Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/711

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BOLOGNA


641


BOLOGNA


Among the many other churches, all rich in mon- uments, mention will be made only of San Stefano, made up of a group of chapels once used by ancient monks from Egypt, who dwelt there before the time of St. Benedict. The site later passed into the hands of the Benedictines who erected there a monastery, which in 1447 was reduced to the rank of an abbey to be held in commendam. In 1493 the Celestines took possession, and remained there until 1797. A tablet found there proves that this was once the site of a temple of Isis. Among the different chapels should be mentioned Cah-ary, or of the Holy Sep- ulchre; it is octagonal in form, and contains a replica in marble of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; here was probably situated the baptistery of the ancient cathedral, which was not far distant. The chapels of San Giacomo Maggiore, built in 1267; San Gio- vanni in Monte, said to have been erected by St. Petronius and renovated in 1221 and 1824; San Isaia the most ancient; Santa Maria di Galliera; Santa Maria dei Servi; San Martino; San Paolo; and San Francesco, still incomplete — all rich in monuments of artistic and historic interest. Outside Bologna is situated the celebrated Certosa, built in 1334 and in 1802 converted into a community burying-ground. The church attached to the convent is dedicated to St. Jerome. On the Monte della Guardia is the shrine of the Madonna di San Luca, which is con- nected with the Saragossa Gate by a portico with 635 arches 11,483 feet (2.17 miles), in length, con- structed between 1661 and 1739. The shrine takes its name from a painting of the Madonna attributed to St. Luke, which was brought here in 1160 by Euthymius, a monk of Constantinople. The present church dates from 1731.

With respect to profane architecture, the first thing to be remarked are the porticoes in which nearly all the roads terminate. Noteworthy also are the towers, particularly that of the Asinelli, 320 feet in height, erected between 1105 and 1109, and, nearby, that of the Garisendi, built in 1110, the in- clination of which, it seems, was due to a subsidence of the earth, in the fourteenth century, which carried away the ujipermost part of the tower; it is 154 feet in height, and has an inclination of 7.77 feet. First among the palaces is that of the Podesta, a struc- ture dating back to 1801, where the conclave for the nomination of John XXIII was held in 1410; next in importance are the communal palace, the civic museum, and the Archiginnasio, or ancient university.

The Archdiocese of Bologna contains 389 parishes, 1172 churches, chapels, and oratories, 837 secular priests, 119 regular, 311 seminarians, 48 lay brothers, 521 sisters, 10 schools for boys, 21 for girls, and a population of 565,489.

Cappelletti, Le chiese d'ltalia (Venice, 1844), III; SiGONii Caroli. De epiacopis Bononiensibus libri V (Bologna, 15S(j), rontinued b,v Rubbi up to 1731; Savioli, Annali Bolutjncsi (Bassano, 1784); Tromba, Serie cronotogica dci veacovi, clr. (Bologna, 1787).

U. Benicni.

Bologna, Giovanni da, Flemish Renaissance sculp- tor, b. at Douai, in Flanders, about 1.524; d. at Flor- ence in 1608. Vasari gives little information about this eminent sculptor. He calls him "a youth of great talent and of spirit" and says he was one of the competitors ^^^th Cellini for the colossal figure of Neptune in his chariot drawn by sea horses. The duke, who was to decide the competition, although assured that Giovanni's model was .superior to the others, did not confide the undertaking to him. We can judge of what he would have made of that com- mission from the bronze Neptune prepared for the fountain at Bologna.

Giovanni was called II Fiammingo from the place of his birth. He studied in Rome and settled in Florence, liaving been adopted by the wealthy


Bernardo Vecchietti, who treated him as his son. He was thoroughly Florentine in sentiment, and in Florence are preserved his two masterpieces, "Mer- cury" and the "Rape of the Sabines". In the former, in the Bargello, he has come nearer to ex- pressing swift, flashing motion and airy lightness than has any other artist of that or a later period. The figure of the youth with winged feet, holding the caduceus, and borne aloft upon a head of jEolus, is masterly in its expression of earnest purpose and light, easy movement. Hardly less important is the "Rape of the Sabines" in marble, under the Loggia dei Lanzi, in which Count Ginori posed for the figure of the triumphant youth who carries away a struggling woman in his embrace. Other works are the group of "Hercules and Nessus", the equestrian bronze figure of "Duke Cosimo I" in the Piazza Signoria and the bas-relief of the door- way of the Cathedral of Pisa. Besides these, he executed more than one crucifix, a figure of "Diana", another of "Venus", and four syrens similar to the larger ones on the Bologna fountain. Vasari men- tions a bronze figure of " Bacchus", and a "Samson" in combat with two Philistines, both larger than life size. Giovanni's work is marked by freedom and grace, while free from the fault of exaggeration which so injures much of the sculpture of the very late Renaissance.

Desjardins, La vie de Jean Boulogne (1883).

George Charles Williamson,

Bologna, The L-nivehsitt op. — A tradition of the thirteenth century attributed the foundation of this university to Theodosius II (433); but this legend is now generally rejected. The authentic "Habita", issued by Frederick Barbarossa in 1158, was at best only an implicit recognition of the ex- istence of the school at Bologna, and the bull of Clement III (1189), though it speaks of "masters and scholars", has no reference to a university or- ganization. The university, in fact, developed out


of the "Schools of the Liberal Arts" which flourished at Bologna early in the eleventh century. An im- portant feature of the general education given in these schools was the Didamen, or Art of Composition which included rules for drawing up briefs and other legal documents. The study of grammar and rhetoric was closely connected with the study of law. At the same time, the political, commercial and intel- lectual growth of the Lombard cities created a de- mand for legal in.stniction. Ravenna, long the home of jurisprudence, lost its prestige through its conflict with the papacy, and Bologna was its successor. Towards the close of the eleventh century Pepo is