Catalogue of Drawings

59 Drawing. Anonymous
Elevation sketch for the third story and pyramid of Bernini’s tower
Autumn–winter 1640
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 730
54.1 × 31 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk or pencil on two sheets of medium-weight cream-colored paper, joined

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 189a; Frey 1938, pl. 18; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 55, fig. 84 (attributed to Gianlorenzo Bernini and dated 1645–46); McPhee 1997, 83–88, fig. 63

This is an elevation proposal for the third level, or ordinetto attico, and the pyramidal finial of Bernini’s bell tower, superimposed above a portion of the second story of the bell tower as constructed. Papal arms are shown in place above the arch of the second level.

In the drawing, the artist seems to be experimenting with ways of raising the height of the tower. A series of three steps are introduced between the second story and the ordinetto attico, and graphite pentimenti indicate that the height of the finial has been raised. It is unclear from this drawing exactly what plan the third level would follow, although it is related to Albertina 728 (Cat. 28).

Brauer and Wittkower identified both Albertina 728 and 730 as the work of Francesco Borromini. Frey identified both drawings as the work of Bernini. Each assumed that the drawings were made at the same moment, and Frey based his reconstructions (see figs. 55, left and right, and 56) on this surmise. In fact, the two drawings represent different moments in the design process. Frey was correct in identifying Albertina 728 as Bernini’s design, although the drawing was made by his soprastante, Pietro Paolo Drei. The sheet is covered with pen inscriptions in Drei’s distinctive hand and includes annotations in graphite by Bernini. Albertina 730 must remain anonymous. It appears to have been made in the autumn or winter of 1640, when the precise form of the ordinetto attico and helm had not yet been established and the architect was experimenting with the transition between the second and third levels. The idea of a three-step transition is present in Albertina 728, in a sketch in the upper right corner and in the elevation along the left-hand side, though it is abandoned in the definitive inking of that plan. Albertina 730 thus preserves a moment of discussion but not the definitive design.

The verso shows a sketch of the upper finial. A portion of the orb is missing, indicating that the sheet has been cut down.

Catalogue 2

84 Drawing. Anonymous
Section through the mezzanine and pyramidal finial of the south bell tower
June 1641
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 742
54 × 34.80 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite on middle-weight cream-colored paper

scale [cut off at the left]: 80 palmi = 34.3 cm

INSCRIBED

upper left, “10”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee 1997, 91, fig. 92

This anonymous measured drawing provides a section through the wooden base and pyramidal finial of Bernini’s bell tower with two alternatives for the internal armature supporting them. The finial is topped by an orb, papal keys, and a cross, and the silhouette of a dolphin is visible along the right flank. On the left side of the sheet two plan details appear: one a circle inscribed above a rectangle, the other a half-plan of the pyramid shown at right. The measurements given in the drawing appear to correspond to measurements listed in payment documents for the construction of the wooden model unveiled by Bernini on 29 June 1641. See Doc. 16.

Catalogue 3

77 Drawing. Anonymous
Elevation of Bernini’s tower as built, scaled to Greuter engraving
1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 21r
26 × 13.7 cm

TECHNIQUE

Brown ink on white paper attached to a section of the attic from the Greuter engraving of 1613

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee 1997, 78, fig. 85

This drawing, by an anonymous draftsman, shows a pen sketch of Bernini’s tower set above the southern bays of Maderno’s attic, which have been cut from the Greuter engraving of 1613. The composite image is preserved on a page of Virgilio’s Spada’s album with other fragments of Greuter’s engraving. It was the practice of the architects presenting projects to the meeting of the Congregation on 9 October 1645 to use the Greuter engraving as a template, pasting their own sketch proposals for towers over Maderno’s belfries. It is therefore likely that this sketch was originally attached to the entire Greuter engraving and served as an aide-memoire for the cardinals as they discussed alternative towers.

The drawing is of critical importance because it establishes the scale of Bernini’s original tower and confirms the measurements provided by Virgilio Spada in his Discorso of May 1645. With minor differences in architectural detail, the tower and portion of attic shown here correspond to a drawing rendered at a larger scale and attributed to Carlo Rainaldi. See Cat. 38.

Catalogue 4

122 Drawing. Anonymous
Proposal for the bell towers of St. Peter’s
Summer–autumn 1645
BAV Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 24r
51.8 × 35.8 cm

TECHNIQUE

Brown ink and brown wash on cream-colored paper

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 44, fig. 68 (attributed to Giovanni Battista Mola); McPhee 1997, 303n. 26

This anonymous elevation proposal for the bell towers of St. Peters is contained in the volume probably kept by Virgilio Spada and now in the Vatican Library. See Cat. 38. The proposal shows a two-tiered tower topped by a balustrade and an onion dome. The first level follows a roughly square? plan and is composed of a tall stylobate supporting pairs of Corinthian columns at either side of an elaborate arched opening. This opening is flanked by clusters of Composite columns and pilasters supporting a C-scroll segmental pediment, hung with festoons, with an urn at center, and is closed at the base by a balustrade. The second level follows the first in plan, though reduced in size, and has paired Composite pilasters flanking the central opening with small ornamental obelisks rising above the outer columns of the first level. On the second level the opening also takes the form of an arch, although it is here flanked by pilaster clusters supporting volutes and a pediment housing a winged cherub’s head. The second level supports an elaborate cornice, topped by a balustrade bearing urns, and an onion dome rises above it in eight sections, the four principal faces of which are pierced by gabled windows.

The sheet is related to three others surviving from the bell tower competition (Cat. 6, 7, and 36) that show isolated tower elevations without direct reference to the site. Although this design is not mentioned in Virgilio Spada’s report of December 1645 (Doc. 27), the fact that this tower rises in two full levels suggests that it may have been presented in the early months of the tower discussions and should be dated to late summer or autumn 1645.

Catalogue 5

61 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Design for the bell towers of St. Peter’s 1637–38
Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 1988
36.2 × 21 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink and wash on heavy white paper

SCALE

120 palmi (30–150 palmi are shown, the sheet has been cut down at right; 100 palmi = 15.1 cm)

INSCRIBED

upper right, “Pensiero di Bernini p li Campanili de S.o Petro Vaticano”; lower right, “Bernini Inven: et fecit”; lower left, “J:B”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Worsdale 1980, fig. 1; Kieven 1993, cat. no. 26; McPhee 1997, 66–67, fig. 65; Marder 1998, fig. 71

Elevation proposal for the campanile of St. Peter’s. The first level corresponds with the tower as built and is composed of four piers, articulated with pilasters and half-pilasters of the Corinthian order, with full columns of the same order projecting at the corners. The first level is open at center with an architrave, or flat arch, supported by pairs of freestanding Corinthian columns. Above, a mezzanine level articulated with Tuscan? pilasters rises, following the plan of the level below. The central rectangular opening of the mezzanine, adorned with moldings and a shell, repeats the configuration of the attic windows found on Michelangelo’s portion of the church. The opening is flanked by two solid bays, each of which houses a relief in the form of a niche, holding a candelabrum, adorned with papal keys, and surmounted by the papal tiara, symbol of the Fabbrica. The mezzanine level is surmounted by a level of similar height that forms the transition between the tower and the pyramidal finial. Here, volutes take the form of sixteen dolphins, six of which are visible, and a central rectangular field houses an escutcheon bearing the Barberini arms held by two Victories. This level is surmounted by a pyramidal finial that rises above a rectangular base with four principal sides. Four rectangular ribs project at the corners. The pyramid is hung with festoons and surmounted by brackets bearing bees. Above, an orb supports the cross.

Marc Worsdale, who published the drawing in 1980, dated it ca. 1632–44. Despite this broad range of years, he described the sheet as a “drawing showing a superstructure to replace the second storey of the campanile of St. Peter’s.” This statement suggests that Worsdale actually considered the drawing to date from the period following construction of the tower (1638–41).

In fact, there are strong reasons to date the drawing ca. 1637–38 and, in any case, before 1639. The mezzanine and pyramidal finial shown here correspond closely with the towers pictured in the Room of the Noble Guards in the Vatican, which were painted ca. 1637–1638 (see Doc. 11 and fig. 60). This profile changed considerably during the course of construction. A terminus ante quem is suggested by the Victories that hold the Barberini arms. In the Beaux-Arts drawing the Victories are shown standing at either side of the Barberini escutcheon. However, from autumn 1639 forward Luigi Bernini was engaged in quarrying and sculpting Victories for the bell towers, following designs made by his brother for airborne figures. Luigi’s Victories survive, and Gianlorenzo Bernini reused them in all of his later designs (see figs. 78, 79, and 128).

Distinctive elements of this tower, such as the volutes in the shape of dolphins, also appear in Bernini’s design for the Trevi Fountain as pictured in a painting of Jan Miel (see Pinto 1986, fig. 34).

The collector’s mark: “J:B” refers to the Englishman John Barnard (see F. Lugt, Les marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes, Amsterdam, 1921, 255ff.).

Catalogue 6

95 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Project for the bell tower of St. Peter’s
Spring or summer 1645
BAV, Archivio Chigi C 24923
69.8 × 30 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, brown wash on white paper; badly damaged

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fraschetti 1900, 163; Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:37–39, 2: pls. 154a, 155; Underwood 1939, fig. 1; Worsdale 1980, 19, fig. 2; Kieven 1993, 102; McPhee 1997, 185–87; 335–40, fig. 96; Marder 1998, fig. 70

This drawing of a three-tiered bell tower bearing the arms of Innocent X was Bernini’s first proposal to that pope, probably made in early 1645. With this drawing Bernini suggests modifications for the tower he had built above the southern end of the facade in order to reduce its weight and increase its height (compare with fig. 94). He leaves the first story untouched but removes the arch and mural infill from the second level, replacing it with a trabeated opening. He preserves the four doctors of the Church from his earlier design and adds a third arched level on a concave plan flanked by volutes and topped by an onion dome. Virgilio Spada refers to the sheet in his report of December 1645 (Doc. 27) as Bernini’s “primo disegno.” The sheet is closely related to Madrid B 8170 (Cat. 7), which modifies the weight of this proposal further by removing the second level altogether.

Chigi C 24923 reappears with a modified plan and heraldry among the engravings of both Carlo Fontana’s Templum Vaticanum and Filippo Bonanni’s Numismata Summorum Pontificum, where it is erroneously identified as the tower Bernini built above the southern end of the facade of St. Peter’s. See discussion in Chapter 7.

Catalogue 7

117 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Proposal for alternate bell towers for St. Peter’s
October 1645
Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, B 8170
57.5 × 27.9 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash on white paper; the paper is irregular—the upper corners are cut on the diagonal

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barcia 1906, cat. no. 8170; Dibujos de Arquitectura 1991, cat. no. 158; Disegni italiani 1991, 12, cat. 9; Kieven 1993, cat. no. 27 (attributed to Bernini workshop with freehand touches by Bernini); McPhee 1997, fig. 121; McPhee in Millon 2000, 430, fig. 12

This drawing is the second in a series of alternative designs made by Bernini for the Pamphili pope. It was probably presented at the meeting of the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 9 October 1645, specifically held to review competitive designs. Bernini’s drawing shows a two-tiered belfry that preserves the trabeated first level of the tower as built and adds an arched second level flanked by statues of four doctors of the Church and topped by an onion dome. A pair of Fames rest on the cornice of the second level, blowing trumpets at either side of the Pamphili arms. The Madrid drawing was made in response to concerns over the stability of Bernini’s original tower and is mentioned in a retrospective account of the competition, dated 16 December 1645: “Altri hanno stimato bastare il levare l’ultimo ordine, et in luogo di quello farne un’altro più leggiero, e questi sono stati il Rainaldi Padre, et il Cavaliere Bernino conforme al primo suo disegno” (Doc. 27). Bernini’s tower proposal was rejected by critics considering the designs because the first level was left unchanged and thus did not address the excessive breadth and weight of the original tower. The second level was judged too small.

The drawing is closely related to, and seems to be a reduced version of, Bernini’s first tower proposal for Innocent X, now in the Chigi archives (Cat. 6). The Chigi proposal is likely to date from the first months of 1645, when Innocent X first turned his attention to the problem of the towers, and should be seen as a preemptive strike on Bernini’s part in his efforts to preserve his original tower.

The Madrid sheet was originally catalogued as a “small open temple” by an anonymous Italian draftsman (Barcia 1906). It was attributed to Bernini (perhaps aided by collaborators) by Delfín Rodriguez Ruiz (Disegni italiani, 1991, 12), who discussed its relationship to the Chigi drawing and dated it late 1645–46. Kieven (1993, 102) redated it to a meeting of the Congregation in June 1645. There is no documentary evidence to suggest that alternative tower proposals were discussed in June. Such a meeting did take place, however, on 9 October. See discussion in Chapter 6.

