HEC DOMUS EXPECTET : THE PALAZZETTO SANDER FAÇADE AND CONSTRUCTING SIXTEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN IDENTITY IN ROME

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Amplifying the energy of Rome's streets in the sixteenth century was the flourishing tradition of decorated façades emblazoned with inscriptions as well as fresco and sgraffitto decorations. With these additions, the façade of one's dwelling became more than just a face; it transformed, rather, into an experience of visual splendor distinct and relatively unprecedented for domestic spaces in the city. These façades also spoke of ingenuity at a time when social status and cultural identity became wrapped up in one's physical place or presence along the Eternal City's streets. Such, it will be argued, is the case for the palazzetto Sander on via Santa Maria dell'Anima ( fig. 1) that was leased and renovated in the early sixteenth century by German Papal notary Johannes Sander von Nordhausen (1455-1544) 1 . While past scholarship has illuminated Sander's biography, little has considered how his role in Rome and in the church might have influenced the decoration of his dwelling's façade given the difficulty in elucidating the chronology of its development. The general assumption is that Sander proved pivotal to its design, yet scholars tend to conflate past and present when attempting to discern between the original façade and its modifications resulting from late nineteenth-century restorations. Despite this challenge, the palazzetto's façade merits further inquiry given its significant position both literal -abutting the German Nationalkircke of Santa Maria dell'Anima -and metaphorical -at the hub of German presence in sixteenth-century Rome. This essay thus revisits the façade's chiaroscuro motifs and inscriptions to argue that it played a role in fashioning Sander's public persona as patron, cleric, and German diplomat through the 'artifice' of antiquity. To summarize briefly Sander's trajectory: Sander reached Rome in 1494 as a nearly 50-yearold man of Thuringian origins who had devoted his career to the Catholic Church 2 . Ushered promptly into the Papal Curia upon his arrival, he continued to climb the ranks therein. In 1497, he was appointed notary of the Papal Sacra Rota, one of the Curia's most powerful tribunals 3 . Eight years later Sander joined the brotherhood of Santa Maria dell'Anima that had formed around the beginning of the century to oversee the Beatae Mariae Animarum, a hostel for pilgrims of the German nation (at the time annexed within the Holy Roman Empire) 4 . Following pope Innocent VII's bull in 1406 that granted the Holy See's protection to the brothers, the first church was erected on the site in 1431 5 . This church proved increasingly popular, such that by the time of Sander's arrival the brothers were preparing for a major landmark: the building of a new -and grander -Santa Maria dell'Anima beginning in 1499 6 . Echoing a German-style Hallenkircke, the new Santa Maria dell'Anima presented to its architect(s) many challenges, one The former phrase reiterates the date of Sander's lease while also leading the eye upward to a continuous chiaroscuro frieze featuring a series of paired grotteschi marini separated by unfurling acanthus. These grotteschi supported four portrait roundels evenly spaced across the façade.
The bearded men that appeared in these roundels remain inconclusively unidentified 23 . A similar frieze appeared along the primo piano; however, replacing the two central roundel groups was a tabella ansata that relays the distich: HEC DOMUS EXPECTET LUNAS If one accepts these elements noted by Letarouilly as being relatively close to the original visual program, the palazzetto's chiaroscuro 'all'antica' decoration and inscriptions would have been commensurate with other similarly adorned façades. For instance, the sgraffitto scrolls of flora and grotteschi, an amalgam of motifs borrowed from ancient Roman wall painting, are strikingly reminiscent of those employed upon the palazzetto of vicolo Cellini ( fig. 7). Moreover, Sander echoed Burckardt's emphasis of self in the Latinate inscription as if to metaphorically ground each man in the rich fabric of antique Rome 26 . Concluding, though, that he was simply following trend in his façade design for the prima domus falls short in two sig-nificant ways. The first is that it overlooks that this dwelling was literally attached to Santa Maria dell'Anima and owned by the confraternity who saw to its maintenance (along with nearly twenty other properties that comprised the city block). This means that decisions pertaining to the façade's decoration could not merely be made with Sander in mind; the messaging would need to balance signifiers of Sander's largesse with themes paying homage to both the church, its brotherhood, and its connection to the German nation amid the political and religious tensions of the day. Relatedly, the second issue left unresolved is the curious distich that proclaims the enduring presence of the dwelling. Though no scholar has identified any historical origins for this vexing inscription, the common consensus is that it serves as an adynaton, a hyperbolic declaration of the dwelling's eternal existence by stating that its downfall can only result from two naturally impossible events. The appearance of this particular adynaton on a sixteenth-century Roman façade was, to this author's knowledge, unprecedented 27 . Hyperbolic language put on public display, though, would not have been unusual for the period. For  formed via the patronage of other significant German merchants and patrons in Rome 33 . Jakob Fugger, for example, who made his incredible fortune monopolizing silver mining and also playing