12
Ida Mauro
The Viceregal Court and the Discourse of Festivities
It is significant that the account of Philip Skippon’s journey to Naples in the spring of 1664 begins with a detailed description of a procession and the accompanying decorations: ‘silk carpets, hung out of the windows, and in the middle of the street was erected a handsome arch covered with gilt and painted cloth; within it was an altar, and opposite to it a chair of state for the viceroy’.1 Sources of seventeenth-century Neapolitan history (such as the avvisi or chronicles)2 focus on the amazement and awe inspired by the festivals held in the Neapolitan streets, churches and Royal Palace halls. One unpublished account in particular (the Notitia 1648–1669 compiled by Andrea Rubino)3 offers an interesting account of the ceremonies and describes in great detail the decorations that transformed the city of Naples into an enormous theatre on the occasion of civic and court festivities. In the past four years, this prolific source of information has been used in research on Baroque celebrations in Naples.4 However, this latter work has not researched the significance of the decorative images that were selected to communicate the discourse of the festivities, nor has it researched the process behind the creation of the festive decorations sponsored by the viceregal court (such as the stages of artistic development, the role of the artists, the reuse of the works of art, and the cooperation between the different artists). The objective of this brief work is to introduce these two themes: the significance of the decorative images and the particulars of their creation. It presents a preliminary insight into the complexity and richness of the symbolism used in the imagery for festive decorations in mid-seventeenth century Naples, and it expounds on the reasons such imagery was used. It also discusses the artists who created the decorations and their relationship to each other and the viceregal court in Naples.
The Spanish viceroys governed Naples for a brief period of three years, which could be extended for another three years (on average, the viceroyships were of approximately five years’ duration) and their mandate operated under the control of the central institutions (the Consejo de Italia and the possible assessments by general inspectors), as well as representatives of the local elites (the Parlamento and the six Neapolitan Seggi). Despite these limitations, the viceroys in Naples were able to transmit an image of the magnificence and splendour of the viceregal court, and that of the Spanish Royal House, through important artistic commissions that were almost exclusively temporary or ephemeral works.5 While none of the Spanish viceroys who ruled Naples during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was able to build and decorate an entire palace or monastery in the city, they successfully elevated their reputation among their subjects by astonishing them with elaborate festivals set in ephemeral scenography amid explosions of fireworks.6 Such festive decorations are important for an understanding of the artistic taste of the Neapolitan viceregal court that commissioned them, and for analysing the political aims behind the festive displays.7
An interesting feature of these ephemeral and temporary decorations is that some of the most distinguished Neapolitan artists participated in creating these works. These artists worked under the supervision of the royal engineer, who designed the project, and the president of the Royal Chamber of the Sommaria, who usually managed funding and payments. The artists who led the work of creating the festive decorations were not only required to coordinate the activity of a large number of employees and ensure that the work was accomplished quickly, but they also had to create the decorations according to their clients’ (the viceroys’) precise requirements to communicate a clear political message and catch the attention of as many spectators (the subjects) as possible.
The Power of the King’s Image
In the mid-seventeenth century, the progressive instability of Neapolitan society, not least in the context of its restoration after the 1647–1648 revolution, led to closer control of festive decorations due to their communicative power. In particular, the viceroy needed to ensure the recovery of the image of the Habsburg rulers, whose symbolic value was used by the rioters from the outset of the revolt in July 1647.8 At the time of the revolt, many Neapolitans exhibited portraits of King Philip IV of Spain ‘out of their windows, under a canopy and above the coat of arms of the popolo’ and shouted ‘Long live the King, and death to misrule’,9 demonstrating that the people were in revolt against the rule of the viceroys but continued to venerate the king.10
At the time of the revolution, more than a century had passed since Charles V’s triumphal entry into Naples in 1535, the only visit to the city by a Habsburg king.11 However, the image of the emperor was firmly engrained in the Neapolitan collective memory. In 1522, Charles V had recognized the rights and privileges of the Piazza del Popolo (the non-aristocratic faction) that had been suppressed by Alfonso of Aragon, and he granted the capitol, which each incoming viceroy had to swear publicly to respect and uphold. Charles V’s ‘sacred’ memory was transmitted to his heirs and successors to such an extent that in every important event faced by the Spanish viceroyalty (such as the revolt of July 1647), it seems the Neapolitans considered the figure of the Spanish king (whose reign lasted a great deal longer than the short term of the viceregal mandate) to guarantee the rights and privileges granted to the people of the city. A particularly significant example of this attitude is the gesture by Marco Vitale, the Secretary of Masaniello (leader of the 1647 revolution). At the beginning of the riots, Vitale offered a small portrait of Charles V to the Viceroy Duke of Arcos, which was intended to remind the viceroy of the privileges that had been granted to Neapolitans, privileges the rebels wished to enforce by asking for the abolition of the new taxes that had been imposed by the viceroy.12
It should be noted that during the Feast of St John’s eve, which was a symbolic renewal of the association between the viceroy and the Piazza del Popolo, the image of the Spanish Habsburg kings (often accompanied by that of Charles V) was always present in the festive decorations displayed in the streets of popular districts such as Porto and Mercato. The image of the kings also occupied a permanent place on the wall of the convent of Santa Maria Visitapoveri, flanking the itinerary of the viceregal cavalcade.13 Here, the images of the Habsburg kings again served as a reminder to the viceroys (to whom the feast was dedicated) that the Neapolitans had earned their rights and privileges through their loyalty to the king.
After quelling the revolution of 1647–1648, the viceregal court in Naples needed to present itself as the principal promoter of the magnificence of the Royal House in the hope that it would be able to share in the kings’ ‘mythical charisma’, which remained uncorrupted after the revolt.14 Turning to the discourse of the civic institutions (such as the del Popolo), the viceroys used portraits of the kings to remind people that the wellbeing of the kingdom and the privileges of its inhabitants meant that there was a certain ‘debt of gratitude’ owed to the monarchs and the viceroys who represented them.
The value of the king’s image in regaining the trust and compliance of the people is the basis of this analysis of the decorative imagery used for the festive occasions of this period.15
Using imagery of the king was common in Neapolitan Baroque festivals.16 An engraving owned by the Società Napoletana di Storia Patria provides visual testimony of a festive display dedicated to a king during these years (Figure 12.1). The engraving is a display of splendori d’argento [silver splendours] – to use an expression from seventeenth-century descriptions – that surround a triumphant figure in armour that could be identified with one of the last Spanish Habsburgs such as Philip IV or Charles II. The appropriate occasion on which to display this ephemera would be any dynastic celebration such as a royal wedding, obsequies, the birth of an infante, a military victory or a royal birthday.
12.1 Gaetano Lazzari, Festive Display for a Spanish king (in Palermo?) Copyright © Società Napoletana di Storia Patria
In Naples during the second half of the seventeenth century, there were many images of kings represented in different kinds of festivals (such as the image presented in Figure 12.1). Many of these festivals were religious and used an image of the king that had been enriched with allegorical detail, extolling royal piety.17 Although such detail was usually avoided in the severe ‘official portraits’ of the Habsburgs, whose model of graphic representation was codified in the mid-sixteenth century,18 allegories of the monarch as a triumphant defender of the Catholic Church are usually present in the decorations for occasions of worship protected by the crown (such as those celebrating the Trinity, the Eucharist and the Immaculate Conception).19 In Naples, the procession organized by the Spanish brotherhood of the Holy Eucharist for the ottava of Corpus Christi (that is, the procession held eight days after Corpus Christi, also known as Quattro Altari, or the Four Altars procession) was funded directly by the King of Spain and presented a perfect occasion for displaying images of the king as a defender of the Church.20 For example, in the Quattro Altari procession of 1660, the king was represented using the strength of the Holy Eucharist to help the Dominican St Thomas Aquinas fight against heresy:
The Holy Eucharist, shining two beams of light, one on the head of St Thomas Aquinas and another on the head of our Catholic King, and St Thomas floating in the air, but below the Holy Eucharist, shot arrows and killed seven monsters, while the King of Spain with a sword in his hands, cast out an army of heretics.21
In the Quattro Altari procession the following year (1661), the altar decorated by the order of Theatins depicted King Philip IV and his illegitimate son, Juan José de Austria (responsible for suppressing the Neapolitan revolt), kneeling before a cup with a golden tower of David inside, surrounded by four pyramids ‘for the four heroes of Spain (Charles V, Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV), showing thus the great devotion of this Royal House of Austria to the Holy Eucharist’.22 Such dynastic piety was highlighted even further in the mid-seventeenth century while the Spanish court was waiting for a male heir after the wedding of Philip IV to his niece, Marianna of Austria (1649). In this context, the birth of every infante was seen as a ‘providential gift of God’. Following the model of Titian’s Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto which presented the king as an instrument of divine providence, many scenes in the decorations of religious feasts during this period depicted Philip IV offering the infante to God, or receiving him either by divine intercession or from the saint the feast celebrated.23
Over the years Philip IV’s heir, Charles II, was represented following his father in defence of Catholicism, as can be seen in one altar erected for the Quattro Altari procession in 1665:
A green, finely designed scene, with silver and gilded decorations, in the midst of which there was an astonishing mountainous prospect that on top had a sphere surrounded by the sun, gazed upon by an eagle that held in its claws an eaglet to lift and place him on top of those mountains, and to teach him to stare at the beauty of that bright sun. [In the lower part of the scene,] the same was being done by a Spanish eagle, Philip IV, who kneeling, was teaching his young prince to be uplifted and fix his gaze upon the real sun that [is] in that celestial sphere, the Eucharist, whose bright beams shine on the believers and give them mercies and favours.24
The image of the eagle regaining strength by staring at the sun follows the iconography of an empresa moral by Juan de Borja (1581) and has great symbolic power.25 In fact, the Neapolitan author Giulio Cesare Capaccio, who collaborated a great deal in the creation of the iconographic programmes of festivals during the first half of the seventeenth century,26 stated in his book Delle imprese (1592) that the principal property of the eagle was ‘demonstrating the prosperity that comes from the heavens’.27 Moreover, according to a long tradition dating back to Aristotle and embraced by medieval bestiaries, eagles recognize and raise as legitimate children only those offspring that are able to look into the sun without closing their eyes.28 On the altar of the Quattro Altari procession of 1665 (erected several months before the death of Philip IV in September 1665), the image of the eagle staring into the sun was again used to represent the renewal of the royal family through the adoration of the Eucharist. The symbolism of the adult eagle and the eaglet was important for transmitting an image of the stability and solidity of the crown, and in ensuring its continuity after the imminent death of the king, who was then ill. In February 1666, the official Neapolitan Requiem Mass for the sovereign, which was declaimed by Cardinal Tomaso Acquaviva, used L’Aquila grande [The Great Eagle] as the title of the funeral oration. This is no coincidence, and demonstrates the inextricable link between religious sermons and festive decorations, which often disseminated the same allegorical images by different means.29
The Triumph of the King in the Catafalque
Philip IV’s royal obsequies constituted the apotheosis of his image. For almost a year after the king’s death (between 1665 and 1666) Naples celebrated many funeral ceremonies in which the ruler was glorified as a Christian hero. These were promoted by groups and city institutions such as the Spanish community in Naples; the seggio del Popolo; different religious communities that had connections with the Crown (such as the Jesuits or the Discalced Carmelites); and charitable institutions (such as Monte dei Poveri and Santa Casa dell’Annunziata).30 On these occasions, all the walls of the churches (including the external façades) were covered with black and purple cloths as a sign of mourning. Without doubt the most important and expensive funeral was that provided by the viceregal court in February 1666, which was officiated in the Royal Church of Santa Chiara. The ephemera displayed throughout this monumental Gothic church (including the courtyard, the façade and the entire interior) promoted an astrological and encomiastic discourse, and contributed to the transmission of one symbolic message: the triumph of the sovereign. The decorative programme created an image of Philip IV ascending to heaven because of his religious virtues, where he became a new constellation, following the topos of heroes in classical mythology.31 This symbolism was shared with Philip IV’s predecessors in the Habsburg line, represented by 60 medallions placed in the nave of the church.
