white marble by an assistant sculptor from Bernini's workshop, and instead of the planned copper plates the funerary inscriptions are composed of freestanding bronze letters. The outline of the two planned cartouches can be seen on both tombs, patched up by Bernini - this is a proof that the marble slabs covering the other pyramid were also cut in the 16th century. The epitaphs were composed with the help of Lucas Holstenius, an erudite humanist and senior custodian of the Vatican Library. The Chi Rho symbol was added to the top of the pyramids. The tombs were covered with portasanta marble slabs whose red and grey colours suggested the combustion and smoke of ancient Roman imperial funerals, while the pyramidal form evoked the multistory imperial rogus or funeral pyre. These funerals were customarily held on the Campus Martius where the basilica was located, and an eagle was released from the pyre signifying the ascent of the soul to heaven. It is not coincidental that the frieze panels to the left and right of the altar are decorated with soaring eagles. Seen as a whole, this is another example where the erudite Classical symbolism of the chapel was integrated into a broader Christian resurrection imagery. The wall behind the tombs is covered with an unusual marble panelling of portasanta rectangles and africano borders. This revetment is already visible on Salviati's drawing, proving that it was part of the original scheme of the chapel, but on the modello drawing the lunette is also covered with the same encrustation. Regardless of whether this was ever really completed, the simple white marble cornices above the tombs should be 17th-century additions. The frieze between the cornices is made of smooth, dark red rosso antico marble, while the older frieze in the rest of the chapel had been made of portasanta. The antique source of this peculiar raised block revetment, if there was any, remains unknown although some lost part of the interior revetment of the Pantheon is sometimes proposed. Lunettes The lunettes are filled with oil on wood panels of Raffaello Vanni, commissioned by Fabio Chigi in 1653. The theme of these often overlooked paintings is somewhat enigmatic, giving rise to different interpretations. In the guides they are often described as "David and Saul" and "Eli and Samuel" or simply - and wrongly - as "prophets". The clue to their real meaning was given by