Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini ricevette da Urbano VIII (1623-44) non solo la richiesta di
progettare il suo monumento funebre ma di definire anche un modello per i successivi monumenti
in S. Pietro, che a quel tempo era terminato dal punto di vista strutturale ma completamente vuoto
per quanto riguardava statue e monumenti. Le dimensioni della basilica erano tali
che l'approccio adottato per i monumenti in S. Maria Maggiore sarebbe stato troppo costoso
in San Pietro dal momento che avrebbe richiesto di coprire una parete fino al
soffitto con colonne, marmi, statue e rilievi. Bernini elaborated Michelangelo's Monuments
to Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence by modifying in 1628 the
Monument to Paulus III by Guglielmo Della Porta. The statue of the pope
was accompanied by four statues of Virtues. Bernini got rid of two statues
(they are now in Palazzo Farnese) and made the Monument to Paulus III more
similar to Michelangelo's Medici Monuments by enhancing its pyramidal
shape. He then moved the Monument into a deep niche (in the southern side
of the apse) framed by two columns and the coat of arms of the pope.
Bernini then designed the Monument to Urbanus VIII following the same
pattern but revising the proportions of the elements and increasing the
vertical lines. Bernini introduced a dramatic element by showing a bronze
Angel of Death in the act of tearing the name of the pope (see Representation of Death in
Baroque Sculpture for more details on this subject).
Monumento a Urbano VIII in S.
Pietro
A dramatic representation of Death also marks the Monument to Alexander VII designed by Bernini in 1678, when he was 80. The niche chosen for the monument had a door which allowed direct access to the area under the dome and which was needed as an alternative to the distant doors of the façade. Bernini built upon this constraint and modified the pattern of the Monument to Urbanus VIII, while maintaining its overall pyramidal shape. The Monument is built around the relation between the statue of the pope portrayed bareheaded and in the act of praying on his knees and a representation of Death in the form of a winged skeleton in the act of showing to the pope a clepsydra (or hour-glass, a wasp-waisted reversible glass with two bulbs containing enough sand to take a definite time in passing from upper to lower bulb) to tell him that his life is over.
Monumento ad Alessandro VII in S. Pietro
Bassorilievi
Alessandro Algardi was the only sculptor in Rome, whose talent could
match that of Bernini and while Bernini was completing his Monument to
Urbanus VIII, Algardi was commissioned a Monument to Leo XI. Algardi
followed the pattern defined by Bernini, but he refrained from using
bronze or coloured marbles and he preferred to give life to the lower part
of the Monument (below the statue of the pope and between the statues of
the two Virtues) by inserting a relief (a kind of sculpture he was very
good at) with episodes of the pope's life (related to his role in
convincing Henry IV of France to embrace the Roman Catholic faith). This
approach was followed in many other monuments as an alternative to the
representation of Death used by Bernini.
As a matter of fact the
episodes shown in the monuments often relate to political if not military
events (in the Monument to Innocentius XI, Pierre Etienne Monnot
celebrated the Liberation of Vienna from the Turks in 1683).
Bassorilievi sui monumenti a Leone XI, di
Alessandro Algardi (1652), e a Innocenzo XI, di Pierre Etienne Monnot
(1701), in S. Pietro
Un altro elemento comune a tutti i monumenti è lo stemma del papa, che è sempre collocato
nella parte superiore della nicchia.
Qui sotto alcuni link a pagine di questo sito che mostrano stemmi usati nei monumenti ai papi.
Virtues
Le statue delle Virtù che accompagnano la statua del papa
ebbero per lungo tempo una iconografia standardizzata che rendevano facile all'osservatore chi era chi.
La Carità era sempre ritratta nell'atto di offrire il suo seno a un bambino, mentre un altro bambino
aspettava ai suoi piedi.
L'immagine sotto mostra la Carità di Ercole Ferrata (se volete, potete confrontarla con la
Carità di Antonio
Raggi; Ferrata e Raggi were Bernini's preferred associates). Some
Baroque monuments show also some animals, either associated with the
Virtues (a dog usually accompanied Faith, a lion Strength, a remora
Prudence) or with the heraldic symbols of the pope (the dragon of
Gregorius XIII).
Verso la fine del XVIII secolo l'intera iconografia Barocca
fu pesantemente criticata e l'iconografia delle Virtù
fu ridefinita, tanto che le statue neoclassiche delle Virtù
(o di altri allegorie del comportamento umano) hanno poco in comune con le corrispondenti
statue barocche delle Virtù. I corpi delle Virtù si irrigidirono, gli abiti cambiano,
gli elementi distintivi tradizionali vengono abbandonati, come mostrato nel confronto qui sotto.
La fortezza in particolare passò attraverso un cambiamento radicale
e il Marte femminile di Camillo Rusconi divenne l'Ercole di Berthel Thorwaldsen.
.
Alessandro
Algardi - Stemma sul monumento a Leone XI
Gian Lorenzo
Bernini - Stemma sul monumento ad Alessandro VII
Pierre Etienne
Monnot - Coat of arms in the Monument to Innocentius XI
Charity by Ercole Ferrata in the
Monument to Clemens IX (1671) in S.Maria Maggiore and a dragon by Camillo
Rusconi in the Monument to Gregorius XIII (1723) in S.
Pietro
Virtù: L'Umiltà di Bartolomeo
Pincellotti (1737), La Religione di Antonio Canova (1792), La Fortezza di Camillo
Rusconi (1717) e di Berthel Thorwaldsen
(1831)
Antonio
Canova
Antonio Canova
(1757-1822) had between 1780 and 1820 the same role of Bernini in the
XVIIth century in revisiting the Monument to the Pope. He was commissioned
more or less at the same time two monuments: the Monument to Clemens XIII
in S. Pietro and the Monument to Clemens XIV in SS. Apostoli. The former
has some points in common with the Monument to Alexander VII by Bernini as
Canova portrays the pope in the act praying on his knees, the latter shows
the pope in a posture very similar to that of Urbanus VIII by Bernini.
Apparently the most striking difference between Bernini and Canova is the
Angel of Death portrayed by Canova in the Monument to Clemens XIII as a
naked youth in a languid posture. The Angel is combed like the Apollo of
Belvedere to signal the link with the Classical world, but the statue
(like Bernini's Santa Teresa) has also another reading clue, more profane
and to some extent admitted by Canova himself who used to say "I cannot
represent what I do not like".
Angelo della Morte e Mildness di
Antonio Canova (1792) nel Monumento a Clemente
XIII
The Monuments by Canova influenced the few monuments which came after them, but the rigid Religion had a greater influence than the languid Angel and eventually the Monument to Pius VIII by Pietro Tenerani (1864) replaced the female statues of the Virtues with those of St Peter and St. Paul and in some way put an end to the Monument to the Pope as a type of sculpture.
Torna alla Lista delle Tombe e Monumenti Funebri dei Papi
Vai ai Monumenti funebri Medievali e Rinascimentali
Vai al Capitolo 5 del Libro di Lanciani Tombe di Papi per avere qualche informazione anche su quelle antiche
Note: l'immagine usata per lo sfondo di questa pagina mostra un particolare del Monumento a Leone XI di Alessandro Algardi in S. Pietro.
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