[BAROQUE SPECTACLE IN PRINT] La Maestà coronata: componimento istorico-panegirico diviso in molti discorsi fondati sopra l'istoria Della Solennissima Coronazione della Sagrata Immagine della Santissima Vergine Maria di Loreto della Giara in Verona [The crowned majesty: a historical-panegyric work divided into many discourses based on the history of the most solemn coronation of the sacred image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto della Giara in Verona].
Padua: Nella Stamperia del Seminario, appresso Giovanni Manfré, 1714. Quarto (36.5 × 25 cm). Contemporary interim card boards, spine and joints covered with marbled paper; [28], 300 pp. with 4 large folding copper engravings (measuring up to 68 × 86 cm) and numerous woodcut initials and vignettes throughout the text. Wide-margined, untrimmed copy; the engraved plates, woodcut vignettes, and initials in strong impressions; handwritten ex libris affixed to front counterfold: “Paola Trotti Taverna”; one plate backed on the verso with a few narrow strips of laid paper; endpapers with a few minute wormholes; else a clean, very good copy. Item #54766
First and only edition of this detailed description and discussion of the multi-day theatrum sacrum held in Verona on the occasion of the coronation of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary. Richly illustrated with large folding engraved plates, the work is concerned not only with a precise account of the events themselves, but also with theological discussions of the elaborate architectural, artistic, musical, and pyrotechnic displays, the iconographic allusions, the materials employed, and so forth. Among other contributions, the volume also contains the libretto of an oratorio performed during the festivities, as well as the discussion by one of the planners involved, who describes the construction of an ephemeral festival structure, a “never-before-seen apparatus” (nè pria veduto Apparato), in all of its particulars.
Images of the Virgin with the Christ Child modeled on the revered statue at Loreto were widespread. Numerous such copies were venerated, including one in the Theatine church of Santa Maria della Giara in Verona. After similar coronations had taken place in many other locations, the Theatine Order in Verona likewise resolved to celebrate such a ceremony. A prerequisite was that the local image should likewise be of considerable antiquity, venerated by the population, and, above all, miraculous. An investigation therefore had to be initiated. A representative of the diocese heard witnesses concerning the “miraculous graces” (Grazie miracolose) obtained through the intercession of their “Most Blessed Advocate” (Beatissima loro Avvocata). Among the testimonies were numerous accounts of sudden healings that were said to have occurred after prayers before the image. The principal evidence for these miracles and for the veneration of the image consisted of the many votive offerings affixed within the chapel. These included not only garments, ornaments, pearls, and jewels (Vesti, Fregi, Perle, Gioie), but also representations in wax and silver of healed or afflicted body parts, including hands, feet, arms, and heads, some of which hung suspended from the ceiling. These votive offerings were regarded as testimony to successful intercession and thus as “symbols of victory” (Simboli di Vittoria) and “trophies of conquered illnesses” (trofei d'infermità debellata). In this way, the work opens with an insight into the popular piety manifested within the church interior, a phenomenon that, in this colorful diversity of objects made from a wide variety of materials and in many different forms, has largely disappeared today. The author also refers to the abundance of votive offerings as a “mosaic of graces” (Mosaico di Grazie).
After the coronation had been approved and decided upon, the Theatines elaborated the plan for the multi-day festival, which took place from Sunday, November 3, to Thursday, November 7, 1709. The spectacle had not only a sacred but also a thoroughly secular purpose. People streamed in from other cities to satisfy the "holy curiosity of their senses" (santa curiosità de' loro Sensi), but above all, in order to "increase the wealth and revenues of Veronese families through commerce" (per arricchir col commerzio le loro Famiglie di patrimoni, e di rendite più pingui) at the market held at the same time. Elaborate celebrations were held in three churches: Santa Maria della Giara, San Nicolò, and San Biagio. The coronation liturgy itself took place in San Nicolò, but the festival began with a nighttime procession from San Biagio to Santa Maria della Giara to receive the figure. Described at length is the interplay between stationary and carried lights and the specially made vestments. Subsequently, the transfer of the sacred image to its coronation church was carried out with even greater splendor. The order of the processions, which included the clergy, the brotherhoods, and the musicians and singers, followed a strict hierarchy. Also taking part were boys and men dressed as angels, who carried torches, incense boats, and censers. Above all, considerable attention is given to the magnificent adornment of the Queen of Heaven (Regal Maestà). Not only were the nighttime streets illuminated by torches and candles, but they were also lined by soldiers in splendid uniforms who played music and held their weapons lowered. Sacred hymn singing and instrumental military music intertwined or alternated with one another. The procession and the transfer ceremonies in San Nicolò, which was also under the care of the Theatine Order, ended around four o'clock in the morning.
