Rowland and Partridge readings

     Ingrid Rowland tells a tale of Papal Curia as Roman civic economic revitalizer. A new Roma Caput Mundi, well, head of the church anyway. Petrarchan Humanist motivation, and church money go a long way. A rich (if not the richest) history to exploit, especially with regard to sacred sites, both pagan and Christian. The cities ancient ruins spoke directly to the humanists, with regard to the perfection of man, and the ancient, historically rich culture of the Roman Empire, and the papacy drew upon the old empire’s political structures. “Familiarity bred both contempt and veneration”, the cities ruins feeding both the limekilns and new architecture. Huge investments of church capitol facilitated physical and cultural construction, allowing humanist values and practices to thrive, cemented by Pope Nicholas V, who realized both in the Vatican library. Inevitable grandiose propaganda ensues, (in all areas of the arts) associating the papacy and the Roman church with the most ancient biblical traditions, and the most powerful and well-known Pontifex Maximus of ancient Rome. A grand vision indeed that faced challenges from without, and from the papacy of the 16^th century itself, but nevertheless continued to develop and thrive.

     Loren Partridge illuminates conflicting views of the papacy. On one hand an enlightened theological leader, on the other a wealth-seeking impious tyrant. It seems the Renaissance church did rely on its army and tax base, and as an institution indulged in financial “… nepotism, alienation, simony, pluralism, (and) absenteeism”, and sold forgiveness for a price etc. Not surprising the appearance of Martin Luther, who saw the papacy as the Antichrist. The Popes, also unsurprisingly viewed themselves as Christ on earth and any rationalization follows that self-conception (power corrupts after all). The protestant reformation viewed church practices as unnecessary, while the church drew upon Rome, and its history to justify its mandate, and in effect the status of pope as new emperor. Regardless of the evils of bureaucracy, the power and money of the papacy rebuilt Rome proper during the 15^th and 16^th centuries, becoming one of the largest cities (and a cultural powerhouse) in Europe by 1600. The church did attempt to rectify some of its more glaring inadequacies, enacted new ones, suffered attack from within and without, yet steadily “renewed itself”. These troubles were “accommodated” by the belief of the imminent second coming of Christ, and all of these “contradictions and tensions” are reflected in the art of the Roman Renaissance.