Parochial Archive Project in Rome

Finished! Looks like this project is out of data at the moment!

In June 2020 I have discussed with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome and the University of Groningen what the next steps will entail. You can read an update on the results page.

Education

1. Parochial Archive Project in Rome

The PAParchive has been created during a long-running project named Parochial Archive Project (PAP) which was organized and funded by the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR). The project started in 1974 and finished during the winter of 2012 with the completion of the paper archive we are now transcribing.

Over the course of almost 40 years 5.526 folios have been added to the PAParchive by Elisja Schulte van Kessel and fellow researchers. Elisja and her research team transcribed sources from 130 Roman parishes while predominantly focusing on Dutch and Flemish inhabitants.

2. Research tradition

Elisja's paper creation is a continuation of the rich research tradition the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) has initiated in the early 1900s. It was the founding father of the research institute, G.J. Hoogewerff (b. 1884, d. 1963), who recognized the unique potential of the Roman parochial sources. Hoogewerff used biographical data from various parishes to study Dutch and Flemish artists that have lived in Rome.

The three following publications are studies by Hoogewerff on Dutch and Flemish artists that lived in Rome and are based on Roman parochial sources:

Bescheiden in Italië omtrent Nederlandsche kunstenaars en geleerden in Italië. Martinus Nijhoff (The Hague), 1911-1917.
-- Bibliographic information.
-- See here for a digital facsimile.
Nederlandsche Kunstenaars te Rome 1600-1725: Uittreksels uit de Parochiale Archieven. Algemene Landsdrukkerij (The Hague), 1943.
-- Bibliographic information.
De Bentvueghels. Martinus Nijhoff (The Hague), 1952.
-- Bibliographic information.

Hoogewerff's oeuvre resembles Antonino Bertolotti's published work. Bertolotti (b. 1834, d. 1893) was a productive author. From 1879 onward he published a series of monographs on archival findings on Roman artists from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland, etc. (See also 9.2 Roman archival resources).

Publications by Bertolotti and Hoogewerff should be used with caution.

Brown, C.M. The Archival Scholarship of Antonino Bertolotti. A Cautionary Tale: The Galeazzo Mondella (Moderno) Model for a Diamond "Saint George" Brooch, in: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 18, No. 35 (1997), pp. 65-71.
-- See here (Link to JSTOR article) for the cautionary tale on Antonino Bertolotti.
-- See here for an abstract.
Cavazzini, P. Painting as business in early seventeenth-century Rome. The Pennsylvania State University Press (Philadelphia), 2008.
-- See page 17 for observations related to Hoogewerff's whom too eagerly tried to identify well-known artists.
-- Bibliographic information.
-- Parts online at Google Books.

Recently, in 2011 as well as 2012, similar studies have been undertaken. Rossella Vodret Adamo led a research team that transcribed 6.600 documents from the parochial archives in Rome during a ten year period. The publication Alla Ricerca di "Ghiongrat"... focuses on stati delle anime from 1600 until 1630. In 2012 Laura Bartoni published Le vie degli artisti... packed with stati delle anime that stem from the Sant'Andrea delle Fratte during the second half of the seventeenth century.

3. The term 'fiamminghi'

Nowadays, the word fiamminghi refers to the Flemish who are native to Flanders, in modern Belgium, and who speak Dutch. However, the definition fiamminghi had a broader meaning in the 1500-1700s. People who were titled as fiamminghi in the source material came from modern day Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The fiamminghi from France or Germany lived in cities near the Belgian border. Hence, the variety of cities in the glossary, such as Antwerp (Belgium), Cambrai (Northern France), Trier (Southwestern Germany), and Utrecht (the Netherlands).

Around 1648, when the Eighty Years' War came to a conclusion and the Dutch Republic was being recognized, more often a distinction was being made between fiamminghi (Southern Netherlands) and olandesi (Northern Netherlands). The latter term was used for the heretics and rebels who had separated themselves from the true church and faith.

4. Where did the 'fiamminghi' live?

According to research conducted by Hoogewerff (1942) and Vodret Adamo (2011) the fiamminghi lived close to the Porta del Popolo, the northern gate and entry point to the city for urban traffic coming from the north. The Porta del Popolo is adjacent to the Santa Maria del Popolo, the parish were many fiamminghi were registered.

The fiamminghi congregated in the multicultural area called Il Tridente (the Trident) named after three streets leading into the city, namely the Via del Babuino, Via del Corso and Via di Ripetta. Together with the cross streets (the Strada Paolina, Strada Ferratina, Via della Croce, Via Gregoriana, Via Vittoria, Via Margutta and Via dei Condotti) they make up the Tridente area. Il Tridente is part of the parish of the Santa Maria del Popolo.

