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{{Short description|Cloth of honour above a throne associated with monarchs}}
[[File:Dais 2 (PSF).png|thumb|Drawing of a baldachin over a throne, placed on a dais]]
[[File:Marie Antoinette's Bed.jpg|thumb|Marie Antoinette's bed, which has a baldachin, in the Petit Trianon (Versailles, France)]]
[[File:Memling Mystic Marriage of St Catherine.jpg|thumb|Enthroned Virgin Mary with cloth of honour by Hans Memling]]
[[File:Versailles, chambre du roi.jpg|thumb|State bed of Louis XIV of France, ''Chambre du Roi'', Versailles]]
A '''baldachin''', or '''baldaquin''' (from {{lang-it|baldacchino}}), is a '''canopy of state''' typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy,{{efn|''Baldac'' is a medieval Latin form for [[Place:Baghdad|Baghdad]], whence fine silks reached Europe.}} but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in [[Religion:Cathedral|cathedral]]s, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is sufficiently architectural in form. Baldachins are often supported on columns, especially when they are disconnected from an enclosing wall.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Baldachin {{!}} architecture|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/baldachin-architecture|access-date=2020-08-12|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> A '''cloth of honour''' is a simpler cloth hanging vertically behind the throne, usually continuing to form a canopy. It can also be used for similar canopies in interior design, for example above beds, and for processional canopies used in formal state ceremonies such as coronations, held up by four or more men with poles attached to the corners of the cloth.

"''Baldachin''" was originally a luxurious type of cloth from [[Place:Baghdad|Baghdad]], from which name the word is ultimately derived, appearing in English as "''baudekin''" and other spellings. Matthew Paris records that Henry III of England wore a robe "''de preciosissimo baldekino''" at a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 1247.<ref>Richard Ettinghausen et al., ''The Art and Architecture of Islam: 650-1250'', 1987, Yale University Press (Yale/Penguin History of Art)</ref> The word for the cloth became the word for the ceremonial canopies made from the cloth.

==Canopies of state==
In the Middle Ages, a hieratic '''canopy of state''' (or "estate"), cloth of honour, or '''cloth of state''' was hung above the seat of a personage of sufficient standing, as a symbol of authority. The seat under such a canopy of state would normally be raised on a dais. The cloth above a seat generally continued vertically down to the ground behind the seat. Emperors and kings, reigning dukes and bishops were accorded this honour. In a 15th-century manuscript illumination the sovereign Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Rhodes sits in state to receive a presentation copy of the author's book. His seat is raised on a carpet-covered dais and backed with a richly embroidered ''dosser'' (French, ''dos''). Under his feet is a cushion, such as protected the feet of the King of France when he presided at a ''lit de justice''. The King of France was also covered by a mobile canopy during his coronation, held up on poles by several peers of France. The Virgin Mary in particular is very often shown sitting under a cloth of honour in medieval and Renaissance paintings where she is shown enthroned with saints.

The cloth was often simply a luxurious textile, often imported and with rich patterns, as in brocades, but might have heraldic elements. French kings are often shown with blue cloths patterned with the gold fleur-de-lys. Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII in her portrait by an anonymous artist, c. 1500 prays under a canopy of estate; one can see the dosser against the gilded leather wall-covering and the tester above her head (the [[Tudor rose]] at its centre) supported on cords from the ceiling. The coats-of-arms embroidered or woven into the tapestry are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts.

Sometimes, as in the presentation miniature ''Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good'' by Rogier van der Weyden, the cloth continues over the seat, and then to the floor. In the summer of 1520, a meeting was staged between Francis I of France and [[Biography:Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII of England]], where the ostentatious display of wealth and power earned the meeting-place the name of ''The Field of Cloth of Gold''. The canopy of estate may still be seen in most formal throne rooms.

== State bed ==
===Ceremonial===
The state bed, intended for receiving important visitors and producing heirs before a select public, but not intended for sleeping in,<ref>Peter K. Thornton, ''Authentic Decor: the Domestic Interior 1620–1920'', (London, 1985) and ''Seventeenth-Century Interior Decoration in England, France and Holland'', (New Haven & London, 1981).</ref> evolved during the second half of the seventeenth century, developing the medieval tradition of receiving visitors in the bedroom, which had become the last and most private room of the standard suite of rooms in a Baroque apartment. Louis XIV developed the rituals of receptions in his state bedchamber, the ''petit lever'' to which only a handful of his court élite might expect to be invited. The other monarchs of Europe soon imitated his practice; even his staunchest enemy, William III of England, had his "grooms of the bedchamber", a signal honour.

The state bed, a ''lit à la duchesse''&mdash;its canopy supported without visible posts&mdash;was delivered for the use of Queen Marie Leszczyńska at Versailles, as the centrepiece of a new decor realised for the Queen in 1730&ndash;35.{{efn|The hangings were rewoven for Marie Antoinette. The present hangings, made at Lyon by the same firm that delivered the originals, replicate the hangings as they were in 1787.}} Its tester is quickly recognisable as a baldachin, serving its time-honoured function; the bedding might easily be replaced by a gilded throne. The queens of France spent a great deal of time in their ''chambre'', where they received the ladies of the court at the morning ''lever'' and granted private audiences. By the time Marie Antoinette escaped the mob from this bedroom, such state beds, with the elaborate [[Philosophy:Etiquette|etiquette]] they embodied, were already falling out of use. A state bed with a domed tester designed in 1775–76 by Robert Adam for Lady Child at Osterley Park{{efn|Of this grandiose bed Horace Walpole asked in a private letter "what would Vitruvius think of a [[Engineering:Dome|dome]] decorated by a milliner?"}} and another domed state bed, delivered by Thomas Chippendale for Sir Edwin Lascelles at Harewood House, Yorkshire, in 1773<ref>Annabel Westman and Aasha Tyrrell, "The Restoration of the Harewood State Bed" ([http://www.harewood.org/chippendale/archives/restorers-account.htm on-line] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317022056/http://www.harewood.org/chippendale/archives/restorers-account.htm |date=2006-03-17 }})</ref> are two of the last English state beds intended for a main floor State Bedroom in a non-royal residence.

===For sleep===
In Britain, monarchs slept in a state bed in the Palace of Westminster the night before their coronation. This tradition was started by William the Conqueror in 1066 and continued until 1821, when George IV was the last monarch to sleep in the bed. The original state bed was damaged in a fire and replaced in 1859. The new bed remained  in the Speaker's House until the 1940s, when it was moved out as too opulent to be there during the difficult times of the Second World War. It was probably sold during a government modernisation, somehow appeared in an auction in Northamptonshire, and was bought for a family for £100 in the 1960s. They used it for thirty years, recognising that it was important but not knowing where it came from until an interiors expert at the Victoria and Albert Museum published an appeal to try to find it. The bed was bought back from the family and returned to Speaker's House after restoration and with new hangings. It can be viewed during tours of the Speaker's House.<ref>{{cite web | last=Whannel | first=Kate | title=The family that bought the King's bed for £100 | website=BBC News | date=30 January 2023 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64347139}}</ref>

== St. Peter's Basilica ==
[[File:Bernini Baldachino.jpg|thumb|Bernini's "Baldacchino" in St Peter's, Vatican City]]
Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design and construct a large structure that would be placed over the main altar, believed to be above the tomb of Saint Peter, in the new St. Peter's Basilica. The canopy imitated cloth in bronze, as did many subsequent imitations. This famous and spectacular feature is generally called the "Baldacchino", though strictly it is a ciborium.