The new constellation of Philip IV was represented in the enormous catafalque erected in the middle of the transept of the church. The catafalque was designed by Francesco Antonio Picchiatti, the royal engineer since 1656, who worked as a festive architect exclusively for the ceremonies staged by the viceregal court.32 As can be seen in the reproduction created by Picchiatti himself (Figure 12.2), the constellation of the king was formed by 16 stars placed on the heads of female figures representing the kingdoms of the Spanish monarchy. Each kingdom was also present through its arms and the personification of one its rivers. On the lower part of the catafalque, these 16 rivers were ‘weeping’ at the death of the king.33 Personifications of the king’s virtues appear in the second order of the monument, while in the highest part of the catafalque are the beatitudes that signify the apotheosis of the monarch after his death.
12.2 Francesco Antonio Picchiatti (del.), Catafalque for the royal obsequies of King Philip IV in Naples Source: Marcello Marciano, Pompe funebri dell’Universo nella morte di Filippo IV, il grande monarca delle Spagne (Naples, 1666). Copyright © Biblioteca Nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, Naples.
The figure of Philip IV was prominent in the midst of the catafalque (Figure 12.2). He was represented as a bronze statue in command of troops (an authentic imperial refiguration). This statue is reminiscent of the statue that the Viceroy Cardinal Pascual of Aragon (who ruled the kingdom of Naples in 1666) wanted to erect in the courtyard of the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome when he was the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See (1662–1664).34
In accordance with the engraving, the catafalque and the decorations at the royal obsequies of Philip IV differed greatly from Picchiatti’s usual austere style (which can be observed in the Convent of Sant’Antonio at Port’Alba or in the staircase of the Palazzo Reale). The style Picchiatti used for the catafalque and decorations on this occasion presented profuse ornamentation closer to the more vivacious Baroque style that is typical of the most famous Neapolitan artist of the time, Cosimo Fanzago.35 Fanzago was the creative genius par excellence of the Neapolitan Baroque, his maestry would bring him to a series of collaborations with Neapolitan and non-Neapolitan marble workers, sculptors, quadraturisti and painters.36 His abilities made him particularly brilliant when applying his genius to the creation of the festival ephemeral art. Thus it is conceivable that Picchiatti was significantly influenced by the previous royal catafalque built by Fanzago in 1645 for Queen Isabel of Bourbon (1602–1644), the first wife of Philip IV.37 This catafalque was the first work made by Fanzago as royal engineer, a title bestowed upon him in January 1645, when he was already working on the catafalque of Isabel of Bourbon.38
The superbissimo mausoleo built for Isabel of Bourbon is known through a rare festival book kept at the British Library.39 According to the description in the book, Fanzago was fulfilling the orders of Marquis Francesco Crescenzi:
Marquis Francesco Crescenzi, brother of the Cardinal with the same surname, [the Marquis] was as fine a connoisseur of architecture as of [the art of] fortification. [He] did the design [that was] completed with much merit and diligence by the famous Architect and Engineer Cavalier Cosmo Fanzago, who decorated it with carefully designed ornaments.40
This is the only information on the artistic activity of Francesco Crescenzi in Naples. He died in Naples in 1648 following a poorly documented career as a painter and engraver.41 Francesco Crescenzi was the younger brother of Cardinal Pietro Paolo and Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, who was Philip IV of Spain’s architect from 1617, first at the Pantheon of El Escorial and later at the Palacio del Buen Retiro.42 Thanks to his brother’s extraordinary reputation in the court of Madrid, Francesco Crescenzi was commissioned to oversee one of the leading artists of the Neapolitan Baroque in building the catafalque. The innovative aspect of the catafalque for Isabel of Bourbon was its external appearance: it was made completely of carved wood: ‘completely of carved wood without any painting’.43 This overturned the general practice for the design of festive scenographies; these were usually created by painting on architectural and sculptural decorations, which required a great deal of collaboration between artists in different fields.44
Collaboration Between Artists
In the 1666 funeral decorations for Philip IV, the ultimate triumph of the king was stated through a prominent equestrian portrait placed close to the door of the court of Santa Chiara. The portrait was executed by the painter Luca Giordano, along with the older and more experienced painter Domenico Gargiulo, also known as Micco Spadaro. Gargiulo’s participation in the ephemera is documented by Marciano, as well as by the existence of sketches (housed in several museums and collections) for the main parts of the ephemeral façade of the church and the catafalque.45 The scenographer Bartolomeo delle Chiavi also contributed to this system of decorations by covering the entire structure of the catafalque with silver and metal leaf.46 The division of labour between the many artisans who put their hand to the work47 could be distinctly seen in other important festive works for merrier dynastic celebrations such as the festivals held in Naples in 1658 for the birth of the Infante Philip Prospero, the long-awaited first male heir born from the second marriage of Philip IV.48
The theatre that hosted the tournaments held in the spring of 1658 constitutes the first ephemeral work accomplished by Picchiatti for the viceregal court. It is known from an engraving by Nicolas Perrey contained in the festival book.49 This theatre was a functional structure made of simple components that could be disassembled and rebuilt for each new festive occasion. For example, it is believed that the theatre was rebuilt four years later for the birth of another infante, the future King Charles II of Spain.50 From the reports of this festival, by Cirino, Rubino and Rosella,51 the information provided by the avvisi, and the payment records of the Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli, some essential data can be gathered on the artists, the colours and the wealth of materials used in these Baroque creations.52 The entire theatre was painted by Onofrio de Marino and Giuseppe de Rosa, second-class artists and specialists in festive decorations, who collaborated on the decorations for many dynastic and religious ceremonies between the 1650s and 1670s. They worked under the guidance of Picchiatti for the theatre, and obeyed the instructions of the painter Giovanni Battista Magno (known as Modanino) for the decoration of the triumphal chariots of the four continents, in which the tournament participants made their entrance into the theatre.
