Why is there only one angel, and not two, on the upper part of the facade of Sant' Andrea della Valle? The angel is the work of Ercole Ferrata (1610-86), whose brief was to carve two angels for the facade of the church. However, so the story goes, no less a figure than Pope Alexander VII (r. 1655-67) found fault with Ferrata's first angel. As a result, the temperamental sculptor huffily declared that if the Pope wanted a second angel, he would have to carve it himself! It is an amusing story! However, an engraving of the facade of the church, which was made by Giuseppe Vasi (1710-82) nearly a century later, clearly depicts two angels. It is thought that the second angel was made of stucco and installed as a 'temporary' work. Over time it would have deteriorated and eventually disappeared. One of the angel's wings is raised somewhat awkwardly, which led to it being nicknamed L'Angelo Puntello, following a jibe made by Pasquino (one of Rome's 'Talking' Statues): 'Vorrei volare al pari di un uccello, ma qui fui posto a fare da puntello' ('I would like to fly like a bird, but I was placed here to act as a buttress'). Comments are closed.
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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Rome.
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