A design for a monument; an elephant with an obelisk c.1632
Pen and ink with brown wash over black chalk | 27.3 x 11.6 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 905628
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A design for a monument intended for the garden of the Palazzo Barberini; an elephant supports an obelisk on its back. It was never executed and the idea was later adapted to the monument outside the Minerva erected under Pope Alexander VII. This drawing can be connected with the Barberini monument on account of what appear to be bees at the top of the obelisk. This charming drawing is connected with a commission Bernini received from Pope Urban VIII (1623 to 1644). The design is for a sculptural base in the form of an elephant, planned to support an Egyptian obelisk, to be located in the garden of the Barberini Palace, built by the pope. The bees around the top of the column are the symbols of the Barberini family, to which Urban VIII belonged. The project was not realised until 1665, when the monument was placed in the garden of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. Bernini may have based his elephant on one which was brought to Rome in 1630.
Provenance
Probably acquired by George III in 1762 as part of the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani; first recorded in a Royal Collection inventory of c.1810 (Inv. A, p. 114: 'The Elephant with the Obelisk on his Back in the Piazza della Minerva at Rome. And three Vases')
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Medium and techniques
Pen and ink with brown wash over black chalk
Measurements
27.3 x 11.6 cm (sheet of paper)