Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Baroque Master of Sculpture & Architecture
Gian Lorenzo Bernini:
Self-Portrait of Bernini, c. 1623
-Gian Lorenzo Bernini (also spelled Gianlorenzo or Giovanni Lorenzo) (Naples, 7 December 1598 – Rome, 28 November 1680) was an Italian artist and a prominent architect who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture. In addition, he painted, wrote plays, and designed metalwork and stage sets.
Bernini possessed the ability to depict dramatic narratives with characters showing intense psychological states, but also organise large-scale sculptural works which convey a magnificent grandeur. His skill in manipulating marble ensured he was considered a worthy successor of Michelangelo, far outshining other sculptors of his generation, including his rival, Alessandro Algardi. His talent extended beyond the confines of his sculpture to consideration of the setting in which it would be situated; his ability to synthesise sculpture, painting and architecture into a coherent conceptual and visual whole has been termed by the art historian Irving Lavin the "unity of the visual arts". A deeply religious man, working in Counter Reformation Rome, Bernini used light as an important metaphorical device in the perception of his religious settings, often using hidden light sources that could intensify the focus of religious worship, or enhance the dramatic moment of a sculptural narrative.
Bernini was also a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect, Francesco Borrominiand the painter and architect, Pietro da Cortona. Early in their careers they had all worked at the same time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and on his death, under Bernini. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions and fierce rivalries developed, particularly between Bernini and Borromini. Despite the arguably greater architectural inventiveness of Borromini and Cortona, Bernini's artistic pre-eminence, particularly during the reigns of popes Urban VIII(1623–44) and Alexander VII (1655–65), meant he was able to secure the most important commission in the Rome of his day, St. Peter's Basilica. His design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative and successful architectural designs.
During his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the papal nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and in 1621, at the age of only 23, he was knighted by Pope Gregory XV. Following his accession to the papacy, Urban VIII is reported to have said, "It is a great fortune for you, O Cavaliere, to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini made pope, but our fortune is even greater to have Cavalier Bernini alive in our pontificate." Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he once again regained pre-eminent artistic domination and continued to be held in high regard by Clement IX.
Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque. It is only from the late 19th century that art historical scholarship, in seeking an understanding of artistic output in the cultural context in which it was produced, has come to recognise Bernini's achievements and restore his artistic reputation. The art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that during the seventeenth century "there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini."
Personal life
Bernini was born in Naples on 1598 to a Mannerist sculptor, Pietro Bernini, originally from Florence, and Angelica Galante, a Neapolitan, the sixth of their thirteen children. Bernini himself would not marry until May 1639, at age forty-one, when he wed a twenty-two-year-old Roman woman, Caterina Tezio, in an arranged marriage. She bore him eleven children including youngest son Domenico Bernini who became his first biographer. In 1606, at the age of eight he accompanied his father to Rome, where Pietro was involved in several high profile projects. There, as a boy, Gianlorenzo's skill was soon noticed by the painter Annibale Carracci and by Pope Paul V, and he soon gained the important patronage of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the papal nephew. His first works were inspired by antique classical sculpture.
He died in Rome in 1680, and was buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
Early Works for Cardinal Borghese
Under the patronage of the Cardinal Borghese, the young Bernini rapidly rose to prominence as a sculptor. Among the early works for the cardinal were decorative pieces for the garden of the Villa Borghese, such as The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun, and several allegorical busts, including the Damned Soul and Blessed Soul. By the time he was 22, he was considered talented enough to have been given a commission for a papal portrait, the Bust of Pope Paul V.
Bernini's reputation was clearly established by four masterpieces, executed between 1619 and 1625, all now displayed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. To the art historian Rudolf Wittkower these four works—Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1619), The Rape of Proserpina (1621–22), Apollo and Daphne (1622–25), and David (1623–24)—"inaugurated a new era in the history of European sculpture". It is a view repeated by other scholars. Adapting the classical grandeur of Renaissance sculpture and the dynamic energy of the Mannerist period, Bernini forged a new conception for religious and historical sculpture.
Unlike those done by his predecessors, these sculptures focused on specific points of narrative tension in the stories they are trying to tell—Aeneas and family fleeing Troy; the instant that Pluto grasps Persephone; the moment Apollo sees his beloved Daphne begin her transformation into a tree. They are transitory moments in each story. Bernini's David is the most obvious example of this. Unlike Michelangelo's David—and versions by other Renaissance artists—which shows the subject in his triumph after the battle with Goliath, Bernini illustrates David during his combat with the giant, as he twists his body to catapult towards Goliath. To emphasise these moments, and to ensure these specific moments were appreciated by the viewer, Bernini designed the sculptures with a specific viewpoint in mind. Their original placements within the Villa Borghese were against walls, so that the viewers' first view was the dramatic moment of the narrative.
