Posted on 04/08/2005 7:50:39 AM PDT by Liz
View of the Cathedra Petri through the Baldacchino, both by Gianlorenzo Bernini
The Cross and Apse
Baldacchino: Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1624-33, gilt bronze, ht. c.100 feet, San Pietro (St. Peter's), Rome.
As part of the decoration of Saint Peter's in Rome by Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644) [Maffeo Barberini], Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) received the commission for the design and construction of a structure that would be placed over the tomb of St. Peter in the crossing of the newly rebuilt basilica.
The resulting structure, known as the Baldacchino, is a combination of ideas that stem from earlier attempts at distinguishing the high altar and the tomb.
Many of the design elements such as the spiral column establish a link to the basilica of Old Saint Peter's and to the Temple in Jerusalem.
It is important to realize that Bernini early on in his career to the time of his death had always some connection to the decoration of Saint Peter's. It is his overall view of what the basilica should look like that makes Bernini's designs the essence of the Baroque style.
The size of the Baldacchino is approximately 100 feet tall. However, when compared with earlier models, it was not that much taller. Depending on where the structure was placed, either in the apse or over the tomb, and if it was part of a screen separating the choir from the nave, the earlier versions were just as large.
The Baldacchino is constructed from bronze, much of it stolen from the Pantheon (portico) and from the dome of St. Peter's (ribs). The height of the Baldacchino is supported by the use of bronze, rather than the perishable materials used in earlier versions.
The spiral columns of the Baldacchino are imitations of the ancient spiral shafts that were salvaged from the Old St. Peters and earlier basilica decoration. The original columns were moved to decorate the reliquary niches in the four corners of the crossing. In Bernini's version of the column, instead of alternating fluted and floral sections, he has placed the fluted section at the bottom and the remaining sections are foliage, consisting of the Barberini laurels.
1 Medieval folklore stated that the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul were divided, half of each is buried in St. Peter's basilica and the other halves are buried at St. Paul's Outside the Walls (Lavin, 1) Atop the four columns that support the canopy of the Baldacchino stand four angels, over life-size. The affect that the angels produce suggests that they are what is supporting the canopy and not the columns (Lavin, 12).
The crown is comprised of four curved ribs that support a globe and cross. Records indicate that the globe and cross were not in the original plans by Bernini. Bernini's concept was to have the Resurrected Christ aloft the crown, as it would have worked in his entire plan of the crossing decoration. Between the angels, there are two putti that hold the papal tiara and St. Peter's keys, and two more putti hold a sword and book, symbols of St. Paul.1
Throughout the decorative elements on the Baldacchino are the symbols of Urban VIII, sun and bees, as well as the laurel of the Barberini family (mentioned above).
Bernini managed to fuse together parts of earlier ciboria and baldachin constructed in St. Peters, while adding elements that were indicative of his style.
Cathedra Petri
Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1656-66, gilt bronze, marble, stucco, glass, San Pietro, Rome
The crowning achievement of Bernini's design for the decoration of St. Peter's can be found in his later work Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter) located in the apse of the basilica. This large reliquary was designed to house the original wooden chair of St. Peter's. In ecclesiastic tradition, Bishops always have their seats in the chief church of their district (cathedra=cathedral), and the Pope has his seat in St. John's in Lateran. Symbolically, the chair of St. Peter recognizes that St. Peter was the first pope and that San Pietro is and forever shall be his seat.
The Cathedra Petri is similar to Bernini's other works, like the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, in that it is not a single piece to be viewed by itself. Rather, the Cathedra Petri should be viewed in conjunction with the Baldacchino and the four pier sculptures.
Right: Detail, St. Augustine, gilt bronze, located proper right of the sculpture. Represents one of the Doctors of the church from the West. Far Right: Detail, St. Athanasius, gilt bronze, located inside proper left of the sculpture. Represents one of the four Doctors of the church from the East.
The base of the sculpture is made of colored marble. The Fathers or Doctors of the Church (Sts. Ambrose, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Augustine) and the Chair are made of bronze, partly gilded. The original chair is housed in the bronze chair that is flanked by the Fathers or Doctors of the Church. The chair appears to hover by divine will.
Above the chair is what is commonly known as the Glory. This is a combination of stucco putti and angels surrounding a stained glass window that is the actual light source for the apse. Bernini was disappointed with the original window and the glare that it created, so he incorporated it into the final product of Cathedra Petri. The window and dove act as the light and word of God and the Holy Spirit. Bernini diffused the light by using colored glass and reduced the harsh glare he so detested.
Details, The Glory, stucco and stained glass. The overall effect of the Cathedra Petri is awe-inspiring; rays of light, made in stucco, jut out from the real source of light. So much emotion is worked into the piece by the expression on the Doctors' faces and the movement of the putti and angels. Also located on the Cathedra Petri are bas relief of Washing of the Feet and The Handing Over of the Keys to St. Peter, created by Bernini. On the back side is a bas relief regarding Christ's decree to St. Peter, "watch over my flock."
