Operational methodology for the reconstruction of Baroque Ephemeral apparatuses: the case study of the funeral apparatus for Cardinal Mazarin in Rome


ACTA IMEKO 
ISSN: 2221-870X 
March 2022, Volume 11, Number 1, 1 -9 

 

ACTA IMEKO | www.imeko.org March 2022| Volume 11 | Number 1 | 1 

Operational methodology for the reconstruction of Baroque 
Ephemeral apparatuses: the case study of the funeral 
apparatus for Cardinal Mazarin in Rome 

Margherita Antolini1 

1 via di S. Valentino 16, 00197, Rome, Italy 

 

 

Section: RESEARCH PAPER 

Keywords: Ephemeral Baroque; virtual reconstruction; reconstruction from text 

Citation:Margherita Antolini, Operational methodology for the reconstruction of Baroque Ephemeral apparatuses: the case study of the funeral apparatus 
for Cardinal Mazarin in Rome, Acta IMEKO, vol. 11, no. 1, article 13, March 2022, identifier: IMEKO-ACTA-11 (2022)-01-13 

Section Editor: Fabio Santaniello, University of Trento, Italy 

Received March 6, 2021; In final form March 15, 2022; Published March 2022 

Copyright: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, 
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 

Corresponding author: Margherita Antolini, e-mail: margheritaantolini94@gmail.com  

 

1. INTRODUCTION 

From an historical and artistic point of view the Baroque 
Ephemeral is the most complete example of artistic and social 
synthesis, that englobes not only visual arts, but also music, 
literature and contemporary technical-scientific advancements, 
in order to achieve a product that can be enjoyed by the public 
as well as by the aristocracy and intellectuals and convey political 
and cultural messages at the same time. 

The Baroque Ephemeral apparatuses are not limited to the 
celebration but are part of a system of documents edited with a 
communicative purpose in order to disseminate and explain the 
event and its symbolic meaning. If on one hand this implies a 
certain wideness in the corpus of available sources, on the other 
hand opens an important question regarding their validity and 
objectivity in the representation of the events. Moreover, the 
concept of “ephemeral” itself, meaning existing for a limited 
time, poses issues of difficult solution in terms of conservation, 
mainly regarding the contraposition of ephemeral/permanent 
and reality/representation. 

These were the issues that started the present study, founded 
on the research of an experimental methodology for study, 
representation and communication -and consequently 
conservation- of Baroque Ephemeral artworks in their 
entireness: as artistic, architectonic, urban, social and political 
phenomena. 

Without forgetting the pioneering excursions of Bragaglia [1], 
Kernodle [2] and Tintelnott [3], only in the second half of the 
last century there was an effective reawakening of interest around 
this line of Italian creativity in the wake of Povoledo [4], Viale 
Ferrero [5], Zorzi [6], Ricci [7], the Fagiolo dell'Arco brothers. 
Although failing to exhaust such a complex theme, they have 
defined its outlines and focused the main aspects, restoring 
dignity to an artistic expression long ignored, promoting 
publications and exhibitions: we find one in Naples in 1997 [8], 
in Parma in 2018 [9], and in Florence in 2019 [10], which 
represent a focal moment of study around the theme and 
available corpus of works. 

But it is certainly Maurizio Fagiolo dall'Arco in the 70s and 
80s to conduct the most exhaustive and systematic study of the 
Baroque Ephemeral published to date: among his publications 
we find Bibliografiadella festa barocca, and a work edited with Silvia 

ABSTRACT 
This paper aims to develop a methodology of study of Ephemeral artefacts that takes into consideration all the different aspects of the 
specific art form that is Ephemeral Baroque Architecture. Through the study of the social and artistic characteristics of this art form, the 
analysis of a wide range of case studies will help defining some common and recurring features, especially regarding available data 
(engravings, paintings, manuscripts, etc.) The main goal of the research will be to outline a methodology of approach to the single cases 
based on reconstruction from text and graphic data, with special attention reserved to the relationship between the ephemeral 
apparatus and the surrounding urban space. The effectiveness of the methodology is tested through the application to the case study 
of the funeral apparatus for Cardinal Mazarin in Rome (1661). 

mailto:margheritaantolini94@gmail.com


 

