Leseprobe

76 It was also Agostino who commissioned Raphael with the design of the family chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. 4 Although the iconographic programme was determined between 1513 and 1516, it was not completed at the time of Agostino’s death, in April 1520. Only the mosaic in the dome showing God the Father and the Eight Heavenly Spheres , executed by Aloisio De Pace after designs by Raphael, was finished in time. Originally, two pyramid tombs had been planned for the side walls of the chapel but only the one on the right was built, so that Agostino’s wish, expressed in his testament, of having his wife, Francesca Ordeasca, find her final resting place in the pyramid opposite his, was not fulfilled. Indeed, the chapel that Agostino had endowed would remain unfinished for several generations. As is so often the case, the self-made man’s incredible rise was followed by a deep fall, since there were no worthy successors among his descendants. Not only did they squander their father’s inheritance, but they also sold the villa that had meant so much to him. In 1579, it was purchased for the sum of 15,000 scudi by Alessandro Farnese, after whom the building is still known today: the Villa Farnesina. 5 However, although cut off from the centre of activity in Rome, the family continued to exist in Siena, where Fabio Chigi was born on 13 February 1599. After studying philosophy, law, and theology in Siena, the open-minded young man was drawn to Rome, where he initially moved in intellectual circles, before embarking on an exemplary career in the Church. In 1629, his first position as vice-legate took him to Ferrara. Six years later, under Pope Urban VIII, he was consecrated as Bishop of Nardò, before being ordered to move to Malta as inquisitor. Due to his clever, cool-headed, and diplomatic nature, the pope chose him as nuncio in Cologne, and delegated him as papal envoy to the negotiations of the Peace of Westphalia. However, in spite of his talents, he was unable to do anything against the dwindling power of the Holy See over Spain and France, and thus, ultimately, against the papacy’s loss of political inf luence. 6 The period in M nster (1644 – 1649) revealed another of the talented cleric’s many facets. On the one hand, the diplomat Wilhelm von F rstenberg published the poems that Chigi had written in his youth, as well as his tragedy Pompeius , while on the other, Chigi spent some of this time composing new poems, which deal with such German peculiarities as pumpernickel, rainy weather, folk costumes, and drinking habits. 7 Fabio continued with his literary interests when – after a brief stop in Aachen – he once again had Roman ground under his feet after being away for twelve years, and was appointed cardinal in 1652, and then pope in 1655. Taking the name “Pope Alexander VII”, he primarily made a name for himself as a patron of art and literature. In contrast to his immediate predecessor, Innocence X, he thus rekindled the tradition of art-loving popes as exemplified by Leo X and Urban VIII. The close relationship of the later with Bernini shows what kind of artistic developments and astonishing creative power papal protection could inspire. It is not surprising that Bernini, who had since lost his position as the preferred papal architect and sculptor, found a new patron and friend in the art-oriented Fabio Chigi, at whose service he could place his genius. With their major urban projects, including the magnificent complex of Saint Peter’s Square, the construction project of the Scala Regia , the realization of the Cathedra Petra , and the facelift given to the Piazza Minerva, the renowned artist and his patron forever left their mark on the new Baroque appearance of Rome. 8 One of the projects closest to Fabio Chigi’s heart, and one he had already contemplated during his first stay in Rome and which he then pursued with verve upon his permanent return, was the completion of the family chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo (fig. 53). 9 He commissioned Bernini to undertake the necessary work on the chapel to preserve the memory of the deceased