Catalogue 8

128 and 129 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Proposal for altering the facade of St. Peter’s
9 October–16 December 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 4r (open and closed)
57.5 × 43.4 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash on white paper; damaged right; alternative project for the tower appears on a flap at the left

SCALE

200 palmi = 16.5 cm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 156 (attributed to Bernini workshop); Frey 1938, 224, fig. 249; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 47, fig. 69 (dated 20 February 1646); Borsi 1980, fig. 376; Kieven 1993, cat. 28; McPhee 1997, 277–95, figs. 88, 130; Marder 1998, fig. 73; McPhee in Millon 2000, 429–30, fig. 11

This sheet shows St. Peter’s redrawn by Bernini to incorporate radical new ideas that had emerged over months of competition for the reconfiguration of Maderno’s facade and the design of the bell towers. Bernini’s drawing is an ingenious response to new evidence concerning the specific nature of Maderno’s foundations and to old aesthetic criticisms of Maderno’s overly broad facade.

During the course of consultations held by the Congregation of the Fabbrica in 1645, it was revealed that the foundations beneath Maderno’s facade and bell towers lie on three different levels. Most of the facade rests on a single foundation, but beneath the southernmost bay the soil deteriorates, and Maderno was forced to drive wooden pilings into the ground (see figs. 103 and 106). When he returned to excavate the foundations for the south bell tower, Maderno found the soil to be even more unstable and devised a solution based on a series of concrete wells that reached still more deeply into the earth. The result is a foundation in the form of a staircase stepping down into the Vatican valley at the southern end of the church. Bernini’s original tower had straddled two steps of this foundation and was judged by most critics to be excessively broad and heavy.

The alternative proposal illustrated here has a firm terminus post quem of 9 October, the first meeting of the Congregation of the Fabbrica at which design alternatives were presented, and a firm terminus ante quem of 16 December, as it is described in a document that can now be dated (see Doc. 27). The document in question is a summary account of the competition in which Bernini’s proposal is discussed at length. The account reads: “Altri hanno ardito non solo di levare li doi ordini, ma à levare ancora il mezz’ordine Attico bastardo et in luogo di questi fabricame doi altri con suoi finimenti e questi sono stati il Rainaldi figlio, e doppo lui il Cavaliere Bernino con più disegni.”

As the document states, Bernini has followed Carlo Rainaldi’s proposal to lighten the weight of the tower and outer bays of the facade by removing Maderno’s attic story (see fig. 126). But Bernini has also introduced a reentrant bay, stepping back into the fabric of the facade about four meters, which at once lightens the weight on a particularly troubled section of Maderno’s foundation and suggests a visual separation between facade and towers (see discussion in Chapter 6).

Bernini’s drawing also accords with the written account by preserving “più disegni” for the towers themselves. The original sheet proposed two alternative designs for the bell towers (fig. 129), but Bernini has also added a third design, on a flap affixed at left (fig. 128), which constitutes the final proposal in the series. Critics consulted in the competition singled out this third alternative for praise. They judged it the most successful both aesthetically and structurally. Unlike Bernini’s tower proposal at right, which roughly preserves the original progression from Maderno’s tower base to a trabeated first level to an arched second level, Bernini’s third proposal consolidates and strengthens the tower as a whole by closing the window in Maderno’s tower base and adding half-pilasters at either side, thus narrowing the width of the openings above and concentrating the weight of the tower over a single level of the foundation. Bernini unifies the design of the tower by continuing the arch through all three levels to a tapering helm similar to that above the great dome. As in the tower alternative at right, Bernini reuses the doctors of the Church from the original tower design. The third alternative also restores the papal arms and flanking angels carved by Luigi Bernini for his brother’s original tower (see Doc. 41).

Black chalk lines, first noted by Brauer and Wittkower, are faintly visible above the central bays of the attic. They constitute the initial traces of an idea for a segmental pediment, fully developed by Bernini in Albertina 736a (Cat. 9). The towers and facade in this final version appear redrawn in another sheet in the Albertina (736) where Bernini concentrates on the play of light and shade across the facade (see Cat. 10).

Catalogue 9

131 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini(?)
Proposal for bell towers and for alterations to the facade of St. Peter’s
Autumn–winter 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 736a
67.7/51 × 61.3 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite, brown wash on white drawing paper; cut down at upper left and right

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egger 1910, pl. 26 (attributed to Girolamo Rainaldi); Voss 1922, 4 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi); Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:42, fig. 1 (attributed to an anonymous copyist after Bernini); Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 48, fig. 71 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi, dated ca. 1647); Kieven 1993, cat. no. 54 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi, dated 1645–46); McPhee 1997, 279–85, fig. 131

This elevation proposal for the facade of St. Peter’s was probably made in the autumn or winter of 1645. It records a moment in the evolving tower discussions shortly after Bernini’s proposal for revised towers joined to the facade by reentrant bays (fig. 129; Cat. 8). In Albertina 736a the draftsman copies the facade and towers proposed by Bernini on the Vatican sheet while making two significant alterations; over the central pediment of the facade he adds a segmental pediment or gable topped by a balustrade, and at right in place of the reentrant bay he maintains Maderno’s facade intact.

Although the towers that appear in Albertina 736a repeat the designs of Bernini, the segmental gable returns to a drawing of Girolamo Rainaldi made in 1606–7 (fig. 9) and is repeated in many subsequent designs of Carlo Rainaldi (figs. 126, 127, and 137). The hybrid nature of the components pictured here has led to the variety of attributions listed above. But as Wittkower first noted, Bernini foresaw the gable on Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 4r (Cat. 8), where faint pencil lines trace the form above the attic. It also appears in the designs of other competitors (fig. 133), suggesting that it was an element entertained favorably for a time by the Congregation. In fact, Albertina 736a should be considered a discussion sheet with which the cardinals were asked to consider the gable and two alternatives for the transition from facade to tower. To focus their attention, the dome and little domes are treated with pale wash so that they appear to recede behind the facade elements under consideration. See discussion in Chapter 6.

The sheet is closely related in scale, style, and technique to another drawing in the Albertina (736; Cat. 10) that provides a clean copy of Bernini’s Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 4r closed (fig. 128). Both sheets are consistent with the draftsmanship of Bernini and constitute examples of “più disegni,” all tending toward the same solution, mentioned by Virgilio Spada in his report of December 1645 (Doc. 27). Here the right-hand alternative for the transition from facade to tower may be Bernini’s response to the criticism that his reentrant bay would weaken the facade and compromise the stability of the vault of the Benediction loggia.

Catalogue 10

132 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini(?)
Proposal for alternative bell towers and other alterations to the facade of St. Peter’s
Autumn–winter 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 736
52.5 × 44.9 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite, brown wash on medium-weight white drawing paper; the upper corners are cut on the diagonal

SCALE

200 palmi = 16.6 cm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egger 1910, pl. 27 (attributed to Girolamo Rainaldi); Voss 1922, 4 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi); Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:42n. 1(attributed to an anonymous copyist); Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 48, fig. 72 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi and dated ca. 1647); Kieven 1993, 104n. 4 (misidentified as Albertina, Ital. 736a); McPhee 1997, 279–85, fig. 132

This elevation reproduces Bernini’s proposals for altering the facade of St. Peter’s presented in Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 4r closed (fig. 128; Cat. 8). In this sheet, however, the objective is to render the effect of these alterations from a distance. The dome and little domes are covered with a layer of pale brown wash that makes them appear to recede, whereas the foreground elements of facade and bell towers are outlined with chalk, and strong wash is applied to create the effect of intense light and shadow playing over the surfaces. The distinct components of the architecture blend into general volumes, enhancing the impression of height and unity.

In scale, style, and technique this drawing is closely related to Albertina 736a. Both sheets can be attributed to Bernini and constitute further visual arguments in favor of his tower designs. See Cat. 9 and discussion in Chapter 6.

Catalogue 11

139 Drawing. Gianlorenzo Bernini
Elevation of the facade of St. Peter’s with proposed alterations
After 16 December 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 3r
50 × 37.2 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite, brown ink with brown and gray wash

SCALE

200 palmi = 11.3 cm

INSCRIBED

verso, “CR Bernino”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 157 (attributed to Bernini workshop); Frey 1938, 225, fig. 251; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 47, fig. 70 (attributed to Bernini workshop, dated 20 Feb. 1646); Kieven 1993, cat. 29 (dated 1645–46); Morello 1993, cat. 72; Rocchi Coopmans de Yoldi 1996, 140, fig. 51b (attributed to circle of Bernini); McPhee 1997, 317, fig. 89; Marder 1998, fig. 72

Elevation of the facade of St. Peter’s with a portico and bell towers united by a five-step platform. In this proposal for the reconfiguration of the facade of St. Peter’s, Bernini proposes adding a two-story portico of three broad bays before the five central bays of Maderno’s facade and replacing the bell towers of Maderno with freestanding single-story turrets set atop new bases and foundations. The central portico is divided into three bays by colossal engaged columns and appears to be a single bay in depth. Pairs of these columns flank the central entrance and bear a straight pediment. Three Serlian arches provide access to the portico at ground level. Above, windows pierce the outer bays while the central bay is topped by a modified serlian arch recalling the benediction loggia of the pope as shown in The Fire in the Borgo (fig. 153). Campanili of reduced dimensions are set before the facade on a plane with the new portico. The tower bases resemble freestanding bays of the facade with colossal Corinthian pilasters flanking windows. The single-story belfries they support are composed of Corinthian columns flanking an arched opening and suppporting a pediment. Above the arch, Luigi Bernini’s statues reappear, holding an escutcheon (see fig. 128). Maderno’s attic story has been removed, and the befries rise directly from the tower base. Above the escutcheon a mezzanine rises, with four torches at the corners, topped by a pyramidal finial, an orb, a pennant, and a cross.

Although the design proposed here solves the perennial aesthetic problem of Maderno’s excessively broad facade, blocks a substantial portion of the much criticized attic, and allows for a fresh start on new foundations for the campanili, the expense would be prohibitive. The new design would involve the complete destruction and rebuilding of Maderno’s towers, new foundations beneath both towers and portico, and the addition of a substantial new structure extending the benediction loggia before the facade.

The drawing cannot be dated exactly, but it is likely to have been proposed after December 1645, since it does not appear among the designs described in Virgilio Spada’s report (see Doc. 27).

Catalogue 12

73 Drawing. Andrea Bolgi
Plan of the first level of Bernini’s tower [upper] and that proposed by Bolgi [lower]
8 June–9 October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 7v
52.3 × 36 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

50 palmi = 10.9 cm

INSCRIBED

upper plan, reading clockwise, lower right to upper right, “faciata / p.mi 20 / L / 13 / M G / P / T”; lower plan, reading clockwise, lower right to upper right, “faciata / L / 14 / M G / P / T”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee 1997, fig. 79

This large pen-and-wash drawing is part of a suite of drawings by Andrea Bolgi contained in Vat. lat. 13442 (fols. 5r–9r, 23r; Cat. 13, 14, and 15). As a group these drawings constitute an intriguing palimpsest. They were reworked over time and represent Bolgi’s interventions at various points in the evolving tower discussions. Each of Bolgi’s drawings corresponds to the legend inscribed on fol. 5r.* Folios 5r, 7v, and 9r bear the seal of the artist.

This drawing (fol. 7v) is described by Bolgi on fol. 5r at numbers “13” and “14.” The plan at the top of the page, labeled “13,” shows the first level of the tower built by Bernini, which, Bolgi says, overlaps the wall of the narthex by about twenty palmi. The plan below is the tower proposed by Bolgi, labeled “14.” He advocates dividing the materials from Bernini’s south tower in half and reusing them to make two single-story towers. Bolgi’s plan corresponds with the tower shown on fol. 23r (see figs. 120 and 121; Cat. 14), where he proposes two alternative finials. Bolgi’s plan proposal appears on the verso of the left-hand portion of his enormous drawing of the foundations of St. Peter’s (fig. 103).

As Bolgi makes clear in his general statement to the pope on fol. 5r, at the time he writes, it had been concluded in the meetings of the Congregation that the weight of Bernini’s three-tiered tower and the fact that it overlapped the wall of the narthex to the north by twenty palmi had led to the cracking in the portico and campanile. Bolgi’s proposal calls for towers half the size of Bernini’s over a much restricted plan. To emphasize his point, Bolgi refers specifically to the illustrations of Virgilio Spada’s report of May 1645, with which all of the cardinals of the Fabbrica would have been familiar. Compare this sheet with figs. 57 and 58. It is likely that Bolgi’s drawings were first proposed at the meeting of the Congregation on 9 October 1645.