ACTA IMEKO | www.imeko.org March 2022| Volume 11 | Number 1 | 2 

Carandini who represents the real cornerstone for studies on the 
theme, L’effimerobarocco: strutturedella festa nella Roma del ‘600, as well 
as numerous publications and articles on the subject. 
Only in the recent years the theme of the reconstruction of 
Baroque Ephemeral gained the attention of various academics 
such as Paolo Belardi [11] and Paolo Lattuada [12] who 
conducted experiments on the representation of ephemeral 
apparatuses, whereas Macarthur, Leach [13], Delbeke [14] and 
Conforti, d’Amelio, Grieco [15] continue the tradition of 
historical analysis through documents in the footsteps of Fagiolo 
dall’Arco and Carandini. 

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PHENOMENON 

The concept of ephemeral architecture - and therefore 
temporary and "false" - as well as the construction techniques 
used have their roots in theatrical scenography, an artistic 
practice that experienced a moment of intense development in 
the 16th and 17th centuries, with the birth of melodrama and the 
works of artists such as Palladio, Scamozzi, Serlio and Peruzzi. 
The idea of arranging urban spaces to celebrate events is the 
logical consequence of the conception of the new acting space, 
and it naturally encompasses all of its characters. 

On the other hand, the depictions of pomp and luxury that 
characterize these projects are only a staging of power: rather 
than representing the stability of the institutions and their highest 
representatives, these evanescent creations actually seem to be 
the symbol of an equally labile and inconsistent power, of the 
political void of a fragmented and often subject to foreign 
domination country [16]. Used to divert the attention of ordinary 
people from the precarious reality and to create a fictitious link 
between the various social classes, ephemeral constructions 
found a particularly fertile terrain during the XVII century when, 
with the spread of Baroque poetry, the spectacular effect became 
the primary component of any artistic expression. 

Thus art becomes an instrument of political propaganda and 
manipulation of the people who, through a new form of panem 
et circenses finds a moment of liberation from the working reality 
and contact with the unreachable world of the Roman 
aristocracy. At the same time, celebrations are a demonstration 
of strength also towards other nations. A clear example are the 
installations built for the celebration of the birth of foreign 
princes, as in the case of the Dauphin of France in 1662 designed 
by Bernini, or the exceptional one for the arrival in Rome of 
Christina of Sweden in 1655. On this occasion, on the 23rd and 
24th of December 1655, apparatuses similar to those of the Papal 
possession were set up for the entrance into Rome, in a path that 
unraveled among Porta del Popolo, San Pietro and Palazzo 
Farnese, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Giovan Paolo Schor, Ercole 
Ferrata and Carlo Rainaldi; in February of the following year the 
presence of the former queen animated the Carnival with special 
floats in Via del Corso, and theatrical performances at Palazzo 
Barberini designed by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi. 

The religious-political-social program of the Baroque 
Ephemeral exploits the technique of wonder according to the 
politics of persuasion, giving the artist a particular role as an 
image specialist. In this case, art does not give us the real face of 
the century but the face it believed (or wanted to be believed) to 
have: splendid, idealized, sumptuous, rich. The relationship of 
the artist with the client, and therefore with power, becomes 
particularly delicate to interpret at this point. Despite being an 
instrument in the hands of religious-political power, the artist 
manages to impose his intellectual power, integrating the 

allegory, bearer of the political message, in the imaginative 
method. 

Festive occasions retrace the entire life span of illustrious 
personalities, first of all of the Pope, in a mixture of civil and 
religious occasions. The public feast, enjoyed by the community 
in an integral manner, is a complete event, both sacred and 
profane at the same time, during which the judgment is 
suspended and one deliberately enters into a reality different 
from the daily life. 

From a planning and organizational point of view, the 
celebration follows the same process regardless of the occasion. 
The main manager is the intellectual, who often coincides with 
the client: man of culture or religion, he takes care of drafting the 
ideological program of the festival, experimenting with new tools 
for cultural diffusion. In the next phase, the artist and the creator 
collaborate to identify a more or less complex communication 
code, which will then be translated into forms. In every single 
apparatus, the plastic, pictorial and literary solutions are therefore 
a support for the ideological and cultural connotation, and are 
arranged in a spatial - and consequently temporal -succession in 
order to fulfill all the allegorical implications of the program [17]. 

