Not unlike a certain popular book/television series, Rome has had its share of power-grabbing and competing families. While many began their ascent to fortune and fame in the outlying Italian provinces, their ultimate goal was often control of the papacy and the Eternal City. Of course, we all want a permanent reminder of our glories; while the Italians couldn't upload photos to facebook or post their random topics/thoughts to a blogging service, they did the next best thing: commissioning their artists for tombs, chapels, monuments, palazzi, and churches.
But what's the point in building something if you can't show who was responsible for the Glorious work? While today's big donors get a dry "John Q. Private Wing" sign over the entrance to their funded projects, Renaissance artists and architects were a little more creative in tying their designs back to the family or individual that made it possible.
Every family was associated with certain symbols that were as good as the family name itself for identification. The Stark direwolf. The Lannister lion. Oops, that's GoT. The Barberini bees. The Chigi mounds. While one of the easiest ways to claim ownership was to put up a shield with this coat-of-arms over the new project, there were many other ways to tie in the benefactor's identity. At the end of the day, a church may come off as more of a blatant advertisement for someone's glory than merely a place of worship.
So on our last vacation back to Rome, we tried to make it a point to catch the (sometimes not-so-) little details proclaiming the generous donors that made Rome's rebirth possible. As I sort through our photos, I'll post some examples and link to them below...
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