*The text that appears on fol. 5r is as follows:

La ricognitione fatta con molte diligenze da molti Architetti delle aperture, peli, et sbranature evidenti nei luoghi noti a tutti nelle muraglie del Tempio di S. Pietro nel Portico, e nel Campanile inditij grandi di qualche accidente rovinoso, se non si levano le cagioni certe de’ mali seguiti e soprastanti: pare che non habbia bisogno d’altro, che’ di una determinata resolutione di rimedij proportionati à far cessare quei mali con modi e mezzi opportuni, et à ridurre e condurre le parti offese di detto Tempio alla maggior sicurezza possibile’ di potersi à giuditio d’Architetti prudenti mantenere in piedi longamente. Per tal effetto si mette in consideratione con la debita humiltà e rimessione alla San[ti]ta V[ost]ra, che essendo certo senza controversia, che il peso soverchio de’ Tevertini delli tré ordini fatti dal Cavalier Bernino Architetto sopra l’ordine primo, et al secondo detto mezzo bastardo Attico lasciati fatti da Carlo Maderno, è stata la cagione attuale delli sopra accennati mali effetti accelerati e partecipati alla muraglia maestra del Tempio in faccia, e per fianco verso la sagrestia, con haver esso Bernino sopraposti li detti tre ordini vinti palmi incirca nella grossezza della muraglia maestra, che perciò fece poi disfare l’ordine superiore sia ancor necessario disfare e mettere à terra gl’altri due ordini fatti dal Bernino, avanti che gli accidenti nocivi con indulgij, e per continuatione della cagione di essi, divenghino irremediabili, e subito messi à terra con buona diligenza detti due ordini, converrebbe applicare quelli remedij che si sono circonscritti con linée nelle piante che si presentano controsegnate come sono notate da basso: che venendo approvato dall’ottimo giuditio della San[ti]ta V[ost]ra, e dal parere di qualche Architetto prudente et sincero, si potrebbe servire di tutti gli ornamenti, e delle parti sode’ del Campanile del Bernino per compire ambidoi li Campanili, come si mostra in pianta et in disegno; et in quell’istesso tempo che si assicura la fabrica, e si scompone il Campanile del Bernino, comporre l’altro Campanile verso Palazzo, per dar luogo alli Tevertini : e la spesa di fare li due Campanili è solamente di disfare, e rimettere in opera il disfatto.

Nota de’ numeri rispondenti alle Piante e dissegni contenuti nell’incluso foglio

NO. 1 Pianta del fondamento del Campanile co’ pozzi fatti da Carlo Maderno

2 Pianta del sodo fatto sopra a pozzi segnata con linee semplici

3 Pianta della passonata per sotto la parte del fianco del Tempio contiguo al Campanile

4 Segni di Tevertini posti dal Maderno sopra la palificata, ò passonata

5 Fondamento della facciata del Portico col suo massiccio

6 Profilo della cantonata della facciata seguente per tutta la detta facciata

7 Profilo del fondamento vecchio del Campanile del Maderno Rimedij segnati con una +

8 Pianta co’ pozzi 24 in faccia e per fianco del Campanile verso il Palazzo de Cesis

9 Profilo dell’alzato sopra detta pianta per assicurare il Campanile, e l’angolo della facciata fatto dal Maderno

10 Dissegno della fortezza da farsi alli portoni del Campanile

11 Profilo col suo appoggio per appuntellare la facciata fermare e reggere la facciata del Portico, e per conseguenza quella del Tempio

12 Dissegno di trè pilastri di Tevertino da incassare nel fondamento, dove si trova la pozzolana assodata senza calce per l’altezza di d[ett]a pozzolana

13 Pianta del primo ordine del Campanile fatto dal Bernino sopra quello del Maderno, il sodo della qual Pianta è dentro il vivo della facciata del fianco del Tempio palmi vinti in circa

14 Pianta dell ordine del Campanile che si potrebbe fare sopra quello del Maderno con la metà delle colonne, e di tutte l’altre parti che sono nel detto Campanile del Bernini con fine che l’altra metà servisse per l’altro Campanile

15 Dissegno delli Campanili che si vorrebbono fare con le parti del Campanile del Bernino che sarebbono di peso tolerabile e fattibili in breve tempo con spesa mediocre nell’aggiustarli e comporli.

16 Facciata e Campanili

Catalogue 13

103 Drawing. Andrea Bolgi
1 Plan of Maderno’s piling foundation beneath the south tower with reinforcements proposed by Bolgi
2 North-south elevation of the southern half of the facade of St. Peter’s and section of the foundations beneath it, showing the location of the principal cracks and the additions Bolgi proposes
3 East-west section of the facade and foundations
1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 7r
52.2 × 142.7 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

50 palmi = 10.2 cm

INSCRIBED

recto, left to right, (1) “Ocidente / fesura del fianco”; (2) “Il mezo del Campanile / Tera Bona / Chreta ò Tera Vergine / Tassto / fessara Principale seguente sino alla balaustrata / Il mezo della facc[i]ata / fesara seguente sino alla balaustrata”; verso, “Il fornimento del Campanile del Maderno lateza [l’altezza] sua e p[al]mi 191 con la Croce / Il disegno incluso numero 15 la sua alteza ariva a p[al]mi 191 con la Croce”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee 1997, fig. 109

This large drawing by Andrea Bolgi provides a subterranean picture of the facade and south tower of St. Peter’s and the different types and levels of foundation that support them. The drawing is composed of four attached sheets and corresponds to the legend on fol. 5r (see Cat. 12). Bolgi labels existing features of the architecture with numbers and distinguishes his own proposed remedies by adding a “+” sign before them. Reading from left to right, the first sheet shows the plan of Maderno’s brick and concrete well foundation beneath the south tower (1), the perimeter of Maderno’s tower base resting above it (2), the piling foundation beside it to the north (3), and the twenty-four wells Bolgi proposes to add as reinforcements (+8).

The next two sheets present a north-south elevation of the southern half of the facade and south tower of St. Peter’s and a section of the foundations beneath them. Here Bolgi draws the principal cracks in the facade and foundations and the reinforcements he proposes. He draws the narrow foundation beneath Maderno’s south tower, reaching down into the ground 148 palmi, and a section of the concrete wells below. Bolgi proposes excavating ground south and east of Maderno’s tower to add an enormous secondary support for the foundation (+9). Aboveground he would reinforce the arch in Maderno’s tower base (+10). Further north, Bolgi shows the “palificata” or “passonata” foundation beneath the final bay of Maderno’s facade (4), 118 palmi deep. Still further north, the foundation reaches “Creta” or “Tera Vergine” at a depth of only 80 palmi. Bolgi would reinforce this portion of the facade with travertine piles at problematic spots (+12). Beneath the bay just south of the main entrance, the travertine pile would extend the full depth of the foundation (+11). The final panel to the right gives a profile of the facade and its foundation (6) and seems to suggest that the battered foundation wall proposed at the center of the facade (+11) could be extended the full length of the structure.

As with the plans on the verso of this sheet (fig. 73; Cat. 12), this large drawing responds to the evidence set forth in Virgilio Spada’s report of May 1645 and refers specifically to its illustrations (compare with figs. 106 and 107; Cat. 44). The sheet was probably submitted along with fols. 5r, 9r, and 23r to the meeting of the Congregation on 9 October 1645.

Catalogue 14

120 and 121 Drawing. Andrea Bolgi
Proposals for alternate bell towers for St. Peter’s
October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 23r open and closed
52.8 × 30.3 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

50 palmi = 10.7 cm

INSCRIBED

“facciata”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 51, fig. 77, and pl. 53, fig. 82 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi, dated 9 October 1645); McPhee 1997, 268, figs. 123, 124

This elevation proposal for the south tower of St. Peter’s is one of a number of related drawings by Andrea Bolgi described on fol. 5r of Vat. lat. 13442 (see Cat. 12). The tower shown here corresponds with the plan Bolgi proposes on the lower half of fol. 7v (fig. 73; Cat. 12). As Bolgi explains on fol. 5r, he would dismantle Bernini’s tower in order to rebuild two towers following the reduced plan. This elevation drawing is described by Bolgi in the legend on fol. 5r as number “15” “Dissegno delli Campanili che si vorrebbono fare con le parti del Campanile del Bernino che sarebbono di peso tolerabile e fattibili in breve tempo con spesa mediocre nell’aggiustarli, e comporli.”

Bolgi’s single-story tower rests on a stylobate and is composed of piers flanked by pilasters and paired Corinthian columns at the corners. The columns and pilasters support an entablature with ressauts topped by a balustrade. Above the first story an attic level rises with a circular window at center flanked by pilaster clusters and statues of Prudence (left) and Justice (right). The attic, in turn, supports a horizontal base and finial of pyramidal form (fig. 120). A more decorative alternative is suggested on an affixed flap (fig. 121).

It is likely that this tower proposal was presented to the meeting of the Congregation on 9 October 1645 along with the other drawings listed on fol. 5r (Doc. 26). According to Virgilio Spada’s report of December 1645 (Doc. 27), the architects consulted rejected Bolgi’s tower design, saying that the intercolumniation on the first level was too wide and that the finial in the first version (fig. 120) was too heavy, the second (fig. 121) trite.

The format and scale of the drawing, showing a small portion of Maderno’s attic below and to the right, is similar to that of Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 1r (Cat. 38).

Although Eimer attributed the drawing to Carlo Rainaldi on the basis of style, the handwriting, technique, plan, and scale of the tower are all consistent with fols. 7r–v (Cat. 12 and 13), which bear Andrea Bolgi’s seal.

Catalogue 15

118 and 119 Engraving by Mattheus Greuter (1613) with proposed alterations drawn in by Andrea Bolgi
Proposal for alternate bell towers and alterations to the facade and foundations of St. Peter’s
October 1645–February 1646
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 9r
88.5 × 65.9 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

100 palmi = 11.2 cm

INSCRIBED

lower left, “Fondamento del Campanile / Terra Bona / Terra Cativa o Pantano / Terra Vergine”; center, “Fondamento della Faciata”; right, “sopraficie delli acqua”; main text, “Alla Santità di N[ost]ro Signore INNOCENTIO DECIMO. / Andrea Bolgi scultore che hà fatto la Statua di Santa Helena in S. Pietro hum[ilissi]mo e dev[otissi]mo 0[rato]re della S[anti]ta V[ost]ra l’espone havere dopo molte fatiche con l’aiuto di Dio, trovato il modo sicuro senza pericolo, di rifondare e fermare i motivi evidenti e spaventosi della famosissima Fabrica di San Pietro, acciò stia in piedi per sempre, et anco la perfettione delli Campanili, con bella proportione, maggior legerezza e concordanza con la facciata e cupola e minor spesa havendo di più trovato dove nasce il mancamento dell’invito da terra del campanile col suo rimedio, come quì si vede nel dissegno segnato con questa croce + et anco levato la difficoltà di ristringere l’Arco del Campanile con anobilare maggiormente la Facciata, il tutto a honore et gloria di Dio e grandezza della San[ti]ta V[ost]ra, salvo sempre miglior parere e giuditio d’altri”; lower right, “Rimedio / Prima(?) si deve fornire di demolire il Campanile fatto dal Cav[alie]re Bernini Architetto, [here a new line has been pasted over the print:] cagione di tutti i mali evidenti, di poi fare i tasti vicino alla muraglia del fondamento alle parte offese, et andar tanto al fondo insino che si trovi la sopraficie dell’acqua e non piu, facendovi un piano di legnami di rovere o castagno bene incatenato, e fare molti bugi nella muraglia del fondamento, mettendovi dentro buoni travertini li quali restino la metà di fuori della muraglia et poi riempire li tasti di calce con pozzolana, e pietre da fondamenti che facendo presa restera una platea collegata con la muraglia che renderà la Fabrica eterna.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 45, figs. 65–67; McPhee 1997, 267–68, fig. 122

In this elevation proposal for alterations to the facade of St. Peter’s, Andrea Bolgi makes interventions with pen and ink to the 1613 engraving of Mattheus Greuter. The sheet appears to correspond with number “16” of Bolgi’s explanatory report (fol. 5r; see Cat. 12), which reads “Facciata e Campanili.” It is the final item listed there, and both the lighter ink of the inscription and the nature of the interventions proposed suggest that this sheet is later in date than the other Bolgi drawings (Cat. 12, 13, and 14).

