Hermeticism and Art: Emblem and Allegory in the Work of Bernini

Author(s): Philipp P. Fehl

Source: Artibus et Historiae , 1986, Vol. 7, No. 14 (1986), pp. 153-189
Published by: IRSA s.c.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1483229

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PHILIPP P. FEHL

Hermeticism and Art:

Emblem and Allegory in the Work of Bernini

In memory of Wolfgang Lotz.

"What a tiresome thing a perfectly clear symbol would be!" necessarily are public and open. Opposed as the two activities
John Singer Sargent, as quoted by Richard Ormond, John are in their manner of operation, they are yet connected by
Singer Sargent, London and New York, 1970, p. 90. a common aim, the service and the celebration of Truth. But
the truth - or the mystery at the heart of the hermetic device
"Neverthelesse we must not alwayes thinke that best - is, shall we say, "hard core", an absolute thing. The initiate
which is most hidden; for the best things are ever at hand, accepts it and serves it uncompromisingly. Were he to change
inherent in the things themselves, and most easily discerned his mind (once admitted to the cult) he would become a
by their owne light, being the first things our eyes meet heretic, a traitor to truth. The truth of art, on the other hand,
with if we winke not". of all the poetic arts, rises on the wings of fiction, a sweet
Franciscus Junius, The Painting of the Ancients, London,
pretense that in the language of play and well-agreed-upon
1638, p. 288.* illusion appears to us in an image, unreachable to the touch
and yet visible to all. It elevates a story from the particular
circumstances which narrowly define its validity to the light
The function of art, if we trust our Renaissance sources, of timelessness. Being all play, its truth dances on top of the
is to illuminate, to clarify, to make the difficult obvious, to scaffolding that holds up the story or the mystery which it
guide and elevate our understanding with a gentle touch, to serves. It is a part of what it tells and yet it transcends it, or
make seeing an act of sweet understanding. Hermetic science, better, transforms and advocates it in such a fashion that it
on the other hand, is concerned with the protection of offends no one but pedants, and consoles, delights, and
mysteries, with showing the truth in layers, guiding the initiate, instructs all men.
attracting those fit to become initiated to the hidden truth, The work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini who was one of the
and keeping out the vulgar (preferably without offending them) most cheerful, quick, inventive and resolute artists there ev
and still affecting their passions and purposes in some were has had more than its share of hermetically orient
becoming way. By its very nature, by its very name, hermeticism"studies in depth" devoted to it. The splendor of his playfulne
is secretive just as the arts, in their greatest unfolding, and the abundance of his invention, an irony and constan

153

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1) 'The Obelisks of Rome-. Engraving by Mattius Greuter. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

1 ) ((The Obelisks of Rome)). Engraving by Mattaius Greuter. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

stream of giving and taking away in the world of poetic reality necessarily had to show that the negative view of Bernin
which he brings to life as if it were actual reality, took theart was prejudiced and that the artist's seeming frivolity w
world of art by storm but his very wit earned him the distrusta poetical device in the service of a great didactic mission
of right-thinking people and exposed him to the charge ofThis discovery of Bernini's reliability as a Christian perhaps
frivolity and extravagance, or, in short, of being "baroque". clipped the wings of his wit but they still were allowed
The rehabilitation of this baroqueness, in the name of flap. In the more recent past, however, the search for a
historicising art history began about a hundred years ago.' Itdefinition of his purpose has become more and more obscur

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2) Domenico Fontana, <(Moses Fountain>>. Photo: Barbara Bini, Rome.

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by attempts to support it with the help of bookish explanations.
These tend to reduce the jeu d'esprit and poetic irony of
Bernini's language to a pattern of alleged profundities which
can be peeled off, as it were, in layers of meaning, until, alas,
all the layers are peeled off and we have nothing left but words.
We shall first look at Bernini's art of presenting emblems
and armorial devices - the area where, most obviously, he
spoke in images that are not pictorial likenesses, but rather
signs and symbols which, as heraldry and emblematic art
require, contain a certain element of secrecy. Before we look
at Bernini's ways, however, we must, at some length, consider
the conventions he inherited.
The obelisks Sixtus V erected all over Rome at the focal
points of the great pilgrimage and traffic arteries of the new
Rome provide a ready example2 [Fig. 1]. The very erection of
the obelisks is a demonstration of the renovatio of Rome. To
have brought them from Egypt was a triumph of the empire;
it is a triumph of Christian Rome to put them up again under
God, the wisdom of Egypt topped and controlled, and made
serviceable to the triumph of Christ. Before Sixtus dedicated
these obelisks - so concerned was he with their true veracity
- he had them exorcised in a proper ceremony.3 All this, in
cryptic but still quite certain language, is stated or alluded to
in the inscriptions he provided. And up above (or, in the case
of the Vatican obelisk, also at the very base) he added his
own insignia, the Peretti lion, the monti and his star. They
support the cross.4
We readily mistake this conspicuous display of one's coat
3) (Moses Fountain)), detail: Giovanni Battista della Porta,
of arms on devotional structures for arrogance. But an emblem,
3) ((AarMoses
((Aaron and Fountainhe, detaChildren:
the Children ofGiovanni BattifPhoto:
Israel>>. Israel)). Photo:
Bini.Bini.rta,
if it is worth its salt, can and should be read as a paradox.
"Yes, I, Sixtus V reerected this obelisk. It was my doing" but
also - and this is, as it were, the other side of the coin - "I,
Sixtus V Peretti, with all I am, support the kingdom of Christ
and put myself under His protection".5 In the world of the
imprese just pride, humility and dedication wear the same coat. Egyptian identity on the other two as well. Together
Similarly we may understand Sixtus' much maligned Moses serve the same purpose as the exorcized obelisks: "You",
Fountain6 [Fig. 2]. There, in the middle of it, Moses, fire blazingSixtus'-Moses to them, "once served the idols of Egypt,
from his head (an obvious, and gratuitous correction of the spout the water of salvation for the children of the Lord
horns of Michelangelo's Moses), sternly points at the fountain.to boot, the lions are also, quite obviously, the emblem an
It is not a historical representation of Moses striking the rockof the Peretti pope's coat of arms.
and bringing water to the Israelites in the desert but rather It is a neatly thought out concetto, a diagram as it we
an exhortation to the passers by: "Here, I have brought you turned into a moral illustration. The reliefs support and e
water, come and drink!"7 the emblematic complexity of the fountain with the hel
The pope, in other words, records his own service to the pictorial narration [Figs. 3, 5].
city of Rome by bringing it the Acqua Felice - and he makes The triumphal inscription on the fountain proudly proc
use of the lifegiving force of the water to remind us, through that Sixtus happily brought the waters of the Acqua Fel
the image of Moses, of the power of salvation that is inherent Rome.9 The deed recalls the miracle of Moses who is
in baptism. Four great lions (now replaced by copies) spout appropriately in the center of the fountain. Sixtu
the water. Two of them are obviously Egyptian, with hiero- does not quite liken himself to the prophet who is also a
glyphs inscribed on their bases.8 In situ, they bestow an prototype of Christ. His proper place instead is that of Aaron
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?'

4) Domenico Fontana, ((Tomb of Sixtus V), S. Maria Mag- 5) ((Moses Fountain)). Detail: Relief by Flaminio Vacca and
giore, Rome. Detail: Giov. Antonio Paracca (Valsoldo), Paolo Olivieri, here identified as ((Joshua Selecting the
(Sixtus V>>. Photo: Bini. Soldiers to Fight the Amalekites). Photo: courtesy Dr.
Helmut Friedel, Munich.

in the relief on the left [Fig. 3]. There Aaron is shown offering
either Gideon, who selects his soldiers at the Spring of Herod
the divine gift of the water to the Israelites.10 Such a scene
by a test (only the three hundred who lapped up the water
does not occur in the Bible. It may be imagined or inferred with their tongues, "like a dog lappeth," were allowed to join
from a passage in Numbers" but it obtains authoritythe only
fight)'3 or Joshua leading the children of Israel across the
when we recognize Sixtus in the figure of Aaron [Fig. 4]. As
Jordan.14 The former tradition is based on the pope's own
Aaron, in the veiled Truth of the Old Testament, was a mediator
words in his bull Supremi cura regiminis ("a sinistro vero figura
between Moses and the people of Israel, so, in the light of Israelitarum cernitur, qui iussu Domini milites ex
Gedeonis
Christ, Sixtus V, a successor of St. Peter, carries on the mission
bibendi modo probat"),l5 the latter is deduced from a succinct
of the Church in the world. He is, as it were, another Aaron.12
identification of Joshua in Domenico Fontana's description of
In the relief Sixtus addresses himself to us even more directly
the fountain.16 If we look at the fountain we see that Fontana
than to the children of Israel who surround him. As Moses' and not the pope informs us correctly. Either Flaminio Vacc
gesture is commanding so is that of Aaron mild and reasonableor Pier Paolo Olivieri - both artists worked on the relief17 -
(sternly though he looks at us with the scowling face of Sixtus
clearly established the identity of the military leader before
V) as he invites us to approach and drink the miraculous water.
us as Joshua by the image of the sun which decorates his
The second relief [Fig. 5] is habitually believed to represent
helmet. It is an emblematic device recalling Joshua's command

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6) Antonio Abondio the Youger, Portrait Medal. Obverse: ((Emperor Rudolph 1). Reverse: ((Archduke Ernst of Austria)).
Photo: Warburg Institute, London.

to the sun and the moon to stand still upon Gideon and the abundance of the precious liquid.
valley of Ajalon.18 But what exactly is the action that Joshua The two reliefs - of Aaron and of Joshua - however, make
is now performing before us? better sense when we see them as parts of one continuous
Domenico Fontana's description offers no help. He only narration. The niche in which stands Moses, the fountain's
tells us that we are looking at Joshua.19 If, indeed, as is protagonist, obscures but does not interrupt the continuity of
currently the preferred interpretation,20 Joshua is leading the the account. In the relief on the left women and children scoop
children of Israel across the Jordan, it is a most unusual and up the waters and old men behind them drink them from
inconsequential representation of the subject. The gist of that cups. In the relief on the right a man carries water in a bag
story is that the Israelites walked across the bed of the Jordan and a pot. He is ready for the continuation of the journey of
as if on dry land. To celebrate the miracle Joshua, in obedience the Israelites through the desert. The animals in front, a cow
to God's command, selected twelve men, one from each of and a lamb, still drink from the flow of waters which was
the tribes of Israel, to take up twelve stones from the midst created when Moses struck the rock. A little calf longingly
of the river's bed (where the priests were standing with the looks to his mother for sustenance. The words of God to
Ark) and to carry them across the river to make of them a Moses and Aaron are fulfilled: "egressae sunt aquae largi
monument.21 ita ut populus biberet et iumenta..." (Num. 20. 11).
The relief does not show us any of this and, in one significant The climax of the story, however, is provided by the
detail, contradicts it: the animals in the left foreground are presence on the scene of Joshua and his men. The Bible's
drinking thirstily from the water of the real fountain that,principal account of the miracle is given in Exodus 17. 1-7.
obviously, continues to gush forth beneath them. It would, This story is not self-contained but leads on directly to the
indeed, have been odd, even for designers of an emblematic acount of Joshua's battle against the Amalekites:
fountain, to choose a subject that commemorates the receding "Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
of waters to decorate a spot which is running over with an And Moses said unto Joshua, 'Choose us out men, and

