6. Baldacchino (detail)
Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Makes Occasional
Ceremonial Object permanent.
Twisted Columns thought to come from
temple of Solomon – identified with papal
power.
Putti and laurel branches – symbols of
Papal Power.
Bees on shields – Barberini Symbols.
Holy Spirits – Wisdom of Solomon, Body
of Peter, Authority og the Church from
Martyrs and Kings.
10. Four Rivers Fountain Gian
Lorenzo Bernini, 1648-1651
Piazza Navona, Rome
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) was
designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Inncent X
whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili faced onto the piazza
as did the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone of which Innocent
was the sponsor. Bernini regained the Pope’s favor and executed
his most famous piece of outdoor architecture and sculpture.
The base of the fountain is a basin from the center of which
travertine rocks rise to support four river gods and above
them, a Roman copy of an Egyptian obelisk surmounted with
the Pamphili family emblem of a dove with an olive twig.
Collectively, they represent four major rivers of the four
continents through which papal authority had spread: the Nile
representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe,
the Ganges representing Asia, and the Río de la Plata
representing the Americas.
A festival of opening in 1651 was paid for by
the Pamphili family, to be specific, Innocent X who had
sponsored the erection of the fountain. The most conspicuous
item on the Pamphili crest, an olive branch, was brandished by
the performers who took part in the event.
