Eternal Ephemera: The Papal Possesso and Its Legacies in Early Modern Rome ed. by Jennifer Mara DeSilva and Pascale Rihouet (review)

Reviewed by: Eternal Ephemera: The Papal Possesso and Its Legacies in Early Modern Rome ed. by Jennifer Mara DeSilva and Pascale Rihouet Minou Schraven Eternal Ephemera: The Papal Possesso and Its Legacies in Early Modern Rome. Edited by Jennifer Mara DeSilva and Pascale Rihouet. (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2020. Pp. 304. $49.95. ISBN: 978-0-77-272520-2.) Among all those processions, large and small, that were staged in early modern Rome, the Possesso is easily the most solemn, elaborate, and evocative. With this cavalcade, the newly elected pope took possession of his episcopal sea at S. Giovanni in Laterano, and by extension of the city of Rome. While many exciting studies are being written about the festival culture of early modern Rome, the [End Page 163] editors of Eternal Ephemera are absolutely right that there is still much to discover when it comes to the Possesso and its rich visual, material, ritual, and topographic traditions. Taken together, the six essays demonstrate the centrality of this ritual in forging relations between a new pope and the population of Rome. Its authors underline the participatory nature of the ritual event that set the tone for the coming pontificate. Indeed, while firmly inscribing itself into a long tradition, each single Possesso was the unique outcome of conflicting interests and expectations, expressed in the language of triumphal imagery, laudatory inscriptions, tableaux vivants, cheer, and song. Following the introduction by Pascale Rihouet, the first chapters by Jasmine R. Cloud and Antonella De Michelis focus on the urbanistic dimension of the Possesso. On their way to the Lateran, the new pope and a retinue that easily numbered 1,000 persons made their way through the densely populated Via Papalis, corresponding to today's Via del Governo Vecchio. Along the route, they encountered elaborate ephemeral arches and other pageants commissioned by wealthy merchants and foreign communities. The long procession then slowly made its way across the Forum Romanum, rich in its allusions to the pagan, imperial past of Rome, to finally reach the Lateran basilica. The next two chapters focus on artistic innovations related to the early modern Possesso. Interestingly, Patricia Reilly is able to connect fragments of chiaroscuro paintings, now in the Vatican Museums, to ephemeral arches built for the Possesso of Pope Julius II. Pascale Rihouet concentrates on a large engraving (48 × 115 cm) that documents in painstaking detail the participants of the Possesso of Pope Sixtus V, the first of its kind. Rihouet does a great job in unpacking this detailed engraving for todays' viewers, while reflecting on what early modern readers may have gotten out of this engraving, published four years after the event took place. Dealing with the concept of moral economy, the final two chapters by Jennifer Mara DeSilva and John M. Hunt discuss how the Possesso voiced expectations about a new pope's rule, in which the population and institutions of Rome held him accountable for good government, that is, stability, jobs, and affordable bread. The essays of Eternal Ephemera contain a wealth of information and analysis, inserting the rituals of the Possesso firmly within the economic, political, urban, and social realities of early modern Rome. The layout of the book is kept simple, yet it contains an impressive number of colored illustrations, many of them not previously published. The volume shows what can be gained from a comprehensive study of early modern ritual and its legacies in visual, material, and memorial cultures, and it certainly whets our appetite for more. Since it came out, Kathleen W. Christian has published a most interesting chapter about the short-lived inclusion of ancient statues in Possessos of the turn of the sixteenth century, among them Pasquino: just a few decades later, most of these ancient statues had ended up in prestigious, high-end collections, forever removed from interactions with the public sphere. The appeal of the Possesso (and any other ritual tradition) [End Page 164] as an object of study is indeed rooted in its ability to continuously adapt and transform, in sync with changing sociopolitical and religious needs and realities. Minou Schraven Amsterdam University College Copyright © 2024 The Catholic University of America Press

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