2019. Il misterioso labirinto nella sala del Tesoro in Castel Sant’Angelo a Roma (original) (raw)
About Art on-line (16 June 2019)
Durante la campagna di rilevamento del complesso monumentale di Castel Sant'Angelo a Roma, 2 lo studio dei pregiati pavimenti cinquecenteschi degli Appartamenti papali di Paolo III ha riportato alla attenzione il pavimento in cotto della sala del Tesoro con disegno labirintico. Parzialmente nascosto dai grandi forzieri di legno fatti costruire da Sisto V, nel tempo era stato erroneamente descritto come uno schema ad anelli concentrici o giudicato come un capriccio privo di significato e di legami col programma decorativo cinquecentesco. È nostra convinzione, invece, che questo labirinto, estremamente elaborato, sia strettamente connesso sia con la figura di Paolo III Farnese, principale artefice della trasformazione del castello in residenza principesca, sia col programma iconografico complessivo degli Appartamenti Farnesiani.
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The discovery of the “Sala del giostratore” (The room of the jouster) in the Malaspina Dal Verme Castle. The hypothesis that leads back to the presence of Leonardo in the stronghold of Bobbio. Sometimes we are unable to focus - if not after a long time and perhaps with the help of chance - what appears before our eyes. Many years passed before I could make sense of the mural drawings of two rooms located on the top floor of the Malaspina Dal Verme castle in Bobbio. To do this - in the absence of technologically advanced tools and specialist advice - I made use of the historical-biographical reconstruction and of an analytical research work conducted "in the field", partly from life and partly through photographic documentation. The motivation behind this investigation is linked to the thesis on the location of the background of la Joconde, which identifies the Bobbio landscape from a precise point of view located on the north-east facade of the castle. As I wrote in the past (Savona, 2012, 2013), the reasons and the "real situations" involving Leonardo's presence in Bobbio are well founded and numerous, but his presence in that “precise place", at that window, in a given period, was deduced from the research carried out on the landscape of la Joconde, but not specifically from the data relating to the castle. The mural drawings this research deals with - despite being largely erased by time - unequivocally testify to the existence of a unitary and coherent decorative project dedicated to the art of joust and tournament. In itself this discovery could appear irrelevant, but - if we associate it with the historical biographical reconstruction centered on the castle of Bobbio and on my thesis on the identity of la Joconde – it is highly significant, and revealing connections emerge, confirming the presence in those rooms of Galeazzo. Sanseverino, Leonardo's patron. The bond between Leonardo and Galeazzo, husband of Bianca Giovanna Sforza (whom in my thesis I identify as la Joconde), son-in-law and great favorite of Ludovico il Moro, dates back to 1483, when Galeazzo passed to the service of the Sforza. From 1489 Galeazzo, betrothed to Bianca, was invested with the possessions expropriated by the Moro after the poisoning of Count Pietro Dal Verme, and from 1488 he was appointed commander of the Ducal Army. His "territorial competence" as military commander over the territories of the Trebbia Valley, stretching towards the border with Genoa and the sea, mainly concerned the two strategic fortresses of Rocca d’Olgisio and Bobbio. Both in the Bobbio castle and in the Rocca d’Olgisio there are decorations and mural drawings that lead back to Sanseverino who - it must be emphasized - was a great patron of the arts and sciences at the Sforza court. Leonardo's friendship with Galeazzo became particularly close from January 1496, when he began his partnership with Luca Pacioli, who arrived in Milan at the invitation of the patron, who hosted him in his house in Porta Vercellina. The presence of Leonardo with Sanseverino as an engineer is corroborated by his stays in Vigevano, where, around 1495, military fortification works were carried out on the Rocca Nuova. The solution for a helical staircase in the Rocca Nuova for which Leonardo and Bramante practiced, and the drawings of Sanseverino's horses made from life in his stables also remain in memory. Leonardo, as a military engineer, (playing with Galeazzo a role completely similar to the one he will later play "full time" with Cesare Borgia ), was qualified to accompany his patron in the two strategic strongholds of the Trebbia Valley. But it is above all from the analysis of the mural drawings, still partially visible in the two rooms of the castle of Bobbio, that the hypothesis emerged that the decoration on the theme of joust and tournament somehow involved Leonardo himself, because here it is proven that the client was Galeazzo (maximum champion of jousts and tournaments, ambitious and with a personality devoted to self-celebration), and, on the other hand, there were no skilled decorators in those lands able to carry out this project. No one on site could conceive and execute such a challenging and innovative project and, on the other hand, Leonardo had a direct and privileged relationship with his patron, and could guarantee him quality labor in Milan to carry out those mural drawings. It is known that Leonardo was entrusted with the direction of all the most prestigious feasts and celebrations of the Sforza and for the Sanseverino brothers he had already set up jousts and theatrical directions. Hence the hypothesis of Leonardo's involvement in the realization of the project aimed at celebrating the "great jouster Galeazzo Sanseverino", both at the conception level and with the supervision of the works. In order to evaluate the sustainability and relevance of this hypothesis, it is necessary to frame this discovery in the context from which it originates, that is the thesis on the location of the portrait of la Joconde against the background of Bobbio, concerning in particular the determination of the " point of view ”on the landscape from a specific window on the north-east facade of the Malaspina Dal Verme castle. The assumption is that Leonardo framed the landscape from that "point of view".As I summarize in the following Part I, my thesis on landscape localization has the scientific requirements to be falsified, refuted and empirically verified and it allows to generate a "scientific model” consisting of a virtual geometric model on a cartographic basis. In conclusion, the discovery of the “Sala del giostratore” (the room of the jouster) in the Malaspina Dal Verme castle adds a new piece to the pre-existing thesis on the landscape of la Joconde, bringing a hitherto unpublished element in support of Leonardo's presence in those rooms and within those walls.
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