Although this account is largely dismissed as a fanciful encounter concocted by Bernini’s biographers in effort to create the “myth of Gian Lorenzo,” Bernini, ultimately, was the artist that would find balance and harmony within the interior of the basilica by building the Baldacchino, in the center, and the Cathedra Petri, in the end of the Basilica. This paper will examine several of the more important additions (i.e., the Baldacchino, the statue of St. Longinus and the two camplanili) that Bernini made to the interior of St. Peter’s under the pontificate of Urban VIII. All of these additions had important propaganda value for the resurgent Catholic Church. The Baldacchino was constructed as a symbolic memorandum dictating the direction Urban intended to focus his pontificate. Finished ten years after its commission, the Baldacchino served several important purposes. First, it was a propaganda piece of the Counter-Reformation aimed at reaffirming the supremacy of the Catholic Church and the primacy of the Papal office. Second, the Baldacchino was a personal monument of “papal self-aggrandizement” praising Urban. Third, it was an artistic tour de force intended to guide the gaze of awestruck pilgrims from the “kaleidoscopic whirl of colors” inside the Basilica. Finally, it has been speculated that the Baldacchino was also a stern warning against polemic scientific theses being advanced by contemporary thinkers, such as Galileo Galilee.
The Players: the patron Pope and his untested Artist
Maffeo Barbarini was born into a noble Florentine family in 1568. Educated by Jesuits in Rome, Barbarini was schooled in the humanist tradition, and as a result, developed a profound interest in the arts and the sciences. In addition to his education, early in his clerical career, Barbarini witnessed the “ambitious replanning” of Rome under the papacy of Sixtus V. Emulating Sixtus, Barbarini would eventually launch his own artistic program that would rival the programs of other great patron Popes, such as Julius II. With his education and his ambitious building desires, it was believed that Barberini would “return the papacy to the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance.” Following the death of Gregory XV, the College of Cardinals, as was customary, congregated inside the Sistine Chapel to determine the next Vicar of Christ. After two weeks of debate in “one of the most rancorous conclaves in papal history,” on August 6, 1623, with 50 of the 55 cardinal votes, the congregation finally elected Barbarini as Peter’s successor.
Barberini was elected Pope at a precarious time for the Catholic Church. The role of the Papacy was changing and filled with blatant paradoxes. On one hand, with the counter-Reformation, the papacy and the Catholic Church was successfully curbing the advances made by the Protestant Reformation. On the other hand, the Papacy, which had previously enjoyed an integral role in international political affairs, was becoming a “marginalized outsider in the Realpolitik of 17th century Europe.” Breaking with tradition, for his Pontificate, Barbarini choose the name Urban, which was not a name associated with his family. It is believed that Barbarini choose this particular name out of respect and admiration for Pope Urban II, whose papacy was from 1088 to1099. Urban II, known as the “unifier of all Christianity,” had organized and led a crusade against the Turks in the Holy Land during his pontificate. By choosing this name, symbolically, Barbarini signaled that he wanted to be a “modern crusader” for the Catholic Church in its spiritual battle with the Reformation and as the temporal protectorate of the Papal States.
When Barbarini assumed the papacy, the world had drastically changed. In the wake of the tumultuous political, social and theological crisis that followed the Reformation, the Church was fully engaged in turning back the advances made by the Protestant movement. One of the main features of the Counter-Reformation was to reaffirm the Papacy’s claim as the head of Christendom. The crackdown on heresy was lead by the College of the Propaganda Fide and the Roman Inquisition. In conjunction with the Propaganda Fide and the Inquisition, Urban wanted his artistic program to be used for Counter-Reformation purposes. Thus, Bernini’s additions under Urban’s pontificate nonverbally illustrate the power of the Catholic Church, bridging the problem of languages and literacy, allowing anyone and everyone to comprehend the power of the Church. In addition to attempting to halt the advancement of the Reformation, the Church was also attempting to solidify and protect its temporal holdings, the Papal States, from external threats. For example, under Urban, the Papal States became embroiled in a war with the powerful Odoardo Farnese. In the international backdrop, the Thirty Year War, a product of the Reformation, fiercely continued to inflict havoc in Northern Europe. In the aftermath of the Battle of White Mountain, it appeared that Catholic forces would triumph over the Protestant forces. Yet, this would not be the case and the war would continue until 1648. Although the Protestant forces were a low, the pope was always fearful that the warfare would eventually spill into Italy.
