Terracotta statue of winged angel holding a crown.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A winged figure stands on a platform resembling a large rock, their right leg positioned higher than their left. The figure has thick, curly hair, large wings that extend from head height down to mid-thigh, and long, draped, swirling robes that leave their right arm and leg exposed. The figure’s hands are held at their left hip. They hold a large, smooth, ring-shaped crown. The statue is a uniform tan color with smooth, vague, almost impressionistic features.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1937.57
People
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian (Naples, Italy 1598 - 1680 Rome, Italy)
Title
Angel with the Crown of Thorns
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Angel with Crown of Thorns
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1668
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Italy, Lazio, Rome
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230467

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2520, European Art, 17th century
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
45 x 22.8 x 21.4 cm (17 11/16 x 9 x 8 7/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Giovanni Piancastelli, Rome, Italy, Sold to Mrs. Edward D. Brandegee, 1905. Piancastelli was the curator of the Galleria Borghese.
Mrs. Edward D. (Mary B.) Brandegee, 1905, Sold to Fogg Art Museum, 1937.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing and Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Funds
Accession Year
1937
Object Number
1937.57
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Richard Norton, Bernini and Other Studies in the History of Art, The Macmillan Company (New York, NY, 1914), p. 48, no. 16, pl. XXII
  • Leonard Opdycke, "A Group of Models for Berninesque Sculptures", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, March 1938), vol. VII, no. 2, p. 29, repr. p. 28 fig. 3
  • "Bernini Bozzetti for America: Sketches by the Baroque Genius for the Fogg Art Museum", Art News, Art News (New York, NY, June 4, 1938), vol. XXXVI, pp. 11-12
  • Irving Lavin, "The Bozzetti of Gianlorenzo Bernini" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1955), Unpublished, p. 183 ff.
  • Hanno-Walter Kruft and Lars Olaf Larsson, "Entwurfe Berninis fur die Engelbrucke in Rom", Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst (1966), vol. 17, p. 153, p. 155 fig. 16
  • Hans Kauffmann, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini: Die figurlichen Kompositionen, Gebr. Mann Verlag (Berlin, Germany, 1970), pl. 178
  • Mark S. Weil, The History and Decoration of the Ponte S. Angelo, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA, 1974), p. 48, plate p. 51
  • Irving Lavin, "Calculated Spontaneity: Bernini and the Terracotta Sketch", Apollo (May 1978), vol. CVII, no. 195, pp. 398-405, p. 404, p. 402 fig. 6
  • Irving Lavin, Drawings by Gianlorenzo Bernini, from the Museum der Bildenden Kunste, Leipzig, exh. cat., Princeton University Art Museum (Princeton, NJ, 1981), p. 292 fn. 7, p. 289 fig. 102
  • Michael P. Mezzatesta, The Art of Gianlorenzo Bernini: Selected Sculpture, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX, 1982), n.p., fig. 46
  • Olga Raggio, "Bernini and the Collection of Cardinal Flavio Chigi", Apollo (1983), vol. CXVII, p. 376, fig. 19
  • Maria Grazia Tolomeo Speranza, "La decorazione del ponte", La Via degli Angeli, ed. Luisa Cardilli Alloisi, De Luca Edizioni d'Arte (Rome, Italy, 1988), p. 62, fig. 16
  • Helga Tratz, "Werkstatt und Arbeitsweise Berninis", Romisches Jahrbuch fur Kunstgeschichte (1988), bd. 23/24, p. 447 fig. 21
  • Rudolf Wittkower, Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Electa (Milan, Italy, 1990), p. 289
  • Maria Giulia Barberini, Sculture in Terracotta del Barocco Romano: Bozzetti e Modelli del Museo Nazional, exh. cat., Fratelli Palombi Editori (Rome, Italy, 1991), p. 48
  • Maria Giulia Barberini and Carlo Gasparri, "I bozzetti ed i modelli dei secoli XVI-XVIII della collezione di Bartolomeo Cavaceppi", exh. cat., Fratelli Palombi Editori (Rome, Italy, 1994), no. 35, p. 124; repr. as fig. 104
  • Andrea Bacchi, ed., Sculture del '600 a Roma, Longanesi & Co. (Milan, Italy, 1996), pl. 174
  • Charles Avery, Bernini, Genius of the Baroque, Thames & Hudson (London, England, 1997), pp. 165-169, fig. 223
  • From the Sculptor's Hand: Italian Baroque Terracottas from the State Hermitage Museum, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, 1998), p. 80, under no. 19
  • Mark S. Weil, "Bernini Drawings and Bozzetti for the Ponte Sant' Angelo: A New Look", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin, ed. Ivan Gaskell and Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 1999), vol. VI, no. 3, 144-150
  • Eugene F. Farrell, Henry Lie, and Suzanne M. M. Young, "Clay Analysis", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin, ed. Ivan Gaskell and Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 1999), VI, 3, 39-47, pp. 42-43
  • Nancy Lloyd, "Fingerprints", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin, ed. Ivan Gaskell and Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 1999), VI, No. 3, 119-124
  • Tony Sigel, "The Clay Modeling Techniques of Gian Lorenzo Bernini", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin, ed. Ivan Gaskell and Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 1999), VI, 3, 48-72
  • Bruce Boucher, "Bernini's Models for the Angels of the Ponte Sant' Angelo in Rome", Earth and Fire: Italian Terracotta Sculpture from Donatello to Canova, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, and London, 2001), pp. 60-66, p. 62, repr. as fig. 65; p. 65, repr. as figs. 71 and 72; p. 64, repr. as fig.70
  • Andrew Butterfield, Bernini: The Modello for the Fountain of the Moor, exh. cat., Salander-O'Reilly Galleries (New York, 2002), p. 38, repr. in b/w as fig. 6
  • C. D. Dickerson III, Tony Sigel, Ian Wardropper, Andrea Bacchi, Tomaso Montanari, and Stephen E. Ostrow, Bernini Sculpting in Clay, exh. cat. (New York, 2012)
  • Nina Pasquini, "Model Masterpieces: Bernini's Terracotta Sketches", Harvard Magazine (May-June 2024), vol. 126, no. 5, p. 72

Exhibition History

  • In Memoriam: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/1980 - 10/15/1980
  • Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Sketches in Clay, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/28/1998 - 06/30/2008
  • Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/03/2012 - 01/06/2013; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 02/03/2013 - 05/05/2013
  • 32Q: 2520 Winter Garden, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu