BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo
(b. 1598, Napoli, d. 1680, Roma)

The Baldacchino

1624
Bronze, partly gilt
Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican

In 1623 Maffeo Barberini ascended the papal throne as Urban VIII, and with great ruthlessness and excellent taste inaugurated the Baroque embellishment of Rome. The completion of the decoration of St Peter's was to occupy most of the century, and from the start Bernini was at the centre of the plans of the Pope and the innumerable Barberini Cardinals. The Baldacchino was begun in 1624.

Four marble bases hold the papal insignia and the sculptured allegory of the Church giving birth to Truth, traditionally attributed to Borromini. From these rise four Salomonic (spiral) columns which derive their shapes from the columns in Old Peter's, the ancient Constantinian basilica. Legend had it that these had come from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Beyond the formal beauty of the supports, heightened by the contrast between the dark bronze and the gilded vine leaves, the Baldacchino, which uses the Salomonic column motif on a monumental scale, represents a macroscopic seal uniting the Old Testament wisdom of Solomon, the Christian tradition of Constantine, and the rebirth of a triumphal church under the guidance of the Barberini family.

It is not by chance that the enormous columns support four false trabeations from which shines forth a golden sun, symbol of the Barberini, and from the cornice that joins them fall false pendants of a cloth with cherubs and bees, another Barberini symbol. The cherubs are repeated in the angels on the corners above and in the group of little angels bearing the papal insignia. The overall effect is reminiscent of the Ark of the Covenant.