The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1912-03-07
And There is Public Interest
Throughout Italy in the
Question.

ROME. Mar. 2.-Pubilc Interest
from one end of Itniy to the other
has been excited to an extraordinary
degree In the question whether the
virtually inesdm oily valuable art col
lection OF the late Prince Marcan-
tonic Colonna, the head OF the his
torie house. Is to be kept intact or
sold by the four members of the
family to whom it has been bequeath-
ed.
If the four owners transport their
shares Of the collection 10 their res
licences, It is, Of course. lost 10 all
except intimates of the owners. and
that this should happen would be
considered public calamity.
No one who has ever visited the
colonna palace can forget the mag
n!ficent hall where the pictures hang,
and which was the seat, unique and
memorable. of the Postal Congress.
II is decorated with painted mirrors
by Mario de- FiorI and cupids by
SaAlo .huEdllA' 1HeTe are SeNeEdi
Tlntorettos and Palma vecchios, Paul
veroneses' Portrait OF Man." some
Titlans, with many lesser, though
well-known. works of art. but the
most precious and interesting are
twelve water-c Tor landscapes of in
estimable value by Poussin.
The palace itself Is one of the most
attractive, historically, in Rome. Ar
chitecturally. outside 1t is plain to
hideousness, but Inside gorgeous in
the extreme. 1t was left to his
brother, as the bearer of the name of
Colonna, Jrince Marcantonlo leaving
no sons.
The history of the colonna palace
is the history OF medieval and re-
na!ssanse Rome and that 1t has been
made hereditary, and therefore in
alienable to the House of Commons,
should be cause Of rejoicing to
those who love the history of their
country
After the fall of the Temporal
Power, in 1870, the Vatican mobiles
felt strongly. and each made some
visible protest, each in his own way.
1t had been the habit of the Pontlff
to occasionally honor his great mobiles
BY visit, and in, the imposing throne
room Of the Colonna palace stood
a gold and red brocade chair in which
only his Holiness ever sat. When the
Pontiff became prisoner and his
visits ceased, this chair was turned
towards the wall, and from that day
to this, forty-two years. 1t has never
been moved; there it stands, and
there It Will stand until probably, in
a dim future, It falls to pieces.
Prince Lancellott, another black"
noble, declared upon his word OF
honor at he would never enter a
Roman theater while the city be-
'longed to the House of Savoy. When
"Cavallerla" was first
given. the prince, who loved music
passionately. was horribly tempted
to break his vow. but he would not,
and went instead all the way to
Vienna, heard it once, and returned.
He also permanently closed half Of
the great door of his palace-with
the Romans sign Of motrrning-and
only opened 1t just in these days be-
cause OF domestic festivals.
The Colonna are one of these aris-
tocratic families who seem to be torn
between an ancient loyalty to the
Papacy and string OF the blood due
to new conditions and fresh points Of
view. which take them into the OPP
posite camp, that Of the Royal House
The prince just dead showed this
uncerta 'nty to very marked degree
AS young man he chung to the Pope,
but as he grew towards the middle
age he thought that to cling to- the
Vatican meant to be outside every
movement OF his country, and he
accepted the position Of gentleman
in-waiting to0the then reigning queen,
Margherlta. In his later years he
fell heir to the hereditary position of
Assistant 10 the Papal Throne
threw up his post at court and as
sumed the position waiting FOR him
at the Vatican.
One OF his brothers, Don Prospero