In the midst of this upheaval, in 1624, Urban commissioned a promising young artist, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to build a permanent Baldacchino to encase the high altar in St Peter’s. It is said that Urban wanted a “Michelangelo of his own.” Prior to his election to the Papacy, Urban had told Bernini, “Whoever becomes pope will find he must necessarily love you if he does not was to do injustice to you, to himself, and to whoever professes love of the arts.” As fortuna would have it, Urban was elected the next pope and Bernini, the twenty-five year old sculptor would become his Michelangelo. According to Domenico, one of Bernini’s biographers, almost immediately after his election, Urban summoned Bernini and told him, “Your luck is great to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini Pope, Cavalier; but ours is much greater to have Cavalier Bernini alive in our pontificate.” In the end, the relationship that Bernini and Urban enjoyed went far beyond the relationship between Michelangelo and Julius II. The former pair, Bernini and Urban, “shared a relationship unmatched in the history of artistic patronage” as Bernini had open access to the Papal Room, he shared his design schemes with Urban and after dinner, he was charged with the task of adjusting the windows in the Papal Rooms. Keeping his end of the relationship, Urban supplied Bernini with ample commissions, launching his career as an artist and architect. In comparison, the later pair, Michelangelo and Julius II, shared a tumultuous relationship as both patron and artist could be temperamental, demanding, and moody. By the time the Baldacchino was completed, Bernini had earned the name “creatura di Papa Urbino” (the creature of Urban).
Although Bernini identified himself as a Florentine, he was actually born in Naples on December 7, 1598. Bernini’s father, Pietro Bernini, was a Florentine sculptor, who worked for the Neapolitan court before coming back to Rome in 1605 to work on a commission for Pope Paul V in Santa Maria Maggiore. The young Bernini’s first papal commission, a portrait, came from Paul. Through his early commissions, Bernini would meet two important patrons, both of whom would play a profound role in engineering his career: Scipinoe Borghese and Maffeo Barberini.
While still a cardinal, Urban took a great interest in the works of the young Neapolitan-born artist. Urban urged Bernini, in addition to his sculpting, to widen his artistic repartee by studying painting and architecture. Bernini must have heeded this advice as he eventually spent two years studying painting. In mid-1624, Barberini commissioned Bernini to redesign the façade and add a new entrance to the portico of a small church, Santa Bibiana, on the outer edge of Rome. From this point-on, until his death 56 years later, Bernini worked with the Papacy, leading some art historians to refer to this period as “Bernini’s Artistic Dictatorship of Rome.” Following the commission at Santa Bibiana, on October 7, 1623, Urban appointed Bernini as superintendent of the Acqua Felice and the Vatican foundry.
The Commission, Design and Casting: The Engineering of an Artist and Monument
With the completion of the exterior of St. Peter’s in 1621, the most “pressing need” for the Church was a new Baldacchino in the interior of the Church. Urban, who wanted to stress the origins of the papacy and, by doing so, legitimize his office as head of Christendom, decided to “revamp the liturgically and historically most important place” within the Basilica. The Baldacchino was liturgically important because it encircled the high altar, which was the site of the Eucharist. The Eucharist had come under attack by Reformation schools. The Catholic Church maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation: the priest, or Pope in the case of St. Peter’s, turns the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ during communion. Protestant churches repudiated transfiguration and the divine power of the Priest and the Pope. Luther advocated a doctrine of consubstantiation, while Calvin and Zwingli advocated symbolic communion. Historically, the location was fundamentally important to the Doctrine of the Primacy of Peter. According to church history, St. Peter was crucified and buried in the area directly below the Baldacchino. The location visually depicts the Succession of Peter: Peter’s tomb is located below and on top is the papal altar, on which the Pope performs the mass. Way above the altar is the vast dome of Michelangelo. The only thing missing from this illustrative representation of the Succession of Peter was an intermediary piece that would connect the high altar with the dome.