In fact, there are many levels to the drawing: several additional flaps have been pasted over earlier drawings, creating a composite proposal that seems to have been assembled over time and to record some months of discussion. Whereas Bolgi’s other designs (Cat. 12, 13, and 14) proposed dismantling Bernini’s tower and building two from the materials of one (Cat. 14), reinforcing the arch beneath the south campanile and the foundations beneath the facade (Cat. 13), this sheet contains more dramatic solutions that reflect an awareness of the proposals of other competitors and the advice of critics surveyed by Virgilio Spada and summarized in his report of December 1645. Because Bolgi’s drawing responds to these criticisms, the final interventions to the sheet were probably made between December 1645 and February 1646, when the pope met for the last time with the architects.

Bolgi’s earlier tower proposals had been criticized for the width of their intercolumniation and for the finials, which the critics found “too heavy” and “trite” (see Doc. 27). On this sheet Bolgi proposes three new versions of the tower. They are all single-story alternatives close in scale to his other proposals (Cat. 14), although here Bolgi narrows the intercolumniation of the tower through the use of the serlian arch. In place of his pyramidal finials, he suggests three variations for a domed summit.

The most significant changes here, however, are to the tower bases and to the facade of the church itself. As can be seen from both the elevation and the plan included at the lower right, Bolgi proposes two different configurations for the facade, both of which tend to consolidate the structure and to separate it from the campanili. On the left half of the sheet, he replaces the triple pilaster cluster of Maderno’s south tower base with a single pilaster and replaces the arch at the base of the tower with a niche containing a large statue of St. Peter. At the attic level he continues the colossal pilaster of the tower base with a single pilaster strip, thereby narrowing the bay and allowing the tower to spring directly from the ground. This is an idea developed by Bernini (Cat. 8) and described in detail in Virgilio Spada’s report of December 1645 (Doc. 27).

Bolgi alters the facade itself by adding a full column to the fourth bay south of the main entrance and by darkening the bay mediating between facade and tower, suggesting a recession in space. The notion of separating facade and towers had been developed in drawings by both Carlo Rainaldi and Bernini (Cat. 39 and 8). In the bay immediately to the left of center, he closes the attic window and the doorway beneath it. He adds a stair descending from the seven central bays and adds base moldings to the revealed foundation wall to suggest a podium beneath the bell towers.

On the right half of the sheet Bolgi presents an alternative. He leaves the triple pilaster cluster of the north tower intact but attempts to create a visual separation between facade and tower by darkening the bay between them. He alters the north tower base by moving the right-hand pilaster forward and giving it a ressaut of its own, on the same plane as the pilaster cluster with which it is paired. As in the south tower, he closes the arch with a niche and a statue, this one of St. Paul. At the level of the attic he adds a second pilaster strip, creating an awkward transition to the base of his tower.

On the attached flap (fig. 119) Bolgi proposes a more radical solution. Instead of reducing the number of colossal pilasters and narrowing the tower bays, he adds a second pilaster strip to the north side of the tower, bringing the north corner of the tower into line with the existing pilaster cluster beside it. He then reformulates the attic as a new tower base. This campanile alternative springs from a lower point and the entire tower bay steps forward from the plane of the facade, emphasizing the visual separation of the two components.

Bolgi’s proposals for reinforcing the foundations are less radical in this proposal than they had been in his previous drawings (Cat. 13). However, beneath the left side of the sheet, pentimenti of earlier ink drawings and inscriptions in the foundation area are visible, suggesting that the Greuter engraving has been presented previously with a different solution. As Bolgi explains in the legend on this sheet, he would now excavate no further than the water line and use bound piles of wood and individual stones to form a platea. Virgilio Spada discusses the platea foundations of the ancients favorably in his report of May 1645, and they are the chief subject of Martino Longhi’s printed proposal of the same year. Bolgi’s own earlier proposals had been criticized by the architects consulted by Virgilio Spada because it was thought that radical excavation and refounding would destabilize both tower and facade.

The inscriptions on the sheet give further clues to the date of these new proposals. Addressing himself to the pope, Bolgi writes that he has finally solved the problems of facade and foundations. Referring to the solutions for the foundations, he says that he has found a way of shoring them up without threatening danger to the facade. Furthermore, he has solved the problems of strengthening the arch at the base of the tower and of making his campanili accord with the proportions of the facade and cupola. The competing architects had the opportunity to show their material directly to the pontiff for the first time on 20 February 1646 (Doc. 28). Given the fact that a reference to this sheet has been added to the list on fol. 5r at number “16” (see Cat. 12), it seems likely that Bolgi presented it at this meeting along with his previous drawings. Together they represent Bolgi’s initial ideas and the new ideas that had evolved over the intervening months. Like the earlier drawings, this sheet also bears Bolgi’s seal in the lower left corner.

Catalogue 16

46 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Studies for the campanili of St. Peter’s
ca. 1626
Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, Hdz. 3828
18 × 24.5 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink

SCALE

30 palmi = 8.1 cm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967a, 1:35–36, 2:C 27 A; Fünf Architekten 1976–77, cat. 26; McPhee 1997, 49; Kahn-Rossi and Franciolli 1999, cat. 148; Bösel and Frommel 2000, cat. V.8

This sheet of pen sketches shows three alternative elevations for the bell towers of St. Peter’s with partial plan sketches below. The elevations are permutations of the tower of Maderno as preserved in the Mattheus Greuter engraving of 1613, a version of which appears on the left side of the sheet with a stylobate added below. As Thelen has noted, these elevations correspond to three of the graphite plans on Albertina 110 (fig. 47) but are shown at half the scale (1:24). Although the pen sketches were probably made ca. 1626 along with the Albertina sheet, Thelen speculates that they may adhere to the scale of a model of the facade of St. Peter’s made during the time of Paul V. See Cat. 17.

Catalogue 17

47 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan variations for the campanili of St. Peter’s with partial section of the porch of the Pantheon
1626–27
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 110
26.50 × 18.40 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite

SCALE

10 palmi = 1.3 cm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967a, 1:33–35, 2:C 27; McPhee 1997, 50, fig. 50

This sheet preserves three carefully drawn plan variations for the campanili of St. Peter’s, the triangular plan of the attic of one alternative, and a partial section of the roof beams of the Pantheon porch. As noted by Thelen, the plan variations fill most of the sheet and were made first, probably in 1626. The Pantheon sketch was added later, but not after 1627. The plans for the campanili are all variations on the project of Maderno, preserved in the Mattheus Greuter engraving of 1613, to which they conform in scale. Borromini’s alternatives are lightweight, single-story structures following simple geometries: a square, a circle, and a triangle. He renders the three basic forms in elevation on another closely related sheet (Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, Hdz. 3828; Cat. 16). The existence of these drawings suggests that Urban VIII and the Fabbrica of St. Peter’s began to consider solutions for the towers as early as 1626 and that Borromini was deeply involved in planning discussions with his aging mentor, Carlo Maderno.

Catalogue 18

100 and 101 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Verso: Section of the foundations beneath the facade block of St. Peter’s
Recto: Sketch of the attic window on the west face of the south bell tower
4 February–27 March 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 738r and v
42.60 × 56.40 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite on white writing paper

INSCRIBED

verso, “Il pelo e tanto / largho in cima / alla facciata quanto / da piedi cioe 5/12”; “fond[amen]to grosso da Capo p[al]mi 28 1/2”; “questi mattoni stan[no] tutti a un piano / ne luno ? e / piu alto o piu basso / del altro”; “nel mezzo / della fac[cia]ta / il fond[amen]to / va su a pionbo e / non retira / p[er] reg[ge]re le / coione che / tieng[ono] il / frontespitio”; “fond[amen]to di cotta? di mattoni”; “fond[amen]to murato a mano”; “fond[amen]to r[i]empito a sacco co[n] la puntellatura”; “Se questa materia fussi tanto / difetosa come si dice averebbe / fatto magg[io]r dimostrazione”; “dove si e perso il / fiore della Calce / et e buono e cativo / a loco a locho / Ma nel fondo e asai bono”; “fond[amen]to gros[s]o nel piede p[al]mi 43”; “Piano della Creta bollissimo la quale n[on] e statta opressa del peso / piu in un locho che in un altro et sta tutta a un piano”; recto, left side, “il Campanile ha solo 3 facciate / la 4.a serve la faciata”; “finestra delli mezzanini sopra al Cornicione della facciata / stando a vederla con la faccia verso Oriente”; right side, “La roina del Campanile che si tira dietro la facciata p[er] essere concatenata insieme / non viene di altro soli che il fond[amen]to di detto Campanile fu fatto p[er] reggere / un ordine solo sopra alla facciata il quale ancora era asai svelto et / aperto accio non dasse molto peso come si vede in stampa / Ma si e poi variato con caricarlo non tanto d’un ordine ma di tre / con [tre: crossed out] sei volte tanto peso e piu ma il fond[amen]to di esso non e statto / accresciuto ne rinforzato di niente pero bisog[na] che roini p[er] / forza meraviglia sarebbe se non rovinasse come à questo / ora gia sarebbe in terra d[ett]o Campanile se non fusse incatenato / con tanti ferri e travertini con la facciata ma non potendo / d[ett]a facciata resistere a tanto nemicho si pela e laccera / tutta via [non potendo resistere a tanto nemicho: crossed out] / Si vede e tocca con mano che il Campanile strapiomba e / pende verso Campo S[an]to cioe verso mezzo giorno come tutti / li contrasegni della rovina si vedono a tirare da Tramonta[na] / a mezzo giorno seguitando d[ett]o Campanile / E in Cambio di rimediare a questo si va cercando il rimedio / verso Oriente che non vie difetto ne male nes[s]uno in / Cambio di cercarlo verso mezzo giorno dove sta il Campo / S[an]to che se si facesse un tasto li si trovarebbe gran cosa / che fara chiara Testimonianza della roina su detta / Si considera poi che chi volse Caricare tanto / atiscemente il Campanile aprovo il detto fond[amen]to mentre non / fecce diligenza nes[s]una p[er] vedere se poteva resistere a recev[ere] / Sei [tre: crossed out] volte tanto peso di quello che gli fu destinato quando / fu fatto d[ett]o fond[amen]to”; “Il Prud[en]te Archit[et]to non fa prima la fabrica / e poi andare a tastare se ne[l] fond[amen]to / si ved[i]no il pelo prima che n[on] si pol[?] neg[are] / pero n[on] bisogna mai caricar[e] tanto atiscemente”; “Il med[esi]mo Campan[i]le si lacera / da se stesso come si vede / nelli archi et sua volta / prima / nella Capella del S[antissi]mo Bat[tesi]mo / si e visto gran motivo da / 2 mesi in qua si come anco / nel fianco d[e]lla fab[rica]”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hempel 1924, fig. 23; Thelen 1967b, cat. 4f; McPhee 1997, 187–91, figs. 105, 106

This drawing has been mistakenly identified as showing building damage to the foundations of the south bell tower or to the area of the southwest angle of the basilica (Thelen 1967b, 16, cat. 4f). In fact, the verso of this sheet (fig. 100) records sketches and notes made in February or March 1645 during a “tasto,” or sounding of the soil beneath the narthex to determine the origin of a crack that had appeared in the facade. A vertical sounding shaft eighty palmi deep was excavated immediately before the southernmost entrance to the basilica. Toward the bottom of the principal core, a secondary shaft was opened, perpendicular to the first, running due west for an additional forty-six palmi (see Doc. 20). Borromini’s drawing provides an east-west section of the composition of the foundations beneath the facade. He shows the progress of a substantial crack, both above- and belowground. Rather than detailing damage, however, his annotations defend the solidity of Carlo Maderno’s foundations.

With the sketch and inscriptions on the recto of the sheet (fig. 101), Borromini continues his defense of Maderno while attacking Bernini. The sketch at left shows the attic window of Maderno’s tower base, seen from the west. The tower is out of plumb, leaning toward the south. The inscription alleges that this disorder is caused by Bernini’s having built a tower six times as heavy as that for which the foundations were designed. Borromini states that the investigations made to the east of the facade (Az. Rom 738v, fig. 100) reveal no problem. He proposes a second sounding, south of the campanile, for a true portrait of the damage. Borromini and other experts discussed the results of the sounding at a meeting of the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 27 March 1645. See Chapter 4.

