ABSTRACT
A likely source for the “capricious” spray of the large bees on the statue base and the sarcophagus of Urban’s tomb is a title page for a book of Maffeo Barberini’s poems designed by Ruben. Since the Barberini coat of arms has a set of three bees as its central element, works commissioned by Pope Urban VIII include the family coat of arms and occasionally bees in a variety of less formal roles. The sense of touch had been emphasized in many works of his very early years: it was to be expected that he would welcome an opportunity to use the sense of smell to refer to spiritual qualities in his intimate friend and patron, Pope Urban. The large bees, after all, are appropriately called “Barberini bees,” since their number and preternatural size relate them to the figure of Urban, the coat of arms, and the large supporting figure in the tomb monument.
