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Pozzo’s Treatise as a Workshop for the Construction
of a Sacred Catholic Space in Beijing
Elisabetta Corsi
Architecture and experience
The role played by Jesuit missionaries as cultural mediators
during the early modern period has been object of recent, innovative scholarship that, particularly in the case of China, has
focused on the transmission of a body of scientific knowledge,
mainly mathematics and astronomy. Missionaries like Matteo
Ricci, Giulio Aleni, Ferdinand Verbiest and Adam Schall von
Bell, to name just a few of the major characters, have attracted the
interest of specialists as well as non-specialist world-wide; international conferences and edited volumes have contributed to enrich
our understanding of their academic background and scientific
endeavours in China. Nonetheless, relatively less attention has
been paid to other fields of knowledge, perhaps of a more technical and practical nature, but no less necessary to the fulfilment of
the more “edifying” projects the Jesuits wanted to realise in China. This menial, empirical knowledge has to do with perspective
drawing, architecture, engineering, carpentry and masonry.
These “arts” had a necessary application in what was one of
the major Jesuit concerns, since it had a direct bearing on the
main reason for their being in China, evangelisation. In order to
evangelise and convert, they needed to equip the mission with
appropriate spaces were liturgical practices as well as preaching
could adequately take place. Therefore, it was not just a matter of
“edifying” souls, but also of “edifying” spaces, sacred Catholic
spaces. The process of building a church involved a complex network of cooperation among Jesuit missionaries and local craftsmen, new techniques and styles had to be taught and learnt, models and plans had to be adjusted to new circumstances.
Our understanding of these building processes is still too limited, but perhaps different ways of reading the scanty sources
available may offer new perspectives on our comprehension of
the ways in which missionaries responded to the need for places
where converts could gather to celebrate mass and hear sermons.
I should like to begin this short essay by paying a tribute to
Fig. 211 - Perspectival view of the Bei Tang (?) in Beijing (Residence of the
French Jesuits), water colour, 18th Century, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale.
Andrea Palladio (1554-1579) who, in his writings on architecture,
was among the very first Renaissance theoreticians to address the
issue of architectural necessità, therefore revealing the tension
between making theories and making buildings1.
The Jesuits, who wrote and theorized on almost all fields of
knowledge, made very little architectural theory, except for very
few cases, that of Giuseppe Valeriano and Bartolomeo Ammannati’s tract on the Temple of Salomon, included in Possevino’s
Bibliotheca Selecta, that of Juan Bautista Villalpando’s tract on the
Temple of Salomon Apparatus Vrbis Templi Hierosolymitani2, composed with Jerónimo Prado – a text which proposed an ideal ratio
struendi according to biblical precepts – and that of the polymath
Athanasius Kircher who, in Turris Babel, theorized on philosophical architecture3. In spite of a scant interest in architectonical theory, they certainly made buildings out of necessità.
In the following paragraphs attention will be paid to the construction of a Catholic space in Beijing under the auspices of the
Society of Jesus. Constructing a Catholic space does not only
mean, I would argue, a physical space in which the experience of
the sacred is articulated, but also implies the definition of a visual space where the ability to perceive and meditate on sacred
images (indicated in Chinese by muli目力), is oriented towards
adequate modalities of fruition.
For instance Francesco Sambiasi, SJ (1582-1649) in his Shuihua erda 睡畵二答 (Two answers on sleep and images),
points out that
eyes are the window of the soul and the eyelids are the doors that protect this window. It should not constantly be open, lest light, smoke,
rain, wind and dust may penetrate. Eyes should be employed to watch
only that which is good and desirable. Since they are not placed at the
back but at the front of our body, eyes should look ahead, towards a
path we have not yet walked. Human beings should not be satisfied with
the good endeavours they have already fulfilled , because they ought to
always go ahead. When his eyesight is defective, the human being cannot do anything good and this means that he is useless4.
Sambiasi’s remarks follow on the footsteps of Saint Augustin
who was the first to preach a subordination of visual arts to religion, therefore establishing a tradition culminating with Antonio
Palomino de Castro y Velasco’s El Museo Pictorico y Escala optica.
In this long treatise, structured as a modern “common place
233
book” on virtually all aspects of visual culture, practical instructions on oil painting are blended with optics, perspective and
mathematical demonstrations, as well as moral and theological
considerations on decoro, virtuous portrait painting and physiognomy.
An effective discipline of the eyesight, the most powerful of
human senses, can only be reached, according to Palomino,
through sacred art: “Cual mejor, que aquella, cuyas Sagradas Flechas se introducen por el más poderosos de los Sentidos?”5.
Palomino agrees with the prevailing opinion about the superiority of art during the early Christianity, because of its capacity to
entice the soul through the “tacit rhetoric of the brush” that portraits the lives and martyrdom of Christian Saints.
Cual mejor, que aquella Arte, de cuyas mudas, si elocuentes Clausulas,
usaba la Primitiva Iglesia, para enseñar a los fieles el camino de la Verdad, en los libros abiertos de la Historia Sagradas, Vidas y Martirios de
los Santos, delineados con tacita Retorica de los Pinceles. Cual mejor
que aquella que ha producido efectos tan maravillosos, convirtiendo los
Ánimos mas endurecidos al suave Yugo de nuestra religión, y del temor
de Dios6?
The importance of early Christianity as a spiritual and apostolic mandate is also present in the Constitutions of the Society of
Jesus and can be appreciated from the choices Jesuit missionaries
made in terms of typology of ecclesial buildings and cultic images.
The Ignatian notion of plantatio ecclesiae (implanting the
church) – apart from the intrinsic meanings associated with the
apostolic evangelical model – can be quite literally understood as
stemming from the need to provide an adequate setting for
preaching and liturgical services7. Indeed, architecture and
iconography of the Catholic Reformation were directly linked to
and inspired by Jesuit spirituality and devotional practices.
The question related to whether or not the “architect” as a
professional role can be specifically identified in the Society,
remains open to this day8.
Not only art historians have been concerned with this problem, but also historians of science such as Ugo Baldini who, in his
essay on La formazione degli architetti gesuiti (secoli XVI-XVII)9,
addresses the vexata quaestio regarding the existence of a “Jesuit
style” in sacred architecture, paying attention to the formation of
a specific architectural expertise in the context of the teaching of
mathematics. He does so by suggesting that there is evidence to a
large number of architects active in the Society during the early
period of its existence, a phenomenon that is due to the rapid
expansion of the Order and consequently to the need for new residences, colleges and churches. Still these professional figures
received their technical instructions either before joining the
Society or through personal studies and experience on the
ground, therefore out of necessità. Despite the active role played by
architects such as Giovanni Tristano (1515-1575), the Jesuit Consiliarius aedificiorum, Giuseppe Valeriano (1542-1596) and Andrea
Pozzo, their influence within the Society – Baldini argues – does
not seem to have been so effective as to induce the formation of
an autonomous course of architectonical studies within the tenets
of the Ratio Studiorum. After 1660, architectural tasks were generally endorsed by the professors of mathematics at the higher colleges. Indeed, after the death of another professional belonging to
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the first generation, Giovanni de Rosis (1538-1610) in 1610, the
position of Consiliarius aedificiorum (Censor General) for architectural projects, was held by the professor of mathematics at the
Collegio Romano.
Baldini’s otherwise valuable attempt to look at the development of Jesuit architecture not just in terms of stylistic changes
but as a result of the major achievements in the fields of statics
and mechanics that took place during the first half of the XVI
century, is flawed by the fact that he seems to pay very little attention to the tremendous diffusion of Pozzo’s Perspectiva pictorum et
architectorum, a living and endless source of instruction and inspiration, both in Europe and in overseas missions. Far from being
an isolated case (“A fine Seicento un Andrea Pozzo fu ancora nella linea sostanzialmente autodidatta”)10, Pozzo’s Treatise is one of
the finest examples of scientific manual where didactic rigour is
matched by clarity of exposition, witness to a growing concern, in
the Society’s intellectual milieu, with the practical and experimental applications of scientific knowledge11.
Workshops and academies
When Andrea Pozzo, arrived in Rome in 1681, a workshop
was established, at the Roman College, where he personally
taught architecture, painting and copper engraving12. Here is a
vivid description by Pozzo’s biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, on
the school’s manifold activities and international student community.
…Stava esso in una vasta soffitta del Collegio del Gesù in Roma, nella
quale, entrando, averesti con sommo diletto veduto scolari di varie
nazioni tra loro distinti: alcuni studiare architettura, altri disegnare;
questi intagliare in rame e quelli dipingere a olio e questi a tempera; e
altri stare intenti a mettere sotto il torchio quelle stampe che si veddero
– e tuttora si vedono – ne’ belli e rari libri della sua Prospettiva13.
Pozzo’s initiative is in line with the resolution taken by the
superiors of the Order early in 1612, to entrust the Jesuit mathematician and remarkably skilled artist, Orazio Grassi, with the
establishment of an “academy of architecture”, “perché la Compagnia ha necessità di persone intendenti di questa professione”14. According to Richard Bösel, it is not certain whether
Orazio Grassi indeed gave birth to a Jesuit school of formation for
the trainees in engineering and architecture, yet it is significant
that two young Sicilian Jesuits had been summoned to Rome per
imparar architettura15.
Baldinucci’s reference to the presence, at Pozzo’s academy, of
students from different countries, points out to the importance
of establishing workshops where empirical applications of the
cluster of disciplines included in the so-called “mixed mathematics” could adequately be learnt by young Jesuits in order to be
employed in the daily necessities of missionary life. As Noël
Golvers pointed out, with respect to the “Jesuit scientist”, he
was an experimenter and measurer in various branches of physics, with
special attention for inventing and building instruments in optics,
astronomy and mathematics, and who had a strong interest in the utilitarian application of scientific knowledge, particularly in the areas of
engineering, invention and medicine16.
It is in this context, I believe, that we should consider the
Fig. 212 - Saint Joseph, Macao.
establishment, already by 1581, of a workshop in Luzon by Antonio Sedeño, the first Jesuit superior in the Philippines, where he
trained Chinese craftsmen to cut and carve stones and make
floors.
