Monday 14 December 2009

The solitary angel of St. Andrea della Valle

If you look at the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, not far from Largo Argentina, you would notice that there is just one statue of angel on the left side. This makes the facade partially incomplete. Where is the other angel which should have been simmetrically placed on the right side? The facade was erected by Carlo Rainaldi in 1665 on the base of a project of Maderno. This project wasn't very much loved by Rainaldi so that he decided to place two angels on the facade to make it more beautiful. The first one was realised by Giacomo Fancelli, but his work was so much criticised even by the pope Alessandro VII, that the artist, pretty much offended, said to the pope: "If you really want the second angel, then do it by yourself!" This is why today we see only one angel instead of two.