The result of such an approach is to invest the sculptures with greater psychological energy. The viewer finds it easier to gauge the state of mind of the characters and therefore understands the larger story at work—Daphne's wide open mouth in fear astonishement; David biting his lip in determined concentration, or Prosperina desperately struggling to free herself. As well as psychological realism, they show a greater concern for representing physical details. The tousled hair of Pluto, the pliant flesh of Prosperina, or the forest of leaves beginning to envelop Daphne all demonstrate Bernini's exactitude and delight for representing complex real world textures in marble form.
Apollo and Daphne is a life-sized Baroque marble sculpture by Italian artistGian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1622 and 1625. Housed in theGalleria Borghese in Rome, the work depicts the climax of the story of Daphneand Phoebus in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
The Papal Artist: Bernini in the age of Urban VIII
On the assumption of Maffeo Barberini to the role of Pope Urban VIII, and Bernini's subsequent patronage from the Barberini pope, the artist's horizons broadened. He was not just producing sculpture for private residences, but playing the most significant artistic (and engineering) role on the city stage. His appointments testify to this - "curator of the papal art collection, director of the papal foundry at Castel Sant'Angelo, commissioner of the fountains of Piazza Navona" Such positions gave Bernini the opportunity to demonstrate his skills throughout the city. Perhaps most significantly, he was appointed Chief Architect of St Peter's, in 1629. From here on, Bernini's work and artistic vision would be placed at the symbolic heart of Rome.
The St Peter's Baldacchino was the centrepiece of this. Designed as a massive spiralling bronze canopy over the tomb of St Peter, Bernini's four-pillared creation reached nearly 30 metres from the ground and cost around 200,000 Roman scudi (about $8 m in currency of early 21st-century). "Quite simply," writes one art historian, "nothing like has ever been seen before." As well as the St Peter's Baldacchino, Bernini's rearrangement of the crossing of the basilica left space for massive statues, including the St Longinus executed by Bernini. Bernini also began work on the tomb for Urban VIII, a full 16 years before Urban's death.
Despite this engagement with public architecture, Bernini was still able to produce artworks that showed the gradual refinement of his portrait technique. A number of Bernini's sculptures show the continual evolution of his ability to capture the personal characteristics that he saw in his sitters. This included a number of busts of Urban VIII himself, the family bust of Francesco Barberini or most notably, the Two Busts of Scipione Borghese - the second of which had been rapidly created by Bernini once a flaw had been found in the marble of the first. The transitory nature of the expression on Scipione's face is often noted by art historians, iconic of the Baroque concern for representing movement in static artworks. To Rudolf Wittkower, the "beholder feels that in the twinkle of an eye not only might the expression and attitude change but also the folds of the casually arranged mantle."
One noted portrait is that of Costanza Bonarelli (executed around 1637), unusual in its more personal nature. Bernini had an affair with Costanza, who was the wife of one of his assistants. When Bernini then suspected Costanza to be involved with his brother, he badly beat him and ordered a servant to slash her face with a razor. Pope Urban VIII intervened on his behalf and he was fined.
Bernini also gained royal commissions from outside Rome, for subjects such as Cardinal Richelieu of France, Francesco I d'Este of Modena, Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria. The sculpture of Charles I was produced in Italy from a portrait made by Van Dyck, though Bernini preferred to produce portraits from life – the bust of Charles was lost in the White hall Palace fire of 1698 and that of Henrietta Maria was not undertaken due to the outbreak of the English Civil War.
Bernini under Innocent X: The Towers of St Peter's and Temporary Disgrace
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Under Urban VIII, Bernini had been appointed chief architect for the basilica of St Peter's. Work by Bernini included the aforementioned Baldacchino and also sculptures such as St Longinus. In 1637, Bernini attempted to embellish the facade of the basilica, originally designed by Carlo Maderno earlier in the century. Bernini's plan was to add two massive bell towers on each flank of the facade, making use of the foundations Maderno had supplied. But once the first tower was erected in 1641, cracks began to appear in the facade. Work was immediately stopped and the towers were pulled down a few years later.
Although not necessarily Bernini's fault, his opponents within the Roman artistic world pinned the blame on Urban's artist, and Bernini suffered, both financially and in terms of his reputation. Bernini's unfinished work of 1647, Truth Unveiled by Time, is commonly taken to be his commentary on the events, where Time would show the actual Truth behind the story; with the actual truth being it was Maderno's insecure foundations that were the true root of the bell tower problem.
Nevertheless, this affair did not mean that Bernini lost patronage. The new pope Innocent X, who took the Holy Seat in 1644, maintained Bernini in the roles given to him by Urban. Work continued on beautifying the massive nave of St Peters, with tiled flooring, polychromatic marble and pilasters being added to the then-barren surfaces of the basilica. He continued to work on Urban VIII's tomb. A few months after completing Urban's tomb, Bernini had won, in controversial circumstances, the commission for the Four Rivers Fountain on Piazza Navona.
