Baldacchino, St. Peter's

Baldacchino, St. Peter's

1624-1633

7615

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo

Italian

architectural elements

Italy (nation)

Rome (inhabited place)

Baroque

altar components

View of the Baldacchino designed by Bernini at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy. "This enormous bronze canopy, imitating the earlier smaller versions in cloth, occupies the center of the crossing under the dome as well as marking the spot of St. Peter's burial. It had to be large since the area it occupies is gigantic. Scholars are hard-pressed to define the medium. Is it architecture? Sculpture? Bernini was skilled in both (as well as painting and writing plays) and this structure combines both media ... Four columns soar upwards, above each of which a beautiful angel is perched. The heavy bronze tasseled panels allude to the cloth original form ... Under the volutes holding the orb and cross, putti hold up the symbols of the papacy--the keys and papal tiara. On the columns, seen on the last row, the specific reigning pope, Urban VIII, is suggested, with the bees and suns, the heraldic emblems of his Barberini family. The vine on the twisted columns refers both to the Eucharist and the laurel, another Barberini emblem,"--by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton University.

bronze (metal)

100 feet high

jpeg

©2013 Lawrence Technological University. These images may be used for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes without the explicit permission of LTU.

N1ITROM2-21624I26A1