Bernini’s working models for St Peter’s Chair

Clay and straw over iron and cane seem modest materials for a project that ended in gilded bronze. The preparatory models associated with Gian Lorenzo Bernini's St Peter's Chair let you think about the work before casting and assembly. The group includes heads of Athanasius and John Chrysostom, two early Christian theologians, and figures of angels. Bernini and his assistants made the chair monument for the apse of St Peter's Basilica between 1658 and 1666, under Pope Alexander VII. Marble, stucco and gilded bronze became parts of the finished architectural setting. The models belong to the process of deciding how its sculpted figures would take shape. Keep this connection in mind when considering the museum's collections. A small working object can lead to a much larger commission elsewhere in the Vatican. St Peter's Basilica is a separate visit, and its chair monument belongs to that building's apse.