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1651)(alternatively Saint Teresa in Ecstasy orTransverberation of Saint Teresa; in Italian: L'Estasi di Santa Teresa or Santa Teresa in estasi) is the central sculptural group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. It was designed and completed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the leading sculptor of his day, who also designed the setting of the Chapel in marble, stucco and paint. It is generally considered to be one of the sculptural masterpieces of the High Roman Baroque. It pictures Teresa of Ávila.
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If there had been doubts over Bernini's position as Rome's preeminent artist, the success of the Four Rivers Fountain removed them. Bernini continued to receive commissions from Pope Innocent X and other senior members of Rome's clergy and aristocracy, as well as foreign patrons such Francesco d'Este. In such an environment, Bernini's artistic style flourished. New types of funerary monument were designed, such as the floating medallion for the deceased nun Maria Raggi, while chapels he designed, such as the Raimondi Chapel in the church of San Pietro in Montorio, illustrated how Bernini could use hidden lighting to help suggest divine intervention within the narratives he was depicting.
But it was the commission for the Cornaro Chapel that fully demonstrated Bernini's innovative skills has continued to grow. The chapel showcased his ability to integrate sculpture and architecture and thus create what scholar have called the 'unified work of art'. The central focus of the Cornaro Chapel is the ecstatic state undergone by the Spanish nun and saint, Teresa of Avilia. Bernini situated emotionally vivid portraits of the swooning Teresa, the quietly smiling angel delicately gripping the arrow that pierced her, and also, to the side, portraits of the astonished Cornaro family - the Venetian family that had commissioned the piece. And these dramatic emotional states were situated within an architectural environment that provided the spiritual context - a heavenly setting with a hidden source of light - that suggests to viewers the ultimate move of this miraculous event.
It was an artistic tour de force that showed the forms Bernini employed hidden lighting, differently painted sculptures, thin golden beams, recessive space, secret lens, and over 20 diverse types of marble to create the final artwork - "a perfected, highly dramatic and deeply satisfying seamless ensemble"
Visit to France
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At the end of April 1665, and still considered the most important artist in Rome, Bernini was forced by political pressure (from both the French court and Pope Alexander VII) to travel to Paris to work for King Louis XIV who required an architect to complete work on the royal palace of the Louvre. Bernini would remain in Paris until mid-October. Louis XIV assigned a member of his court to serve as Bernini's translator, tourist guide, and overall companion,Paul Fréart de Chantelou who kept a Journal of Bernini's visit that records much of Bernini's behaviour and utterances in Paris.
The trip began well; Bernini's popularity was such that on his walks in Paris the streets were lined with admiring crowds. But things soon turned sour. Bernini presented some designs for the east front (i.e., the all-important principal facade of the entire palace) of the Louvre, which were, after a short while, rejected. It is often stated in the scholarship on Bernini that his Louvre designs were turned down because Louis and his financial advisor Jean-Baptise Colbert considered them too Italianate or too Baroque in style. In fact, as Franco Mormando points out, "aesthetics arenever mentioned in any of [the] . . . surviving memos" by Colbert ot any of the artistic advisors at the French court. The explicit reasons for the rejections were utilitarian, namely, on the level of physical security and comfort (e.g., location of the latrines).
Other projects suffered a similar fate. With the exception of Chantelou, Bernini failed to forge significant friendships at the French court. His frequent negative comments on various aspects of French culture, especially its art and architecture did not go down well, particularly in juxtaposition to his praise for the art and architecture of Italy (especially Rome); he said that a painting by Guido Reni was worth more than all of Paris. The sole work remaining from his time in Paris is the Bust of Louis XIV, known as one of the grandest portraits busts of the baroque age. Back in Rome, Bernini later created a monumental equestrian statue of Louis XIV; when it finally reached Paris (in 1685, five years after the artist's death), the French king found it extremely repugnant and wanted it destroyed; it was instead re-carved into a representation of the ancient Roman hero, Marcus Curtius.
Architecture
Bernini's architectural works include sacred and secular buildings and sometimes their urban settings and interiors. He made adjustments to existing buildings and designed new constructions. Amongst his most well known works are the Piazza San Pietro (1656–67), the piazza and colonnades in front of St. Peter's Basilica and the interior decoration of the Basilica. Amongst his secular works are a number of Roman palaces: following the death of Carlo Maderno, he took over the supervision of the building works at the Palazzo Barberini from 1630 on which he worked with Borromini; the Palazzo Ludovisi (now Palazzo Montecitorio)(started 1650); and the Palazzo Chigi (now Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi) (started 1664).
His first architectural projects were the façade and refurbishment of the church of Santa Bibiana (1624–26) and the St. Peter's baldachin (1624–33), the bronze columned canopy over the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica. In 1629, and before St. Peter's baldachin was complete, Urban VIII put him in charge of all the ongoing architectural works at St Peter's. However, due to political reasons and miscalculations in his design of the bell-towers for St. Peter's, of which only one was completed and then subsequently torn down, Bernini fell out of favor during the Pamphili papacy of Innocent X. Never wholly without patronage, Bernini then regained a major role in the decoration of St. Peter's with the Pope Alexander VII Chigi, leading to his design of the piazza and colonnade in front of St. Peter's. Further significant works by Bernini at the Vatican include the Scala Regia, (1663–66) the monumental grand stairway entrance to the Vatican Palace and the Cathedra Petri, the Chair of Saint Peter, in the apse of St. Peter's.
