queen Christina of Sweden

Dès son arrivée à Rome, Christine de Suède a visité l’Académie des Humoristes, institution renommée, fondée au début du XVIIe siècle et placée au centre d’un vaste réseau de relations savantes et politiques. Le renouveau de l’atomisme, avec les diverses nuances apportées par Gassendi, Descartes et Boyle, soulevait des débats philosophiques et scientifiques parmi les humoristes. La devise lucrétienne de  l’Académie  Redit  agmine  dulci  (adoptée  autour  de  1611)  semblait  en  effet  indiquer  un  penchant « institutionnel » des humoristes dans cette direction. Une source manuscrite nouvellement mise au jour, les  Dialoghi eruditi rédigés  par  l’humoriste  Giuseppe  Giusto  Guaccimanni  dans  les  années  1698-1705, jette  une  certaine  lumière  sur  l’intérêt  précoce  de  l’académie  pour  la  théorie  séminale  de  la  matière proposée par l’iatrochimiste Van Helmont, tout en  révélant comment Christine de Suède a pris avec assurance la défense de l’atomisme comme une théorie très apte à expliquer les phénomènes naturels, en  accord  avec  les  résultats  de  la  physique  expérimentale  de  son  temps.  En  outre,  à  partir  de  la proximité de cette dernière avec  les  processus  à  l’œuvre  dans  les  laboratoires  alchimiques,  la  reine  y apparaît  soutenant  une  tentative,  audacieuse  et  sans  précédent,  de  conciliation  de  la  philosophie hermétique tant avec l’atomisme de Démocrite qu’avec la religion chrétienne

Queen Christina of Sweden was well-known as a patron of the arts as and a prolific collector both as ruler of Sweden and as abdicated queen in Rome. Early modern guidebooks describe her galleries as a must-see attraction for travelers to the Eternal City. Her antiquities display at the Palazzo Riario (now Corsini) included lavish ground floor suite of rooms which housed her summer throne room along with over 200 ancient marbles, one of the largest antiquities collections amassed by an early modern woman.

My archive-based research takes an inter-sectional approach to investigating women’s mobility in the early modern antiquities market, outlining the resources available to Christina and the transnational agent networks she used to build her collections.
Many have considered Christina an opportunist collector as she had limited means for commissions in Rome and many of her Italian paintings were acquired through the sack of Prague by Swedish troops. Unlike her paintings, most of which traveled with her post-abdication, Christina built nearly autonomous antiquities collections in Stockholm and Rome through a robust network of agents, papally approved excavations, commissions, and gifts. A fantastic cache of correspondences and travel notes between artists, agents, their associates, and Christina, provides insight into the queen’s reach, ambition, and limitations. My paper assesses the queen’s personal role in the development of her famed antiquarian collections and illuminates the impact of religion, location, gender, and status on the trade in ancient marbles across Europe.

Bibliography on early modern women artists, mainly in Italy and the Netherlands; a sporadic compilation of 45+ pages. Updated 29 April 2020. BUT see now my Bibliography_Premodern Women Artists (posted on 14 May 2020), which has expanded geographically and chronologically, to include medieval women, and female artists and patrons working in China, Japan and Islamic cultures.
AS OF 29 MAY 2020 THE BIBLIOGRAPHY IS NOW A GOOGLE DOC OF 130+ PAGES. IT IS OPEN ACCESS AND COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qciG2ndN2dOfg4KDgL9LwCOl8HUZP5liSKtwRcJ_Ah4/edit?usp=sharing

Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689) is probably the most important individual to directly link the cultures of Sweden and Italy, and thus fascinate scholars over the last four centuries. In the last fifty years, research on and interest in this monarch has been particularly intense. This has led to current international scientific debate concerning all the different cultural expressions in which Queen Cristina was particularly involved. However, until now there has been lacking a comprehensive work to illustrate the development of scientific research
in Italian on Queen Christina. This article, therefore, without
claiming to be exhaustive, aims to fill this gap by identifying the main direction of current research.
The article, after briefly introducing previous works (both Italian
and Swedish), demonstrates how the first major renaissance of international studies on Queen Cristina took place in Sweden in the early 1960s. Even more important was the subsequent turning point in 1989, when the tercentenary of the death of Queen Christina was celebrated and the Azzolino Collection at the Biblioteca Comunale in Jesi was opened. The article focuses on the studies in Italian during this latter period. To make the exposition more organic and, importantly, more
accessible to those readers interested in only one particular aspect of the scientific studies about Queen Christina, the studies in Italian since 1989 are divided into different subject areas.