He [Sedeño] sought out Chinese painters and kept them in his house
painting images, not only for our own churches but for the others in
Manila and outside the city, and he encouraged encomenderos to display
in their churches the images that he himself provided. In this way he
adorned almost all the churches with images, the majority of which represented the mother of God17.
This account shows that the contribution of local craftsmen
was essential to the completion of the Jesuit architectonical and
artistic projects overseas. The need to make empirical knowledge
part of the educational programmes implemented by the Jesuits
in Asian missions is also evident from a letter that Pedro Gómez
addresses to the Superior General, Claudio Acquaviva, on 18th of
October, 1596, to inform him on the organization of the courses
at the College of Funai in Japan18. They had been arranged
according to precepts that would be later codified in the Ratio studiorum (1599), therefore giving priority to rhetoric, philosophy
and theology, but with the addition of courses on oil painting,
copper engraving, organ and harpsichord music.
Away from the centres of power, mechanical arts, generally
not included in the programmes of the seminaria nobilium run by
the Jesuits in Catholic Europe, could acquire, through the estab-
lishment of workshops, a higher statute by virtue of the amount
of technical expertise that they implied and which was necessary
to the survival of the missionary community.
Although “architecture” as an independent field of knowledge, was not accorded a status within the official Jesuit curriculum but rather merged with optics, geometry, lineal perspective
and acoustics in the realm of “mixed mathematics”, the Jesuits
played an active role in planning and constructing their residences and churches, often employing lay brothers, or coadiutores
temporales, who travelled extensively, as in the above mentioned
cases, to mission stations to train local craftsmen and builders or
to establish workshops and schools. This may also be the case
with Ferdinando Bonaventura Moggi (1684-1761), active in Beijing at the construction, together with Giuseppe Castiglione
(1688-1766), of Saint Joseph church in the residence of the Portuguese Jesuits in Beijing, and Francesco Folleri (1699-1766) who,
having embarked with Moggi, spent a few years in Macao (17221725) and finally made his way to Beijing (1726).
The Portuguese establishment of Macao was already an important centre of transmission of European knowledge about building and engineering as well as painting techniques, especially after
the so called “Seminary of Painters”, “the largest mission art academy ever founded in Asia”19, had been transferred there after
1617, due to the anti-Christian persecutions in Japan.
During the years spent in Macao, Folleri built the Jesuit resi235
Figg. 213-214 - Plan of the interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception,
Nan Tang and of the sagrato.
236
Fig. 215 - Saint Joseph, Beijing.
dence and adjoining chapel of Saint Joseph20, an elegant, singlenave structure, suitable for a seminary chapel, displaying imposing columns decorated with arma Christi, symbols of the Passion
of Christ. (Fig. 209)
Although the model followed by Folleri seems to correspond
to the church prototype most commonly associated with the Society, namely the single, wide-nave setting, in overseas missions, the
ancient basilica plan was also employed, due to its symbolical evocation of an early Christianity21. Nonetheless, this was not the
result of the application of a clearly established normative,
because the document De ratione aedificiorum, promulgated in
1558, was adamant in advocating simplicity and essentiality, but
lacked indications as to which models were more suitable and
therefore ought to be followed. Given the developments of Jesuit
architectural projects, it is clear that such recommendations
where to be soon contradicted.
The present structure of Jesuit churches in Beijing complies
with this rule, even if the churches suffered major destruction and
loss and underwent several reconstructions that significantly
altered their original plans.
From the scanty sources available, it is highly probable that the
early plans of the three Jesuit churches largely corresponded to
the innovative single, wide nave model with two lateral rows of
chapels connected to each other. Further research is needed to be
able to ascertain the different stages of deviation from the original
settings.
The single-nave type of church architecture was introduced to
Portugal by Felipe Terzo, an Italian architect who, in 1566,
designed the church of São Roque to replace the more understated primitive chapel and, from there, this prototype migrated to
mission stations under the Padroado. The churches of the Portuguese Jesuits in Beijing, may have been built according to that
model.
The Jesuits favoured flat ceilings or low vaults because of the
superior acoustic results they could achieve during sermons. This
practical choice should also be seen in relation to the proliferation of trompe l’oeil, painted ‘false domes’ and ceilings, such as the
one executed by Giovanni Gherardini (1655-1723) at the Bei
Tang Church (Northern Church)22.
Illusionist painting in the style of the quadratura, which entails
a profound knowledge of linear perspective and optics, was
employed in Jesuit churches from San Salvador of Bahía to Beijing23. The optical effect produced by real architecture extending
itself through painted architecture contributed to the formation
of an experience of the sacred.
The transept and choir of Jesuit churches were normally
237
Fig. 216 - Interior of Saint Joseph Church, Dong Tang.
238
reduced because of the Constitutions’ prohibition (VI, III, 4) to
singing the Divine Office in choir. In spite of this proscription,
the Jesuits were able to establish an outstanding musical tradition, which is particularly significant from the liturgical point of
view.