Bernini did not build many churches from scratch, rather his efforts were concentrated on pre-existing structures, and in particular St. Peter's. He fulfilled three commissions for new churches; his stature allowed him the freedom to design the structure and decorate the interiors in a consistent manner. Best known is the small oval baroque church ofSant'Andrea al Quirinale, a work which Bernini's son, Domenico, reports his father was very pleased with. Bernini also designed churches in Castelgandolfo (San Tommaso da Villanova, 1658–61) and Ariccia (Santa Maria Assunta, 1662–64).
Colonnade of Piazza San Pietro _St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy
St. Peter's colonade
Beautifying the city: Bernini and Alexander VII
On his accession to the Chair of St Peter Pope Alexander VII (1655–67) immediately commissioned large-scale architectural changes in Rome, connecting new and existing buildings by opening up streets and piazzas. It is no coincidence that Bernini’s career showed a greater focus on designing buildings during this pontificate, as there were far greater opportunities.
View of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica, June 2007
Elsewhere within the Vatican area, Bernini made systematic rearrangements of space that exist to the present day. The Cathedra Petri, the symbolic throne of St Peter in the apse of the basilica, was rearranged as a monumental golden extravagance that matched the Baldacchino created earlier in the century. Bernini's creation of the Scala Regia, the papal stairway between St Peters's and the Vatican Palace, was less ostentatious in appearance but still taxed Bernini's creative powers to create a seemingly uniform stairway to connect two irregular buildings.
Not all works during this era were on such a large scale. Indeed, the commission Bernini received to build the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale for the Jesuits was relatively modest in size and payment for Bernini. But Sant'Andrea shared with the St Peter's piazza - unlike the complex geometries of his rival Francesco Borromini - a focus on basic geometric shapes, circles and ovals to create spiritually intense buildings. Equally, Bernini moderated the presence of colour and decoration within these buildings, focussing visitors' attention on these simple forms that underpinned the building. Sculptural decoration was never eliminated, but its use was more minimal. The church of Santa Maria dell'Assunzione in the town of Arricia with its circular outline, rounded dome and three-arched portico is particularly noteworthy in this respect.
Panorama of St Peter's Square in Vatican City. Panorama created using Hugin/Panotools and enblend_By François Malan_4 May 2005.
When Bernini was invited to Paris in 1665 to prepare works for Louis XIV, he presented designs for the east facade of the Louvre Palace but his projects were ultimately turned down in favour of the more stern and classic proposals of the French doctor and amateur architect Claude Perrault,signalling the waning influence of Italian artistic hegemony in France. Bernini's projects were essentially rooted in the Italian Baroque urbanist tradition of relating public buildings to their settings, often leading to innovative architectural expression in urban spaces like piazze or squares. However, by this time, the French absolutist monarchy now preferred the classicising monumental severity of Perrault's facade, no doubt with the added political bonus that it been designed by a Frenchman. The final version did, however, include Bernini's feature of a flat roof behind a Palladian balustrade.
In 1639, Bernini bought property on the corner of the via Mercede and the via del Collegio di Propaganda Fide in Rome. On this site he built himself a palace, the Palazzo Bernini, at what are now Nos 11 and 12 via della Mercede. He lived at No. 11 but this was extensively changed in the 19th century. It has been noted how very galling it must have been for Bernini to witness through the windows of his dwelling, the construction of the tower and dome of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte by his rival, Borromini, and also the demolition of the chapel that he, Bernini, had designed at the Collegio di Propaganda Fide to see it replaced by Borromini's chapel.
Fountains in Rome
True to the decorative dynamism of Baroque, among Bernini's most gifted creations were his Roman fountains that were both public works and papal monuments. His fountains include the Fountain of the Triton or Fontana del Tritone and the Barberini Fountain of the Bees, the Fontana delle Api. The Fountain of the Four Rivers or Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the Piazza Navona is a masterpiece of spectacle and political allegory. An oft-repeated, but false, anecdote tells that one of the Bernini's river gods defers his gaze in disapproval of the facade of Sant'Agnese in Agone (designed by the talented, but less politically successful, rival Francesco Borromini). However, the fountain was built several years before the façade of the church was completed. Bernini was also the artist of the statue of the Moor in La Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona (1653).
Other works
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The Elephant and Obelisk is located in the Piazza della Minerva and in front of the church ofSanta Maria sopra Minerva. Pope Alexander VII decided that he wanted an ancient Egyptianobelisk to be erected in the piazza and in 1665 he commissioned Bernini to create a sculpture to support the obelisk. The sculpture of an elephant bearing the obelisk on its back was executed by one of Bernini's students, Ercole Ferrata upon a design by Bernini and finished in 1667. An inscription on the base aligns the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Roman goddess Minerva with the Virgin Mary to whom the church is dedicated. A popular anecdote concerns the elephant's smile. To find out why it is smiling, the viewer must head around to the rear end of the animal and to see that its muscles are tensed and its tail is shifted to the left as if it were defecating. The animal's rear is pointed directly at the office of Father Giuseppe Paglia, a Dominican friar, who was one of the main antagonists of Bernini and his artist friends, as a final salute and last word.
Bernini worked along with Ercole Ferrata to create a fountain for the Lisbon palace of the Portuguese nobleman, the Count of Ericeira. For the same patron he also created a series of paintings with the battles of Louis XIV as subject. These works were lost as the palace, its great library and the rich art collection of the Counts of Ericeira, were destroyed along with most of central Lisbon as a result of the great earthquake of 1755.
Around 300 drawings by Bernini still exist; this is considered to be a tiny percentage of the drawings he would have created in his lifetime.
Among the many who worked under his supervision were Luigi Bernini, Stefano Speranza,Giuliano Finelli, Andrea Bolgi, Filippo Parodi, Giacomo Antonio Fancelli, Lazzaro Morelli, Francesco Baratta, Nicodemus Tessin, Jr., and Francois Duquesnoy. Among his rivals in architecture were Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona; in sculpture, Alessandro Algardi.
First biographies of Bernini
The most important primary source for the life of Bernini is the biography written by his youngest son, Domenico, entitled Vita del Cavalier Gio. Lorenzo Bernino, published in 1713, though first compiled in the last years of his father's life (c. 1675–80). Filippo Baldinucci's Life of Bernini, was published in 1682 and a meticulous private journal, the Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini's Visit to France, was kept by the Frenchman Paul Fréart de Chantelou during the artist's four-month stay from June – October 1665 at the court of King Louis XIV. Also there is a short biographical narrative, The Vita Brevis of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, written by his eldest son, Monsignor Pietro Filippo Bernini, in the mid-1670s.
Until the late 20th century, it was generally believed that two years after Bernini's death, Queen Christina of Sweden, then living in Rome, commissioned Filippo Baldinucci to write his biography which was published in Florence in 1682. However, recent research now strongly suggests that it was in fact Bernini's sons (and specifically the eldest son, Mons. Pietro Filippo) who commissioned the biography from Baldinucci sometime in the late 1670s, with the intent of publishing it while their father was still alive. This would mean that first, the commission did not at all originate in Queen Christina who would have merely lent her name as patron (in order to hide the fact that the biography was coming directly from the family) and secondly, that Baldinucci's narrative was largely derived from some pre-publication version of Domenico Bernini's much longer biography of his father, as evidenced by the extremely large amount of text repeated verbatim (there is no other explanation, otherwise, for the massive amount of verbatim repetition and it is known that Baldinucci routinely copied verbatim material for his artists' biographies supplied by family and friends of his subjects .).[59] As the most detailed account and the only one coming directly from a member of the artist's immediate family, Domenico's biography, though published later than Baldinucci's, therefore represents the earliest and more important full-length biographical source of Bernini's life, even though it idealizes its subject and whitewashes a number of less-than-flattering facts about his life and personality.
-List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Sculpture :
- The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun (c. 1609–15) Marble, height 44 cm (17 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Bust of Giovanni Battista Santoni (c. 1613–16) Marble, life-size, Santa Prassede, Rome
- A Faun Teased by Children (1616–17) Marble, height 132 cm (52 in), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (1617) Marble, 66 cm x 108 cm (26 in x 43 in), Uffizi, Florence
- Saint Sebastian (1617–18) Marble, life-size, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
- Bust of Giovanni Vigevano (1617–18) Marble tomb, life-size, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
- Bust of Pope Paul V (1618) Marble, 35 cm (14 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1618–19) Marble, height 220 cm (87 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Damned Soul (1619) Marble, life-size, Palazzo di Spagna, Rome
- Blessed Soul (1619) Marble, life-size, Palazzo di Spagna, Rome
- Neptune and Triton (1620) Marble, height 182 cm (72 in), Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- The Rape of Proserpina (1621–22) Marble, height 225 cm (89 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Bust of Pope Gregory XV (1621) Marble, height 64 cm (25 in), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya (c. 1621) Marble, life-size, Santa Maria di Monserrato, Rome
- Bust of Cardinal Escoubleau de Sourdis (1622) Marble, life-size, Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux
- Apollo and Daphne (1622–25) Marble, height 243 cm (96 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Bust of Antonio Cepparelli (1622) Marble, Museo di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome
- David (1623–24) Marble, height 170 cm (67 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Saint Bibiana (1624–26) Marble, life-size, Santa Bibiana, Rome
- St. Peter's Baldachin (1623–34) Bronze, partly gilt, 20 m (66 ft), St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Bust of Francesco Barberini (1626) Marble, height 80 cm (31 in), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Charity with Four Children (1627–28) Terracotta, height 39 cm (15 in), Vatican Museums, Vatican City
