Pendants (art)

In art, a pendant is one of two paintings, statues, reliefs or other type of works of art intended as a pair. Typically, pendants are related thematically to each other and are displayed in close proximity. For example, pairs of portraits of married couples are very common as are symmetrically arranged statues to the sides of an altar.

Ancient Rome
Modern Rome
A pair of pendants by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) hung on the same wall in the Metropolitan Museum of Art separated by several other paintings.

Pendants may be the creation of one artist alone or be the product of two artists and have, in that case, sometimes a competitive edge. The latter is borne out by the marble groups Triumph of Faith over Idolatry by Jean-Baptiste Théodon and Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred by Pierre Le Gros the Younger on the Altar of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 1695-97/98, in the Church of the Gesù, Rome.

When J.M.W. Turner bequeathed two of his paintings to the National Gallery in London with the clause that they should in perpetuity hang next to two landscape paintings by Claude Lorrain, he turned Claude's paintings de facto into pendants although they were not originally intended as such.[1]

Many historic pendants have become separated over the years.

Jean-Baptiste Théodon: Triumph of Faith over Idolatry
Pierre Le Gros: Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred
Pendants on the Altar of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 1695-97/98, Rome, Church of the Gesù.

References
  1. Dido Building Carthage, National Gallery, collection online.
  • "Pendant". The National Gallery. Retrieved 10 March 2015.


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