Bernini's design for the Baldacchino incorporated giant solomonic columns inspired by columns that ringed the altar of the Old St. Peter's. These columns were originally donated by Constantine, and a false tradition asserts they are the columns from the Temple of Jerusalem. The lowest parts of the four columns of Bernini's Baldachin have a helical groove, and the middle and upper sections of the columns are covered in olive and bay branches, which are populated with a myriad of bees and small putti. Pope Urban VIII's family coat of arms, those of the Barberini family, with their signature bees, are at the base of every column.

All of these combine to create a feeling of upward movement.

== Processional canopy ==
[[File:Bnf059.jpg|thumb|Victorious [[History:Royal entry|royal entry]] by King Louis XII of France into Genoa, after a siege. Miniature by Jean Bourdichon, c. 1508]]
A baldachin may also be used in formal processions, including royal entries, coronation or funeral processions, to [[Philosophy:Status symbol|signify the elite status]] of the individual it covers. The origins of such an emblematic use in Europe lay in the courts of the Neo-Assyrian state, adopted in [[Place:Athens|Athens]] perhaps as early as the late seventh century BC, but relegated to the use of women by the late fifth century (compare parasol).<ref>M. C. Miller, "The Parasol: An Oriental Status-Symbol in Late Archaic and Classical Athens," ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies,'' 112 (1992) 91-105.</ref>

Such canopies might be made of anything from muslin to heavy brocade, or even constructed of less flexible materials, and are supported by poles, whether affixed to a carriage, or carried by people walking on each side. An Egyptian pharaoh, for example, was escorted both in life and in death by such a canopy of estate.

Francisco Franco, the ruler of Spain from 1939 to 1975, frequently walked under a baldachin after formally proclaiming Spain a monarchy—a privilege he appropriated as de facto regent for life.

In Spanish Holy Week processions the  sculptures of Virgin Mary, shown as Queen of Sorrow, use to go on their floats under canopies with embroideries Madr with gold or silver yarn

== Surname Baldacchino ==
The surname Baldacchino comes from the artisans who used to make the Baldachin. The surname is found mainly in the islands of Malta and Sicily, particularly in Agrigento and Naro.

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode=packed heights=220px>
File:Gestorum Rhodie obsidionis commentarii - BNF Lat6067 f3v.jpg|The Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes under a canopy of estate, on a dais: there is a cushion under his feet.
File:Margaretbeaufort.jpg|Margaret Beaufort, Queen Mother, at prayer, by an anonymous artist, about 1500
File:Lorenzo Lotto 060.jpg|A cloth of honour held over the Virgin by angels, in an altarpiece by Lorenzo Lotto
File:Versailles Queen's Chamber.jpg|At Versailles, the ''Chambre de la Reine'' features the centrally-placed state bed delivered for Queen Maria Leszczinska.
File:Taddeo Zuccari 003 Entrée de François Ier & Charles V à Paris (cropped).jpg|King Francis I of France, Charles V, and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese
File:Bedroom of the emperor.jpg|A baldachin in Empire style above a daybed
File:22 Kroningshall i det kongelige slott i Stockholm A.JPG|Baldachin covering the Silver Throne in the Hall of State of Stockholm Palace, Sweden
File:Chateau de Blois 38.jpg|Balachin in blue decorated with ''fleurs-de-lys'' in the former royal residence of Château de Blois
File:Salamanca. Virgen de la Esperanza.jpg|Our Lady of Hope under canopy. Holy Week in Salamanca, Spain
File:Our Lady of La Naval De Manila.jpg|[[Religion:Our Lady of La Naval de Manila|Our Lady of La Naval de Manila]] during the enthronement rites at Santo Domingo Church
</gallery>

==See also==
* Ciborium
* Monopteros
* Aedicule
* Gazebo

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011928 |title=baldachin (architecture) |website=Encyclopœdia Britannica}}
* {{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=Baldachinum of the Altar |first=John Bertram |last=Peterson |volume=2}}

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Canopy}}
* [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=COMP-6&I=2&M=imageseule Burgundian example], King René's Tournament Book, [[BnF]]


[[Category:Architectural elements]]

{{Sourceattribution|Baldachin}}