In , where on an ordinary weekday morning you'll rarely find another soul, two angels stand to the left and right of the altar. They were made for on the other side of the city.
The one on the left carries the crown of thorns, the one on the right the plaque with the inscription that hung above the cross. carved them around 1668, at an age when he could easily have left the work to his studio, and the difference between them and the eight other angels on the bridge shows it.
When saw them, he decided rain and wind should never touch them, so copies went up on the bridge and these two stayed behind in the studio. After Bernini's death his son kept them in the family, and only in 1729 did they end up here.
The back is worth a walk around, because the folds of the robe are worked out there just as carefully as at the front, even though no one on a bridge would ever see them from that side. That tells you plenty about the confidence with which he worked.
The bridge they were meant for comes up on the walk about Bernini and Borromini.
As we step back outside we turn left straight away and follow Via del Nazareno down to Via della Stamperia, where it grows louder before we even see it.
Sources. Story: Soprintendenza Speciale Roma; Treccani (Bernini, angeli di Ponte Sant'Angelo) Photos: Photo: Livioandronico2013 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