On July 7, 1624, almost one year into his pontificate, Urban and the Congregazione della Fabbrica announced an open competition for the construction of a Baldacchino. Prior to this competition, the Basilica had already had four other baldacchinos. At this time, at 15 meter high, the Baldacchino that was in place was not large enough to fill the vastness of the new dome nor was it magnificent enough to fulfill Urban’s design for a vivid visual representation of a resurgent Catholicism. Ten days after the announcement of the competition, a victor was chosen: Bernini would be the artist. This was a peculiar development in light of the fact that the Congregazione was not supposed to meet to discuss the competition until five days after Bernini had already been selected. Art historians have come to two possible conclusions regarding Bernini’s commission: either the Congregazione met earlier than the intended date and choose Bernini collectively or Urban chose Bernini without input from the Congregazione. Either way, Bernini started work on the Baldacchino in 1624. The foremost challenge that Bernini faced was his lack of practice in the architecture field, as the “sculptor ha[d] never engineered a construction of any kind.” As one art historian described it, Bernini’s commission was “a baptism by fire.” It was a bold move on the part of Urban to pick an inexperienced artist to build such an important monument, but apparently the patron had the uttermost faith in Bernini’s ability. Ultimately, the designing and construction of the Baldacchino would last almost tens years. The untested artist demonstrated that Urban’s faith was well-founded: unveiled on June 29, l633, at eight stories high, the Baldacchino became the largest bronze monument since antiquity.
The Baldacchino that Bernini created was a hybrid of all sorts: first, it mixed architecture and sculpting; second, it was a “traditional, permanent” Baldacchino, yet it also evoked the sense of a “festive, ephemeral” Baldacchino of cloth; and finally, it blended ionic and corinthian columns. The word Baldiachin, from which Baldacchino is derived, was a silk cloth from Baghdad. Throughout the middle ages, the Baldacchino referred to a canopy made of rich and expensive material that would “indicate a person or spot of special importance.” In church history, the Baldacchino was the canopy that was suspended over the Pope while he was seated in the sedia gestatoria. Bernini cast the Baldacchino using the ancient lost-wax process. There were three components to lost-wax: a heat resistant inner model, a wax coating and a heat resistant outer casing. When the wax heated, it melted and drained from the mold becoming “lost.” After this, molten bronze was poured into the hole created from the lost wax. Interestingly, beeswax became one of the most expensive materials used during the construction. In the end, beeswax was twice as expensive as the gold for the gilding. On occasion, to achieve more realistic molds, Bernini used actual lizards, bees and laurels in his molds, leading some of his critics and detractors to dub this casting process as the “Lost-lizard” process.
As the project continued, the availability of bronze for casting became a major problem. In addition to the Baldacchino, Urban needed bronze to forge canons in effort increase the arsenal of the papal army. In attempt to address the shortage of bronze, Urban purchased bronze from outside of the Papal States, buying material primarily from the Venetian Republic. However, this was still not enough bronze to simultaneously forge canons and the Baldacchino. At this time, a common practice was to reuse old bronze, as it could be melted down and mixed with new bronze to create a stronger alloy. In his quest for bronze, Urban got creative: he ordered the “excavation” of the Pantheon and reused the bronze that Pope Paul V, in effort to decrease the weight, had stripped off the ribs of cupola. Leaving only the bronze doors, from the Pantheon a total of 150,214 kilograms of bronze was taken from the girders and nails of the portico. The stripping of the Pantheon enraged many Romans, who responded with pasquinades on talking fountains, such as the infamous “Quod non fecurunt Barbari, Barabarini fecurunt” (What the Barbarians failed to do, the Barberini has done). Domenico, one of Bernini’s biographers, attempted to justify the stripping of the Pantheon, stating that “heaven had preserved the pagan bronze for better use in honor of the Prince of the Apostles.” The stripping of the monuments of antiquity proved to be a penny saver: approximately 25 percent of the bronze used was free, saving the Papacy an exorbent amount of money, valued around 76,000 scudi. Even with the amount of money saved, during the nine years it took to construct the monument, the Papacy, ultimately, spent nearly ten percent of the entire income from the Papal State.
