessible.
"Dedi operam ut ex
libris fabulosa breviter colligerem
exempla, atque
illius
ita in
XV
Meta-
communes
locos redigerem, ut in scribendis carminibus ad omnia fere possint adap10
tari."
Is not
such a universal passkey, generously prepared for the use of
who hold them-
poets looking for inspiration, the counterpart of Cartari's gods selves in complete readiness
and ordered array,
at the disposal of artists in
search of subject matter? Art, like poetry, looks to recipes and formulas for the vital sap which
is
beginning to fail
it.
Books
like the
Mythologia are an answer not so much to new needs as
THE
INSISTENCE with which theorists urge
lustrates another tendency of the period : 8
See in the 1683 (du Verdier) edition as well,
a device aimed
at making the work easy to consult : the Index is also a summary, in which the description of each god is given in fulL 9 Examples are La Vita e Metamorfosco 670mdio figurato e abbreviate in forma (Tepigrammi
da M. Gabriello Symeoni (Lyons, 1584) ; and the album of Antonio Tempesta, Metamorphoseon sive Transformationum Ovidu libri XV aeneis formis incisi, et in pictorum antiquitatisque studiosorum gratiam nunc primum
artists to
its
editi
to
Images and the
new
insufficiencies.
read instructive texts
il-
other words,
its
pedantry,
or, in
(Amsterdam, 1606).
w Antomi
Tritonu Mythologia, fabulosa exet vitiorum senem redacta,
empla ad wrtutum
ex Ovidiana Metamorphosi selecta (Bologna, 1560). ("I have taken pains to collect from the fifteen books of the Metamorphoses fabulous examples in abridged form, and to reduce them to general arguments in such a way that in writing poetry they might be adapted to almost anything.")
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY
261
taste for the niceties of mythological erudition. It is not thought sufficient,
indeed, for the artist to have a general knowledge of the gods and the world
of Fable; in this respect the theorists become more and more exacting and severe, always
to underline
ready
"quam
gravis,
quam
utilis et
necessaria
sit
tola haec fabularis historiae cognitio."
Raffaello Borghini's dialogue, // Riposo, contains a most significant
controversy on this subject.
11
One of the
interlocutors cites Horace:
Pictoribus atque poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas
But there
immediate agreement that
is
abuse
artists
.
.
.
A
this license.
painter deserves blame for taking the slightest liberty with history or Fable,
and especially for representing attributes or clothing inappropriate to the 'cose disconvenevoli" detract from figures (p. 46). Such irrelevant details fc
a picture more than they enhance
1"
it.
Then follows a complaint against
Ti-
48-58) for not respecting Ovid's original account in his representaof Adonis trying to escape from the arms of Venus. On the other hand,
tian (pp. tion
Michelangelo has faithfully presented Night as the ancients depicted her, in giving her as attributes the owl and the crescent
however,
is to
moon on her forehead. What,
be said of his figures of Day, Twilight, and Dawn? These have
none of the attributes assigned to them by good authors. It is thus an inexcusable fault for an artist not to give his figures the outward signs by which they ever, to
make
if it is his
may be
recognized;
it is
a mistake in the choice of attributes.
no
less serious,
how-
And Michelozzo wonders
ignorance which makes the pine garlands on Ammanati's statue of
Neptune appear strange
to
him. Vecchietta then inquires
ancients gave the pine as attribute.
Cartari (with
whom,
He
cites in this
to
which god the
connection Valeriano and
for the rest, he is not always in agreement).
He goes
as
far as to distinguish (p. 51) between the pino and the arbore picea, "a species of pine
very similar to the
11
1730 edition, pp. 40
12
L. B. Alberti,
fir."
Bringing forward a mass of quotations, friends
ff
who
in
his
Trattato
delta
pittura (Langlois ed, Paris, 1651), is almost exclusively concerned with mythological compositions,
already asks that the artist learn
from books (pp. 41-42) or from his learned
He
(p.
45)
insists that
all
the details of the fables.
each god must be represented
correctly: "It is not seemly to represent Venus or Minerva in the garb of a beggar (pitoccho} ,
nor dress
show
to .
.
.
Jove
," etc.
or
Mars
(pp. 30-31).
in
woman's
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
262
he obligingly explains
that the pine
belonged not only
chus as well, even though one rarely sees him with
and Valori
also enter the debate,
it
to Cyhele, but to
Bac-
as attribute. Sirigatto
and advance erudite hypotheses which show
that they, too, are masters of the science of mythology.
The gods
insistence with
worthy of
is
which the speakers harp upon the attributes of the
note, since
it
shows that
eyes, a sine qua non of the painter's fect representation of Jupiter,
he must give due "finally
art.
he must
to
know them
exactly
is,
in their
"If the painter wishes to give a per-
first
know who
of all
attention to his "proportions, attitude,
Jupiter is"; then
and coloring"; and
he must concern himself with the form of the god, by which he
made manifest and becomes
is
recognizable: thunderbolts, eagle, scepter, cos13
tume, and all the attributes which have been given him by the poets."
Here
form held by theorists of this period; form was a matter of iconology, the science of "forme esteriori," and we know from Lomazzo himself "quanto il sapere la forma esteriore di ciascuna
we are shown
the special notion of
cosa sia non pur
utile,
ma
14
necessario nella pittura."
He
himself devoted
some three hundred pages of his Treatise to a sort of universal iconography, and we have already called attention to his chapters on the pagan gods, which
owe so much to
Though us,
we
16
Cartari's Images.
this concept of
form has become almost completely foreign to it very much in mind as we seek to appre-
ought nevertheless to keep
ciate correctly the
works of art of
subject represented
is
very
this time.
much a
For
the art lover of today, the
side issue; as long as the eye receives
pleasure, the expressive detail of the subject remains a matter of indifference to
him. In the sixteenth century, the amorevolissimi della professione looked
for something quite different in a painting. all
was the idea which
it
What mattered
to
them
first
of
embodied. Hence their extreme interest in the ex-
by means of which that idea was given visual form, and espein attributes, which to them were so many symbols of the thing repre-
ternal signs cially
sented.
The eagle
w Lomazzo,
"signifies" Jupiter,
Idea del tempio della Pittura, 2nd
pp. 17 ff. See also chap, xxv, p 70: "Dell'ultima parte della pittura, e sue specie." 14 Trattato, nr, p. 7: "... how not only useful ed.,
and
is
inseparably part of his "form."
but how necessary a thing it is know the outward form of each l5
See supra,
p. 258.
in painting to
object."
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY In visual representation, therefore, to the
arm.
It is
it
belongs to the god as a muscle belongs
even incumbent upon the
artist, in
bility of error, to multiply the marks of identity.
he must
of
first
all
know them. The
263
order to avoid all possi-
From
science of mythology
this is
it
follows that
neither a comple-
ment nor an appendix; it is a region within the proper domain of art. If we add that Lomazzo, in the preamble of his Treatise, admonishes the painter to master the iconography "not only of the Greeks
Medes and
also of the
Persians, and of
all
other peoples
and Romans, but 16 .
.
.
,"
we
are
well justified in concluding that the mythological treatises of Giraldi, Conti,
and Cartari
demands of a theoretical order. They were the very demanded: manuals both learned and easy to use, en-
satisfied all
aids which the time
abling everyone to reproduce correctly and without omissions the forms which
were regarded as an
essential element of art 1'
the lesser-known authors,
their
mythology extracted from
enriched by the most bizarre additions, and so
offering opportunity for the artist to display his learning, and the public
its
ingenuity.
THE ATTITUDE
of the theologians toward mythology
is
even more instructive
than that of the art theorists. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church,
more or
through her scholars or pontiffs, had uttered protests and warnings against those
less severe
dawn
the
who kept
18
alive the
memory
of the gods.
of the Renaissance, this censure of the "pagans"
who
From
glorified the
gods was revived. The outstanding episodes in the reaction which followed this attack are well known. Coluccio Salutati, Petrarch's disciple, had already
been driven to defend humanism against the reproaches of the Camaldolese
monk, Giovanni da San Miniato, and the Dominican, Giovanni Dominici; 19 lamented in his Lucula like Gregory of Tours before him the latter noctis that youth should be told of Jupiter
and the Holy Ghost. 18
Trattato,
I,
20
Later, as
we have
p. 17.
Cf., infra, in connection with Bronzino, the horror felt at this period for the too familiar or "well-known." 18
See supra,
op.
cit.>
p.
87 and passim;
pp. 16-17.
seen, 19
11
cf. J.
Adhemar,
and Saturn rather than of Christ
Pope Pius
II
Aeneas Sylvius
See supra, p. 89. * Beati Johannis Dommici Cardmalis S. Sixti Lucula Noctis, Latin text of the fifteenth century, edited by Remi Coulon, O.P. (Paris, 1908). This treatise is exceedingly interesting, since it contains a concise refutation of all
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
264
reproached Sigismondo Malatesta for transforming San Fran-
Piccolomini
cesco into a temple of the Gentiles "ut non tarn Christianorum
delium daemones adorantium templum esse videretur." years of the century, Savonarola
was
let loose his
n
quam
infi-
Finally, in the last
formidable wrath. But
all this
The Cinquecento saw the sway of mythology irresistibly estabboth in art and literature. At the same time, however, the indignation
in vain.
lished
and the
threats of the censors explain the precautions taken
by contemporary
mythographers, as by their predecessors, in approaching the subject, and their care to defend themselves
from the charge of giving offense
to the "true
religion." It
stitute
might have been expected that the Counter Reformation would
in-
a far more systematic and profound opposition, and that after the
Council of Trent a period of austerity would open for the tims of which would be the gods.
It is
arts, the first vic-
true that at this time
we
see the idols
being expelled from the Vatican by
Pius V, and hurled by Sixtus
summit of the Campidoglio. Sixtus
also ordered a sculptured
V from the
Moses instead
of a Neptune for the Fontana dell'Acqua Felice. Preachers thundered at will against paganism, and in the
same period
artists like
Ammanati
~ pub-
licly repented .
d'avoir peint et sculpte, mettant I'dme en peril, 23 honte! Bacchus ivre ou Danae surprise.
.
.
But in spite of symptoms like these, it is clearly apparent that the gods were not too much injured by such accesses of virtue, and that mythology the arguments brought forward by the humanists in favor of ancient culture in general, and especially of mythology. In his Introduction (p. LXI, n.2), Coulon
Salutati concerning the gods is clearly
up
m
his Epistolano,
i,
lib. iv,
summed
epist xv, pp.
301-303. 31
See supra,
^He
p. 135.
quotes a curious letter from Giovanni da San Miniato to Angelo Corbmelli about the reading of Virgil and Ovid '*. . . haec omnia non solum vanitas . . . sed in ore Christicolae pene
to his fellow members of the Florentine Academy, August 22, 1582 : "Therefore to make nude statues, satyrs, fauns, or similar things is the greatest and most grievous
blasphemiae sunt, idolorumque ignota cultura, quae velut monstruosa portenta mentem inall these quinant, mores dissipant," etc. (". .
error." See Bottari, Raccolta di lettere (Milan,
^Jose Maria de
things are not only vanity, but in the mouth, a worshipper of Christ they are almost blas-
to the peril
.
of
phemy, and an unconscious befoul the
mind
cult of idols; they
like horrible monsters,
and
overthrow morals"). The position of Coluccio
writes
1822), in, 532
f.
vieil orfevre" (".
Bacchus prised"),
Heredia, Les Trophies, "Le . to have painted or carved,
.
of one's soul
in
drunkenness
ah, or
what shame Danae sur-
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY
265
continued with renewed ardor to people galleries and pakces with nude
acknowledged and encouraged by the Church herself
ures,
fig-
in the persons of
her prelates.
Their lack- of instruction, and also of creative force, as we have said,
made
the artists dependent
upon men of letters, whose meticulous instrucand often with gratitude. Who were these
tions they received with docility,
learned advisers?
