After which came a car laden with trophies, and so forth.
And when there were in reality no triumphs to celebrate, the poets
found a compensation for themselves and their patrons. Petrarch and
Boccaccio had described the representation of every sort of fame as
attendants each of an allegorical figure; the celebrities of past ages
were now made attendants of the prince. The poetess Cleofe Gabrielli of
Gubbio paid this honour to Borso of Ferrara. She gave him seven queens-
-the seven liberal arts--as his handmaids, with whom he mounted a
chariot; further, a crowd of heroes, distinguished by names written on
their foreheads; then followed all the famous poets; and after them the
gods driving in their chariots. There is, in fact, at this time simply
no end to the mythological and allegorical charioteering, and the most
important work of art of Borso's time--the frescoes in the Palazzo
Schifanoia--shows us a whole frieze filled with these motives. Raphael,
when he had to paint the Camera della Segnatura, found this mode of
artistic thought completely vulgarized and worn out. The new and final
consecration which he gave to it will remain a wonder to all ages.
The triumphal processions, strictly speaking, of victorious generals,
formed the exception. But all the festive processions, whether they
celebrated any special event or were mainly held for their own sakes,
assumed more or less the character and nearly always the name of a
'Trionfo.
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