in Marca/Marche nr. 13  (2019) pp. 231-273
Un gran numero di cortigiani della regina Cristina di Svezia erano originari della Marca Fermana perché legati al Cardinale Decio Azzolino il Giovane. Galleria di personaggi e loro rete di patronato.

Cristina e gli Archivi Vaticani // Cristina dopo Cristina negli Archivi Vaticani // La strano destino dei documenti di Cristina nell’Archivio di Castel Sant’Angelo // Censimento della documentazione “cristiniana” nell’Archivio Segreto Vaticano: Archivum Arcis; Armadi; Segreteria di Stato (epoca moderna); Miscellanea Armadi; Bandi sciolti; Epistolae ad Principes; Segreteria dei Brevi; Palazzo Apostolico; Archivio Concistoriale; Archivi di famiglia e di singoli personaggi; Instrumenta Miscellanea // Indice cronologico dei singoli pezzi d’archivio relativi a Cristina regestati nel “Censimento”

By examining how Queen Christina of Sweden collected, what she collected, and where she displayed objects, we can better understand her motives for amassing what became the Early Modern period’s largest collection of antiquities owned by a woman. This dissertation argues that personal and political reasons motivated her to develop what could be considered a borderless, genderless, classical persona, that is represented in her display of antique objects. When her collecting habits are assessed alongside her sponsorship of classical scholarship, it becomes clear that Christina’s development of antiquities collections was inextricably tied to the large body of allegorical imagery associated with the queen. I claim that she sought a hybrid historical identity as both Swedish and European, and that the necessity to maintain political authority in both political contexts gave shape to the queen’s self-fashioning through the antique. Through an examination of her scholastic connections, artistic patronage, and adoption of antique guises, this analysis coalesces seemingly disparate aspects of Christina’s visual, rhetorical, and political agendas, re-framing them as parts of a lifelong campaign to figure and redefine her Gothic identity.

The article positions early modern collecting in relation to wider cultures
of knowledge production by using perspectives from the history of knowledge, memory studies, and recent studies of Kunstkammern. Some twenty-five years after the reawakened interest in early modern collections the author revisits the question if the museum in the Nordic countries was born in the mid-seventeenth century and asks if collections became museums and a museum culture was established with the appearance of, one, museography, theories and methods of classification and display, two, museology, a science or profession of museum organisation and management, and, three, designated, purpose-built architecture and furniture.
The first part brings into play exemplary scholarly and monarchical collectors that contributed to the development of museography and museology. The second part addresses seventeenth-century museography by introducing two acts of knowledge production and retention in the Kunstkammern – asking questions and selecting and ordering. Finally, the author discusses the findings in relation to arguments for placing the museum’s birth in the decades around 1800.

Idiomi di straniere a Roma: Cristina di Svezia-Minerva e la sua accademia * Domenica 11 novembre 1674, alla presenza di diciotto cardinali e di molta prelatura e nobiltà, si tenne a palazzo Riario la prima sessione della accademia Reale di Cristina di Svezia. Il tema «che la filosofia morale consiste nella tranquillità dell'animo» fu svolto dal dotto prelato francese Joseph Marie Suarés; dopo un concerto dei musici della regina, un gesuita, Nicolò M. Pallavicino, e un francescano, Antonio Cottone, si affrontarono nella tenzone «qual sia la più contraria alla vera filosofia la setta stoica o l'epicurea»; chiuse la cerimonia altra bellissima musica. 1 L'accademia Reale si presta a molte letture, tutte utili alla decrittazione dei linguaggi del potere in Età barocca. Si può analizzare come un sistema di patronage e come teatro di una lotta politica nella curia romana; rappresenta un momento della competizione per il potere simbolico associato all'attività culturale, e il laboratorio di un discorso sulle passioni e la conoscenza che entra in risonanza con la riflessione sul potere e sull'identità di genere di una donna straordinaria.

