barked on a 30-year military career, during which she con-
tinued to paint. As soldier and bandit, she was in the ser-
vice of a succession of warring lords, eventually holding
formal military rank. In 1452 she was killed while at-
tempting, with Conrado, brother of the duke of Sforza, to
lift the siege of her home town by the Venetians. Her sur-
viving wall-paintings are thought to be those in the
Palazzo Galeotti-Vertue at Castelleone.
Roelas, Juan de las (c. 1558–1625) Spanish painter
The son of an admiral, Roelas was born in Seville but be-
came acquainted with Italian art while a student in Venice,
being especially influenced by TITIANand TINTORETTO. In
1603 he was appointed prebendary of the chapel at
Olivárez, where after some years in Madrid and Seville, he
lived from 1624. Roelas was recognized as the most im-
portant artist in Seville and did much to free the Seville
school from the last influence of Romanism. His best
paintings, all still in Seville, included the Circumcision
(c. 1606; university church), the Martyrdom of St. Andrew
(1609–13; museum), and a Pentecost (1615). His pupils
included Pablo Legote (c. 1598–1671) and Francisco de
Zurbarán (1598–1664).
Rojas, Fernando de (c. 1465–1541) Spanish writer
Born the son of converted Jews (conversos) at Puebla de
Montalbán, Toledo, Rojas studied at Salamanca. He moved
from his birthplace because of discrimination against con-
versos and settled in Talavera, where he became mayor and
lived the rest of his life. The work for which he is known
was first published anonymously at Burgos with the title
La comedia de Calisto y Melibea (1499), a novel in dra-
matic form in 16 acts (auctos). In a later, expanded version
of 21 acts, it was retitled La tragicomedia de Calisto y Me-
libea (1502), and Rojas’s authorship is announced acrosti-
cally and in a prefatory claim that he completed the work
of an anonymous original author. The most influential
work of 16th-century Spain, the novel was apparently in-
tended for dramatic reading aloud and not as a play. It is
better known by its popular name, that of a central char-
acter, LA CELESTINA.
Roman Academy The society founded in Rome in the
late 1450s by Pomponio LETOwith the aim of encouraging
scholarly interest in all aspects of classical Roman culture.
Its members adopted Latin or Greek names and met at
Leto’s house on the Quirinal. Its fame spread all over Eu-
rope, but its enthusiasm for all things Roman, including
pagan rituals, caused Pope PAUL IIto imprison and even
torture its leading members and to order its closure
(1468). Later it was revived and numbered two popes
(JULIUS IIand LEO X) among its members, but it was finally
dissolved after the Sack of Rome (1527).
Romanino, Girolamo (c. 1484–c. 1562) Italian artist
A native of Brescia, Romanino was a fellow-pupil of
Alessandro MORETTOand was profoundly influenced by
GIORGIONE, to whom several of his paintings have been at-
tributed, as well as by Titian, Savoldo, and Lotto. He ex-
ecuted numerous sacred pictures and frescoes in
provincial churches throughout northern Italy, including
an Enthroned Madonna with Saints and Angels (Museo
Civico, Padua) and St. Matthew and the Angel (San Gio-
vanni Evangelista, Cremona). His best works are the fres-
coes with mythological figures at the Castello del Buon
Consiglio at Trento; other works include portraits and the
Passion at Cremona cathedral (1519).Romano, Gian Cristoforo (Giovanni Romano) (c. 1470–
1512) Italian sculptor
Born in Rome, he studied under Andrea BREGNObefore
working in a number of northern Italian cities—Cremona,
Ferrara, Milan, Mantua, Pavia, and Urbino—to which he
introduced elements of the Roman classical style. His
most important work is the tomb of Giangaleazzo Visconti
in the Certosa di Pavia (1493–97). He had considerable
talent as a portraitist; Federico da Montefeltro and
Francesco Sforza were among his sitters (both Bargello,
Florence), and of Isabella d’Este he made a portrait medal
as well as the marble bust now in the Louvre, Paris.Romano, Giulio See GIULIO ROMANORome The capital city of Italy situated on the River Tiber
15 miles (24 km) from the Mediterranean in central Italy.
During the Middle Ages and early Renaissance Rome was
a wretched place, described as a city filled with huts,
thieves, and vermin. Bitter factional strife and conflict be-
tween imperial, papal, and republican forms of govern-
ment brought such chaos to Rome that the papacy
removed itself to AVIGNON(1309). During the Avignon pa-
pacy, disorder and the Black Death (1348–49) devastated
Rome and reduced its population to little more than
20,000. In 1347 and 1354 Cola di RIENZOtried in vain to
reestablish the glories of ancient Rome and the powers of
its citizens. The return of the papacy to Rome (1378) was
followed by the GREAT SCHISM, which only ended in 1417
with the election of Pope Martin V, who began to lay the
foundations of a system of government that made Rome
the capital of a major Renaissance power—the Papal
States.
NICHOLAS V(pope 1446–55) was the first of the Re-
naissance popes; he and his successors embarked on the
rebuilding of Rome and attracted artists and scholars to
the city. By the late 15th century Rome had become an im-
portant center of humanist and Greek studies, following
the initiative of Nicholas V in organizing the translation of
Greek classics and the work of the ROMAN ACADEMYunder
the leadership of Pomponio LETO. By 1500 Rome’s finan-RRoommee 4 41155