A papal skull: Dresden museum displays sensational art discovery, long thought lost
- The white marble skull of Pope Alexander VII was created by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the 17th century
- The skull is on show in the Semper Building of Dresden’s Zwinger palatial complex until the beginning of September
A white marble skull of Pope Alexander VII, long thought to have been lost, has now been discovered in the Germany city Dresden, where it has been for almost 200 years.
The masterpiece by famous Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), which has been described many times in historic texts, was discovered in a sculpture collection during the preparation of a Caravaggio exhibition of the Old Masters Picture Gallery, museum director Stephan Koja said.
The piece was long considered lost and had disappeared after going on loan to a nearby palace, Koja said, announcing in late May the “sensational discovery.”
The frighteningly realistic skull and another spectacular loan from Rome – a painting showing the pontiff with the artwork – are the focus of the new show Bernini, the Pope and Death in the Semper Building of Dresden’s Zwinger palatial complex until the beginning of September.
The timing for the exhibition is certainly apt, as it looks back on a historic pandemic that the newly elected Pope rigorously contained in Rome: the plague of 1656/57.