Modanino had collaborated in the decoration of important Roman residences and, after 1651, he worked for 20 years between Rome and Naples.53 He was probably invited to work in Naples by a former Spanish ambassador in Rome, the Count of Oñate, who had commissioned Modanino to create a gilded decoration for the ceiling of the new theatre hall at the Royal Palace.54 These Istucchi finti posti in oro [fake gilded stuccos], praised in Celano’s guide to Naples, were also used by Modanino for the decoration of the Neapolitan Royal Chapel in 1656.55 Thus it is no surprise to encounter this painter working on the gilding of tournament chariots in 1658. His collaboration in the Neapolitan festivals in the middle of the seventeenth century provides further evidence of the desire of the viceroys to use the best resources and artists available in Naples in this period, during which symbolic representation of power was an important instrument of control of the kingdom.
The Printed Triumph
The Count of Oñate and the Count of Castrillo were responsible for the restoration of Spanish rule following the 1647–1648 revolution, and the festivals they promoted are described as presenting a shimmer of gilded decorations.56 The final artistic contributions to these festivals were executed by the engravers who illustrated the festival book to commemorate the festival. In the festival book by Cirino, four large plates depict the chariots of the continents in detail, although they show clear differences to the theatre engraved by Perrey, which is in the same book.57 In the plates depicting the chariot, the engraved line seems less sure than that of Perrey, and detailed observation reveals a significant technical difference: the chariot plates are etchings with drypoint, while the theatre is an engraving, a medium preferred by Perrey (Figures 12.3 and 12.4).
The identity of the engraver of the chariot plates is suggested by his signature on the axle of the chariot of Europe: ‘G.e Martinez, delineavit’. The few studies published on Neapolitan prints have not focused on this signature. However, the signature could refer to the Aragonese painter Jusepe Martínez, one of the few Golden Age artists who also practised engravings. Martínez learned the technique of engraving during his stay in Rome between 1622 and 1625, when he drew sketches for a series of prints on the life of St Peter Nolasco, commissioned by the Roman Mercedarians. In December 1625, Martínez visited Naples, along with the future Viceroy Fernando Afán de Ribera, III Duke of Alcalá.58 After his stay in Naples, Martínez returned to Spain and began a long career as a successful painter, occasionally creating engravings or designing sketches for etchings. However, the lack of documentation means that the creation of this commission remains a mystery which raises interesting questions about the creation and circulation of the reproductions between Naples and Spain. In neither place did there exist a prominent production of printed images in the early modern period. At present, one can only rule out Martínez’s presence in Naples at the time of the tournament (spring 1658), because certain documents published by González Hernández report him as being in Zaragoza in March and July of 1658, and again in July 1659.59 Even if Martínez had made a short trip to Naples between July 1658 and July 1659 (which seems rather unlikely), he would have created the drawings from descriptions, the memories of spectators, and possibly from sketches, which may have been produced by those who decorated the chariots.
12.3 Nicolas Perrey, Theatre for the tournaments to celebrate the birth of the Infante Felipe Prospero Source: Andrea Cirino, Feste celebrate in Napoli per la nascita del serenis.mo Prencipe di Spagna nostro signore dall’eccellentissimo signor Conte di Castriglio vicere, luogotenente, e capitan generale nel Regno di Napoli (Naples, 1659). Copyright © Biblioteca Nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, Naples.
Although the four plates follow the characteristics of chariots that are indicated by payment records and descriptions, their magnificence can be seen in the influence on the artist of a tradition of triumphal chariot engraving that dates back to Albrecht Dürer’s famous chariot for the Emperor Maximilian I.60 Dürer’s prints were well known in Spain. For this reason, recalling his prints would have been a useful way of recapturing the splendour of the Habsburg Royal House. This would have been especially relevant in Naples, where the 1658 festivals ordered by the Count of Castrillo played an important role in demonstrating to the people that order had been restored after the revolt and a long period of repression61 (Figure 12.4).
The representation of the Spanish monarchy in Naples during this period was the principal function of every viceregal ceremony. Techniques of festival representation brought to life the images of the monarchs allowing their subjects to experience the pageantry of an authentic Royal Court, despite the physical absence of the monarchy. The Spanish monarchy was imbued with the divine status associated with absolute benevolence through the imagery of festive decorations, as a means to ensure their subjects’ veneration and loyalty. The collaboration and competition between the numerous artists that participated in the creation of decorations for these festivities elevated the splendour of their creations and magnified the monarchy’s message to its subjects. In addition, the artists’ movement and political and artistic connections between Spain and Naples discussed in this chapter increased the ties between the court of Madrid and that of Naples, allowing for the creation of a common lexicon between the centre and the periphery, expressed through the symbolism of the festive decorations.62
12.4 G. Martinez (del.), Chariot of Europe Source: Andrea Cirino, Feste celebrate in Napoli per la nascita del serenis.mo Prencipe di Spagna nostro signore dall’eccellentissimo signor Conte di Castriglio vicere, luogotenente, e capitan generale nel Regno di Napoli (Naples, 1659). Copyright © Biblioteca Nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, Naples.
Notes
1 P. Skippon, An account of a Journey made thro’ part of the Low-Countries, Germany, Italy and France, in A Collection of Voyages and Travels, some now first printed from original manuscripts. Others translated out of foreign languages, and now first publish’d in English (London, 1746), p. 610.
