RARE LIMOGES ENAMEL ON COPPER FRAMED PORTRAIT OF POPE GREGORY XIII

Description: RARE LIMOGES ENAMEL ON COPPER PORTRAIT OF POPE GREGORY XIII - CIRCA 1600 The actual viewed image inside the frame measures approximately 5 5/8" high by 5 5/8" wide. The frame measures approximately 12 1/8" high by 12 1/8" wide. Excellent original condition for an approximately 420 year old Limoges enamel on copper. It does appear that the artist got the year of Pope Gregory XIII's death wrong. He lived until 1585 - not 1582 as written on the plaque. About Pope Gregory XIII: Pope Gregory XIII (Latin: Gregorius XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally accepted civil calendar to this day. Ugo Boncompagni was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni (10 July 1470 – 1546) and of his wife Angela Marescalchi in Bologna, where he studied law and graduated in 1530. He later taught jurisprudence for some years, and his students included notable figures such as Cardinals Alexander Farnese, Reginald Pole and Charles Borromeo. He had an illegitimate son after an affair with Maddalena Fulchini, Giacomo Boncompagni, but before he took holy orders. At the age of thirty-six he was summoned to Rome by Pope Paul III (1534–1549), under whom he held successive appointments as first judge of the capital, abbreviator, and vice-chancellor of the Campagna e Marittima. Pope Paul IV (1555–1559) attached him as datarius to the suite of Cardinal Carlo Carafa, Pope Pius IV (1559–1565) made him Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto Vecchio and sent him to the Council of Trent. He also served as a legate to Philip of Spain (1556–1598), being sent by the Pope to investigate the Cardinal of Toledo. It was there that he formed a lasting and close relationship with the Spanish King, which was to become very important in his foreign policy as Pope. Upon the death of Pope Pius V (1566–1572), the conclave chose Cardinal Boncompagni, who assumed the name of Gregory XIII in homage to the great reforming Pope, Gregory I (590–604), surnamed the Great. It was a very brief conclave, lasting less than 24 hours. Many historians have attributed this to the influence and backing of the Spanish King. Cardinal Borromeo and the cardinals wishing reform accepted Boncompagni's candidature and so supported him in the conclave while the Spanish faction also deemed him acceptable due to his success as a nuncio in Spain. Gregory XIII's character seemed to be perfect for the needs of the church at the time. Unlike some of his predecessors, he was to lead a faultless personal life, becoming a model for his simplicity of life. Additionally, his legal brilliance and management abilities meant that he was able to respond and deal with major problems quickly and decisively, although not always successfully. The Gregorian Calendar Pope Gregory XIII is best known for his commissioning of the calendar after being initially authored by the doctor/astronomer Aloysius Lilius and with the aid of Jesuit priest/astronomer Christopher Clavius who made the final modifications. The reason for the reform was that the average length of the year in the Julian calendar was too long – as it treated each year as 365 days, 6 hours in length, whereas calculations showed that the actual mean length of a year is slightly less (365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes). As a result, the date of the vernal equinox had slowly (over the course of 13 centuries) slipped to 10 March, while the computus (calculation) of the date of Easter still followed the traditional date of 21 March. This was verified by the observations of Clavius, and the new calendar was instituted when Gregory decreed, by the papal bull Inter Gravissimas of 24 February 1582, that the day after Thursday, 4 October 1582 would be not Friday, 5 October, but Friday, 15 October 1582. The new calendar duly replaced the Julian calendar, in use since 45 BC, and has since come into nearly universal use. Because of Gregory's involvement, the reformed Julian calendar came to be known as the Gregorian calendar. The switchover was bitterly opposed by much of the populace, who feared it was an attempt by landlords to cheat them out of a week and a half's rent. However, the Catholic countries of Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Italy complied. France, some states of the Dutch Republic and various Catholic states in Germany and Switzerland (both countries were religiously split) followed suit within a year or two, Austria and Hungary followed in 1587. However, more than a century passed before Protestant Europe accepted the new calendar. Denmark, the remaining states of the Dutch Republic, and the Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire and Switzerland adopted the Gregorian reform in 1700–01. By this time, the calendar trailed the seasons by 11 days. Great Britain and its American colonies reformed in 1752, where Wednesday, 2 September 1752 was immediately followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752; they were joined by the last Protestant holdout, Sweden, on 1 March 1753. The Gregorian calendar was not accepted in eastern Christendom for several hundred years, and then only as the civil calendar.

Price: 29500 USD

Location: Portland, Oregon

End Time: 2024-09-08T09:19:22.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD