The Crest on the Trevi Fountain
To see how far this theory is viable, let’s now examine one of the most important elements of the sketch: the crest above the fountain, since this contains the name (in symbolic form) of the person, or at least the family, for whom the artist created the design. First let’s set aside the accompanying features, which are purely decorative, i.e. the two lions at the sides, the head just below (also perhaps of a lion), the festoons and the two cornucopia. Next, we can say at once that this is the crest of a princely family, because it is surmounted by a prince’s coronet. Now for the escutcheon, whose heraldic symbols – or at least the research I had to carry out to identify them – cost me a great deal of effort, because I set out with the idea that they belonged to a real person.
Above three hillocks, you can clearly see a dove facing to the left (or, in heraldic terms, dexter) with a twig in its beak; above this again, there is a strange emblem, a bend sinister studded by five bezants or small circles. Although it is drawn so clearly, I can say with all certainty that such a heraldic arrangement (three hillocks, dove and bend sinister) does not exist and therefore does not indicate any particular family. Could it be that such a splendid design was not commissioned or prepared for a family (a princely one, if the coronet is any guide), but was purely an exercise or the result of the imagination? What about the bend sinister, which a moment ago I called “strange”? In fact, the bend sinister – as opposed to the bend (which crosses the shield in the other direction) – is very rare in heraldry, almost an exception, and indicates a bastard line, i.e. the bastard branch of a family: hence its rarity and infrequent display. Unlike the bend sinister, the dove with the twig really does exist and is quite a common heraldic device. However, luckily for us, our research is restricted to princely families and a Roman princely family at that, given that the building was to be erected in Rome (don’t forget we are dealing with the Trevi fountain).
If we now return to the theory that the sketch may have been copied from an original by Bernini, we will have an almost immediate reply to our question: the crest could allude to the family of Innocent X, the family of the Pamphili princes, whose crest included the dove with the twig. However, I must raise an objection: the Pamphili crest does not have the bend sinister across the escutcheon, but three lilies above the dove; so it cannot belong to that family. But if we, or at least I, suppose that the sketch is a copy of Gian Lorenzo’s original, might not the anonymous 18th century artist have made a mistake? Or wanted to complete a heraldic device he could not make out properly because it was drawn too sketchily or was illegible because the original was in such a poor condition (after all, he was making a clean copy of it)? Next Page...