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go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the
top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand'. So Joshua
did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek..."
(Exodus 17. 8-9).22
This is the first time Joshua is mentioned in the Bible. The

fight against Amalek, God's promise of his ultimate extinction,

"delebo enim memoriam Amalec sub caelo" (Exodus 17. 4),
and the miracle of the water in the desert are intimately linked.
Exactly so, in Sixtus' view, would have been his mission as
the world's guide to the water of salvation and the concurrent
need to fight the Turks, the Amalek of his day.23
If we see in Aaron a portrayal of Sixtus V we may reasonably
look for a portrait in the figure of Joshua, his counterpart on
the other side of the fountain. Joshua is majestic in appearance
even if, and surely not by accident, he is a little shorter in
height than Aaron-Sixtus. A proper candidate for allusion
under the circumstances would have been the emperor, the
obviously desirable leader of a new crusade. Medals of
Rudolph II, in fact, furnish a reasonable likeness to the fountain's
Joshua [Fig. 6].24 The flag that waves above him in the
background is the banner of the church (such as, for example,
we see it depicted on the tomb of Pius V in Sixtus V's own P i, . .
chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore 25) and Joshua - or Joshua- 7) Palazzo Zuccari, Rome. Former Garden Portal. Photo:
Rudolph II - would seem to be its general. Bibliotheca Hertziana.
The fountain clearly went through several phases of
projected imagery before the reliefs were fully carved.26 The
sense of it, even though the subjects were changed or modified,
still corresponds in essence to the basic programmatic intentionally as was Rudolph II.
of Sixtus V which is stated in his bull Supremicura Regiminis.27 I cannot refrain from commenting on one other emble
Gideon, who defeated both Midianites and Amalekites in war,28 monument of Sistine Rome, the old garden gate of the
is as much a likely emblem figure for a crusader on the fountain Zuccari in the Via Gregoriana, the home of long standin
as is Joshua. The two reliefs, Aaron on one side and Gideon the famous Bibliotheca Hertziana [Fig. 7]. Wide open gapes
on the other, would have been related to each other, on the the demon's mouth as we enter through the door, his eyes
one hand, by the demonstration of signs and wonders at the bulging - but yet he is obedient to our command as we knock
water and, on the other, by the topical allusion to the respectiveat the gate demanding entrance.31 Much has been written
offices of the pope and the emperor. In this originally about the deeper significance of this gate of hell and the
contemplated form, however, the work would have been, character of Mannerist art that it supposedly reveals. But - if
though sensible in its projection, unbalanced in the form of we will recall the principles of heraldic art - the explanation
its narration. Moses, in the center of the fountain, striking the of this strenuously playful terror-door may be quite simple.
rock (as the original concetto provided)29 and the Aaron relief Above the head of the monster we see the three monti of the
would have depicted one and the same historical event, but Peretti pope. The star which belongs above them evidently
Gideon's panel, a lonely third of the work, quite another. was knocked off long ago, perhaps in the first effort to lodge
Symmetry in the end won out. It may, on second thought, a modern flag pole on top of the monti [Fig. 8]32. Does this
also have been considered unwise in the terms of statecraft not mean that the mouth of this hellish guardian has been
to represent Gideon on the fountain. Gideon was ready to tamed - by the application of the papal coat of arms as were
fight the enemies of the Israelites with an army of 32,000 the pagan obelisks - and that under the protection of the
men, but God, by the test he made Gideon give his soldiers zealous pope we may enter into the rustic world of Zuccari's
at the fountain of Harad, reduced their number to a mere three garden with impunity?33 The guardian (even if against his will)
hundred.30 Perhaps it was best not to take any chances, will keep out the impure and admit and protect the safety of
emblematically or otherwise, with so unreliable and weak an the chaste who will delight in the innocent and improving
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portal in order to enter the enchanted garden behind. Would
not a gatekeeper look out from behind the bars in one of the
windows to see if the person is fit to be admited? The monster
is forbidding and its effect is enhanced by two mini-monsters
crowning the volutes by the sides of each window. As we
approach they examine us complacently with pompous scorn.
The very window will bellow: "Go away!", if we do not pass
the test. But the monster of the gate itself will turn out to be
obliging if, from within, it is directed by the discriminating
keeper of the garden to admit us. The game of the being and
non-being of images turned to life and service (like the stone
lions of the Acqua Felice which spout real water) resolves the
threatening challenge of the monster gate into smiles, even
if, perhaps, in this particular instance, the artist insists too much.
The round openings above the keystones were, in fact,
niches before the building was remodelled by Henrietta Hertz
[Fig. 9]. An old drawing of the site shows a bust in each of
these niches, one male, one female.35 They may well be the
busts of the master and the mistress of the house which we
find (without a record of their original location) in the f
of the Casa Zuccari that was added on the Via Gregoriana
Henrietta Hertz [Figs. 10, 11]. But even, if my surmise t
8) Palazzo Zuccari. ((Monti over Garden Portal)), view from out to be wrong - the drawing in question offers only a
above. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana. summary rendition of the busts - and the figures were actually
antiques or imitations of antique heads, they undoubtedly were
intended to project nobility and calm. Images of virtue and,
perhaps, good housekeeping, the busts, in part, derived their
diversions offered them in the house of Zuccari. The very ease and dignity from the protection of the arms of the papacy
horns of this rustic monster turn into cornucopiae under the that rule the entire garden wall as well as the blessed world
influence of Sixtus V and, on feast days, may hold torches of the garden behind it.
that light the way and surround the beneficent monti and the The highly principled monkey business of the garden
star above with flickering reflections. entrance must, of course, be seen in relation to the entire
Two windows flank the monster gate [Fig. 9]. Each is in building. The great facade of the house facing the Piazza
the form of a face of a small monster whose low forehead, Trinita dei Monti still shows the armorial device of the flowering
quite like that of the parent monster which envelopes the gatesugar cone of the Zuccari alternating with the comet of their
in the center, is squeezed down by a heavy keystone, as if a coat of arms [Fig. 12]. The building stands firm, framed by
wedge were being driven down into each head. The monsters noble, rusticated columns. Niches to hold statues and fields
are in pain. Under the pressure exerted upon them they openfor paintings, reliefs and inscriptions in part still survive and
up their mouths wide and thus at once create and decorate in part may be reconstructed. All the images and texts Zuccari
the windows which they are. Since their restoration in 1976 would have devised had he had the time and opportunity to
there are again inserted into their mouths heavy staves which finish this building would have praised the glory of his patron
form a grid such as normally would protect a lower story and that of the arts, as well as (fittingly at once sustaining
window.34 But the staves also hold open these atrocious the system of emblematic imagery and subordinated to it) the
mouths perpetually. The monsters are ferocious but they are glory of the House of Zuccari.
tamed by a virtus militans that knows how to deal with them. The monster gate was not as far removed from this noble
Perhaps it does not hurt the monsters all that much to be entrance as we see it now, in isolation.36 Coming up the steep
forced to serve what is true, good, and beautiful. They are, incline from the Piazza di Spagna to that of the Trinita dei
after all, windows by nature just as much as monsters. Monti one would have seen at one glance the grandeur of the
Let us imagine somebody knocking at the door of the facade and the extravagance of the garden gate [Fig. 13]. The

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9) Palazzo Zuccari. ((Garden Portal), original location. Photo: Musei Vaticani.

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10) Palazzo Zuccari, Foyer of Henrietta Hertz. (Bust of
Federico Zuccari)>. Self-portrait. Photo: G. Fichera, Biblio-
theca Hertziana.

lIm
m 2m
2m 3m
3m

12) Palazzo Zuccari. Reconstruction of the facade, ca.

1609. Drawing by Arch. Ingrid Sailer. From: Christoph
11) Palazzo Zuccari. Foyer of Henrietta Hertz. Federico Luitpold Frommel, (<Der Palazzo Zuccari: Vom Kunstler-
Zuccari, (Bust of the Artist's Wife, Francesca Genga). haus zum Max-Planck-lnstitut), Jahrbuch der Max-
Photo: G. Fichera, Bibliotheca Hertziana. Planck-Gesellschaft, pi. 13.

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13) Giovanni Battista Falda, ((Plan of Rome, 1676)). Detail: ((Approach to the Palazzo Zuccari from the Piazza di Spagna)).
Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

latter, in such a view, is subordinated to the former reconstruction

just as of the ground floor by Christoph Luitpold
the monsters are subjected by the coat of arms and the busts[Fig. 14] these units are shown as white, gray, and
Frommel
above them. Together, the one ruling, the other serving, theyareas (here suggested by transverse lines).37 The
dark gray
promote the good. The ludicrous has its place in the system entrances to them are A, B, and C. If we enter the house
of the decorum of the whole. proper from B (that is, from the Via Sistina, as would have
The house, as it was originally intended, was arranged in been expected) we would walk first through a corridor (6) and,
three readily distinguishable units following each other in if we do not ascend the stairs (7) we turn left into the vestibul
declining heights. The tallest was the unit dedicated to the proper (8) and see that the whole interior of the house is ruled
arts and to the Accademia di San Lucca; the second was the by the garden [Fig. 15]. We are surrounded by a painted
home of the family, and the third the garden. In the pergola of roses and of birds in the air and views of the open

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14) Palazzo Zuccari, ground floor. Reconstruction by Christoph Luitpold Frommel. From his (Der Palazzo Zuccari>, pi. 5.
Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

sky which all lead to the real garden. Just as the monsters of the garden facade are ruled by
The painted flowers and leaves, however, also are the the arms of Sixtus V and the two busts, so are the monster
frames for pictures of noble deeds, the labors of Hercules [Fig. pilasters subjected by the heroic images on the ceilings of
16] and, in the panel ruling the ceiling of the vestibule, his the vestibule and the succeeding garden loggia [Fig. 14, nos.
steep ascent to the temples of Virtue, Honor, and Glory. 8 and 11], and the beauty and order of the real garden beyond
At the very entrance to the vestibule, to our left and right, [Fig. 14, no. 15].
are two pilasters that end in volutes [Fig. 17 and 18]. The Directly next to the monster pilasters the walls of the
face of each volute shows, in high relief, a monster head vestibule are articulated by a sequence of painted herms, three
turned towards us. These heads are clearly relatives of the on each side, representing the great philosophers of Greece
monster heads of the garden gate. Mouths open, tongues [Figs. 19 and 20]. The head of each, exactly on the level of
hanging out, they are threatening, angry, or scornful, but also the (stucco) heads of the monsters, is painted in gold. The
discomfitted or even in agony, with their wild eyes staring in herms of the philosophers also have a double existence. The
different directions. Happily, we need not decide, for their heads are topped and envelopped by Ionic volutes which make
suffering, as well as their threatening power is absorbed in us apprehend the herms as columns. And, indeed, the
their function as architectural decoration. Squeezed, as they philosophers' heads support an architrave from which springs
literally are, between the cheeks of the volutes, they come to the whole painted vault of the vestibule, the pergola with its
life, as it were, in quotation marks only. From the necks of birds (some of them walking on the architrave and displaying
these Protean creatures, again in high relief and neatly tied their splendid feathers), and its central representation of the
by a ribbon, hang clusters of delicious fruit. glory of Hercules. At the end of the painted bower which
These more or less forgotten monster pilasters carry the continues into the garden loggia [Fig. 14, no. 11], in the air,
first arch of the tunnel vault of the vestibule. They introduce as it were, above the entrance to the actual garden [Fig. 14,
us to the liberating vistas of the painted interior of the house, no. 15], we see the Three Graces. Our entrance to the house
almost as the monster garden gate, when it is opened, ushers and the garden that flows right through it was met with
us into the real garden. images of constraint, constraint that literally bears fruit. The