Given the size, the Baldacchino was impossible to cast as a single piece and was, therefore, cast in 26 different pieces. The four columns were composed of five individual pieces: a base, a capital and three sections of the shaft. The bases were prominently decorated with the Barbarini coat of arms, as well as, bronze medals and rosaries. The medals and rosaries looked as though they had been placed there by “pious pilgrims.” However, the medals have a deeper propaganda implication: first, they document the building of the Baldacchino, and second, they extol the patron. Interestingly, in one of the medals giving the left profile of Urban, the pope is adorned in mozzeta and a zucchtto, which attempts to highlight the temporal power of the papacy by illustrating the Pope “robed in state rather than in liturgical dress.” This dress underscored Urban’s determination to consolidate and equip the Papal States with a new armory in effort to protect them from external military threats. The capitals were a hybrid of ionic and Corinthian patterns. Traditionally, the previous Baldacchinos in St. Peter’s had staves. Carlo Maderno was the Architect of St. Peter’s and had been for the almost two decades. Although he must have been extremely disappointed and troubled that Bernini was selected over him to design the Baldacchino, Maderno was the original designer of the columned Baldacchino; a design feature that Bernini would, ultimately, incorporate into his own design for the Baldacchino. The columns had a Solomonic design, also known as a Barley-sugar or serpentine column. The Solomonic design was inspired by the twelve serpentine columns that Constantine donated to the original basilica of St. Peter’s. Eight of these twelve columns were later incorporated by Bernini into the niches of the Bramante’s piers. The southeast and northwest columns had shafts that spiral in a clockwise direction; meanwhile, the southwest and northeast columns had shafts that spiral in a counter-clock wise direction. The three pieces of the shaft reflect and symbolically allude to the Trinity.
The columns and the canopy were conscientiously decorated with the images of laurels, bees, lizards, insects and putti, all of which have multiple symbolic meanings and subtext. Traditionally, Eucharistic vines had been on previous Baldacchinos. The replacement of these vines with laurels served two purposes. First, the laurel was as symbol commonly associated with the Barberini; therefore, the inclusion of laurel on the Baldacchino was a form of papal self-aggrandizement. Second, laurels were associated with martyrdom; therefore, the inclusion of laurels also underscored the centrality of martyrdom. Like the Eucharist, martyrdom had also come under attack by the Protestant Reformation, which downplayed the significance of sainthood and martyrdom. By placing laurel leaves in the center of the Basilica, Bernini and Urban accentuated the importance of martyrs, especially “the two most venerated priestly martyrs,” Peter and Paul. Bees, as evident by the Barberini coat of arms, were also a personal symbol of Urban. In light of the medals, laurels, and bees, the Baldacchino, “covered from head to toes with armorial devices and emblems of Urban,” was an ostentatious personal statement for the Pope.
Art Historian Chandler Kirwin speculated, in the book Powers Matchless: The Pontificate pf Urban VIII, the Baldachin, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, that the suns on the Baldacchino had multiple levels of symbolical meaning. On one level, the suns were, again, symbols associated with the Barberini. On another level, the suns could be referencing the Galileo Galilee Affair or other polemic scientific theories being advanced at the time. History is not kind to Urban viewing him as “narrow, closed-minded” due to his involvement with Galileo. In 1632, Galileo published his treatise Two Chief World Systems, which unmistakably supported a Copernican, heliocentric system of the universe over the traditional, doctrinally endorsed Ptolemaic system. This was devastating to the Church as it appeared to be a subtle threat to transubstantiation from inside the Catholic fold. As mentioned above, Protestant churches had already attacked the idea of transubstantiation and now, Galileo, a Catholic scientist appeared to be doing the same. In the end, Galileo was forced to renounce his claims and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest. With this in mind, Kirwin argued that “the reuse on the friezes of the sun motif could well have enhanced its significance for intellectual and spiritual issues being debate in response to Galileo’s ongoing arguments.” One of the clearest examples of this theory was found on the canopy. On the underside of the canopy there was a dove and a sun. On top of the canopy there was an orb and a cross. The positioning of the sun subservient to the earth appeared to stress the earth as the fixed center of the universe.
