Giorgio Vasari, Saint Thomas of Aquinas and the Heretics In the Chapel of Pius V: A New Discovery

Abstract

~ fter his election as pope in 1566, Pius V (Antonio Ghislieri, 150472, reigned 1566-72 (Fig. 1)1 began a filial artistic connection with Giorgio Vasari (1511-74). His first commission for Vasari was to decorate the pope's burial chapel at the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, his natal place. The chapel decoration consists of an Adoration if the Magi and several other paintings, including New and Old Testament scenes as well as Dominican saints and martyrdoms, reflecting the pope's affiliation with this religious order (Corti 130).2 His other major papal commissions for Vasari were to decorate his apartment and three chapels in the Vatican in 1571-72 (Vasari 102-3).3 The result of these commissions prompted Pope Pius V to grant Vasari the highest honors in the Cavalierato di San Pietro e Cavalier dello Speron d'Oro (Knight if the Golden Spur) a gold chain on top of remunerations totaling over a thousand scudi.4 In a letter from his friend Monsignor Guglielmo Sangalletti, Secret Treasurer to Pope Pius V, dated December 5, 1569, Vasari describes these commissions: an apartment with a gallery, two small rooms, and a chapel (Frey 471-73, 475-76, 485, 527, 547, and 882). Vasari and Federico Zuccaro (1540-1609) embellished the apartment with fresco decorations during the reign of the pope.5 An additional commission from the pope to decorate three chapels, which are located in the so-called Borgia's Tower (Torre Borgia or Torre Pia, Fig. 2); they are architecturally designed in three levels, one above the other. Vasari's ricordi, or entries to his commissions-along with the writings of Paola Barocchi followed by the studies of Julian Kliemann and Laura Corti, which are based on the collected letters documented in Karl Frey's epistolary and Alessandro del Vita's inventories-explain the commissions. These accounts and historical notations assist in visualizing Vasari's original design of these chapels, since they have been subject to many transformations and renovations through the years (Vasari 102-3; Frey 471-73, 475-76 and 882; Barocchi 68-70; Kleimann 96-7; Corti 138-40).6 The themes of chapels honor the triumphs of Saint Michael, Saint Peter Martyr, and Saint Stephen Martyr. The subject in each chapel expresses the spiritual Dominican affirmations of Pope Pius V in support of the Council of Trent's edicts and his moral fortitude, on the renewal of the church's pastoral mission, and the condemnation ofheresy.7