Catalogue 19

20 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of the southern half of the portico and south tower of St. Peter’s at the attic level, with the plan of Maderno’s projected belfry
4 February–9 October 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 733
25.5 × 41.4 cm; trimmed slightly at top and left sides

TECHNIQUE

Graphite with orange-red chalk on cream-colored paper

SCALE

100 palmi = 11.4 cm

INSCRIBED

left, “Pianta del campanile di S. / pietro in vaticano cavato del / alzata che va in stampa fatto / di Carlo Maderni architetto / a tempo di pauolo V 1613”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McPhee 1997, 20, fig. 20

This plan shows the southern half of Carlo Maderno’s narthex, the perimeter of the south bell-tower base he added to it, and the plan of his intended campanile superimposed above. Borromini differentiates built from unbuilt by using red chalk for built sections and pencil for the proposed additions. As the inscription at left explains, the plan of the campanile has been derived from the elevation preserved in Mattheus Greuter’s engraving of Maderno’s design for St. Peter’s facade, made in 1613.

This sheet should be considered in relation to Az. Rom 729 (Cat. 20), as both were rendered using the same scale (100 palmi = 11.4 cm) and technique. Both drawings are likely to date from the early months of the bell tower consultation under Innocent X (February–June 1645), since they appear to compare the dimensions of Bernini’s tower to those of Maderno’s original design. This comparison was the basis of Borromini’s attacks on Bernini’s tower, which he claimed was too heavy for the foundations. His arguments appear in written form on Az. Rom 738r and v (Cat. 18).

Catalogue 20

82 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of the third level of the south campanile
4 February–9 October 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 729
26.60 × 21.60 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite on medium-weight cream-colored paper

SCALE

100 palmi = 11.4 cm

INSCRIBED

“terza pianta del Campanile di S. pietro fatto del bernino”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frey 1938, 211, fig. 232; McPhee 1997, 84–85, fig. 91

As the inscription indicates, this plan drawing shows the third level of the bell tower built by Bernini. Known as the “ordinetto attico” in contemporary documents, the third level follows a rectangular plan with concave sides, its perimeter defined by twenty-four colonnettes. Four spiral stairs are indicated on the inner sides of triangular masonry masses that constitute the core of the structure. At the left edge of the sheet a faint pencil sketch shows a portion of an alternative plan for the third level with a greater number of colonnettes.

The third level, or attic, served as an intermediary zone between the second level of Bernini’s tower and the helm. The dimensions of this attic plan correspond precisely with a portion of another plan drawing for the tower (Albertina 728) treated with wash and produced by Bernini’s draftsman Pietro Paolo Drei (see Cat. 28). This correspondence constitutes strong evidence that Az. Rom 729 is the version of the attic that was actually built. Pinpricks visible on the back of the sheet suggest that the image was transferred. Although the drawing is not dated, it is likely to have been made during the early months of the bell tower competition. This drawing has the same scale as Az. Rom 733 and should be considered in relation to it. See Cat. 19.

Catalogue 21

110 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of the south tower of St. Peter’s at the level of the attic with the plan of Maderno’s projected tower above
27 March–8 June 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 734
68.9 × 59 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite and red chalk with yellow and pink wash on white paper

SCALE

50 palmi = 25.2 cm

INSCRIBED

“oriente”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967b, cat. 4d; McPhee 1997, 206–7, fig. 115

This careful drawing shows the plan of a portion of the left flank of the portico and the south tower of St. Peter’s at the level of the cornice above the attic with the plan of Maderno’s projected tower superimposed above it. Maderno’s spiral stair, located within the southwest portion of the facade block, is visible in the upper right corner.

The drawing forms part of a visual argument made by Borromini concerning the excessive weight of Bernini’s campanile and was probably discussed in the meeting of the Congregation on 8 June 1645. It is related in scale and technique to Albertina 731, 732 and Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 2 Riserva. See Cat. 23.

Catalogue 22

62 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of the south tower of St. Peter’s at the attic level, with the plan of the first level of Bernini’s tower juxtaposed with that of Maderno
27 March–8 June 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 732
56.8 × 76.8 mm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite with yellow and pink wash on white paper

SCALE

50 palmi = 25.3 cm

INSCRIBED

top, “questa parte e del maderni”; bottom, “questa e del bernin—del Bernino”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frey 1938, fig. 228; Thelen 1967b, cat. 4e (dated 1645–46); McPhee 1997, 207, fig. 66

Plan of a portion of the southern end of the narthex of St. Peter’s and the south tower at the level of the cornice above the attic with a half-plan of the first level of Bernini’s tower (on the lower or east side) and a half-plan of Maderno’s tower (on the upper or west side).

Using colored washes, Borromini highlights the degree to which Bernini’s tower exceeds the limits of Maderno’s bell tower base. He shows that roughly half of the area occupied by the northern piers of the tower rests on the south wall of the portico.

This drawing was probably discussed in the meeting of the Congregation on 8 June 1645. It is related in scale and technique to Albertina 731, 734 and Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 2 Riserva. See Cat. 23, 21, and 24.

Catalogue 23

72 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of the south half of the facade block of St. Peter’s taken at the level of the nave roof, with the plan of the first level of Bernini’s campanile as constructed, superimposed above Maderno’s south tower base
27 March–8 June 1645
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 731
62.5 × 137.30 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite and red chalk with yellow and pink wash on white paper

SCALE

50 palmi = 25 cm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967b, cat. 4c; McPhee 1997, 206–7, fig. 77

Borromini probably produced this large-scale plan in preparation for the meeting before Pope Innocent X and the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 8 June 1645 (the date given by Thelen 1967b, cat. 4, must be revised according to new archival evidence; see Chapter 3, note 44). As Thelen has observed, the sheet is closely related to two other drawings in the Albertina (Az. Rom 732 and 734; Cat. 22 and 21) and to one in the Vatican (Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 2 Riserva; Cat. 24), all of which were produced using the same scale and similar materials. On this sheet Borromini shows the southern half of Maderno’s narthex, with the bell tower base attached at the southern end, at the level of the attic roof. Above these structures he superimposes the plan of the first level of Bernini’s campanile.

The purpose of this sheet and the related drawings is to document the divergence in scale between the tower intended by Maderno and that built by Bernini. But they also constitute visual support for verbal arguments concerning the foundations as articulated on Az. Rom 738r and v (see Cat. 18), and in Virgilio Spada’s report to the Congregation of May 1645 (see Chapter 4). In Az. Rom 731, Borromini documents the position of Bernini’s tower with respect to the base on which it rests. Bernini’s tower reaches to the edge of Maderno’s tower base and is, in fact, so broad that a substantial portion of the masonry on the north side rests on the walls of the narthex. Az. Rom 734 (fig. 110) shows the plan of the lightweight tower envisioned by Maderno in comfortable position above the same tower base. Finally, Az. Rom 732 (fig. 62) sets Bernini against Maderno in a single comparative image. See Cat. 30.

Catalogue 24

111 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan of Bernini’s bell tower superimposed above the fabric of the north tower base and adjacent structures
March–June 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 2 Riserva
90.4 × 90.9 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, ink, various washes (pink, ocher, pale pink, pale yellow) on white paper

SCALE

50 palmi = 25.3 cm.

INSCRIBED

in graphite in Borromini’s hand, “Catena / Archo / Archo”; block letters in ink, “CAP(PEL)LA PAOLINA/SALA REGIA/LOG(G)IA DELLE BENEDITIONI/CAMPANILE”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 190; Thelen 1967b, 14–15, cat. 4; McPhee 1997, 208–13, fig. 32

The drawing shows the intersection of the northern end of the portico of St. Peter’s, with the north campanile base, the Sala Regia, and the Cappella Paolina. These building masses are differentiated from one another through the application of colored washes. Superimposed above these structures is the plan of the first level of Bernini’s south tower as built.

As Thelen has suggested, this sheet should be compared with Albertina 731, 732, and 734, all of which follow the same scale and are treated with similar colored washes (see Cat. 23, 22, and 21). Considered together, these sheets constitute a detailed comparison of the tower Bernini built above the south campanile base (731) and the tower proposed by Maderno (732, 734). The Vatican sheet (Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 2 Riserva) offers a projection of Bernini’s south tower above the north tower base, suggesting that, if built, it would overlap and threaten adjacent structures.

If one compares Leone Garvo’s plan (Alb. 737; fig. 35) of the north tower base superimposed above the south with Borromini’s drawing, it is clear that Borromini used the Garvo drawing as a source.

Thelen has suggested that Borromini presented this design at the meeting of the Congregation of the Fabbrica in June 1645 and that his aim was to refute the testimony of Virgilio Spada presented in his Discorso of May. As both Brauer-Wittkower and Thelen have observed, Borromini intended to show that the building of the north tower would necessitate the destruction of the Cappella Paolina. Structural evidence survives on site that contradicts Borromini’s contention (see discussion in Chapter 4).

Although it was not Bernini’s intention to destroy the Cappella Paolina, it is important to note that in the seventeenth century the chapel was not the inviolable space we consider it today. In the first decades of the century, its destruction was considered a number of times. During the pontificate of Paul V, Papirio Bartoli suggested relocating the Cappella Paolina to accommodate his project for a five-aisle nave at St. Peter’s (BVE, Fondi minori, prov. claustrale varia X, fol. 20v), and Martino Longhi again proposed its destruction in 1645 (Discorso, 1645, fol. 9).

Catalogue 25

123 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan and elevation of an alternative bell tower for St. Peter’s
1645, probably 8 June–9 October
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 735
19 × 26 cm

TECHNIQUE

Red chalk with graphite additions on medium-weight cream-colored paper; cut down

INSCRIBED

upper right, in a later hand, “Campanile di S. Pietro in Vaticano”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frey 1938, 223, fig. 246; Thelen 1967b, cat. 40; Portoghesi 1967, fig. 128; Hempel, 1924, pl. 52.1; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 49, fig. 73 (misidentified as “n 735a”); McPhee 1997, 268–70, fig. 125

Catalogue 26

124 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Elevation of an alternative bell tower for St. Peter’s
1645, probably 8 June–9 October
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 735a recto
23.5 × 15.4 cm

TECHNIQUE

Red chalk with graphite additions at bottom center, on medium-weight cream-colored paper; cut down

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Egger 1910, fig. 4; Frey 1938, fig. 247; Thelen 1958–59, cat. 35; Thelen 1967b, cat. 40; Portoghesi 1967, fig. 129; Hempel 1924, pl. 52.2; McPhee 1997, 268–70, fig. 126

Catalogue 27

125 Drawing. Francesco Borromini
Plan for an alternative bell tower for St. Peter’s
1645, probably 8 June–9 October
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 735a verso
23.5 × 15.4 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk or graphite; cut down

INSCRIBED

“prima/seconda/terza”; lower left, “1613”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967b, cat. 40; Frey 1938, fig. 248; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 49, fig. 74; McPhee 1997, 268–70, fig. 127

These plan and elevation sketches record Borromini’s ideas for replacing Bernini’s campanile with one that adheres to the scale set by Carlo Maderno (see Az. Rom 734; Cat. 21). The drawings present a range of solutions derived from Maderno’s original design and from the tower built by Bernini. Az. Rom 735 (fig. 123) shows one plan proposal set above the south tower base and narthex built by Maderno. On the right half of the sheet he gives the elevation. The first level recalls that of Bernini’s tower as built, with freestanding columns supporting a trabeated opening. This level is surmounted by an octagonal attic and two solutions for the crowning helm.

Az. Rom 735a recto (fig. 124) gives an alternative elevation sketch. The first level is derived from Maderno’s tower design as preserved in Greuter’s 1613 engraving. This level is surmounted by a balustrade and a distinctive eight-sided mezzanine, similar to one sketched by Borromini in 1626 (Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, Hdz. 3828; Cat. 16), which rises to a crown and finial bearing the Pamphili dove. The plan sketched on Az. Rom 735a verso (fig. 125) is related to that of Maderno (Az. Rom 734; Cat. 21) but has concave sides that recall the third level, or attic order, of Bernini’s tower (see Az. Rom 729; Cat. 20). Az. Rom 735a verso suggests that either the tower elevation shown on the recto, or that proposed on Az. Rom 735, could be set on a concave plan.

The sketches were probably made in the months between the meeting of the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 8 June 1645, at which the pope called for new designs, and that on 9 October 1645, at which they were presented. These ideas are likely to have remained private, for Borromini did not attend the meeting on 9 October and chose not to participate in the competition (see Doc. 27).