None other than Churchmen
the theologians
intimates, Panvinio, Caro, Cardinal Sirleto himself.
prior of the Innocenti in Florence, cherate of the gods
is
24
and
their
Vincenzo Borghini,
indispensable as organizer of the mas-
the helpful adviser
whom
Vasari cannot do without.
25
it was Monsignor Agucchi who furnished the Car25 * theme for their famous Gallery. The influence of these learned
According to tradition, racci with the
ecclesiastics ought, without doubt, to jects of this order, inspiring
have led
artists
away from profane
them with a more Christian
spirit;
but
it
sub-
had
exactly the opposite effect, and at the end, as at the beginning of the century, the most important
pagan decorations were executed for
the Farnese palaces at
Rome and
The
it
Of 26
the great ecclesiastics encouraged not only
commissions, the abuses which
cardinals.
Caprarola offer convincing proof.
by
their counsel, but
would rather have been
situation is paradoxical only in appearance,
by
this,
Thus
actual
their duty to check.
and
it
would be an
error to attribute this laxity solely to the epicureanism, \\ant of conscience,
and impiety of the clergy. In first
centuries of Christianity;
reality, the it
same
conflict
had existed since the
was part and parcel of the very culture of
men of the
Church. Nurtured upon ancient letters, the most scrupulous among them cannot rid themselves of their classical memories and ways of thinking; as humanists, they continue to love what they condemn, or should con24
See Ch. Dejob, op. cit^ pp. 261 ff. See in Vasari, Opere (ed. Milanesi), vra, Vasarfs letters to Borghini of June 19 and 21, 1565, pp. 394-395: "I await you more eagerly 7* than the Messiah, 251 D. Mahon, Studies in Seicento Art and
25
Theory, Studies of the "Warburg Institute, xvi ( London, 1947). Among the many witnesses to the predilec-
26
tion for mythology see Vasari's letter
Milanesi
ed.,
vm,
among
the higher clergy, N. Vespucci (Opere, 234) ; the topic is a canvas to
representing Venus and the Graces, destined for Cardinal Ippolito de* Medici: "For the Cardinal and Pope Clement were so pleased
with that satyr that when I ha\e finished it, they want me to do a much larger painting showing a battle of satyrs, a Bacchanalia of fauns, and other woodland deities**; also another letter, to Ottaviano de'Medici, on the Bacchanalia and the Harpocrates, ibid-, pp. 235-236: "For I have been made to do all this by Pope Clement, at the instance of our CardinaL"
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
266
demn, as theologians. One need but or
St.
Jerome and
recall, in this connection, St.
their inner conflicts. Their
fane poetry which they ought to denounce;
Augustine
minds are haunted by the pro-
" it
has penetrated their very
souls. In the twelfth century, a Guibert of Nogent, a Pierre of Blois, secretly
cherish the ancients
minds the
whom
they deny in public. Hildebert of Lavardin re-
faithful that they are children of Christ, not of
Minerva or Venus,
28
but celebrates in Latin verses the statues of the gods and their supernatural 29
beauty.
"paganized" a gist
who reproached Sigismondo Malatesta for having 30 Christian sanctuary, is the same Aeneas Sylvius, archeolo-
Pope Pius
and man of
II,
letters,
whose elegant prose
is
adorned with mythological 3*
and who upon occasion defends Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is true for the most part, the pagan current prevails with these Roman prelates
allusions, that,
of the sixteenth century at the expense of morality and faith; but when they delight in composing a Ciceronian parallel between Diana and the Virgin
Mary, and even when they take pleasure
32
in
watching bacchanalia,
they are,
in the last analysis, merely being true to their education.
The indulgence shown by cil
of Trent
is to
no further than
censors after the Coun-
or officious
official
be explained in the same way; for the most part they went to
denounce as unseemly the use of
was, however, the most manifest
symptom
this
mythology which
of the return to pagan ideas. Pos31 "
sibly they also thought
it
the
most inoffensive. *
SOME OF THEM, ological images
nevertheless, first
of
all,
were shocked by the endless repetition of mythCardinal Paleotto, who wished
to recall
men
of
learning in particular (and hence "ecclesiastical personages") to a sense of their responsibilities in this matter. See H I. Marrou, op See J. Adhemar, op. See supra, p. 212. 30 See supra, p. 135. 27
28
cit.,
pp. 128-131.
many
31
De hberorum
(Basel,
plensque
1551), .
.
.
work Metamorphoses
educations, in Opera omnia p. 984: "Ovidius ... in
I,
locis
nimirum
lascivus:
passages
prae-
Metaclarissimura tamen opus ejus cui morphoseos nomen mdidit; propter fabularum peritiam, quas noscere non parvi fructus est, nullo pacto postergandum est." ("Ovid in
is
lascivious, to
be sure; how-
which he gave the title of a very famous one, and for the sake of learning the fables a knowledge of which is of considerable utility to us we should not neglect him") It will be seen that the Christian moralist here yields to the man ever, the
cit^ pp. 17-18.
29
to is
of letters. 32
See E. Rodocanachi, Rome au temps de Jules de Leon X (Paris, 1912), pp. 137 ff.
II et
M See
Ch. Dejob, op.
cit.,
pp. 147-149.
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY One chapter
of the discourse
is entitled:
images
267
M
that he devoted to sacred and profane Delle pitture di Glove, di Apolline, Mercurio, Giunone,
Cerere, et altri falsi Dei. It contains
some most significant admonitions (Bk.
n,
chap, x), pointing out (p. 122, v.) that the abuse which consists in keeping alive the memory of the gods is all the more dangerous and
blameworthy
in that, fects
under the pretext of the study of
literature or antiquity,
men of the greatest distinction. He anticipates the objection that the images
it
often in-
of the gods are the scholars'
instruments, indispensable for their knowledge of antiquity or for
some other
laudable end, since all of them read the pagan works and the fables of the poets,
which are
that his criticism
gods where they
filled is
with allusions to the gods. To
aimed above
may
easily
all at the
Paleotto answers
this,
custom of keeping images of the
be seen, and of using them as household orna-
ments. If a man's mind be set upon having such images in his house, solely for purposes of study, let
him
at least
have the discretion
of sight. This precaution ought to be observed by
to
keep them out
Churchmen above
all
(p.!24,r.,v.). Thus, mythology
is
dangerous images of the gods are "filthy and crimi;
and are admissible only under the express reservation that they be out of sight, where they cannot exert harmful influence on the public. kept
nal,"
This kind of severity did not act as a check upon fail to trouble
artists,
but
it
did not
all the more, since Paleotto went further than this
them
and
condemned even grotteschi "in the name of reason" ( Bk. n, Chaps. XXVII-XLII)
He
thus includes in his attack against mythology
atives,
its
.
most innocent deriv-
and would deprive artists even of motifs of pure decoration. be regretted that Paleotto published no more than a summary of
It is to
was
have been entirely directed against "lasworld of Fable,
his last three books.
Book
civious paintings"
in other words, especially against the
in
to
natural habitat of nudes and of sensual images. Chapter headings, such as those for Chap, xi ("That statues and images of culiar
power
to
move
the senses"), Chap,
G. Paleotto, Discorso mtorno die immagmi sacre e profane . . - diviso in cinque hbri, dove si scuoprono van abusi loro . . . raccolto 84
men and women have
a pe-
xxn ("Arguments used by painters
e posto insieme ad utile delle anime per commissione di Mons. Ill e Rev. card. P. vescovo di
Bologna (Bologna, 1584).
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
268
nude and lascivious
to justify representation of
figures, or
atti-
unseemly
tudes"), and Chaps, xxiu and xxiv ("Reply to painters' contrary views"; "Further replies showing that painters can on no grounds he excused for representing indecent or lascivious subjects"), are a sufficient indication that
mythology
itself
was
to
have been the author's
were disturbed by the
artists
constructed a system in their terest to
know and
target.
They show
also that
had
attack. Feeling themselves threatened, they
own defense which
it
would have been of
in-
analyze.
Fortunately, in the next century, Pietro da Cortona and the Jesuit Ot-
took the trouble to define the main points of the controversy. Taking
tonelli
their inspiration
from the ideas of Paleotto and of the Padre Possevino,
05
they devoted an important chapter of their Treatise on Painting and Sculpture
M
to the
images of the gods: "del giuditio che
de'falsi dei de'gentili."
refuted one by one, and
The
objections
it is
made by
si
puo fare dell'immagini
the artists are set forth and
here that the best picture of their attitude
is
ob-
do not allow themselves
to
be
tained (pp. 82-88). It
goes without saying that the
artists
convinced by the solemn proclamation of some of their opponents that "Christus
Dominus
memoriam
in
mundum
venit, et 37
exstingueret."
sanguinem profudit, ut omnem Deorum
Painting and sculpture, they reply, do not per-
petuate the worship of the gods ; no risk ory,
is
involved in preserving their
mem-
now that superstition has disappeared from the world. Besides, they hasten to add, artists have no choice: great gentlemen
and
princes frequently order mythological figures as decoration for their palaces,
and
their wishes
rative cycle, tion
must be followed. Furthermore, in the case of a vast deco-
mythology alone gives the painter
and variety which are expected of him. These are the decisive arguments; we
overcome the scruples of the most devout
sufficient
scope for the erudi-
shall soon see that they
artists.
have
The censors can produce
35 Antonio Possevino, Tractatus de poesi et pictura ethnica humana et fabulosa, collecta cum vera, honesta et sacra, dissert, introduced into the Bibliotheca selecta (Rome, 1593).
two, et abuso loro ... in cut si resolvono motti casi di coscienza intorno al fare e tenere rimmagini sacre e profane (Florence, 1652) . ""Christ the Lord came into the world, and
36
shed His blood, in order that all memory of the gods might be extinguished.'*
Odomenigico Lelonotti and Britio Prenetteri (anagrams), Trattato delta pittu.ro. e scultura,
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY
269
only feeble contentions in reply: "The prince might always be urged to alter the terms of his commission," and as for erudition and variety, "these are
obviously indispensable qualities, but the
artist
can show that he
and cultivated without resorting to the images of
As a reply
to those
serve a final argument teresting of all.
The
who
is
ingenious
false gods!"
persist in their strictures, the artists
have in
re-
the most specious, perhaps, but for us the most in-
figures of the gods, symbolically interpreted,
can teach
and inspire love of good and hatred of evil. And this time there is no manner of use in pointing out to them that a good painter can represent the vices and virtues in
some other way, or
in asking
how many
persons are capable of
understanding the moral significance of the myths. This new excuse
is
too
convenient, and above all too well adapted to the spirit of the time, to be willingly renounced. But the artist cannot invoke
giving his subject a
more or
it
in
good faith without
less edifying turn; a more or less important role
must be reserved for allegory. It is here Church on the forms of "pagan" art
in his composition
that
we
grasp the
indirect influence of the
FIRST OF ALL,
let
us see how this return to allegory, considered as a moral
antidote to mythology, manifests itself in the second half of the sixteenth century.
1554 appeared Dolce's TrasformationL** The dedication
In
selor of Charles V,
Granvelle),
is
God has placed and
coun-
enveloped in precautions: "What could be less appropriate
for dedication to Caesar,
fables,
to the
Monsignor Perrenot, bishop of Arras (later Cardinal de
upon whose shoulders the
infinite
providence of
the responsibility of upholding the Christian religion, than
recitals of love?
My
decision to do so will be regarded
by many
as unwise, perhaps even as extremely unwise."
But the excuse to
is at
hand: "Nevertheless, those who will take the trouble
look with discernment not at the surface of the fables contained in this
book, but at the motives which brought about their invention and the ends 38 .
Dolce, .
.
Le Trasformationi
tratte
con gli argomenti et allegoric
da Ovidio al
pnncipio
et al fine di ciascun canto (Venice,
1568, 1570, etc.] )
.
