Angel with the sponge A drawing in the Baillieu Library Jessica Cole

Dr John Orde Poynton’s generous gift of some 3,700 Old Master prints, which in 1959 established the Baillieu Library Print Collection, included a handful of drawings. These had received little attention until recently, when they have become a focus of interest for researchers. For an eight- week research project that I carried out last year, I chose an unattributed red and black chalk drawing of an adolescent male angel standing on a floating cloud (pictured right). The winged figure is clothed in a mass of swirling drapery, and in his hands he delicately holds a long reed with a sponge at one end. Notwithstanding the absence of a signature on the front, a handwritten inscription in pen and ink on the reverse reveals a name: Antonÿ Georgetti. It did not take long to establish that this identified the sculptor of the statue after which the drawing was made— one of the ten marble angels, each holding one of the Arma Christi (‘Weapons of Christ’), that adorn the Ponte Sant’ Angelo in (see p. 5). Even without the inscription, the Baillieu drawing is close enough to the sculpture of the Angel with the sponge (1667–69) by Antonio Giorgetti (c. 1635–1669) for us to be certain that this is its subject.

Jessica Cole, ‘Angel with the sponge’ 3 Previous page: Unknown artist, Angel with the sponge, c. 1669–1725, charcoal and red chalk on paper, 34.0 × 21.8 cm. 1959.5610, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

The angels on Ponte Sant’ include giustificazioni (account following year. Considering how soon Angelo, and Antonio books) recording payments to artists this was after the angel’s installation Giorgetti and craftsmen; avvisi (handwritten on the bridge, it is most likely that The decoration of this famous and newsletters) concerning the the sculpture was completed by his historical bridge (previously the Pons decoration, found in the diary of brother, Giuseppe, also a sculptor, Aelius) took place between 1667 Carlo Cartari (1614–1697), archivist who collaborated with Antonio on and 1672, and was commissioned by of the Castel Sant’ Angelo at the time; several other projects.7 Pope Clement IX (reigned 1667–69) and accounts from contemporary and his successor, Clement X guidebooks, such as that by Filippo The Baillieu Library’s (reigned 1670–76). Gian Lorenzo Titi (1674), which identifies drawing Bernini (1598–1680), Rome’s most the sculptor of each statue.3 On Is the drawing in the Baillieu Library distinguished sculptor and architect, 19 September 1669 Cartari reported in any way linked to Giorgetti? planned and supervised the entire that Giorgetti’s Angel with the sponge Although it depicts his statue, a program, although he contributed was placed on the pier on the Castel number of facts suggest that this is only one statue himself; the others end of the bridge, adding that it was as far as the drawing’s connection were assigned to lesser-known ‘the best of the four [statues] placed with the sculptor goes. All of the sculptors.1 The choice of angels [on the bridge] so far’.4 sculptors involved in the decoration stemmed from Pope Gregory the Less is known about Giorgetti of the Ponte Sant’ Angelo, including Great’s famous vision in AD 590 than about any of the other sculptors Antonio, were likely to have worked of the Archangel Michael above involved in the project, although it from a sketched design (pensiaro) Hadrian’s mausoleum (now the is thought that he was trained by provided by Bernini, and possibly Castel Sant’ Angelo). In 1348 a (1598–1654)— even a clay model (bozzetto).8 similar miracle occurred during a Bernini’s main rival—and was well However, whereas the Baillieu procession led by Pope Clement VI enough established in 1658 to take drawing might be described as from the Church of Santa Maria on a 10-year-old boy named Lorenzo ‘finished’, Bernini’s sketches are just in Aracoeli to St Peter’s Basilica. Ottone as an apprentice.5 By 1660 that: sketches. These rapidly drawn The pope, along with 60 others, he was on the roll of Francesco pensiari were used in the planning saw the marble angel on top of the Barberini’s famiglia, which meant he stages of designing the angels, and by mausoleum—placed to commemorate would have had an almost constant drawing them himself Bernini was the earlier vision—bow to the holy influx of work restoring antiques and able to ensure uniformity in their image of Mary being carried in the carving alabaster busts, aside from proportions and poses, as well as a parade.2 more significant assignments.6 He controlled diversity of expressions We know for sure who created was married on 15 September 1668, and drapery patterns. Only one each statue, and when, thanks to a month after receiving the first of the original pensiari survives the wealth of primary sources that payment for the Angel with the sponge, today: a sketch for the Angel with document the commission. These but he died on Christmas night of the the crown of thorns in the Museum