For many fiamminghi the Porta del Popolo, the church Santa Maria del Popolo, and the Piazza del Popolo must have been their first impression of Rome.

Il Tridente as seen from the Piazza del Popolo and the Santa Maria del Popolo on the left.

Gommarus Wouters. View of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome (La Piazza del Popolo Abbellita con li Nvovi Edifici et Vedvta della Citta di Roma come si Trova al Presente). 1692. Ecthing. 445 × 696 mm. Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For hi-resolution image of the etching, see here.

According to Vodret Adamo (2011) and Bartoni (2012) another group lived near the Trinità dei Monti which is known for the Spanish steps. This area was under the jurisdiction of the Santa Maria del Popolo, the San Lorenzo in Lucina, the Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, the San Nicola in Arcione, and the Santa Maria in Via.

The green lines accentuate Il Tridente on the Nolli map. The area were many fiamminghi lived.

Bottom right corner you can see the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti (Spanish steps).

It might be interesting to check out the Interactive Nolli map. See here or here. The map of Rome made by Giambattista Nolli in 1748 is widely regarded by scholars as one of the most important historical documents of the city ever created.

Sidebar: This print shows the presence of fiamminghi in Rome. The print titled Paving the Piazza del Popolo possibly by Cornelis Meijer after Gommarus Wouters depicts a test of paving the Piazza del Popolo on a limestone or sand-like underground.

Cornelis Meijer (b. 1629, d. 1701), a scientist/engineer and artist from Amsterdam, was active in Rome from 1674 until his death and took on many building projects. For instance, Meijer convinced the then pope, Clement X, that he could cheaply alter the flow of the river Tiber with a passonata, i.e. a double row of poles. A fellow countryman Caspar Van Wittel (b. 1655, d. 1736) accompanied him during surveys along the river and drawing a series of vedute of the event.

The passonata was built in order to prevent erosion of the banks of the Via Flaminia and to improve the important road between Rome and the North. The passonata has since been destroyed and was located in the Valle Giulia area where the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome is located. Through time, a continuing presence of fiamminghi...

5. The Bentvueghels

The Bentvueghels are a fascinating group and closely related to what we are focusing on. The Bentvueghels, Dutch for Birds of a Feather, were a society of artisti fiamminghi and active in Rome from roughly 1620 to 1720. The members included painters, etchers, sculptors and poets came together for social and intellectual reasons. The Bentvueghels were frequently at odds with Rome painter's guild.

The group was well known for its Bacchic initiation rituals in the fourth century church of the Santa Costanza. The members left their signatures on the walls of the Santa Costanza. Their graffiti avant-la-lettre is still visible to this day. You should check the photo below to see if you can discover names and aliases you might have transcribed already 😉.

The graffiti avant-la-lettre by members of the Bentvueghels showing their names and aliases on the walls of the Santa Costanza.

If you would like to read more about the Bentvueghels and its members, I recommend:

Wikipedia has a quite an extensive article on the Bentvueghels and its member.
-- See here.
Online article (written in Dutch).
-- See here.
Hoogewerff, G. J. De Bentvueghels. Martinus Nijhoff (The Hague), 1952.
-- Bibliographic information.
Verberne, J. The Bentvueghels (1620/1621-1720) in Rome, in: Schatborn, P. Drawn to Warmth: 17th Century Dutch Artists in Italy. [exh. cat.] Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), 2001: pp. 22-32.
-- Bibliograpic information.

6. Lacunae in the PAParchive

The original parochial source material and thus the PAParchive has many gaps.

First, the source material has deteriorated tremendously over the years, is illegible, caught fire, has been thrown away, etc. For all the reasons (and many, many more) not every parish has baptismal, marriage, dead records, and/or stati delle anime. For instance, in the PAParchive you can find the Santa Maria del Popolo's stati delle anime that covers a century (!) whereas the parish of San Luigi dei Francesi (the church with the gorgeous Caravaggio;)) has none.

Secondly, what has been recorded in the various sources changes over time and even varies within a single parish. For instance, the parish of the Santa Maria del Popolo records a person's age during the years 1600 until 1616 whereas in subsequent years it does not. The parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina is more specific on where people exactly lived and the Santa Maria in Aquiro is more detailed about a person's city of origin during the late 1500s.

Combining all the information from four sources (baptismal, marriage, dead records, and stati delle anime) and from 79 parishes allows us to cross-link information and fill-in biographical blanks for painters, engravers, sculptors, etc. With the new biographical information and the ability to analyze them into a larger context (i.e. other Roman citizens in the PAParchive) we have a potentially powerful research tool. With your help and by combining data we can build that powerful research tool.

I hope you can see that art history has taught me to appreciate what is left, instead of focusing on what is lost.