The event is also completed by a report drawn up by the 
intellectual and illustrated with few engravings, in which the 
apparatus and its meaning are described and explained, with the 
aim of functioning as a booklet for those who participate in the 
occasion, but also as means of diffusion especially in foreign 
courts. 

In this context, the relationship with the place and the city is 
fundamental: Rome first of all presents itself as a spectacle, with 
its history and its tradition. The ancient city becomes an immense 
and prestigious theater and, if on the one hand it recalls the 
almost obsessive use of theatrical terminology in Baroque 
culture, on the other it clarifies the particular political, social and 
urban configuration of the city in relation to the shows that on 
that scene take place. 

3. METHOLODOGICAL ISSUES 

The study of the cultural phenomenon of the ephemeral in 
the Baroque era has highlighted several characterizing and 
relevant aspects for the study of the individual artefacts: in 
particular, the literary and socio-political components were 
found to be fundamental. 

Approaching the individual projects, some recurring features 
from the documentary point of view emerge. Analyzing a wide 
range of examples, it was clear that there are several basic 
structures which, if analyzed, can facilitate and simplify the study. 
In particular: 

• each occasion presents recurring types and expedients, 
explained in specific treaties; 

• each artist uses a more or less homogeneous language, 
and given the short time dedicated to the design and 
construction of the apparatus, he often reuses the same 
pieces on different occasions; 

• each occasion is documented by a written text and some 
"official" engravings, as well as paintings and other 
testimonies. 

In this study, attention is paid to the latter as the only tool 
available for the reconstruction of ephemeral apparatuses. 

The relationship between text and architecture is a theme 
dealt with starting from the reading of Vitruvius in the 16th 
century, or of Leon Battista Alberti's Descriptio Urbis Romae, 
and is still an object of interest in various areas of study. In these 



 

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cases, unlike what happens in the field of restoration and 
archeology, the reconstruction does not start from the study of 
the artefact to be integrated with iconographic sources, but 
proceeds in the opposite direction, using texts and images as a 
starting point to then be confronted with the built reality. 

Some scholars attempted reconstructions of baroque 
ephemeral systems, achieving results that we believe are partial 
and not very relevant, but which open the way to a series of 
interesting reflections and observations. 

On the one hand Paolo Lattuada[12] reconstructs, in a virtual 
and physical environment, the celebratory machine designed by 
Ferdinando Sanfelice in 1740 for the birth of the Reale Infanta 
in Naples. If on the one hand he manages to interpret all the 
metric and space integration aspects, both the realization in 
wooden panels and the virtual restitution are lacking considering 
the figurative restitution of the desired atmosphere and obtained 
by the designer. On the other side, Paolo Belardi and Valeria 
Menchetelli [13] deal with Giuseppe Piermarini's work by 
returning well-defined and metric correct models, but completely 
ignoring the material, figurative and integration aspects with the 
context. 

The need of an operative methodology that would allow to 
obtain a historical, critical and virtual reconstruction of the 
baroque ephemeral architectures arose from the analysis of the 
two proposed examples and archival documents. By these terms 
it is understood that the methodology presented aims to indicate 
a series of effective steps which, if followed and applied with a 
critical conscience on a case-by-case basis, return a historically 
reliable product that takes into account the historical distance 
and the transformations that happened in the places and in the 
urban fabric. 

The choice of the virtual environment as the main theater of 
restitution derives from a reasoning on the most appropriate 
means for communicating this form of intangible heritage. Two 
aspects have led to the exclusion of pure two-dimensional 
representation and the hypothesis of the construction of 
temporary constructions:  

• the virtual environment respects the idea of temporary 
set-up without producing fake and always temporary 
artefacts, however allowing to interact with the place and 
participate in a possible museum project [18], [19]; 

• the virtual environment is the contemporary response to 
the baroque desire to expansion and manipulation of 
space. 

In addition to these premises, the method was empirically 
deduced from the study of the sources of a case series varied 
from the point of view of the occasions and the artists involved, 
which unfolds during the XVII and XVIII centuries in Rome. 

The process is structured in four fundamental phases, which 
can be summarized in the study of the sources, study of the 
object, analytical phase and restitution; while the first and the last 
clearly represent the initial and final moment of the work, the 
two intermediates can be considered complementary and 
represent the real critical moment of the study (as shown in 
Figure 1). 

Once a project to be analyzed has been selected, the first step 
in the process is the collection and study of the sources relevant 
to the case study. In most cases it will be a report and official 
engravings, which can be accompanied by commemorative 
paintings and period chronicles. Fagiolo dell'Arco and Carandini 
[20] have already drawn up a catalog of ephemeral apparatuses 
realized in Rome, which lists each project according to year, 
occasion, artists, material produced, material available and 

transcription of textual sources. This volume is extremely 
relevant and can constitute the beginning of a systematic study, 
but it is limited to a documentation without interpretation of the 
data collected. 

The second moment aims at the appropriation of the data 
with the aim of analyzing it later: it is therefore a matter of 
transcribing the texts, often manuscripts or Seventeenth century 
prints, and of redesigning the engravings collected. In this way it 
is possible to begin to discern the characteristic elements and the 
amount of information available regarding the specific case. 

Afterwards, two courses of study open up: on one side the 
study of the object, on the other the analytical phase. The 
following will be presented one after the other, but it is clear that 
there is a continuous exchange between the two. 

As for the study of the object, it was highlighted how the place 
was a fundamental component of the Baroque festival and the 
design of the equipment. For this reason, it is firstly planned to 
carry out the survey of the area concerned, in its current 
configuration and in a reconstructive hypothesis of the 
contemporary configuration at the date of the celebration. For 
this, we will apply on the one hand the methods of integrated 
surveying with massive acquisition for the survey of the current 
state, and on the other the techniques of historical research 
through archival documents, historical maps, analysis of the 
walls, etc. 

The operations described will result in a pointcloud and a 
timeline, which will be graphed in a two-dimensional (drawings) 
and three-dimensional(models) restitutions of the current state 
of the place and of the reconstructive hypothesis of the historical 
moment involved in the study. In this case it is not strictly 
necessary to study in depth each building phase, but it is certainly 
important to have a clear vision of the evolution of the fabric and 
the construction.  

At the same time, it is possible to start the analytical phase, 
studying the cultural environment. Given the importance of the 
ideological and allegorical contents, attention will be paid in 
particular to the figure of the client and the artists involved, as 
well as to the research for comparisons of similar cases. 
Considering the scarcity of iconographic material, in fact, the 
deepening of the artist's style can lead to valid interpretations of 
the data gaps, or to clarifications of unclear points. 

At this point the actual analysis of the documents begins: 
firstly, we will analyze the geometric-proportional aspects of the 
graphic data, interpreting the techniques and graphic choices 
used in the engravings and paintings, and applying the rules of 
reversed perspective and of the orthogonal projection. In this 
way, it will be possible to establish the reliability of the designs 
and their correspondence to reality, and to understand if 
particular visual effects have been sought. Knowing the 
geometry of the place, in fact, it will be sufficient to overlay the 
two representations to notice any deformations, technical tricks, 
or inaccuracies. 

A similar approach will be applied to textual data, from which 
all possible information will be derived. Graphic and textual data 
will then be interpolated to develop a model as exhaustive as 
possible regarding elements, geometries, colors, settings, lighting, 
details, allegorical meanings, plastic solutions, etc. 

To proceed in the knowledge, we then proceed by working 
on classifications that synthesize the distinction between 
ephemeral and permanent elements, the artistic techniques used, 
which range from painting to sculpture to pyrotechnic 
installations, but also musical, to finally distinct an abacus of 



 

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serial and special elements. Note how these two phases are the 
most conditioned by the specificity of each case. 

The last moment is the restitution. This can take different 
forms depending on the sensitivity of the operator, the specific 
case study, and the use that will be made of it, but it must 
necessarily be composed of a series of two-dimensional drawings 
regarding the appearance of the place during the party, and of 
the three-dimensional models that present the layout in its 
original setting and the integration of the layout in today's 
environment. 

4. CASE STUDY 

The chosen case study is the Pompa Funebre nell'Esequie celebrate 
in Roma al Cardinal Mazarini nella Chiesa dei SS Vincenzo e 
Anastasiothattook place in 1661. 

A few years earlier, Cardinal Giulio Mazzarino, minister of 
Louis XIV, financed the construction of a church in the area of 
Piazza di Trevi, the church of Saints Vincent and Anastasius at 
Trevi, which was completed a few months before his death. Here 
the funeral was celebrated in Rome, with an apparatus created by 
Elpidio Benedetti as the intellectual of reference and Giovanni 
Francesco Grimaldi as the artist. 

At this time, an important role was played by Castrum Doloris 
and funeral celebrations in general. Menestrier [21] describes the 
regulations for the funeral ceremony: the funeral is divided into 
different moments (invitation, convoy, service, funeral eulogy, 
burial) which must correspond to the different parts of the 
church decoration (external facade, nave, altars, inscriptions, 
catafalque) as places appointed for an allegorical representation 
that culminates in the luminous vision of the Castrum Doloris, 
where the triumph of death and religious and temporal power 
represented by the deceased are celebrated. The catafalque is the 

mirror of Baroque taste, increasingly aimed at dematerialisation 
and to the refined invention, which will culminate in the 
triumphs of the macabre designed by Bernini. 

It is possible to trace a real typological evolution in the forms 
taken by the catafalques during the 17th century from the forms 
of the ancient mausoleums: from an initial temple shape 
(Catafalque for Sixtus V, D. Fontana, 1591) we move on to a 
temple or pyre type (Catafalque for Philippe the III, Torriani, 
1621), and then prefer real miniature mausoleums (Catafalque for 
Gregorius XV, Lippi, 1623) ; these typologies are accompanied 
by exotic experiments, such as the Catafalque della Valle in 1627, 
while in the second half of the century pyramid forms are 
preferred (Catafalque for the Jesuits, Sacchi, 1639) and types 
based on assembly, such as the temple type- baldachin 
(Catafalque for Philippe the IV, Del Grande, 1665), mausoleum 
with obelisks (Catafalque for Philippe IV, C. Rainaldi, 1665) and 
triumphal arch and small temple with pyramid (Catafalque for 
Anne of Austria, Grimaldi, 1666), up to pyramids supported by 
living skeletons (Catafalque Beaufort, 1668).[17] Throughout his 
life Grimaldi enjoyed the admiration and favor of a large group 
of admirers, thanks to his ability to adapt to the client's needs, 
from his good-natured and quiet character and perhaps from the 
moderate rewards required. Among the first to express 
appreciation on the artist was Elpidio Benedetti himself: notes of 
commendation appear in the reports drawn up on the occasion 
of feasts and religious celebrations where he worked, as the 
judgment reported to him by Antonio Perez De Rua when the 
artist he decorated the external facade of the church of San 
Giacomo degli Spagnoli on the occasion of the funeral rite of the 
Spanish king Philip the IV: «cuiodiseno es de Iuav Francisco Grimaldi 
Bolognese, no menosvalienteen el pincel, que bizarro en el compas, y 
enestegenero de obrasestimado por el primero desta Corte.» [22] 

 

Figure 1. Flowchart of the proposed methodology. 



 

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4.1. Study of the sources 

Upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin on March 9, 1661, 
Benedetti received instructions from Louis XIV to create an 
adequate funeral pump. 

The funeral report, [23] written and published by Benedetti, 
contains five engravings by Dominique Barrière which document 
the catafalque, the decorations for the facade, the counter-facade, 
the nave and the choir on one facade drawing, three views of the 
interior, one towards the choir, the second towards the main 
entrance and the third of the walls of the lateral nave, and of the 
catafalque. 

Barrière’s name appears only in the engravings of the facade 
and the catafalque, while all the engravings bear the inscription 
Abbas Elpidius Benedictus Inven., and Grimaldi is referred to as 
Architect of the entire funeral apparatus, or artist responsible for 
its construction. 

In the decoration of the facade and the interior it is difficult 
to find Grimaldi's hand: the two landscapes on the facade, 
representing the sunset and the rising sun, are somewhat 
elementary and do not seem to be the work of a specialist, so it 
seems that he entrusted this project to his aid given the 
contemporary commitment in the Palaces Santacroce and 
Nunez. On the other hand, the engraving of the cardinal's 
catafalque highlights the typical stylistic elements of Grimaldi, on 
the basis of which both the invention and the execution are 
attributable to him. 

The catafalque is a simple structure which, although lacking 
specific preparatory studies, retains many elements also found in 
the preparatory studies for the catafalque for Anne of Austria, 
designed and built by Grimaldi in 1666 [22]: some of the 
elements present in the first sketch were incorporated into the 
catafalque of cardinal Mazarin, for example the candle holders 
on the sides, the antique style putti on the right at the base of the 
catafalque of Anne of Austria are also present next to that of 
cardinal Mazarin. Likewise, the two female figures holding the 
urn reappear in Mazarin's catafalque, although their function has 
been changed. Furthermore, the two putti holding the queen's 
coat of arms perform almost the same function when they raise 
the cardinal's hat. Finally, in both monuments, the urn is placed 
on top of the funeral structure and above the urn appears the 
portrait of the deceased flanked by two figures. 

The second sketch contains elements that are found in the 
catafalque of Cardinal Mazarin, such as the pyramidal structure 
at the base of which, both in the drawing and in the engraving, 
two putti hold the coat of arms of Cardinal Mazarin while in an 
elaborate urn is placed high. In both cases, the entire structure 
ends with the portrait of the deceased flanked by two figures. 
Although the catafalque of Cardinal Mazarin is different, all the 
elements that compose it as well as the style of the female figures, 
the putti, the olive trees and palm trees refer back to Grimaldi 
rather than Benedetti. Grimaldi has in fact repeatedly used the 
same elements in his career. 

It is not clear who created the iconography: it could have been 
a collaboration between the French authorities, Benedetti and, 
perhaps, Grimaldi. In any case, it is based on a tribute to Cardinal 
Mazarin's services to the French crown and Christianity. At the 
foot of the square base sit two parts of the world in reference to 
Cardinal Mazarin's broad political action. Above the base there 
are the coat of arms and the cardinal's hat and above it there is a 
representation of Rome in tears over the death of the cardinal 
and on the other three sides are the relief representations of 
France, Spain and Christianity. Above the pyramidal structure 

rests the urn of Cardinal Mazarin who acts as a support for his 
portrait surrounded by a laurel wreath. 

On the left an olive tree, a symbol of peace, under which the 
Religion appears and behind it the Justice. On the right a palm 
tree, a symbol of war, with the Fortress underneath and 
Providence behind. Among the branches, two cherubs hold an 
olive crown with the inscription ET PACE and a palm crown 
with the inscription ET BELLO. 

4.2. Study of the object 

The survey of the church of Santi Anastasio e Vincenzo was 
carried out with the integrated survey methodologies with 
massive acquisition through laser scanner and Structure from 
Motion. In this way, a point cloud was obtained which was 
satisfactory for the set objective. Additionally, through historical 
research, it was possible to delineate a well-defined timeline for 
the construction of the church [24], [25]. 

Given the narrowness of the site, the original organism 
consisted of a nave flanked by chapels which, without a transept, 
ended in the presbytery with a flat deep wall, at the height of the 
pilasters that will then frame the eighteenth-century tribune. The 
Tribune, with the high altar and the elliptical dome above it, 
belong to the intervention after 1748. 

Regarding the nineteenth-century interventions, in addition to 
the decoration of the chapels, we highlight the fresco of the vault 
in 1818 and the restoration of 1857 with remaking of the marble 
floor. 

The building history can therefore be summarized in three 
main phases (Figure 2): 

• 1641-1646; Interior construction, with back wall and 
six chapels by Gaspare de Vecchi; 

• 1646-1650; Construction of the facade by Martino 
Longhi the Younger; 

• Post 1748; Extension of the church with Tribune, 
apse and dome; decoration of the chapels.  

For the purpose of the study, the configuration relating to 
1661, i.e. shortly after the completion of the second phase, was 
analyzed and redesigned, based on the comparison between the 
current configuration of the church, archival documents, 
engravings of landscape painters and engravings related to the 
apparatus. 

4.3. Analytical phase 

Following the previously described methodology, once the 
place and the general characteristics of the case study have been 
studied, the attention is focused on the iconographic sources of 
the apparatus. As for the funeral in question, no paintings or 
engravings other than those of the report were found, i.e. five 
engravings by Dominique Barrière depicting the facade, the 
counter-facade, the nave, the altar and the catafalque. 

