Lot 25: The interior of St. Peter's, Rome

Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg (Antwerp c.1630-c.1676) The interior of St. Peter's, Rome signed and dated '·W·S· van Ehrenberg fe: 1665' (lower centre) and inscribed with scale (lower centre) oil on canvas 65 ½ x 54 in. (166.4 x 137.2 cm.)

166.4 x 137.2 cm.

Dr. A. Wurzbach, Niederlandisches Kunstler - Lexicon, 1906, vol I, p. 486.

Pope Pius VII, by whom gifted to, Colonel Rottiers. Lord Charles Townshend, by 1854. Dr. Anderson. H.L. Bischoffsheim; his sale, Christie's, London, 7 May, 1926, lot 32 (65 gns. to Goldschmidt). Anonymous sale [Ralph Vicars]; Christie's, London, 25 February 1949, lot 111 (30 gns. to Arcade Galleries). Anonymous sale [Miss D.E. Brahmall]; Christie's, London, 15 June 1956, lot 147 (190 gns. to Drey). Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 18 November, 1959, lot 77 (£300 to Vaughan).

This large painting of the interior of St. Peter’s in Rome, dated to 1665, is a particularly early documentation of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s outstanding contribution to the decoration of the church. Looking from the central nave, at the height of the Chapels of the Sacrament and of the Choir towards the high altar, the viewpoint adopted here shows the vast scale and the splendour of Bernini’s Baldachin. Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII, the bronze Baldachin stands 29 metres high, towering over the papal altar, an exuberant masterpiece of the Baroque. An early work in Bernini’s career, executed between 1624 and 1632, it was inaugurated on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June 1633. Through the four colossal twisted columns which are adorned with spiral channelling, branches of olive and bay trees and topped with composit capitols, we can see the Throne of Saint Peter’s in Glory or Cattedra: a complex construction projected by Bernini which contains the relic of the seat of the Apostle Peter. The monument, later completed in 1666, by the date of this painting was still missing the gilded glory of sunrays and sculpted clouds that soon surround the central window. Faint rays, few angels and a dove give a hint of the Gloria, however the central window is still easily recognizable and has not yet been overwhelmed by the baroque clouds and putti. Roberto Battaglia (R. Battaglia, La Cattedra Berniniana di San Pietro, Rome 1943) describing the long and complex construction of the Cattedra, confirms that the four doctors and throne were placed on the apse at the beginning of 1665, while the Gloria was still to be completed. According to Battaglia, scaffoldings were still present around the monument on the 29th of November and were demolished soon afterwards: this would suggest that the present picture was created on December 1665. After work was completed on the Gloria and window, the Cattedra was inaugurated on the 17th January 1666. The gilded stucco decoration on the ceiling of the apse above the Cattedra is yet to be applied, and what is visible here is only the design. To the sides of the Cattedra are the Monument to Paolo III (on the left we look), sculpted by Giacomo della Porta under Michelangelo’s direction, and the Monument to Urban VIII (on the right) by Bernini. The four piers looking towards the papal altar were decorated to compliment the Baldacchino. Four niches were opened, each with a colossal statue of a saint, and four loggias directly above would hold the corresponding relic of the sacred figure. In the north-west pier we see Andrea Bolgi’s statue of Saint Helen carrying the Cross, completed in 1640, above which stucco angels carry the Cross. Over the loggias, the pendentives of the dome are decorated with circular mosaics of the four Evangelists. Saint John the Evangelist, with the Eagle, was executed by Giovanni de’ Vecchi, while Saint Mark, only partly visible in the present painting, by both Cesare Nebbia and Paolo Rossetti. In the 18th century various altarpieces were removed from the basilica, and replaced with copies in mosaic of more famous paintings. This was the case with the altarpiece on the altar of Saint Jerome, of which we get a glimpse to the right. Originally, the altar contained a painting of Saint Jerome by Girolamo Muziano (now in S. Maria degli Angeli, Rome), and was replaced in the 1730s by Pietro Paolo Cristofari’s mosaic after Domenichino’s Last Communion of Saint Jerome (now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana). It might be due to artistic licence, however the painting depicted in this picture does not seem to correspond to Muziano’s altarpiece. Along with the signature and date, the artist has inscribed the base of the painting with a scale measured in roman feet (1 roman foot = circa 29.6 cm.). The scale is meant to underline the grandeur of the building, the largest of all churches. The numerous figures are possibly painted by Charles Emmanuel Biset (Mechelen 1633-1710 Breda), known to have collaborated with van Ehrenberg.