1554 [and
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
270 to
which they were directed by those early Masters, will see beneath the
rind of fiction, all the sap of moral and sacred Philosophy."
And
in order to
make
into all the editions after
which
its
pious meaning
is
his position still
Canon Comanini follows
man
explicit,
at the
Dolce introduced
end of each canto, in
unmistakably set forth.
100. Sacred
no
more
1568 an "allegoria"
the
and profane love
same
line of reasoning, maintaining that
of sense should choose as his subjects inept and hollow fables, un-
worthy of the name, since they serve no purpose whatever and have nothing to teach. He may, however, represent the others 8 meaning and express some truth/
This distinction, of course, leaves the
what fable or figure
is it 39
artist
not possible to read
D. Gregono Comanini,
fine della pittura
.
.
.
at will
tales
completely free, for into
some edifying
// Figino,
ovvero del
(Mantua, 1591),
which embody
p. 162.
interpretation?
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY The Middle Ages have offered us copious demonstration of the fact domain the ingenuity of "men of virtue" knows no limits. And
this
respect the Renaissance yields nothing to the earlier period.
But from the day the Council of Trent uttered
its
came more than ever a means of avoiding censure vindicating pagan imagery and licentious tales.
it
is
that in in this
40
warnings, allegory be-
a sort of expedient for
41
There are different ways of making use of this antidote. Sometimes administered after the fact. We may be permitted to borrow here a
celebrated example from the seventeenth century, the
and the words engraved on
its
Daphne
These lines are by Cardinal Barberini
(later
in order to counteract the disturbing
the scruples of Cardinal de Sourdis.
What Urban VIII in the
blems discreetly placed
we
.
.
/*
Urban VIII), who improvised
charms of the nymph, and
to allay
43
achieved with an epigram, the Carracci had attempted
perhaps more seriously
Farnese Gallery
magini,"
of Bernini,
pedestal:
Quisquis amans sequitur fugitivae gaudia formae Fronde manus implet, baccas seu carpit amaras
them
271
in the corners of the hall.
learn from Malvasia (after Bellori),
by means of small emThese four "dottissimi im-
44
are the basis of the whole
work: they represent phases in the combat between sacred and profane love, symbolized by the two Eros figures struggling for a palm branch (fig. 100).
who
quite unnoticed
These
putti,
upon
closer examination to inform
pass at
first
him
by the
spectator, should serve
that all the mythological figures
which decorate the Gallery are in reality so many allusions "to the punish45 ments of vice and the reward of virtue." 40
See supra, pp. 89
ff.
41
Ch. Dejob, op. cit^ p. 184. ("Whoever, being in love, pursues the delight of a fleeing appearance, finds his hands full of foilage, or plucks only bitter berries.") 43 Journal du Cavalier Bernut en France
42
(Paris, 1930), pp. 42-43. Cf. the edifying ingiven to the Daphne myth in
terpretations
M
oralia the Middle Ages, as for example in the of Robert Holkott, where Phoebus is said to aspire to the vain glory of the world, which is Daphne; or where Daphne is called a Christian soul menaced by the Devil and saved by
prayer (see supra, p. 93). For the Jesuits, the same fable signifies that flight is the surest means of escaping F. Menestner, L'Art des temptation. See
C
emblemes, p. 71. Cf. W, Stechow, Apollo und Daphne, Studien d. BibL Warburg (1932). "Felsma pittnce (1844 ed.), pp. 314-315: "four most learned images." 4S These two amorini struggling for a palm branch are represented in Cartari (1571 ed.), p. 504 (see fig. 101). Cf. E. Panofsky, "Der gefesselte Eros," Oud-Holland, L (1933), pp. 193-217, esp. pp. 193-198; S. Reinach, Repert.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
272
Often indeed,
it is
gods themselves that the
to the
artist,
less conviction, entrusts the task of incarnating ideas or
with
more or
moral principles.
Vasari says as much, somewhat pretentiously, w ith regard to his frescoes in
"E
the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence:
rando queste mie invenzioni questo imitai gli antichi,
i
sotto
se in questa sala ed in altre vo dichia-
nome
di favolosi dei, siami lecito in
quali sotto questi
nomi nascondevano
mente i concetti della
At one
stroke, the artist's
becomes "philosophical" and subject to
allegorica1C
filosofia."
mythology no longer
is
censure. Even those who, like
Jacopo Zucchi, refuse
to recognize the "sa-
pientia \eterum" beneath the outward shell
of Fable, cannot resist invoking the traditional allegories : "Just as the eye-spangled
and the rainbow"
attributes
peacock's
tail
of Juno
"dissolve into nothing, so do am-
101. Eros and Anteros
bition
and wealth."
47
Thus the admonitions of the Church did not lemain
\\holly ineffective.
Without turning painters away from pagan subjects (or even trying to do so), they gave decisive encouragement to the taste for allegory.
THE tion;
SPIRIT of the time, indeed, \vas already leading artists in the
everything predisposed them
"'rendering thought visible." 4S
Borghini
translated,
It
to see painting as essentially
was with the
we
find again in the Palazzo
Mag-
nani in Bologna, which they decorated, an "Apollo with four vases" which comes from the Imagim (Venice ed., 1580), p. 85.
"Milanesi
ed.,
Yawn
vm, Ragionamenti del
Sig.
sopra le invenzioni da lui dipinte in Firenze t etc., Ragwn i, p. 18: "And if for this and other halls I proceed to explain my compositions under the names of the gods Giorgio
mind
direc-
a means of
that Raffaello
word for word, the formula of Gregory the Great
des Reliefs, in, p 73. There seems to be no doubt that the Carracci made use of Cartari; in any case,
artist in
same
of Fable,
it
should be permitted
me
thus to fol-
low the example of the ancients, who beneath
names concealed philosophical concepts by means of allegory.** 47 J. Zucchi, Ducorso sopra h dei degentili e loro imprese (Rome, 1602), p. 51: "Si come these
1'ornata e pennuta ruota dell'occhiato pavone, overo il celeste arco dissolvendosi sparisce, cosi 1'ambitione, le ncchezze fanno." p. 77.
**IlRiposo t
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY legentibus scriptura, hoc idiotis praestat pictura"
"Quod
which was to be used
to the point
principal reason," wrote the
an argument
is
in 1748, "for the painters' con-
that intellectual subjects are not sus-
ceptible of direct visual presentation and, in order to be apprehended senses,
must be given bodily form and habiliment."
This
273
of satiety, for a long time to come. "The
Abbe Pluche
tinued use of fables and allegory
4S
M
by the
the cause, furthermore, of the extraordinary popularity of sym-
is
bolic figures at the end of the sixteenth century.
the history of this movement, seeking
its
51
We have
already sketched
immediate origins in Quattrocento
Neoplatonism, and in the supposed disclosure of the enigmatic meaning of 52
the hieroglyphs.
movement and
The growing vogue of emblems
witnesses the extent of the
gives us a true picture of the role played by the Church in
its
propagation. In fact, this pseudo science, which teaches us to hide, or
to discover,
the
most serious precepts beneath the most frivolous outward appearances, offered a providential means of reconciling the pagan and Christian worlds,
and the sacred,
the profane
at the very
moment when a rupture between them
seemed imminent. Fables, for example, could be "sanctified" merely by the attribution of a spiritual meaning. This play of concealed izes all sorts of combinations utilize
meanings authorw and transpositions. "Christian" emblems
elements of pagan iconography to illustrate the teachings of the faith:
Cupid, wearing a halo as disguise, becomes the Infant Jesus, and Ovid
*9
Epist^
IX,
9:
who know how
"What
writing offers to those
to read, painting provides for
the uneducated." Giordano Bruno, furthermore, states in his De umbris ideorum that ideas can be conceived and represented by the human mind only in the shape of images. See the
comments
of E. Cassirer,
Indimduum und
Cosmos, p. 78. ^Histoire du del, II, p. 427. Pluche adds: "But the artist should realize from the failure of his allegories how little the public demands this sort of thing. "Who gives himself the trouble to read in the allegorical paintings of M. LeBrun and many others what the artists
have intended to make known? All these enigmatic figures make a burden of what ought to
amuse or
instruct
me
.
.
.
Since the sole pur-
is
pose of a. painting is to show me what cannot be said in words, it is ridiculous that an effort should have to be made in order to understand it. ... And ordinarily, when I have succeeded in divining what these mysterious figures I find that the substance has hardly been
mean, worth
so elaborate a concealment." Cf. our discussion
emblems, supra, pp. 100 ft". R. Van Marie (Iconographie de fart pro[The Hague, 1932]), emphasizes this "tendency toward the
of 51
fane, u: Allegories et symboles
abstract image." 52
See supra, pp. 99 ff. in particular those of Georgette de Montenay, Emblemes ou devises chretiennes (Lyons, 1571) ; also those of Othon Vaenius, Amoris divini Emblemata (Antwerp, 1615).
w See
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
274
made
to yield
of thing
devout imagery. Pere Menestrier expressly sanctions this sort
when he says
that figures
from profane
and even from Fable,
history,
may
be used as sacred emblems: "Les figures de Fhistoire prophane
fable
meme peuvent servir a faire des emblemes sacrez." M
et
de la
These .strange products of Catholic humanism have been studied by " 56 and the Abbe Bremond. They offer abundant proof that it
Mario Praz
was both legitimate and easy in
order to
make
it
to juggle with
ing the Protestants to return to her
nymph Salmacis
ONE CAN view
mythology
reveal the truths of Scripture.
in a
symbolic sense,
The Roman Church
bosom could even be represented "
invit-
as the
calling Hermaphrodites!
these absurd analogues as the result of a harmless obsession, 58
and smile upon them indulgently. Without doubt, many sincere believers who were at the same time ardent students of literature associated their profane erudition and their faith naively and with no mental reservation. For
them allegory was merely a flower-strewn path leading from one to the other. But it must be admitted that, basically, allegory is often sheer imposture,
used to reconcile the irreconcilable 59
decency
to the manifestly indecent.
just as
On
we have seen
both grounds,
it
is
it
lending
a dangerous
fraud.
The Church had seen
this
danger. In the Trideritine Index, in which the
works of Ovid are not even mentioned, the moralized versions are expressly des Emblemes ou s'enseigne la morale par les figures de la fable, etc. (Pans, 1684) . Menestrier would also have it that all the ancient fables were in reality nothing more than emblems, at least if Francis Bacon is to be believed, who has given interpretations of them in a special treatise. How often, for example, has the fable of the giants been converted into
M See
emblems of the ungodly, etc. (ibid., p. 21). Cf., by the same author, La philosophie des
lications in
images enigmatiques (Paris, 1694), p. 15: parallel drawn between the attributes of the pagan gods and the sacred figures of the Church, 55
Op. cit^ esp. chap. iv. ^Histoire htteraire du sentiment rehgieux,
L'Humanisme
devot,
Pt.
2,
chap,
i,
p.
I:
2:
"L'humanisme devot
w Filere,
et les poetes
paiens."
Discours poetique a Messieurs de la religion pretendue reformee (1607). M This is the attitude taken by H. Bremond, loc. cit.: "They are children," he says, "pure in heart, and joyous in imagination; let us
them to their singing." supra, p. 271 ; cf. R. Schevill, Ovid and the Renascence in Spam, Univ. of Calif. Publeave
17:
"The
myths
.
.
Modern
Philology, iv (1933), p.
allegorical interpretations of Ovid's . can be found ... in the form of
prefaces or appendices, which were probably never read ... no doubt a concession to the official censors who had to grant their impnmatur."
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY
275
prohibited: "In Ovidii metamorphoseos libros commentaria sive enarra*
The meaning of do not intend to allow
tiones allegoricae vel tropologicae."
this proscription is
clear: the ecclesiastical censors
erotic stories to
published under a pious disguise,
81
be
nor the sacraments of the Gospels to be
hidden within the amours of the gods.
