Images(2)

Countess Matilda of Canossa (1046–1115)

Artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini Italian, b. 1598, Naples; d. 1680, Rome

Date1630s (?)

MediumBronze

DimensionsH. 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number58.4.20

On View

On view

Label TextMatilda of Canossa, countess of Tuscany and duchess of Lorraine, was a major medieval landowner, political ruler, and supporter of the papacy. Upon her death, she left all her vast lands to the Church in Rome. A half century later, Pope Urban VIII (1623–44) had Matilda’s body unearthed from her grave in northern Italy for reburial in Rome. He commissioned Bernini to design a suitably honorific marble tomb in Saint Peter’s Basilica. This statuette is a bronze cast derived from the effigy Bernini placed atop the tomb. Matilda’s scepter and crown allude to her temporal authority. She holds Saint Peter’s keys and wears a papal tiara, symbolizing her allegiance to the pope.
[L. Humphrey, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2026]
Published ReferencesThe Hague, Holland, Cramer Gallery, "Notable Renaissance Bronzes," Supplement (n.d.), 31.

Five College Roman Baroque Festival, cat. no. 14, illus.

Rudolf Wittkower, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Sculpture of the Roman Baroque (London, 1955), 20, 37, cat. no. 33 on 195 ff.

A. Munoz, "Alcune opere sconoscuite del Bernini," Arte 20 (1917), 158-94.

"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 4, no. 1 (Fall 1963), listed and illus. (b-w) 19.

Builders and Humanists: The Renaissance Popes as Patrons (exhibition catalogue) (Houston: University of St. Thomas, 1966), cat. no. 73, illus.

Roman Baroque Sculpture (exhibition catalogue) (Northampton, MA: Smith College of Art, 1974), cat. no. 14, illus.

Michael P. Mezzatesta, The Art of Gianlorenzo Bernini: Selected Sculpture (exhibition catalogue) (Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum, 1982), cat, no. 3, illus. fig. 21.

Olga Raggio, "Bernini and the Collection of Cardinal Flavio Chigi," Apollo 67 (May 1983), 371, illus. fig. 11.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 200.

Michèle K. Spike, Matilda of Canossa and the Origins of the Renaissance (exhibition catalogue) (Williamsburg, VA: Muscarelle Museum of Art, 2015), cat. no. 9, discussed 123, illus. (color) 122.
Exhibition HistoryAllentown, PA, Allentown Art Museum, "Gothic to Baroque in Sculpture, Drawings, and Prints," October 30, 1960-January 30, 1961.

Houston, TX, University of St. Thomas, "Builders and Humanists: The Renaissance Popes as Patrons," March 24-May 22, 1966, cat. no. 73, illus.

Northampton, MA, Smith College of Art, "Roman Baroque Sculpture," April 4-28, 1974, cat. no. 14, illus.

Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, "Masterpieces of the North Carolina Museum of Art," March 11-April 3, 1975.

Fort Worth, TX, Kimbell Art Museum, "The Art of Gianlorenzo Bernini: Selected Sculpture," April 1-May 16, 1982, cat. no. 3, illus. fig. 21.

Williamsburg, VA, Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary, “Matilda of Canossa and the Origins of the Renaissance,” February 7–April 19, 2015, cat. no. 9, illus. (color).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Miracle on Morgan Street: The Foundations of the NCMA, 1946–1960,” September 16, 2020–April 11, 2021.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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