Modern Rome
Rome of the Renaissance and To-Day. By Sir Roane]] Rodd, G.C.B. (Macmillan. 25s.)
SIR RENNELL Rono remembers seeing, when he was, seven years old, " a gilded coach driven up the steep. gradient to the
Pincian Hill, . . . from which descended Pope Pius IX, a stately figure in white, followed by a small group of Monsignori and a few Swiss halberdiers, to take a walk round the pleasant gardens." That was in 1866, from which year until now Sir Rennell has seen and remembered more of Rome, both chang- ing and unchanging, than can be within the experience and memory of many other Englishmen. He speaks of himself as " one who has been induced, rather reluctantly, to add one more to the many volumes devoted to " his subject, but admits that " the prospect of revisiting with a sympathetic reader areas full of legendary and human interest " has prevailed with him. It may be certainly foretold that his readers will be sympathetic, and grateful that his original reluctance should have been overcome. Seldom in a book of the kind has so much well-chosen information been more clearly set forth and more conveniently arranged.
The method of the arrangement is topographical, a section being allotted to each of the Regions defined in the sixteenth century. This definition is explained in an introductory chapter. Fifty-six drawings by Mr. Henry Rushbury occur among the pages, and.themselves form a record that will be valuable to future historians of Rome as it is to-day. Those who already know Mr. Rushbtiry's work will expect and find in these drawings an agreeable pictorial convention covering a great deal of careful and exact representation. Their admir- able reproduction in collotype combines with the excellent printing of the text to make the book one of very fine appear- ance.
If there are but few people that could have written this book, there are certainly as few that could adequately review it. To check Sir Rennell's facts, in their great number and bewil- dering variety, would be a work of research for a specialist committee. Such checking, however, would almost certainly prove needless ; his careful manner of statement inspires confidence in his judgement and accuracy. Nor is his state- ment dry, since with it is mingled opinion and anecdote. Although most likely to be used as one of reference, the work can be pleasantly read through from cover to cover by anyone with enough previous knowledge of Rome to keep his bearings in the labyrinth of wonders. For others it is unfortunate that the index should provide to that labyrinth no better clue than it does. The index, indeed, is the only thing in the book with which serious fault can be found.
The modern, as distinct from the ancient, architecture of Rome impresses, and has. impressed, opposite temperaments in opposite ways. Tested emotionally, it attracts or repels by its parade, its disregard of structural simplicities, its affinity with the art of the theatre. These characteristics, inherent in the system of the Renaissance, are found in Rome at their zenith. Tested intellectually, this architecture alienates the mind impatient of mental subtlety, while fascinating the ingenious student. People unpractised in architectural analysis, who nevertheless love their Rome, are apt to discriminate between likable and unlikable buildings on broad grounds of stylistic distinction ; one will be a Bramante man, anothe,r a Vignola man, another an exclusive devotee of Bernini and his followers. Few will attain even to the catholicity of Paul Letarouilly, who, while plainly stating his opinion of its decadence, chose from the archi- tecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries examples that he thought worthy of inclusion in his great book, filled chiefly from earlier sources. Sir Rennell has considerable aesthetic tolerance. Although he seldom lets Borromini appear in his text without the routine adjective of " eccentric,'1 he allows him ability, and gives credit to Cosimo Morelli for the magnificence of the staircase of the Braschi palace, a work unfashionable enough. to be not yet one hundred and fifty years old. The sacristy of St. Peter's, too (designed by the architect of the Villa Albani), is not regarded as unworthy of portrayal by Mr. Rushbtuar, thus finding itself in better company than would usually be accorded to it. Commenting upon paintings, likewise, Sir Rennell is entirely unblinded by the conspiracy of denigration that dealers and interested critics have directed against the great painters whose work cannot be made scarce. His appreciation of Guido Reni is characteristic and welcome.
References to the ecclesiastical history of Rome are seldom dispassionate, and it would be too much to expect that in this book no statements and allusions of the kind should be open to dispute. The operations entailed in the present city i uprovements might, also prove a controversial subject, and to these Sr Rennell makes little reference. The magnificent Via dei Colli, now being formed, necessitates destruction that will be regretted by few but extreme conservatives, and bas been linked as an enterprise with exploratory excavation the first results of which Sir Rennell notes with interest and approval. Rome is as alive now as ever it was, and has not forgotten how to change and grow. The sentiment that would preserve, for its picturesque value alone, what stands in the way of health and of traffic convenience is a false sentiment that should be discountenanced. New buildings, even of doubtful merit, will in time take their place with the buildings of the past, among which there will always be many of doubtful merit also. The clearing from accretion of old monuments must be pure gain where the accretion has no intrinsic value, but the estimate of this value is often hard to make. In 1882 Bernini's towers were taken off the Pantheon on a principle that carried to its logical end would have removed Caracalla's portico. Moreover, although clearing is usually to be commended, the reproduction of destroyed features, whether guided by knowledge or by, supposition, is more often than not a process so dangerous as to merit unconditional reprobation. It is to be hoped that the remarkable works of restoration now being pursued in Rome are unvitiated, by this practice. If they be so, future editions of such books as Sir Rennell Rodd's need contain no regrets for history recorded truly on paper, but falsified since in brick or stone.
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