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forces of nature have to be husbanded or pruned to give us
the perfection of the fruit of the garden.
Virtue, Honor, Labor, and Study, as the painted allegories
and the stories in the sky proclaim, are the foundations of the
nobility of the House of Zuccari and will keep it flourishing.
Disegno rules the arts as much as good housekeeping. The
rewards of our thoughtful labor are the fruits and the joys of
a well ordered garden, a paradise for all who are fit to enter.
It remains to be said that before the monster facade was
moved down the street by Henrietta Hertz the first monster
window looked into the last room on the Via Gregoriana [Fig.
14, no. 13]. This was, very probably, one of the bedrooms of
Zuccaris' children.38 Only from the outside did one receive the
impression that it was a part of the garden tract proper [Fig.
9]. The room is directly next to Federico Zuccari's master
bedroom [Fig. 14, no. 10]. On the lintel over the window of
the master bedroom is inscribed Zuccari's name, FEDER.
ZVCCARVS, in noble Latin letters. The bust above the next
window to the right, ruling the monster head probably was
that of Mrs. Zuccari [Fig. 21].39 It would have been lovely to
see the Zuccari children looking out of their bedroom window,
the watchful eye of their mother, framed by the now harmless
hellish mouth, looking at the life in the street or welcoming
arriving guests and inviting them into the garden, the air filled
with laughter, and the monsters, for all we know, content [Fig.
22].
How did Bernini fit into the tradition of emblematic and 15) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Painted vault. Photo:
allegorical art that we have seen exercized to the hilt in Bibliotheca Hertziana.

Zuccari's house, and how did he transform it?

I begin with one of his simplest inventions, so simple that
it seems not to have been noticed by the cognoscenti, or not
deemed worthy of notice, and yet it is full of charm and in
its hilarity joined to devout celebration, almost itself an emblem
of the emblematic art of Bernini. I speak of the decorative
device, that pious finial, with which Bernini intended to adorn
the very tops of the belltowers of St. Peter's which, alas, were
never built [Fig. 23]. We see a globe topped by a cross and
below the cross, directly above the globe, the keys of Peter.
The keys, undoubtedly gilded, clearly were intended to function
as weathervanes. The cross is implanted on the globe and
rules the earth; like Truth it is above the world: ella e superiore
a tutte le cose del mondo & di loro pi) pretiosa.40 The keys
of the papacy, however, rotate with the winds of time.
Constantly in motion, they point to Heaven and Earth, and are
ready to bind and to loose.41 Moving, literally, about a steady
center they serve the cross, and in the service of the cross,
they serve the world. No one who recognizes this device can Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Detail of painted.... vault.
help smiling; instruction and delight are joined into one. The
16 i) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Detail of painted vault.
very smile it invites makes sure that this weathervane, though
Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.
it has much to say about the mission of the papacy, will not
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17) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Monster pilaster on the left 18) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Monster pilaster on the
upon entering. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana. right upon entering. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

?.'?" ;; .... ..... .. ] '.

19) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Herms on the left. Photo: 20) Palazzo Zuccari, vestibule. Herms on the right. Photo:
Bibliotheca Hertziana. Bibliotheca Hertziana.

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21) Palazzo Zuccari, ((Garden Wall)), detail. Window on 22) The same window as in Fig. 21, with bust of Federico
the left with bust of Francesca Genga. Photomontage: G. Zuccari. Photomontage: G. Fichera, Bibliotheca Hertziana.
Fichera, Bibliotheca Hertziana. Photo of window: courtesy
Musei Vaticani.

ever be mistaken for the church's mystical likeness. but to compliment Gregory XIII and to remind the seminarians
Fun and games with emblems and armorial devicesofare theasColleggio Greco (which it faces) of its founder and of
old as the hills. In relative proximity in time and place the and
hours of their lessons and prayers.
purpose to Bernini we find them exercized, to name but Itone is perhaps ludicrous to attempt to compare this device
of the most engaging and least known examples, on awith clock
Bernini's rotating emblem of the papacy; the latter is
tower of Sant'Atanasio dei Greci in Rome [Fig. 24].42 funny There
and rich in meaning, the former is unassuming and
the winged dragon of Gregory XIII (who built the church) still Still, it would have been a dull world if no one
charming.
sticks out his tongue and balances a comet in his mouth to before Bernini had thought of turning a weather vane into an
tell the time,43 even if he no longer goes round and round the emblem. We need but look at an engraving of a gate to the
clock (which, alas, now stands still) to tell the hours by flying Vigna of Sixtus V [Fig. 25] 44 to see that Domenico Fontana
head up, sideways, or upside down, as the time of the day there hit upon the same device we have seen Bernini use to
and his natural clockwise motion would require. such advantage on Saint Peter's. The rusticated garden gate
This busy dragon does not pretend to be more than a is laden with the arms of Sixtus, but on its very top is the
practical device ornamented by wit. Its sense moves, as it Peretti lion rampant on a foothold formed of the branch and
were, on a one-way street. The clock combines laughter with fruit of a pear tree, ready to turn as a weather vane about the
utility and serves no other purpose (short of telling the time) Peretti star, which, in turn, supports the inflexible cross.

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. ifrom his and many other masters' use of water in

23) Be
Carlo F
.-~~ieio kd e wr.....s ather in his
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1694,
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. Photo: Cynthia Stohans Rome.cross ruled supreme and unencumbered.45a.

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24) S. Anastasio dei Greci, Rome. ((Dragon Clock on the Peter's, as Fontana envisaged the finished building, the steady
campa Pnfle)). Photo: Cynthia Stollhans, Rome. cross ruled supreme and unencumbered.45

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26) Borromini. <(Sant'lvo della Sapienza)), Emblematic 28) Palazzo di Montecitorio, <<Clock and Bell Tower)>.
Weathervane. Photo: Bini. Photo: Bini.

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Next to this orderliness Bernini's innovation seems frivolous.

told the hours more gaily in the service of God, proclaiming
It violates decorum. This is a charge Bernini's work will joy to the world.
encounter again and again as long as decorum still matters Bernini's innovation, as we may judge by its imitations,
to judges of art. But Bernini, in the eyes of lovers of his art was welcomed with delight. Borromini offers us a variation
who also respect decorum, teases decorum for a worthy, on it on the spire of Sant'lvo alla Sapienza [Fig. 26] - except
noble, and ultimately decorous purpose. The Poetic Muse, in that here the weathervane rotating about the Cross is the
her multicolored, transparent, and sometimes tattered gown, Pamphili dove, painted white, winging its way round and round
does not observe the decorum of the drawing room. She in the service of God. Borromini amply provided for the decorum
creates fancies which represent truth, a golden truth she alone of this spiritual weathervane by the setting in which he placed
can take the measure of, in a dance of light-hearted fiction. it. It is, literally, the highpoint of a whole system of emblematic
Urban VIII, who gratefully sponsored Bernini, was, as pope, decorations on the spire of which the most spectacular are
no less a stickler for decorum than Sixtus V, but he knew the flames of gilded hammered iron signifying Charity.46 It is
more about poetry and its laws than Sixtus and realized thatabove them that appear, like an exhalation of Love floating in
the volatile Muse and true Religion not only are compatible the air, the busy glory of the Pamphili and the steady Cross.
but that Religion is better served if the Muse of Art is allowed In the end of the century Carlo Fontana gave the
to dance in her transparent veils. Bernini's bell tower of Saintweathervane, as it were, one more turn. He placed a winged
Peter's was adorned by the life of his wit and the bells therefore
hour glass high above the Palazzo di Montecitorio, the new

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on this side of the door that, quite justly, art historical attention
is usually directed [Fig. 30]. But Bernini's emblematic concetto
begins on the other side of the gate, the one which each
visitor from the North, coming down the Via Flaminia, beholds
from afar [Fig. 31]. And there we see, like a welcoming beacon
above the porta, the Chigi star rising above the monti of
Alexander VII. But it is not just the welcoming pope's emblem
that we perceive but the wonder of a great star with all of
its connotations of the beauty of the firmament and the
promise of the star of Bethlehem. All this protects the city of
Rome and beckons us towards its gate.
Bernini began his work with the very efficient and
respectable porta which Pius IV had built and that was now
I .:C . E V i I
very nearly a hundred years old [Fig. 32]. Over the door, as
4W uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-
is only natural, Pius had conspicuously placed his coat of arms
and underneath it, to indicate the felicity he wished to promote,
if not the felicity offered by Rome itself and its rich treasures
30) <<Porta del Popolo>, view from the piazza. Emblems of salvation, two cornucopiae50 filled with fruit in abundance,
and Inscription. Photo: Bini. and in the center of each a papal rose [Fig. 33]. Apart from
this promise of plenty, the gate, as befits a military structure,
was unornamented, short that is, of the glory of four antique
columns (from old St. Peter's51) and the cannon balls flanking
the inscription tablet, cannon balls that can also be read as
Roman curia, where all the law courts of Rome were to be the Medici palle of Pius IV's armorial shield.
united in one building [Figs. 27, 28].47 "Time flies - all is Bernini preserved the severity of this entrance but he also
vanity, but the Cross is steady and our only refuge; Carpe made it articulate by the addition of two guardian statues,
diem, think of the end!" - the advice, good for all men, also Saints Peter and Paul, two quite severe sculptures by Mochi.52
had a special significance when it was addressed to the judges On the top of the wall he placed battlements in the form of
of the curia and the lawyers who thronged the building and trophies. Each trophy consists of a piece of chest armor and
watched the clock and minded the bells: "Use your time well, above it, a simple helmet [Figs. 31, 33].53 This is not the armor
be just in the service of Truth and the Cross!"48 of defeated enemies but rather the martial equipment ready
There is no finer disclaimer of pride in a stately building for the use of the papal troops such as was stacked in Urban
than the winged hourglass on its top - provided, that is, that Vlll's armory on the ground floor of the Vatican Library [Fig.
the emblem moves in the wind and is appropriately decorative. 34].54 Only the Chigi star that rises above the battlements
Were we to meet the message head-on, in dead seriousness, dissolves the severity of the exterior of the porta. Bernini there
we should not be able to delight in the palazzo at all; our did not display the Chigi emblem at the expense of the Medici
pleasure would turn to ashes. In the form of a weathervane, one but rather he complemented it.55 In the new context the
however, the admonition is not sanctimonious but charming, old porta (with its emblem) is shown to be old, ancestral - a
down to earth, as it were, while it points to heaven. severe foundation for the security of the coming of a golden
We now look at Bernini's emblematic engagements in an age. The monti and the star, strictly speaking, do not belong
ascending order in the hierarchy of genres. His restoration of to the exterior of the door but, visible on both sides of the
the Porta del Popolo [Fig. 29] joins ornament and the language porta, they rise from the opulence of the design of its interior
of emblems with extraordinary felicity. The occasion for the gate. "Felici Faustoq. Ingressui" says the inscription on the
repair of the Porta (for which it was high time) was the solemn interior and an echo, on a grander scale, of Pius' cornucopiae
entry of Queen Christina of Sweden, the daughter of Gustavus offers a new abundance of floral spendor. Connecting the two
Adolphus, the champion of the Lutherans, after her spectacular volutes which rise to form an architrave is a wreath made of
conversion to Catholicism.49 It seemed as if all the prayers of oak leaves, sheaves of wheat, and a center piece of roses
the popes for the unification of Europe were now being [Fig. 30]. The oak leaves denote the strength of the oak and
answered. The inscription on the interior of the porta alludes belong to the coat of arms of Alexander VII. The wheat is an
to this entry and it is towards this joyous wealth of ornament emblem of the house of Vasa and thus of Queen Christina,
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31) _ dex r w o h a ef.-s--t d" - - e r e to Ft c U n
_ tb-' - = '^' '~~ '?*js'' '^ -'= '
31) ?Porta del Popolo?, exterior view before the enlargement of

