3-079-066 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Study for St. Peter's 'Cattedra', 1658. In 1657, Pope Alexander VII recorded in his diary that he had spoken with the architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who had agreed to design a new altar to hold the relic of the Chair of Saint Peter. This wooden chair was believed to be the throne of Saint Peter, the first Bishop of Rome. Bernini initially estimated the project would take at least two years, but he spent almost a decade, from 1657 to 1666, designing and completing the monumental altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. An unidentified artist working in Bernini’s studio created this detailed drawing for presentation and design approval between March 1657 and April 1658. Soon thereafter, Bernini and his workshop made a three-dimensional terracotta model, now in the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection.