Lot 40: u - *FRANCESCO BORROMINI 1599 - 1667

a) bears inscriptions on the verso: Pianta della tribuna di S. Gio. Laterane and dolce mio. Black chalk and stumping. a and b were once joined together. b) bears autograph inscription in pencil transcribed underneath in a later hand in pen and brown ink: sua santita disse che gli piaceva il disegno mache/non voleva variare li fondamenti e sito della chiesa/anticha fatta da un...Santo e di un Imperatore/Santo; e che Iddio non averia mai permesso che/nessun Carneficie havesse variato la pianta di/quella sacrosanta basilica e chi pero non /voleva se non repararla fortificarla e ornar la /ma, non mai, cambiarli suoi fondamentie pero/...desta volta come sta nel sito Anticho/ senza trasportarsi come si vede nel presente/disegno and inscribed in pencil with name of the Saints of four chapels: S. Paolo, S Jacobo magiore, S Jacobo, S Bartolomeo. Black chalk, on two joined sheets of paper. c) bears attribution in pencil: Boromini. black chalk (recto); pen and brown ink and black chalk (verso) (3) We are grateful to Charles Hind for his help in cataloguing these drawings. The Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano is Rome's Cathedral; despite the present baroque appearance of the church, the core of the structure is that built by the Emperor Constantine in the early 4th century A.D. Paid for by the state, it is one of Rome's most historic churches with rich layers of decoration of many periods, including antique mosaics, Cosmatesque work and a fresco by Giotto. By th middle of the 17th century, the Basilica was in poor condition, despite restorations following an earthquake in the 9th century and a general refurbishing in the early 15th century. As the Jubilee Year of 1650 approached, Pope Innocent X (1644 - 1655) decided to restore and embellish the cathedral, wishing to contrast in architectural terms the hegemony of Catholicism, its history and long tradition with the rootlessness and youth of Protestantism. In April 1646, he engaged Francesco Borromini with the instruction,