Die Galleria delle Carte Geografiche im Vatikan: Eine ikonologische Betrachtung des Gewolbeprogramms. - book reviews

But these publications are of interest not only to the small club of art historians devoted to the late 16th century. The whole idea of publishing this monument has larger intellectual purchase, particularly in the current scholarly climate. These books, in short, open a window on a world that is not the usual canonical one. The gallery, planned and painted by little-known artists, is a vast and important but misunderstood project from a period usually disdained in art history, the Counter-Reformation. For the first time, thanks to Gambi and Pinelli, one can actually appreciate the contributions of the artists as well as begin to see a possibility for attributing a body of work to these forgotten masters. Comparing the perspectives of many authors provides the potential to regard the material in multiple ways, in itself a praiseworthy goal to many scholars who question the validity of a single interpretive position. (I must quickly acknowledge, however, that the authors, including Schutte, share basically the same methodology, so that differences of opinion tend to be about the intentions of the makers or concern the interpretation of the patron or contemporary viewers.)

Apart from the contribution that the invaluable identification of many unknown figures and the discussion of the individual meaning of obscure historical scenes and maps provide, many stimulating ideas emerge from both publications. The ones I found most absorbing were those that suggested how the assertion of absolute power, which dominated many Counter-Reformation papal programs just as the pontiffs' direct political force waned, was constructed through imaginative visual means. Milanesi discusses the implications of the fact that this is the first map cycle depicting Italy, instead of the world or, conversely, a single territory. A recollection of ancient definitions of the political body of Italy that was revived in the Renaissance, this focus in a papal program, reinforced by paired maps of identical regions representing "Italia antiqua" and "Italia nova" on the gallery's walls, stresses the wish of the Gregorian pontificate to claim ancient imperial prerogatives for itself. The book by Schutte and both essays by Pinelli demonstrate that Counter-Reformation themes that become commonplaces in Baroque imagery were crafted here: the centrality of salvation and the sacraments, the mission of the Church that was introduced by the Apostles and carried out by subsequent followers of Christ. They clarify fundamental themes of Gregory's papacy in particular, such as the insistence of papal primacy over temporal leaders and Constantine's pivotal role in that assertion, and the miraculous assistance of God in times of trouble to demonstrate faith and to grant primacy to the Church and to the pope.