The rather rustic character of the early Jesuit edifices may have
gradually given way to more exuberant structures, even though
some preference for simple solutions continued to prevail in the
Jesuit discourse on architecture, thus allowing for full participation of the faithful in liturgical action.
The sacramental symbolism of the church building was
accorded preference; the Eucharist tabernacle was therefore, in
most circumstances, repositioned from one of the side chapels to
the high altar. This was usually surmounted by the IHS monogram to emphasise the mystical presence of Christ. A finely executed drawing showing part of the nave and the high altarpiece of
the Nan Tang (Southern Church) belonging to the Archivo
Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, proves that such a pattern was
not confined to churches inside Europe, but was employed in
overseas missions as well (Fig. 213)24.
These characteristics could be further enhanced on the occasion of para-liturgical practices such as the Forty-Hour Devotions,
during which an altarpiece tableau depicting a very elaborate tabernacle in perspective was placed by the high altar for the
Eucharist adoration.
In the following paragraphs, I shall provide a sketch of the
main stages of development of the Jesuit churches in Beijing,
without dwelling on the complexities that a thorough reconstruction would necessarily imply, because the churches were destroyed
and rebuilt several times, and their plans altered significantly. The
problem is all the more compounded by the fact that, especially in
the case of the Nan Tang (Southern Church) and the Dong Tang
(Eastern Church), there is no consistency as to the names attributed to those churches in Jesuit documents. Accounting for all
the variations encountered would fall beyond the scope of this
paper. Indeed, my purpose is to show how the Perspectiva pictorum
at architectorum played a major role as a source of inspiration and
a living workshop for experimenting architectonical ideas and
applications.
Sacred Catholic Spaces in Beijing: the Nan Tang (Southern
Church) and Dong Tang (Eastern Church)
The Nan Tang is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing. Originally a small chapel built by Matteo Ricci in 1605, it was consecrated to Saint Mariae Maioris. It was replaced by a larger complex in 1610, a very articulated set of halls including the first public church, as well as Ricci’s grave. It was built on a plot of land
within the Xuanwu gate and its construction entrusted to Sabatino de Ursis (1575-1620), after Ricci’s death25. (Fig. 214) From the
detailed description accompanying this etching, so far the only
visual testimony of the earlier stage of construction of the Nan
Tang, we learn that Ricci had wanted it not to resemble “temples
of idols” but to be in accord with late Renaissance building
modes so as to comply with “tutte le regole dell’architettura delle
nostre chiese”26.
Fig. 217
239
ty. His left hand grasps a map of the world and the fingers of the right
hand are crossed as if he is discussing points in order and indicating of
which he is speaking…At the right is the Chapel of the Blessed Mother
. The Mother looks like a young girl, and her hands hold a child, who is
Jesus. There are no seams in her garment, which covers her from head
to foot, and there are votive lights as for the likeness of Jesus28.
Fig. 218 -
It was built seventy palms in length by thirty-five in width. It was built in
observance of all of the rules of architecture possible, with Chinese
workers who understood nothing about it. It had a façade (frontespicio),
arches, cornices (cornichões) and lintels, all in the European manner (ao
modo europeo). The principal chapel (capella mór) was raised by three
degrees in relation to the body of the church. This building impressed
the Chinese far more than we had anticipated, and many came to see it;
by doing so they began to know our Holy Law27.
“Ricci’s Church” was simply indicated as Tianzhu tang天天天
(Catholic Church) by the Dijing jingwu lue 帝京竟物略 (A sketch
of the scenery in the capital Beijing), a sort of guide book on the
Imperial capital composed by Liu Tong 劉侗 and Yu Yizheng 于
奕正 and published in 1635.
Indeed, the description of the structure of the building and its
decoration are particularly significant as they provide clues on the
original setting of the church.
The hall is inside the Xuanwu Gate in the corner of the east city wall.
…To the left of the dwelling they built the Hall of the Lord of Heaven.
The design of the hall is narrow and long, with the ceiling like a canopy,
elaborately wrought windows, and elegant paintings done in the finest
Western style. At the upper end is a likeness of Jesus, a painting that
appears when you look at it to be a statue of a man somewhat over thir-
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Later on, availing himself of a plot of land donated by the
emperor within the Imperial City, Adam Schall von Bell erected a
larger temple in 1650. In his Historica Relatio, Schall provides significant information on the church: the length of the new church
was 25.5 metres and was 14.5 metres wide and it was dedicated to
the Immaculate Conception. Adjacent to the main temple there
was the chapel dedicated to the Mother of God, Shengmu Tang 聖
母堂. It was meant for the women who, according to Chinese
custom, had to worship apart from the men29. Given the extension of the property, a residence as well as a storehouse and a
library, could also be built within the church premises.
One of the already mentioned drawings held at the Arquivo
Històrico Ultramarino shows the plan of the church (Fig. 210211)30 and provides a detailed description of the articulation of
the connected lateral chapels (capellette). The church was encompassed by a wall, opening on to the street through three gates in
compliance with Chinese architectural modes.
