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Popes have celebrated mass within meters of this artwork depicting the pangs of childbirth. Where?
Question
#99225. Asked by edmund80. (Sep 06 08 5:37 PM)
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lanfranco
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In the Cappella Paolina in the great basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the artist Ludovico Cigoli painted painted the "Immacolata," from Revelations/Apocalypse 12:1-2: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven -- a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."
This is a reasonably common subject, especially from the late 16th century on. You can find it in several places, but Santa Maria Maggiore, being a great basilica, has been the location of many papal masses.
This particular fresco is the subject of one of my quiz questions.
 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_n2_v78/ai_18486161/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
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zbeckabee
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Bernini's first work at St. Peter's was to design the baldacchino, a pavilion-like structure 30 metres (98 ft) tall and claimed to be the largest piece of bronze in the world, which stands beneath the dome and above the altar. There are many baldachins in the churches of Rome, serving to create a sort of holy space above and around the table on which the Sacrament is laid for the Eucharist and emphasing the significance of this ritual. These baldachins are generally of white marble, with inlaid coloured stone. Bernini's concept was for something very different. He took his inspiration in part from eight ancient columns that had formed part of a screen in the old basilica. Their twisted barley-sugar shape had a special significance as the column to which Jesus was bound before his crucifixion was believed to be of that shape. Based on these columns, Bernini created four huge columns of bronze, twisted and decorated with olive leaves and bees, which were the emblem of Pope Urban. The baldacchino is surmounted not with an architectural pediment, like most baldacchino, but with curved Baroque brackets supporting a draped canopy, like the brocade canopies carried in processions above precious iconic images. In this case, the draped canopy is of bronze, and all the details, including the olive leaves, bees, and the portrait heads of Urban's niece in childbirth and her newborn son, are picked out in gold leaf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%E2%80%99s_Basilica
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zbeckabee
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Under the dark, heavy columns, the Baroque master managed to show that he had a lighter side. The bronze columns of the baldachino rest on marble pedestals, and each of these is decorated with the coat of arms of Pope Urban VIII. Bernini, it is said, having heard that one of the Pope's nieces was pregnant, sculpted the face of a woman in various stages of pregnancy and childbirth on the sides of the four pedestals.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/BERBALD.TXT
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looney_tunes
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Michelangelo's Pieta in St Peter's Basilica would have been near many papal masses, and shows the lifelong pains felt by a mother for her child. Although the Vatican basilica is neither the Pope's official seat or first in rank among the great basilicas, (St. John Lateran) it is most certainly his principal church, as most Papal ceremonies take place at St. Peter's due to its size, proximity to the Papal residence, and location within the Vatican City walls.
Possibly still too metaphorical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica
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