Rome: St Peter’s. Project for the stucco ceiling of the portico, 1618

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made ca 1620

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: 43 x 20,5 cm

Inventory numberNMH THC 4536

AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum

Other titlesTitle (sv): Projekt till takdekoration för portiken i Peterskyrkan, Rom Title (en): Rome: St Peter’s. Project for the stucco ceiling of the portico, 1618 Label (sv): Projekt till takdekoration för portiken i Peterskyrkan, Rom Label (en): Project for the Ceiling in the Portico of St. Peter’s, Rome Previous: Project for the Ceiling of the Portico of St. Peter's Church, Rome

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Bortolozzi, Italian Architectural Drawings from the Cronstedt Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2020 (cat.no. 133) Giovan Battista Ricci da Novara (c. 1537–1627) Pen and brown ink, construction lines in graphite and compass, brown and light blue wash, 43 × 20.5 cm NM H THC 4536 PAPER: collector’s stamp of Carl Hårleman (Lugt 1921, no. 2751) WATERMARK: none visible MEASUREMENTS: no measurements; no scale PROVENANCE: Possibly Carl Johan Cronstedt; Carl Hårleman (Lugt 2751); Kongl. Biblioteket; Kongl. Museum (Lugt 1638) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bortolozzi 2011, 164, fig. 35; Bortolozzi 2012, 160, fig. 79 The drawing shows a proposal for the stucco decoration of the portico of New St Peter’s. The design is conceived around five large panels placed at the centre of the ceiling, though the draughtsman depicts only the right half of the vault. The central panels lack a subject, while the small panels that flank them are decorated with scenes from the Book of Genesis. From left to right they represent: the Birth of Eve; Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; and the Expulsion from Paradise. The evangelists Matthew and John occupy the lower ovals, probably to be joined by Mark and Luke in the right part of the vault. The corners and the lunettes are decorated with ornamental motifs and with the heraldic eagle and dragon of the Borghese arms, a reference to Pope Paul V (1605–1621). Smaller octagonal frames contain unidentified seated figures. Inserted on the sides of the windows in the lunettes are various motifs, providing alternative suggestions for the decorative works: garlands, putti, figures, ornaments and dragons. The drawing is an initial proposal by the painter Giovan Battista Ricci for the decoration of the portico, probably presented at the beginning of 1618. The iconography is based on a series of motifs from the Old and New Testaments, common to some of the enterprises in which Ricci participated during the last three decades of the 16th century and particularly the fresco decoration of the Lateran Palace and of the Benediction Loggia of the Lateran Basilica. Close references for the drawing include two family chapels painted by Ricci in Rome, the Cerasi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo and the Salviati Chapel in S. Gregorio al Celio, as well as the apse of San Marcello al Corso, commissioned by Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani. Ricci's first design for the portico of St Peter’s appears to have been discarded and he was entrusted with designing a new model based on an elaborate iconographic programme set by Benedetto Giustiniani and Nicolò Alemanni, custode of the Vatican Library. Another drawing by Ricci in the Nationalmuseum (NM H CC 1713–1714, Cat. no. 134) shows a design that is fairly close to the approved one, executed by the stucco workers from 15 May 1618 onwards, based on a set of cartoons provided by the same painter. LITERATURE: Hibbard 1971, 160–163; 178–180; Teza 1996; Bortolozzi 2011 [end]

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