and the roses, as on the exterior of the porta,

this festive gatebut
to thenowfacaderich
of S. Maria del Popolo which
in bloom and fragrance, represent the Virgin
is wreathed Mary
in oak and
leaves [Fig. 35].thus
And then, of course, come
the papacy and, in view of Christina's entrance and the the obelisk, the fountain, and the first view of the town, Roma
inscription subtly recording it, the glory of the Catholic faith.56
herself in the three streets that meet in the Piazza del Popolo
Alexander VII and Bernini took care to extend the splendor of and open up the city before us. And every time we leave the
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SN A" .Xk 4
32) Carlo Rainaldi, <<Porta del Popolo), exterior. Drawing
from Cod. Vat. Barb. Lat. 4411. Photo: Fototeca Unione Battlement Decorations. Photo: Bini.
3007.

34) Gaspare Mola, <(Medal of Urban Vll. Reverse: (The 35) S. Maria del Popolo. Bernini's Ornamental Wreath on
Vatican Arsenal)) Photo: Warburg Institute. the Facade. Photo: Bini.

city to travel north - if we know the Vasa emblem - we are this wonderful city. How many a traveller has not sighed as
reminded not only of the queen's entry but of the return of he left Rome forever through this portal that wished him addio
the queen to the faith, of the happiness of Rome that now to with a last kiss of beauty. Few, surely, knew - or know -
the abundance of treasure within its gate may add the wheat about the Vasa allusion in this plentitude of blessed giving. It
of the Vasa; and as we leave, so are we invited to return to is one of the wonders of Bernini's use of emblems, as it is of

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his art in general, that he does not

emblems is acted out and lifted above its specific precision
into a realm of celebration that at once serves the specific
37) St. Peter's, [Fig. 36
occasion and yet makes it universal.57 There is no clue, no

i ; .
trick, no deeper hidden meaning in what we see - its depth,
its truth, lives on the surface of the work of art and promotes
coveredhis art in genera
a sense of grace and well being; it is our delight that is the
emblems of Urban VIII. But a
source of our instruction, and not our probing.
The greatest
into of all Bernini's
a realm emblematically adorned
of celebrate, works,
together
. '.-_ ... ....
and also his most controversial, is, of course, the baldachin
trick, what they carry - the cross oaning in top of the see- its depth,
its truth, lives on the surface of the work of art and promotes
But the sense of thisgrace and well bemaching; it is our deight that eis the
source of ourwhat instructionines, and not or the tomb of Peter [Fig.
order, move in measur
37]. The greasimplicity, the silence of this grblematical adorned works,nly be
celebrate, together with the angels that have alighted on their
and also his immense cntroversial, is, of coursthe complementarychin
tops, what they carry - the cross on top of the great sphere
in Swealth of the structure which protects it and subordinates alnd is
covts wealth to it. Bernini makes a great distinction between the
truthemblems of Scripture an V. But all of them, if we will look at their
order, xceedingly careful, in his lively way, not to crowd thopulence, torealm
-7
seen in this immense church because of the complementary
that holiness it uphis areeives from it the light of the world.ncetti
wealth of the structure which protects it and subordinates all
But the sense o this entire mbaachin e is not in its own existncetors
its wealth to it. Bernini makes a great distinction between the
but in what it enshrines, the altae their audiences; they makter [Fig.
truth of Scripture and his art of serving Scripture. He is
37].point of simplicityng us, with the cunning ene of this great altar can only be
exceedingly careful, in his lively way, not to crowd the realm
36) St. Peter's Rome, ((Confessio, Altar and Baldacchino?. of holiness with his art. The laughter, the joy of his concetti
Engraving from: A. Chacon, Vitae et res gestae pontifi- which abound on the baldachin are like the bows of actors
cum, Rome, 1677, vol. I, plate facing p. 68. Photo:
Bibliotheca Hertziana. or musicians when they salute their audiences; they make a
point of showing us, with the cunning politeness of art, on

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38) Bernini, (Baldacchino), detail. Photo: Fototeca Unione No. 10113 FG.

stage and with their costumes on, that they are no differentillusions he creates. The gust of wind [Fig. 38] that blows
from us in the reality of flesh and blood even if, in the reality
through the baldachin and moves some of the make-believe
of the imagination, they represent divine things or kings and cloth flanges of its ceiling, as if the baldachin were a temporary
queens and princes. structure over an altar in the open air, is, no doubt one of the
This important convention increases not only our apprecia- most daring confrontations the baldachin offers between the
tion of the artist's bravura but also of the veracity of the worlds of fiction and of nature.58 We all know how impossible

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39) Bernini, <(Baldacchino)), detail. Photo: Bini. 41) Bernini, (<Baldacchino)>, detail. Photo: Bini.

this effect is because we are, clearly, standing right in the

middle of the church; but the conceit convinces with a bow,
as it were. It becomes so true through the imagery of fiction
because it speaks to us in a smile. As the incense rises from
the altar we are carried in our imagination to the great altar
in the temple's open court in Jerusalem; the sacrifices offered
here, at the shrine of Peter and those at the temple in Jerusalem
are, in our imagination linked and joined in splendor and
holiness. It is not for the sake of a formal classicism that the
great bronze columns of the baldachin echo the shape of the
Roman twisted vine-leaf columns from the old church. The
latter were believed to have come from the Temple in
Jerusalem. They partake of holiness and Bernini therefore used
them to frame the tabernacles in the great pillars surrounding
the Crossing. Bernini's own columns are only an imitation, but
an imitation that also elevates and enlarges the reliquary
columns to ideally true temple proportions.
Bernini is exuberant not only in grandeur but also in the
life of little things that pertain, that he made pertain, to the
baldachin. There are medals and rosaries lying on the huge
column bases (and cast with them), as if pious pilgrims had
placed them there. The medals, of course, document and date
the erection of the baldachin and praise Urban VIII [Fig. 39].
There are also lizards rushing up and down the column bases
[Figs. 40,41 ] (they were, incidentally, not modelled in sculpture
40) Bernini, ((Baldacchino)>, detail. Photo: Bini. but cast from real lizards), there is a golden fly buzzing (equally

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42) St. Peter's and Colonnades, ground plan. From: Giovanni Battista Nolli, Nuova pianta di Roma, 1748. Photo:
Bibliotheca Hertziana.

cast from life, which takes greater art than making the Cathedra
one with was moved to the apse of the church, art not
a tool) and much else that at once teases and satisfies our only elevated the chair, it celebrated its glory in the form of
sense of wonder and the love of the little life in the presence a dramatic action. We see, in wonder, a precious moment in
of the grand. It would be a mistake, I think, to follow these the ecstasy of its suddenness lifted out of time into an eternal
animals on the tracks of an iconographic quest. It is enough present, the reception of the chair and its constant veneration.
that they are there and that they are not senselessly there. Does this mean that art now replaces the relic or has swallowed
In the ideal world of the baldachin it and the altar within its it up? Not so, I think. In essence the new reliquary serves the
embrace are out of doors, in the open air of a heavenly same function as the columns of the baldachin in their relation
Jerusalem as it were, where lizards crawl and flies buzz, all to the altar. The true chair is preserved within the ideal chair.
in a life of gold. The latter, clearly a work of fiction, glorifies the truth of the
The relation between the worlds of fiction, emblems, and relic but it is not itself sacred. It serves the holy but does not
the holy in Bernini's art is perhaps, most directly visible in his touch it. One can see this most beautifully on the feast-day
crowning work of sculpture for the church, the reliquary for of the Cathedra when hundreds of candles are lit on the
the Cathedra Petri [Figs. 39-A, 43]. Originally the Cathedra mounting that is art to celebrate the truth of the relic con
was placed in the baptismal chapel of the new church [Fig. within.
39-B]. Bernini made a wooden shrine for it, with practicable There is a screen in front of the relic which does not re
doors, so the relic could be shown. Art here merely held up let us see but helps us apprehend, with almost physical
the relic, like a goldsmith's mounting that holds a jewel. When directness, that Peter's chair is contained within the reliquary

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C(at/dr I ! J ' - I .. PAP. L. = ESAND O 1 i' /7/'/ II / Vii c ,7int
in 1, , / a tlt 'f/' i f ,!Z/t,' r 1 f1 7 ',/,'!. 7 ' 1' < C r/i it/ ! f if.t' i f1 . ' 1tffii' t/t'J hi'oli zY d r. . / ri.tI l jor!2t,* tz i'O rtqfu 1i/ l '/) r (7/' l' // : . i'. I ; / /

' 3',.;- n..., . S., f

? /.. . /.t ,,,,. 1,,s
r ;,,. .. ~','" ,,/-,.
.. '. ' l.f. ./.* :., .....,. ~;,;, -.,.. ,'z ...t.. *. i,' R .-.../-../ z .-,- .

43) B
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[Fig. 44]. The center of this screen is decorated with a now
little noticed but essential Chigi armorial star. Early engravings
feature it [Fig. 43], even at the expense of the other ornaments
on the screen which include two satellite stars and a rush of
Alexander Vll's oak leaves that form the material body of
screen.

