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Headless terracotta statue of a winged figure holding a scroll.

A tan, headless figure stands on a low base. We can make out the figure’s large wings, which extend down to mid-thigh height. However, the top of both wings and the bottom corner of the left wing are missing. The figure’s left arm wraps across their chest, holding a wide scroll against their right shoulder. They wear a long, draped garment. The sculptor’s lines are visible in the clay. The figure’s left side and back are against a larger piece of rough, unsculpted terracotta that serves as a base and background.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1937.69
People
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian (Naples, Italy 1598 - 1680 Rome, Italy)
Title
Angel with the Superscription
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Angel Holding a Scroll
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1667-68
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Italy, Lazio, Rome
Culture
Italian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230610

Location

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

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
27.8 x 16.5 x 14.2 cm (10 15/16 x 6 1/2 x 5 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Bartolomeo Cavaceppi.
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
1937.69
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. 18, pl. XIXb
  • 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
  • "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  • Irving Lavin, "The Bozzetti of Gianlorenzo Bernini" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1955), Unpublished, p. 184
  • Hans Kauffmann, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini: Die figurlichen Kompositionen, Gebr. Mann Verlag (Berlin, Germany, 1970), pl. 183; p. 302
  • Mark S. Weil, The History and Decoration of the Ponte S. Angelo, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA, 1974), p. 48, p. 50 fig. 40
  • Irving Lavin, "Calculated Spontaneity: Bernini and the Terracotta Sketch", Apollo (May 1978), vol. CVII, no. 195, pp. 398-405, p. 401 fig. 3; p. 404
  • Michael P. Mezzatesta, The Art of Gianlorenzo Bernini: Selected Sculpture, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX, 1982), no pages, fig. 43
  • "Bozzetti e modelli", exh. cat., Fratelli Palombi Editori (Rome, Italy, 1986), pp. 165-168, p. 167 foto 3
  • 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. 72, fig. 30
  • Helga Tratz, "Werkstatt und Arbeitsweise Berninis", Romisches Jahrbuch fur Kunstgeschichte (1988), bd. 23/24, p. 449, fig. 24
  • Rudolf Wittkower, Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Electa (Milan, Italy, 1990), p. 289
  • Sergej O. Androsov, Alle origini di Canova: le terrecotte della collezione Farsetti, exh. cat., Marsilio Editore (Venice, Italy, 1991), p. 66
  • 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. 13, p. 119; repr. in b/w as fig. 88
  • 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. 63, repr. as fig. 68
  • 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

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