Easter Celebration in Piazza Navona, Rome, 1589
Antonio Tempesta Italian
Publisher Tommaso Moneta Italian
Not on view
Before daybreak on Easter Sunday, the Spanish confraternity of the Resurrection carried the Holy Sacrament under a canopy (marked B on the print) in solemn procession from their church of Saint James at the lower right (A) around Piazza Navona to an altar erected in front of the eighth-century church of Saint Agnes at the center of the other side of the square (I). The roofs and balconies of every building were outlined with lights, as were the temporary Gothic arches over the fountains and the rails demarcating the processional path. Suspended on ropes overhead and giving off puffs of smoke were the fireworks devices--sphere, globe, girandola, ships, and the devil with horns, wing, and tail.
