May 30, 2016. Queen Christina – Part I. The 17th century was a time of great art and its glorious patrons, and Rome was the center of it all – art, music, riches, and patronage. We’ve written about one of the major figures of the time - Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, but Queen Christina of Sweden, the benefactress of Giacomo Carissimi, Alessandro Stradella, Bernardo Pasquini, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti and so many others, was the one who set the example for all the powerful men that followed in her steps as major patrons of arts. Christina was an extraordinary person, unconventional in every possible way: socially, religiously, sexually, and artistically. She was born on December 18th of 1626 in Stockholm to Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden. Her father, a great military leader who ably commanded the Swedish army during the Thirty Year War, made sure that she would inherit the throne in case of his death and that she was given extensive tutoring, ordinarily provided only to princes. In 1632 Gustav II was killed in battle and at the age of six Christina became Queen regnant. She eagerly continued her studies, learning Latin and Greek (eventually she learned eight more languages, including French and Italian, both of which she knew perfectly, German, Arabic and even Hebrew). She studied for10 hours a day and seemed to enjoy it. Philosophy and religion were her favorite subjects, and also history and mathematics. “She was not like a female,” was the judgment of one of her courtiers. Intellectually curious, the young Christina invited scholars and philosophers to the court; one of the visitors was a Portuguese rabbi and kabbalist, Menasseh ben Israel. With her guests, she discussed astronomy, theology and natural sciences. She even invited the celebrated French philosopher René Descartes, who came to Stockholm in 1649. They would meet every day, at 5 o’clock in the morning and talk for hours. The tasking schedule and drafty rooms affected Decartes’ health, four months later he caught a cold and died. Christina, who loved the theater (Pierre Corneille’s plays especially) was an amateur actress, and ordered to set one of the palace halls as a theater. In 1648 she invited the famous Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens to create 35 paintings for one of her castles. Around that time, she became one of the biggest collectors of art in Europe. Even though she was yet to get involved with music, these rather costly activities presaged her life as a major patron of arts later on, in Rome.
At the age of nine Christina, after reading the biography of the English Queen Elisabeth, decided that she will not marry. She wrote about “distaste for marriage” in her unfinished autobiography. At the age of 23 she made an official announcement, and asked that her cousin Charles be appointed heir to the throne. For a Queen, she lived a very unusual life: studied all the time, slept just three - four hours a day, and often wore men’s clothes and shoes “for convenience (later in her life in Rome, though, she would wear dresses with such décolleté that even the Pope rebuked her). At the time, her closest friend was her lady-in-waiting, Ebba Sparre, with whom she was probably intimate. In 1651, totally exhausted, she suffered what probably was a nervous breakdown. Her French doctor banned all studies and ordered entertainment instead. Surprisingly, Christina took his advice to heart and abandoning her ascetic lifestyle.
While Sweden was Protestant, since an early age Christina had been interested in Catholicism. One of her confidants was Antonio Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit. She developed plans to convert. Her unwillingness to marry and Catholicism were clearly conflicting with her position as Queen. In June of 1654 she abdicated in favor of her cousin, Charles Gustav. Few days later she left the country, first to Hamburg, then Antwerp and eventually Rome.
Queen Christina – Part I, 2016
May 30, 2016. Queen Christina – Part I. The 17th century was a time of great art and its glorious patrons, and Rome was the center of it all – art, music, riches, and patronage. We’ve written about one of the major figures of the time - Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, but Queen Christina of Sweden, the benefactress of Giacomo Carissimi, Alessandro Stradella, Bernardo Pasquini, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti and so many others, was the one who set the example for all the
powerful men that followed in her steps as major patrons of arts. Christina was an extraordinary person, unconventional in every possible way: socially, religiously, sexually, and artistically. She was born on December 18th of 1626 in Stockholm to Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden. Her father, a great military leader who ably commanded the Swedish army during the Thirty Year War, made sure that she would inherit the throne in case of his death and that she was given extensive tutoring, ordinarily provided only to princes. In 1632 Gustav II was killed in battle and at the age of six Christina became Queen regnant. She eagerly continued her studies, learning Latin and Greek (eventually she learned eight more languages, including French and Italian, both of which she knew perfectly, German, Arabic and even Hebrew). She studied for10 hours a day and seemed to enjoy it. Philosophy and religion were her favorite subjects, and also history and mathematics. “She was not like a female,” was the judgment of one of her courtiers. Intellectually curious, the young Christina invited scholars and philosophers to the court; one of the visitors was a Portuguese rabbi and kabbalist, Menasseh ben Israel. With her guests, she discussed astronomy, theology and natural sciences. She even invited the celebrated French philosopher René Descartes, who came to Stockholm in 1649. They would meet every day, at 5 o’clock in the morning and talk for hours. The tasking schedule and drafty rooms affected Decartes’ health, four months later he caught a cold and died. Christina, who loved the theater (Pierre Corneille’s plays especially) was an amateur actress, and ordered to set one of the palace halls as a theater. In 1648 she invited the famous Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens to create 35 paintings for one of her castles. Around that time, she became one of the biggest collectors of art in Europe. Even though she was yet to get involved with music, these rather costly activities presaged her life as a major patron of arts later on, in Rome.
At the age of nine Christina, after reading the biography of the English Queen Elisabeth, decided that she will not marry. She wrote about “distaste for marriage” in her unfinished autobiography. At the age of 23 she made an official announcement, and asked that her cousin Charles be appointed heir to the throne. For a Queen, she lived a very unusual life: studied all the time, slept just three - four hours a day, and often wore men’s clothes and shoes “for convenience (later in her life in Rome, though, she would wear dresses with such décolleté that even the Pope rebuked her). At the time, her closest friend was her lady-in-waiting, Ebba Sparre, with whom she was probably intimate. In 1651, totally exhausted, she suffered what probably was a nervous breakdown. Her French doctor banned all studies and ordered entertainment instead. Surprisingly, Christina took his advice to heart and abandoning her ascetic lifestyle.
While Sweden was Protestant, since an early age Christina had been interested in Catholicism. One of her confidants was Antonio Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit. She developed plans to convert. Her unwillingness to marry and Catholicism were clearly conflicting with her position as Queen. In June of 1654 she abdicated in favor of her cousin, Charles Gustav. Few days later she left the country, first to Hamburg, then Antwerp and eventually Rome.