Historical scholarship often gives Kristina of Sweden (1626-1689) a minor place in comparison to the Scandinavian warrior kings that preceded and followed her.  Popular interest in Kristina has proliferated over the centuries as she was a highly unconventional woman of her day.  Several new biographies of her have been penned in recent years. 

Educated as a prince, trained to hunt and shoot, this cross-dressing monarch nevertheless did not take to the art of war as did her immediate predecessor, Gustavus Adolphus II who championed the Protestant cause throughout northern Europe via military force. 

Kristina instead collected  books and paintings, brought scholars to her court, ultimately converted to Catholicism and abdicated the throne.  She continued to pursue academic endeavors abroad on the continent, primarily in Rome.  Kristina opened her library there to the public, very unusual for her day.
What can we learn by studying this royal life through the lens of the relatively new discipline we call history of reading?  What legacy does Kristina leave when we place more value on historical cultural development in Scandinavia and the Baltic region than on territories gained or lost in war?  I will explore these questions through examination of biographies and scholarly articles about Kristina.  I will review traditional Scandinavian history and how book history and history of reading may shed new light on this “Minerva of the North.”

Atti del Convegno Internazionale "La regina Cristina di Svezia, il cardinale Decio Azzolino jr e Fermo neIl'arte e la politica della seconda meta del Seicento" tenuto a Permo nell' Auditorium di San Martino nei giorni 3 e 4 ottobre 1995 a cura di VERA NIGRISOLI WARNHJELM FONDAZIONE CASSA DI RISPARMIO DI FERMO 2001 105 I Fermani alla corte della regina Cristina di Svezia* Vera Nigrisoli Warnhjelm

On the basis of published and unpublished sources, this paper discusses the influence that the visit made by the Austrian numismatist Joseph Eckhel (1737–1798) to Rome in 1772–3 had on the late eighteenth-century arrangement of the coin collection assembled by Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689), then in possession of the Odescalchi family. Furthermore, the author tries to assess the impact of this collection on the work of Eckhel, a key figure in numismatic scholarship.

In the 17th century, especially after the Thirty Years War, Sweden was engaged with demonstrating and presenting itself as the new great power it had become. Particularly the visual culture was a fine way to express the royal desires and ambitions, and what better way to show Sweden’s new age of greatness than through medals, the baroque business card.I strive to illustrate the significance of medals and the cultural context in which they were produced, which includes all components as the ordering of the medal, the medal artist and in the end the final item. The three German medal artists Johan Rethe, Johan Georg Breuer and Anton Meybusch were one of the first of their kind who came to Sweden to work for the Swedish Crown and they left apparent impressions on the Swedish medal art. Their carreers shall act as an example for cultural transfer, as well as it shall show the importance of hiring abled medal artists to properly use the medal arts’ potential.My focus is set on how the Swedish monarchs, Kristina, Karl X Gustav and Karl XI used medals to merchandise themselves and in what manner their medals were received. In addition to that it seems to be of importance to evaluate in which way the medals reached their intended public and who the planned recipients were. Analysis of the compound personifications of the royal court produced during the baroque era call for a careful and observant deciphering of their attributes and an awareness of how these medals could yield complex messages. Paradoxical, through pictures the message becomes more apparent and complicated at the same time. It is vital to understand the images’ function in relationship to the commissioning body and his position and personal taste, as well as the medals’ general significance as a cultural object.

Carte di viaggio. Studi di lingua e letteratura italiana, Pisa-Roma (Italy), nr. 6, pp.67-98.
Edizione commentata di 16 lettere inviate dal marchese Orazio Del Monte e dal protomedico Cesare Macchiati al cardinale Decio Azzolino junior durante il secondo viaggio (1666-1668) in Svezia della regina Cristina. Le lettere editate descrivono il viaggio da Amburgo in Svezia e ritorno della corte della regina (aprile-giugno 1667).

Com'e ben noto, Ia regina Cristina fondo due volte a Roma una propria accademia chiamandola Accademia Reale: Ia prima volta ne! gennaio del 1656, neanche un mese dopo del suo arrivo neJIa capitale 1, e Ia seconda, in maniera pili artkolata, nel 1674 2 • Non si trattava pero d'iniziative nate dal contatto deJIa sovrana con l'ambiente culturale rom~no, perche, e questa forse e meno conosciuto dal pubblico italiano, la Regina aveva cercato gi1i di istituire deJIe accademie in Svezia prima della sua abdicazione. Si trattava, per Ia cultura svedere, di tentativi antesignani che avrebbero preceduto di un secolo la fondazione deJIe grandi e tuttora rigogliose accademie di questo paese.

The previously unknown sitter in Michaelina Wautier's signed and dated Portrait of a man (Brussels, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 297) is here identified as Antonio Pimentel de Prado (Palermo, 1604- Antwerp, 1671), military and diplomat with key missions in Philip IV of Spain's politics. Michaelina painted him in 1646, the year he was appointed Governor of Nieuwpoort and after having been honored with the cross of St James in 1645.

Esta contribución busca rescatar y presentar dentro del contexto general de la filosofía práctica cartesiana el texto del ballet La Naissance de la Paix de Descartes, dedicado en 1649 a la Reina Cristina de Suecia para celebrar la Paz de Westfalia. De acuerdo al autor de esta contribución el Ballet sería un texto alegórico de teología política, en que se aborda la cuestión del cambio de régimen (el golpe de Estado). Rivera sostiene que
Descartes habría elaborado esta idea a partir de una moral orientada al uso de los príncipes en casos de excepción, entendida como “evento” imprevisible. El tema discurre
en un relato político: Una soberana que sufre de la pasión de ser irresuelta halla su reino en medio de la guerra; ante el alegato del pueblo que clama por la paz y su incapacidad de decidir, debe ser depuesta por la Divina Providencia. Descartes habría sonreído viendo danzar el ballet de su derrocamiento a una infantil monarca de 23 años.

Dieser Aufsatz zeichnet nach, wie sich das publizistische Bild des schwedischen Königs in (pro)schwedischen illustrierten Flugblätter vom Zeitpunkt seiner Landung am 6. Juli 1630 auf der norddeutschen Insel Usedom bis zu seinem Tod in Lützen am 16. November 1632 und darüber hinaus änderte. Für die Analyse der ausgewählten illustrierten Flugblätter wurden bestimmte Zäsuren gesetzt: die FLugblattproduktion in Zusammenhang mit der schwedischen Landung in Usedom 1630, der Leipziger Kovent, die Zerstörung Magdeburg, die Schlacht von Breitenfeld, der schwedische Gang durch die süddeutsche ,Pfaffengasse', die ,Befreiung' von Nürnberg, Augsburg und München, der Tod Gustav Adolfs in der Schlacht von Lützen und die Jahre bis zum Prager Frieden 1635 und darüber hinaus.
Wie die Analyse zeigt, verlief auf Seiten der (pro)schwedischen Publizistik von Beginn an die heilsgeschichtliche Inszenierung der Taten Gustav Adolfs, die ikonographische Adaption der Prophezeiung Paracelsus rund um den Löwen aus Mitternacht sowie auch die Umsetzung der miles christianus-Thematik. Parallel dazu erfolgten publizistische Darstellung des schwedischen Königs in satirischen illustrierten Flugblättern.

(PhD project description).
The overall focus of this project is the early modern origins of the female intellectual identity (FII) in Denmark from the period 1650-1800. Using new methods from feminist history of philosophy together with contemporary concepts from gender studies, the project (1) investigates Birgitte Thott’s (1610-1662) philosophical position and identity as a woman philosopher, (2) offers a critical analysis of the text corpus on learned women (i.e. “Lærde Fruentimmer”) from a gender sensitive perspective, in order to (3) deepen our understanding of how women’s place in the intellectual world was established, justified and how it developed through the early modern era. The concrete research outcome will be a philosophical book on Birgitte Thott, with representative selections from Thott’s unpublished work ‘En Tractat om Vejen til et lyksaligt Liv’ (On the Way to a Happy Life) and a discussion of how a female intellectual identity was constructed in the early modern period (17th-18th century).

