The Dürer Files: 1c. The Bees & Keys of House Barberini (Completed 10/5/2024)

Pope Urban VIII Barberini's coat-of-arms, 1600s. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"Originally from the small Tuscan town of Barberino Val d’Elsa, the Barberini family moved to the regional metropolis of Florence in the early 11th century. They grew prosperous as wool, grain and textile merchants, but later came into conflict with the powerful Medici dynasty and fled to Rome after the Medici seized control of Florence in the 1500s. This did not deter the Medici from assassinating prominent Barberini family member Francesco di Antonio, but his son Francesco di Carlo survived to see their business flourish and ultimately rose to the exalted position of papal treasurer. The family’s good fortune was to continue, and in 1623 Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was ordained Pope Urban VIII."

- Excerpt from an entertaining article about the House of Barberini from Ben's Bees. While not the most popular pope in some respects, Pope Urban was an avid supporter and collector of art. In fact, the many members of the Barberini dynasty were all great patrons of the arts, amassing an impressive collection which can be found at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome and museums throughout the world. Inset right is an example: a stunning twin-tailed mermaid or mixoparthenos - a Vitruvian mermaid, if you think about it - housed at the Met Museum in New York. Little is actually known about her for certain, but, let's face it, this bronze siren is a show-stopper and, in some odd way, she became my guide at first encounter.

"With Pope Urban VIII, Gian Lorenzo Bernini became the official artist of the court and it is to this architect and artist that we owe the creation of many objects that adorn the city centre of the capital. The Barberini family had a coat of arms that included three bees on a blue background next to a papal tiara and to the keys of St. Peter. It is no coincidence that many popes and prominent figures resorted to symbols to express their position and to emphasize their own programs and ideals. The bee has always been a symbol of hard work, dedication, and eloquence. St. Ambrose and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, both connoisseurs and propagators of the Holy Scriptures were associated with this symbol, and in hagiographic sources they are often at the centre of episodes with bees as protagonists.

- Via another informative article written by Scuola Romit regarding the mysterious Barberini family. Their coat-of-arms can also be seen on the coin inset left (above). It (and the sculpture introducing the post) may have been designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an architect as well as a sculptor, whose grandfather was also an architect.

Regarding the coin, presumably, it was minted for or by Urban. The combination of keys and crown (the papal tiara), however, had been a generic papal emblem and ecclesiastical symbol since, at least, the 15th century. Suffice to say, it's inclusion into the Barberini coat of arms (the shield with the three bees) required a specific symmetry which is made evident by the ovoid shown in the second image (inset left).

Both examples of the coat of arms have ovoids with spirals in all 4 quadrants. I deliberately neglected to include the large pentagrams to illustrate that this ovoid is actually a combination of two smaller pentagrams as well. (See diagram inset right, below.)

"These commissioned artworks often teem with suns and bees (the Barberini family coat of arms had three bees), as also the Cortona fresco does. At one end of the sky sits the eminent solar Divine Providence, while at the other end are putto and flying maidens holding aloft the papal keys, tiara, with robe belt above a swarm of heraldic giant golden bees. Below Providence, the simulated frame crumbles. Time with a scythe seems to swallow a putto's arm. As the graceful bearer of the twelve stars that constitute Crown of Immortality is unequivocally extending it to the heraldic swarm, she earnestly looks towards Divine Providence."

- A description provided by Wiki of Italian Baroque painter, Pietro da Cortona's monumental fresco: Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power, created between 1633 and 1639, and the centerpiece of this post, as we will see.

"The big fresco is conceived as a single epic narration even though the artist decided to use a huge amount of images to fill the entire vault, painting various scenes separated in the several panels of the ceiling. The variety of the scenes which overlap and run into the vault forces the observer to move back and forth across the entire ceiling to follow the sequence of images, which are linked together, creating a constant relationship with the surroundings...  The effect is that of a recreation of reality that captivates the viewer, involving their senses and provoking their wonder. Considered from this point of view the Barberini ceiling has no precedent in the history of art and represents the blooming of a new language. The decoration of the vault confirms Cortona’s position as a great history painter. In the Rome of his days this commission conferred Cortona supremacy, which would accompany him throughout his career as a painter."

-  An astute observation via Simona Albanese - our "personal connection to Italy in the heart of Brisbane" - from her 2006 thesis submitted to the University of Auckland regarding The Triumph of Divine Providence, another name referring to Pietro da Cortona's creation.

Thus far, Albanese has written the most informative article I could find on the web regarding this masterwork. But, I will only be (geometrically addressing) a small detail of what, in terms of beauty, intricacy of design, clarity of artistic vision, and sheer magnitude of size and contour, should be classified as another Wonder of the World! Inset right is a detail of the fresco; the detail I tested is framed in red. For the full fresco, see the Albanese page, or,  my chosen image source, this fabulous Web Gallery of Art page.

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"But, these secrets of Pythagorean-Platonic harmonic geometry, for which the golden section is, if not the keystone at least the symbolic instrument, after being loudly acclaimed publicly for a half a century, were once again obscured. Palladio and Michelangelo (and, perhaps, Gabriel) were probably the last architects to still deliberately apply the proportions produced by the golden section and the Vitruvian concepts of symmetry and eurhythmy in their works...

