Artist: Bernini

Date: 875 ca. (throne); 1656-1666 (art)

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• The work is Chair of Peter. A bishop's chair (i.e. the Pope as bishop of Rome) is a symbol of their teaching authority

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• Pope Alexander VII commissioned Bernini to make a fitting place for what was thought to be the chair of St. Peter himself. His creation has a bronze chair with four doctors of the church beneath. The two in the back, from the Eastern Church, are St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom. The two in the front, from the Western Church, are St. Ambrose and St. Augustine. They each point towards the chair rather than carry it. Above the chair, two putti each have a key and support the papal tiara together. On the chair is a relief, carved by Bernini himself, of the gospel story in which Jesus tells St. Peter to "feed my lambs" (Jn 21:15). In the background, there is Glory. Starting with the Holy Spirit in the center, in the image of a dove, the glory of God, through the holy angels, illuminates the chair of Peter

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• In recent times, the chair of Peter was determined to be the chair of Pope John VIII (782-882). The chair was a gift from Charles the Bald probably in 875 on his coronation as king