[We are indebted to several other correspondents for replies to the
Query of F. R. S.]
{96}
_Statue of St Peter at Rome_ (Vol. vi., p. 604.).--This well-known bronze
statue is falsely stated to be a Jupiter converted. It is very far from
being true, though popularly it passes as truth, that the statue in
question is the ancient statue of Jupiter Capitolinus, with certain
alterations.
Another commonly-received opinion regarding this statue is, that it was
cast for a St. Peter, _but of the metal of the statue of Jupiter
Capitolinus_. But this can scarcely be true, for Martial informs us that in
his own time the statue of the Capitoline Jupiter was not of bronze but of
_gold_.
"Scriptus et æterno nunc primum Jupiter _auro_."
Lib. xi. Ep. iv.
Undoubtedly the statue was cast for a St. Peter. It was cast in the time of
St. Leo the Great (440-461), and belonged to the ancient church of St.
Peter's. St. Peter has the nimbus on his head; the first two fingers of the
right hand are raised in the act of benediction; the left hand holds the
keys, and the right foot projects from the pedestal. The statue is seated
on a pontifical chair of white marble.