MINERVA OBELISK

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Title	MINERVA OBELISK
Alternate Title	Elaphent Obelisk, 'Il Pulcino della Minerva' (Chicken Obelisk)
View	Detail of the elephant, showing the rear and tail
Notes	secular
Work Type	art in public obelisk relief
Style/Period	Baroque: High Baroque
Creator Name	Bernini, Gian Lorenzo
Creator Nationality	Italian
School of Creator	Baroque
Date.Creator Birth	1598
Date.Creator Death	1680
Major Design Aspects	symbolic forms and elements
Elements & Spatial Types	decorative element: animal, elephant Egyptian obelisk
Climate Type	Mediterranean
Country	Italy
City	Rome
State/Province	Lazio
Alternate Place Names	Piazza della Minerva
Art Medium	marble
Patron	Pope Alexander VII
Dates	1667
Century	17C
Photographer	Scott Gilchrist, Archivision Inc.
Subject Information	Of the many drawings he [G. Bernini} presented the pope with, the elephant was chosen. Bernini had been inspired by Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Poliphil's Dream of The Love Battle), a novel by Francesco Colonna which was rather well-known at the time. The first edition of Hypnerotomachia had been released in Venice in 1499 by the famous printer Aldus Manutius. In this book, full of symbolic references, Poliphil encounters an elephant made of stone who carries an obelisk, and it is easy to tell how much Bernini's idea was inspired by this work from the book's original engraving. In his original plan though, the obelisk would have fully rested on the elephant's legs, without a stand below the animal. But Father Paglia (quite envious for having been rejected) argued that according to the traditional canons, by which no weight should rest vertically above an empty space, as it would not be steady nor long-lasting', a cube should have been inserted under the elephant's belly (just as in the picture from the Hypnerotomachia). Bernini was orered to design the pedestal of the obelisk in an elephant form. The sculpture was executed by Ercole Ferrata. *** On the postament, the Latin inscriptions are carved referring to the date of its erection, the pope responsible, and 'He who sees the carved images of the wisdom of Egypt on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of animals, will realize that it is indeed a robust mind which sustains a solid wisdom.'
Credit Line	Archivision Inc. (all images copyright Scott Gilchrist / Archivision.com)
Collection Title	Archivision (architecture, urban design, gardens, landscapes and public art)
Collection information	Collection administered by the Visual Resources manager, Architecture Library, (402) 472-1193

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MINERVA OBELISK

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