escort to shipments of indulgences on their way south into Rome, commissioned works for Santa Maria dell'Anima. Among his patronage was Giulio Romano's Pala Fugger that graces the main altar of Santa Maria dell'Anima, thereby placing Fugger's largesse literally at the forefront of the Nationalkircke's congregation each Mass. Additionally present was Johann Goritz, an Apostolic pronotary whose fascination with humanist culture prompted his adoption of a Latinized moniker, "Corytius" and the establishment of his own humanist academy. It was this intellectual network that published The Coryciana (1524), a volume of nearly 400 poems that can be read as an encomium to Goritz's commissioned sculpture of Saint Anne by Andrea Sansovino housed within the church of Sant'Agostino 34 . This work, originally part of a funerary monument for Goritz, would have staked a claim for German nationals not only in the church but in the larger intellectual landscape of the era 35 . That Sander would have known Goritz and Fugger seems likely given the fact they would have associated with similar circles and thus these compatriots could have served as models for artistic patronage 36 . At the same time, though, Sander seems to carry these ideas even further, transforming the very public face of his home into an 'all'antica' veil that secured Sander'sor perhaps the brotherhood's, or even the Germans' -place in Rome. This Classical emphasis is underscored in the very architecture of the palazzetto Sander that keenly borrowed from the popular 'all'antica' architectural vocabulary that mediated between antique reference and modern magnificence. For  sion between interior-exterior styles, it seems that whomever was responsible for the palazzetto's design aimed to create a noble and visually unified structure that harmonized with the design of the adjacent church while also incorporating the Classical architectural language starting to dominate palace design 37 . These decisions are significant in that this 'all'antica' flair would have stood in strong contrast to the previously-mentioned palazzetto Burcardo, whose design has been noted by scholars as bearing a strikingly German sensibility.
As Giovanni Masi has noted, the incorporation of German Gothic elements, from the arched windows and slender cornice moldings, created a dwelling "rather aligned with what was created in the German-speaking countries; a Gothic island in the sea of Renaissance Rome" 38 . Given that Sander certainly was aware of Burckardt's design, it seems deliberate that Sander would instead embrace the emerging language of Renaissance architectural design rather than following in the modes of his fellow confraternity brother. Furthermore, the addition of frescoed detail to complement this Classical architectural language seems to further push potential of the bold statement made by Sander's dwelling.  with the pope to both curry favor and edge out other European competition. He teamed with pope Alexander VI, for instance, in January 1494 to create the "Holy League of Venice" in an effort to rein in the French king Charles VIII, who had invaded portions of Italy. He also would enter into another Holy League alliance with pope Julius II in 1512 despite the fact that the arrangement favored Julius' aims rather than his own 43 .
Maximilian's tireless efforts to strategize could have even factored into the siting of Santa Maria dell'Anima 44 . Given Sander's role in the church and as an advocate for the German nation, he too must have sensed the importance of reinforcing German national presence in Rome and in the Catholic Church. It is perhaps mere coincidence, that Sander signed his palazzetto lease less than three weeks after Maximilian's imperial coronation, but his subsequent renovations that transformed his home into an 'all'antica' assemblage -complete with bold adynaton -seems a deliberate exaltation of the enduring German presence in Rome. In other words, the façade would have reminded viewers of Sander's (and by association the Holy Roman Empire's) beneficence both to the people of the German nation and to the Catholic Church. It is perhaps for this reason, during his visit to Rome around 1510, Martin Luther sang the virtues of Santa Maria dell'Anima when he visited for Mass 45 . Thus, these chiaroscuro motifs along with the andynaton defined an eternal space in which Germanic identity became interwoven with the very fabric of antiquity while at the same time claiming allegiance with both the modern Catholic Church and key political players.
The significance of such symbolism would shift once again following Maximilian I's death in 1519 and the subsequent coronation of Charles V, whose troops would march on Rome and sack the city in 1527. Sander and his palazzetto survived relatively unscathed, and he continued in his roles until his death in 1544 46 . From that point, the prominence of Santa Maria dell'Anima began to fade from the Curia's attention 47 .
One can imagine that the chiaroscuro decorations also began to fade, given the ephemerality of the medium when exposed to the natural elements. These images, that once were designed to proclaim the dwelling's eternal presence, where themselves not up to the task of such longevity. The 1873 restorations may have revived the palazzetto Sander façade, but these restorations also permanently barred understanding of how this façade appeared from Sander's day. Despite these lingering uncertainties, the palazzetto Sander façade presents a unique case in which to examine how the invocation of 'all'antica' language -architectural, visual, and textual -made it more than a pretty face; it transformed into a symbolic statement of personal and national presence in the larger footprint of an evolving Eternal City.