Bernini's Organ-Case for S. Maria del Popolo

Abstract

When Fabio Chigi returned to Rome in 1651 after many years abroad in the service of the Papacy, he immediately took in hand the restoration of his family's chapel in S. Maria del Popolo.1 Over twenty years before, as a young man, the future Alexander VII had refurbished the other Chigi Chapel in S. Maria della Pace.2 Both chapels had been built for Agostino Chigi, the Sienese banker and Maecenas, in the early sixteenth century, and by the beginning of the following century, both had fallen into disrepair. In the case of the chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, however, which had been designed by Raphael, the Chigi title had been all but forgotten, so that Fabio was forced to undertake a lengthy legal battle before the rights of his family were vindicated.3 This time-consuming litigation, the lack of ready money, and his departure from Rome in 1629 had prevented the completion of all but a few necessary repairs, and on his return to the city he was naturally eager to undertake a more thoroughgoing restoration. In the spring of 1652 Fabio received his cardinal's hat, with S. Maria del Popolo as his titular church, and when he was elected pope in 1655, the work was extended to the entire church.4