The lizards and putti found on the Baldacchino also serve as distinctive propaganda pieces. The lizards, scattered around the foliage, are found “protecting the monument from such evil and poisonous things as flies and scorpions” and by doing so, “is keeping it free of any unwanted noxious creatures and devilish, heretical forces.” Given the political, social and religious turmoil in which Europe was enveloped, the Catholicism needed actual “lizards” to combat the numerous spiritual and temporal problems threatening the Papacy and the Church. The Church had its own lizards in the form of the College of the Propaganda Fide and the Inquisition. On the Baldacchino, the putti, which are pudgy, winged human baby-like creatures, present papal regalia. On the western and eastern faces of the Baldacchino, the putti hold up the keys of St. Peter and the papal tiara. This underscores the centrality of Peter and the succession of Peter, a doctrinal theory that was fervently denied by the Reformation schools. On the northern and southern faces of the Baldacchino, the putti hold up the sword and the book, which were symbols of another significant Catholic martyr, St. Paul.
The canopy of the Baldacchino was the product of much trail and error. Originally, Bernini intended to adorn the top of the canopy with a figure of Christ standing. However, there were numerous issues with that design, such as weight. In the end, the Baldacchino was adorned with an orb and a cross. Although it is not know how much of the architectural design can be attributed to Bernini, it is evident that Francesco Borromini played a significant role in designing this feature. The bronze canopy on the top was made to look as if a gust of wind was gently blowing through the cloth, giving viewers the impression that the Baldacchino could be outside and made of cloth fabric. Rather than being held up by the four columns, the angles on the top look as if they are holding up the canopy. This feature is a perfect example of the visual ploys for which Bernini was famous. In step with Baroque theatrics, “the twisted columns contradicted the very purpose of a column,” as the Baldacchino appears to be held up by the angels rather than supported by the columns.
Given the weight of the Baldacchino, approximately 63,000 kilograms, and the marshy subterranean of the area around the Vatican, it was evident that a new foundation was necessary to support the Baldacchino. To create a new foundation, extensive digging had to be done around the tombs below the altar near the scavi. While digging, many of the tombs below were disturbed. Workmen, digging the foundation, began to die mysteriously and news spread that that the area was cursed. In order to continue the project, Urban bribed the workers to come back and finish the job. On June 29, 1633, the Baldacchino was finished and unveiled. The monument measured 28.74 meters, each of the columns measured 11.1 meters, and in total, it used 93 tons of cast bronze. The Baldacchino stood as a shining exemplar of Papal succession and power and, also, highlighted the potency and power of a resurgent Catholic Church. In addition, the monument stands as personal monument to Urban and, perhaps, also as a stern warning against heretical scientific theories.
Additional Commissions under Urban: Statue of St. Longinus and the Campanili
While still constructing the Baldacchino, Bernini was made, upon the death of Maderno in 1629, the Architect of the Fabbrica, and was given an additional commission to build four statues in the transept that would surround and accentuate his Baldacchino. Urban wanted the statues to reflect and correspond to the relics that were held in the reliquaries above. For this commission, Bernini designed four statues of St. Helena, St. Veronica, St. Andrew and St. Longinus. Of these statues, Bernini only carved the statue of St. Longinus. The other statues were carved by assistants hand picked by Bernini. According Catholic tradition, Longinus was the Roman centurion who pierced the side of Christ at the crucifixion. After piercing Christ, Longinus realized who Christ was and converted to Christianity. He was, eventually, martyred for refusing to deny the divinity of Christ and refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. After redesigning the statue twenty-two times, the Longinus which Bernini ultimately carved was, at the time15ft tall, the largest sculpture he had created. Like Bernini’s David, the statue vividly captured the action of the moment: in the statue, Longinus had just pierced Christ’s side and had come to the realization that Christ was, in fact, God’s son. In contrast to the other three statues, Longinus was carved with a rigid or striated finish, which allows light to reflect differently across the statue, creating different textures for Longinus’ skin and drapery. With the striations, the statue of Longinus was meant to be viewed frontally and from a distance. The lighting and shadows created by the striations make Longinus more 3-dimensional than the other three statues. However, unlike Michelangelo, who believed in releasing the soul from a single block of marble, the statue of Longinus was made up of multiple pieces of marble. To hold the statues, Bernini carved four concave niches in Bermante’s massive piers. Many art historians argue that Bernini’s niches, although they compliment the shape of the concave Baldacchino, damaged the structural stability of the dome above. Psychologically and physically alive, the statue of Longinus was a propaganda piece for the Counter-Reformation as it, like the Baldacchino, underscored the sacredness and centrality of martyrdom.
