"On the vaulted ceiling of a chapel in the Church of the SS. Apostoli at Rome, Melozzo executed a work (1472) which, in those times, can have admitted of comparison with few. When the chapel was rebuilt in the eighteenth century some fragments were saved. That comprehending the Creator between angels was removed to a staircase in the Quirinal palace, while single figures of angels were placed in the sacristy of St. Peter's. These detached portions suffice to show a beauty and fulness of form, and a combination of earthly and spiritual grandeur, comparable in their way to the noblest productions of Titian, although in mode of execution rather recalling Coreggio. Here, as in the cupola frescoes of Coreggio himself, half a century later, we trace that constant effort at true perspective of the figure, hardly in character, perhaps, with high ecclesiastical art; the drapery, also, is of a somewhat formless description; but the grandeur of the principal figure, the grace and freshness of the little adoring cherubs, and the elevated beauty of the angels are expressed with an easy naïveté, to which only the best works of Mantegna and Signorelli can compare."—Kugler.
Passing through a great hall, one hundred and ninety feet long, we are shown a number of rooms fitted up by Pius VII. and Gregory XVI. for the papal summer residence. They contain few objects of interest. In one chamber is a Last Supper by Baroccio;—in the next a fine tapestry representing the marriage of Louis XIV. The following rooms contain some good Gobelin tapestries.
Several apartments have mosaic pavements, brought hither from pagan edifices. The chamber is shown in which Pius VII. died,—the bed has been changed. In the next room—an audience chamber—he was taken prisoner. Here is a curious ancient pietra-dura of the Annunciation,—the ceiling is painted by Overbeck. In one of the following rooms are some pictures, including—
S. Giorgio: Pordenone.
"One picture especially attracted me at the Quirinal; a St. George, the conqueror of the dragon, and deliverer of the maiden. No one could tell me the name of the master, till a modest little man stepped forward, and told me the picture was by Pordenone the Venetian, one of his best works, showing all his merits. This quite explained my liking for it; the picture had struck me, because being best acquainted with the Venetian school, I could best appreciate the merits of one of its masters."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.
Marriage of S. Catherine: Battoni.
St. Peter and St. Paul: Fra Bartolomeo.
"The two standing figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, as large as life, were executed during a short residence in Rome. The first was completed by Raphael after Fra Bartolomeo's departure."—Kugler.
The room which is decorated with a fine modern tapestry of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, has a plaster frieze, being the original cast of the Triumph of Alexander the Great, modelled for Napoleon by Thorwaldsen. One of the last rooms shown is a kind of picture gallery. Among the best works here are:—
Saul and David: Guercino.
Ecce Homo: Domenichino.
St. Jerome: Spagnoletto.
The Flight into Egypt: Baroccio.
Here also is a worthless picture of the Battle of Mentana, presented to Pius IX. by the English Catholic ladies.