62
Thus, in principle, the Church condemned the use of allegory, but she it
encouraged
The
in fact.
crisis
of the Counter Reformation had clearly
shown the discord between the pagan
spirit
and Christian morals; for
that
very reason the need of reconciliation and justification which had never ceased secretly to torment the
more urgent than
ever.
literati
and
artists of the
The same uneasiness and
false
Renaissance became
modesty which gave
birth to hypocritical or petty concessions, such as the vine leaves or breeches
applied by Daniel da Volterra to Michelangelo's nudes, found in allegory the ideal expedient
a concealing veil and an honorable formula of compromise.
The educational program elaborated by use can be
made
^
shows what good
of so convenient and supple an instrument as allegory
become. This program, as into the
the Jesuits
is
scheme of Christian
had
well known, resolutely integrated pagan letters instruction
and
this at a
time when logic, pru-
dence, and good faith would seem rather to have dictated their banishment.
In circumstances not unlike those in which the Fathers of the fourth century
had found themselves
knew
to
M
face to face, that
be contrary to their own
faith,
is,
with a culture which they
but which enjoyed immense traditional 65
and had played a part in their own development the Jesuits a and what similar attitude knew were accepted they adopted they powerless to uproot or replace. The Church once more accepted the pagan heritage, and prestige
proceeded to transmit
it.
60
H. Reusch, Die Indices librorum prohibi* torum des sechszehnten Jahrhttnderts (Tubingen, 1886)
01
,
p. 275.
This abuse had already annoyed Savonarola:
De
divisione (1491),i, iv. 02 Methods of this kind had been denounced
by certain Fathers and Doctors of the chuich: see supra, pp. 87, 89. Cf. also the letter of Giovanm da San Mmiato to Corbinelli (Beati . Lucula Noctis [CouJohannis Domimci . Ion ed.], Introd., pp. LXI-LXII) : "If you would attain to true knowledge of right and wrong,
will do so far more readily by studying the Scriptures- where truth is revealed diand without lying concealment."
you
rectly
^ Monumenta quae pnmam
paedagogica Societatis Jesu. rationem studiorum anno 1586 editam praecesserc (Madrid, 1901). M G. Boissier (La Fin du paganisme, n, pp. 498-499) underlines the similarity of the two epochs. Cf. Ch. Dejob, op. cit., p. 149: Cardinal Antoniani, like Saint Basil, approves the use of pagan literature in training the young, M See supra, p. 265.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN CODS
276
Mythology, in consequence, occupied a place of honor in the Jesuit * furthermore, the two treatises on mythology which came to be colleges; regarded as authoritative in seventeenth-century France were the work of 67 Jesuit authors, the Peres P. Gaultruche and F. A. Pomey. The gods, officially consecrated as elements of rhetoric that
know ("in quorum
non
ignoratione versari
it
would he a disgrace not
potest, sine
summo
to
dedecore, qui
liberalium disciplinarum peritos audire vult"), again became the indis-
pensable ornaments of formal discourse, as they had been in the time of
Ausonius or Claudian.
But
it is
not on literary grounds alone that the teaching of Fable
exalted for
fied. It is
88
w
glory of God."
its
edifying value as well;
Mythology, in
fact,
it,
say the Fathers,
is justi-
aims at "the greater
too, is
not a jumble of ab-
surd or shocking tales ("Non sunt hae fabulae anilia commenta aut insulsae narrationes somniorum"),
under the mask there
is
fabulae
in
mythology nothing
nomen
And
a body of moral precepts, cunningly hidden
it is
of fiction "as the stone
deterreat.
.
.
to
intention, the Jesuits teach
Are not
66
first
Herman, La Pedagogic
regime (Paris, 1913), chap. liL Bayle writes to his brother, January 30, 1675: M As for Fable, one must know it ad unguem; and if you see a little book called L'histoire poetique by Pere Gaultruche, make it your vade mecum" And, on March 15: "Do, for pity's sake, learn how each god was repre-
The
Pantheum
mythicum [of Pere Pomey] describes nicely enough how each god is turned out (Tequipage de chaque dieu"). Take good note as you read." In the eighteenth century, a third Jesuit, Pere de Jouvancy, was to write an Appendix de dus et .
.
te
ex-
may be purified 70
along with
be applied to the
to
of the ancients emblems, and all the attributes
des Jesuites
67
.
that sin
method constantly
See J. B. au xvie siecle (Brussels, 1914), and A. Schimberg, L'Education morale dans ies colleges de la Compagnie de Jesus en France sous rancien
sented.
form of casuistry, which
and concedes
them the science of emblems
being the
all the fables
this light,
alarm the most delicate conscience: "Nee
to inculcate in their pupils this special
their mythology, the
second.
hidden in the fruit." In
."
cuses pleasure on the grounds of profit
by good
is
heroibus poeticis, translated almost literally from Gaultruche.
8
They even penetrate the churches, where they serve to enhance ceremonial pomp, Menestrier (op. cit^ p. 383) notes that on great feast days the churches are sometimes hung with mythological tapestries (representing the Labors of Hercules, or the Metamorphoses of Jupiter), and refers to a service celebrated in Notre Dame in Paris for the Queen, for which a painting had been prepared showing the star of Venus and the eagle of Jupiter, the preface to his Pantheum mythicum,
^In
Pomey
declares that his aim
is
"propagatio
Divinae
gloriae." Cf. the statement of de Jouvancy (De ratione docendi, I, 3) that the pagan authors are to be regarded as heralds
of Christ. T0
See Herman, op. cit. t chap, vii, paragraphs 17 and 18; and Schimberg, op. cit., pp. 571-
583 (pieces
justificattves)
.
THEORIES REGARDING THE USE OF MYTHOLOGY of the gods hieroglyphs?
n
And
277
does not the art of erahlems consist pre-
moral instruction through figures drawn from Fable? 72 73 as Mario Praz has observed, emblems were marvelously
cisely in imparting
In fact,
adapted to the pedagogical principles of the Jesuits. They seem
made
for the express purpose of imprinting truth on the
senses ("for there
is
to
have been
mind by way of the
nothing," says Richeome in his Peinture spirituelle,
"which gives more delight and more easily permits outside things to slip into the soul than does painting; nothing which so deeply engraves them in the
memory"), for
reconciling the useful and pleasurable,
74
and for com-
bining diversion with instruction. As La Fontaine was to point out: 9
Une morale nue apporte de I ennui: Le conte fait passer le precepte avec luL These didactic advantages were
to
make
instruments of Jesuit propaganda. But there
is
T5 .
.
,
of painting one of the favorite
a pleasing detail to pro\e that
while serving the Jesuit cause, emblems were also serving the cause of my-
Company represented itself in the guise of Mercury coming down r6 from heaven as the messenger charged with orders from the gods!
thology: the
*
LET us now look back
at the
manuals oi Giraldi,
offer a material ready prepared for transmutations
Conti,
and Cartari. They
and exegeses of this kind.
Their origins and nature were such as to disarm the scruples of some and serve the pious ends of others; their gods, heirs of the Middle Ages, were
once more easily adapted
to the
mould of allegory from which they had
never fully emerged. The oddity of their forms, the multiplicity of their tributes, the Oriental elements
which endowed them with mystery
at-
to say
nothing of the "Neoplatonic" significance with which they were already
shrouded
allowed them to be moralized and spiritualized
The mythologies designed
for use in the colleges were therefore to
71
See Menestrier, op. cit., pp. 253-254. 72 As is witnessed by Menestrier's title: Uart des Emblemes, ou s'enseigne la morale par les figures de la fable. 73 74
Op.
cit.,
raaximam pari
tarn," says
Pomey
m
delectione condi-
draw
the preface to the Pan-
theum mythicum. "Unadorned moralizing is tiresome; embodiment in a tale wins acceptance alike for the 7S
precept"
p, 156.
"Utilitatera
at will.
70
Menestrier, op. cit , p. 69.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
278
upon these earlier works ; cento they, too, had been absorbed
7r
largely
78
Ripa,
which Emile Male saw as "the key
legories of the seventeenth century."
the
but as early as the end of the Cinque-
into the
same sources as
Giraldi, Conti,
79
monumental Iconologia of Cesare to the painted
and sculptured
al-
Ripa not only used for the most part
and Cartari
that is to say, the
mythographers, hieroglyphs, and numismatics
medieval
but he borrowed from them
the very images which he converted into abstractions.
80
In his bible of sym-
bols, the figures of the gods lose all value of their own, all independent exist-
ence; "made," in his the eye," they are no
own
expression," to signify something other than meets
more than
"veils or garments intended to conceal that
part of philosophy which has to do with the generation and corruption of natural things, the disposition of the Heavens, etc. and with what is within .
man
n
himself: his concepts and habits.
.
.
."
.
.
In other words, mythology
proclaims philosophical truths and moral concepts. 77
The foreword to the Pantkeim mythicum (1777 ed.) recalls Forney's close adherence to
"^L'An
Boccaccio, Giraldi, and Conti: "Horum vestigia legens, uno ex his ... multa transcriber"
^This has been shown by
("following their traces, or rather transcribing things from them"). Rome, 1593. Editions of this work, repeatedly enriched with new illustrations, were issued up to the end of the eighteenth century.
many
78
religieux apres le candle de Trente
(1932), chap.
ix.
E.
Mandowsky,
Ricerche mtorno alC Iconologia di Cesare Ripa (Florence, 1939) : La mitologia della seconda
meta del 32 81
sec- xvi e
FIconologia del Ripa, pp.
ff.
Iconologia, Proenuo.
Ill
The
HAVE
WE
Influence of the Manuals
just reviewed the circumstances
which in the
last half of the
sixteenth century appeared favorable to the diffusion of mythology in
literature
which
and
art,
and hence
at first glance
to the success of the
would seem most likely
to
manuals. Even the factor
have weighed in the opposite
direction, the offensive of the Council of Trent against profane images, finally
operated in their favor.
The manuals,
in fact, attained
an outstanding success; the numher of
editions justifies the conclusion that during in the rest of Europe, they
man
had
century, in Italy and
and
of letters. Thus, editions of Conti's Mythology succeeded one another at
very short intervals:
it
appeared three times in Venice, in 1551, 1568, and
1581; four times in Frankfort, in Paris, in
in
1581, 1584, 1585, and 1596; three times
1583, 1588, and 1605 (issued that year by three different pub-
was published in Geneva, 1596; in Padua, 1616. The French translation, by
lishers simultaneously). Furthermore,
Lyons, 1602; J.
more than a
their place in the library of every artist
in
Hanau, 1605;
de Montlyard, was printed
in
it
five times: Paris,
1599; Lyons, 1604, 1607;
Rouen, 1611; and again in Paris, 1627. Cartari's
Images of the Gods went through twelve
Italian editions:
Ven-
ice,
1556, 1566, 1571, 1580; Lyons, 1581; Padua, 1603, 1608, 1615; Ven-
ice,
1624; Padua, 1626; Venice, 1647, 1674. Five Latin editions appeared:
Lyons, 1581; Rothenburg, 1683; Mainz, 1687; Frankfort, 1687; Mainz,
1699. Five were in French: Lyons, 1581 ; Tournon, 1606; Lyons, 1610, 1624,
1631. There was an English version, The Fountain of Ancient Fiction,
wherein
is
lively depictured the
images of the gods of the ancients (London, 279
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
280
1599), also a German one, entitled fort,
eroffneter Gotzen
Tempel (Frank-
to specify the precise role
and influence of
1692).
However, when we attempt the
Neu
manuals
it is
difficult to find
and keeps constantly
at his
evidence.