Only the baroque, which is generally scorned and poorly understood, continues to 'sing the cathartic geometry' in its waves of stone and stucco."

- A small excerpt from Chapter 8 of The Golden Number: Pythagorean Rites and Rhythms in the Development of Western Civilization by Matila Ghyka.

In the quote above, Matila Ghyka reminds us that the golden section was revitalized during the Baroque period. He was referring to architecture specifically but he may have been unaware of how extensively pentagonal phi was used at the time by artists and artisans alike. Of course, he did not have excess to the WWW in the 1930's... which we obviously do. How else could I find an article regarding an Italian work of art written by an academic in Brisbane? In the earlier half of the 20th century this wouldn't have been as readily possible.

That being said, even with the WWW at my fingertips I have only recently been introduced to Pietro da Cortona  and his masterpiece... and, as I've mentioned, this was revealed to me by the enigmatic golden siren. Really.

Meanwhile, in the midst of constructing this post, I came to the conclusion that the Bernini/Barberini spirals may have been the inevitable result of having to marry the 3 Barberini bees with the (given) symmetry of the Papal keys and crown symbol - possibly designed in the 1400s by an unknown artisan - which, as you can see (inset right) - has an undeniably pentagonal symmetry. For the artist, Bernini, one thing may have led to another, and an intriguing phi symmetrical relationship - the golden egg - just happened to emerge. For Bernini the architect, however, it should have been a fundamental exercise in geometry. Then again, for a magician... well, we won't speculate further.

Moving closer to the point, while the Barberini logo is the theme of this post, my sole purpose was not to interpret it. Instead, my goal was to present the subtly elegant ways in which a great artist might utilize pentagonal symmetry.

To this end, I've posted a series of details of Cortona's Triumph superimposed with the applicable pentagonal geometry. Text will be minimal. Click on any image (below the jump) to enjoy a slide show.

It begins here... with the bees...

Or, perhaps, here.

The bees meet the keys... and two smiling putti, via an unusual arrangement of 2 spirals.
Moreover, although not tested, it appears to be our first full golden egg...with a "yolk"
and a spiral in each quadrant!

The canvas. Note that the wreath in its entirety recalls the shape of the mask-like shield we saw in
the sculpture introducing this post.

The orchestration continues with a second movement... the immense wreath
held aloft by the woman in red comes into play.

...and a second golden egg emerges. Although not tested, a spiral likely
lies in all four quadrants. Pure gold.

A larger ovoid which maintains the general golden configurations set by the smaller ovoids.

The companion to the larger ovoid. Once again, all four sections of the ovoid contain a spiral and,
as we can suppose, also applies to the grand spiral and ovoid below.

A massive spiral which ties all the elements of this image into one dynamic unit.

A grand ovoid.

"A large-scale project like the vault had to follow a standard modus operandi, which was used by Cortona and many other artists. Unfortunately there is neither trace nor mention among the Barberini documents of a possible large-scale outline on canvas created by Cortona and showing the entire ornamentation of the ceiling or a single section. This is very unusual, as Cortona would have needed some way to show his design to his patron.

Only a few drawings have survived in the case of the Barberini ceiling and these are scattered in museums all over the world...

Fortunately the various types of surviving drawings – sketches, details and overall views – confirm that Cortona began by roughing out his ideas, intended to provide inspiration and act as a reference during the actual painting stage, but they were not, strictly speaking, technical apparatus. In contrast, the full-scale cartoons, which unfortunately do not exist or have disappeared, were produced to play a different role: they were placed on top of the plaster like a kind of stencil for the transfer of various sections of the decoration. A wooden stylus was used to trace the outlines onto the wet plaster through the card, which is more porous than paper."

- Another quoted section from Simona Albanese's The Triumph of Divine Providence. Considering the immensity of the project, if we were to find any evidence of the use of a pentagonal geometric plan, it'd probably lie in Cortona's preliminary scaled-down drawings and not found in a "large-scale" outline... and, in all likelihood, this drawing would be for artist's-eyes-only... that is, unless those members of the Barberini family who commissioned the project specified the use of a pentagonal geometric plan. As to why this might be so, well, if some member of the family had been aware of a certain Renaissance monk named Luca Pacioli and his Divina proportione then weaving this "mysterious" ratio into a work of art might be desirable. Keep in mind that Pacioli was also the author of a book devoted to accounting... a subject the Barberini merchants would surely warm to.

Lastly, we might ask if this "missing" preliminary design was actually the work of Bernini the architect (inset left), who (presumably) designed Pope Urban's coat of arms to begin with.

