Pope Urban VIII Barberini and Michelangelo's Pieta

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  • 教皇ウルバヌス8世とミケランジェロの《ピエタ》をめぐって
  • キョウコウ ウルバヌス 8セイ ト ミケランジェロ ノ 《 ピエタ 》 オ メグッテ

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Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini, 1623-1644), the great patron of Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), was eager to leave his mark on the most important of churches, St. Peter's. The twenty-one years of Barberini's pontificate saw the creation of more than two dozen major altarpieces and related works of art. One of these, the altar of the Pieta in the Cappella del Coro, was erected in the earliest stage of Urban's pontificate. It is a little known fact that the Pope ordered to move there Michelangelo's Pieta, which at present is in the Cappella della Santa Croce , on the altar of the Cappella del Coro. This paper analyzes what Michelangelo's Pieta meant for Pope Barberini, and what consequences had his opinions on his artistic programme. The history of the altar of the Pieta in St. Peter's is generally seen in the light of L. Rice's study: the altarpiece, representing The Cross, Flanked by the Saints Francis and Anthony of Padua, with Angels Holding Symbols of the Passion, and God the Father (1625-26), was designed and executed by Simon Vouet (1590-1649), and has not survived. Rice has reconstructed the altar of the Pieta using several of Vouet's preparatory oil sketches and his letter to the pope, some vedute of the chapel and some descriptions found in guidebooks of the late 17th and early 18th century. The distinctly personal relationship established by Urban VIII with Michelangelo's Pieta is then discussed. Urban VIII emphasized devotion to the Virgin, especially the Immaculate Conception, publicly and privately, more strongly than his predecessors. This concept is closely related with the Cappella del Coro. Pope Sixtus IV (Francesco Della Rovere, 1471-1484), a Franciscan, had dedicated the Cappella del Coro to Saints Francis and Anthony of Padua, and to the Immaculate Conception, Michelangelo's Pieta underlining the meaning of the whole setting. And the chastity of the Virgin can be compared with that of the bees, the main motif of the Pope's coat of arms. Finally, to confirm Urban's idea and devotion to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, other churches in Rome are examined (Santa Maria in Trastevere, Sant'Andrea della Valle and Santa Maria della Concezione), and in addition to this, the mintage of the Pope's coins and the collection of the Barberini family.

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