MIT Libraries homeDome

Detail of the elephant, showing the rear and tail; "Immediately on Bernini's return to Rome in 1666 Alexander VII commissioned him to design a setting in front of S Maria sopra Minerva for a small obelisk found near by. Bernini revived a project dating back to the 1630s, and the resultant Elephant Bearing an Obelisk was unveiled in the piazza in 1667." [Grove] The sculpture was executed by Ercole Ferrata. The Egyptian obelisk found in the Dominicans' garden. It is the shortest of the eleven Egyptian obelisks in Rome and is said to have been one of two obelisks moved from Sais. The inspiration for the unusual composition came from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ("Poliphilo's Dream of the Strife of Love"), an unusual 15th century novel probably by Francesco Colonna." Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 12/2/2007)