The books
that everyone consults
elbow are never, or hardly ever, mentioned; by
reason of their very popularity, they soon become anonymous handbooks;
no one quotes a dictionary. Furthermore, a writer or
artist
who wishes
*
to dis-
play his erudition is not particularly eager to reveal the source of the learning that he has acquired with so
little
expenditure of time or energy: those
owe
who
the most to Giraldi, Cartari, and
Conti are usually careful not to acknowl-
edge their indebtedness. It is,
however, possible to recover
traces of these borrowings;
for them
we
first in Italian art,
shall look
and then
in
European humanism. *
WE the
DISCOVER such traces festivals,
umphs"
first
of all in
and
processions,
in other words, in that
"tri-
middle
sphere between art and life in which
Renaissance
Italy
102. Apotto, Hadad, and Atargatis
so
produced
many
2
ephemeral masterpieces. In spectacles of this type, mythology normally played an important,
if
not the essential role. But toward the end of the Cinquecento, this mythology
took on a curiously hybrid character. celebrated in Florence between
We take as examples some
1565 and 1589:
the
"Masque
of the fetes
of the Geneal-
ogy of the Gods," staged for the marriage of Francesco de'Medici
to
Johanna
of Austria (1565), and the apparati arranged for two other weddings 1
Roger de Piles, in L'Art de peinture de C.-A. du Frcsnoy (Paris, 1673), pp. 127-129, lists the "books most useful to those of the profession." He includes the Iconologia and the
Imagmi
degli
del,
but
does not
give
those the
authors' names. 2
See J. Burckhardt. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, V, 8: The Festivals."
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS
281
of Cesare d'Este and Virginia de'Medici (1585), and of Ferdinando de'Medici
and Christine of Lorraine (1589).
For these
different spectacles, extremely detailed accounts
have come
103. Apollo's chariot
down
to us,
gods,
who
figures 3
and many drawings.
1
It is
which we know from the manuals.
For the "Masque of the Gods" we have two
descriptions: that of Baccio Baldmi, Discorso sopra la Mascherata delta Genealogia degf
Iddei
thus easy for us to ascertain that the
are the chief actors, are not the classical originals, but those very
dei
gentili
(Florence,
1565);
and a
second, probably by Gni, which appears in Vasari (Milanesi ed.), vin, pp. 567-614. Furthermore, we have three series of drawings,
one in the
Uffizi
(Gabinetto delle Stampe,
Disegni di figure, 2666-2945) , the two others in the Bibhoteca Nazionale, Florence (Giulio Parigi, Disegni original^ Vol. I, and mss. Foli, 142). See our article, "La Mascarade dieux a Florence en 1565," Melanges
d'archeologie et fhistoire (1935), p. 224. For the two apparati, see Bastiano de' Rossi. (1) Descnztone del magnificcntissimo
apparato e dei meravighosi intermedi fatti per la Commedia rappresentata in Ftrenze nelle felicissime nozze degF III. ed. Ecc. Sigg. il Sig. Don Cesare cTEste e la Signora Donna Virginia.
ztone la
Medici (Florence, 1585) , (2) Descrie degK intermedi fatti per
deWapparato
Commedia
rappresentata in Firenze nelle nozze di Ferdinando Medici e Madama Cns-
Lorena gran Duchi
lini n,
tina di
des
ence, 1589).
di
Toscana (Flor-
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
282
Thus, on the cavern
first
the famous
carriage in the Mascherata,
Demogorgon of Boccaccio;
we
see an old
4
again, a
woman
hlack and white, bearing thunderbolt and tympanon in her hands,
man
in his
dressed in is
the
Juno
of Martianus Capella. Further along in the procession appears a strange
Venus, with a burning torch on her breast, and in her of gold.
left
hand three apples and the Mer
We recognize in her the Venus of the Saxon Chronicle
des hystoires* Even more surprising
is
the Apollo mounted on the chariot of
the Sun, bearded and wearing a cuirass, a basket on his head and a flower in his hand, preceded
also
know: he
is
by two
eagles, three
women, a
serpent, etc. This figure
we
not in any sense the god of Olympus, but the Assyrian Apollo
described by Macrobius in the Saturnalia.
6
We
have already met
all these
102 and 103). The same thing is true of the intermedi composed in 1585 and 1589 in honor of the two princely couples. At the marriage of Cesare d'Este and Virfigures,
and scores of
others, in Giraldi
and Cartari
(figs.
ginia de' Medici, Jupiter appears with a trident, shod in green, and seated on
a cushion of peacock's feathers ;
7
for the wedding of Ferdinando de* Medici
and Christine of Lorraine, Saturn, Apollo, and Bacchus once more wear the 8 costumes which they displayed at the marriage of Mercury and Philology.
However unusual they may seem, none of these figures succeeds in baffling 9 any more than do Diana's serpents or Juno's poppies, or the curious at-
us,
tributes of Pan, Sosipolis, Mars,
such images
make
Hymenaeus, or Necessity. On the contrary, from which the organizer
clear to us at a glance the source
of these fetes, Giovanni Bardi, has drawn his material.
So numerous and striking are the parallel
details, in fact, that there
can
be no possible doubt of the extent to which the manuals served him as guide as they served Monsignor Vincenzo Borghini, organizer of the Mascherata. In most cases
it is
enough merely to compare the
illustrations in Cartari with
the drawings of the stage designers: thus, in the apparato of
Mercury and an Aesculapius "like those," de' Rossi assures 4
The title of Mascherata delta Genealogia degf Iddei would of itself also seem to indicate that the whole procession was nothing bat a mise en scene of Boccaccio's Genealogia; actually, except for Demogorgon, little more than the names of the gods and
their grouping into
1589 we have a
us,
"shown us by
families is taken from Boccaccio. 5
See supra, p. 240. See supra, p. 239. De'Rossi, 1st Intermedia, pp. 7 S. 8 Apparato of 1589, pp. 27, 66, 69. 9 Ibid., 6th Intermedia, p. 71. 6
7
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS 10
the ancients."
" Apianus
That
may well be,
and recopied by the
283
but by the "ancients" as relayed by Pietrus
illustrator of Cartari.
12
* IF
WE
admit, with Lasca,
13
that the chief merit of a festival procession in-
tended for the amusement of the crowd
may
satisfied that condition.
been, thus
to be intelligible to everyone,
is
we
well have our doubts as to whether these mythological entertainments
it
However
must have found
made
cultivated the Florentine public
to file before its eyes.
This
is,
indeed, one of the reasons
planatory accounts were published after the at finding the depth of their
may have
nonplussed by the baroque pantheon
itself slightly
14
fact.
why
organizers, annoyed knowledge and the subtlety of their intentions
misunderstood, attempt to justify themselves by setting forth in detail the cret beauties that the
crowd has shown
15
complains that
and devices have been thought displeasing by reason of
He
se-
unable to appreciate. Another
itself
producer of mythological pageants, Raffaello Gualterotti, his figures
ex-
The
their ob-
composed them for a cultivated public; so great an expense of care and thought would not have been justified had the popular audience alone been concerned. Indeed, it often scurity ("spiacevoli per oscurita").
happens
that he
so he says
who
has, however,
sets out to please the ignorant
ends by mak-
ing himself appear ignorant in the eyes of those whose approval ought by 10 11
Ibid^ pp. 26 and 72. Inscriptions, p. 15
(Aesculapius)
and
p.
422 (Mercury). 12 Imagini (1571 ed ), p. 87 (Aesculapius), p. 311 (Mercury). On Cartan's borrowings from Apianus, see supra, pp. 245 f. Other drawings of the same sort, designs for Florentine fetes (1581-90), are preserved in the Museum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck (cod.2717). See also the drawings by Pnmaticcio for a masked cortege, now in the Stockholm Museum, they are described in L. Dimier (Le Primatice [1900], Catalogue raisonne, nos. 188-212), where they are dated between 1559 and 1570. Dinner thinks that they may have served for a fete at Chenonceaux I pp. 187188, 380-381).
notes
Some
of the figures
accompanying them
own hand)
appear
to
be
(in
and the
Primaticcio's
borrowed
from
Cartan's ImaginL An example is Saturn, no. 198: "Saturn, as the Phoenicians painted him, with four eyes, two open and two closed, and four wings, two open and two closed, to denote that 13
when
Tutti
i
.
.
."
Trionfi, Carri,
Mascherate o Canti
carnascialeschi andati per Firenze dal tempio del Magnifico Lorenzo Vecchia de' Medici jino
aWanno
1559, dedicated to Francesco de'Me-
dici. 14
Baldim confesses that the Mascherata was not understood or even liked by everyone. Cf. Enea Vico, Sopra reffigie e statue, motti, imprese, figure, ed animali, poste nel arco fatto al vittoriosissimo Carlo Quinto (Venice, 1551)
work dedicated to Philip II. 15 La montagna Circea, torneamento sagio
della Seremss. Duchessa
m Bologna
(1600),
nel pas-
Donna Mar-
Aldobrandim, spoi>a del Ranuccio Farnese duca di Parma
Sereniss.
gherita giato
a
.
festeg-
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
284
rights to be sought first of all.
time, and also of the dilemma selves,
Here we catch a glimpse of the pedantry of the in which the authors of argomenti found them-
caught between the demands of the public and those of the more cul-
tivated audience.
The
artist
was faced with
the
same dilemma.
matter risked the scorn of the connoisseur;
ence of the larger public.
We
see a
of the life of Hercules as theme for a set
may be
too well
take more pleasure in what find
it difficult
To be this it
complicated, the indiffer-
problem of this sort in a
Bronzino to Vincenzo Borghini on July 25, 1578,
concedes,
If too obvious, his subject
if too
by
commenting on the choice of tapestry designs. The subject, he
known; but he has noted is
letter written
10
that people
sometimes
familiar to them than in something which they
to understand.
clear without being trivial, profound without being obscure
"
would have been the ideal formula. But with the new tendencies of taste,
became more and more
must
first
difficult to
of all be satisfied,
we
apply.
And
as
it
was the "learned" who
shall soon see the painters themselves, like
our "inventors" of pageants, explaining their works by means of long notices
which at times have the air of being written in order
to justify
them
in the
eyes of the larger public.
For the
rest, it
was by taking part
learned to complicate a theme the fifteenth
and
was entrusted not
to the
in the planning of festivals that artists
point of unintelligibility. Throughout
sixteenth centuries, the to
work of decorators and producers
obscure artisans, but to painters and sculptors of renown.
In the fetes of 1565, for example, the collaborators included Ammanati, Bronzino, Giovanni da Bologna, Vasari, Zucchi, and Federigo Zuccaro;
some of the work which they produced than a single day.
19
But the
artists, it
16
X
See Vasari, op.
ciL,
vm,
p, 604,
for the occasion deserved to last longer
should be emphasized, were here serving
See V. Borghini, Carteggio medito, pubL by A. Lorenzoni (Florence, 1912), Letter LXIX, pp. 126-128. 17 "Chiari non triviali, gravi non oscuri": Gualterotti, op. cf. p. 17. 18 The names are given us by Domenico Mellini in a note at the end of his description: see Vasari, op. vni, pp. 617-622. 19
18
speaking of
Bronzino:
"For
the
wedding
festivities
of
Queen G. [Archduchess Johanna] of Austria ... he painted, on three large canvases . . certain incidents from the marriage of Hymen, .
in
such wise that they seemed not like festival
furnishings, but rather worthy to be kept in
some honored place, so finished and worked out."
carefully
were they
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS merely as willing
tools.
The regisseur general merely assigning the tions
Nothing was
own
imagination or initiative.
of the spectacle, Vincenzo Borghini, not content with
tasks,
overwhelmed his collaborators with exact
which he expected them
fed their
left to their
285
to follow literally.
20
instruc-
In so doing, he doubtless
imagination, but he also irritated and sometimes greatly embar-
rassed them.
In fact, not only were they being subjected to the tyranny of a
text,
but
was sometimes strangely stubborn and unpromising. The figures imposed were such as to defy all possibility of plastic expression or
the text itself that
it
21
harmonious composition. As we have already observed, all the mongrel or barbaric divinities which in these texts, as in the manuals, supplant the classical gods, are rich in mysterious attributes,
but poor in grace and majesty.