4 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 19, December 2016 Antonio Giorgetti, Angel with the sponge, 1667–69, marble, height 200 cm (approx.), Ponte Sant’ Angelo, Rome. Photograph © Jenny Chatfield.

der bildenden Künste Leipzig. red chalk and charcoal in this manner Notwithstanding, pensiari were is uncommon in drawings like this likely made for all the sculptures, as and is a point of interest. there are at least six known copies By comparing our drawing with of the sketches in brown ink and a recent photograph of the sculpture wash. Fortuitously, one of these is (pictured left), we find further subtle of the Angel with the sponge, which differences that give us insight into although now lost is reproduced in the draftsman’s intentions. While Mark Weil’s comprehensive study he or she has copied the drapery of of the decoration of the Ponte Sant’ the statue very closely—the deep Angelo, and is thought to be in folds and creases reproduced with Bernini’s own hand.9 Comparing care and precision—the body of the this with the Baillieu drawing, the angel is rendered with much less differences are striking: whereas our confidence, and departs somewhat angel is static and, in places, a rather from Giorgetti’s truthful modelling. awkward evocation of a stone statue, In particular, the head and fingers the wash drawing is dynamic and look as if they might have been added fluid, as if drawn from life, and typical later from memory, rather than from of Bernini’s lively drawing style.10 ‘life’. This two-sitting theory might It is certain then that the Baillieu enjoyed immediate popularity with also explain the choice of red and drawing came after the sculpture the public. An avviso now in the black. Although some effort has been was completed, playing no part in its Archivio di Stato in Modena, dated made to blend the two—with flecks production. October 1671, went so far as to of colour reflected on the angel’s grey Jennifer Montagu, who has carried proclaim that ‘the Ponte S. Angelo legs as if to make him fleshier and out the most thorough research on is being visited by everyone in order more three-dimensional—in this the Giorgetti brothers, knows of no to admire Bernini’s valour and drawing the imposing red garment is drawings by Antonio, so the Baillieu’s also to see which of the sculptors the star of the show. drawing is unlikely to have been has best satisfied the taste of the made by him after the statue was world’.12 Montagu also points out Iconography of the Arma completed; presumably he would that the angels were popular objects Christi and the sponge- have been ailing considerably by for art students to copy, and that bearer then anyway.11 Nonetheless, it is the addition of red in the Baillieu By the 17th century, representations plausible that whoever created the Library’s angel might suggest that of angels carrying the instruments drawing did so quite soon after the the artist was testing out colours, of Christ’s Passion were prevalent statue was positioned on the bridge to see how well the figure might be throughout Europe, serving as in September 1669, as the angels conveyed in oils.13 Indeed, the use of a potent reminder of the gift of

Jessica Cole, ‘Angel with the sponge’ 5 Orazio Farinati after Paolo Farinati, Angels with the instruments of the Passion, c. 1560–1620, etching, 17.5 × 29.0 cm (sheet trimmed to image). 1959.2466, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

salvation through Christ’s sacrifice on In the early Middle Ages, period. This change is also reflected Calvary.14 An etching in the Baillieu images of the Arma Christi signified in the popularity of the devotional Library Print Collection, by Orazio Christ’s victory over death and text Meditationes vitae Christi, a Farinati (1558/61 – before 1627) Satan; they were interpreted manuscript giving a detailed account after Paolo Farinati (1524–1606), literally as weapons of triumph and of the life of Christ and the Passion, Angels with the instruments of the authority. Over time the instruments thought to have been written by a Passion, is a particularly charming became associated more with the Franciscan in the 14th century and example (see above), showing six story of the Passion, corresponding later widely disseminated throughout cherubs, carrying the lance, Cross, to the veneration of relics that Europe with the invention of scourge, crown of thorns and sponge. took hold in the late medieval printing.15

6 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 19, December 2016 Unknown artist, Angel with the sponge (detail showing upside-down watermark).