The sixth chapter, which extends over forty pages, is devoted solely to the festival architecture designed specifically by Antonio and Andrea Zanoni for the coronation in San Nicolò. For "the most magnificent installations for an outstanding cult were required." Of the four folding plates, the largest (68 × 86 cm) conveys an impression of the Baroque splendor of this "never-before-seen apparatus" (nè pria veduto Apparato), this "most distinguished machinery" (più illustre Meccanica). The purpose of this "most superb apparatus" (superbissimo Apparato) was "to enchant all human faculties" (incantar tutte le Umane Potenze), transporting them into "astonishment" (Stupori) and "ecstasy" (Estasi). It took a month to erect the structure inside the church. Space was provided by the installation not only for a grand staircase, at the top of which stood the throne of the Madonna, and a magnificent baldachin erected above it, but also for two galleries that accommodated the instrumental ensemble, the choir of singers, and additional organs, as well as the bishop's throne. In a semi-oval around the ciborium crowned by hovering angels, twenty-four colossal columns and figures were erected, thereby creating a spatial depth effect that linked the liturgical space with the musicians.
The two architects, father and son, followed a program that had been developed by a Theatine. This anonymous cleric is presented as a scholar and connoisseur of mechanics (Месcaniche) and as the "author and builder of learned machines" (Autore, e Fabbriciere di dotte Macchine). The greater part of the chapter originates from him personally, in which he sets forth in great detail the iconographic program, the architectural construction, the lighting design, and the materials and colors used. As on Baroque theater and opera stages, "perspectival foreshortening" (scorzio di prospettiva) was employed in order to make the space appear deeper and larger than it actually was. Textiles in the most varied colors, as well as light effects, also played a by no means insignificant role. In addition to silk and brocade, tapestries, for example, were used, which "led the eye into a celestial perspectival recession" (introduceva l'occhio in una fuga d'ottica celeste). This extensive chapter provides an unusually profound insight into the conception of Baroque ephemeral structures and the principles of the theatrum sacrum. It is also noteworthy that the author concludes his detailed exposition with justifications in which, for instance, he addresses the interplay between sensory experience on the one hand and spiritual cognition on the other. Following this, he develops at length a line of argumentation based on the complex system of forms, proportions, symbols, and images, according to which no element serves as an end in itself but rather as part of a constructed theological program, a "monumental study of God" (Edifizio era un massiccio studio di Dio).
Yet the most extensive descriptions are reserved for the multi-day celebrations themselves, which, in addition to the coronation and other liturgical services, included the performance of a Baroque oratorio that further heightened the theological complexity. Benoni, whose ambition for the most exact representation of the celebrations appears boundless, integrated into his work the libretto of the sacred opera Esther Coronata, performed in concert form, in which the typological connection between the Old Testament Jewish queen of Persia, Esther, who saved the people of Israel from annihilation, and Mary as the "new Esther" (nuova Ester) is developed in dramatic form. The exposition of the extensive musical program is also accompanied by theoretical reflections discussing the Pythagorean and Platonic conception of an analogy between musical and cosmological harmony. The description alone of the concluding procession with the crowned Madonna figure in daylight back to the church of Santa Maria della Giara comprises no fewer than thirty pages. This section recounts not only the elaborate musical framework, the clergy, nobles, and military personnel, the brotherhoods and guilds with their banners, the altar servers in angel costumes carrying flowers from all parts of Italy and thuribles, but also the first fireworks that accompanied the royal triumphal procession of the crowned image to her home church.
The festival concluded with a dramatic fireworks display, which is described over more than twenty pages and explicated iconographically and theologically. Following a lengthy introduction on the history of the Roman Pantheon and its Christianization, the chapter describes the erection of a festival apparatus, which is also reproduced in one of the folding plates. This "macchina of that ancient great temple" (Macchina di quell' antico gran Tempio) was equipped with fire fountains and other pyrotechnic devices. As a representation of the Pantheon, the balustrade featured, above each corner of the octagonal structure, a Roman deity: Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Mercury, Juno, Minerva, Venus, and Diana. On the outer walls of the cella below, paintings between the columns depicted ancient sacrificial rites. The tambour erected above, however, was decorated with translucent paintings of symbols and scenes in honor of Mary, which were illuminated by the nighttime fireworks in crimson and azure. Above this two-story structure rose a dome from which a lightning-hurling Jupiter appeared to descend. Jupiter himself was struck and consumed by an artificial lightning bolt, while, in the midst of the ensuing display, a figure of the triumphant Mary in the guise of the Apocalyptic Woman was raised onto the dome. The paintings of idolatrous worship fell from the outer walls of the cella, and the inscription "Pantheon" likewise crashed down from the entablature, giving way to a newly illuminated inscription. Following the staging of a militant expulsion of the temple guards, the statues of the Roman gods also burned on the gallery. This spectacle was accompanied by various rockets and jets of fire. Yet this Baroque "blockbuster" spectacle was not confined to visual and auditory effects alone. Olfactory stimuli were likewise employed to make the downfall of the pagan gods sensorially tangible. The smell of sulfur accompanied the flashes of artificial lightning and the fall of the Roman deities. The author contends that this firework machine was an "imposing image of the Pantheon, entirely similar in its structure and in its mass to that in Rome" (Immagine maestosa del Panteo, tutto simile nella Struttura, e nella Mole a quello di Roma). Judging by the engraving, however, the structure would seem to resemble more closely the Tempietto in Rome designed by the Renaissance architect Donato Bramante.
Cat. Ornamentstichsammlung Berlin 3244.
As of July 2026, OCLC show four copies in North America.
Price: €12,500.00