Although the Baldacchino and the statue of St. Longinus turned out to be great accomplishments for Bernini, not everything he crafted for the basilica under Urban was a success. Bernini lived and operated by the motto, “Chi non esce talvolta dalla regola, non la passa mai” (he who doesn’t break the rule, achieves nothing). However, in the case of his two Campanili, this motto led Bernini to a disappointing and humiliating failure. After finishing the Baldacchino, Bernini was commissioned by Urban to add two bell towers to the façade of St. Peter’s. Before his death, Maderno had been working on a simple design for the towers, but Bernini wanted to create a more elaborate, baroque spectacle. Using 192 loads of travertine from Tivoli, Bernini started to build two three-story towers. Under the “boundless favor” of Urban, Bernini had become “a prima donna, conceited and overconfident.” Characteristics that would not serve him well when Urban’s unconditional love came to an end; Urban died July 29, 1644. The next pope, Giambattista Pamfili, Innocent X, was not a great patron of the arts and did not share a close relationship with Bernini. After six years of construction, Bernini finished the first two stories of the Camplanili. Given the weight and the poor foundational conditions, cracks started to appear in the towers and on the façade of St. Peter’s. Innocent ordered Bernini to tear down the tower at Bernini’s own expense, which was a humiliating blow to the celebrated artist.
Conclusion: Counter-Reformation Propaganda, Papal Self-Aggrandizement, & Warnings
When I first walked into the Basilica, I was immediately over taken with awe and wonder. The grandeur and opulence of the Church is over powering. When you come in through the doors, the first thing you see is a long hallway full of side chapels. At the very end of the hallway is a momentous bronze statue that directs the eye from the hallway to the dome of Michelangelo, while also picturesquely framing the papal chair, the Cathedra Petri. As summarized by art historian R.A. Scotti:
“without the Baldacchino, St Peter’s would be a fantasia of soaring space, mosaic gilt, colored stone, columns, niches, statues, chapels and sepulchers. Amid the sensory overload, the papal altar- the single element that gives meaning to the vast undertaking-would be lost. The altar is the point where God and man are joined in communion...with the huge bronze canopy to frame it, the eye is drawn away from the kaleidoscopic whirl of colors and shapes to center stage. The Baldacchino frames the altar and forms a vertical axis with the dome and the tomb of Peter below.”
In essence, the Baldacchino was and still is the feature that finds balance or as the saying goes, “ties the room (or in this case, the Basilica) together.” Amazingly, this sensation of grandeur, awe and reverence were the exact emotions that Bernini and Urban intended to evoke when constructing the Baldacchino almost four hundred years ago. In the face of Protestantism, the Thirty Years War, and external military threats, Urban wanted to create a monument that would symbolize the renewed energy of the Papacy and the Catholic Church in both the spiritual and temporal realms. Bridging language and literacy barriers, the Baldacchino served, and continues to serve, as a propaganda piece of the Church that can be visually read by anyone and everyone. The message has always been clear: the Papacy is essential to Catholicism and to all of Christianity. In addition to being ecclesiastical propaganda, the Baldacchino, adorned with the family crest, bees and suns, serves as a personal monument to Urban and his pontificate. Although Urban is unfavorably remembered by history, due largely in part to his role in the Galileo Affair, the Baldacchino shows his great artistic patronage. Without Urban and his commissions, the young Bernini might never have achieved the same level of esteem and worldwide recognition that he had then and now. Indeed, it has been said that Urban engineered not only the Baldacchino, but also an artist. Although, it is highly speculative, the Baldacchino might also have served as a warning against polemic scientific ideas being postulated during the seventeenth century.
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