Chapter III: Bernini’s Designs for the Piazza of St. Peter’s

The pen and ink sketches by Bernini for the construction and adornment of the piazza in front of the Vatican, together with the surrounding buildings, deserve to be more widely known than they are at present.[18] Any details regarding the history and growth of this part of Rome are of the deepest interest to those who study the intellectual development of mankind. Did we possess any record of the reasons why Pericles and his advisers placed the temples and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens just as they did, we should have a clearer understanding of the character and ideals of Athens than we now have. So a study of these drawings by Bernini will show very distinctly that the present form of the piazza is due to no mere thoughtless and haphazard erection of colonnades and fountains, but is the result of a deeply considered plan and illustrative of a very large idea.

The drawings are carefully done with pen and ink on fourteen sheets of paper which were numbered by some old-time owner. These sheets have had the edges trimmed. Ten are, with slight variations, 14 by 6¾ inches. The others are, as will be noted later, of different sizes. All, however, judging by the paper and method of drawing, belong unquestionably to the same series. The drawings were mounted and bound together by the previous owner.

The history of the drawings can only be guessed at. In this connection the following facts are to be noted. Bernini was officially appointed architect of the _Fabbrica_ of St. Peter’s in 1680. After him Luigi Vanvitelli was head architect. With Vanvitelli there worked Andrea-Vici. In 1817 Vici left by his will to his friend the sculptor Canova drawings by Bernini representing the burial of the Countess Matilda, and Louis XIV on horseback. This legacy shows Vici to have owned original drawings by Bernini, and it is not improbable they had been given him by Vanvitelli. By the same will Vici left to his grandson Busiri his name and his studio, with all the original drawings by various masters therein contained. Consequently it is not a rash hypothesis that these drawings of the piazza came from Vanvitelli to Vici, and so to Busiri-Vici. Finally they were sold at auction in Rome in 1903. They are now in the Brandegee Collection.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

No. 1.—PLATE XXVIII

This drawing shows the Orb; the Christian symbol of the world,
surmounted by a cross.

The cross with the head and arms ending in curves like apses suggests
the plan of a church, and the following drawings show clearly that the
Orb and Cross were the fundamental idea in Bernini’s mind when he
planned the _piazza_.

No. 2.—PLATE XXVIII

This is on a square piece of paper, similar in size to No. 1, and at
present mounted on the same sheet at the left of No. 1. It shows the
figure of a bearded man with arms outstretched as though on a cross. A
curved dotted line stretches from hand to hand over the head and drops
about an inch perpendicularly below each hand. This dotted line is a
suggestion of the existing colonnades.

That the figure is thought of as being on a cross is borne out by
sketches that follow and also by the dot in the palm of the left hand
which possibly represents a nail.

The sharp, broken lines with which the figure is drawn are
characteristic of Bernini.

No. 3.—PLATE XXIX

An outline plan of the church with the colonnades in front. It is to
be noted the latter start at the corners of the façade of the church
and project a short distance parallel to the main axis before curving
to each side.

Size 6½ × 8¾ inches.

No. 4.—PLATE XXIX

Similar to No. 3, but in greater detail. The figure of a bearded man
represented within the plan of the church in the attitude of
crucifixion. In the left arm of the colonnade is drawn the sun and in
the right arm the moon and stars.

This is pasted in the book at the left of No. 3.

Size 6⅝ × 8¾ inches.

No. 5.—PLATE XXX

This shows the same crucified figure as before. Over the head and
below each hand is the dotted line seen in No. 2. Behind the head and
arms is drawn with dots the elevation of St. Peter’s, the Vatican and
the colonnades.

No. 6.—PLATE XXX

Similar figure to the preceding, but with the arms contorted so as to
follow the straight portion of the colonnade (shown in No. 3) before
following the curve. Behind the head the dotted outline of St. Peter’s
and behind the figure’s left arm the colonnade and Vatican buildings
laid in with dots and a few lines.

No. 5 is at the right of No. 6, and the size of the sheet is 14 × 6¾
inches.

It should be noted that the figure is so placed in these two drawings
that the dome of the church suggests a bishop’s mitre.