2 The avvisi, which are contained in missives of the apostolic nuncios (today in the Secret Archives of the Vatican, Segreteria di Stato, Napoli) or in missives of the residents of Florence or Modena (preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Mediceo del Principato and in the Archivio di Stato di Modena, Avvisi e notizie dall’estero, respectively), have been used extensively as sources for Neapolitan festivals since the work of Lorenzo Bianconi and Thomas Walker on the company of musicians, the Febi Armonici: L. Bianconi, T. Walker, ‘Dalla Finta pazza alla Veremonda: storie di Febi Armonici’, Rivista italiana di Musicologia, X (1975), pp. 379–454. The principal printed chronicles from seventeenth-century Naples are the giornali of Zazzera (1616–1620), the diurnali of Scipione Guerra and their aggiunte by Ferrante Bucca D’Aragona (1629–1637), the annali of Capecelatro (1631–1640), and the giornali of Fuidoro (1647–1653 and 1660–1680), Confuorto (1679–1699) and Bulifon (1547–1706). F. Zazzera, ‘Narrazioni tratte da’ Giornali del Governo di Don Pietro Girone Duca d’Ossuna, Viceré di Napoli’, in F. Palermo (ed.), ‘Narrazioni e documenti sulla Storia del Regno di Napoli dall’anno 1522 al 1667’, Archivio storico italiano, IX (1846), pp. 471–617; F. Capecelatro, Degli annali della città di Napoli (2 vols, Naples, 1849); G. De Montemayor, I diurnali di Scipione Guerra (Naples, 1891); G. De Montemayor (ed.), ‘Aggiunta alli diurnali di Scipione Guerra di Ferrante Bucca d’Aragona’, Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, XXXVI (1911), pp. 124–205, 329–82, 507–580, 751–97; XXXVII (1912), pp. 120–45, 272–312; D. Confuorto, Giornali di Napoli dal 1679 al 1699 (Naples, 1930); A. Bulifon, Giornali di Napoli dal MDXLVII al MDCCVI (2 vols, Naples, 1932); I. Fuidoro (V. D’Onofrio), Successi del Governo del Conte d’Onate (1648–1653) (Naples, 1932); Idem, Giornali di Napoli (1660–1680) (4 vols, Naples, 1934–1947); Idem, Successi historici raccolti dalla sollevatione di Napoli dell’anno 1647 (Milan, 1994).
3 I dedicated my PhD thesis (‘Feste e produzione artistica nella Napoli barocca attraverso la Notitia di Andrea Rubino (1648–1669)’); Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, March 2010) to this chronicle, which is conserved in the Biblioteca de la Società napoletana di Storia Patria (BSNSP, ms. XXIII D 14–17). The chronicle comprises four volumes. The first presents announcements from 1648 to 1657 (from now referred to as ‘Rubino I’), the second from 1658 to 1661 (from now referred to as ‘Rubino II’), the third from 1662 to 1666 (from now referred to as ‘Rubino III’), and the third from 1667 to 1669 (from now referred to as ‘Rubino IV’).
4 Earlier versions of the present chapter were written before a number of contributions began to appear in print, see G. Guarino, Representing the King’s Splendour: Communication and Reception of Symbolic Forms of Power in Viceregal Naples (Manchester, 2010); J. A. Marino, Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen Culture in Baroque Naples (Baltimore, 2011); M. Rak, A dismisura d’uomo: la festa barocca a Napoli (Palermo, 2013); G. Galasso, J. L. Colomer, V. Quirante (eds), Fiesta y ceremonia en la corte virreinal de Nápoles (siglos XVI y XVII) (Madrid, 2013); V. Mínguez, P. González Tornel, J. Chiva, I. Rodríguez Moya, La fiesta barroca. Los reinos de Nápoles y Sicilia (1535–1713) (Castellón de la Plana, 2014).
5 This hypothesis is also proposed in S. De Cavi, ‘Ephemera del vicerè VI conte di Lemos (1599–1601)’, in J. L. Colomer (ed.), España y Nápoles. Coleccionismo y mecenazgo virreinales en el siglo XVII (Madrid, 2009), pp. 149–73. On the limitations of the artistic patronage of the viceroys, see F. Haskell, ‘The patronage of painting in seicento Naples’, in C. Whitfield, Painting in Naples: 1606–1705. From Caravaggio to Giordano (London, 1982), pp. 60–64.
6 On these themes, see the work of D. Carrió-Invernizzi, El gobierno de las imágenes. Ceremonial y mecenazgo en la Italia española de la segunda mitad del siglo XVII (Madrid, Frankfurt am Main, 2008).
7 On the transmission and reception of messages through public ceremonies in Naples, see Guarino, Representing.
8 For a classical interpretation of the symbolic features of riot, see P. Burke, ‘The Virgin of the Carmine and the revolt of Masaniello’, Past & Present, 99 (1983), pp. 5–20.
9 E. González Asenjo, Don Juan de Austria y las artes (1629–1679) (Madrid, 2005), p. 93, note 48 (quoting from Vita di don Giovanni d’Austria by Gregorio Leti): ‘sotto il baldacchino dalle finestre, sottoponendovi le armi del popolo’ and ‘Viva il re, muoia il malgoverno’. On the meaning of this slogan in Naples during the first half of the seventeenth century, see Guarino, Representing, pp. 34–5. During the cavalcade with the Viceroy Duke of Arcos and Masaniello of 13 July 1647 ‘si vedevano … li ritratti di Carlo V Imperatore et del Re Filippo IV et talvolta in un istesso dossello ambidue’ [we could see … the portraits of Emperor Charles V and King Philip IV, and sometimes both portraits, below the same canopy], Fuidoro, Successi historici raccolti dalla sollevatione di Napoli, p. 59. According to Fuidoro, many portraits were displayed thus until October 1647 (ibid, p. 227). In front of the figure of the king, the citizens knelt in a public act of loyalty. This demonstrates that the purpose of the first phase of the revolt was not against Spanish power, but against the government that ruled Naples and imposed taxes.
10 On the use of images of kings from the Spanish monarchy (sixteenth to seventeenth century), see the studies by Diane Bodart, D. Bodart, ‘Le Portrait royal sous le dais, polysémie d’un dispositif de représentation dans l’Espagne et dans l’Italie du XVIIe siècle’, in J. L. Colomer (ed.), Arte y diplomacia de la monarquía hispánica en el siglo XVII (Madrid, 2003), pp. 89–111.
