POPE MXTJfeWV.
^ Foi^tii liolds a place among
,who wpie^mast celebrated
^gitîy)nagèt.pf literature and the*
[ ^ 9 pontificate was not very
l„ lbtfg* fon&Be' nvas raised to the papal
j 7È and died' ij^a484. *ÎIe
11 ttle i n ^ affairs oj^flurope,
|||riï oi a all ' atjjth e b< ginning of his reign he
fe^às^ much ^ p apied' in ,-dhe wars with
HgRpurk^.. ..Though obsWat^’in' his opi-
^^^^^^^Bieasures, he was remarkably
in di^pen^ii)g his favours, and gave
and places to all petitioners
f^^^m^V.'diridrimination. ^ ^ s p & f great t sur1 m n in. raising splendid
„buildings ; and is supposed? to have ^ ^ ^ h é •■ ti r^ jÿ lJ I A^ ( * (‘:Utsed his effigy
jP l fnlaced on' his coins. His name will remembered among scholars
a s^K -’cEief founder o f ^ e LibraryVdf the Vatican. vTliis library is said
Hâve ÿeem first erected by P o p g M p k V., who Mupied the; chair
from 1447dp/i455 ; i n -® short pontificate^ of Calistus III. (145gr-1458) the
f^bdkÿvdfceted by bag •^>ra:ry’ re’
established by Sixtus IV., wli&nppoîntéd Platina to be librarian. It was
agaimc destroyed in the „ sixteenth eentji^^|jR^hejf sacking of Rome by the
arniy of Charles. V. bnt was .restored-'by ;Siitus V„ .who .occupied -the papal
chair from 1585 to 1590, and who enriched it S t great numbers of books
_ and manuscripts. '
The portrait we have here |||e i£ is taken from a ] >aintingb^Pietro della
Francesca, preserved in ttçë(i museum of the Vatican. The
pope 'is i dressed in the .costume which 1m wore in thè-
interior of his palace. He has a- cape of sca'rfet: cloth
bordered with ermine. .The roehet or tunic is’ of-linen,
and the ‘^soutane, or cassock, of *white ^1p|bl.\ His shoes
are red,, with a cross of gQld. The chair is of a very
classic form; it has a cushion; of crimson velyet, ydth a
fringe of red wopl mixed with threads of gold.
Pietro della Francesca was a natiyêbf Tuscany, and was one of the greatest
painters of his age. He was employed- ,by Pope Nicholas V. to ornament the