- Tomb of Pope Urban VIII (1627–47) Bronze and marble, larger than life-size, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Saint Longinus (1631–38) Marble, height 440 cm (174 in), St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Two Busts of Scipione Borghese (1632) Marble, height 78 cm (31 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Bust of Costanza Bonarelli (1635) Marble, height 72 cm (28 in), Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
- Bust of Thomas Baker (1638) Marble, height 82 cm (32 in), Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Bust of Cardinal Richilieu (1640–41) Marble, life-size, The Louvre, Paris
- Truth Unveiled by Time (1645–52) Marble, height 280 cm (110 in), Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Memorial to Maria Raggi (1647–53) Gilt bronze and coloured marble, life-size Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
- Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–52) Marble, life-size, Cappella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
- Loggia of the Founders (1647–52) Marble, life-size, Cappella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
- Corpus (1650) Bronze, life-size, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Daniel and the Lion (1650) Marble, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
- Bust of Francesco I d'Este (1650–51) Marble, height 107 cm, Galleria Estense, Modena
- The Vision of Constantine (1654–70) Marble, Vatican Museums, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
- Daniel and the Lion (1655) Terracotta, height 41.6 cm, Vatican Museums, Vatican City
- Habakkuk and the Angel (1655) Terracotta, height 52 cm, Vatican Museums, Vatican City
- Altar Cross (1657–61) Gilt bronze corpus on bronze cross, height 45 cm (18 in), St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Chair of Saint Peter (1657–66) Marble, bronze, white and golden stucco, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Statue of Saint Augustine (1657–66) Bronze, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
- Saint Jerome (1661–63) Marble, height 180 cm, Cappella Chigi, Siena Cathedral, Siena
- Constantine, Scala Regia (1663–70) Marble with painted stucco drapery, Scala Regia, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
- Bust of Louis XIV (1665) White marble, height 105 cm, Salon de Diane, Musée National de Versailles, Versailles
- Elephant and Obelisk (erected 1667) Marble, Piazza di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
- Standing Angel with Scroll (1667–68) Clay, terracotta, height: 29.2 cm, Fogg Museum, Cambridge
- Angels of Ponte Sant'Angelo (1667–69) Marble, Ponte Sant'Angelo, Rome
- Angel with the Crown of Thorns (1667–69) Marble, over life-size, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome
- Angel with the Superscription (1667–69) Marble, over life-size, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome
- Bust of Gabriele Fonseca (1668–75) Marble, over life-size, San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome
- Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV (1669–84) Marble, height 76 cm, Palace of Versailles, Versailles
- Herm of Saint Stephen, King of Hungary Bronze, Cathedral Treasury, Zagreb Cathedral, Zagreb
- Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671–74) Marble, Cappella Altieri-Albertoni, San Francesco a Ripa, Rome
- Tomb of Pope Alexander VII (1671–78) Marble and gilded bronze, over life-size, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Architecture and fountains
- St. Peter's Square (1656–67) Marble, granite, travertine, stone, Vatican City
- Fontana della Barcaccia (1627) Marble, Piazza di Spagna, Rome
- Fontana del Tritone (1624–43) Travertine, over life-size, Piazza Barberini, Rome
- Fontana delle Api (1644) Travertine, Piazza Barberini, Rome
- Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (1648–51) Travertine and marble, Piazza Navona, Rome
- Fontana del Moro (1653–54) Marble, Piazza Navona, Rome
Paintings
Bernini's activity as a painter was a sideline which he did mainly in his youth. Despite this his work reveals a sure and brilliant hand, free from any trace of pedantry. He studied in Rome under his father, Pietro, and soon proved a precocious infant prodigy. His work was immediately sought after by major collectors.
- Self-Portrait as a Young Man (c. 1623) Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Portrait of Pope Urban VIII (c. 1625) Oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
- Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas (c. 1627) Oil on canvas, 59 x 76 cm, National Gallery, London
- Self-Portrait as a Mature Man (1630–35) Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Portrait of a Boy (c. 1638) Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Christ Mocked (c. 1644–55) Oil on canvas, Private Collection, London
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) is a fountain in the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It was designed in 1651 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for Pope Innocent X whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced onto the piazza as did the church ofSant'Agnese in Agone of which Innocent was the sponsor.
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (Italian: Beata Ludovica Albertoni) is a funerary monument by the Italian Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The trastevere sculpture is located in the specially designed Altieri Chapel in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome, Italy. Bernini started the project in 1671, but his work on two other major works—The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII and the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Peter's Basilica—delayed his work on the funerary monument. Bernini completed the sculpture in 1674; it was installed by August 31, 1674
The Sleeping Hermaphroditus is an ancient marble sculpture depicting Hermaphroditus life size, reclining on a mattress sculpted by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1620. The form is partly derived from ancient portrayals of Venus and other female nudes, and partly from contemporaneous feminised Hellenistic portrayals of Dionysus/Bacchus. It represents a subject that was much repeated in Hellenistic times and in ancient Rome, to judge from the number of versions that have survived. Discovered at Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus was immediately claimed by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and became part of the Borghese Collection. The "Borghese Hermaphroditus" was later sold to the occupying French and was removed to The Louvre, where it is on display today.
