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Abstract
Cardinal Cesare Baronia, a leader of Roman efforts around 1600 to conserve, restore, and revive Christian antiquities, was able to reconstruct two churches, SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, and S. Cesareo de'Appia, in the Early Christian style. Though several scholars have discussed these restorations, no study of the historian's sources and method has yet been attempted. In the first section of this paper, I investigate previously neglected elements, starting with the column in front of each church and proceeding inside to the chancel areas. In every instance, the Early Christian sources from which Baronio may have taken his ideas are noted. The Annales ecclesiastici are probed for what they reveal of Baronio's knowledge of Early Christian churches, of their layout and furnishings. In the second part I discuss the Early Christian sources behind the iconography and style of painted decorations created in both churches during Baronio's restorations, again with the help of the Annales ecclesiastici. Why Baronio wanted some paintings in SS. Nereo ed Achilleo to look Early Christian and others modern is considered in my conclusion.
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Alexandra Herz
Alexandra Herz's work on various aspects of the Early Christian revival in the art of Counter-Reformation Rome has appeared in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte and is forthcoming in Storia dell'Arte [1470 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146].