第 72 节
作者:九十八度      更新:2021-02-20 05:40      字数:9322
  and keys of the city; which they then delivered to the  Duke; while saints and angels held forth in his praise。 A chariot drawn  by concealed horses now advanced; bearing an empty throne; behind which  stood a figure of Justice attended by a genius。 At the corners of the  chariot sat four grey…headed lawgivers; encircled by angels with  banners; by its side rode standard…bearers in complete armor。 It need  hardly be added that the goddess and the genius did not suffer the Duke  to pass by without an address。 A second car; drawn by a unicorn; bore a  Caritas with a burning torch; between the two came the classical  spectacle of a car in the form of a ship; moved by men concealed within  it。 The whole procession now advanced before the Duke。 In front of the  church of St。 Pietro; a halt was again made。 The saint; attended by two  angels; descended in an aureole from the facade; placed a wreath of  laurel on the head of the Duke; and then floated back to his former  position。 The clergy provided another allegory of a purely religious  kind。 Idolatry and Faith stood on two lofty pillars; and after Faith;  represented by a beautiful girl; had uttered her welcome; the other  column fell to pieces with the lay figure upon it。 Further on; Borso  was met by a Caesar with seven beautiful women; who were presented to  him as the Virtues which he was exhorted to pursue。 At last the  Cathedral was reached; but after the service the Duke again took his  seat on a lofty golden throne; and a second time received the homage of  some of the masks already mentioned。 To conclude all; three angels flew  down from an adjacent building; and; amid songs of joy; delivered to  him palm branches; as symbols of peace。
  Let us now give a glance at those festivals the chief feature of which  was the procession itself。
  There is no doubt that from an early period of the Middle Ages the  religious processions gave rise to the use of masks。 Little angels  accompanied the sacrament or the sacred pictures and relics on their  way through the streets; or characters in the Passionsuch as Christ  with the cross; the thieves and the soldiers; or the faithful women were represented for public edification。 But the great feasts of the  Church were from an early time accompanied by a civic procession; and  the _naivete _of the Middle Ages found nothing unfitting in the many  secular elements which it contained。 We may mention especially the  naval car _(carrus navalis); _which had been inherited from pagan  times; and which; as an instance already quoted shows; was admissible  at festivals of very various kinds; and is associated with one of them  in particular the Carnival。 Such ships; decorated with all possible  splendor; delighted the eyes of spectators long after the original  meaning of them was forgotten。 When Isabella of England met her  bridegroom; the Emperor Frederick II; at Cologne; she was met by a  number of such chariots; drawn by invisible horses; and filled with a  crowd of priests who welcomed her with music and singing。
  But the religious processions were not only mingled with secular  accessories of all kinds; but were often replaced by processions of  clerical masks。 Their origin is perhaps to be found in the parties of  actors who wound their way through the streets of the city to the place  where they were about to act the mystery; but it is possible that at an  early per;od the clerical procession may have constituted itself as a  distinct species。 Dante described the 'Trionfo' of Beatrice; with the  twenty…four Elders of the Apocalypse; with the four mystical Beasts;  with the three Christian and four Cardinal Virtues; and with Saint  Luke; Saint Paul; and other Apostles; in a way which almost forces us  to conclude that such processions actually occurred before his time。 We  are chiefly led to this conclusion by the chariot in which Beatrice  drives; and which in the miraculous forest of the vision would have  been unnecessary or rather out of place。 It is possible; on the other  hand; that Dante looked on the chariot as a symbol of victory and  triumph; and that his poem rather served to give rise to these  processions; the form of which was borrowed from the triumph of the  Roman Emperors。 However this may be; poetry and theology continued to  make free use of the symbol。 Savonarola in his 'Triumph of the Cross'  represents Christ on a Chariot of Victory; above his head the shining  sphere of the Trinity; in his left hand the Cross; in his right the Old  and New Testaments; below him the Virgin Mary; on both sides the  Martyrs and Doctors of the Church with open books; behind him all the  multitude of the saved; and in the distance the countless host of his  enemiesemperors; princes; philosophers; hereticsall vanquished;  their idols broken; and their books burned。 A great picture of Titian;  which is known only as a woodcut; has a good deal in common with this  description。 The ninth and tenth of Sabellico's thirteen Elegies on the  Mother of God contain a minute account of her triumph; richly adorned  with allegories; and especially interesting from that matter…of…fact  air which also characterizes the realistic painting of the fifteenth  century。
  Nevertheless; the secular 'Trionfi' were far more frequent than the  religious。 They were modelled on the procession of the Roman Imperator;  as it was known from the old reliefs and the writings of ancient  authors。 The historical conceptions then prevalent in Italy; with which  these shows were closely connected; have already been discussed。
  We now and then read of the actual triumphal entrance of a victorious  general; which was organized as far as possible on the ancient pattern;  even against the will of the hero himself。 Francesco Sforza had the  courage (1450) to refuse the triumphal chariot which had been prepared  for his return to Milan; on the ground that such things were monarchial  superstitions。 Alfonso the Great; on his entrance into Naples (1443);  declined the wreath of laurel; which Napoleon did not disdain to wear  at his coronation in Notre…Dame。 For the rest; Alfonso's procession;  which passed by a breach in the wall through the city to the cathedral;  was a strange mixture of antique; allegorical; and purely comic  elements。 The car; drawn by four white horses; on which he sat  enthroned; was lofty and covered with gilding; twenty patricians  carried the poles of the canopy of cloth of gold which shaded his head。  The part of the procession which the Florentines then present in Naples  had undertaken was composed of elegant young cavaliers; skillfully  brandishing their lances; of a chariot with the figure of Fortune; and  of seven Virtues on horseback。 The goddess herself; in accordance with  the inexorable logic of allegory to which even the painters at that  time conformed; wore hair only on the front part of her head; while the  back part was bald; and the genius who sat on the lower steps of the  car; and who symbolized the fugitive character of fortune; had his feet  immersed in a basin of water Then followed; equipped by the same  Florentines; a troop of horsemen in the costumes of various nations;  dressed as foreign princes and nobles; and then; crowned with laurel  and standing above a revolving globe; a Julius Caesar; who explained to  the king in Italian verse the meaning of the allegories; and then took  his place in the procession。 Sixty Florentines; all in purple and  scarlet; closed this splendid display of what their home could achieve。  Then a band of Catalans advanced on foot; with lay figures of horses  fastened on to them before and behind; and engaged in a mock combat  with a body of Turks; as though in derision of the Florentine  sentimentalism。 Last of all came a gigantic tower; the door guarded by  an angel with a drawn sword; on it stood four Virtues; who each  addressed the king with a song。 The rest of the show had nothing  specially characteristic about it。
  At the entrance of Louis XII into Milan in the year 1507 we find;  besides the inevitable chariot with Virtues; a living group  representing Jupiter; Mars; and a figure of Italy caught in a net。  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 artsas 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 timethe frescoes in the Palazzo  Schifanoiashows 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 fina