LE PLAT, Collect. Monum. vII, Par. alt. p. 45. Ichnography was certainly no object of attention in this View. VI. Doctrine: Justification-Reformation: Residence : Excesses of Clerics, Secular and Regular XVI. Suspension of the Council-Subsequent Events XXI. Doctrine: Communion in both kinds: Infants, &c.- Session Page XXIV. Doctrine: Matrimony-Reformation: Ecclesiastical XXV. Doctrine: Purgatory: Indulgences, Invocation, Ve- neration and Relics of Saints, Sacred Images, &c.— Regulars and Nuns-Reformation: Cardinals, Ex- communication, Episcopal Sees, &c., Duelling, &c. ACCOUNT OF THE PLATE OF THE COUNCIL IN SESSION. GRATITUDE and justice compel me to make public my obligation to the Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, not only for the knowledge of the engraving itself here copied, and the book containing it, Trento con il Sacro Concilio, &c., by M. A. Mariani, a copy of which is among the treasures of the British Museum, but likewise for the facilities furnished by him of getting it copied in outline, as has been done, and in a style, if I mistake not, much to the credit of the artist. I am indeed indebted to the same source for all the information which I am able to give on the subject. It would have been a considerable satisfaction if I could have obtained an explanation of the numbers affixed to several of the principal figures, as they are said to be portraits; but my friend, (upon whose information I am obliged to rely, not having had the opportunity, from continued residence in the country, of inspecting the book, or plate, myself,) informs me, that no explanations corresponding with the numbers are found in the work. The author merely writes, describing the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, that in it may be seen on the right hand of the High Altar a square picture by the hand, and from the design, of Helia Nauritio. The plate is then inserted, and this is followed by thirty-two pages of brief notices of the proceedings of each session, including the anathemas against all heretics at the close, with a list of prelates and others present. Mr. Horne supposes that some explanatory reference might have been intended, but was left unexecuted. The numbers, however, are retained, because they evidently point out the order of precedence, if that indeed were not the only intention. Possibly some other work may exist XXX which would throw some light upon the subject: at all events the numbers are a part of the plate. That plate was executed after the original painting in the above-mentioned church, in, or before, the year 1673,-more than a century and a half, therefore, from the present year: and it is a certain inference, that, at that time, the original must have been in a far more perfect state than it is at present, and as seen and described by M. Inglis. See note in page 17 of the present memoirs. I should add, that the engraving accompanying this volume is of precisely the same dimensions as that which it represents, and is therefore, as far as an outline can be, a fac simile, preserving perhaps all the effect which is material of the original. The variation which may be observed between this plate and the sketch which has been transferred from the pages of Le Plat, may be accounted for from the fact, that the latter is taken from the Acts of Massarelli, as first published by Martene, in his Collect. Vet. Monument., and by its position represents the arrangement of the session at the very commencement of the Council, while the former is as plainly a representation of the same at the conclusion of the Council. The reconciliation of the two, however, on any supposition, does not rest with the author. His work will pretty amply and satisfactorily explain most of the particulars in the engraving. The reader should be aware that the sessions were held, not in the church where the painting is, but in the cathedral. |