A statue of St. Paul the Apostle stands in front of St. Peter’s Basilica on the right as you face the façade in Vatican City. It is paired with a statue of St. Peter on the left. The statue was sculpted in 1838 by Adamo Tadolini (b. Bologna 1788, d. Rome 1868).
The statue of St. Paul is 18 ft (5.5m) in height, on a pedestal 16 ft (4.9m) high.
One article describes Tadolini’s sculpture:
The figure of the apostle has a noble bearing, with the 2.79 meter long sword (which has lost its original gold-plating) in his right hand; his left holds a book. The pointed beard finishes off the especially expressive face; the drapery, with classical folds, is unrestrained and balanced. On the book is the inscription, in Hebrew letters of the fourteenth-fifteenth century style, reading: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me”, recalling the text from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verse 13.
In 1849 Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Mastai Ferretti, 1846-1878) decided to replace existing statues of Sts. Peter and Paul with larger ones that his predecessor, Gregory XVI (Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, 1831-1846), had commissioned for the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls. Those statues had never been placed there because they were judged to be unsuitable for the inside of that Basilica.
Sculpture Saturday is a challenge hosted by Susan Kelly at No Fixed Plans.
Fabulous statue.
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what a splendid beer!
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The beard is not bad also. 😉😊
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it looks like they take good care of these statues…
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My guess is they take good care of just about everything at the Vatican.
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the Catholic Church has a lot of money, at least they used to…
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Can’t wait to make it to Italy one day and see it in person!
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Your photo certainly emphasises the scale of this statue – very impressive!
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That’s a stunner, a nice statue indeed!
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Wow, that is one massive statue!
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The size of the statue goes along with the size of the Basilica.
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He looks so dignified, so grave.
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Thanks for joining.
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Thanks for hosting this blog challenge. Are there rules anywhere?
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Maybe he is upset that his contributions to Christianity went largely unrecognized during his lifetime.
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i ha e actually seen this in person many years ago / and i loved your nice image of it and the details about it – interesting that the seeps lost the gold plating
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Rome and the Vatican are prime places for those who like sculpture, architecture and art. Gold plating on statues in public places seems risky.
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🙂
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