How could artists breathe life into these buffoons and monsters, these pedantic fictions
and Oriental charades? The
praiseworthy
illustrators of the Mascherata, in their
efforts at stylization, occasionally
found a happy compromise.
22
But how were they to represent Thetis, with a tree on her head, and four feet (two lion paws and two bird claws), or Vitumnus, whose figure was composed of an eye, three
human
Such oddities masques, ballets,
heads, a hawk, a
may
fish,
and a hippopotamus?
pass muster in spectacles of this type
^
processions,
where the designer need not fear an excess of variety or over-
loading; a multiplicity of figures, motley brilliance in the total effect, and
profusion and extravagance of detail are even desirable in this domain. taste
and restraint would seem
to exclude
24
But
them from among veritable works
of art.
20
See Bottari, Raccolta di
letters,
I,
Letters
LVII to LXVI. V. Borghini, it is true, denies that he wishes to impose his ideas too strictly; see
ibidn Letter LXII (to Bronzino) : "But pay no heed to my words unless you think they will
produce the right result; since I mean only to set forth my own ideas, and not to lay down thelaw." 21 See supra, pp. 252 f. 22 See our art. cit, pp. 237-239. 23 Here we have a "hieroglyph," reconstructed from Plutarch (Isis and Osiris) , where a similar figure is described as seen in the temple of
Sais.
Vincenzo Borghini in all probability took from the Hieroglypkica of Pierio
this figure
Valeriano (Basel, 1556), fig.:
Humanae
Bk
xxxi, p. 219,
and
vitae conditio. Baldrni, too, re-
and to Horapollo. SeeLasca (op. cit., Dedication) which and gay garments, unsparingly
fers to Valeriano, 24
,
for "rich
calls
dec-
orated (lavorati senza risparmio)"; de* Rossi has much to say, in both his accounts, of the brilliance and variety of the costumes; Baldini the organizer of the affair array the gods as "strangely" as possible. In other words, all three write like cos-
maintains that
wished
tume
to
designers.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
286
AND NEVERTHELESS first
of
all, into the
these gods of carnival find their
way
monumental frescoes which, from
teenth century on, people the palaces of
the
into art as well
middle of the
six-
Rome, Florence, and Venice with a
world of strange and hitherto unknown creatures. Examples are the Sala Regia and the Cappella Paolina in the Vatican, the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio, the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the Farnese Palace at Caprarola.
These vast decorative ensembles are typical products of the culture of
aim
the time. Their
desse)
.**
Each one
manist; this
is less
to give pleasure (delectare) than to teach (pro-
of them develops a
program elaborated
at length
by a hu-
program has as center and primary aim the glorification of an
individual, a family, a city, or an institution
but
it is
supported by a scaf-
folding of philosophical or religious ideas. Thus the decoration of the palace at
Caprarola naturally revolves around two members of the Farnese family,
Cardinal Alexander Farnese and Pope Paul III; but
it is
entirely based
on the
double theme of the Active and the Contemplative Life, which determines the total disposition
the
the winter apartment.
first
being illustrated in the
Each room belonging
to the
summer and two
the second in
suites illustrates
some
one aspect of "action" or "contemplation." For example, in the winter apartment, the Sala del Mappamondo invites us to consider Earth and Heaven, the splendor of Creation
mind
itself; the
Sala dei Angeli and the Sala dei Sonni call to
the celestial apparitions with which
ful hours or in
lastly, ihe
dreams;
man
is
sometimes favored in wake-
Sala dei Giudizi and the Sala della Peni26
upon Divine Justice. Seen as a whole, the halls of the palace thus form a cycle, an unbroken system of thought. Without doubt, nothing of all this is entirely new. We have already met tenza invite solitary meditation
with examples of such figurative encyclopedias, even in profane late
medieval centuries.
didactic
programs again,
either retaining their theological disposition, or con-
centrating their emphasis on the mortal glory of 25
See G. Toffanin, La fine delFwmanesimo (Turin, 1920), pp. 21-28. See Fritz Baurngart, La Caprarola di Ameto Orti (Rome, 1935) ; this is an extract from Vol. xxv of the Studi Romansi. It deals with a Latin poem written around 1585, which describes all the paintings of the Palace, with 20
art, in the
We have also seen how the Renaissance took up these some
pontiff or condottiere*
commentary. Baumgart's introduction (pp. 119) develops some very interesting ideas on the great decorative cycles of the Counter Reformation and the new connections between art and humanism. 27 See supra, Book i, Part 1, chap. iv.
7
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS But the decorations of
the Palazzo Trinci, the
287
Tempio Malatestiano, the
Borgia Apartments, or the Stanza della Segnatura differ profoundly from those which concern us at present.
Summae still
more
The
first
group, as
we have shown, were
or less debased or fragmentary, but for all that syntheses
essentially scholastic in character, bringing together the traditional ele-
ments
and pagan heroes), and translating form man's relationship with the world and the harmonies within nature, morality, and history. Now, on the other hand, we have to do in each (stars, sciences, virtues, Biblical
into visual
case with one particular system, hatched by the ingenious brain of a ist,
who has mustered
parate elements
all his erudition to build
an
scenes, episodes, motifs chosen
artificial edifice
human-
out of dis-
fiom the immense reservoir
of pagan or Christian antiquity for this express purpose and by reason of their very singularity.
In the earlier ensembles, established data and accepted relations ap-
peared beneath a familiar iconography ; now, unfamiliar and apparently connected images mask a train of ideas which are faced with a
more so than in
new
riddle.
still
Mythology
the past) , but
fail to grasp.
dis-
Each time we
plays a considerable role (even
submerged in allegory.
is fatally
it
we
The humanists, who are the sovereign dictators of themes, draw their material from Fable as readily as from history or Scripture often, indeed, ^
being led in that direction by personal predilection; also, that Fable, as they
This purpose
is
understand
to translate
it,
but there
is
no doubt,
lends itself admirably to their purpose.
a series of concepts into a succession of images ;
now, as we fully understand, the images of the gods are "emblems" replete with meaning.'* They thus have an incomparable It
utility.
therefore results that the humanist, less concerned with the plastic
qualities of
an image than with
its
symbolic possibilities, turns by preference
most complex, overcharged, and bizarre mythological figures, believing them best fitted to exhibit all the nuances of his thought and the subtlety of his to the
intentions.
Another consequence
the literal execution of his direct.
He
is
is
the strictness with which he insists
program by
the artists
whom
he
is
called
upon
upon
to
not content merely to provide a theme, or to trace the canvas in 28 29
See supra, See supra,
p. 265. p. 276.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
288 its
the position of a hand, the color
general lines; he enters into every detail
of a fabric.
each
is
fect the
in truth such details are not a matter of indifference, since af-
beauty of the image, hut would threaten something of far greater im-
portance
Now
And
a sign, invested with meaning. Omission or modification might not
its
truth to the thought
which
it is to
embody.
IT is precisely here, in the singular choice of figures for representation
and in their apparent.
detail, that the influence of the
We
shall
contemporary mythographers
draw our examples from three famous
is
cycles: Vasari's
mythological decorations in the Palazzo Vecchio, in Florence; those of Tad-
deo Zuccaro in the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola ; and those of Jacopo Zucchi in the Palazzo Ruspoli, in
Rome.
For the analysis and interpretation of these three decorative ensembles,
we are
fortunate in possessing explanatory texts of great value. Vasari, in-
deed, has left us marginal comments on his
own work
in the
Ragionamenti;
Zucchi deals with his in his Discorso; for Zuccaro, we have the extremely detailed instructions
which he received from Annibale Caro.
The Ragionamenti
of Vasari
was composed
30
after the completion of his
frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio, in 1558, and published only after his death.
In an imaginary conversation with Francesco de* Medici, he explains to the
prince all the mythological representations and allegories with which he has
covered the palace walls. In reality, his aim
is
certainly to
make known
wider public the meaning of a work which he himself knows gible, especially since to the
it is still
to
to the
be unintelli-
further complicated by all sorts of allusions
Medici family.
But Vasari himself
not the author of the commentaries which, with a
is
somewhat naive complacency, he showers upon 80
Giorgio Vasari, Ragionamenti del sig. cav. G. V. sopra le invention da lui dipinte in Firenze nel Palazzo di loro Altezze Serenissime, con lo ILL et Ecc. sig. Don Francesco Medici allora
1588).
Principe
di
Firenze
.
.
.
(Florence,
his fictitious interlocutor.
He
Jacopo Zucchi, Ducorso sopra h dei imprese (Rome, 1602). Annibale Caro, Delle letters jamihari del
de'gentili, e loro
commendatore A. C. . . . colla vita dett'autore scntta da Antonfedengo Seghezzi (Bassano, 1782), u.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS utilizes
1556
(though of course without acknowledgment) the
289
letters
of 1555 and
which Cosimo Bartoli provided him with the whole program for the 81 Sala degli Element!, and the rooms of Lorenzo, of Cosimo, and of Leo X. And in
has he not
compare tari's
made
use of other documents as well?
the description of
It is at all
Ops by Vasari himself
32
events curious to
with that found in Car-
Imagini. Not only are the attributes assigned to the goddess identical in
the two texts; the explanations of these attributes are also alike, as will be
seen in the accompanying comparative tabulation.
VASARI
CARTARI
Ragionamenti, in, in Opere, vni (Milanesi ed.) [pp. 44-46]
Imagini degli dei degli antichi (1571 ed.)
[pp. 204^6]
The coronet of towers The ancients caused wear a coronet because to
show
.
.
they wished
that the whole earth with
net of cities, castles
and
...
goddess to
this .
its
coro-
was under
villas
made
she had on her head a coronet
of towers because the circumference
of the earth, like a coronet, castles
and
is full
of cities,
villages.
her protection.
The robe The robe full shows fruit
the
of flowers and branches
infinite
and herbs
.
.
.
variety
of
woods,
which the earth
.
.
.
The robe is woven of green herbs and on
its
hem
produces; the scepter in her hand denotes the multitude of realms and earthly pow-
hand and
ers.
all
The
drawn by I
poets,
the
cart
is
covered. She has a scepter in her this signifies that
the realms
.
.
.
on earth are
and shows the power
of the earthly lords.
Lions draw
it,
either
...
or
...
lions has various meanings, but
or again to show, by putting the lion, king
show
of the other animals, under the yoke of the goddess Ops, that in the same way the
think myself that the intention
that just as the lion 31
earth
...
lions
According to the
are leafy boughs, this shows
the trees, plants and herbs with which the
...
is
to
the king of
all
See Carteggio di Giorgio Vasari, edito e ac-
compagnato di commento cntico dal dott. Carlo Frey (Munich, 1923), vol. i. (Vol. n issued by H. Frey in 1930, with the title: Der hterariscke Nachlass G. Vasaris mit kritischem Apparate) . Frey attributes to Bartoli rather than Borghini the letters which have to do with the decora-
tion of the Palazzo Vecchio: Sala degli Element!, ccxx, ccxxi, pp. 409-414; Stanza di il Magnified, ccxxxn, p. 436; Stanze il Vecchio, Cosimo il Duca, and Giovanni delle Bande Nere, ccxxxrv, pp. 438di Leone X, ccxxxvi, pp. 446-449, Stanza 440; 32 Bartoh Carteggio di G. Vasari, ccxxi, pp. 412-414.
Lorenzo
di Cosimo
m
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
290
CARTARI
VASARI
the quadrupeds
.
.
is
.
this goddess, so all the
princes should
tied to the yoke of
lords of the world themselves are subject
human
to the laws.
remember
kings and
that they are
placed under the yoke of law.
The empty .
.
.
there are
seats
are to show still
many
.
.
.
on earth
that
wild places which are
.
.
.
they signify
earth there are
.
.
.
that
many uninhabited
on
this
places.
not cultivated.
The Corybantes .
.
.
who have
mainly to show to the princes the charge of their peoples that
.
.
they stand upright and armed
.
to demonstrate that not only the cultiva-
they should not always remain seated nor
tors of the soil, but also the priests
be
and kingdoms, must not remain seated and idle, but that
idle,
but should leave the seats vacant
and stand upright, always the needs of the people.
in readiness for
.
.
.
Corybantes are to show that
The armed it
behooves
those
who
and
rule the cities
each of them must take up his arms
.
.
.
for the defense of the country.
every worthy person to take up arms for
and
the defense of the country
The tympana ... by the
its
lands.
cymbals we understand
the two hemispheres of the world.
By
the
cymbals
.
.
.
one
under-
stands the rotundity of the earth, divided into two hemispheres.
For the moment, no can be drawn from
begun before the that even if
final conclusions as to the influence of the
this parallel, since the painting of the
first
we did
publication of the book;
it
Camera
Imagini
Dpi was
cannot be denied, however,
not have the Ragionamenti, Cartari's text
perfectly to the Palazzo Vecchio goddess,
di
would apply
and would account for her
slightest
33
attribute.
Bartoli's choice of an Eastern divinity to personify the Earth should
also be noted: under the
name of Ops he
describes, not the
Roman goddess
the harvest, but Cybele with her Phrygian train. At Caprarola, however, shall see figures even 35
The
fresco
may
more frankly
also be
exotic.
compared with Zaltien's engraving (Cartari [1571
ed.l, p. 207).
of
we
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS 34
On November Taddeo Zuccaro,
11, 1562,
291
Annibale Caro addresses a long epistle to
which he
setting forth for the painter's benefit the terms in
himself has conceived the decoration of the bedchamber "ordered" by the
Farnese cardinal. The plan leaves no room for discussion, and
Taddeo Zuccaro carried
that
first lines,
it
parallels below )
is
Caro's
displayed
again warranted (see tabulation of
is
CARO
CARTARI
in Vasari, Opere, VII
Imagini degli dei (1571 ed.)
(Milanesi ed.) [p. I
shall see
.
Aurora This
Gods
so close an analogy with Cartari's Images of the
that a detailed comparison of texts
we
Now from
out with complete docility.
find can
be done
118]
[p.
in several
99]
They have described her in various ways, which are much more useful for
ways, but from all these I shall choose what seems to me can be painted grace-
writers than for those
fully.
sent her in images; consequently I shall
not discuss them
which seem Let us
make ...
a young
woman
of
Place
her hand
in
lighted torch
.
.
.
seated
upon
drawn by a ... on a cart winged Pegasus or by two horses: paint her in one way or the other.
a chair
.
.
.
but only those few
better adapted to pic-
I
will
make
a portrait of her, from
the one which the poets have given.
lamp or a
a
Show her
all,
me
to repre-
torial representation.
the kind of beauty which the poets use their ingenuity to express in words.
to
who want
Some of them . place a lighted torch in her hand, and give her a cart .
.
drawn by the winged horse, Pegasus . . . Homer, however, gives her not Pegasus, but two other horses.
... To sum
up, ev-
eryone describes her as he pleases.
The Night
[p-
She should have spread out as
if
.
.
.
120]
black wings,
she were flying.
[p.
She was
to
She should have ...
made
be
.
.
left
fant asleep,
and
Death, the former Sleep.
on her
p. 288, n. 30)
,
ii,
arm
and a black one,
a sleeping white child to signify Sleep, in the other a black one that seems asleep,
**Delle letter* (cf supra,
in the
flying.
She had on her
in one (hand)
signifies Death.
330]
shape of a woman with two great black wings at her shoulders, spread out so that she seemed .
right
arm ... the
pp. 204-215, Letter CLXXXVIIL
a white inalso asleep, latter
was
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
292
CARTARI
CARO Her
The poets imagine her with a fourwheeled cart, \\hich signifies, according to
cart should be of bronze, with
the wheels clearly spaced at four places to
Boccaccio, the four parts of the night, as
signify the four vigils.
soldiers divide
Her complexion should be
She
dark, her
cloak black, and black her hair
.
.
.
curly hair
.
.
but her dress
all over,
is
to
represent the decoration of the sky.
[p-121]
[p-
122]
Her head was adorned with long and
with long, abundant and rather
.
.
.
it.
dark
somewhat shining, and painted so as
the
sky around her should be the darkest blue and dotted with many stars.
The Moon-Isis
is
abundant
.
hair, lightly curled.
fp.122]
with a flat disk, polished and shining like a mirror, in the middle of her .
.
.
.
forehead, on which there are snakes here
and
there,
corn
.
.
,
and
.
in the middle of her fore-
head ... a sort of round, flat, and polished object, which shone like a mirror;
and above them, some ears of
on both sides were snakes, above which there were ears of corn
.
.
.
.
[p. .
.
.
with a crown on her head,
either of dittany
...
...
made
or of various flow-
[p.
according to Martianus, or of sun-
ers,
.
.
.
.
.
down
.
.
to
some want her dress to be long, her feet, some want it short, up
to her knees.
.
.
.
with a dress that covered
(the statue of Diana) feet
.
.
.
1
.
[p. .
.
.
122
crowned with a beautiful gar-
land of various flowers
flowers, as others say.
H9]
wood
a garland of southern
.
.
.
.
down
.
109] it
.
.
.
to her
.
The
thin dress
.
descended be-
low her knees. [p.
Pausanias
We
describes her clothed
in a deerskin.
104]
read in Pausanias that there was
in Arcadia one of her (statues) clothed in
a deerskin. [p. .
,
.
a dress of very thin veiling hi
different colors, white, yellow, red.
.
.
.
was of very
thin veiling;
now
now
.
.
.
white, red.
122
1
her dress, of different colors,
yellow
and .
.
.
it
looked
and now
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS CARO .
CARTARI
and another dress
.
.
all
and
all
fruits
around decorated with flowers which hang
She had
black, but
bright and shining, dotted with numerous stars, with a moon in the middle and a
border
and
another dress
and shining:
all black,
this
one was
almost covered with glittering stars, in the middle of which there was a glittering
moon;
like tassels.
still
yet bright
tifully
around the border were hung
all
of flowers and fruits, most beau-
all sorts
You must
293
arranged. [p.
100]
[p.
101]
with bare arms
represent her with bare
arms.
This same Claudian says that her ... is made of horn, thereby con-
she should carry a lighted torch in her right hand, and a slackened bow in
bow
the left; this bow, according to Claudian,
tradicting Ovid,
.
.
.
made of horn according made of gold. is
;
.
.
hand
.
and two snakes
.
.
to Ovid,
it is
her
left
who makes
it
golden
[p.
in
...
.
.
dle
.
is
with a golden vase, whose hana snake, looking swollen with .
venom, and whose base
palm
is
decorated with
leaves.
.
.
.
hanging from her
left
to Festus
or
and
... by
Pompeius
.
at the
base there was some decoration palm-leaves
.
.
.
the other white, according to Boccaccio.
Festus Pompeius writes that the charthe Moon was drawn by a mule.
iot of
.
[pp. 122
f.]
[p.
...
or by steers, according to Claudian and Ausonius. And if you make them they should have very small horns, and a white spot on the right flank. steers,
106]
Of these two (horses) one was black,
a mule, according .
122]
hand she
[p.
...
104]
had a golden vase, which had for a handle a snake which looked swollen with venom,
made with
She should ride a chariot drawn by two horses, a black one and a white one.
.
.
[p. .
.
a lighted torch in one hand, two
snakes in the other
.
.
107]
There are those who had the chariot of the .
.
.
Moon drawn by steers, like Claudian
Ausonius Callus does the same
In Egypt an ox
Moon ...
it
was consecrated
.
.
.
to the
was necessary for him to flank, and
have a white spot on the right very small horns . .
.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
294
CARD
CARTARI
Harpocrates and Angerona
The
[p-
figure of (Harpocrates)
!27] is
[p.
.
with a
finger on his mouth, commanding
silence.
of a youngster, or of a boy
.
.
Martianus, was that of a young man,
signalling others to keep silent
[p.
of peach-tree and,
in his
if
you
hand
like,
a branch
a garland
of leaves from that tree.
The peach-tree was dedicated
human
head, clothed in a wolfskin, and
its
all
covered with eyes and ears.
.
376] to
Har-
To
374]
represent the god of silence they
sometimes also made a figure without a face, with a very small hat
on
its
head,
clothed in a wolfskin, and almost entirely
covered with eyes and ears.
[pp.
(Angerona) Her figure was that of a woman placed on an altar, with the mouth
gagged and
sealed.
373
f.]
Angerona was placed on an altar her statue had a piece of cloth around its neck, which gagged its mouth .
.
.
also.
The Lares .
.
.
[p-124]
one could make the Lares two
young men, who were
the protecting gen-
The Lares were considered its,
to
be
spir-
private protectors of houses; for this
iuses of private houses: two youngsters,
reason they were represented in the shape
clothed in dogskins, each with a sort of
of
short coat thrown over his
such a way that right one, to
it
show
left
shoulder in
would come under the that they are alert
and
two young men clothed in dogskins. furnished with They were also ,
.
.
short cloaks thrown back
shoulder in such a
come under
ready to guard the house.
way
upon the left would
that they
the right, so that they might
be quickly ready for their duty.
Mercury ,
.
.
[p.
123 ]
Mercury should be represented
in the usual
way.
.
tongue.
[p.
on
.
pocrates, because that tree has leaves similar to the
Others represented that same god as a figure without a face, with a small hat
who
kept his finger on his mouth, as one does
when
He should carry
374]
His statue, according to Apuleius and
that
[p.
334]
Poets describe him without (a beard) ,
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS CARO
.
of a
.
.
CARTARI
beardless, or with the
young man
.
.
295
first
down
.
.
Some put wings above his ears, and make gold feathers come out of his hair.
that he is start-
Many, however, say
.
ing to grow his
.
first
.
.
.
with two
.
.
.
with
down, [p. 322] wing* above his
little
[p. .
.
.
hair
.
were some golden feathers just
The House of Sleep
[p.
Let us represent Sleep first
...
sets it in
.
.
.
334]
has described the place
Lemnos and
in the
country
where Sleep dwells; according to him is in the country of the Cimmerians
Homer
in the
Aegean
according to
of the Cimmerians, sea, Statius
the points
.
[p.
Ovid
323] which
.
125]
in the
place one must represent his house;
Ovid
showing (Apuleius)
in
.
among the
Ethiopians, Ariosto
in Arabia.
... a bed, which, being supposedly made of ebony, should be black, and cov-
Homer
it is
Lemnos
in
it
.
.
.
.
.
.
according to Statius among the Ethiopians; finally, Ariosto places it in Arabia.
Ovid makes him all
sleep
on
a
bed of ebony,
covered with black sheets
.
.
.
ered with black sheets; on this bed you will place Sleep.
[pp.
According to some others, he has two coats, a white one outside, a black one inside,
with wings on his shoulders
... He
should carry a horn under his arm and a stick in one hand.
[p-
.
.
.
made
false
black one inside his
hand
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
and puts a horn
Besides, he carries
in
...
a
[p.
333]
two
doors through which the dreams come,
one made of horn, the other of ivory; through the former pass the true dreams,
true
by under whose foliage he places innumera.
.
come the
this elm, described
ble images
.
Virgil imagined that there are
through the .
f.]
dreams, and one
of horn, out of which
.
333
Sleep
with two coats, a white one outside, a
126]
dreams. .
depicts
stick in his hand.
Let us imagine that in this place there are two doors: one made of ivory, out of
which come the
(Philostratus)
Virgil,
latter the false ones.
Virgil also held that in the middle
of the entrance to hell there is a great
elm ... and that from
hang the
false
its
leaves
and empty dreams.
.
.
