Notes on a 17th-century guide to Rome from the library of Giuliano Briganti

Thanks to good connections with the papal court (starting with the Albani family), in 1692 two German monks were sent to Rome on behalf of the Bridgettine order to once again take possession of its house and church of Santa Brigida in Piazza Farnese. This was a temporary turning point in the life of the order which, according to the will of the Swedish saint, had hosted pilgrims in that very building for centuries until the Reformation. The article deals with a recently discovered manuscript composed by one of those monks, Benedict Schraivogel (1665-1713), which dates from 1697, five years after his arrival in Rome. The manuscript, formerly in Giuliano Briganti's private library, is now in a public art history library in Siena. It is loosely inspired by Ottavio Panciroli's guide to the city, I tesori nascosti nell'alma città di Roma (1600). The author summarises it, translates it into Latin and, as a complete amateur, also adds illustrations to the volume, providing further testimony of the great fame of Panciroli's guide between the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet Schraivogel goes beyond this, adapting that text to his own autobiographical needs. The manuscript is in fact part of a larger project, which also included his contemporary drawings of Bridgettine buildings that are currently in the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich. In this way Schraivogel aimed to make new Roman possessions known to the German friars of his order, possibly in order to publish a guide “in aedibus S. M. Birgittae”; his work thus hands down to us a complete record of the original aspect of that heritage. Benedict Schraivogel's manuscript is undoubtedly an outstanding document recounting the history of the Bridgettine order and the appearance of Rome in the eyes of a German monk at the end of the 17th century.

Index

Aegyptiaca ligoriana: Isis and the “gran bubo” from Hadrian's Villa to the gardens of the Quirinale
read abstract » pag. 2-27
The San Clemente polyptych by Agostino De Marchi and Marco Zoppo: documents, chronology and style
read abstract » pag. 28-49
Angiolo Del Santo, a sculptor dedicated to graphic work on the covers of 'Vita d'Arte'
read abstract » pag. 50-63
A new tomb of the Late Orientalising period found in Tivoli in the context of relations between the Valle dell'Aniene and the adjoining Italic communities
read abstract » pag. 64-73
Three identifications of ancient statues from the engravings of Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri
read abstract » pag. 74-75
“Bonamicho excellentissimo maestro”. On Luciano Bellosi's Buffalmacco
read abstract » pag. 76-87
Trionfalmacco per Pisa
read abstract » pag. 88-94
The fragmentary epigraph painted in the 'Resurrection' by Piero della Francesca: a hypothetical reconstruction
read abstract » pag. 95-97
New research on San Giovanni di Verdara in Padua: Bishop Pietro Barozzi and the workshop of Pierantonio Degli Abati
read abstract » pag. 98-109
On the early activity of Antoniazzo Romano: the 'Madonna del Buon Consiglio' triptych for Zagarolo
read abstract » pag. 110-123
A 'Young Saint John the Baptist' in terracotta by Andrea Sansovino
read abstract » pag. 124-143
A clarification regarding the “scrittoio” of Margaret of Parma
read abstract » pag. 144-147
A long misunderstanding: 'Saints James the Less and Philip' by Paolo Veronese from Lecce to Dublin
read abstract » pag. 148-163
Another trace of Tanzio in Naples
read abstract » pag. 164-183
Bernini the painter: the reappearance of the Costa 'Portrait of a Young Man'
read abstract » pag. 184-185
Notes on a 17th-century guide to Rome from the library of Giuliano Briganti
read abstract » pag. 186-195