- Museum number
- 1946,0713.689.a
- Description
-
Study for a medal commemorating the Cathedral Petri; with a monument flanked by columns and figures, circular. 1662
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash and graphite
- Production date
- 1662
- Dimensions
-
Height: 60 millimetres
-
Width: 59 millimetres (circular)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Lit.: A.E. Popham, 'Catalogue of Drawings in the Collection formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., F.R.S., now in the possession of his Grandson, T. Fitzroy Phillipps Fenwick of Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham', I, London, 1935, p. 126, no. 2 (as Attributed to Berini); N. Turner, 'Italian Drawings in the BM, Roman Baroque Drawings', London, 1999, I, no. 18
Turner 1999
This is a finished modello for the reverse of the annual papal medal of 1662 (Bartolotti, 1967, E.662). The 'Cathedra Petri', itself designed by Bernini, was then under construction at the far wall of the tribune of St Peter's, Rome (Wittkower, 1955, pp. 219-23, no. 61). Again, the medallist was Gaspare Morone Mola (see 1946,0713.689(i) and (ii)), whose initials, "G.M", appear on the obverse, on the ridge at the lower edge of the bust. An example of the medal is to be found in the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum (41 mm in diameter; inv. no. m. 1547). Morone Mola's preparatory wax model for the reverse is also preserved there (43.5mm in diameter; inv.no. 1932,0806.35; London, 1979, p. 89, fig. 224). This wax seems to have been made directly from the drawing and, like it, is divided into quarters. There are some differences between the two, the most conspicuous being the omission from the wax of the rays of divine light emanating from the Holy Spirit.
The medal was struck four years before the unveiling of the finished monument in 1666. Bernini had changed the design several times during the course of its construction, but the structure on the medal corresponds closely to the final solution, except for the concave cornice behind the chair, which forms a link between the capitals of the two columns. This same cornice also features in some of the earlier projects but was omitted from the final construction, where it was replaced by the radiance from the window. Interestingly, in the drawing the cornice is emphatically drawn in black chalk over the pen and wash of the rest of the design, as if this detail had been an afterthought.
Literature: Popham, 1935, I, p. 126, no. 2 (as attributed to Bernini); Pollard, 1970, pp. 146-7, fig. 11 (as Bernini); Harris, 1977(b), p.xxii, under no.79, and pl. 79; London, 1979, pp.89ff., fig.223; South Hadley, Chicago and elsewhere, 1983, p. 104, under no. 85; Varriano, 1987, p. 252, fig. 5; Edinburgh, 1998, no. 69.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1998 June-Sep, Edinburgh, NG Scotland, Roman Baroque Sculpture
1998/9 Oct-Jan, Washington, 'Bernini'
2014-5 Nov-Feb, Leipzig, Museum der bildenden Kunste, 'Bernini'
2015 Mar-May, Rome, Palazzo Barberini, 'Bernini'
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1946,0713.689.a