Drawing a Miracle

John Bidwell:

Like much of the artwork in the exhibition, Perino del Vaga’s “Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” was the product of aristocratic patronage. In this case the patron was Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III, son of the Duke of Parma. He held high offices in the church, the proceeds of which helped to finance an immense art collection, including the sumptuous illuminated Farnese Hours now at the Morgan. He employed the renowned medalist Giovanni Bernardi on several projects sacred and secular such as a crucifixion scene in rock crystal and a silver chest adorned with mythological subjects. He commissioned this drawing to serve as a model for one of a series of rock-crystal plaques engraved by Bernardi. Vasari described the commission in detail: For two candelabras of silver he [Bernardi] engraved six round crystals. In the first is the Centurion praying Christ that He should heal his son, in the second the Pool of Bethesda, in the third the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, in the fourth the Miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, in the fifth the scene of Christ driving the traders from the Temple, and in the last the Raising of Lazarus; and all were exquisite. Five of the plaques have survived as well as some of Perino’s drawings, two of which are at the Morgan, this one and the Pool of Bethesda.