A more specific history can be of Christ’s Passion, including pieces may have been made at a similar traced for the iconography of the of the sponge, are held and venerated time, and before 1700. angel sponge-bearer. In sixth-century throughout the churches of Rome, Another point worthy of note is art, angels watching over the Cross making angels carrying the Arma the spelling of Antonio Giorgetti’s were depicted carrying a sceptre, Christi a fitting choice for the bridge’s name on the reverse: Antonÿ but by the 12th century this was decoration. Pilgrims and other Georgetti. The letter ÿ occurs in often replaced by the new symbols pedestrians walking across the bridge French as a variant of ï in some of sovereignty: the lance and the on their way to the Vatican would proper nouns, and the replacement sponge. According to the Bible, the have been moved by the expressive of i with e in the surname also holy sponge was dipped in gall and statues, as they contemplated the suggests a French hand. We might vinegar (or sour wine, depending on multiple sufferings that Christ speculate that the drawing was the source) and offered to Jesus to endured in his final moments. made by a student from the French drink as a final act of persecution: Academy in Rome, which was ‘Someone ran and filled a sponge Watermark, inscription, with sour wine, put it on a reed, paper and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let Analysis of the physical aspects of us see whether Elijah will come the Baillieu Library’s Angel with the to take Him down.” With a loud sponge revealed some noteworthy cry, Jesus breathed his last’ (Mark information. By viewing the paper 15:36–7). Vinegar was made bitter over a lightbox, we could see a small by the infusion of wormwood or watermark at the bottom of the other substances and given to those angel’s right wing. When flipped 180 who were crucified to render them degrees it shows a mark of three hills insensible to pain. Legend gave (commonly referred to as ‘mounts’ in the sponge-bearer the name of watermark catalogues), surmounted Stephaton, and medieval art regularly by a cross (pictured right).16 Variations paired him with Longinus, the of this watermark are found as early soldier who bore the lance. The two, as the later 14th century, however standing symmetrically on either the closest example in the Gravell side of the Cross and holding up Watermark Archive is found on their slender ‘weapons’, symbolised the papers of William Blathwayt the Church (Longinus) and the (1649?–1717), which were in use in Synagogue (Stephaton). around 1683–84.17 This watermark is As well as the aforementioned very similar in shape and size (3.6 × visions of angels connected to the 1.6 cm) to that found in the Baillieu site of the Ponte Sant’ Angelo, relics drawing, suggesting that our drawing