Catalogue 28

81 Drawing. Pietro Paolo Drei
Plan of Bernini’s south tower
Autumn or winter 1640
Vienna, Albertina, Az. Rom 728
69.8 × 48.5 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite, brown ink and wash

SCALE

50 palmi = 25.4 cm

INSCRIBED

various measurements and calculations; lower left quadrant, in Pietro Paolo Drei’s hand, “sino a mezzo / 8⅚ co[n] la Canna / 10 mezzo m.ti 1½”

WATERMARK

IHS monogram in a circle with the cross above

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 189b (attributed to Borromini); Frey 1938, fig. 231 (attributed to Bernini); Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 54, fig. 83 (attributed to Bernini and dated 1645–46); McPhee 1997, 84–88, fig. 84

This drawing is perhaps the most important surviving graphic record of Bernini’s bell tower. Drawn in the autumn or winter of 1640 by Pietro Paolo Drei, the sheet shows the three levels of Bernini’s south tower superimposed above one another. The first level is indicated in graphite at the lower right corner, the second level is outlined above it in pen, the third level is outlined with pen and treated with wash. Albertina 728 shows the third story, or ordinetto attico, under intense discussion. Numerous alternatives for its scale and position are explored, as are alternatives for the elevation, which appear along the left side of the sheet. The plan of the ordinetto attico, treated with wash, corresponds with Borromini’s drawing of the third story (Az. Rom 729; Cat. 20), suggesting that this was the version that Bernini built. The position of the pyramidal helm above it is still uncertain, although a portion of the ordinetto attico (in the lower left corner) has been outlined in pen and treated with darker wash, suggesting a solution.

When Pietro Paolo Drei made this drawing, he was soprastante to St. Peter’s, and drafting for Bernini was part of his job. His distinctive hand is apparent in the annotations made in pen. The sheet includes additional annotations by Bernini in graphite. Other drawings by Drei, identifiable through handwriting, include: BAV, Vat. lat. 11257, fols. 6, 8, 132, 133; Vat. lat. 11258, fols. 71, 72; Chigi P VII 9, fol. 33; Corsini Library, Ms. 168, 31 B15, fols. 229–30, 278, 292–95; ASR, Fondo Spada-Veralli, vol. 236, fols. 455, 457, 459; British Library, map 6, tab 3, nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 16, 28, 33, 36.

Albertina 728 is related to the elevation of the ordinetto attico that appears in Albertina 730, although they represent different moments in the design process. See Cat. 1 and the extensive discussion of both sheets in Chapter 2.

Catalogue 29

98 Drawing. Pietro Paolo Drei
Plan and section of the southern portion of the facade and bell tower of St. Peter’s
February–March 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 11257, fol. 155
27.5 × 18.6 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, pink wash

INSCRIBED

“Tasto / Campanile verso mezzo Giorno / quest’anima e fondata p[almi] 30 sotto sopra à passoni / Portico”

WATERMARK

Cardinal’s hat above an escutcheon with Barberini bees

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967b, cat. 41; Güthlein 1981, 235, fig. 7; McPhee 1997, 201, fig. 104

This survey drawing shows the plan and section of the foundations beneath the southern portion of the narthex and south tower of St. Peter’s. The draftsman is Pietro Paolo Drei, soprastante to the Fabbrica, and the drawing was probably made soon after the tasto, or sounding, was excavated in front of the southernmost entrance to the basilica (February–March 1645, see Doc. 20). The upper portion of the sheet is divided into three sections treated with different shades of wash and pen. The divisions correspond with the plan below them. Reading from right to left, Drei presents the tasto made to investigate the source of a large crack that had appeared in the facade. A first attempt, shown just to the north of the successful sounding, failed when the diggers struck old walls. The successful tasto ran eighty palmi deep. Toward the bottom of the shaft a secondary core was opened running forty-six palmi due west before turning abruptly to the south. Drei labels the “Tasto” and indicates the opening of the secondary core in his section. He gives the same information in the plan below and locates the offending cracks. In the central portion of the section, Drei shows the “passoni,” or wooden stakes, Maderno drove into the ground to stabilize the final bay of the facade. In the left-hand portion of the section he draws the brick-lined wells Maderno excavated to stabilize the soil beneath the south bell tower. In the plan below he indicates the perimeter of Maderno’s bell tower base above this foundation and adds an inscription suggesting that the individual wells are thirty palmi deep and are founded above further wooden stakes. Drei’s plan is based on a drawing by Leone Garvo that was included in Grimaldi’s manuscript (fig. 35). Curiously, the section of the well foundation provided by Drei suggests that the wells were founded on three different levels.

Drei’s drawing of the tasto is closely related to fol. 46 (fig. 102) of Virgilio Spada’s Discorso presented to the cardinals of the Fabbrica in May 1645 (see Cat. 44). Given Drei’s position as soprastante in these years, it is likely that the illustration included in Spada’s report was based on his survey. Drei made two further drawings of the same area, with a different purpose, some months later (see figs. 108 and 109; Cat. 30 and 31).

Catalogue 30

108 Drawing. Pietro Paolo Drei
Plan and section of the southern portion of the facade and the south bell tower
1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 11257, fol. 150
43 × 27.1 cm

TECHNIQUE

Brown ink on brown paper

SCALE

100 palmi romani = 11.3 cm

INSCRIBED

“A Arconi fatti di nuovo p[er] reggere il Campanile / B Vivo del Muro incima la facciata dove posa d[ett]o Campanile”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thelen 1967b, cat. 4h; Güthlein 1981, 232, fig. 7; McPhee 1997, 204, fig. 71

Drei’s precise pen drawing is divided, horizontally, into two portions. The upper portion provides a section of the final bays of the facade of St. Peter’s, the two “tasti,” or soundings, made before the southernmost entrance to the narthex, and the profile of the brick-lined concrete wells Maderno designed to stabilize the soil beneath the south campanile. Reading from right to left, one sees the crack descending into the foundation beneath the southernmost entrance to the narthex and the aborted sounding excavated in February 1645 to track its extent. Beside it to the south, Drei renders the second, successful, sounding made soon after. He draws a single horizontal line to indicate the level of the foundations beneath Maderno’s narthex and uses repeated horizontal lines to indicate the well foundation beneath the south tower. The portion furthest to the west shows the brick-lined shafts in detail. For orientation compare with figs. 32, 98, 102, 103, 106, and 107.

The lower portion of the drawing is carefully aligned with the section above it and shows the same areas in plan. The plan portion of the drawing is far more complicated than the section above it, for Drei shows many different levels simultaneously. For clarity he divides the area beneath the south tower into quadrants. The left-hand side orients the viewer, while the right side focuses on Drei’s critical points. Reading from depth to height, one sees the stippled silhouettes of the concrete wells in the upper left corner of the plan. At ground level, Drei draws the perimeter of Maderno’s tower base and that of the southern end of the narthex using solid lines in all four quadrants. On the right side of the tower plan, at the level of the attic cavity and within the tower, Drei draws a rectangle running east-west. The rectangle is labeled “A” to indicate the “Arconi,” or enormous arches built by Bernini to consolidate Maderno’s tower base and to support his own campanili (see fig. 66). At roof level, Drei draws a larger rectangle, labeled “B,” to indicate the “vivo del muro,” or the extent of solid wall supporting Bernini’s towers. Resting above this wall, at the final level of the drawing, Drei sets the footprints of two of the piers and flanking columns of the first level of Bernini’s campanile. The pier on the south side is rendered in outline. On the north side, however, Drei uses hatched lines for emphasis. He is making a point. Aboveground, Bernini’s tower rests on solid masonry, supported by Maderno’s tower base and narthex walls and by his own relieving arch. Belowground the situation changes. If one follows the vertical line established by the northernmost edge of the well foundation, one sees that Bernini’s tower straddled two levels of foundation: the wells beneath Maderno’s south tower and the shallower foundation of the narthex to the north.

Drei’s summary indication of the wells beneath the upper left quadrant does not correspond to other images of the foundations and may constitute a proposal for increasing the stability of the foundations. According to Leone Garvo’s plan, rediscovered by Virgilio Spada in 1645, there were forty-two brick-lined wells interspersed with concrete fill (fig. 32). See Chapter 4. Drei’s drawing suggests that there are eighty-four wells. Most other renderings of the foundations, including another plan by Drei himself (fig. 98), are consistent with Garvo and Spada. A drawing by Drei in the British Library, however, is clearly related to this sheet and shows seventy-two wells beneath the foundation (fig. 109; see Cat. 31). The British Library sheet is singularly concentrated on the well foundations, suggesting that Drei made the alterations on the Vatican sheet as a proposal for reinforcing the foundation.

Drei’s drawing was probably made in response to Borromini’s criticisms presented to the pope on 8 June 1645. Borromini’s drawings (Az. Rom 732 and 731; Cat. 22 and 23) show Maderno’s tower base at the roof level, not at ground level, thereby exaggerating the size of Bernini’s tower with respect to the tower base. The principal objective of Drei’s drawing is to provide a clear rendering of the distribution of the weight of Bernini’s tower over Maderno’s supporting walls and the foundations below them.

Catalogue 31

109 Drawing. Pietro Paolo Drei
Plan of the southern portion of the facade and the south bell tower
1645
British Library, map 6, tab 3, no. 3
39 × 48 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink

INSCRIBED

recto, “Campanile verso Mezzo giorno / Parte del Portico / p[al]mi 9”; verso, “Disegno Concernente il Campanile / di S. Pietro gettato a basso”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Unpublished

In this drawing Drei shows the plan of the southernmost bay of the portico of St. Peter’s and the south bell tower. Closely related to Vat. lat. 11257, fol. 150 (Cat. 30), though at a larger scale, the drawing concentrates on the transition from portico to bell tower and the foundations that underlie the masses of the building. On the right half of the drawing, Drei shows the perimeter of the walls that compose the southern end of the portico. Here he emphasizes three areas using emphatic parallel lines: the column to the left of the southernmost entrance to the basilica, the spiral stair, and the niche in the final bay of the facade. Six steps join the portico to the campanile. The primary focus of the drawing, however, is the well foundations beneath Maderno’s south tower and, specifically, two sets of six wells in the southeast corner. Maderno’s original foundation had forty-two wells filled with concrete as shown in Grimaldi’s plan (fig. 32); Drei shows seventy-two. This suggests that Drei’s drawing constitutes a proposal for reinforcing the foundations by increasing the number of wells, a position consistent with that of Cipriano Artusini and Martino Longhi, and favored by Innocent X for a time. See Cat. 30 and discussion in Chapter 4.

Catalogue 32

99 Drawing. Pietro Paolo Drei
Plan of St. Peter’s with proposals for altering the subterranean drainage system
1645
British Library, map 6, tab 3, no. 1
37.5 × 26.7 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, with brown wash

SCALE

400 palmi = 11.1 cm

INSCRIBED

“A Chiavica che portava / l’ acqua dentro la Chiesa / et hora va nella forma D / B pozzo di forma fatta di novo p[er] d[ett]o effetto / C altra acqua da levarsi, e mandarla p[er] la D”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Unpublished

Technical plan of St. Peter’s showing the drainage system beneath the basilica. The rough silhouette of the basilica is rendered in wash with the dome, little domes, and oval domes of the nave rendered in pen with stippled lines. Drei locates the principal spiral stairs and details the altar and seats of the choir. The confessio and subterranean chapels below the crossing are rendered in heavier parallel lines and are based on an engraving, dated 1635, made after drawings by Benedetto Drei and his son, Pietro Paolo Drei, for Torrigio’s Le sacre grotte vaticane. The sacristy on the south flank of the basilica is rendered with crosshatching. The focus of the drawing, however, is the subterranean conduit system. A key at the lower right side identifies the main conduits and seems to constitute a proposal for rerouting water, away from the basilica. “A” is a conduit that has supplied water to the church and has now been rerouted to “D.” “B,” a well, provides the connection between “A” and “D,” and “C” is identified as another conduit to be removed, the water rerouted through “D.” The drawing is of particular interest in the context of the bell towers because the conduit to be removed, marked “C,” runs directly below the troubled south tower, suggesting that Drei’s survey was most likely made during 1645, when the tower and the condition of its foundations were under intense discussion. A “pozzo” in the form of a small square attached to the conduit, visible beneath the south tower, can also be seen on another drawing by Drei (fig. 98; Cat. 29) made in this year.