Up to ca. 1703, the year in which the church of the Holy Saviour, belonging to the French Jesuits opened, the Nan Tang was
known as the Xi Tang (Western Church). Restoration of this
church begun in 1705 and was made possible by an Imperial
donation. The new temple was completed in 1711. It was again
destroyed by two earthquakes and a fire in 1775, rebuilt with
funds provided by the Qianlong Emperor and completed in 1776.
The Dong Tang (Eastern Church), originally probably known
as 壽善堂 Shoushan Tang, was located outside of the Imperial
City, in Ganyu Hutong. Being established by Ludovico Buglio
(1606-1682) and Gabriel de Magalhães (1610-1677), the church
was destroyed by the earthquake of 1720 and was rebuilt the following year by Ernbert Xaver Friedel (1673-1743) and Fernando
Bonaventura Moggi (1684-1761). The pictorial decorations had
been executed by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) and were lost
with the destruction of the church by Imperial order in 1811.
They consisted of a Nativity and a painting of the Sacred Heart.
As Superior of Saint Joseph residence, Ernbert Xaver Friedel,
a skilled topographer and cartographer, superintended to the fabbrica and at the same time executed maps upon the emperor’s
request. This special condition may have allowed him to gain
access to court and therefore obtain, maybe from Nian Xiyao 年
希堯 himself, a copy of the 視學 (The Science of Vision), the
Chinese partial translation of Pozzo’s Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum that Nian had printed in 1729 (a second edition followed
in 1735), having learnt linear perspective from Giuseppe Castiglione himself 31. Friedel sent a copy of it to the Jesuit confessor
to the Emperor Charles VI, Vitus Toenneman, and it is now held
at the Oesterreichsche Nationalbibliothek in Vienna. There is a
note attached to the book in which Friedel is indicated as Sinarum
imperatoris Musaei Mathematici Director32.
The drawings held at the Archivo Histórico Ultramarino in
Lisbon (Figg. 3-5) show a large structure encompassed between
two low, flanking towers with two orders of pilasters, volutes and
cartouches. The church interior was outfitted with a lavish high
altar and a false, painted dome whose prototypes are to be found
in engravings contained in Pozzo’s Treatise. They have been, so
far, referred to as images showing the Church of Nossa Senhora
da Assunçao, one of the names through which the Nan Tang was
known33. A letter by Moggi to the Superior General, Michelangelo Tamburini, dated 8th November 1729, may prove that the drawings have been executed by Moggi, if we assume that the one that
he calls St Joseph’s (“Chiesa di San Giuseppe”), Nossa Senhora
da Assunçao and the Nan Tang are indeed the same church.
...In vigore della promessa fatta alla P.V. stavo prendendo le misure e
facendo altre preparazioni necessarie per la delineazione di questa
Chiesa di San Giuseppe, per trasmetterla a V.P., quando il P. Domenico Pinhero, Superiore di questa Residenza, mi suggerì come li pareva
molto convenevole che hancora si mandassero li disegni della medesima Chiesa al Serenissimo Re di Portogallo; quando ciò successe già il
tempo era breve per fare raddoppiati esemplari di disegni in prospettiva
come havevo pensato di fare, e per questo veddi non havere altro rimedio che far puramente disegni geometrici, e se bene questi non possono
mostrare giustamente l’effetto che fa l’opera reale, il buon gusto di V.P.
saprà immaginarsi quello che manca ai disegni i quali vengono rimessi
a V.P. dal P. Superiore…Il tempo poi non mi permesse di fare due esemplari dell’Altare Maggiore, del quale l’unico che feci fu insieme con
quelli diretti a Sª. Maestà; vero è che per essere il detto Altare quanto al
tutto insieme simile a quello della Cappella del nostro S.to Luigi Gonzaga, non pareva che fosse per fare mancanza, nulla di meno se il tempo
non mi havesse tradito, non potevo in alcun modo scusarmi dal lavoro,
per far vedere alla P.V. le mutanze che furono fatte nel medesimo altare
per accomodarlo al luogo, e al Paese; questo medesimo hancora si puole
dire di tutta la Chiesa, la quale in quello che difere dal gusto Architettonico di Europa, e in grande parte disimulato per accomodarlo al
genio Cinese, che gusta di molteplicità di colonne, multiplicità di lavori
e insomma tutto in copia, e le fabriche che noi chiamiamo gravi e
solide, loro le stimano ordinarissimi…Per dire alcuna cosa di quelle che
non si possono esprimere nei disegni, dico che tutto l’interiore della
Chiesa fatta di medesima vista che se fosse di bellissimi marmi misti e
bronzi dorati, e per beneficio delle vernici del Paese e perizia dei Cinesi
in preparare i fondi lisci, hancora tocandole con mano, paiono vere
pietre per essere tutte dipinte al naturale. Le volte sono tutte dipinte dal
Fratello Giusepe Castiglioni con molta vagezza, ma sopra tutto la Cupola che dipinse in un telaro piano…
Li due Campaniletti laterali della facciata non sono hancora in opra,
perché nel tempo che si fabricava la medesima facciata mancarono
materiali e argento, e successivamente restarono a dietro per dar luogo
ad altre cose stimate più necessarie. Nei quattro angoli interiori che forma la Croce della Chiesa devono essere sospese quattro lampade e già
ne li due angoli comunicanti con la Cappella Maggiore sono poste due
di disegno Europeo, alla moderna e fanno bella vista. Li candelieri dell’altare sono al modo Romano e furono lavorati in Cantone veramente
con eccellenza34.
