Canonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome

Canonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome

Giuseppe Tiburtio Vergelli

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inside view of the Saint Peter's Basilica showing the spectacle and the ephemaral decorations erected for the inauguration of five cardinals performed by Pope Alexander VIII on October 16th, 1690. The print shows a view from the left transept of the church with Bernini's Baldacchino in the center. The whole floor of the building is crowded by people attending the ceremony. Numbers have been added to the image which correspond with the names of people and important monuments in the church, explained on the right side of the print.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Canonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, RomeCanonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, RomeCanonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, RomeCanonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, RomeCanonization of Five Cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.