The Sleeping Hermaphroditus has been described as a good early Imperial Roman copy of a bronze original by the later of the two Hellenistic sculptors named Polycles (working ca 155 BC); the original bronze was mentioned in Pliny's Natural History.
The Rape of Proserpina is a large Baroque marble sculptural group by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1621 and 1622. Bernini was only 23 years old at its completion. It depicts the Abduction of Proserpina, where Proserpina is seized and taken to the underworld by the god Pluto.
-VIDEO : Power of Art - Bernini
-VIDEO :In the Borghese Gallery with Gian Lorenzo Bernini & Titian Vecellio (manortiz)
-Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Baroque Master of Sculpture & Architecture
-VIDEO :Gian Lorenzo Bernini_Smarthistory, Art History at Khan Academy
-VIDEO :La Galleria Borghese visitata dal Prof Claudio Strinati_2016
-Smarthistory at Khan Academy
-Flickr :Steven Zucker
The Veiled Virgin.
The Veiled Virgin is a Carrara marble statue carved in Rome by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza, depicting the bust of a veiled Blessed Virgin Mary. The exact date of the statue's completion is unknown.
The statue was transported to Newfoundland in 1856, as recorded on December 4 in the diary of Bishop John Thomas Mullock:
- "Received safely from Rome, a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in marble, by Strazza. The face is veiled, and the figure and features are all seen. It is a perfect gem of art."
The Veiled Virgin was then kept at the Episcopal Palace next to the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. John's until 1862, when Bishop Mullock presented it to Mother Mary Magdalene O'Shaughnessy, the Superior of Presentation Convent. The bust has since remained under the care of Presentation Sisters, in Cathedral Square, St. John's.
Italian nationalism was on the rise in the mid-19th century. Strazza's Veiled Virgin is a prime example of the Italian nationalist art movement called Risorgimento. The image of the veiled woman was intended to symbolize Italy just as Britannia symbolized Britain, Hibernia symbolized Ireland, and Lady Liberty symbolized the United States. Pietro Rossi and Raffaelle Monti were the most important Italian contemporaries of Strazza who also sculpted veiled women.
Giovanni Strazza's Veiled Virgin is located in the Presentation Convent, Cathedral Square, St. John's, Newfoundland.
Photo by J.E. FitzGerald. Reproduced by permission of J.E. FitzGerald, ©2001.
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The Veiled Virgin.
Giovanni Strazza's Veiled Virgin is located in the Presentation Convent, Cathedral Square, St. John's, Newfoundland. (See below for more information.) Photo by J.E. FitzGerald. Reproduced by permission of J.E. FitzGerald, ©2001. |
This statue was executed in flawless Carrera marble by the renowned Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza (1818-1875) in Rome. Other examples of Strazza's work may be seen in the Vatican Museums and at the Archbishop's Palace in Milan. The St. John's Veiled Virgin was described by The Newfoundlander (4 December 1856) as the second such work by Strazza on the subject of a veiled woman.
During the mid-19th century, Italian nationalism was on the rise, and there was a resurgence in nationalism in the Italian arts and music. Strazza's Veiled Virgin is of a piece with this Risorgimento school of Italian nationalist art. The image of a veiled woman was a favourite subject of whole school of Strazza's fellow sculptors, with Pietro Rossi and Rafaello Monti the most important among them. Often, the image of the veiled woman was intended to embody Italia, in the same manner in which Britannia symbolized England, Hibernia symbolized Ireland, and Lady Liberty symbolized the United States.
There are similar marble busts depicting veiled women in Canada, the United States, Ireland and England. None, however, are as meticulously crafted as the Newfoundland Veiled Virgin by Strazza: the facial features and the braids in the hair are clearly visible through the stone veil.
On 4 December 1856 Bishop John Thomas Mullock recorded in his diary: “Received safely from Rome, a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in marble, by Strazza. The face is veiled, and the figure and features are all seen. It is a perfect gem of art.” The Veiled Virgin remained at the Episcopal Palace adjacent to the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. John's until 1862, when the bishop presented the bust to the Superior of Presentation Convent, Mother Mary Magdalene O'Shaughnessy. Bishop Mullock's sister, Sister Mary di Pazzi Mullock, was a professed member of that community, and later its Superior.
Strazza's sculpting confidently revives the ingenuity of the Baroque, and represents a technical triumph which surpasses that of any other work of art found in 19th century Newfoundland. The Veiled Virgin also testifies to the close linkages of the Irish Catholic community in St. John's with cultural and nationalist movements of the day in Europe.
The Veiled Virgin remains in the care of the Presentation Sisters, Cathedral Square. It may be viewed by appointment.
