Zprávy památkové péče 2017, 77(1-2):67-73

Baroque landscape in and around Rome in the seventeenth century. Architecture and natural location: the case of "Mentorella"

Camilla S. Fiore

Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck Institut für Kunstgeschichte

The article deals with Mentorella, a sanctuary in the middle of Tivoli which is closely associated with the legend of St. Eustace. The reception of this legend in the 17th century in the work of Athanasius Kircher is presented here as an example of the Baroque understanding of the wild natural landscape.
The first part deals with the legend of St. Eustace as it was known in the 17th century through the interpretation of the original version of the story by John of Damascus. Particular attention is paid to the work of the admirer of St. Eustace, the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, who in the work Historia Eustachio-Mariana sought to document this legend historically and find evidence of its connection with the area of Mount Vulturella in Tivoli. A crucial moment of Kircher's reflection was his emphasis on the wild and untouchable nature which, for Kircher, was a reflection of God's principle.
The importance of a place connected directly with the miraculous conversion of St. Eustace was also supported by the fact that there was a strong link to the Benedictine order here - its founder, St. Benedict, came here to pray. In his memory, the sanctuary of Mentorella with the Church of Our Lady was founded here with the chapel of St. Eustace on the rock where the saint's miraculous vision was to have taken place. A reconstruction from the 12th century determined the appearance of the complex with its early Christian center, and the area dilapidated in the 17th century. A. Kircher managed to organize the reconstruction of the entire location through a newly awoken interest in not only the legend but also in its wild natural surroundings. This was joined in by the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I himself as well as by a significant patron of Baroque Bohemian architecture and donor of the church in Horní Jiřetín, Johann Friedrich Waldstein.
The sanctuary of Mentorella and the idea behind its renovation is an extraordinarily eloquent example of a Baroque man's relationship not to an intentionally composed landscape, but to a pure and wild natural landscape as well.

Keywords: Mentorella, Athanasius Kircher, wild landscape in the Baroque, legend of St. Eustace, 17th century art

Published: March 1, 2017  Show citation