This letter is particularly significant because it provides valuable information on the process of construction and decoration
of this church.
Moggi’s description of the church façade with the two bell
towers (campaniletti), and of the sumptuous trompe l’oeil decoration of the interior, resembling colorful marble and gilded bronze
(marmi misti e bronzi dorati), surmounted by a false dome executed
by Castiglione, indeed provides a textual correspondence to the
drawings.
A very interesting passage regards the high altar, which was
conceived by Moggi on the basis of the engraving contained in
Perspectiva pictorum and reproducing the altar of Saint Luis Gonzaga at Saint Ignatius’. Moggi says that alterations had to be made
in order to make it suitable to the Chinese taste (accomodarlo al
luogo e al Paese), but he does not seem to regret having to disguise
the European architectonic taste by multiplying columns and
indulge in artful decorations to accommodate it to the Chinese
ingenuity (disimulato per accomodarlo al genio Cinese).
Finally, the reference to the altar chandeliers that had been
manufactured in Canton, suggests the existence of a network of
workshops, mainly in South China, that catered to the needs of
the Jesuit mission.
The Bei Tang (Northern Church)
The first site of the Bei Tang was on the west bank of Lake
Canchikou. The plot of land was donated by the Kangxi Emperor as a token of gratitude to the French Jesuits Jean de Fontaney
(1643-1710) and Claude de Visdelou (1656-1737) who, by making
use of quinine from Peru, treated him for malaria.
When the church was completed, Emperor Kangxi donated
two ceremonial scrolls to mark the occasion. The scrolls were entitled ‘The True Origin of all Things” and bore the Emperor’s own
calligraphy35.
The church took four years to complete and was later known
as St. Saviour’s. It was consecrated on the 9th of December, 1703,
and included an astronomical observatory and a library where
most of the European books collected by the Jesuits were held36.
After the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, the Lazarists
took over the premises, but in 1827 the church was confiscated by
the Dao Guang Emperor. The property was then sold to a court
official named Yu, who ordered the church to be demolished. It
was eventually returned to the Catholic Church in 1860 and six
years later a new church was edified. In 1887 the imperial household extended the boundaries of the palace compound, so that
the Northern Church fell within the confines of the Forbidden
City. For this reason, the church had to be moved to its present
location in Xishiku. A new church along with a bishopric residence, a seminary and a nursery were erected on the same year.
The church was besieged and its bell-tower damaged during the
Boxer Uprising.
After 1860 the Bei Tang became the cathedral church of the
diocese as it replaced the Nan Tang as bishopric. In 1985 the
church was returned to the Catholics and reopened in December
of that year. In 1989 the Beijing Diocesan Seminary was transferred to the Bei Tang but it was again moved in 1992 to Pingfang,
east of the city.
A rare painting showing a bird’s-eye view of a church complex
in Beijing held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, was identified by Noël Golvers as the Bei Tang37 (Fig. 208).
The pictorial decoration of the church had been executed by
Giovanni Gherardini, who had been introduced to the art of
quadratura by Angelo Michele Colonna and Agostino Mitelli. In
a document attributed to Jean-François Foucquet there is a brief
description of his work.
He left in their church [of the French missionaries] many paintings of
which the most beautiful is a tableau depicting St. Michael who, holding
241
a spear in his hand, is about to thrust a demon, while he stamps his foot
on his head. The angel seems to have just descended from heaven and
still maintains his body suspended in the air38.
A lengthier testimony of the fresco paintings, including a false
dome, executed by Gherardini, is in letter by Pierre Jartoux, dated 20 August, 1704, to Jean de Fontaney.
Le plafond est tout à fait peint. Il est divisé en trois parties, le milieu
représente un dôme tout ouvert, d’une riche architecture; ce sont des
colonnes de marbre qui portent un rang d’arcades surmonté d’une
belle balaustrade d’un beau dessein, avec des vases à fleurs fort bien
placés; on voit au dessus le Père éternel assis dans les nues sur un groupe
d’Anges, et tenant le monde en sa main39.
Private chapels for the Manchu Royal Family
In the document attributed to Joseph Suares (1656-1736), Compendio da historia de como varias pessoas da familia imperial Tartato-Sinica abraçarão a religião christam, progressos que n’ella fizerão, e como forão
desterradas por esta causa pelo imperador Yumchim40, there is a long
description of the chapels built for the Su Nu family (Fig. 215)
A chapel had been built by Ku Er chen, the eleventh son of Su
Nu, in his palace and it was reserved for his wife, his daughters
and other household members41. A letter by Parrenin42 shows that
these private chapels were indispensable because high rank ladies
would not enter churches where Christian women took part in
biannual services.