Bernini reduced the size of the Cathedra Petri so that it could be viewed in its entirety through the Baldacchino. In that view, Bernini emphasized the importance of the relics contained in each and the foundation of the Church.
Created by Gwen M. McKinney, mckinney03@sbc.edu, 13 April 2003
If you start an art ping list, please put me on it.
OK, you are on the art ping list, thanks. I think Liz has a copy of it too.
Thanks. I have enjoyed this thread.
I always thought Art was the guy with no arms and no legs hanging on your wall.
Seriously, I was in the Detroit Art Institute many, many, many times during my days at Wayne State University. It was a fascinating experience every time.
Like many, I originally didn't want to go to the museum as I thought I wouldn't like it enough to make the effort. How wrong I was.
Without going into detail, I spent hours looking at and studying his masterpieces. I can't wait to go back. Some of his paintings play tricks on the eyes. Everything he did was fascinating.
I urge everyone to cast aside all preconceptions of Salvador Dali. If you get to St. Pete, do yourself a favor and go to the museum. You will thank me profusely for the recommendation.
There was more to the genius, Dali, than at first meets the eye.
Leni
Do you have anything on John Singer Sargeant? A few years ago, I took a day off from work to see an exhibit on his work at the National Gallery. I don't know much about him or his history but I really enjoyed that exhibit.
When Mr. John Collier was writing his book on The Art of Portrait Painting, he asked John Singer Sargent for an account of his methods. Sargent replied:
As to describing my procedure, I find the greatest difficulty in making it clear to pupils, even with the palette and brushes in hand and with the model before me; to serve it up in the abstract seems to me hopeless.
With the assistance, however, of two of his former pupils, Miss Heyneman and Mr. Henry Haley, it is possible to obtain some idea of his methods. When he first undertook to criticize Miss Heyneman's work he insisted that she should draw from models and not from friends. If you paint your friends, they and you are chiefly con-cerned about the likeness.
Having scraped the palette clean he put out enough paint so it seemed for a dozen pictures. Painting is quite hard enough without adding to your difficulties by keeping your tools in bad condition. You want good thick brushes that will hold the paint and that will resist in a sense the stroke on the canvas. He then with a bit of charcoal placed the head with no more than a few careful lines over which he passed a rag, so that is was a perfectly clean grayish colored canvas (which he preferred), faintly showing where the lines had been.
Then he began to paint. At the start he used sparingly a little turpentine to rub in ageneral tone over the background and to outline the head (the real outline where the light and shadow meet, not the place where the head meets the background), to indicate the mass of the hair and the tone of the dress. The features were not even suggested.
This was a matter of a few moments. For the rest heused his color without a medium of any kind, neither oil, turpentine or any other mixture. The thicker you paint, the more color flows. He had put in this general outline very rapidly, hardly more than smudges, but from the moment that he began really to paint, he worked with a kind of concentrated deliberation, a slow haste so to speak, holding his brush poised in the air for an instant and then putting it just where and how he intended it to fall. To watch the head develop from the start was like the sudden lifting of a blind in a dark room. Every stage was a revelation.
For one thing he often moved his easel next to the sitter so that when he walked back from it he saw the canvas and the original in the same light, at the same distance, at the same angle of vision. He aimed at once for the true general tone of the background, of the hair, and for the transition tone between the two. He showed me how the light flowed over the surface of the cheek into the background itself.
There are several excellent books on the artist Dali's profound vision.
Thanks!
Vatican Museum bump!
Please add "MinuteGal" to your art ping list. Thanks,
Leni
It was worth the trip. He was such a fine artist. And I particularly liked his portraits of the rich society ladies of the day......their children, their hair-dos and what they wore. A real peek into a different time and culture in the history of this country.
Leni
Do you remember the painting of the children and the Chinese lanterns? The way he captured the light just blew me away.
John Singer Sergeant
His output was so immense that he churned out a lot of junk. But his best work is remarkable and will stand with anyone.
Possibly my favorite Sergeant painting - and a bit atypical for him, with the light.
Supposedly he could only paint for a few minutes each day, as the light changed - and of course the change of season started catching up with him after awhile!
Beautiful!
As I was leaving the museum, I bought a beautiful book of color photos of all his paintings. I gave it as a gift to a relative for Christmas. Now, I wish I had bought one for myself.
Oh, well, I can always pick one up when I attend the March for Justice III, lol.
Leni
Do a net search for the book----must be several copies out there you can obtain by mail.
Hope I can remember what the book looked like, the first March for Justice was quite a long time ago!
Leni
The legend is that before he died, Dali signed thousands of empty canvases to made into prints and lithographs---but that could have been a ruse to sell his afterdeath works for a premium price.
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