Jessica Cole, ‘Angel with the sponge’ 7 founded in 1666 as a branch of Paris’s 1 Bernini sculpted the Angel with the 8 Weil, History and decoration, p. 41. Royal Academy of Painting and superscription. Apart from Antonio Giorgetti, 9 ‘The wash drawing was formerly in the the other sculptors of the Arma Christi were Rospigliosi Collection (Giulio Rospigliosi Sculpture. The curriculum Antonio Raggi (Angel with the column), Lazzaro became Pope Clement IX), but its present emphasised direct contact with Morelli (Angel with the scourge), Paolo Naldini location is unknown’ (Weil, History and antique art, as well as life drawing, (Angel with the crown of thorns and Angel with decoration, p. 41, reproduced p. 42). This and robe and dice), Cosimo Fancelli (Angel with the another, the Angel carrying the Cross, were the study of anatomy, and copying sudarium), Girolamo Lucenti (Angel with the published as Bernini originals in Stanislao contemporary paintings and nails), (Angel with the Cross), Fraschetti, Il Bernini: la sua vita, la sua opera, il sculptures in Rome.18 and Domenico Guidi (Angel with the lance). suo tempo, Milan: U. Hoepli, 1900, pp. 372–3. In each corner of the sheet is a See Mark S. Weil, ‘The angels of the Ponte This attribution was eventually accepted by Sant’ Angelo: A comparison of Bernini’s Wittkower. (See Wittkower, Bernini, 1990, small pinhole, informing us that the sculpture to the work of two collaborators’, p. 290, for his final discussion of the drawings.) drawing was once pinned to a wall and Art Journal, vol. 30, no. 3, 1971, p. 253. 10 For the most comprehensive work on Bernini’s enjoyed by a previous owner, perhaps 2 For an extensive bibliography dealing with drawings, see Heinrich Brauer and Rudolf the decoration of the Ponte Sant’ Angelo, Wittkower, Bernini’s drawings (1931), New a prestigious collector in Europe. see Rudolf Wittkower, : York: Collectors Editions, 1969. Since 1959 the drawing has been in The sculptor of the Roman Baroque, 2nd edn, 11 Dr Jennifer Montagu (honorary fellow, the care of the curators of the Baillieu London: Phaidon, 1966, pp. 248–51. Warburg Institute), email correspondence, Library Print Collection, and was 3 For full documentation and bibliography of 15 August 2015. avvisi and giustificazioni, see Filippo Titi, 12 Cited in Weil, History and decoration, p. 134. recently displayed in the exhibition Studio di pittura, scoltura, et architettura 13 Montagu, email correspondence. My learned object at the Ian Potter nelle chiese di Roma, Rome: Mancini, 1674; 14 For an overview of representations of the Arma Museum of Art, alongside works Mark S. Weil, The history and decoration Christi in Western art, see ‘The “Arma Christi” of the Ponte S. Angelo, University Park and and Man of Sorrows’, in Gertrud Schiller, on paper and numerous other items London: Pennsylvania State University Press, Iconography of Christian art, volume 2: The from the University of Melbourne’s 1974, pp. 31–5 and 117–38. A breakdown of Passion of Jesus Christ, trans. Janet Seligman, 30 cultural collections. That we may documents relating to Bernini’s involvement London: Lund Humphries, 1972, pp. 184–97. never know who created this drawing is given in Rudolf Wittkower, Bernini: The 15 Schiller, Iconography of Christian art, sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Milan: Electa, pp. 186–9. is perhaps, then, beside the point, 1990, pp. 288–91. 16 Edward Heawood, Watermarks: Mainly of the for it offers insight into a fascinating 4 ‘ che sia il megliore delli quattro collative sin’hora’, 17th and 18th centuries, Amsterdam: Paper period of architectural planning and translated by Jennifer Montagu in her article Publications Society, 1950; W.A. Churchill, ‘Antonio and Gioseppe Giorgetti: Sculptors to Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, image-making in late 17th-century Cardinal Francesco Barberini’, The Art Bulletin, France etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries Rome, and continues to be enjoyed by vol. 52, no. 3, 1970, p. 286. and their interconnection, Mansfield Centre, viewers in the 21st century. 5 Montagu, ‘Antonio and Gioseppe Giorgetti’, Connecticut: Martino Publishing, 2006. p. 279. 17 See Folger Shakespeare Library X.d 481 (8), 6 Montagu, ‘Antonio and Gioseppe Giorgetti’, Washington DC, in the Thomas L. Gravell Jessica Cole graduated with a Master’s degree p. 280. Watermark Archive, www.gravell.org, viewed from the Courtauld Institute in 2011, where 7 Montagu notes that not only did Antonio 20 February 2016. she specialised in early modern European print make payments over to his brother, but that 18 Kathryn Calley Galitz, ‘The French Academy culture. For the last two years she has been the handwriting on the receipts shows clearly in Rome’, Heilbrunn timeline of art history, working as a cataloguer at the National Gallery that he was ailing well before his death in New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, of Victoria on its digitisation project, currently December 1669. Montagu, ‘Antonio and 2000–16, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/frac/ cataloguing international prints and drawings. Gioseppe Giorgetti’, p. 286. hd_frac.htm, viewed 20 February 2016.

8 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 19, December 2016