John Witek was the first to highlight the activity of Giuseppe
Castiglione as painter in the service of the Su Nu family43. In fact
the document presents a brief description of his endeavours:
And now that we come to the question of the chapels, I must say something in this respect so that you can understand the fervour of these
princes. They already had six such chapels in the residences of these
most noble and most fervent neophytes. The largest chapel was the one
belonging to Paul [Shu Er Chen] and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It
was built with care, decorated and gilded with grandeur. In the European style retablo, there are three very elegantly decorated panels, by the
hand of Br. Joseph Castiglione. The panel in the middle represents the
Holy Trinity and at both sides stand a panel of Our Lady and one of
Saint Joseph…
The chapel hosted the Blessed Sacrament so as to allow the
Princesses to receive the Communion without having to attend
service at the Church of Our Lady, near the Jesuit College, an
action prevented by their rank.
A lavish banquet, attended by a large number of converts of
both sexes [f. 7a], was hosted by Paul on the day the chapel was
consecrated and four Fathers ministered the ceremony.
The first Mass to be celebrated in this chapel took place on the
solemnity of the Holy Trinity, the 11th of June of 1724. Unfortunately no music accompaniment could be provided.
But it was compensated for by the most tender whispers and tears of
devotion of those ladies, which moved the celebrant and the two altarboys. During that mass fifty nine ladies and maidens received Communion, [while] female servants who could not communicate on that
day, did so [f. 8a] the following days [either in the chapel] or, most certainly, in the Church of Our Lady that stands near the College.
The solemnity with which the chapel had been consecrated,
induced other blood princes to emulate Shu Er Chen. More
242
sacred images and retablos were commissioned as new chapels
were built for the converted princes of the Su Nu family.
The text draws emphasis on the cult rendered to holy images,
especially those called “imagem mayor”, probably large-size
images framed in “retablos de Architectura Europeya” (Europeanstyle architectonical retablos). The Manchu princesses are reported
to be firm in devotion and piety through fasts, prayers, alms and
spiritual exercises.
Conclusions
The role played by the missionaries of the Society of Jesus as
cultural mediators, does not only extend to scientific knowledge
but also to the fields of mechanic and liberal arts. In order to
equip their residences with spaces where liturgy and lectures
could adequately take place, they established a complex network
of workshops where local artists, craftsmen and engineers were
employed to be instructed in stone carving, copper engraving and
carpentry, under the supervision of Jesuit artists.
The China mission was at the heart of the Jesuit missionary
enterprise; the Jesuit churches built in Beijing during the XVII
and XVIII centuries, with their sumptuous Baroque decorations,
drew the admiration of Chinese, Korean and foreign visitors. In
this context, Andrea Pozzo’s Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum,
had been an endless source of inspiration. Thanks to its remarkable clarity and coherence, it made available a host of visual materials that have been reproduced, not only in China, but in overseas missions worldwide.
Castiglione, declaring himself a pupil of Pozzo, even wanted to
imitate the editorial success of the book: a volume of engravings,
reproducing his paintings executed in Beijing, was to be sent to
the Superior General of the Order. It was Castiglione’s hope that
the book might be used in Europe by apprentices in the art of
painting and that the revenue produced by its sale be employed to
support the China mission44.
NOTES
For a detailed treatment of this problem, see PAYNE 1999, pp. 170-213.
On the tract composed by Giuseppe Valeriano and Bartolomeo Ammannati, An aedificandi ratio petit debeat at ex uno Vitruvio. Num item ex Salomonici Templi, quae olim extabat structurai, which was included in Antonio Possevino’s Bibliotheca Selecta, tome 2, book XV, De mathematica, chapter 16, see KIENE 1996),
pp. 183-196 plus 11 plates. On Villalpando see LARA 1999.
3
On Kircher’s architectonical theorizations see PERUGINI 1986, pp. 195-209.
4
‘眼著心之牖也眼上啓閉者護牕之闥也牕勿常啓惟以納光煙雨風塵
閉勿使入惟吾之所欲視善眼不生于後生于前為矚未到之程非戀已成之
妹教人進也人廢眼無復前塗是等廢人人廢傷哉. (f. 3a-b). For a lengthy discussion of this issue, please see my forthcoming essay “Our little daily death”.
Francesco Sambiasi’s treatise on sleep and images in Chinese.
5
The full title reads: El Museo pictórico y Escala óptica Tomo I, Teórica de la Pintura en que se describe su Origen, Essencia, Especies, y Qualidades, con todos los demás,
Accidentes, que la enriquecen, è ilustran. Y se preban, con demonstraciones Mathematicas, y Filosoficas, sus más radicales Fundamentos, Madrid, Lucas Antonio de Bedmar, 1715, I, p. 73.
6
Ibid. The text has been slightly emended.
1
2
7
See for example S. Ignatii epistolae et instructiones, Monumenta Ignatiana,
series prima, VIII, 714: Juan Nuñez to St. Ignatius, 14 October 1554.
8
Richard Bösel has advocated the significance of “Jesuit architecture” as a
historiographical category in which common denominators have to be understood more in terms of assurance of a “corporate identity” than as a universally
applied normative. BöSEL 2005, pp.65-122.
9
BALDINI 2000, pp. 99-110. See also, in the same collection of essays, Esperti
gesuiti nelle visite alle acque del ferrarese dopo la devoluzione (1599-1611), pp. 111-123.