.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
296
This comparison small
number of
From
again conclusive.
is
"classical" figures proposed
the
first,
one
is
struck
by the
by Caro. Though his description
of the House of Sleep (not, for that matter, easily translatable into painting) is
taken from Ovid and Virgil, the details which he furnishes to the
most part bizarre and overwhelmingly complex. Zuccaro, however, seems to have accommodated himself
artist
are
for the
them with
enough; at all events, he has rendered enough, whenever a
possibility of choice is left open,
more complex image
ject the
to
them well
True
servile accuracy.
he has managed to
in favor of the simpler one.
He
re-
has preferred
the Diana of Claudian to the Isis of Apuleius, freeing her forehead of the
wings, horns, ears of wheat, mirror, serpents, and crown with which his over-
learned author would have endowed her.
has not ventured to modify in any
35
way
But in a larger sense, the painter
the compositions proposed for the
arches and lunettes of the hall, which are as enigmatic as could be desired :
Harpocrates (the infant Horus, wrongly identified by the Greeks as the god of silence)
is
there carrying his fishing rod, Angerona wearing her gag, and
Brizos standing under the elm with enchanted foliage.
Even have no
Caro had not taken the trouble
if
frequent textual identity of the descriptions proves that Caro just as Vasari
Imagini in drawing up his instructions
commenting on
his
own
we would
to give us his sources,
difficulty in seeing that they are always those used
by
Cartari.
made use
was able
to
The
of the
do
in
finished work.
In the light of these observations, the role of the scholar as adviser of artists
may seem
two things
is
to lose
some of
true: either Caro
its
mediary between the book and the did not
know
importance and
interest.
Indeed, one of
had read Cartari, and acted merely as an or (and this
artist;
is
inter-
improbable) Caro
the book, but himself took the trouble of looking in earlier au-
thors for the elements of his descriptions. But as his authors are the
quoted in the Imagini
same ones
Pausanias, Apuleius, Macrobius, and Martianus Ca-
35
The Hours have not been shown preceding Aurora's chariot On the other hand, Night is burdened with her two children, Sleep and Death; this is to be regretted, especially in view of what Guercino was later able to do
with this beautiful allegory. In a small room near the Sala dell' Aurora, Federigo Zuccaro painted a monstrous figure, the Hermathena, which is of course described in Cartari (1571 ed.)
,
p. 356.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS we
pella
297
are led to the same con-
clusion. Caro's intervention was not
Had Taddeo Zuccaro
necessary.
held the Imagini in his hands, and
known no more than the personages
resent, the result
exactly the
the
names of
whom he was to
rep-
would have been
same paintings we
today in the Camera
see
dell* Aurora.
For any painter whose library conwork as this,
tains such a reference
the counsels of the humanists are
superfluous.
We need
only look, for
example, at the passage in Caro's dealing with Harpocrates and
letter
Angerona:
"The
figure of Harpocrates
is
104. Harpocrates
and Angerona
that of a youth, or rather a child .
.
.
holding his finger to his mouth.
He
holds a fishing rod in his hand."
"Others have represented the same god as a faceless
figure, wearing a small hat on his head, wrapped in a wolfskin, and entirely covered with eyes
and ears."
"The figure of Angerona is that of a woman standing upon an altar, her mouth bound with a gag." It would have been simpler to say, "Represent Harpociates and Angerona according to the Imagini degli del" where, indeed,* they appear fully described and ready for use
(fig.
The painter needed nothing sory, as
104). else; the explanatoiy text is a
Caro himself recognizes in a
letter to
ing briefly sketched the figures of certain gods
according to 36
The
picture,
Martianus Capella it is
true, dates
he concludes:
from 1571 ; but
since
mere
acces-
Luca Maitini where, after havin particulai that of
"...
I
Juno
have given you a
it exactly illustrates Garten's text the less supports our case.
it
none
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
298
summary which
description of the costumes, according to the written descriptions
have found. To
I
tell
you the meaning of each would be a lengthy
undertaking; for that matter, they are ordinarily known."
Thus the sions, tical
letters
busy men, overburdened with commis-
of the scholars
preparing tasks for other busy
form of a reference
list,
other set of instructions (of
3T
men
come
to
assume the
Cosimo Bartoli
cially curious feature. The author
is
to Vasari)
M
presents an espe-
proposing a certain number of allegories
for use in the Sala di Lorenzo in the Palazzo Vecchio, and in the site the
terse, prac-
toward which Cartari's Images also tends. One
margin oppo-
mention of each, he enters a brief descriptive note. Examples are:
"Prudentia: donna con lalie e serpi alia conciatura della testa."
"Buonevento: un povero in un mano
"La Fama: The
last
la sapete, fatta
words seem
la tazza, in 1'altra
da voi mille volte."
spighe di grano."
39
to betray Bartoli's impatience
having, like a manual, continually to offer the same recipe.
his weariness at
The
letter dates
from 1556, the year of the publication of the Imagini. Cartari's work came as an answer to this very need, making it unnecessary for artists to turn elsewhere for information, or for scholars indefinitely.
There was, none the
to furnish texts
and repeat themselves
demands from
less, a continuation of
and advice from scholars. But from
this
artists,
time on, the names of individual pro-
gram makers become increasingly unimportant; we know in advance the sources from which they draw, and we hold the key to the most obscure representations.
Whoever may have been
their
immediate provider, the "argu-
ments" are a needless repetition of those which henceforth are to be found conveniently brought together and classified in the Imagini and the other mythological treati
.
Further confirmation will be found in the Discorso of Zucchi and in his frescoes
on
the ceiling of the Palazzo Ruspoli. Like the
master Vasari, Zucchi's Discorso 57
88
is
m, pp. 206-208, Letter xcv. Carteggio di G. Vasari, ed. cit., p. 436, Let-
Bottari, Lettere,
tercxxxu. 39 "Prudence: a
woman
peats as headdress."
with wings and
Ragionamenti of his
a commentary intended to render his own
ser-
"Good Fortune:
a poor
man
holding a cup "
in one hand, in the other stalks of gram "Fame: you know this figure, you've
painted
it
a thousand times."
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS painting intelligible: "chiarire
299
pensier nostro circa alia nostra pittura."
il
To revive a play upon words which
his admirers abused,
40
penna and pennello
were rivals in his hands, each illuminating the other, and greatly to our ad-
105. Diana
vantage. For
have no
if
106. Saturn
the analysis of the frescoes is a laborious task, at least
difficulty,
thanks
to the Discorso, in
we
recognizing once more the mytho-
graphical traditions for which our manuals have served as a vehicle.
The
title
gives us a
first
hint
the title of the medieval treatises rus; Zucchi
makes no
Discorso sopra of the
De
secret, indeed, of the
diis
li
del de'gentilL This
is
gentium of Rabanus Mau-
dependence of his composition
on the Genealogia deorum of Boccaccio.
The
Oriental element is equally apparent. Zucchi knows the gods wor-
shipped by the Libyans, Scythians, Persians, Egyptians, and Assyrians (p. 5) ; he knows both Jupiter "Heliopolites" and Jupiter Ammon (p. 18). When
he describes Apollo, he does not forget to include among his attributes the hawk, the crocodile, and the scarabaeus (p. 25). 40
Like Vasan's Ragionamenti, the Discorso
did not appear 1602.
The
text,
till
after the author's death, in
which
is
very rare, has
been
published, with a valuable introduction, by
Saxl, Antike Cotter in der Spatrenaissance ; em Freskenzyklus und em Discorso des Jac&po Zucchi, Studien der Bibl. Warburg, Cf. also A. Calcagno, Jacopo (Leipzig, 1927). Zucchi e la sua opera a Roma (Rome, 1933) .
vm
THE SURVIVAL OF THE PAGAN GODS
300 After to
this,
when he writes
of Saturn (p. 15), "'There would
say of this god, but two things restrain
norance ; the other
is
the gieat
number
me: one
be much
still
that I fear
is
my own
ig-
of scholarly books dealing with this
material which have recently been published, where every detail will be
found noted," we have every reason
to think that
he
alluding to Giraldi,
is
Conti, or Cartari. Furthermore, there is an indubitable connection between
Zucchi's frescoes and the engraved illustrations in Cartari. Each god painted
by Zucchi
is
surrounded by an unbelievable number of
attributes,
many
of
them highly unusual. Diana, for example, holds not only her bow and arrows, but a key (recalling the functions of Lucina), while at her feet are seen three
animal heads
dog, horse, and boar
But the Discorso has a special fied neither with the subject
on
it.
is
Mythology
him with
inspires
recalling the
He
interest for us. Obviously, Zucchi is satis-
rails
it
would not be too much
unceasingly against
**the
ness and criminality of their gods. If
he
He
(p. 9).
is sincere,
it
and the
foul-
42
one wonders
attempts to give
to say that
vain and false re-
ligion of the Gentiles," their blind ignorance, their obstinacy,
him.
11
matter of his paintings nor with his commentary
displeasing to him;
horror.
Luna Triformis.
why he
has chosen a theme which so repels
an explanation, though not without some confusion
Troubled by the dimensions of his
task,
he had 41
as the only possible source for so elaborate a program.
to tuin to
mythology
Furthermore, he
felt
himself constrained by tradition, for does not Armenini cite as the prime
model for palace decoration the ceiling of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, where there are "many gods, with Jove at the center"? So Zucchi resigned himself to reproducing the traditional forms, but he did so reluctantly.
There was, however, one means of reconciling the demands of conscience
Zucchi
is
that
is,
not unaware of this possibility, but he shows himself
scrupulous with regard to
it
who would
"See
figs
in
He
it
Paleotto: "sporcizie sceleratissime"; p. 267.
* Cf. supra,
p. 268.
agrees
he has no praise for
muffle this truth beneath a cloak of lies or hide
105 and 106 Cf. the engraving
Cartari (1571 ed.) , p. 117, fig. 93. This is the same expression used by Cardinal
42
and
much more
than do most of his contemporaries.
that Fable contains the sap of truth beneath its rind, but
those
art
to endow these shameful images with allegorical meaning.
behind a cf.
supra,
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MANUALS veil of obscenities:
ignoranza
il
"Se ben
so,
301
...
che senza dubbio mi sara imputato
pensare che sotto queste scorze non
ci sia
del suco.
.
.
ad
Dico
.
Ma non lodero mai, chi con il velame degFadulterii, i latroe mille cose oscene, e brutte, e con la veste della bugia, vorra cinii, stupri, che nol niego.
4
ornare, 6 coprire 1'istessa verita della potenza e sapienza divina" (p. S).*
In spite of this declaration, and with manifest inconsistency, Zucchi cannot resist offering allegorical interpretations upon occasion, as of the butes of
Pan
or Juno;
**
but, in the last analysis, both his discomfort
remorse are characteristic. touched by the
He
is
among
attri-
and his
who were most profoundly we have already seen
those
spirit of the Counter Reformation, and
the source of attitudes such as his in the writings inspired
Trent which deal with the essential character of
by the Council of and its aim.
art, its duties,
*
THERE ARE few
occasions other than in monumental painting on walls and
ceilings for this learned
mythology
weighty paraphernalia in
to display its
complete freedom. Sculpture, as Armenini observes, with images of such complexity, and Michelangelo
40
is
may
not fond of dealing after all
be forgiven
for not having adorned his statue of Night with a sheaf of poppies
and a
star-
strewn mantle, since "these are things more appropriate to the painter than 4T
the sculptor."
Paintings in smaller dimensions seldom permit of such a lav-
ish display of figures
and
attributes; a canvas cannot be overloaded like a
carnival chariot. Certain allegories of Bronzino, however, meet this chal-
lenge successfully
among them
the enigmatic Fortuna in the Uffizi,
and the
Time and Folly with Venus and Cupid in the National Gallery, London. Federigo Zuccaro succeeds in massing in his
Olympus a crowd of
And
divinities,
each weighed down by his burden of symbols in illustration of the motto
View more...
Comments