All the church, from the colonnades that Alexander built,

converges towards the star in the center of the screen. Is this
the height of monarchial arrogance or do we here see the
devotion of the pope who gathered the whole church, ecclesia
herself, in front of the throne of Peter to serve God and to pray?
As I have argued elsewhere, there is good reason to believe
that a drawing now at Windsor Castle [Fig. 45] shows the
tomb of Alexander VII in the form the pope had authorized
before his death.59 This tomb was intended to be placed not
where we now see the actual tomb [Fig. 39-D] but rather in
front of a door near the apse of the church which is now
covered over by the tomb of Alexander VIII [Fig. 39-C].
44) Bernini, ((Cattedra di S. Pietro)). Detail. Photo: According to this plan the pope's kneeling figure would have
Bibliotheca Hertziana.
been shown looking towards the Cathedra in prayer, in an act
............... - -- - - --.-.-J . . L . ----- -_

,-- - *'Ix
:I,

?,

43+ , I I t] ...

i_ I E
45) School of Bernini, ((Presentation Drawing for the 46) Antonio Pollaiuolo, ((Tomb of Innocent VIl)). Photo:
Tomb of Alexander VII)), Royal Library, Windsor Castle.Quaresi ma.
Quaresima.
Photograph by gracious permission of her Majesty the
Queen.

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........

)" 13) :?
* i`? .I
'r 4

I
;I \

(""u
----

e r jSr -..I
: r, f?U *,

?? ;-
,?- ..
?-

-?;

f rLF 'i19

- I?

? ?,
;pr i
c-: r
j .??? IC ?. ::

t i CPPI L tlb i I !.
C'F
1 L
t -- --?-------?
. '

n??Q, ,
P`
47) Guglielmo della Porta, ((Tomb of Paul II: Justice and
Prudence)). Photo: Quaresima.
.

*I

of perpetual adoration. In the language of emblems the star

on the screen of Bernini's reliquary [Fig. 44] would then quite
obviously have re-represented the pope's person and his
prayer. But we do not need the pope's kneeling effigy to be jt
i,
persuaded of the star's devotional reality. The screen makes
it obvious that Bernini's entire cathedra is only an envelope --: . .. ---"'r _..-_=-...ii
that contains the true Cathedra. The Chigi star and the oak
leaves together guide us to the truth human eyes may only
fathom and protect it from the profane. We may add that the . ! V . .... ,~

oak leaves on the screen are arranged in a classical acanthus '.. _... z.... ~.... .Z,-,' ,ir ~ ::r ... ~ _S ,.T-,- .t _~~.,
pattern (for which they are often mistaken) not only for the48) (Tomb of Paul 111, ca. 1575. Drawing after Guglielmo
sake of decoration but also because the real chair itself is della Porta, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. no. 8941.
decorated with a narrow frieze of acanthus leaves.60 The Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

screen no more repeats this pattern than does the entire

reliquary repeat the actual form of Peter's chair. Rather, it
represents in the truth of poetry the truth of the relic such as it was in St. Peter's that Bernini discovered for himself this
it may become accessible, not to the touch or even to the essentially new and daring kind of animation. The challen
eye, but to the imagination. In such a view the armorial devices was put to him by the task of erecting the tomb of Urb
of the pope who placed the Cathedra in the apse also harmonize, VIII in the apse [Fig. 39-E] and of re-erecting in a mat
placed as they are in front of it, with the significance of the position the tomb of Paul III [Fig. 39-F].61 The tombs of Si
chair itself. IV and Innocent VIII show us how allegories traditionally
We now turn to Bernini's representations of allegorical functioned on tombs [Fig. 46]. They are attributes of the popes
figures. Except for the great precedent of the representations rather than participants in a drama. That is still how the grand
of the Times of Day on Michelangelo's Medici tombs, they figures of Justice and Prudence decorate the tomb of Paul III
are the first allegories on tombs animated by a life that at [Fig. 47]. The pope sits enthroned above them, his right hand
once expresses and transcends the essence of their being; extended in a gesture at once of blessing and of ordering [Fig.
they are actors in a history, and not just representations of 48]. "So he governed", the monument shows us, "in justice
themselves, or images of their names, as it were. If I am right, and prudence" - and the allegories recline and simply are their

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49) Bernini, ((Tomb of Urban Vlll>. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

true selves. But in Bernini's rendition of Charity and Justice of grief, barely manages to hold the sword that is no longer
at the tomb of Urban VIII in the niche opposite [Fig. 49], the guided by Urban's rule. The allegories no longer are symbolic
allegories, touched by the sense of bereavement at the death figures but divine beings who at once feel and instruct our
of so good a pope, are moved to tears and Justitia, in a swoon grief in the presence of a great loss.

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50) Bernini, <<Four Rivers Fountain)). Engraving by Girolamo Pedrignani. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

Allegories, emblems, hieroglyphs and nature happily come Bernini had virtually finished the work on the fountain in the
together in Bernini's great fountains. These are now as much Piazza Navona, when Pope Innocent X came to view it. He
a lure to iconographers and mythographers, as they are, and liked everything he saw but when he turned to leave he said,
have been from the time of their erection, happy gathering "Bernini, when will we be able to see the waters fall?" "It
points for children, lovers, and strolling tourists [Figs. 50, 52]. takes more time" said Bernini, "but I shall serve your Holiness
May I, in defense of the praise of the obvious which I have with all expedition". The pope blessed him and left with his
attempted in this essay, recall what is, perhaps, the most entourage. Bernini waited until the pope reached the end of
charming of all the anecdotes contained in Domenico Bernini's the oblong piazza and then gave his signal to the workmen
Life of his father?62 The story is so good it must be true. who were standing at the ready. Now the water rushed into

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E e . d . (-_I ', .

.a .o to . ... ..v- -,.

P,Kei JAaVaon aallta. 5
I , O^cljc F- Icfanci >rA ri JR7antat zc3 f'e S uneSXr 9 . r ia f hydiae i tS- Gacao e asAi pJsacqn L ;L_

51) ((Piazza Navona allagata)). Engraving by Giuseppe Vasi. Photo: Bibliotheca Hertziana.

the fountain and gave it life. The pope was so very pleased fountain of Sixtus V [Fig. 2] to see the difference between an
by the spectacle that marvelling, he came back to view the iconographic scheme in which water is employed to be a
fountain again: "Bernini", he said, "by giving us this unexpected carrier of emblematic meaning and the fountain of life which
joy you have added ten years to our life". This is no small we owe to the art of Bernini. It is too simple to say that the
thing to say for an old man. The wings of Bernini's art rise one is the work of pedantry and the other of genius. It is
from the water of this fountain [Fig. 51]. The allegories, the rather that Bernini discerned the shortcomings of the conven-
secrets of the obelisk even, are all in praise of the water which tional vocabulary of emblematic representation in the service
is its own allegory, as it were, and all the allegorizations we of God and his gift of water, and found a way, not only to
invent and discover in it are just modes of accounting for the improve it, but to give it an access to Truth that is immediate.
gift of the water and pointing it out in the celebration of what Bernini deliberately severed the link between myth-making
is obvious. Let us look for one moment again at the Moses and art in the service of religion. His images cannot be turned

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az:

Aiuiis j Cj AluaeduCSi/u D.; c rt. . i op.

52) ((Charlatans on the Piazza Navona). Engraving by Giuseppe Vasi. (In questa piazza si fa ogni Mercordi il pubblico
Mercato, stabilitovi dal Cardinal Rotomagene di Nazione Francese, ed ogni mattina vi si vendono erbaggi, e frutti a'
rivenditori di Roma. E frequentata nel dopo pranzo da' Ciarlatani, Astrologi, Saltimbanchi, ed altre personi, che tirano alla
loro udienza quantita di gente, alla quale spacciando con le loro ciarle balsami, ed unguenti di straordinarie virtui, danno
ad intendere scoperte, che dicono esser ignote ad ogni Filosofo). G. Vasi, Delle Magnificenze di Roma Antica e Moderna
Rome, 1752, vol. II, p. xxii. Photo: University of Illinois Libraries.

(without being abused) into idols of a cult. Fiction reigns

*"[ ;X.''Q,?? 2.j supreme in his works and - because she likes to wink - she
,,i ::.. , I ,:,,, ,,,,,,.iii icannot tell a lie, not even about herself. It is for that reason
TiLL ,i1.\ a&I - that one does not have to be a Roman Catholic to be touch
and improved in one's mind by the wisdom of Bernini's
J ^ .4^^ '?flB devotion. But if one is a Catholic, I permit myself to think as
I ?'.' l ... ;:I0 W lone who is a confirmed non-Catholic ("acatolico", as the
"' ....* > - ':'; Italians with great courtesy and compassion call the likes of
::'.'..?~i' f*-r BtS J\r' ^ : us), one might receive from Bernini a view of the nature o
i:~ :'.1[_ [ J S^^'" -l~Tff -- i the myth he serves in his capacity as a poet - and never
,4 I ^ i a prophet- that transcends and confirms the custom of
I'"t> ,~~;S~~~~ t~ B I: iB.^ .'\B^ '$ inherited and perhaps even the fervor of acquired faith. Natur
B^ 'iBi ,i : .1.... I^ lR a 1 ;^ ,Potentior Ars: Lodovico Dolce's emblematic praise of Titian
^:. jKSa ^^^JBt ^ t ^ 1^^ lart equally fits the kindred poetical realism of Bernini [Fig.
'f!kil l, :...;"'lsfj"i"'"i"|il . ..i ... .....^ * i |ijjlt 53].63 Dolce's impresa for Titian showed a mother bear lickin
al'"' rSuB^^^^S^^B--?, !-S .^ three lumps of flesh - baby bears are born that way - into
--.,_.-. -._-. - ~ ^the shape of real bears. Natura Potentior Ars: not only could
53) <(Titian's lmpresao. From Battista Pittoni, Imprese di the two artists tell a lump of flesh from a baby bear, they also
diversi prencipi, duchi, signori, e d'altri personaggi et , ii .
huominiletterati
huomini /ettferati et illustr,
et illustri, con a/cune
con alcune stanze stanze del Dolce knew, as it were, the bear within the bear of the moth
del Dolce
che dichiarano i motti di esse imprese, Venice, 1562. And they show us what is behind the veil of appea
Photo: University of Illinois Libraries. being true to what is without.
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APPENDIX: individual impressions, like so many that have been written
about Rome. Yet the thing was an event in my life - in
G. K. CHESTERTON AND THE MONSTER PORTAL OF THE that inner, infantile and fanciful life which begins with
PALAZZO ZUCCARI seeing the first Punch and Judy or owning the first air-gun.
I merely walked across the road from my hotel, soon after
my arrival, filled with no particular aspiration beyond a
The following text is taken from Chesterton's almost strong appetite for lunch; and just round the corner of the
forgotten travel book, The Resurrection of Rome, New York, small street opposite I found a whole huge gateway carved
1 930, pp. 5-7. He did not know, when he wrote these lines like the face of a gigantic goblin with open jaws. It was
(or, perhaps, ever) that an entrance next to the gate that rather like the Mouth of Hell in the mediaeval pictures and
engaged his fancy with a kind of loving scorn led, as happily plays. The worthy householder, who lived behind this
it still does, to the home of the Bibliotheca Hertziana. Had he pleasing facade, had presumably grown accustomed to
walked in he could have obtained the answers "which I am popping in and out of the monster in the most prim and
not sure that I even want to know", to his nascent questions respectable manner. Whenever he went into his house he
about the artist, date and origins of the monster portal that was devoured by a giant like the princesses in the fairytales.
curiosly charmed his generous and souvereign taste. For a Whenever he came out of his house he was vomited forth
fleeting moment two worlds, poetry and history, faced each by a hideous leviathan like the prophet in the story of
other at the gate they had in common and neither could see Nineveh. This seemed to me rather quaint; I have never
the other. seen it anywhere else; I have never seen it mentioned here.
"Well, I shall now pull myself together and write about Now of course I do know enough, in a smattering sort of
Rome. But, by way of completing the apology, I will mention way, to connect a thing of that sort with the antiquities
first the first thing I really noticed in Rome, because it or the novelties of Rome. Assuming my sternest air, as a
fixes exactly what I mean. I do not know whether anybody guide to the tourist and the author of a serious book of
else ever noticed it; I do not suppose that most people travel, I can say that this is a remarkable example, and
would suppose it was worth noticing. I have no idea how even extreme among the late extravagances of the Baroque.
old it is, and I imagine it is quite new. I do not know who I shall in an instant plunge into a general survey in which
did it or why, and I am not sure that I even want to know; there will be quite a lot of the Baroque. I merely wish to
certainly I have not yet, as a fact, taken the trouble to record that, while this little lane has a long name in Italian
enquire. I am pretty sure it is in no guide-book; and, what which I forget, I call it in my own mind Ogre Street; and
is more to the point, in no book of more sensitive and my adventures there are entirely my own".