All these engravings present the apparatus in its intended 
setting, which means that it is possible to infer the tridimensional 
configuration of the ephemeral apparatus simply by comparing 
the engravings with the survey and then applying the rules of 
inverted perspective is necessary. 

First of all, it was necessary to deal with the problem of scale 
and deformation: the engravings in fact have no dimensional 
indication and are not all represented on the same scale, but 
rather designed to fit the same format. Therefore, they have been 
divided into two groups, as two of them are drawn in orthogonal 
projection while the other three in central perspective. 

Analyzing those in orthogonal projection, that is the facade 
and the nave, at first it seemed sufficient to exploit the geometry 



 

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of the church, that is to say trivially to superimpose the engraving 
on the reconstructive hypothesis advanced during the historical 
study of the place. However, the operation has been proved not 
sufficient, since the drawings are deformed in height, probably 
to obtain visually more captivating effects of grandeur and 
vertical development (Figure 3). 

As for the counter-façade, the altar and the catafalque, they 
were divided into two further subgroups. The first includes the 
engravings of the counter-façade and the altar: also in this case, 
the solution seemed simple, that is to apply the rules of 
descriptive geometry and of the reverse perspective to obtain the 
real measurements, but a more detailed examination revealed that 
these two engravings present three central vanishing points and 
therefore are an assembly of three overlapping perspectives. 
Here too, as for the orthogonal projections, the goal of the 
engraver was to obtain a vertical expansion of the space of the 
drawing compared to the real space. The process was therefore 
to recognize the three perspectives with their vanishing points, 
horizons and landlines, and to recognize which parts of the 
drawing referred to the single system of projections, and then to 
apply the rules of inverse perspective (Figure 4). 

The last reasoning concerns the catafalque: as far as the 
perspective study is concerned, it was much simpler here as the 
drawing is a central perspective with a single vanishing point. 
However, the engraving exclusively shows the catafalque, 
removed from the architectural context, so it was possible to 
reconstruct its geometry but not its dimensions and position. 
Thanks to the integration with the textual data and with the 
stylistic comparisons, it was possible to know the position of the 
catafalque in the church and to notice how all the Grimaldi 

catafalques respond to the same dimensional relationships 
between the catafalque and the setting. 

At this point it was possible to integrate the information 
deriving from the graphic data with the survey and 
reconstruction drawings previously produced, obtaining the 
nature, position and size of each element; at the same time, it was 
possible to distinguish the elements of the ephemeral apparatus 
from those of the permanent architecture. 

 

Figure 2. Graphic representation of the three construction phases of the 
church of Santi Anastasio e Vincenzo in Rome. 

 

Figure 3. Analysis of the scale and deformation in the engraving of the nave 
in relation to the survey. 

 

Figure 4. Analysis of the perspective and deformation in the engraving of the 
altar. 



 

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An interesting detail is the study of shadows in the engravings. 
These, in fact, have been designed with such detail as to allow to 
distinguish the painted elements from those in relief, and for the 
latter to determine their depth and position with respect to the 
background. 

At the same time, the textual data was analyzed, first reading 
and transcribing the report carefully. The informative nature of 
the text was immediately evident, given the celebratory but at the 
same time simple language used by the author, and the absence 
of Latinisms. 

The report consists of seventeen pages of text. The first two 
cite a praise of all those who were involved in the organization 
of the funeral and introduce the following five chapters, each of 
which accompanied by an engraving. All these chapters follow 
the same approach: commendation of the deceased, description 
of a part of the apparatus and explanation of the allegorical 
meaning. 

As mentioned above, the text played a crucial role in defining 
the position and size of the catafalque, but also provided a 
number of important information. First of all, the analysis of the 
text confirmed the distinction of the elements in ephemeral and 
permanent; subsequently, it allowed the characterization of the 
models with data regarding materials, colours, lighting and 
desired atmosphere, and finally a further characterization 
through the allegorical reading (Figure 5). 

To obtain this result, the text has been reread several times, 
highlighting the different types of information and classifying 
them according to: element involved, chromatic, material, and 
symbolic data. These pieces of information were interpolated 
with the result of the analysis of the graphic data, and generated 
an abacus of elements based on the artistic techniques used and 
the seriality or not of the artefact, which clarified all the 
characteristics of the apparatus and facilitated the modeling 
process. 