©2001, John Edward FitzGerald
Updated October, 2004
Giovanni Strazza's Sculpture - 'The Veiled Virgin' At St. John's, Newfoundland Photography by Stone Island Photography
veiled stone: The Veiled Virgin, at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, Newfoundland - marble bust by Giovanni Strazza, brought from Rome in 1862
"The Veiled Virgin" = Carved & sculpted from Carrara marble in Rome by Italian sculptor Giovanni Strazza
-Giovanni Strazza on Pinterest
Raffaele Monti, Veiled Vestal, 1847 -- Commissioned for the Duke of Devonshire, currently on display at Chatsworth House of Derbyshire, England.
The Veiled Vestal Virgin by Raffaele Monti, 1847. One of my favorite sculptures. Monti transforms the marble into delicate sheets, marking the faint outlines of a young girls face. Lightness. Purity.
"In Roman mythology Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, was a Vestal Virgin until she was ravished and impregnated by Mars, the god of war. Once the twins had been born, her punishment for breaking her vow of chastity was being buried alive. A servant was ordered to slaughter the babies, who abandoned them instead, setting them adrift in a basket upon the river Tiber. The story goes that they were suckled by a she-wolf and raised by a prostitute. Both attained adulthood, but then the brothers fought and one was killed. The surviving twin Romulus went on to found Rome." http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A49254627
 'Sisters of Mercy' by Raffaele Monti VEILED TRUTH, SCULPTURE AND SECRETS -The Veiled Truth (aka Modesty /Chastity) by Antonio Corradini, 1751_Cappella Sansevero, Naples, Italy
Veiled Truth (also called Modesty or Chastity), Cappella di Santa Maria Della Pieta dei Sangro (Sansevero Chapel, Naples, Italy)
Antonio Corradini
.Antonio Corradini (6 September 1668 – 29 June 1752) was a Venetian Rococo sculptor. Corradini was born in Este and worked mainly in the Veneto, but also completed commissions for work outside Venice, including Naples, where he died.
Veiled Truth (also called Modesty or Chastity) a remarkable tomb monument dedicated to Cecilia Gaetani dell’Aquila d’Aragona, mother of Raimondo de Sangro. Not only is it a technically inspired work, but the conceit of modesty shielded by the flimsiest of veils creates an alluring but ironic tension, perhaps one somewhat unmerited for a chapel funerary monument, but one that does compel remembrance. Another work of his, Christ Veiled under a Shroud, found in the same chapel, was subsequently completed by Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720–1793). The same artifice of “veiled” marble is utilized.
The Sansevero Chapel remains unfinished because of Corradini’s death on 12 August 1752 in Naples. He was buried there in the parish church of Santa Maria della Rotonda on the same day. wiki.
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-The Veiled Christ - The statue - Museo Cappella Sansevero
Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1753.
Placed at the centre of the nave of the Sansevero Chapel, the Veiled Christ is one of the most famous and impressive works of art in the world. It was the Prince’s wish that the statue be made by Antonio Corradini, who had already done Modesty for him. However, Corradini died in 1752 and only managed to make a terracotta scale model of the Christ, which is now preserved in the Museo di San Martino.
So Raimondo di Sangro appointed a young Neapolitan artist, Giuseppe Sanmartino, to make “a life-sized marble statue, representing Our Lord Jesus Christ dead, and covered in a transparent shroud carved from the same block as the statue”.
Sanmartino paid little heed to the previous scale model made by the Venetian sculptor. Both in Modesty, and in the Veiled Christ,the original stylistic message is in the veil, but Sanmartino’s late baroque feeling and sentiment permeate the shroud with a movement and a meaning far removed from Corradini’s rules. The modern sensitivity of the artist sculpts and divests the lifeless body of its flesh, which the soft shroud mercifully covers, on which the tormented, writhing rhythms of the folds of the veil engrave deep suffering, almost as if the compassionate covering made the poor limbs still more naked and exposed, and the lines of the tortured body even more inexorable and precise.
The swollen vein still pulsating on the forehead, the wounds of the nails on the feet and on the thin hands, and the sunken side finally relaxed in the freedom of death are a sign of an intense search which has no time for preciosity or scholastic canons, even when the sculptor meticulously “embroiders” the edges of the shroud or focuses on the instruments of the Passion placed at the feet of Christ. Sanmartino’s art here becomes a dramatic evocation, that turns the suffering of Christ into the symbol of the destiny and redemption of all humanity.
"art is a revolt against fate" gian lorenzo bernini
One of Bernini's angels at ponte (bridge) sant'angelo. He was very old at the time of their construction, and his assistants did most of the work, but he designed all of these angels. This one was by Massimo Faccioli Pintozzi.
-VIDEO :Rome: Baroque Brilliance
THE POWER OF ART - BERNINI - Discovery History Biography (full documentary):
( O Poder da Arte (BBC) - Bernini )-VIDEO :Rome: Baroque Brilliance
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