* An early version of this paper, entitled "The Mystery of the the sphere was found to be empty. Fontana, op. cit., vol. I pp. 4v.,
Obvious", was presented at the symposium "Hermeticism and the 13r., Ludwig von Pastor, Storia dei papi, X, Rome, 1955, pp. 455-71.;
Renaissance" held at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 1982. D'Onofrio, op. cit., pp. 99-103. See also Henry Stuart Jones The
1 On the fluctuations of Bernini's fame and the variety of scholarly Sculptures of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Oxford, 1926, vol. I, p. 1 72;
approaches to his art see George Bauer, Bernini in Perspective, vol. III, pi. 62.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1976. 4 The lions at the base of the Vatican obelisk are the work of
2 Domenico Fontana, Della trasportatione dellobelisco vaticano Prospero Bresciano, the master responsible for the statue of Mo
et delle fabriche di Nostro Signore Papa Sisto V., vol. I, Rome, 1590, on the Moses Fountain erected by Sixtus V. Cf. Giovanni Baglione
pp. 5v., 31 r., 60 v. - 68 r .; Cesare D'Onofrio, Gli obelischi di Roma, vite de' pittori, scultori ed architetti, Rome, 1642, p. 43. Bagli
2nd. ed., Rome, 1967, pp. 71-177. almost makes more of these lions than of the transportation of
3 Fontana, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 4 r. - 4 v., 28 v. - 29 v.; Michele obelisk; ibid., p. 35. The lions hide four antique supports of bro
Mercati, Gli obelischi di Roma, Rome, 1589; ed. Gianfranco Cantelli, (astragali) which in fact bear the weight of the obelisk. "La figura
Bologna, 1981, pp. 295-96, 305-306. The sphere originally on top leone e contenuta anco nell'arme di Nostro Signore Sixtus V e qu
of the Vatican obelisk (now in the Capitoline Museum) was long sotto agli obelischi dimostra la ferocita e la superbia dei gent
believed to contain Caesar's ashes. To replace it with the Cross of sottomessa al giogo della nostra santa religione". Mercato, op.
Christ therefore had a poignancy all its own - even if, upon inspection, p. 309. In the Middle Ages the astragals were, on occasion, represen

