Baldachin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Baldacchino" redirects here. For the surname, see Baldacchino (surname).
Drawing of a baldachin over a throne, placed on a dais
Marie Antoinette's bed, which has a baldachin, in the Petit Trianon (Versailles, France)
Virgin Mary with cloth of honour by Hans Memling
Louis XIV of France, Chambre du Roi, Versailles

A baldachin, or baldaquin (from Italian: baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy,[a] but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is sufficiently architectural in form. Baldachins are often supported on columns, especially when they are disconnected from an enclosing wall.[1] A cloth of honour is a simpler cloth hanging vertically behind the throne, usually continuing to form a canopy. It can also be used for similar canopies in interior design, for example above beds, and for processional canopies used in formal state ceremonies such as coronations, held up by four or more men with poles attached to the corners of the cloth.

"Baldachin" was originally a luxurious type of cloth from Baghdad, from which name the word is ultimately derived, appearing in English as "baudekin" and other spellings. Matthew Paris records that Henry III of England wore a robe "de preciosissimo baldekino" at a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 1247.[2] The word for the cloth became the word for the ceremonial canopies made from the cloth.

Canopies of state

In the Middle Ages, a hieratic canopy of state (or "estate"), cloth of honour, or cloth of state was hung above the seat of a personage of sufficient standing, as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a

Virgin Mary
in particular is very often shown sitting under a cloth of honour in medieval and Renaissance paintings where she is shown enthroned with saints.

The cloth was often simply a luxurious textile, often imported and with rich patterns, as in

embroidered or woven into the tapestry
are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts.

Sometimes, as in the

The Field of Cloth of Gold. The canopy of estate may still be seen in most formal throne rooms
.

State bed

Ceremonial

The state bed, intended for receiving important visitors and producing heirs before a select public, but not intended for sleeping in,

Louis XIV developed the rituals of receptions in his state bedchamber, the petit lever to which only a handful of his court élite might expect to be invited. The other monarchs of Europe soon imitated his practice; even his staunchest enemy, William III of England
, had his "grooms of the bedchamber", a signal honour.

The state bed, a

Marie Leszczyńska at Versailles, as the centrepiece of a new decor realised for the Queen in 1730–35.[b] Its tester is quickly recognisable as a baldachin, serving its time-honoured function; the bedding might easily be replaced by a gilded throne. The queens of France spent a great deal of time in their chambre, where they received the ladies of the court at the morning lever and granted private audiences. By the time Marie Antoinette escaped the mob from this bedroom, such state beds, with the elaborate etiquette they embodied, were already falling out of use. A state bed with a domed tester designed in 1775–76 by Robert Adam for Lady Child at Osterley Park[c] and another domed state bed, delivered by Thomas Chippendale for Sir Edwin Lascelles at Harewood House, Yorkshire, in 1773[4]
are two of the last English state beds intended for a main floor State Bedroom in a non-royal residence.

For sleep

In Britain, monarchs slept in a state bed in the

Second World War. It was probably sold during a government modernisation, somehow appeared in an auction in Northamptonshire, and was bought for a family for £100 in the 1960s. They used it for thirty years, recognising that it was important but not knowing where it came from until an interiors expert at the Victoria and Albert Museum published an appeal to try to find it. The bed was bought back from the family and returned to Speaker's House after restoration and with new hangings. It can be viewed during tours of the Speaker's House.[5]

St. Peter's Basilica

Main article:
St. Peter's baldachin
Bernini
's "Baldacchino" in St Peter's, Vatican City

Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design and construct a large structure that would be placed over the main altar, believed to be above the tomb of Saint Peter, in the new St. Peter's Basilica.[6] The canopy imitated cloth in bronze, as did many subsequent imitations. This famous and spectacular feature is generally called the "Baldacchino", though strictly it is a ciborium.

Bernini's design for the Baldacchino incorporated giant

Barberini family, with their signature bees, are at the base of every column.[8]

All of these combine to create a feeling of upward movement.[9]

Processional canopy

Victorious royal entry by King Louis XII of France into Genoa, after a siege. Miniature by Jean Bourdichon, c. 1508

A baldachin may also be used in formal processions, including

parasol).[10]

Such canopies might be made of anything from muslin to heavy brocade, or even constructed of less flexible materials, and are supported by poles, whether affixed to a carriage, or carried by people walking on each side. An Egyptian pharaoh, for example, was escorted both in life and in death by such a canopy of estate.

Francisco Franco, the ruler of Spain from 1939 to 1975, frequently walked under a baldachin after formally proclaiming Spain a monarchy—a privilege he appropriated as de facto regent for life.

In Spanish Holy Week processions the sculptures of Virgin Mary, shown as Queen of Sorrow, use to go on their floats under canopies with embroideries Madr with gold or silver yarn

Surname Baldacchino

The surname Baldacchino comes from the artisans who used to make the Baldachin. The surname is found mainly in the islands of Malta and Sicily, particularly in Agrigento and Naro.

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Baldac is a medieval Latin form for Baghdad, whence fine silks reached Europe.
  2. ^ The hangings were rewoven for Marie Antoinette. The present hangings, made at Lyon by the same firm that delivered the originals, replicate the hangings as they were in 1787.
  3. ^ Of this grandiose bed Horace Walpole asked in a private letter "what would Vitruvius think of a dome decorated by a milliner?"

References

  1. ^ "Baldachin | architecture". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  2. ^ Richard Ettinghausen et al., The Art and Architecture of Islam: 650-1250, 1987, Yale University Press (Yale/Penguin History of Art)
  3. ^ Peter K. Thornton, Authentic Decor: the Domestic Interior 1620–1920, (London, 1985) and Seventeenth-Century Interior Decoration in England, France and Holland, (New Haven & London, 1981).
  4. ^ Annabel Westman and Aasha Tyrrell, "The Restoration of the Harewood State Bed" (on-line Archived 2006-03-17 at the Wayback Machine)
  5. ^ Whannel, Kate (30 January 2023). "The family that bought the King's bed for £100". BBC News.
  6. Associated Press News
    . 11 January 2024.
  7. Associated Press News
    . 11 January 2024.
  8. ^ "St. Peter's - Papal Altar & Baldacchino".
  9. ^ "St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican | History, description, useful information". 27 November 2016.
  10. ^ M. C. Miller, "The Parasol: An Oriental Status-Symbol in Late Archaic and Classical Athens," The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 112 (1992) 91-105.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baldachins.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Canopy".
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