10
BALDINI 2000, p. 109, n. 22.
11
Pozzo’s Perspectiva is preceded by Jean Dubreuil’s La Perspective pratique,
published in 1642. For a cogent analysis of the Perspectiva in the context of the
Jesuit mathematical culture, see CAMEROTA 2010, pp. 25-36.
12
On the importance of Pozzo’s workshop at the Roman College see BöSEL,
SALVIUCCI INSOLERA 2010, pp. 201-203.
13
FILIPPO S. BALDINUCCI, Vite di Artisti dei secoli XVII-XVIII: prima edizione
integrale del codice Palatino 565, ad vocem Vita del padre Pozzo Gesuita, cit. by
SALVIUCCI INSOLERA 2010, p. 201.
14
Letter by Claudio Acquaviva to the Provincial in Rome, 1st of November,
1612, ARSI; Rom. 16, f. 160, cit. in BöSEL 2004a, p. 29.
15
BöSEL 2004a, ibid.
16
GOLVERS 2003, p. 15.
17
PEDRO CHIRINO, SJ, Relación de las Islas Filipinas, Rome, 1604, p. 37. See
José Regalado Trota, Imaging Our Lady in Sixteenth-century Manila: Nuestra Seniora del Rosario de La Naval, in http://www.cilam.ucr.edu/diagonal/issues/
2008/TrotaJose2.pdf (read on 30th September 2010), p. 3.
18
Letter in ARSI, JapSin 13, I, ff. 7-8.
19
BAILEY 2001, p.53 (52-81). The “Seminary of Painters” established by
Alessandro Valignano in the seminary at Arima in 1583, had been directed by
the brother coadjutor Giovanni Niccolò (1563-1626) and soon became a major
centre of diffusion of European visual culture in Asia.
20
ARSI, JapSin 199 I, f. 324.
21
For a case study in colonial New Spain, see BARGELLINI 2008, pp. 143-155.
22
On Gherardini’s pictorial decorations of the Bei Tang, see CORSI 1999,
pp. 103-122.
23
See Corsi (2010), pp. 93- 100, 177-181.
24
A.H.U. Cart. Ms.-XI CM 758.
25
The plan here reproduced is an etching held at ARSI, Fondo Gesuitico,
Collegia, 1382, busta 18, 1-2.
26
ARSI, JapSin 14, II, f. 234v. See also TACCHI VENTURI 1911-1913, II, p. 484.
De Ursis had spent a year, from 1600 to 1601 at the Academy of Mathematics
run by Clavius at the Roman College, where he may have acquired the rudiments of architectural drawing.
27
Cit. by BAILEY 2001, p. 94. Original text in TACCHI VENTURI 1911-13, I, p.
613, n. 2.
28
Translated by KING 1998, pp. 49-51.
29
SCHALL VON BELL 1665, p. 232.
30
Lisbon, Arquivo Històrico Ultramarino, CARTm, 098, D.760. The plan
of the interior is 103,3 x 50,2 cms and the altar of the Annunciation indicated
by B in the captions may be the one to which the Dijing jingwu lyue refers. The
church boasted a laudatio of the missionaries achievements, written by the
Emperor in the form of couplets hanging on both sides of the church main
entrance (indicated by NO on the sagrato map).
31
See CORSI 2004.
32
The Mathematical Museum at the Imperial Court was an establishment
somewhat resembling Kircher’s Museum at the Roman College: a collection of
curiosities and scientific instruments, for the amusement of the mind and the
eyes of the Chinese Emperor. I should like to express my thanks to Dr. …of the
Austrian National Library.for providing me with this information.
33
The church drawings are numbered 758 and 759, while the map is numbered 760.
34
ARSI, JapSin, 184, f. 41rv.
35
A copy of the inscription is at ARSI, G.F., Cassetto 3, f.1.
36
On the present state and location of the library holdings see Li Guoqing
李國慶 e Sun Liping 孫利平 (2003), 1, pp. 214-256.
37
GOLVERS 1993, fig. 43.
38
Rome, Archive of the Sacra Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei
popoli or “De Propaganda Fide”, S.C. Indie Orientali, Cina Misc. 2, f. 443v (ff.
411-46); another copy BNF, Mss. Fr. 25670, 1-44 (copy).
The attribution of this document to Foucquet was made by WITEK 1982,
pp. 29 and 356.
39
Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites par des Missionnaires de la Compagnie de
Jésus. Mèmoires de la Chine, vol X, Lyon, 1819, p. 3.
40
Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional, A. 2-32. The manuscript can be dated after
1710. The inventory reports: Factos occorridos na primeira metade do seculo XVIII, Doação do Dr. A. Ribeiro dos Santos - 1 vol. In 4.° de 18 fl., encad.
41
The story of Su Nu’s sons conversion is narrated by WITEK 1993.
42
Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, vol. III, pp. 366- 481, and especially p. 372.
43
A few lines of this text are cited by WITEK 1993 with some flaws, on p. 271,
n. 13.
44
ARSI, JapSin, 184, 37r-v.
243