"The figures are painted with allegorical symbols recalling the virtue they represent. So, from the top left, Royalty (with Ariadne's crown), Eternity ( with the serpent), Divinity (with the triangle), Harmony (with the lyre ), Beneficence (with the ear of wheat), Justice (with the scales) and Fortitude (with the club). The figure in the centre on the throne decorated on the back with the Barberini bees and surrounded by a strong sunlight placed behind is Divine Wisdom, the central focus of the composition. At the top are two angels who symbolize the path that leads to wisdom, therefore the Love of God (on the left riding a lion about to shoot a golden arrow at the earth) and the Fear of God (on the right guiding a hare in the act of shooting a silver arrow at the globe). On the right, there follow the figures of Purity (with the swan), of Holiness (with the altar), of Beauty (with Berenice's hair ) and of Perspicacity (with the eagle). At the four corners, there are four busts of female figures carrying the Barberini Sun."

- Via the Wiki entry for Allegoria della Divina Sapienza. It was painted by Andrea Sacchi and was the first of the Barberini frescos commissioned. (It is posted below.) This fresco would adorn the ceiling of a room in the wing of the Palazzo occupied by Anna Colonna, the wife of Taddeo Barberini). Inset left is one of crowned, androgynous sirens (or twin-tailed mermaids) who peer down from the corners of the room - similar to the bronze siren we saw earlier (and the one that led us here, to this very room).

***

Triumph of Divina Sapientia (divine wisdom) - the smaller, Chigi version of Allegoria della Divina Sapienza at the Palazzo Barberini, 1629-30, Andrea Sacchi. (See the WGA page for the real deal.)

Remember my mention of the "mysterious Barberinis" from earlier in this post? Well, Triumph of Divina Sapientia is one fresco that might add to this impression. The Divina Sapienza (Wisdom) is Sophia symbolizing the wisdom of God - personified as a woman - to some Christian theologists, and a female saint (mother to Faith, Hope and Charity) to others. As the more dynamic Gnostic Sophia, she is a force of her own and sometimes interpreted as the bride of Christ, but Sacchi's interpretation here resembles more of Greco-Roman goddess holding court over an array of mythical female personalities. While the latter are referred to as "Virtues," their identities as such, are unfamiliar to me.

There are, however, three entities who are very familiar... and all are Greco-Roman divinities, the foremost being Venus Aphrodite. She is depicted lounging in the foreground, half-clad in a blue garment, on the far-right of the canvas. She is also one of the few figures looking back at us. She holds up an unidentifiable mass in her right hand; this we discover is a lock of Queen Berenice's hair. As most classical versions of the legend would have it, in return for a favor from Venus, Berenice offered a lock of her golden hair at an altar of the goddess who responded by placing the hair among the stars to become a constellation.

Meanwhile, where Venus goes, Eros is soon to follow. And there he is, on a cloud above her with his arrow and a hare, an animal he is often portrayed with... on coins, in mosaics and on this piece of Athenian pottery. Above, inset right is a detail from the original fresco at the Palazzo. While in the quoted description he is referred to as the "Fear of God" this hardly seems to be the case.

The third god present, in the sky on the left side of the canvas  (inset left), while referred to as the "love of god" in the quote, appears to be the sun god Apollo and his lions. There can be no doubt.  So, thus far, we find Apollo, Venus & Amor... a very pentagonal combination in our (developing) phi mythos.

I'm not sure about the other figures in the frescos, but Satcchi's Allegory and the subsequent Triumph of Divine Wisdom seem to allude to more of a Pre-Christian divinity than we might expect to find in a palace owned by a family with a pope and several cardinals in tow. Viewed with Cortona's Triumph of Divine Providence, with it's enigmatic (and powerful) women cavorting amid the bees and keys, "pagan" comes to mind before "papal." Ironically, a fresco of Christ's crucifixion (by Cortona) decorates a nearby room.

Inset right is a fountain designed for Pope Urban by Bernini featuring the Barberini bees on a scallop shell, a Venus symbol.

And so we come to the end of our investigation, but before I leave, I must show you this intriguing engraving of a family portrait by Cortona: Allegory of the Barberini Family. It is described on it's British Museum page as an "Allegorical composition relating to the Barberini, with figures clustered around a map and compass, with Jupiter and his eagle above, the latter holding a magnetic stone labelled ARCANIS NODIS which attracts to it rings of iron; sailing vessels to the left and a putto to the right with a garland of flowers around which bees swarm."

Hmmm... definitely enigmatic. As for the Barberini's presence in The Dürer Files...? Well, it was while researching Dürer's use of the twin-tailed mermaid that the Barberini Siren was found. The rest is history. ;-)

Meanwhile, its that time of year again... the witching season, and our favorite time of year. Wishing you some magical moments and high spirits throughout!

Ovoid 2 at its fullest displays several components that might
be described as ovoids in themselves. The two heart-shaped spiral configurations
in the image above are an example.

Comprehensive source links not previously mentioned: David Lown's The Palazzo Barberini in Rome;

Barberini Bees and Bernini: a Roman story.; and, last but not least, Roberto Piperno's Piazza Barberini.

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* That being said, there is no sure source informing us that Pacioli was aware of pentagonal phi or of the spiral produced. Apparently, rectangular phi is mentioned in his famous tome but not triangular phi, that is, pentagonal phi. Presently, this is all I know for sure... but, in the end, Pacioli may be a dead link in our inquiry... in which case, Pacioli was not the man who enlightened Dürer regarding the golden ratio as some propose.