Catalogue 33

113 Engraving by Mattheus Greuter, 1613, with proposed alterations drawn in by Pietro Paolo Drei, 1645
Plan and elevation proposal for alternate bell towers for St. Peter’s
October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 13r
75.2 × 70.3 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash; gray-blue wash (on plan at lower left)

SCALE

(on the Greuter engraving) 200 palmi = 22.5 cm

INSCRIBED

verso, “soprastance della fabrica”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 52, figs. 78–79; McPhee 1997, 245–247, fig. 117

In his elevation proposal for alternate bell towers at St. Peter’s, Pietro Paolo Drei has used the Greuter engraving of 1613 as a template and has attached his suggestions on paper flaps. Drei’s tower proposals are conservative. They approximate the scale of those envisioned by Maderno, as shown in the plan attached at the lower left, and are composed of a medley of formal elements derived from the Renaissance basilica. In his ink-and-wash drawings, Drei proposes single-story towers with a central arch flanked by piers adorned with Corinthian pilasters and paired Corinthian columns projecting at the corners. The columns bear an entablature, which breaks forward over the corners, supporting a large, broken segmental pediment. An attic topped by a balustrade rises behind the pediment to support two alternate finials resting on small mezzanines: one follows the form of the ribbed dome of St. Peter’s, and the other takes its cue from the pyramidal lines of the lantern.

This sheet was probably presented to the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 9 October 1645, when the cardinals first gathered formally to consider alternative designs. The architects consulted by Virgilio Spada criticized Drei’s tower proposals for their awkward proportions and for the fact that the piers did not align with the attic below them. They found the finials too “trite” and “simple,” and the broken pediment too large. See Doc. 27 and discussion in Chapter 6.

Catalogue 34

134 Drawing. Giovanni Battista Mola(?)
Section of the facade and proposed addition to the nave of the church with bell tower
December 1645–February 1646
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 16r
17.1/42 × 130.3 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, pen and brown ink

INSCRIBED

“Profilo nella facciata”; “A Questa linia e l’intraguardo da piede alla piazza, si vede il Campanile sino dove mostra la littera A”; “B Questa linea e l’intraguardo dalla fontana al Campanile dove mostra la littera B”; “C Q questa linea e l’intraguardo dalla dritura della Gulfia al Campanile dove mostra littera C”; “L’ordine Bastardo Atticho”; “E Tutto il Bastardo Atticho in questo luoco si doveva à bassare”; “Balaustrata”; “Fabricha di S. Pietro”; “In questo Campanile si puol mettere le Campane al secondo ordine”; “Profilo dell’ Campanile”; “Balaustrata in cima alla fabrica”; “Profilo di fuora della frabrica”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Unpublished

Catalogue 35

133 Drawing. Giovanni Battista Mola(?)
Perspective and elevation of the facade of St. Peter’s with bell towers and other proposed alterations
December 1645–February 1646
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 17r
124 × 112 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

100 palmi = 17.9 cm

INSCRIBED

“Scalla di palmi 100”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Morello 1993, 167, cat. 73; Rocchi Coopmans de Yoldi 1996, 140, fig. 51C (attributed to Bernini); McPhee 1997, 282, fig. 133

Catalogue 36

135 Drawing. Giovanni Battista Mola(?)
Elevation proposal for alternate bell towers for St. Peter’s
October 1645–February 1646
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 22r
51.1 × 37.5 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink

SCALE

100 palmi = 17 cm

INSCRIBED

“Scalla di palmi Centto”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 44, fig. 64 (attributed to Giovanni Battista Mola, dated 20 February 1646); McPhee 1997, 303n. 26

These drawings comprise a single set of proposals for the bell tower competition of 1645–46. Each bears an inscription in the same hand, and the style of the draftsmanship is consistent with the work of Giovanni Battista Mola (compare to Kahn-Rossi and Franciolli 1999, cat. 166–68, pls. 19, 25). Folios 16r and 17r should be read together. The first provides a section through the proposed additions, with two-tiered campanili set back behind the facade plane of the church; the second presents the entire facade in perspective/elevation. Folio 16r traces site lines from various points in the piazza and shows that if the attic is removed from the bell tower bases of Maderno, the proposed campanili will be fully visible even though placed many meters behind the plane of the facade.

Folio 17r is an enormous drawing composed of several sheets of paper. It presents the full facade of the church and shows how the proposed additions would function. The full extent of Maderno’s facade is maintained, with some alterations. The draftsman removes the attic from Maderno’s tower bays and adds a segmental gable over the center of the facade, ideas that had been entertained in other proposals (see, for example, figs. 128, 126, and 137). He crowns the segmental pediment with statues and adds further ornament to the straight pediment below. The most substantial alterations, however, are located behind the plane of the facade. It seems that Mola would add at least one bay’s width of building mass to the north and the south sides of the nave, and would place two-tiered bell towers over the western ends of these additions. The perspective rendering of these additions is so awkward that it is impossible to state with accuracy how they relate to the existing fabric of the building. It is clear, however, that the campanili rise above new building and that these additions expand the overall breadth of the structure. Finally, folio 22r presents two alternative elevations for bell towers of multiple levels.

Giovanni Battista Mola was present at the meeting of the Congregation on 9 October 1645 and again on 20 February at the meeting before the pope. These drawings correspond only loosely with the remarks of the architects polled by Virgilio Spada in December 1645 (Doc. 27), suggesting that at least the first two sheets considered here were produced after 16 December for presentation to the pope in February.

Catalogue 37

114 Engraving by Mattheus Greuter (1613) with proposed alterations drawn in by Santi Moschetti (1645)
Elevation proposals for alternate bell towers and a central finial for the facade of St. Peter’s
October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 14r
76.3 × 70.2 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

SCALE

(on the Greuter engraving) 200 palmi = 22.4 cm

INSCRIBED

recto, “INNOCENTIUS.X. / PANPHILIUS.ROMANUS / .PONT.MAX. / LABENTEM.HUIUS.TEMPLI / .FACIEM.FIRMAVIT. / .ORNAVIT.ET.AUXIT. / ANNO DN MDCXLV / .PONTIFICATUS.I.”; verso, “Mo[sche]tto”; on a slip of paper pasted down later, “Sr. Santi Moschetti”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 52, fig. 80; Scott 1982, 306, fig. 15; McPhee 1997, 224–25, 247–49, fig. 118

In this proposal for alternate bell towers at St. Peter’s, Santi Moschetti has used the Greuter engraving of Maderno’s facade as a template, adding ideas of his own on a rectangular sheet pasted over the left side of the image. Moschetti proposes a tower of the same approximate dimensions as that foreseen by Maderno. Atop a stylobate adorned with a winged cherub’s head between two garlands, Moschetti’s tower rises in the form of eight female figures holding what appears to be a metal construction composed of the three bejeweled crowns of the papal tiara surmounted by orb, dove with olive branch, and cross. Within the open cavity between these figures an olive wreath is suspended, containing the Pamphili dove with an olive branch in its beak and topped by three fleurs-de-lis. Moschetti gives no indication of the possible location of bells, nor does it seem likely that such a structure could house them.

A break is visible across the base of the tower at the level of the pedestals on which the female figures stand, suggesting that the height of the tower has been raised. Pen lines reconnect the two portions. The wreath of olive, which once would have rested directly on the stylobate, now hangs in midair, and the artist has sketched in two further branches to link it with the platform below. A portion of the third crown has been scratched away, revealing the profile of Maderno’s conical spire beneath.

Above the central pediment of the church, Moschetti proposes an additional vertical accent composed of a rectangular plaque, flanked by pedestals supporting statues of St. Andrew (right) and St. John the Baptist (left), which in turn are joined to the attic by volutes. Above the plaque two angels stand at either side of the papal arms of Innocent X, supporting an open-bed segmental pediment on which the figure of Christ stands. The rectangular plaque bears an inscription celebrating the interventions of the Pamphili pope in restoring and adorning the unstable facade of the church.

It is likely that Moschetti presented this sheet to the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 9 October 1645, the first meeting at which counterproposals were considered (Doc. 26). According to Virgilio Spada’s report of December 1645, the architects consulted described Moschetti’s proposal as “capricious, but difficult to execute.” The pedestals failed to align with the members below them, and it seemed indecent for a crown to serve as a bell tower (Doc. 27). See remarks in Chapter 5.

Catalogue 38

94 Drawing. Carlo Rainaldi(?)
Elevation of Bernini’s south tower above a portion of Maderno’s attic
1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 1r
49 × 31.4 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite with brown wash on white paper

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:39–42; Kieven 1993, cat. 52; McPhee 1997, 183, fig. 101

This elevation drawing, attributed by Elisabeth Kieven to Carlo Rainaldi, was made in 1645 and shows the bell tower Bernini built above the southern end of the facade of St. Peter’s. The tower rises in two levels above a portion of Maderno’s attic, the first level articulated with Corinthian columns and a trabeated opening at center, the second with Composite columns and an arch. The tower is capped at the summit by a balustrade on which four figures stand. The two lower levels were built according to Bernini’s original design. The balustrade and statues replaced a third story and helm rejected by the pope when they were unveiled in June 1641.

The date of the sheet can be deduced from its presence in a volume held by the Vatican Library, in which many of the drawings surviving from the bell tower competition of 1645–46 are collected (Vat. lat. 13442). The volume is likely to have belonged to Virgilio Spada, Pope Innocent X’s adviser in matters architectural, since it accords with an album listed in an inventory made after his death (see Chapter 3, note 74) and has the same binding as two other volumes in the Vatican Library that were certainly his (Ehrle 1928, 1).

The drawing appears to have served as a visual reference during the discussions of 1645. A more precise date is suggested by the fact that it is closely related to a second image, on fol. 21r of the same album (Cat. 3), that shows a rendering of Bernini’s tower in pen above the same portion of Maderno’s attic. The attic section in this case, however, is not drawn but cut from the Greuter engraving of Maderno’s facade. On 9 October 1645, architects invited to present alternative proposals for the bell tower did so using the Greuter engraving as a template and pasting their own designs over Maderno’s proposed towers. This shorthand method provided both a visual anchor to the extant building and an instant sense of scale. The drawing illustrated here reproduces that hybrid at a larger scale consistent with other proposals in the volume, suggesting further discussion at a slightly later date. The portion of the attic shown beneath the tower suggests that the sheet may also be related to the drawing by Andrea Bolgi on fol. 23r (Cat. 14).

The attribution of this drawing to Rainaldi has been made on the basis of style. Because the drawing represents a survey of Bernini’s extant tower, it has led to the assumption that Rainaldi played an orchestrating role in the bell tower competition. One should be cautious here, for although Rainaldi was an active competitor, there is no contemporary evidence to support the idea that he played any kind of administrative role. See discussion in Chapter 6.

Catalogue 39

126 Engraving by Mattheus Greuter (1613) with proposed alterations drawn in by Carlo Rainaldi (1645)
Proposal for alternate bell towers and alterations to the facade of St. Peter’s
October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 11r
67.6 × 67.5 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 2: pl. 191b (attributed to Girolamo Rainaldi); Fasolo 1961, pl. 38; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 50, fig. 76 (considered to be a “contribution” of Girolamo Rainaldi “submitted” by Carlo Rainaldi on 20 February 1646); McPhee 1997, 270–74, fig. 128

This proposal by Carlo Rainaldi is composed of pen and brown ink additions to the 1613 engraving of Mattheus Greuter. The sheet is the first of several proposals made by Rainaldi, and it was probably presented to the Congregation of the Fabbrica on 9 October 1645. Along with advocating replacements for Bernini’s bell towers, Rainaldi makes several interventions in the design of the facade. His most significant innovation is to propose the removal of the so-called bastard attic from the final bays of the facade and from the campanili, relieving weight from the troubled foundations to the south. Volutes adorned with the dove and olive branch of the Pamphili arms bind the facade at the level of the attic, creating a clear break between towers and facade. Rainaldi emphasizes this break at the level of the tower base by replacing the pilaster clusters that join facade and bell towers with pairs of pilasters, side by side, one of which belongs to the facade, the other to the bell tower. Rainaldi’s towers rest directly on the cornice of the main facade. They rise in two columnar levels, octagonal in plan, to a low mezzanine surmounted by an elaborate finial composed of inverted volutes supporting an orb, a pennant, and a cross. At the center of the facade, above the pediment, Rainaldi adds an enormous segmental pediment encompassing the width of the three central bays.

The architects consulted by Virgilio Spada praised Rainaldi’s design as the first to propose the removal of the attic and the clear separation of facade and towers. They were critical, however, of the small scale of the columns employed in the campanili, of the fussy ornament at the level of the mezzanine and finial, and of the enormous segmental pediment above the central bays of the facade (Doc. 27).

