Explore the History of this artwork, Habakkuk and the Angel (Bernini).
Gian Lorenzo Bernini began to work in the chapel in 1652 for Fabio Chigi, the cardinal-priest of the basilica. His patron was elected pope under the name of Alexander VII in 1655 giving a fresh impetus for the reconstruction of the funerary chapel. At the time the two niches at the sides of the main altar were still empty while the other two on the left and right of the entrance were filled with the statues of Lorenzetto created after Raphael's design: Jonah and the Whale and Elijah.
A surviving drawing from the workshop of Bernini proves that the architect at first planned to move the two Raphaelesque statues to the empty niches by the altar but soon he changed his mind. He created two new statues depicting the Prophet Daniel and Habakkuk, and these sculptures formed a larger composition facing each other diagonally across the space of the chapel. Bernini created a spatial relationship that enlivened the entire chapel, turning its classical form to a new religious use.
The statue of Habakkuk was placed in the niche to right of the main altar. The sculpture was set up in its place in November 1661 but Bernini was working on it since October 1656.A terracotta model for the statue also survived in the Vatican Museums. Since being cleaned in the 1980s it has been attributed to Bernini himself but Dickerson and Sigel thought to be the work of an assistant, probably Ercole Ferrata who was working with Bernini around the time of the creation of the Habakkuk.
Vatican Museums Raphael Jonah and the Whale Prophet Daniel Lorenzetto Ercole Ferrata Habakkuk Gian Lorenzo Bernini Elijah Alexander VII