7. PAParchive facts

7.1 General facts

Elisja Schulte van Kessel transcribed four parochial sources:

Battesimi – baptismal records.

Matrimoni – marriage records.

Morti – death records.

Stati delle anime – a modern day census.

The period that Elisja Schulte van Kessel focused on was from 1550 until 1700.
Elisja Schulte van Kessel searched through folios from 130 parishes and found fiamminghi in at least 79 parishes.
-- It is highly likely that there are more parishes to be found...
The archive has 1.455 hand- and typewritten pages, which contains 5.526 folios.
To complete the project we need 5.526 folios to be transcribed four times, totaling at 22.104 transcripts.
-- Due to an inaccuracy in registering the amount of classifications the total amount has been corrected to 22.383.
If a transcript takes four minutes for volunteers to complete, they have put 1492,3 hours (62,2 days) of their time into the project. ^
-- We need a total of 1492,3 hours (62,2 days) to successfully complete the project.
On Tuesday, September 11, 2018 we had our record day with 376 transcripts, which translates to a total gain of 1,70%.
Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday are our most prolific weekdays. On Friday and Sunday we like to take things easy.

^ Calculated on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 @ 09:00 CET.

7.2 Productive days

Our ten most productive days (yet):

#	Date	Weekday	Transcripts	Percentage ^^
one	September 11, 2018	Tuesday	376	1,70
two	August 22, 2018	Wednesday	356	1,61
three	August 21, 2018	Tuesday	338	1,53
four	September 5, 2018	Wednesday	317	1,43
five	September 12, 2018	Wednesday	306	1,38
six	August 24, 2018	Friday	294	1,33
seven	September 27, 2018	Thursday	288	1,30
eight	September 13, 2018	Thursday	278	1,26
nine	September 6, 2018	Thursday	269	1,22
ten	September 10, 2018	Monday	268	1,21

^^ Overall completion rate.

7.3 Handwritten vs. typewritten folios

The PAParchive contains typewritten and handwritten pages. Here are some numbers and percentages:

Stage 1 - 199 pages, circa 597 folios.
-- typewritten: 130 pages (65,3%).
-- handwritten: 69 pages (34,7%).
Stage 2 - 642 folios.
-- typewritten: 117 folios (18,2%).
-- handwritten: 525 folios (81,8%).
Stage 3 - 501 folios.
-- typewritten: 0 folios (0%).
-- handwritten: 501 folios (100%).
Stage 4 - 1.219 folios
-- typewritten: 1.141 folios (93,6%).
-- handwritten: 78 folios (6,4%).
Stage 5 - 784 folios
-- typewritten: 783 folios (99,9%).
-- handwritten: 1 folio (0,1%).
Stage 6 - 711 folios
-- typewritten: 315 folios (44,3%).
-- handwritten: 396 folios (55,7%).
Stage 7 - 879 folios
-- typewritten: 497 folios (56,5%).
-- handwritten: 382 folios (43,5%).
Stage 8 - 193 folios
-- typewritten: 9 folios (4,7%).
-- handwritten: 184 folios (95,3%).

8. Glossary

With the help of volunteers (special thanks to @Boxerwing, @mariomar, @nicro46, @oct326) we have been able to compile a comprehensive glossary.

The glossary covers the following topics:

Document specific abbreviations/words in Dutch, French, Italian and Latin.
Nationalities.
Cities.
Occupations.
-- We have 3 uncertain occupations left.

Please feel free to make any suggestions.

9. Key publications on the PAParchive (9.1), Roman archival resources (9.2), online Roman archival resources (9.3), and Roman demographics (9.4)

9.1 PAParchive

Martens, V. Pittori Fiamminghi in Rome tussen 1590 en 1663: een netwerkanalyse. University of Amsterdam, 2015.
-- Master's thesis on the PAParchive and the stati delle anime (in Dutch).
-- Bibliographic information.
-- Download pdf here.
Nederlands Instituut Rome. Beleidsplan 1993-96. Tipografia Veneziana s.n.c. (Rome), 1993.
-- Bibliographic information.
Nederlands Instituut Rome. Activiteitenplan 1996-99. Tipografia Veneziana s.n.c. (Rome), 1996.
-- Bibliographic information.
Schulte van Kessel, E. Costruire la Roma barocca: La presenza Nederlandese nel primo barocco romano: Storia di un progetto di ricerca. Roma moderna e contemporanea, vol. 1, no. 1, 1993, pp. 35–44.
-- Bibliographic information.

