Two drawings by Giovan Battista Ricci da Novara for the decoration of the portico of new St Peter's

• Autores: Anna Bortolozzi
• Localización: Burlington magazine, ISSN 0007-6287, Vol. 153, Nº 1296, 2011, págs. 163-167
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The writer examines the evidence of two drawings by painter Giovan Battista Ricci da Novara for the decoration of the portico of new St Peter's in Rome. The design by Carlo Maderno for the new St Peter's included the transfer to the new portico of columns obtained from the remaining part of the old Constantinian nave. This decision was deliberate, and not determined merely by the aesthetic quality of the material. Indeed, in Maderno's design, the architecture of the portico assumed an important role, preserving tangible proof of the antiquity of the Roman Church and of the validity of papal supremacy. The writer investigates when and how the iconographic program of the portico was conceived and examines Ricci's role in it on the basis of two related drawings by the artist, which show that the iconographic program of the vault of the portico had a more complex genesis than previously thought.