11 T. Megale, ‘Sic per te superis gens inimica ruat: l’ingresso trionfale di Carlo V a Napoli (1535)’, Archivio Storico per le Province napoletane, CXIX (2001), pp. 587–610; C. J. Hernando Sánchez, ‘El virrey Pedro de Toledo y la entrada de Carlos V en Nápoles’, Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea, VII (1987), pp. 7–16; C. J. Hernando Sánchez, ‘El Glorioso Triumfo de Carlos V en Napoles y el umanesimo de corte entre Italia y España’, Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, CXIX (2001), pp. 492–504. In the seventeenth century, the scene of the Emperor’s entry into Naples was painted by Belisario Corenzio on the walls of a public place within the city: the Seggio di Nilo, a meeting place of a noble faction from the Nilo district: Carlo Celano and G. Battista Chiarini, Notizie del bello, dell’antico e del curioso della città di Napoli (5 vols, Naples, 2000), vol. 3, pp. 626–7.
12 A. Musi, La rivolta di Masaniello nella scena politica barocca (Naples, 2002), p. 130.
13 Rubino II, fols 225–6.
14 On the difference between representation of the kings’ and viceroys’ authority, see G. Guarino, Representing.
15 For the presence of royal images in the Neapolitan court and the discourse of royal legitimacy between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, see S. De Cavi, Architecture and Royal Presence. Domenico and Giulio Cesare Fontana in Spanish Naples (1592–1627) (Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2009), pp. 85–132.
16 See Capolavori in festa. Effimero barocco a Largo di Palazzo (1683–1759) (Naples, 1997), pp. 213–14; F. Mancini, Feste ed apparati civili e religiosi in Napoli dal viceregno alla capitale (Naples, 1968), p. 33. The engraving has been linked to the Neapolitan context by the name of its author, Gaetano Lazzari, who can be connected with a family of artists from Tuscany who were working in Naples in the seventeenth century.
17 Titian’s work provided the main models for this kind of painting, for example, The Trinity in Glory (1552–1554) for Charles V, in which the Emperor is depicted at the head of the royal family in contemplation of heavenly glory. For a recent interpretation of this painting, see G. Finaldi, ‘La “Gloria” de Tiziano’, in Tiziano y el legado veneciano (Madrid, 2005), pp. 115–25. For Titian’s Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto (1572), a painting that depicts the authority of the cattolicissimo [most Catholic] Spanish king as an instrument of divine providence, see M. Falomir Faus, ‘Tiziano. Alegoría, política, religión’, in José Álvarez Lopera (ed.) Tiziano y el legado veneciano (Madrid, 2005), pp. 149–71; F. Checa Cremades, Tiziano y la monarquía hispánica: usos y funciones de la pintura veneciana en España (siglos XVI y XVII) (Madrid, 1994).
18 A non-exhaustive brief bibliography on this topic includes J. Brown, ‘Enemies of flattery: Velázquez’s portraits of Philip IV’, in R. I. Rotberg, T. K. Rabb (eds), Art and History: Images and their Meaning (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 137–54; L. Ruíz Gómez, ‘Retratos de corte en la monarquía española (1530–1660)’, in J. Portús Pérez (ed.), El retrato español del Greco a Picasso (Madrid, 2004), pp. 92–109; M. Falomir Faus, ‘El retrato de corte’, in M. Falomir Faus (ed.), El retrato del Renacimiento (Madrid, 2008), pp. 109–123; D. Bodart, Pouvoirs du portrait sous les Habsbourg d’Espagne (Paris, 2011).
19 S. Schütze, ‘The politics of Counter-Reformation iconography and a quest for the Spanishness of Neapolitan art’, in T. Dandelet, J. A. Marino (eds), Spain in Italy: Politics, Society and Religion (1500–1700) (Boston-Leyden, 2007), pp. 555–68.
20 Each altar of this procession was decorated by a different religious order. On this feast, see R. Borrelli, Memorie storiche della chiesa di San Giacomo dei Nobili Spagnuoli e sue Dipendenze (Naples, 1903); R. Raimondi, Real Arciconfraternita e Monte del Santissimo Sacramento de’ Nobili Spagnoli (Naples, 1975); M. A. Visceglia, ‘Rituali religiosi e gerarchie politiche a Napoli in età moderna’, in P. Macry, A. Massafra (eds), Fra storia e storiografia. Scritti in onore di Pasquale Villani (Bologna, 1995), pp. 587–619; A. Antonelli, ‘La Festa dei Quattro Altari a Napoli’, Soprintendenza per i Beni Ambientali e Architettoni di Napoli e Provincia. Bollettino d’informazione, 1997–8 (2000), pp. 131–48.
21 Rubino II, fol. 220: ‘il Santissimo, che mandava due raggi, uno sù la testa di San Tomaso d’Aquino, et un altro sù la testa del nostro Rè Cattolico; et San Tomaso stando in aria, ma più sotto del Santissimo, scoccava saette, et atterrava sette mostri; et il Rè di Spagna con una spada nelle mani, fugava un essercito hereticale’.
22 Rubino II, fols 287–8. In 1662, there was an imperial eagle holding the cup and the Eucharist on the Jesuit altar (Rubino III, fol. 59): ‘per i quattro Heroi delle Spagne (Carlo V, Filippo II, Filippo III and Filippo IV) mostrandosi con questo la gran divotione di questa Casa d’Austria verso il gran Sacramento’.
23 As in the St Gaetano Feast in 1659 (Rubino II, fols 72, 82, 84–5).
24 Rubino III, fol. 320: ‘una montuosa, et straripevole prospettiva, che haveva in alto una sfera di rilievo, circondata dal Sole, et vagheggiata da un’Aquila volante, che frà gl’artigli teneva un suo Aquilotto, per sollevarlo, et collocarlo nell’altezza di quella montuosa prospettiva, et insieme instruirlo a vagheggiare la bellezza di quel luminoso sole; come à punto faceva l’altr’Aquila Hispana di Filippo IV, che pure di rilievo, ma prostrato à terra, insegnava al suo pargoletto Principino, di sollevar il pensiero, et fissare i sguardi à quel vero sole che in quella sfera celeste, et proprio nelle specie sacramentali con risplendenti, e chiari raggi da lume à fedeli et gl’influssi sempre gratie, et favori un verde Teatro, freggiato d’argenti, et oro, et col bel disegno architettato, in mezzo al quale campeggiava’.