9.2 Roman archival resources

Bartoni, L. Le vie degli artisti : residenze e botteghe nella Roma barocca dai registri di Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, 1650-1699. Nuova Cultura (Rome), 2012.
-- Bibliographic information.
-- See here and here for digitally published chapters.
Bertolotti, A. Artisti Belgi ed Olandesi a Roma nei Secoli XVI e XVII. Tipografia Editrice Della Gazzetta D'Italia (Florence), 1880.
-- Bibliographic information.
-- See here for the digitized text by the Internet Archive.
-- The Internet Archive has twelve more publications of Bertolotti digitized. See here.
Bodart, D. Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la Principauté de Liège à Rome au XVIIe siècle. PERSEE (Brussels), 1975.
-- Bibliographic infomation.
Bousquet, J. Recherches Sur Le Sejour Des Peintres Français A Rome Au XVIIème Siecle. A.L.P.H.A (Montpellier), 1980.
-- Bibliographic infomation.
Hoogewerff, G.J. Nederlandsche Kunstenaars te Rome 1600-1725: Uittreksels uit de Parochiale Archieven. Algemene Landsdrukkerij (The Hague), 1943.
-- Bibliographic information.
Passigli, S. Il territorio della parrocchie romane durante I secoli XIV, XV e XVI, in: Sonnino, E. Popolazione e Società a Roma dal Medioevo all’età contemporanea. La Sapienza (Rome), 1993, pp. 63-77.
-- Bibliographic information.
Schiavoni, C. The Parochial System in Early Modern Rome, in: Van Kessel, P, Schulte-van Kessel, E. Rome-Amsterdam: Two Growing Cities in Seventeenth-Century Europe. University Press (Amsterdam), 1997, pp. 24-32.
-- Bibliographic Information.
Vodret Adamo, R. Alla Ricerca di "Ghiongrat": Studi sui Libri Parrocchiali Romani (1600-1630). L'Erma di Bretschneider (Rome), 2011.
-- Bibliographic information.
-- Publication is partially online here.

9.3 Online Roman archival resources

Database made by the Bibliotheca Hertziana. A card index file with stenographic notes on foreign artists in Rome. A database created by the Bibliotheca Hertziana and systematically organized by Friedrich Noack (1858-1930). The archive was digitized in 2006 and indexed by artist's name. The data is stored in an eXist database and the scans are made accessible via a web interface.
Database made by the French Academy in Rome. A database containing 152,000 records based on information from stati delle anime. The project started in 1994.
Database made by the University of Amsterdam. ECARTICO is a comprehensive collection of structured biographical data concerning painters, engravers, printers, book sellers, gold- and silversmiths and others involved in the ‘cultural industries’ of the Low Countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The project ran from 2009 until approximately July 2016.
Database by the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. HADRIANVS aims to provide an interactive platform that discloses all traces of Dutch art and culture in Rome. Since the start of the twentieth century, much research has been done on the importance of Rome in Dutch history and the impact of Dutchmen in Rome through the ages, but the results of this research are highly dispersed and often difficult to access. The project was launched in 2013.

9.4 Roman demographics

Cerasoli, F. Censimento della popolazione di Roma dall'anno 1600 al 1739. Tipografia Vaticana (Rome), 1891.
-- Bibliographic information.
Delumeau, J. Vie économique et sociale de Rome dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle. De Boccard (Paris), 1957-1959.
-- Bibliographic information.
Sonnino, E. Demografia e territori Parrocchiali a Roma dalla fine del ‘500 all’unificazione, in: Sonnino, E. Popolazione e società a Roma dal medioevo all’età contemporanea. La Sapienza (Rome), 1993, pp. 1-6.
-- Bibliographic information.
Sonnino, E. The Population in Baroque Rome, in: Van Kessel, P, Schulte-van Kessel, E. Rome-Amsterdam: Two Growing Cities in Seventeenth-Century Europe. Amsterdam University Press (Amsterdam), 1997, pp. 50-70.
-- Bibliographic Information.

10. The Royal Netherlands Institute Rome // Reale Istituto Neerlandese di Roma // Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome (KNIR)

The Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) is a Campus of Excellence of the Dutch universities in the historical and cultural heart of Europe. The KNIR is the oldest and largest of the Dutch academic institutes abroad. For more than a century, the KNIR has been committed to high-quality research and interdisciplinary education in the humanities, and served as a bridge between Dutch universities and the academic world in Italy.

The Institute was founded in 1904, primarily for the purpose of studying the recently opened Vatican archives, a unique source of information for the cultural, political and religious history of the Netherlands and Europe.

The KNIR offers courses for students in every subject area and at every level, and provides scholarships and accommodation in Rome for outstanding students and researchers in a range of disciplines.

Housed in a beautiful stately villa and boasting a unique library collection and a diverse programme of conferences, lectures and cultural activities, the KNIR is truly the gateway to the Eternal City for Dutch students and researchers eager to immerse themselves in an international academic setting.