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The Portrait of Pope Leo IV in San Clemente, Rome: a Re-examination of the so-called ‘Square’ Nimbus, in Medieval Art*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

John Osborne
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Il ritratto di papa leone iv in san clemente, roma = un riesame del cosiddetto ‘nimbo quadrato’ nell' arte medievale

Un esame iconografico dell'uso nel primo medioevo del cosiddetto nimbo quadrato rivela che nell'ottavo e nono secolo detto motivo, che ha le sue origini in Egitto, veniva usato a Roma esclusivamente nel contesto di ritratti di personalità contemporanee.

Ciò implica ma non prova che la persona in questione fosse viva in quel periodo. L'inclusione di Papa Leone IV (847–855) nell'affresco dell'Ascensione nella cripta di San Clemente, Roma, è simile a quella di Papa Zaccaria (741–752) nella chiesa di S Maria Antiqua, con ciò nessuno dei due è ritratto del donatore. Entrambi possono essere considerati come indicazioni della rispettiva data di esecuzione del dipinto. La data esatta dell'Ascensione di San Clemente dà ad entrambi un punto fisso di riferimento per la datazione delle altre decorazioni nella cripta e un'utile guida sulla situazione artistica a Roma nella metà del nono secolo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 47 , November 1979 , pp. 58 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1979

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References

1 The inscription reads: SANCTISSIMVS DOM(inus) LEO Q(ua)RT(us) P(a)P(a) ROMANVS.

2 For a general discussion and catalogue of the use of this motif see Ladner, Gerhart, ‘The so-called Square Nimbus’, Mediaeval Studies 3 (1941), 15–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Leclercq, Henri, Dictionnaire d' Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie xii, 1 (Paris 1935), cols. 1303–12Google Scholar; and Wilpert, Joseph, Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis zum XIII. Jahrhundert (Freiburg im Breisgau 1917), 107–12Google Scholar.

3 Tea, Eva, La Basilica di Santa Maria Antiqua (Milan 1937–1945), 93Google Scholar; Bertelli, Carlo, La Madonna di Santa Maria in Trastevere (Rome 1961), 121 n. 119Google Scholar.

4 The inscription is now badly faded, but for transcriptions made soon after its discovery see Wilpert, J., ‘Appunti sulle pitture della chiesa di S. Maria Antiqua’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 14 (1905), 578–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar; or de Grüneisen, W., ‘Studj iconografici in Santa Maria Antiqua: I ritratti di papa Zaccaria e di Teodoto il primicerio’, Archivio della R. Società Romana di Storia Patria 29 (1906), 88–95Google Scholar.

5 E. Tea and C. Bertelli, v. supra note 3; also, Gray, Nicolette, ‘The Paleography of Latin Inscriptions in the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth centuries in Italy’, Papers of the British School at Rome 16 (1948), 38–162 esp. 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The death of Ambrose is recorded in the Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, (Paris 1955), i, 447Google Scholar. His remains were not returned to Rome until September 759, and his epitaph in Old St. Peter's is known from later copies, see Galletti, Pierluigi, Del Primicero della Santa Sede Apostolica (Rome 1776), 39–42Google Scholar.

6 For a transcription of the full text see Lestocquoy, J., ‘Administration de Rome et Diaconies du VIIe au IXe siècle’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 7 (1930), 261–98, esp. 280–1Google Scholar.

7 Bertolini, Ottorino, ‘Per la storia delle diaconie romane nell'alto medioevo sino alia fine del secolo VIII’, Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria 70 (1947), 1–145, esp. 25–8Google Scholar. For the 755 date see also Gondi, F. Grossi, ‘La ‘cripta confessionis’ del sec. VIII nella chiesa di S. Angelo in Pescheria’, Civiltà Cattolica (1920), iii, 524–32Google Scholar.

8 Grumel, V., Traité d'Etudes Byzantines. 1. La Chronologie (Paris 1958), 111–12Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., 125.

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11 Bertolini, O., Arch, della Soc. Rom. di Storia Patria 70 (1947), 27Google Scholar; also Liber Pontificalis i, 514 note 2Google Scholar.

12 Liber Pontificalis i, 486Google Scholar.

13 Bertelli, , Madonna di S. Maria in Trastevere, 59Google Scholar. The dating is accepted by Andaloro, Maria, ‘La datazione della tavola di S. Maria in Trastevere’, Rivista dell' Istituto Nazionale d' Archeologia e Storia dell' Arte N.S. 19–20 (1972–1973), 139–215, esp. 203 note 2Google Scholar; and also discussed by Matthiae, Guglielmo, Pittura Romana nel Medioevo, (Rome 1965), i, 181–2Google Scholar.

14 For the equality of the titles see Galletti, , Primicero della Santa Sede Apostolica, 8Google Scholar.

15 This distinction has been correctly observed by Ladner, G., I Ritratti dei Papi nell' Antichità e nel Medioevo, (Vatican City 1941), i, 105 note 2Google Scholar; see also Bertolini, O., Arch, della Soc. Rom. di Storia Patria 70 (1947), 27–8Google Scholar.

16 Galletti, , Primicero, 150–1Google Scholar.

17 Bertolini's study of the titles of ‘primicerius defensorum’ and ‘dispensator’ concludes that neither was restricted only to members of the clergy, see Bertolini, 29, 35.

18 Ibid., 28.

19 Silvagni, Angelo, Monumenta Epigraphica Christiana, i (Vatican City 1943), tab. xxxvii, nos. 4 and 5Google Scholar. The complete text of the inscription is published by Lestocquoy, , Riv. di Arch. Crist. 7 (1930), 277–9Google Scholar. Although undated, it is generally ascribed to the mid-eighth century, see Gray, N., PBSR 16 (1948), 55Google Scholar.

20 For the former possibility see Bertolini, 28; for the latter see Ladner, , Ritratti, 105 note 2Google Scholar.

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23 Liber pontificalis ii, 55Google Scholar.

24 The complete text is recorded by Duchesne, ibid., ii, 64.

25 For parallels to the mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna see Baldracco, E., ‘Note sull' Oratorio de S. Zenone’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 20 (1942), 185–210Google Scholar.

26 The inscription is dated to the tenth indiction (line 9), which in Paschal's reign can correspond only to the year 817.

27 Marucchi, O., Basiliques et Eglises de Rome, (Paris 1902), 332Google Scholar.

28 Nilgen, Ursula, ‘Die grosse Reliquieninschrift von Santa Prassede. Eine quellen kritische Untersuchung zur Zeno-Kapelle’, Römische Quartalschrift 69 (1974), 7–29Google Scholar. Silvagni, , Mon. Epig. Chr., i, tab. xxix, no. 1Google Scholar, had also considered it as a copy.

29 Ladner, Medieval Studies 3 (1941)Google Scholar, catalogue entries 34–6, 38–9, 43–8.

30 The description of Jacopo Grimaldi is preserved in the Vatican Library, cod. Barb. lat. 2733, fol. 106: ‘… praeter Liberium habentem quadrum diadema’.

31 Wilpert, Joseph, ‘Le Nimbe Carré. A propos d'une momie peinte du Musée Egyptien au Vatican’, Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire 26 (1906), 3–13, esp. 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 See Wilpert, , ‘Le Nimbe Carré’, 3–13Google Scholar, and ‘Beiträge zur Christlichen Archäologie: vi. Zum quadratischen Nimbus’, Römische Quartalschrift 21 (1907), 93–107Google Scholar; de Grüneisen, W., ‘Intorno all' antico uso egiziano di raffigurare i defunti collocati avanti al loro sepolcro’, Archivio della R. Società Romana di Storia Patria 29 (1906), 229–39, 534–8Google Scholar, and Le Portrait, (Rome 1911), 80–95Google Scholar.

33 Forsyth, George and Weitzmann, Kurt, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: the Church and Fortress of Justinian, (Ann Arbor 1973), plates cxx and cxxiGoogle Scholar. The mosaic has not previously been included in the discussions of the square ‘halo’ although the use of the motif here has been signalled by Beneševič, V., ‘Sur la date de la mosaique de la Transfiguration au Mont Sinai’, Byzantion 1 (1924), 145–72Google Scholar, esp. 163–4.

34 Ladner, , Medieval Studies 3 (1941), 19Google Scholar.

35 Cardinal Nicholas de Nonancour died on 23 September 1299. His sermon is preserved in the Vatican Library, cod. Borg. 140, see Maier, A., ‘Due documenti nuovi relativi alla lotta dei cardinali Colonna contro Bonifazio VII’, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia 3 (1949), 344–64Google Scholar, esp. 356–7; and more recently Gardner, Julian, ‘S. Paolo fuori le mura, Nicholas III and Pietro Cavallini’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 34 (1971), 240–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 242 note 12. I am indebted to Prof. Gardner for drawing my attention to these references.

36 Ladner, , Medieval Studies 3 (1941), 43Google Scholar.

37 John the Deacon, S. Gregorii Magni Vita, iv, 84Google Scholar (Migne, , Patrologia Latina 75, col. 231Google Scholar).

38 Ladner, , Medieval Studies 3 (1941), 36–7Google Scholar, esp. notes 136 and 137.

39 It is possible that the donor with the square ‘halo’ on the icon from S. Maria in Trastevere is also John VII, see Bertelli, , Madonna di S. Maria in Trastevere, 63Google Scholar. However, there is reason to believe that it may have been a later addition, see Andaloro, , Riv. dell' Ist. Naz. d'Arch, e Stor. dell' Arte (1972–1973), 151Google Scholar, and Urbani, Giovanni, ‘Le condizioni del dipinto ed i provvedimenti adottati’ in ‘Il restauro della Madonna della Clemenza’, Bollettino dell' Istituto Centrale del Restauro (1964), 15–24Google Scholar. Thus, much depends on the dating of the original panel.

40 Ladner, , Medieval Studies 3 (1941)Google Scholar, catalogue entries 3–13. To these should be added the square ‘haloes’ on the donors in a painting discovered in S. Adriano in the Roman forum, see Bartoli, Alfonso, Curia Senatus. Lo scavo e il restauro, (Rome 1963), 74Google Scholar.

41 Ladner, , Ritratti, i, 148–50Google Scholar for discussion.

42 The distinction between Leo pope and Leo presbyter has been correctly observed only by Garrucci, Raffaele, Storia della Arte Cristiana, (Prato 1876), iii, 85Google Scholar; Wilpert, , Röm. Mos. Mal., 527Google Scholar; and Ladner, , Ritratti, i, 147Google Scholar.

43 Ciaconio, Alphonso, Vitae et Res Gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S.R.E. Cardinalium, (Rome 1677), i, 625Google Scholar.

44 Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi, xii, (Berlin 1894), 411–12Google Scholar.