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or described as lions. Sixtus V therefore turned into reality an in the Sistine Chapel. Note also the medal of Paul III: "Omnes Reges
interpretation that, in a way, had predicted or anticipated the advent Servient Ei" which shows Paul III as the high priest before whom
of his papacy. Note also the heraldic "pun" on the lions in the inscription Alexander the Great bends his knee. See Alfred Armand, Les m6dailleur
on the base of the obelisk: "Ecce Crux Domini / Fugite / Partes italiens, Paris 1879, vol. I, p. 171.4. See also Tilmann Buddensieg,
Adversae / Vicit Leo / De Tribu / Juda". A comparable pun, this time "Zum Statuenprogramm im Kapitolsplan Pauls IIl", Zeitschrift fur
on his name (Felice Peretti) occurs on a medal of Sixtus showing all Kunstgeschichte, XXXII (1969), pp. 223 - 24, notes 59-60. An
four of the obelisks he moved and reerected: "Cruci Felicius interesting confirmation of the self-evidence of the topos in Renais-
Consecrata." On the medieval interpretations of the astragals sance Rome seeis provided by a lapse of memory in Cellini's description
D'Onofrio,.op. cit, p. 20 and pl. 15. On the Casting ofof his Peretti
the medal "ut bibat populus" (cf. note 7, above): "e dall'altra banda
lions, ibid., p. 190. feci un rovescio figurato quando Moise era nel deserto con i suoi
5 Mercati's description of the papal insignia on top of popoli
the eVatican
avendo carestia dell'acqua, Iddio lo soccorse insegnandogli
che Aron, fratello di Moise, percotessi con la verga una pietra, dalla
obelisk ("questo ornamento delli monti e della stella") characteristically
begins with the praise of the beauty of their material and quale saltava
their vivissima acqua. E questa io feci ricchissima di cammelli,
artistic
perfection. Then Mercati proceeds to an identification ofditheir cavalli,signifi-
di moltissimi animali a proposito di essa moltitudine di
cance: "dimostrano I'autore dal qual e stato drizzato I'obelisco e popoli ...". See Benvenuto Cellini, Trattato dell'oreficeria, ch. 15; ed.
dedicato alia Santissima Croce." But this is only the outer shell of the Pietro Scarpellini, Benvenuto Cellini: La Vita, I Trattati, I Discorsi, Rome,
life of a device which, if properly understood, literally rises to the 1967, p. 495. Cellini who here remembered his camels better than
skies: "e misteriosamente ancora, come lettere ieroglifiche notano il his Moses recalls the story perfectly, however, in his Vita (ch. 71, ed.
merito della Santissima Croce, per lo quale non solamente e degna Scarpellini, p. 129). The same mistake crops up anew in an engraving
di esser inalzata sopra gli obelischi, ma ancora sopra gli monti e sopraof the Moses Fountain by Matthaus Greuter, Vedute e giardini di Roma,
alle cose piu eminenti della terra, e se fosse possibile anco agli uomini, Rome, 1620, pi. XI. We there see Aaron clearly identified by his high
sopra alle stelle nel Cielo;" Mercato, op. cit., p. 309. priest's mitre, lustily striking the rock and an abundance of water
6 Cesare D'Onofrio, Le fontane di Roma, Rome, 1957, pp. 85-95; comes forth. The rest of the engraving faithfully renders the fountain,
idem, Acque e fontane di Roma, Rome, 1977, pp. 222-23. See also more of less as we see it now. On a ceiling fresco in the Vatican
Pastor, op. cit., X, pp. 428-35 and idem, Sisto V il creatore della nuova Library, the figure of Aaron, while not striking the rock, holds the rod
Roma, Rome, 1922, pp. 4-9. (or a scepter?) in his hand. The picture probably represents what the
7 Note the inscription on Cellini's medal of Clement VII, "ut bibat artist thought was a likely scene (from whatever hints he had of the
populus"; Charles Avery and Susanna Barbiglia, L'opera completa delsubject) still to appear on the fountain which was not yet finished at
Cellini, Milan, 1981, p. 1 and p. 88, no. 10. The medal celebrates the the time of painting. On the variety of pictorial interpretations of the
construction of the famous pozzo at Orvieto. The inscription is a subjects on the fountain see notes 16 and 29, below.
quotation from Exodus, 17. 6. The "horns" of light which emanate 13 Judges, 7. 1-14.
from Moses's head (as on the Sixtus Fountain) are, strictly speaking, 14 Joshua, ch. 3-4.
an anachronism. They were bestowed on Moses on Sinai and here 15 For the full text see note 27, below.
serve as a mere attribute which introduces us, as it were, to the full 16 "Dentro il nicchio di mezzo e la statua di Moise di marmo alta
likeness of Moses. The Moses Fountain underwent several changes palmi dicianove, la qual mostra I'istoria, quando percosse la pietra co
in its design. Originally it was intended to show Moses in the act of la verga nel deserto, e ne fece scaturir i'acqua, e ne gli altri due nicch
striking the rock. See note 29, below. si mostra I'istoria d'Aron, e di Giosue pur di marmo nel modo che
8 "Due di loro sono di Porfido bigio pietra durissima,... e si sono rappresenta il presente disegno con la sua pianta", Fontana, op. cit
levati dinanzi il Panteon..., gli altri due sono di marmo statuario, stavano I, p.45. The print to which Fontana refers is, unfortunately, confuse
di qua e di la dalla porta di S. Giovanni Laterano, spoglie di fabriche in the telling details of the reliefs; the relief on the right may more
antiche poste quivi acaso"; Fontana, op. cit., I, p. 44 v. The lions were reasonably be related to the story of Gideon than of Joshua. The
moved to the Vatican Museum under Gregory XVI and replaced by incongruencies of the various old representations and accounts o
copies. Cf. D'Onofrio, Fontane, op. cit., note to pi. 70. the fountain have been admirably traced and, such as they can be
9 For the full text see A. D. Tani, Le Acque e Fontane di Roma, explained by D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., pp. 222-33.
Turin, 1927, p. 52. Additional laudatory inscriptions regarding the 17 D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., p. 338, n.7.
bringing of the Acqua Felice to Rome are transcribed ibid., p. 50. Note 18 Joshua, 10. 12-14. We may assume that the moon is depicted
also the foundation medal for the Moses Fountain inscribed "Unda on the other side of Joshua's helmet, the side we could only see if
Sempre Felix", reproduced by D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., Joshua
p. turned his head. The emblematic attributes of the hero need
232. not necessarily correspond to the historical time depicted in the relief
10 In his bull Supremi cura regiminis Sixtus V succinctly names and may, in fact, anticipate it. See note 7, above.
the action on the relief: "Sacerdos Aaron... populum Judai cum sitientem19 See note 8, above.
ad Aquas ducit." For the text see note 27, below. 20 D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., p. 224; Anthony Blunt
11 Num. 20.8-9: "Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:Guide to Baroque Rome, London, 1982, p. 229.
Tolle virgam et congrega populum, tu et Aaron frater tuus, et loquimini21 See note 6 above. Afamous and obviously influential represent
tion of the event occurs on Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise". Cf. Richard
ad petram coram eius, et illa dabit aquas. Cumque eduxeris aquam,
de petra bibet omnis multitudo et iumenta eius". The words "...Krautheimer
de in coil. with Trude Krautheimer-Hess, Lorenzo Ghiberti,
Princeton, N.J., 1982, pp. 173-75, 179-80, 197-99 and plates
petra bibet omnis multitudo" may be understood to predict, darkly,
the mission of St. Peter: "and upon this rock will I build my church", 107-111 a.
(Matthew 16, 18; John 1, 42). 22 Rephidim is the very place where the miracle of the
12 The topos frequently occurs in pictorial art. A seminal example effected. In the background of the Aaron panel we see t
is the image of Sixtus IV as Aaron in Botticelli's "Punishment of Corah" tents of the children of Israel: "castremati sunt in Raphidim
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erat aqua ad bibendum populo", (Ex. 17. 1). Latin text see D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., p. 222.
23 God's anger against Amalek was relentless: "I will utterly blot 28 Judges, 7. 12.
out the remembrance from Amalek under heaven", (Ex. 17. 5). As the 29 "... in arcu medio stat marmorea statua Moysis, qui petram...
Lord commands the children of Israel to fight towards this end He virga percutit". See note 27, above. This action is repeatedly represent-
also explains the cause of His anger: "Remember what Amalek did ed on early engravings and also reported by Domenico Fontana. Cf.
unto thee by the way as you came forth out of Egypt; how he met D'Onofrio, Acque e Fontane, op. cit., pp. 223-24, 232. According to
thee by the way, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not Gregory Martin the rod of "Moses and Aaron" was a relic venerated
God", (Deut 25.17-19). On Sixtus V's (abortive) plans for a crusade in S. Giovanni in Laterano. See his Roma Sancta (1581), ed. G.B. Parks,
cf. Pastor, op. cit., X, p. 380 ff. The war against the Turks was a Rome, 1969, p. 35. This seems to be a conflation of two separate
constant topos in the panegyrical literature and the political scheming relics in the church, the "rod of Moses" and the "rod" or pastoral
of the time. See Torquato Tasso, Tre scritte politici, ed. Luigi Firpo, staff, of Aaron. Cf. Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-
Turin, 1980, pp. 79-81, 180-81; Rensselaer W. Lee, "Observations ecclesiastica, vol. XCIII, Venice, 1859, "Verga", pp. 289-93. If so
on the First Illustrations of Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata", Proceedings learned a divine as Gregory Martin would think of the two relics as
of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 125, no. 5 (1981), p. 329. one we need not marvel at, or belittle, the confusion which obtained
24 The Archduke Ernst, represented on the reverse of the medal, among artists trying to invent a likely scene for the Aaron panel of
was for a time Sixtus V's preferred candidate for the crown of Poland. the Moses Fountain. See note 12, above. The gesturing hand of the
The pope's hopes for the succession of Stephen Bathory in Poland statue of Moses, as we see it now, does not suggest that the figure
and the development of a crusade against the Turks neatly coincided. was meant to hold a rod. A full-scale plaster model, with the rod in
See Paolo Viti Mariani, L'Arciduca Ernesto d'Austria e la Santa Sede, his hand, may at first have been placed on the fountain to try out the
Rome, 1898, pp. 36 f; Pastor, op cit., X, pp. 383-406. On Sixtus' effect. Alterations may have been made in connection with the change
relations with Rudolph II see Alessandro De-Hubner (trans. Filippo in the project which replaced Gideon with Joshua in the panel on the
Gattari), Storia di Sisto V, Naples, 1892, pp. 341-62. For other medals right. The restoration of the fountain, now in progress, may provide
of Rudolph II see Armand, op. cit., I, 269. 7; II, 276 no. 1; III, 307 A. clues for an answer. The scaffolding and boards which now cover up
The medal here reproduced is Armand, vol. I, p. 269.8 from the the work have made it impossible for me to provide more telling detail
Warburg Institute's Census of Italian Medals, ed. Jennifer Montagu, of the reliefs on the fountain at this time. I am grateful to Dr. Helmut
no. 578.19 A. See also 578.18, A-C. Friedel of Munich for his kind permission to reproduce his photograph
25 On the relief on the tomb the pope bestows the flag on of the Joshua relief in this essay.
Marcantonio Colonna who will be victorious at Lepanto. Cf. Pastor, 30 Judges, 7. 2-7
op. cit., X, p. 485; Alexandra Herz, "The Sixtine and Pauline Tombs 31 A forgotten but refreshing account of a sudden and happily
in Santa Maria Maggiore: An Iconographic Study", Ph. D. Diss., New naive first encounter with this gate was offered by G. K. Chesterton.
York University, 1974, pp. 237-38. See also the medal of Sixtus V See our Appendix. For studies pertaining to the history and the meaning
by Niccolo Bonis showing Sixtus bestowing the flag on a commander: of this challenging gate see Werner Koerte, "Der Palazzo Zuccari in
"Dextera Domini Faciat Virtutem", cf. Armand, op. cit., III, 139 A. The Rom", (Romische Forschungen der Bibliotheca Hertziana, XII), Leipzig,
virtues of a Roman emperor which culminate in his willingness to 1935, esp. pp. 15-18; Guglielmo Gaena Capogrossi, "Iconologia di
fight the wars of Christ when summoned by a pope were elaborately un portale: il 'Mascherone' di Palazzo Zuccari", Palatino, VII (1963),
stated by Sixtus V in his bull "Laudemus viros gloriosos" of December pp. 116-20; Erst Guldan, "Das Monsterportal am Palazzo Zuccari in
2nd, 1587. The occasion was the discovery of a number of medallic Rom: Wandlungen eines Motivs vom Mittelalter zum Manierismus",
portraits of early Christian emperors in the excavations for the new Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte, XXXII (1969), pp. 229-61; Wolfgang
Lateran palace. See Laertius Cherubinus, ed., Bullarium Romanum Lotz, "Der Palazzo Zuccari Rom. Ein Kunstlerhaus des 16. Jahrhunderts
Novissimum, Rome, 1638, II, pp. 461-62. als Sitz eines Max Planck Instituts", Jahrbuch der Max-Planck-
26 See note 16, above. Gesellschaft, 1967, pp. 184-55; Kristina Herrmann-Fiore, "Die Fresken
27 The full text of the paragraph describing the fountain reads: Federico Zuccaris in seinem romischen Kunstlerhaus, Romisches
"In platea autem S. Susannae Fontem primarium quatuor columnis Jahrbuch & fur Kunstgeschichte, XVII (1979), pp. 35-112; Christoph
tribus arcubus splendide ornatum extruximus; in quem Aquaeductus, Luitpold Frommel, "Der Palazzo Zuccari: Vom Kunstlerhaus zum
tres Aquarum defluentium copia, sonorq. strepitu effundit. Super ostijs Max-Planck-lnstitut", Jahrbuch der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 1982,
vero in arcu medio stat marmorea statua Moysis, qui petram unde pp. 37-57; Christoph Luitpold Frommel and Matthias Winner, eds.;
diumitus olim flexerunt Aquae, virga percutit; in dextero item arcu "Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-lnstitut Rom", Max-Planck-
Sacerdos Aaron marmorea tabula, quae multorum capita refert, Gesellschaft: Berichte und Mitteilungen, Heft 5, 1985. I shall present
expressus, populum ludai cum sitientem ad Aquas ducit & a sinistro a more detailed account of the monster gate and its place in the
vero figura Gedeonis Israelitarum cernitur, qui iussu Domini milites ex decorative program of the Palazzo Zuccari in a separate study, "The
bibendi modo probat. In eiusdem vero Fontis conspectu quatuor Leones Monsters Tamed", to appear in Romisches Jahrbuch fur Kunst-
quorum duo ex albo, duo ex nigro marmore sculpti, ore aquam ad geschichte. In the preparation of the discussion which follows I have
commodiorem usum & publicum oblectamentum emittunt. Quo vero been greatly aided by conversations with Christoph Luitpold Frommel,
fons ipse in maiori se ostentaret prospectu, & publico usui commodior Ernst Guldan, Kristina Herrmann-Fiore and Christof Thoenes. I am
& iucundior redderetur dictam S. Susannae plateam ruderibus undequa- also much obliged to the staff of the Fototeca of the Bibliotheca
que refertam, & maceriis plurimis inaequalem ac deformem, quantum Hertziana who generously helped me in various ways and to whom
opus fuit, depressimus, terram effodimus, atque ad vicina eiusdem I owe photographs taken especially for the purpose of this essay.
plateae loca decliviora, ut aequarentur transportari fecimus"; Cherubin- 32 The monster gate and its accompanying windows were restored
us, op. cit., II p. 512, ? 4. The pope's description uses right and left (and removed from their original position about five and a half meters
as seen from the position of Moses, not ours. Aaron is, as it were, up the Via Gregoriana) in the course of the building operations
on the Gospel side of the fountain. For an Italian translation of the commenced by Henrietta Hertz in 1907. They were worked on again
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in the 1930's and in 1976 underwent a desperately needed new On Bernini's original design see Heinrich Brauer and Rudolf Wittkower,
restoration and chemical treatment of the stone. On this work and Die Zeichnungen des Gianlorenzo Bernini, Berlin, 1931, I, pp. 37-43;
its background see Christof Thoenes, "Restaurierung der 'Mascheroni' II, plates 154-55, 189.
am Palazzo Zuccari in Rom", Kunstchronik, XXX, no. 3 (June 1977), 42 The clock which we see now is not the original clock placed
pp. 262-64, 275-77. by Gregory XIII but a replacement donated to the church by Clemens Xl
33 On the heraldic conventions exercised in the sculpture of the in 1711. It is the work of a clockmaker named Marino Simonetti. The
garden gate see Philipp Fehl, "Bernini's Stemme for Urban VIII on the original clock was supposedly brought to the church from the Palazzo
baldacchino in St. Peter's: a Forgotten Compliment", The Burlington di Monte Cavallo. Marino Simonetti very probably re-used the
Magazine, LXVIII (1976), pp. 48-49. "dragon-hand" of the original clock in the design of the new work.
34 The horizontal bars visible on our figure 9 probably are not The dragon, no doubt, was originally gilded. The only reference I know
Zuccari's original iron staves. The present restoration (not illustrated) to the dragon on the clock occurs in Raymund Netzhammer, "Das
shows the grill work here described. The restoration took into account griechische Kolleg in Rom. Skizzen zur Vergangenheit und Gegenwart",
a number of holes in the stone of the window frame which bespeak offprint in the Bibliotheca Hertziana from Katholische Kirchenzeitung,
the former presence of vertical bars. It is also possible that the bars Salzburg, 1905, p. 14. On the clock itself see also Anna Bedon,
of the windows moved outward in a belly-like shape at the bottom, "Uniatismo, apostolato e colonianismo religioso nell'eta di Gregorio
to afford residents the opportunity to lean out the windows. Grills in XIII: La Chiesa di S. Atanasio di Rito Greco", Antichita Viva, XXII
this form appear on other windows of the Palazzo Zuccari. (1983) p. 56, n. 45, illustration p. 52. Note also the two dragons over
35 London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 3436-28; reproduced by the sundials which crown the facade of Gregory XIIl's Collegio Romano.
Guldan, op, cit., p. 256. 43 The portents, good or bad, attributable to comets are legion.
36 See note 32, above. For a generous report on the changes Cf. Pliny the Elder, Nat. Hist., II, 89-95. Here it should suffice to look
effected in the Palazzo Zuccari by Henrietta Hertz see Christoph at the comet as a bringer of good tidings. Note especially Pliny, op.
Luitpold Frommel in Frommel and Winner (eds.), "Bibliotheca Hertziana", cit, II, 94 from which inferences may be drawn to the comet of the
op. cit., pp. 48-50. Magi. A comet appeared in 1577, in the fifth year of the reign of
37 First published in Frommel, "Der Palazzo Zuccari", op. cit., p. 41. Gregory XIII. One of the pope's emblems showed a dragon with the
I here am entirely guided by Frommel's presentation. See also its inscription "vigilat et non commovebitur". The combination of the
elaboration in Frommel and Winner (eds.), "Bibliotheca Hertziana", op. comet and the dragon in a compliment was, I believe, inevitable. On
cit., pp. 37-55. the comet of 1577 see Doris Hellmann, The Comet of 1577: Its Place
38 Frommel, ibid., pp. 44-45. in the History of Astronomy, New York, 1944 (Columbia University
39 The problem of the placing of the busts is complicated and Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, no. 510); note especially
still needs to be explored. Our first written notice of them dates from pp. 141-43, 178-83, 212-17, 226-71, 402. I owe the reference to
1893 when they are reported as placed within the palazzo, at the this book to the kindness of Jean Michel Massing. Cf. also the use
approach to the old staircase, "su due colonne marmorizzate". See of the comet in Zuccari's coat of arms (our fig. 12).
Vincenzo Lanciarini, Dei pittori Taddeo e Federico Zuccari di S. Angelo 44 Fontana, op. cit., vol. I, p. 69 r.
in Vado, Jesi, 1893, p. 52. The busts are, surely, the work of Federico 45 Ibid., vol. I, p. 30r.
Zuccari himself. For his bust of his brother Taddeo, formerly in the 46 Anthony Blunt, Vita e opere di Borromini, Rome, 1983, p. 116.
Pantheon, see Herrmann-Fiore, op. cit., p. 67, fig. 21. The drawing of See also John Beldon Scott, "S. Ivo alla Sapienza and Borromini's
the garden wall including busts in the niches above the monster Symbolic Language", Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians,
windows (note 35, above) shows a presumably male head on our XLI (1982), pp. 294-317. Seemingly more simple are the weather-
right and a female head on our left. Another drawing (in the Museo vanes in the form of Pamphili doves which crown the bell towers of
di Roma) by Achille Pinelli is a capriccio based on the garden entrance S. Agnese in Agone. However, these are but subsidiary movable
emblems. The Pamphili dove on top of the obelisk over Bernini's Four
to the Palazzo Zuccari but (it seems) it faithfully records the presence
of a male bust in the niche above the one monster window which Rivers Fountain is a sturdy bird and rules the entire Piazza Novona
the drawing shows. This bust fairly resembles the portrait bust whichof may be understood as a "forum Pamphili" of which the church
Federico Zuccari [Fig. 10]. The busts, as we have arranged them is a part.
in See Rudolf Preimesberger," ((Obeliscus Pamphilius) Beitrage
our photomontage [Fig. 21 and 22] are, of necessity, placed zu above
Vorgeschichte und Ikonographie des Vierstromebrunnens auf Piazza
the left window of the garden wall. No picture of the right window Navona", Minchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, XXV (1974), pp.
suitable to a montage seems to exist but the two windows and niches 77-162.
were, of course, virtually identical (see Fig. 9). With Francesca Genga 47 The design for the clocktower and its ornaments un
on our left of the monster gate and Federico Zuccari on our right, several
the stages of development and modification. See Allan
ordering of the garden entrance seems to be properly accomplished, and Hellmut Hager, Carlo Fontana: The Drawings at Winds
and Federico Zuccari looks back on all that he has wrought. From London, 1977, pp. 112-20; Eduard Coudenhove-Erthal, Car
their niches, with pious confidence, the couple also turn in unison undto die Architektur des romischen Spatbarocks, Vienna, 1
the monti of Sixtus V which protect the entrance to their garden71-78. and The clock itself is the work of a Neapolitan Jesuit w
their house. brought to Rome by Fontana for the purpose. The "hand" of
40 Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, Venice, 1645; voce Verita, p. 666. originally was in the form of a "serpente attorcigliato tenent
41 Matthew, 16.19. See also Ripa, Iconologia, voce Autorita o una freccia indicatrice dell'ore". The bells were cast from the metal
Potesta "tiene alzata la destra con le chiavi elevate al Cielo per of cannons. See A. M. A. Calandra, "II Palazzo di Montecitorio: genesi
dimostrare, che Omnis potestas a Deo est [Paul, Rom. 13.1]", ed. - sviluppo - storia", Storia e Nobilta, vol. IV, nos. 11- 12 (Nov. - Dec
Padua, 1611, p. 41. On the multiple significance of Peter's keys see 1970), p. 16.
the article "Chiavi Pontifici" in Gaetano Moroni, vol. Xl, pp. 172-79. 48 Carlo Fontana designed a grandly shaped clock for the far end