The aim of the essay is to present medals, which depict queen Christina as the goddess Minerva. In the years 1645-1650 queen Christina started to represent herself with the goddess Minerva’s attributes. Her intent was to spread the idea of the wise queen, a personification of the mythological Minerva. The use of medals to broadcast this kind of messages was common in the baroque period in Europe. Christina needed a strong signature to legitimate her position as a female king and later, after her abdication, as a queen without land. The goddess Minerva turned out to be the ideal symbol for Christina’s reign; Minerva was on one hand wise and just and on the other hand the goddess of war. The goddess stood for everything the queen wished her people to associate with her. At last the queens embodying of the ancient goddess became her trademark.

Sammanfattning

Till de märkligaste litterära produkterna från Stormaktstiden hör Agneta Horns självbiografi. Antagligen skriven mitt på 1650-talet, kort efter hennes mans död, beskriver sin författarinnas "wandringestidh," en fras Agneta Horn (AH) använder både bokstavligen och metaforiskt. Föreliggande studie an Agneta Horns leverne tar upp en hittills obeaktad aspekt av AH:s författarskap, bibelcitaten som följer den berättande texten i handskriften, UUB X240 (Horn). Trots den svenska litteraturens mycket introspektiva karaktär under flera århundraden, har ganska litet skrivits om självbiografin som genre i ett nordiskt sammanhang. En följd av detta är, att Agneta Horns leverne uppfattas enbart som biografiskt dokument. Man förbiser därvid, att texten även förtjänar att läsas som ett obestridligen högt personligt, men ändå litterärt verk, styrt av speciella genre-regler. Kanske är det därför som hela handskriften av Agneta Horns leverne aldrig har publicerats, d.v.s., de 548 raderna med bibelcitat på de sju sista bladen av UUB X240 (Horn) saknas i alla tidigare utgåvor av självbiografin.

Efter en diskussion av citatens ursprungliga ordningsföljd (de är nu felaktigt sammanbundna), följer själva citaten från handskriften samt den motsvarande texten from Karl X:s Bibel, som var förebilden till AH:s projekt. Genom framställningen av citaten kan det visas, att sista delen av Agneta Horns leverne är avsevärt mer an anteckningar skrivna av en uttråkad och from änka—deras ordningsföljd tyder på att AH vill beskriva sitt liv en gång till, men nu med samma ord som används i Job och Psaltaren för att uttrycka Jobs och Israels lidande. Med hjälp av bibelcitaten från Karl X:s Bibel som terminus a quo för handskriften, kan det påvisas att Agneta Horns leverne i UUB X240 (Horn) inte kan vara äldre än från år 1655 och förmodligen härstammar från år 1657. Samma år skrev AH i Kerstin Posses stambok en liten dikt vars ordalag återklingar i självbiografin (det skall dock anmärkas att AH säkerligen utnyttjade gamla dagböcker och liknande dokument under utarbetandet av texten, en möjlighet redan Magnus von Platen framkastade 1959).

Monografin tar också upp AH:s berättarstil, som får anses vara relativt modern. För att underlätta denna diskussion, jämförs Agneta Horns leverne med drottning Kristinas memoarer. Det påvisas att AH:s användning av dialog, karakterisering, o.s.v. är nästan utan parallell före 1700-talet. Slutligen diskuteras Agneta Horns leverne som helhet, d.v.s. både den berättande texten och bibelcitaten, och dess anknytning till svensk andaktslitteratur, Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielms Nosce te ipsum i synnerhet.

Riddle of the "Riga's" solidus of 1638  with a «decorated monogram».