25 J. de Borja, Empresas morales, C. Bravo Villasante (ed.) (Madrid, 1981), pp. 12–13.
26 As secretary of the seggio del Popolo, Capaccio was responsible for the decorative equipment for the processions of the eve of San Juan between 1613 and 1627. He describes these processions in rich detail: see G. C. Capaccio, Relatione dell’apparato fatto dal Popolo napoletano nella festività del glorioso San Giovan Battista (Napoli, 1614).
27 G. C. Capaccio, Delle Imprese (Naples, 1592), p. 91: ‘nel mostrar la prosperità che viene dal cielo’. See also the many emblems related to eagles that Capaccio describes in the following pages of this work (pp. 92–100).
28 X. R. Mariño Ferro, ‘El águila: símbolos y creencias’, Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, 39 (1991), pp. 313–26.
29 On this topic, see J. M. González de Zárate, ‘Fuentes literarias en los repertorios iconográficos de las arquitecturas efímeras’, Boletín de Arte, 25 (2004), pp. 27–66. It is important to note that the relationships between the symbolism used in religious sermons and that used in the decorations for Neapolitan festivities are yet to be fully explored.
30 For a study of these celebrations, see I. Mauro, ‘Suntuoso benche funesto. Gli apparati per le esequie di Filippo IV a Napoli (1665–1666)’, Napoli nobilissima, 9 (2008), pp. 113–30.
31 For a study of this discourse compared to others created for Spanish kings, see V. Mínguez Cornelles, Los Reyes Solares (Castellón, 2001).
32 A. Gambardella, Le opere di Francesco Antonio Picchiatti nelle chiese di Napoli (Naples, 2004); F. Marías, ‘Bartolomeo y Francesco Antonio Picchiatti, dos arquitectos al servicio de los virreyes de Nápoles: Las Agustinas de Salamanca y la escalera del palacio real’, Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte, 9–10 (1997–8), pp. 177–96.
33 Each kingdom was also represented by a flower and a precious stone, which were each selected so that their initials formed the acrostic ‘Philippus Quartus’. For a reading of the iconography of this catafalque, see V. Mínguez Cornelles, ‘Exequias de Felipe IV en Nápoles: la exaltación dinastica a través de un programa astrológico’, Ars Longa, 2 (1991), pp. 55–65.
34 The statue was created in 1691, but there are some drawings by Gianlorenzo Bernini relating to this monument that can be dated to the years of Pascual of Aragon’s embassy. See S. F. Ostrow, ‘Gianlorenzo Bernini, Girolamo Lucenti, and the Statue of Philip IV in S. Maria Maggiore: Patronage and Politics in Seicento Rome’, The Art Bulletin, LXXIII (1991), pp. 89–118; D. Carrió-Invernizzi, ‘La estatua de Felipe IV en Santa Maria Maggiore y la embajada romana de Pedro Antonio de Aragón (1664–1666)’, Roma moderna e contemporanea, XV (2007) (2008), 1/3, pp. 255–70.
35 On Fanzago, see P. D’Agostino, Cosimo Fanzago, scultore (Pozzuoli, 2011), as well as the classic work by G. Cantone, Napoli barocca e Cosimo Fanzago (Naples, 1984): ‘genio creativo per eccellenza della Napoli barocca, capace di concepire il concorso delle arti che per forza di cose lo porterà ad una serie di collaborazioni con marmorari, scultori, quadraturisti e pittori napoletani e non’.
36 L. Abetti, Urbanística, architettura e committenza a Napoli in età barocca (Roma, 2012), p. 209. This work also provides a reading of the contribution of Fanzago and Picchiatti to the lexicon of Neapolitan Baroque architecture. See also in this work, Abetti’s analysis of the catafalque of Philip IV at pp. 141–98.
37 Queen Isabel of Bourbon (1602–1644) is also known as Elisabeth of France.
38 F. Brauen, ‘Fanzago’s commission as royal chief engineer’, Storia dell’arte, 26/28 (1976), pp. 61–72; A. Fiadino, ‘Cosimo Fanzago Ingegnere maggiore del Regno di Napoli e la sua attività nel Palazzo Reale (1649–1653)’, Opus, 6 (1999), pp. 351–76.
39 Descrittione della pompa funerale, che si celebró nella Chiesa di Napoli per la morte di Donna Elisabetta Borbone, Reina di Spagna. Nella Real chiesa di Santa Chiara, nelli 20 di marzo 1645 (Naples, 1645).
40 Descrittione, pages unnumbered: ‘Signor marchese Francesco Crescenti fratello del Signor Cardinale, che fù di questo cognome, intendentissimo nell’Architettura, come della fortificatione, il quale nè formò il disegno, che fù eseguito dal valore, e diligenza del famoso Architetto, & Ingegniero Signor Cavaliero Cosmo Fanzago, che l’abellì con bene intesi ornamenti.’
41 He worked mostly in Rome and was the main source for his brother’s biography in the Vite by Giovanni Baglione: G. Baglione, Le vite de’ pittori scultori et architetti dal pontificato di Gregorio XIII fino a tutto quello d’Urbano VIII, Costanza Gradara Pesci (ed.) (2 vols, Bologna, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 364–7; L. Spezzaferro, ‘Crescenzi, Francesco’, Dizionario biografico degli Italiani (Rome, 1984), vol. 30, p. 636; G. del Val Moreno, ‘Giovanni Battista Crescenzi: problemas metodológicos en el análisis de su historiografía artística’, Anales de Historia del Arte, 3 (2010), pp. 351–63: p. 356.
42 G. del Val Moreno, ‘Giovanni Battista Crescenzi’; V. Tovar Martín, ‘Significación de Juan Bautista Crescencio en la arquitectura española del siglo XVII’, Archivo español de arte, 54 (1981), pp. 297–317.
