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Lot Essay
Bernini enjoyed a close and fruitful relationship with Pope Urban VIII, born Maffeo Barberini. Bernini received almost monopolistic patronage from the Pope, who first initiated his involvement in the re-building of St Peter’s, and the relationship bore numerous busts of the pontiff by the artist in both marble and bronze. Urban VIII is supposed to have said to Bernini "You are lucky to see Maffeo Barberini become pope, but we [plural majestatis] are even luckier because Bernini lives at the time of our pontificate".
The present head derives from possibly the earliest bust Bernini made of the pontiff, just after his accession in 1623. Wittkower suggested this bust, now in San Lorenzo in Fonte, Rome, was executed by Bernini with the help of Giuliano Finelli, who joined Bernini’s studio in 1622 (Wittkower, op. cit., p. 185). The present head is seemingly identical, with allowance for the surface differentials between carved marble and copper repoussé. This head is unique in Bernini’s series of busts of Urban VIII in the absence of the papal camauro, a tradition that Bernini instigated in around 1630 and lasted in papal portraits until the time of Canova (Bacch, op. cit., p. 34). In Bernini’s astonishing and highly original working method for sculpted marble portraits, the artist stated that he ‘did not model his portraits from drawings, but from memory’ (ibid, p. 30). He also rarely used terracotta models as his rival Allesandro Algardi did, although in an inventory of Bernini’s house in 1681 there were two terracotta busts of Urban VIII listed (ibid, p. 141). It is possible, therefore, that the current bust was made directly from looking at the bust now in San Lorenzo in Fonte, or from a model worked up before or after the finished marble in the studio.
The parcel-gilt papal cope of the present bust is also consistent with Bernini’s work in the 1620’s, before he re-created the papal portrait around 1630. Bernini repeatedly adorned the copes of his papal busts at this time with the embroidered figures of Saints Peter and Paul, as can be seen in busts of Pope Paul V and Pope Gregory XV. Although these two figures in relief on the present bust are similar to Bernini’s various attempts on the subject in the busts above, (see bronze bust of Pope Paul V, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, ibid, cat. no. 1.3), they are seemingly unique in this series, both in the modelling, which is more cramped but also more dynamic, and in the execution, with the hammer of the repoussé work enabling higher relief. The truncation and the design of the shoulders, which allow for the head to be tilted slightly downwards, suggest that the bust might have been intended for a library and that it should be shown to its best advantage at a high level.
The present head derives from possibly the earliest bust Bernini made of the pontiff, just after his accession in 1623. Wittkower suggested this bust, now in San Lorenzo in Fonte, Rome, was executed by Bernini with the help of Giuliano Finelli, who joined Bernini’s studio in 1622 (Wittkower, op. cit., p. 185). The present head is seemingly identical, with allowance for the surface differentials between carved marble and copper repoussé. This head is unique in Bernini’s series of busts of Urban VIII in the absence of the papal camauro, a tradition that Bernini instigated in around 1630 and lasted in papal portraits until the time of Canova (Bacch, op. cit., p. 34). In Bernini’s astonishing and highly original working method for sculpted marble portraits, the artist stated that he ‘did not model his portraits from drawings, but from memory’ (ibid, p. 30). He also rarely used terracotta models as his rival Allesandro Algardi did, although in an inventory of Bernini’s house in 1681 there were two terracotta busts of Urban VIII listed (ibid, p. 141). It is possible, therefore, that the current bust was made directly from looking at the bust now in San Lorenzo in Fonte, or from a model worked up before or after the finished marble in the studio.
The parcel-gilt papal cope of the present bust is also consistent with Bernini’s work in the 1620’s, before he re-created the papal portrait around 1630. Bernini repeatedly adorned the copes of his papal busts at this time with the embroidered figures of Saints Peter and Paul, as can be seen in busts of Pope Paul V and Pope Gregory XV. Although these two figures in relief on the present bust are similar to Bernini’s various attempts on the subject in the busts above, (see bronze bust of Pope Paul V, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, ibid, cat. no. 1.3), they are seemingly unique in this series, both in the modelling, which is more cramped but also more dynamic, and in the execution, with the hammer of the repoussé work enabling higher relief. The truncation and the design of the shoulders, which allow for the head to be tilted slightly downwards, suggest that the bust might have been intended for a library and that it should be shown to its best advantage at a high level.