No. 7.—PLATE XXXI

Outline elevation of the north half of the façade of St. Peter’s and
the north colonnade, rising behind which is shown the Vatican Palace.

On the left half of the sheet are faint pencil lines showing the south
side of the colonnade and façade.

The sky is touched in with bluish white.

Size 14¼ × 6½ inches.

No. 8.—PLATE XXXII

Two drawings of the north colonnade. These are similar to the
preceding, but more elaborate (with shadows washed in in gray), as
shown by dotted lines drawn to the eyes of outlined figures from
various points.

We find here the architect’s intention regarding the view from
different positions.

Size 14⅜ × 6¾ inches.

On the back of the sheet is a sketch of the door of St. Peter’s with
the balcony where the Pope used to appear. I do not feel sure that
this is by Bernini. There is also another sheet with a more detailed
drawing of this door.

No. 9.—PLATE XXXIII

Similar to No. 8, but still more elaborate and larger; there is only
one drawing on the sheet.

In this design Bernini has altered the line of the colonnade. Instead
of having, as in the preceding drawing, a straight portion projecting
from the church, he has here drawn the colonnade in one large curve
from the church outwards, putting an elaborate entrance to the Vatican
Palace near the church. This entrance would have led to the Cortile di
San Damaso.

Size 14 × 6⅝ inches.

No. 10.—PLATE XXXIV

Slight outline sketch of the outer end of the north arm of the
colonnade, which is here made two-storied.

Size 13⅝ × 6⅜ inches.

No. 11.—PLATE XXXV

Interior of inner end of north arm of colonnade, showing the stairway
as it exists at present. Size 14½ × 6⅜ inches.

No. 12.—PLATE XXXVI

Two sketches; one showing the plan, the other the elevation, of the
Cortile di San Damaso.

Size 13⅝ × 6⅝ inches.

No. 13.—PLATE XXXVII

View of the façade of St. Peter’s with both colonnades, which are
two-storied. The sky is touched in with bluish white.

The buildings of the Vatican are also shown,—those on the right exist,
those on the left are imaginary.

Size 14⅝ × 6¾ inches.

No. 14.—PLATE XXXVIII

View looking east from the front of St. Peter’s.

On each side are the ends of the colonnades; they are in two stories,
that on the right crowned with low clock-towers similar to the “asses’
ears” once placed by Bernini on the Pantheon.

Beyond the piazza is the _Borgo_ much reconstructed and made
symmetrical. In the distance the Castel Sant’ Angelo.

Size 14⅜ × 6⅝ inches.

No. 15.—PLATE XXXIX

Two sketches in pen, washed with sepia, of the Borgo, looking towards
St. Peter’s.

These show different methods of treating the north arm of the
colonnade. The one on the right shows the colonnade closing the view
up the Borgo, the other shows an opening carrying the eye beyond and
between St. Peter’s and the Vatican.

Size 14½ × 6½ inches.

The buildings shown exist in much the same form to-day. Even the
fountain still serves.

No. 16.—PLATE XL

Plan of the piazza showing how it was intended to symbolize the orb of
the world suggested on No. 1.

In this sketch we see the circle within which is a dotted square.
Within the square is a figure with arms and legs outstretched along
the diagonals. At the top is written over a faint pencil outline of
the church (perhaps not original) _San Pietro_. At the bottom is
written twice _Piazza Rusticucci_ and on a piece of paper pasted on is
the plan of a building shown in No. 14,—one of the buildings intended
for the reconstructed _Borgo_.

On the right and left of the figure are indicated the _Porta Angelica_
and the _Porta Cavalleggieri_.

The dotted square within the circle is divided into quarters in which
is written _Asia_, _Europa_, _America_, _Affrica_.

Size 7¾ × 8⅝ inches.

These are the plans showing Bernini’s ideas regarding the Piazza of
St. Peter’s. From a study of them we see how the circular piazza
itself was intended to represent the world at large, while the
colonnade symbolized the arms of the Cross. Crowning all was the great
Church, founded by Him whose arms could embrace the whole earth, and
from whose doors should stream to every quarter the promise of hope
and love for which He died.

ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SCULPTURE