Catalogue 40

136 Drawing. Carlo Rainaldi(?)
Proposal for altering the facade and bell towers of St. Peter’s
Autumn or winter 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 12r
54 × 45 cm

TECHNIQUE

Pen and brown ink, gray wash; cut down? and damaged along right side

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 46, fig. 68 (attributed to Martino Longhi the Younger); McPhee 1997, 285–86, fig. 134

This drawing presents an elevation of St. Peter’s with alterations proposed by Carlo Rainaldi. Although the drawing is not mentioned in Virgilio Spada’s report of December 1645 (Doc. 27), Rainaldi is responding to criticisms of his earlier design (fig. 126, Cat. 39) voiced there. In this new proposal, Rainaldi maintains those elements of his first design that had been praised and corrects those features that had been criticized. As in his first design, Rainaldi removes the outer bays of the attic from facade and tower and uses paired pilasters to join campanili and facade. But in place of the earlier two-tiered belfries with their tiny colonettes, he offers single-story towers with columns of larger scale that rise over a square plan and align with the colossal order of the base below. Rainaldi omits the offending segmental pediment from the facade and redraws facade and dome in crisp elevation to convey the uniform effect of the whole.

Rainaldi’s alterations to the scale and position of the columns that form the first level of his campanili are similar to those Bernini adopts in his final design (fig. 128, Cat. 8), suggesting that both sheets were made at nearly the same moment in the autumn or winter of 1645. See discussion in Chapter 6. The mezzanine level of Rainaldi’s proposed towers is consistent with that of his design now in Leipzig (see Cat. 41).

Catalogue 41

137 Drawing. Carlo Rainaldi(?)
Proposal for altering the facade and bell towers of St. Peter’s
Winter 1645–46
Leipzig, NI 7921
43.5 × 37 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite on stiff white drawing paper

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:42n. 1 (attributed to Giovanni Battista Mola); Kieven 1993, cat. 53 (attributed to Carlo Rainaldi); McPhee 1997, 286–87, fig. 135

This unfinished drawing of the elevation of St. Peter’s records radical ideas for the reconfiguration of facade and bell towers. The drawing is related to other proposals from the bell tower competition and can be tentatively dated to the winter of 1645–46. As in his earlier drawings, Rainaldi proposes removing Maderno’s attic from all but the five central bays of the facade (compare with figs. 126 and 136). In place of the volutes that bind the ends of the attic in previous drawings, he proposes lengthening the final bays of the facade and finishing them above the cornice with balustrades and statues. Rainaldi thereby frees the little domes, which rise fully visible above the cornice of the facade. The bell towers are set above new foundations and are separated from the facade by a reentrant bay that is indebted to Bernini’s later proposals (see figs. 128, 129, 131, and 132). However, a stringcourse runs unbroken through these bays, undermining the illusion of depth. The segmental gable at the center of the facade returns to Rainaldi’s first proposal (fig. 126) and ultimately to his father’s submission to the competition of 1606 (fig. 9). See discussion of this element in Chapter 6. The bell towers themselves are a revised version of those Rainaldi proposed in Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 12r (fig. 136), although here both base and belfry follow a roughly octagonal plan that further consolidates the structure. The net effect of Rainaldi’s proposal is to expand the facade by two additional bays. The cost, however, would have been prohibitive as the design requires the destruction of portions of the Vatican Palace. The drawing is not fully finished and cannot be considered a proposal that ever reached the stage of presentation. However, the segmental gable and single-story towers reappear in Rainaldi’s proposal for the piazza (fig. 127).

Catalogue 42

127 Drawing. Carlo Rainaldi
Design for the piazza and alterations to the facade of St. Peter’s
1646–53
BAV, Chigi P VII 9, fols. 40v–41
54 × 97 cm

TECHNIQUE

Graphite and various shades of brown wash; framing lines in black chalk

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baldinucci 1974–75 5:319–30; Pastor 1891–1953, 30:387; Brauer and Wittkower 1931, 1:35, 67, 97–98, 2: pl. 189c; Fasolo 1961, 215–17; Thoenes 1963, 120–21, fig. 20; Kitao 1974, 86n. 31; Kieven 1993, cat. 55 (dated 1646–50); McPhee 1997, 274, 317, fig. 129

This bird’s-eye perspective of St. Peter’s by Carlo Rainaldi includes proposals for alterations to the facade and bell towers and for a ten-sided piazza before the church. The drawing is composed of five sheets of paper and an inset panel, on which the facade is drawn, attached at the top. Rainaldi’s drawing is a rapid study made to convey the general effect of his proposals (using rough outlines and wash), rather than the precise components of the architecture as in earlier drawings (Cat. 39, 40, and 41). Nonetheless, one can make out his suggestions for altering the facade. As in his earlier proposals, Rainaldi removes the attic from the final bays of the facade and from the campanili, allowing the towers to spring directly from the cornice level. He proposes single-story belfries topped by attics and onion domes, and restores his segmental gable at the center of the facade (see Cat. 41). Rainaldi returns to an idea of Martino Ferrabosco (fig. 41) and frames the facade by pairing Ferrabosco’s entrance tower with a twin to the south.

Most of the sheet, however, is occupied by Rainaldi’s proposed piazza. Rendered rapidly with broad strokes of wash, building wings with an arcade at the ground level and living quarters above are set at angles, forming a ten-sided piazza. Further wings, on axis with the Ferrabosco entrance towers, project to the east from the principal piazza, creating a rectangular space enclosed by a freestanding entrance block.

In his life of Rainaldi, Baldinucci states that at Pope Innocent X’s request Carlo Rainaldi made four designs for the piazza before St. Peter’s. The first was square, the second circular, the third oval, and the fourth hexagonal. He goes on to say that were it not for the death of the pope, one of them would have been built. Pope Alexander VII Chigi later requested these designs from Rainaldi. Two Rainaldi drawings in Vat. lat. 13442 (fols. 28, 29) record circular and oval plans for the piazza. Chigi P VII 9, fol. 42, contains an octagonal project. Although Baldinucci does not mention a ten-sided piazza project, this sheet is likely to be one of the proposals Rainaldi made for the pope.

The facade proposal affixed at top subsumes many of Rainaldi’s earlier ideas but is relatively conservative in both the scale of its proposals and the expense involved. The drawing should probably be dated between early 1646 (the final months of the competition) and August 1653, the date on which Innocent X ordered the Fabbrica to sell off the dismantled parts of Bernini’s bell tower (see Doc. 39). However, it is possible, as Wittkower suggested, that the drawing was made later for the Chigi pope.

Catalogue 43

116 Engraving by Mattheus Greuter (1613) with proposed alterations drawn in by Girolamo Rainaldi (1645)
Proposal for alternate bell towers for St. Peter’s
October 1645
BAV, Vat. lat. 13442, fol. 10r
72.2 × 68.5 cm

TECHNIQUE

Black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

INSCRIBED

recto, in brown pen, “HR”; verso, in brown pen, “Girolamo Rainaldi”; in black chalk, “Sr. Girono° Rainaldi”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fasolo 1961, pl. 38; Eimer 1970–71, 1: pl. 50, fig. 75 (attributed to G. Rainaldi and dated 9 October 1645); McPhee 1997, 267–68; fig. 120

This elevation proposal by Girolamo Rainaldi uses Mattheus Greuter’s engraving of St. Peter’s as a template, cutting away the towers and little domes and replacing them with his own bell towers. Rainaldi proposes towers that preserve the first level of Bernini’s tower as built, replacing the second level with a more modest story, octagonal in plan, with ornate volutes at each of the angles. A pair of Corinthian? columns flank an arched opening at the center surmounted by a segmental pediment that breaks open at the top to enclose a papal escutcheon with the arms of Innocent X. An octagonal mezzanine level rises above the second story, followed by an elaborate helm that tapers to a peak supporting an orb, a pennant, and a cross.

Rainaldi probably presented this sheet on 9 October 1645, when the Congregation of the Fabbrica assembled to consider alternative proposals for the bell tower. Rainaldi’s proposal is clearly described in Virgilio Spada’s summary report of December 1645 (Doc. 27), where it is criticized for failing to alter Bernini’s first story and for the proliferation of carving in the upper level that is considered closer to the work of a cabinetmaker than an architect.

Catalogue 44

107, 106, 102, 57, and 58
Illustrations from the Discorso of Virgilio Spada. Anonymous draftsman
Folios 38–39: Plan of the foundations beneath the south tower of St. Peter’s
Folios 42–43: Section (north-south) showing the foundations of the south bell tower and the final bays of the facade; section (east-west) showing the profile of the foundation of the facade
Folios 46–47: Engraved plan of Maderno’s nave and facade of St. Peter’s, by Mattheus Greuter, 1613, with extensive annotations, overdrawing, and a cardboard addition showing the position of Bernini’s tower above Maderno’s south tower base
Folios 54–55: Plan of the first level of Bernini’s tower
Folios 58–59: Plan of the second level of Bernini’s tower
May 1645
BAV, Ottob. lat. 918
fols. 38–39, 26 × 38 cm; fols. 42–43, 26 × 38 cm; fols. 46–47, 27.5 × 37.5 cm; fols. 54–55, 26.2 × 37.5 cm; fols. 58–59, 27.2 × 39/38 cm

TECHNIQUE

Fols. 38–39, pen and brown ink with yellow and brown wash; fols. 42–43, pen and brown ink with yellow and brown wash; fols. 46–47, engraving annotated in brown ink with the plan of Bernini’s tower edged with brown wash, cut from heavy paper, pasted in place above the south tower base; fols. 54–55, black chalk, brown ink, brown wash; fols. 58–59, black chalk, brown ink, brown wash

INSCRIBED

fols. 38–39, clockwise, from lower right, “1 / 8 / 5 / 10 / 3 / 11 / 7 / 12 / 4 / 13 / 6 / 9 / 2”; fols. 42–43, legend with letters corresponding to drawing, “A Fondamento del Campanile / B Pozzi / C Fondamento della cantonata / D Palificata / E Fondamento nel tasto / F Fondamento sola puzzolana, e pietra / G Profilo del fondamento della Facciata / H Formetta fatta nel grosso del Fondamento”; fols. 46–47, lower left, [symbol in the form of a Greek cross within a circle] “Altra crepatura nel fondamento / Tasto fatto” [symbol in the form of a Greek cross] “Tasto fatto di nuovo per il fond[amen]to, che è p[al]mi 80. profondo sopra la creta Vergine”; lower right, legend with letters corresponding to specific portions of the plan, “A Portico / L Cappella del Battesimo, quale hà fatto mottivi c.a da tre anni in qua / M Crepatura che viene à traverso alla volta, che hà risentito di freno / N formette ultim[amen]te nel tasto / O Crepatura Maestra / P Altra crepatura”; fols. 34–33, clockwise from lower right, “3 / P[al]mi 50 / 2 / M G / 1 / P / 4 / T / P[al]mi 39”; fols. 58–59, clockwise from the lower right, “3 / P[al]mi 40 / L / 2 / M G / 1 / P / 4 / P[al]mi 35”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frey 1938, figs. 227, 230 (Vat. lat. 11899); Thelen 1967b, cat. 4k (with annotations, identified by Thelen, in the hand of Innocent X), 4l, 4m; McPhee 1997, 64, 78, 196–204, 210, figs. 61, 62, 108, 112, 113

These illustrations from the discourse of Virgilio Spada document what was known of the foundations and south bell tower of St. Peter’s in May 1645. Copies of the discourse were circulated among the cardinals of the Fabbrica in advance of the official meeting to consider the tower on 8 June 1645. Six copies survive (see Chapter 3, note 47). Folios 38–39 are based on Leone Garvo’s drawing of the foundations beneath Maderno’s south tower included in Giacomo Grimaldi’s manuscript history of the church (see fig. 32), which Virgilio Spada rediscovered in the early months of 1645. Folios 42–43 present the results of the tasto, or sounding, made in February 1645. The draftsman shows two sections of the foundations beneath the facade of St. Peter’s. On the left, he gives a north-south section, related to Andrea Bolgi’s drawing of the foundations (fig. 103; Cat. 13); on the right, an east-west cut showing the profile of the foundations at the point of the tasto. The draftsman may have reused Borromini’s drawing (fig. 100; Cat. 18) for his illustration of the foundation profile. The table of contents of Spada’s discourse identifies the drawings on this folio as “Alzata del fondamento della facciata nel luogo del tasto fatto” and “Profilo del medesimo.” The measurements coincide exactly with those of Borromini, as do such small details as the crumbling of the eastern corner of the foundation. The illustration should also be compared to Pietro Paolo Drei’s drawing of the foundations (fig. 98; Cat. 29). Folios 46–47 show the location of the cracks and the position of Bernini’s tower above the narthex and south tower base, and fols. 54–55 and 58–59 provide measured drawings of the first and second levels of Bernini’s south tower.

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