It is the Baroque festival, the great theater of arts and fiction, with ephemeral displays that simulate mountains and hide the facades of churches and palaces; processions that wind their way through the folds of the ancient city and gather acclaim and applause on an open scene. With songs and litanies, masks in carriages and Berber horses running wildly along the Corso during the Carnival.
But to spread the images of those jubilation of crowds and colors, to amplify their sound and prayers over the centuries, chalcographic prints were produced, such as newspaper sheets or illustrated chronicles in important editions, worthy of the events that were going to be immortalized.
And those black and white prints didn't take anything away from the richness of the tones of the party or its clamor, because all the euphoria of the party flowed in the smallest detail engraved by the artist, in the black groove carved into the plate and inked with art. one found the spirit of the place and of the events; perhaps even the sound, such was the grace in reproducing the gestures and features of the crowd and the beauty of a fabric hanging from a window as a sign of joy and homage to passers-by.
All of this will be exposed until 26 July 2015 at Palazzo Braschi, in the exhibition “Baroque Festivals”, promoted by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Rome with the organization of Zètema Progetto Cultura, an event that is part of the cultural project "Baroque in Rome. The wonder of the arts”, promoted by the Rome Foundation and organized by the Rome – Art – Museums Foundation for the enhancement of the historical, artistic and baroque architectural heritage of the city and the territory.
Five sections mark the visit time within as many exhibition halls, focusing on the main themes of festive occasions in Rome in the seventeenth century.
It starts with Rides and Possessions: public ceremonies linked to the election of the new pope who, as bishop of Rome, took possession of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano by crossing the city on horseback along a route that from San Pietro passed through the Campidoglio, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, according to an ancient custom still practiced by the newly elected popes even if in comfortable cars.
In Processions and funeral apparatuses la manifestation of power takes shape on the occasion of death. That of the pope, for example, is configured as a grandiose public event for the city, the scene of sumptuous processions represented in the exhibition by the funerals of Clement X and Innocent XI. The sumptuousness and high symbolism of these events are well expressed by the "double burial" of Pope Paul V who, a year after his death, was buried a second time in the family chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore, not yet completed at the moment of the death.
But also the death of other important personalities involves the construction of spectacular catafalques in churches, designed by artists of the caliber of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The section Carnival and Quarantore emphasizes the strong bond between religiosity and entertainment in Rome, its on the occasion of the profane event most followed and loved by the people, as a moment of release and license. Here, then, alongside the costumed rides or the Giostra del Saracino in Piazza Navona in honor of the king of Poland - which continued despite the sudden departure of the sovereign - the religious counterpart of the Quarantore ceremony, i.e. the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in churches during the carnival . Silence and meditation opposed to the incessant noise of the festive streets.
Religious holidays shows us a city transformed into set cinematic. Squares, fountains, historic buildings act as perspective backdrops for impressive displays, specially designed by architects and painters to amaze the public with the great professionalism of excellent workers, exactly as happens when shooting a film. Songs and litanies that intertwine with the colors and shapes of an urban scene embellished for the occasion, often suggesting architectural solutions that would later be implemented over time.
The section closes the path Other festive occasions, recounting seventeenth-century Rome as a theater of history. Every important historical event - and even a simple reception among noble Roman families - is transformed here into a global event, which finds in the Eternal City the best context to amplify and spread its message. Exotic apparitions of ambassadors from Siam, fireworks and orderly processions: Rome in the seventeenth century marks the time of history by dictating its rhythm. And legitimizing every event in the eyes of the great world powers for the simple fact of being staged in Rome.
