Monumental Labour: The Sculpture Workers of Seventeenth-Century Papal Rome

Jennifer Liu, M.A., B.A.

The almost continuous production of sculptural monuments in seventeenth-century Rome required huge amounts of labour. My doctoral dissertation investigates the production of papal monuments, the history of sculptural work in the early modern period, and the ways labour can be seen and understood in sculptures. Studying labour acknowledges all aspects of making, not just the conceptual or artistic. I use the term ‘sculpture worker’ to capture the diversity of knowledge, training, professions, and materials involved in monumental sculptural production. Sculpture workers were responsible for preparing materials and worksites, and making, repairing, moving, assembling, and maintaining sculptures. I complicate the idea of ‘sculpting’ by investigating the realities and experiences of a diverse labour force, ranging from artists and technical experts to enslaved labourers, that has remained largely invisible.

Objects of my study include altarpieces, tombs, and fountains designed for papal patrons. Studying monuments in both metal and stone, for example the monumental marble statue of Urban VIII by Gianlorenzo Bernini and the bronze statue of Innocent X by Alessandro Algardi both in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, allows for a comparison of the value of labour in different materials. Building on studies of early modern sculpture and using a critical archival methodology, I counter the longstanding devaluation and aversion to manual labour in the arts and its characterization as menial, dirty, or unimportant. Combining materiality studies, social history, and labour history and theory, this project reexamines well-known monuments from the perspective of labour.