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of the courtyard of the Palazzo. Nothing came of this plan but the therefore, next to all else it signifies, represent an elegantly concealed
huge clock is not "absurd", as has been charged, when we look at it compliment. Christina embraced, as it were, by the pope's emblems,
as a harmonic response, as it were, to the emblematic play on Time is herself the felicity - and the rose - of the Rome she enters. The
and Truth in the decoration of the clocktower on the facade. See text, in that case, would also echo and complete the emblematic sense
Braham-Hager, op. cit., cat. nos. 345, 346 and plates 282, 283. of the cornucopiae depicted on the entrance side of the porta. See
49 See Cesare D'Onofrio, Roma val bene un abiura. storie romane note 50, above. If, indeed, all this delicacy obtained, it was, no doubt,
tra Cristina di Svezia, Piazza del Popolo e l'Accademia d'Arcadia, Rome, the work of Alexander VII himself who was a perfectionist in these
1976, pp. 51-93, 109-23, and passim. matters.

50 The cornucopia is an emblem of felicity. See Ripa, op. cit. On 57 D'Onofrio adduces cogent reasons that the subtlety o
the rose see the articles "Rosa d'oro" and "Rosario" in Moroni. op. inscription which points and does not point to Christina's entr
cit., vol. LIX, pp. 111-149, 1 50-58. See also Luciano Bartoli, Simbologia motivated by political caution as well as Latin elegance. See his
Mariana, Rovigo, 1949, pp. 149-51. val bene..., op. cit., pp. 51-57. It is, perhaps, in the nature of im
51 Tiberio Alfarano, ...De Basilica Vaticana antiquissima et nova that subtleties in art and political thought will coincide.
structura, ed. Michele Cerrati, Rome, 1914, vol.xxxii, 8. 58 For a review of the effects here discussed and photograp
52 These statues were originally made for S. Paolo fuori le mura telling detail by Ronald Wiedenhoeft (including the ornamenta
to be placed near Arnolfo di Cambio's ciborium but were not accepted, referred to below) see Chandler Kirwin and Philipp Fehl, "Ber
perhaps because of the excessive gravity of the work. In 1657 they decoro: Some Preliminary Observations on the Baldachin and His
were bought by Alexander VII from Mochi's widow for Bernini's use Tombs in St. Peter's," Studies in Iconography, VII-VIII (1981-82), pp.
in the decoration of the Porta del Popolo. They were recently restored 323-69.
and are now on view in the Museo di Roma. See the exhibition 59 "Improvisation and the Artist's Responsibility in St. P
catalogue Francesco Mochi, 1580-1654 (Montevarchi-Florence- Rome: Papal Tombs by Bernini and Canova" XXV Internationaler
Piacenza-Rome), Florence, 1981, pp. 80-82, 88-97. Kongress fur Kuntgeschichte, CIHA, Wien, 4.-10.Sept. 1983, vol. IX
53 The helmets are now not readily identifiable and lend themselves (1985), pp. 111-129, 199-204. Note also a more detailed account,
to misinterpretation. They have suffered considerably from the weather "Bernini's Project of a Funerary Chapel for the Popes of the Future at
and from indifferent restauration when the two "worthless" towers St. Peter's, Rome", forthcoming.
by the sides of the porta were demolished and the gate enlarged.60 On For the acanthus decoration on the real cathedra see Kurt
the demolition in particular and a proposal to turn the porta Weitzmann, into a "Studi sulla cattedra lignea di S. Pietro", Bulletino
victory monument for the new Italy see Giuseppe Verzili, "Porta dell'lstituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo e Archivio Muratoriano,
Flaminia", II Buonarrotti, XII (1877-78), pp. 26-28. In addition vol. to the
86 (1976-77) plates 1, 6, 11, 13, 15, 16-18, 50, 56, 61-64,
"battlement-trophies" Bernini also placed Medici palle (or cannon 67-68. The scrollwork on Bernini's screen was designed by Paul
balls?) on the corners of the towers. These palle now decorate the Schor. See Roberto Battaglia, La Cattedra Berniniana di S. Pietro,
ends of the enlarged porta. Rome, 1943, p. 99.
54 The medal of Urban VIII is inscribed "Pacis Incolumitati" and 61 Cf. Philipp Fehl, "Piety and the Conspicuous Tomb: Bernini's
celebrates the installation of the armory ("Warburg Institute Papal Census"
Monuments at St. Peter's", Bernini e il barocco europeo,
nr. 1086/76); Nathan T. Whitman, Roma Resurgens. Papal Medals Proceedings of the International Bernini Congress, Rome 1981, vol.
from the Age of the Baroque, Exibition Catalogue, University of Michigan
IV, Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, forthcoming.
Museum of Art, 1981, Ann Arbor, 1983, pp. 80-81. See also Giovanni 62 Domenico Stefano Bernini, Vita del Cavaliere Gio. Lorenzo
Baglione, Le vite de'pittori, scultori e architetti..., Rome, 1 642, Bernini,
p. 1 78. Rome, 1713, pp. 89-91; Filippo Baldinucci, Vita di Gian Lorenz
Bernini, (1682), ed Sergio Samek Ludovici, Milan, 1948, pp. 104-105
55 The porta of Pius IV, though completed by Vignola, was credited
to have been designed by Michelangelo. See Baglione, op. cit., p. 63 8. Battista Pittoni, Imprese di diversi prencipi, signori, e d'altr
Bernini's preservation of the original character of Pius facade may
personaggi et huomini letterari et illustri, con alcune stanze del Dolc
therefore have been spurred on by sense of filial piety. che dichiarano i motti di esse imprese, Venice, 1562, "Dell'll. p. il sig
56 Sheaves of wheat are elaborately represented in the decorativeTitiano". The impresa is a variation on what Virgil is credited with
margin of an engraving celebrating the ceremonial entry of having Queen said of his own art, "that he brought forth his verses after the
Christina into Rome. See D'Onofrio, Roma vale bene..., op. cit., pp. of Beares, which bring forth their young ones without shape
manner
51, 54-55. Wheat is also an emblem of "Publica Felicitas". Seeor Filippo
beauty, and afterwards, by licking, fashion what they have brough
Pincinelli, Mundus symbolicus, Frankfurt, 1694, II, p. 626. The forth". See Franciscus Junius, The Painting of the Ancients, London
inscription, read jointly with the emblematic ornament above it, may 1638, p. 207.

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