19th Century, By Arnolfo Di Cambio Saint Peter On The Throne

19th century, by Arnolfo di Cambio

Saint Peter on the throne

Bronze, 32 x 13.5 x 15 cm

This small bronze sculpture depicting Saint Peter sitting on the throne bears similar features to the Holy Bronze of Saint Peter’s Basilica, made by Arnolfo del Cambio around 1300, although it was for a long time erroneously believed to date back to the fifth century.

Saint Peter is sitting on a throne while with his right hand he is in the act of blessing the faithful with the left holds the keys, symbol represents the keys to Paradise, one gold and one silver, given by Jesus to Saint Peter and for this reason called "the keys of Saint Peter and his iconographic attribute.

Arnolfo di Cambio, also known as Arnolfo di Lapo (Colle di Val d'Elsa, 1232 or 1240 circa - Florence, 8 March 1302-1310 circa), is an Italian sculptor, architect and urban planner who worked in particular in Rome and Florence at the end of the thirteenth century and early next century. Arnolfo di Cambio was trained in the size (workshop) of Nicola Pisano and with him worked on the Ark of Saint Dominic in the church of San Domenico in Bologna (1264-67), at the pulpit of the Cathedral of Siena (1265-1269). After leaving the workshop around 1270, having acquired professional autonomy, he moved to Rome where he was in the company of Charles I of Anjou. In Rome the artist had come into contact with the great works of the Roman past, and had absorbed the lessons of the cosmateschi masters, of which he will reuse the decorative parties to inlay colored marbles and gilded glass in the ciborî of the basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura (1285) and Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (1293). Circa 1289 is the funeral monument of the nephew of Cardinal Annibaldi Riccardo Annibaldi (preserved at San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome). During this period he worked in Rome for other papal commissions: as a monument to Pope Boniface VIII (1296) and as a pearl the bronze statue of Saint Peter in the Basilica of San Pietro (1300).

The original attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio is kept in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome; it is placed at the last pillar of the central nave and is today one of the works most connected to the devotion of pilgrims: The popular tradition is that it is a gesture of devotion to caress the right foot of the statue, which after centuries of consumption appears today considerably worn.

In addition to the Vatican version there are others: that kept in the cathedral of Notre Dame or in the Concathedral of Jerusalem; another version is instead exposed in the church of San Pietro a Porto Venere, in the Basilica di Lecco (wooden version), in the cathedral of Urbino and Cagli and finally in the complex of the Marian Sanctuary of Lourdes.

In the Palazzo della Battaglia, Museum of memories and landscape in the Terra di Anghiari, there are also the only two miniature interpretations, known and visible to the public, of the Roman statue. They perfectly follow the original forms, but do not retain the throne, probably made of perishable material (wood?). They are linked to the custom of pilgrims to carry with them "souvenirs" of the places of pilgrimage, such as the shell of Santiago de Compostela. The fact that they lack small versions makes this a unique example.

The object is in good condition