Список литературы:
Огуй А., Пивоваров С. Подделывание билонных монет на Сучавском монетном дворе в ХVІІ в. // Numizmatica 21. — Bratislava, 2006. — S. 149–157;
Mikołajczyk A. Fałszerska mennica w Suczawie // Wiadomosci numizmatyczne. —Warszawa 1980. — Rok XXIV. — Zeszyt 4 (94). — S. 198, 218–220;
Котляр М.Ф.Грошовий обіг на території України доби феодалізму. — К., 1971. — С. 121;
Platbardzis A. Die königliche schwedische Münze in Livland. Das Münzwesen 1621–1710. — Stockholm, 1968. — S. S. 297–303;
Dergaciova L. Fälschungen schwedischer Münzen des 17. Jh. in der Sammlung desInstitutes für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte der Universität Wien // Numismatische Zeitschrift/ Red. Prof. Dr. G. Dembski. — Wien, 2007. — Bd. 115. — S. 76.;-89
Огуй О.Сучавський монетний двір у ХVІІ ст.:емісії монет і фальшивок-«домніц»(на монетному та архівному матеріалі) //Спеціальні історичні дисципліни: питання теорії та методики. Збірка наукових праць . — К.: НАНУкраїни, Інститут історії України, 2013. — Число 22–23. —ст. 419 – 420 ;
Buzdugan G., Luchian O., Oprescu C.C. et al. Monede şi banknote romaneşti. —Bucureşti, 1977. — Р. 93–94
Свєшніков І. Битва під Берестечком. - Львів,1992. – с. 198, 200;
Старовєров Д. До питання ідентифікації ризьких солідів королеви Христини//Праці Центру пам'яткознавста, вип. 18. – К., 2010 – с. 128-142.
Haljak G. Livonian coins XII – XVIII centuries. Part II: Kingdoms. Livonian coins from XVI – XVIII centuries. – Tallinn, 2011.

A lecture on Queen Christina's navigation of Baroque society as
a woman in power. Learn about the diverse roles played by women
in the history of the Vasa ship by joining visiting scholar Theresa Kutasz
Christensen on a Christina themed tour of the Vasa Museum and see
the new exhibition Kvinnorna!

One visual medium that is rather overlooked these days was particularly suited to the proclamation of great deeds and the insinuation of the always so fashionable flair of Antiquity, namely medallic art. This paper presents a selection of case studies exploring the use of ancient topoi illustrated on medals, and studying the purpose and significance of medals depicting early modern Swedish monarchs. Questions will be raised about how references to classical literature such as Ovid, Vergil or Horace are combined within the limits of a medal and in what way are the classical references reused and adapted to the new context. The aim of this paper is to provide a complement to the iconographic analysis by paying particular attention to the inscriptions and their connection to the images presented on medals. Subsequently, this will shed light on the innovative usage of classical literature on medals from early modern Sweden.

Una doppia natura caratterizza i simboli: conservativa e trasformativa. Col tempo, il modo di lettura di un simbolo può cambiare, sino a contraddirne precedenti significati. L’interrogativo sotteso a questo contributo è in che modo i due aspetti coabitino nel simbolo: una tendenza che dalla chiusura conservativa va verso l’apertura all’universale è di necessità inscritta nel simbolo? Alla luce di questo interrogativo verrà discusso un caso di studio, offerto da un sermone del gesuita portoghese António Vieira, il ventesimo della raccolta intitolata María, Rosa Mystica (1686-1688). Risalente con molta probabilità alla prima metà degli Ottanta del Seicento, il sermone recitato a Bahia propone un’esposizione della storia biblica di Agar e Ismaele (Gn 16, 17 e 21) che è di straordinaria novità dal punto di vista della storia dell’esegesi. Ma la lettura attualizzata dal racconto biblico (l’egiziana Agar, così come Maria, ancilla domini, sono figure degli schiavi angolani) non è in realtà una critica dell’istituto giuridico della schiavitù.

Статья посвящена шведскому придворному театру и зрелищам периода правления королевы Кристины (1632–1655). Для выявления театрального контекста эпохи автор прослеживает историю создания и театральную эстетику таких придворных зрелищ, как «упптог» и «вэрдскап». Центральной темой статьи являются придворные балеты, сформировавшиеся в Швеции под влиянием французской культуры, но получившие национальную окраску. Чтобы разобраться в особенностях шведских придворных балетов XVIII в., автор рассматривает не только их театральные составляющие, но также и социокультурную и политическую ситуацию в Швеции этого периода. Большое влияние на придворные балеты, служившие целям королевской репрезентации, оказала личность самой Кристины, значительно повлиявшей на культурное развитие Швеции, которая в XVII в. стала мощной европейской державой. The article focuses on the Swedish court theatre and spectacles during the reign of Queen Christina (1632–1655). To reveal the theatrical context of the period, the author explores the origins and theatre aesthetics of court spectacles such as upptåg and värdskap. Court Ballets feature as the article’s main focus. Formed under the influence of the French culture, they acquired a national character in Sweden. To provide an understanding of the specifics of 17th-century Swedish court ballets, the author analyzes not only their theatrical components, but also the socio-cultural and political situation in Sweden of the period. The Queen, herself greatly influenced court ballets, which served the needs of royalist representation. On the whole, Christina significantly contributed to the cultural development of Sweden, which became a great European power in the 17th century.

Als Clemens IX. nach weniger als einem Jahr als Papst die Aufgabe übernahm, die traditionelle Ausstellung zum Tag Johannes des Täufers in S. Giovanni Decollato zu organisieren, konnte er auf die Unterstützung seiner langjährigen Vertrauten Christina von Schweden zählen. Nach Vorbild der von den Sacchetti ausgerichteten Ausstellung 1662 sollten in diesem Jahr allein Werke alter Meister, allen voran Werke aus der berühmten Sammlung der Königin. Als einziger lebender Künstler war nach „non ordinaria fatica“ der notorische „pictor succensor“ Salvator Rosa zu der Festausstellung in und um das Kloster zugelassen worden. Seine beiden grossformatigen Beiträge „Saul und die Hexe von Endor“ und „Der heilige Georg und der Drache“ lassen sich als satirische Kommentare zur Situation der Ausstellung deuten. Rosas Bemühen um die Teilnahme an der Ausstellung kann sowohl aus der politischen Situation Christina von Schwedens und ihrem Ruf in Europa als auch aus Rosas persönlichem Netzwerk und der Geschichte seiner Beziehung zu der ehemaligen potentiellen Mäzenin verständlich gemacht werden. Besonders das Gemälde „Saul und die Hexe von Endor“, das unmittelbar nach der Ausstellung einen Platz in der Sammlung des französischen Königs fand, lässt sich als beissende Satire auf die Rolle der Königin verstehen. Zugleich erscheint es als kunsttheoretische Reflexion in der Tradition von Rosas Florentiner Hexenbildern und damit als ein für eine Ausstellung unter Vorbildern der Malerei wie Tizian und Raffael durchaus angemessenes Werk.

This short Festschrift article traces the provenance of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli's Holy Family, which is today in the Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest. It is identified as formerly belonging to the celebrated Orléans gallery, before having been acquired by Prince Paul Esterházy in London during the 1830s or '40s.
The article also contains some hitherto unrecorded provenance data on two further paintings in Budapest: Simone Peterzano's Venus Playing the Lute and Bernardo Strozzi's Tribute Money.

In 1690, the literary academy of Arcadia was founded in Rome, under the patronage of Queen Christina of Sweden, by Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina and Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni. The Academy, one of the greatest literary expressions of Neoclassicism in Italy, had Pietro Metastasio among its most representative poets. Currently the book and archival heritage of the Arcadia is kept in the Angelica Library in Rome, where the Academy is located. Among the preserved 18th century manuscripts, many collect a large number of letters exchanged between the academics. Other letters are kept in the Academy's Archive. The treatment of this material is very complicated: the letters in fact often contain the first draft of poetic texts subsequently edited. A heritage that the Academy wants to enhance today cataloging in the manuscripts catalog of the Italian State: the database "Manus Online". What is the best way to organize the catalog's data? How to relate the letters owned by the Academy of Arcadia and those kept in other institutions, not only libraries but also archives? Can the full digitization support the knowledge and study of this material? The cataloging treatment of the letters of the Arcadia Academy and the poetic texts contained in them constitutes an interesting “study case” for a theoretical reflection on the cataloging of this “border material”.