43 Descrittione, pages unnumbered: ‘tutto di lavoro di ligname scorniciato senza fintione di pittura’.
44 The influence of the Queen’s catafalque on that of Philip IV’s is a mere hypothesis, as there is no graphic testimony of the catafalque of Isabel of Bourbon. Neither it is known whether the catafalque of 1645 was decorated with the portraits of the queen and king, and the painting of the coat of arms of the Royal House that the catafalque of Philip IV had. This possible replication of models would be significant for the analysis of the royal portraits in festive decorations that I suggest in the present chapter.
45 M. Marciano, Pompe funebri dell’Universo nella morte di Filippo IV, il grande monarca delle Spagne (Naples, 1666). Gargiulo’s drawings for this ceremony form part of his scarcely documented works during the last decade of his activity, see I. Mauro, ‘Suntuoso benche funesto’.
46 U. Prota-Giurleo, I teatri di Napoli nel secolo XVII, E. Bellucci, G. Mancini (ed.) (3 vols, Naples, 2002), vol. 1, pp. 220–21.
47 Rubino III, fol. 428: ‘moltitude degl’artefici, che stavano con la mano all’opra’.
48 This is one of the best documented of the Neapolitan Baroque festivals, see Mancini, Feste e apparati; L. Clare, ‘Un nacimiento principesco en el Madrid de los Austrias (1657): esbozo de una bibliografía’, in P. M. Cátedra García, M. L. López-Vidriero Abelló (eds), El libro antiguo español: actas del primer coloquio internacional (Salamanca, 1988), pp. 119–37; G. Cantone, ‘Il segno dell’Effimero nella Napoli del Seicento’, Annali del Barocco in Sicilia, 5 (1998), pp. 71–89; D. Fabris, ‘Musical festivals at a capital without a court: Spanish Naples from Charles V (1535) to Philip V (1702)’, in J. R. Mulryne, E. Goldring (eds), Court Festivals of the European Renaissance: Art, Politics and Performance (Aldershot, 2002), pp. 270–86; I. Mauro, ‘Pompe che sgombrarono gli orrori della passata peste et diedero lustro al presente secolo: le cerimonie per la nascita di Filippo Prospero e il rinnovo della tradizione equestre napoletana’, in G. Galasso, J. L. Colomer, V. Quirante (eds), Fiesta y ceremonia, pp. 355–84.
49 A. Cirino, Feste celebrate in Napoli per la nascita del serenis.mo Prencipe di Spagna nostro signore dall’eccellentissimo signor Conte di Castriglio vicere, luogotenente, e capitan generale nel Regno di Napoli (Naples, 1659).
50 In Rubino’s description in the chronicle, the 1662 theatre created for the birth of the infant Carlos was extremely similar to the theatre created for the tournament of 1658 (Rubino III, fols 73–74).
51 Besides the official report by Cirino published by the viceroyal court (Cirino, Feste celebrate in Napoli), some important information is offered by Rubino’s manuscripts (Rubino III, fols 7–58) and by an unpublished account: Sergio Seppelloni’s (alias Giuseppe Rosella) Partenope luminosa (Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli, Ms XIII D 39).
52 Archivio Storico dell’Istituto Banco di Napoli-Fondazione, Banco di San Giacomo, Giornale di cassa del 1658, mat. 244, pp. 618–19. Partita di 17 ducati e 2,10 tarì estinta il 19 luglio; Giornale di Cassa del 1658, matr. 245, p. 636. Partita di 50 ducati estinta l’8 luglio; Giornale di cassa del 1659, matr. 252, p. 12. Polizza di 36 ducati e 1.15 tarì estinta il 4 gennaio; Giornale di cassa del 1659, matr. 252, pp. 31–2. Polizza di 136 ducati estinta l’11 gennaio.
53 In Rome he worked at Palazzo Spada and Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona, E. Fumagalli, ‘Decorazione barocca tra Roma e Napoli: scambi di artisti e di modelli’, Paragone. Arte, 71 (2007), pp. 61–79.
54 See the information reported by Ulisse Prota-Giurleo in U. Prota-Giurleo, ‘Breve storia del Teatro di Corte e della musica a Napoli nei secoli XVII – XVIII’, Il teatro di Corte del Palazzo Reale di Napoli (Naples, 1952), pp. 17–146: p. 21; Prota-Giurleo, I teatri di Napoli, vol. 3, p. 14.
55 C. Celano, G. Battista Chiarini, Notizie del bello, vol. 4, p. 597; E. Fumagalli, Decorazione barocca, p. 65.
56 See, for example, Rubino I, fols 118–120; Rubino II, fols 7–58.
57 Cirino, Feste celebrate in Napoli. Apart from the five reproductions in this volume there is an antiporta with the four continents and an impressive portrait of the Viceroy, the Count of Castrillo.
58 M. E. Manrique Ara, Jusepe Martínez. Un pintor zaragozano en la Roma del Seicento (Zaragoza, 2000).
59 V. González Hernández, Jusepe Martínez (1600–1682) (Zaragoza, 1981), pp. 200–201.
60 Jusepe Martínez had a deep interest in Dürer’s engravings; see P. Silva Maroto, ‘Durero en España’, in J. M. Matilla (ed.), Durero. Obras maetras de la Albertina (Madrid, 2005), pp. 41–76.
61 See I. Mauro, ‘Pompe che sgombrarono’.
62 For information about the circulation of models between the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, see the interactive project Exchanging Views. The Viceroys of Naples and the Spanish Monarchy’s Image in the Baroque (www.ub.edu/enbach) and its catalogue, which is currently pending publication. This artistic exchange became even more evident upon the arrival of the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano in Madrid in 1692 as the principal artist of the royal residences of Carlos II. See M. Hermoso Cuesta, Lucas Jordán y la corte de Madrid, una década prodigiosa (Zaragoza, 2008).
* This work was undertaken within the context of a research project.