Symbology information was not easy to integrate with two-
dimensional models but can be added to the three-dimensional 
model as easy-to-understand interactive pop-ups. 

4.4. Restitution 

The final result of the study consists of two-dimensional (1:50 
scale) and three-dimensional (potentially in 1:1 scale) 
elaborations, born from the integration of relief, historical study, 
analysis of textual data and analysis of graphic data. 

At the communicative level, if two-dimensional drawings can 
be more useful for communication at an academic level and are 
easily readable, the model is more versatile for dissemination and 
possible use in the context of museum display, while maintaining 
the same level of reliability and scientific soundness. 

The models produced, moreover, not only want to return the 
reconstruction of the 1661 exhibition but investigate the 
relationship that is created between the apparatus designed by 
Grimaldi with the current location, establishing a critical dialogue 
between past and present, between ephemeral and permanent, in 
which both become changeable and question the concept of real 
space and space of representation (Figure 6). 

5. CONCLUSIONS 

The presented study achieved two complementary results 
valid for further developments. The first is the creation of the 
3D models of the setting up of Mazarin's funeral, or the outcome 
of the analysis carried out on the case study. These can be 
immediately made available and used for academic purposes but 
also, and most importantly, for communicative and conservative 
reasons. However, the models mentioned are the result of the 
application of a study and analysis method drawn up here to 
address and resolve representation issues that have never been 
fully analyzed so far. 

If applied systematically and correctly, i.e. with a critical sense, 
the methodology could lead to interesting results in several areas: 

• first of all, the study of a fundamental cultural 
phenomenon for Baroque society; 

• as seen previously, the design of the ephemeral 
apparatuses gave the possibility to the artists to 
create study models on a 1:1 scale of stable 
architectures that they would later build. 

• Their knowledge could open new scenarios 
regarding the design process of Baroque architects; 

• Communication and museum display of artifacts 
that can facilitate users in understanding the society 
of Baroque Rome with immediate, easily available 
and low-cost means of management [26]; 

• Conservation of the intangible heritage in the 
manner most appropriate to the specific 
characteristics of the phenomenon [27]. 

 

Figure 5. Results of the graphic data interpretation, the textual data information and final 3D model. 



 

ACTA IMEKO | www.imeko.org March 2022| Volume 11 | Number 1 | 8 

Overall, the methodology aims to be operational, historically 
reliable, critical of the transformations of places and to return the 
results in a virtual environment and is the result of an empirical 
approach. 

Lacking previous research based on the specific topic, it was 
fundamental first to understand the phenomenon of the Baroque 
Ephemeral from an ethnographic point of view, to establish its 
importance and to better interpret the relationship between the 
apparatuses and the places, or the relationship between artists, 
power and the city. 

Subsequently, by deepening the historical-artistic aspects, it 
became clear the fundamental role that the celebrations play in 
Baroque poetics, as the sum of its three fundamental aspects: the 
aim for wonder, experimentalism and the synthesis of the arts. 

From the beginning, the relevance of these projects evident, 
as well as the recurring characteristics in the conduct of the 
celebrations and above all in their representation. Therefore, a 
study of a wide range of cases was considered necessary to 
confirm the hypothesis. Hence the need for a study method that 
would take into account both the specific features of each 
apparatus and their typicality, and which could open up the 
possibility of studying this artistic practice in a systematic way. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

We thank professor Alfonso Ippolito (Università di Roma La 
Sapienza) for supporting this research as a tutor and mentor.  

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Figure 6. Composition of the setting in the original location (3D Model) and 
in the contemporary environment (Pointcloud). 

http://www.paololattuada.net/progetti/recupero-e-restauro/ricostruzione-filologica/
http://www.paololattuada.net/progetti/recupero-e-restauro/ricostruzione-filologica/


 

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https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-Archaeo-2019/IMEKO-TC4-METROARCHAEO-2019-53.pdf
https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-Archaeo-2019/IMEKO-TC4-METROARCHAEO-2019-53.pdf
https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-Archaeo-2017/IMEKO-TC4-ARCHAEO-2017-134.pdf
https://www.imeko.org/publications/tc4-Archaeo-2017/IMEKO-TC4-ARCHAEO-2017-134.pdf