Bernini's Elephant carrying an Obelisk

Bernini's Elephant carrying an Obelisk
Bernini's Elephant carrying an Obelisk
Bernini's Elephant carrying an Obelisk
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Bernini's Elephant carrying an Obelisk
Date
c.1753-54 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk heightened with white on yellow prepared paper
Dimensions
Metric: 216 x 114 mm
Imperial: 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.
Collection
Private Collection, England
Accession Number
RF77
Wilson Online Reference
D226
Exhibited
London 1925 (86B); Exeter 1946 (16 - A Statue in Rome by Bernini)); Rome 1959 (673); Kenwood 1974 (24ii)
Provenance
William Lock of Norbury; his sale, Sotheby's, London 3-7 May 1821; Marianne Ford; thence by descent
Subject
The monument was set up in the Piazza della Minerva, Rome in 1667. The obelisk had been discovered in the gardens of S. Maria sopra Minerva and the ensemble was intended as a glorification of Pope Alexander VII. An inscription on the pedestal (not shown in the drawing) involves complicated puns on the iconography of the elephant and obelisk.
Bibliography
W.S. Heckscher, Art Bulletin, vol. 29, 1947, pp. 155 ff.; Ford 1951, p. 56, pl. 30
Updated by Compiler
2017-09-13 00:00:00