CHAPTER III.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONCLAVE.1

THE Church of St. Peter, the Vatican, and the piazza which extends at the foot of these celebrated monuments, were not then what they are now-a-days. To the north-east, and towards the Porta Angelica, two little archways and a group of houses of mean appearance, in one of which Raphael died, occupied the ground upon which was built, in the succeeding century, one of the two splendid colonnades of Bernini, and where already the Palace of Rusticucci (Accoramboni) was being built, just at the end of the Borgo Nuovo. The Obelisk of Heliopolis, which was then called the Needle, still standing, to the right of the Basilica, but partly buried in the ruins of Nero's Circus, was waiting the call of Sixtus V. to throw off the dust which had covered it for fifteen centuries, and to take up its place in the centre of the piazza. Broad steps, at each extremity of which were statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, led to a building of the fourth century, which had three gates of old Roman' style, and in its upper part three doublearched windows. It still bore traces of mosaics, and on the side of the Vatican was next to a fine building of

1 From the correspondence of those who took part in its deliberations, and whose authority cannot on that account be questioned. 2 Near the sacristy of Pius VI.

CHAP. III.] THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER.

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Paul II. called the Paradise Garden, because in its inclosure, which was full of trees, pilgrims were wont to find what they most appreciated-water and shade. The front of this delightful Paradise was formed of three superposed colonnades, which exactly imitated the Venetian Palace built under the same Pope and by the same architect, Giulano da Majano. Towards the south-west, a small two-storied palace with three windows on each story, united the southern front of the building to a fine Florentine monument of Pius II., which consisted of two superposed arches at right angles with the old Saxon quarter, a little before the spot where now-a-days the south side of the Bernini Colonnade is joined to the church. On entering the court through one of the three gates of the central edifice, the visitor found himself before the golden basilica, which struck him by its simple magnificence, and by its character, which still bore all the marks of the early Christian ages. An archway, as broad as the church itself, led up to it. The front was ornamented with five windows on the first story and three on the upper one, each one arched and trefoiled together with a rosace' in the centre. Behind and above this venerable edifice, which had seen Christianity ascend the throne and take official possession of the world, rose other wonders, in fulfilment of Michael Angelo's promise, which constituted the triumph of art in the service of faith. These wonders were the gallery, which remind us of the Pantheon, and which, built at a prodigious height above the Tombs of the Apostles, still awaited the gigantic cupola which was to crown it, and which

it was to receive from Sixtus V. In the court-yard, a dais, supported by antique columns, overhung the well of the holy Pope Symmachus. A massive construction of Paul II., with guelf windows, also a copy of the façade of the Venetian Palace, encircled the yard on the north-east side. The house opposite, which was of the same architectural build, was the habitation of the cardinal archpriest of St. Peter.

In the interior of the basilica, much progress had been made in its transformation, first under the personal direction of Michael Angelo, and after his death from his drawings, which were faithfully copied. Paul V., struck by a witty rather than a wise saying,1 was the first to give up the plans of the great master, and to substitute Carlo Maderno, who was rather a great mason than a great architect. He was also the first to replace the Greek by the Latin Cross, and in order to effect this, to pull down, with the Well of Symmachus, the front and Archway of Constantine, and altogether to do away with these buildings, which history and the piety of centuries had made sacred. Upon this now spare ground were to be built the new arcade, the first half of the great nave, and the façade which we now see.

Though the works had almost never been interrupted, since their commencement under Julius II. up to the time when Alexander VII. consecrated the new church, divine service was always performed; but no generation, during these hundred and twenty years, ever saw the church otherwise than divided into compartments by immense curtains, and filled with workmen and

1 The head of the Latin Church cannot countenance a Greek cross.'

CHAP. III.]

THE VATICAN.

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scaffolding. Proud to become some day the possessor of the great marvel of modern art and of the Christian world, Rome, with her religious, sarcastic, patient character-patient indeed because she could measure the future by her past which is lost in immensity-watched with sympathising curiosity these works which were ever progressing without coming to an end, controlled them by her always clever and sometimes sarcastic criticisms, and became little by little accustomed to appreciate each pontificate according to the progress which St. Peter's had made in its construction during their respective reigns.

The Vatican is composed of two palaces. The old, called the Belvedere, had since the middle of the century, that is since the death of Julius III., ceased to be the habitation of the Popes. On their return from Avignon they had restored it. Innocent VIII. especially had done a great deal to it. The apartment which he occupied preserved his name till the end of the last century, when it was converted into the Pio-Clementino Museum. It consisted of a big room, now called the Animals' Room, and of a series of passage-rooms or antechambers, in which sat the people of distinction. These rooms, knocked into one long gallery, are now called Cleopatra's Corridors. The next room, that of the statues, is the old bed-room of the Popes; and the last room was the confidential servant's room. The chapel wherein the Popes used to say mass is now the ‘Sala del Torso.' That celebrated antique occupies the centre of the room, and Scipio's sarcophagus the spot whereon the altar stood. The arms of the Cibo, which are still visible in the centre of the ceiling, and a few

frescoes of the reign of Pope Julius III., recall the primitive destination of the room. The wonderful view of the Eternal City from the balcony of the old chapel has caused that part of the Vatican to be justly called the Belvedere. The small and pretty court which was rebuilt by Bramante, and, with very few changes, has been preserved as it was, contained in the reign of Julius II. a number of valuable statues. He had conceived the idea of collecting and saving the masterpieces of antiquity, and thus laid the foundation, to which not much was added during three centuries, of that which became afterwards absolutely the richest and most valuable collection of antiquities in the world.

These were almost suddenly collected under Clement XIV. and Pius VI. through the intelligence, activity, and good luck of a remarkable man. The Genoese Giovanni Battista Visconti was the founder of that family of archæologists who have been so well known. and appreciated by all who have visited Rome for the last hundred years. A friend of Winkelmann, he had offered to get up in Rome a finer museum of antiques than anything of the kind in other capitals, even in Naples, which was then, since the recent discovery of the ruins of Pompeii, the rendezvous of all the artists and learned of Europe. With the aid of the munificence of Popes Ganganelli and Braschi, Visconti formed the Pio Clementino Museum. He turned the old palace into a gallery, and caused, alas! the frescoes of Pinturichio, Mantegna, and Giovanni Udine to be removed. Arts, sciences, and humanity, which all gain by the contemplation of the beautiful, are deeply indebted to