Baroque sculptor, architect, and painter, born in Naples, SW Italy, the son of a sculptor, Pietro Bernini (15621629). He went to Rome at an early age and was introduced to the papal court. He completed the bronze baldacchino in St Peter's (1633), and the fountain of the four river gods in the Piazza Navona (1647). In 1656 he decorated the apse of St Peter's with the so-called Cathedra Petri, designed the colonnade in front of the cathedral, and in 1663 the grand staircase to the Vatican.
| Gian Lorenzo Bernini | |
|---|---|
| A self portrait: Bernini is said to have used his own features in his David | |
| Born |
December 7, 1598 Naples |
| Died |
1680 Rome |
| Occupation | sculptor, painter and architect |
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini) (December 7, 1598, Naples – November 28, 1680, Rome) was a pre-eminent Baroque sculptor and architect of 17th century Rome.
Early life and work
Bernini was born in Naples to a Florentine family. At the age of seven he accompanied his father Pietro Bernini, a capable Mannerist sculptor himself, to Rome. Here the young prodigy's capabilities were soon noticed by the painter Annibale Carracci and by Pope Paul V, and Bernini could therefore begin work as an independent artist. His first works were inspired by Hellenistic sculpture of ancient Greece and imperial Rome he could study in the new seat.
Bernini's maturation into a master sculptor is evident in the Galleria Borghese
Under the patronage of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, a member of the then reigning papal family, young Bernini rapidly rose to prominence as a sculptor.
Mature sculptural output, including his Santa Teresa in Ecstasy
Bernini's sculptural output was immense and varied. Among his other best-known sculptures: the Ecstasy of St Theresa, in the Cornaro Chapel ( see Bernini's Cornaro chapel: the complete work of art found in the Baroque section) , Santa Maria della Vittoria, and the now-hidden Constantine, at the base of the Scala Regia (which he designed).
Architecture
Bernini's architectural conceits include the piazza and colonnades of St Peter's.
Bernini's first architectural project was the magnificent bronze baldacchino (1624-1633), the canopy over the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica, and the façade for the church of Santa Bibiana (1624).
Bernini did not build many churches from scratch, preferring instead to concentrate on the embellishment of pre-existing structures. Bernini also designed churches in Castelgandolfo (San Tommaso da Villanova) and Ariccia (Santa Maria Assunta).
Bernini was also hired by Louis XIV to build the colonnade of the Louvre in Paris, but was ultimately turned down in favor of French architect Claude Perrault, signalling the waning influence of Italian art in France.
Fountains in Rome
True to the decorative dynamism of Baroque, Roman fountains, part public works and part Papal monuments, were among his most gifted creations.
Marble portraiture
Bernini also revolutionized marble busts, lending glamorous dynamism to once stony stillness of portraiture. Starting with the immediate pose, leaning out of the frame, of bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya at Santa Maria di Monserrato, Rome.
In his sculpted portraiture for more regal patrons, Bernini fashioned the windswept marble vestments and cascades of hair of Louis XIV's portrait would suffice to elevate any face to royalty.
Other works
Another of Bernini's sculptures is known affectionately as Bernini's Chick by the Roman people. Pope Alexander VII decided that he wanted an ancient Egyptian obelisk to be erected in the piazza and commissioned Bernini to create a sculpture to support the obelisk.
The death of his constant patron Urban VIII in 1644 released a horde of Bernini's rivals and marked a change in his career, but Innocent X set him back to work on the extended nave of St Peter's and commissioned the Four Rivers fountain in Piazza Navona. At the time of Innocent's death in 1655 Bernini was the aribiter of public taste in Rome. He died in Rome in 1680, and was buried in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
Two years after his death, Queen Christina of Sweden, then living in Rome, commissioned Filippo Baldinucci to write his biography, (translated in 1996 as The life of Bernini). 1612) - Marble, life-size, Santa Prassede, Rome Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (1614-1615) - Marble, 66 x 108 cm, Contini Bonacossi Collection, Florence The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun (1615) - Marble, Galleria Borghese, Rome St. Sebastian (c. 1617) - Marble, Thyssen Bornemisza Museum, Madrid A Faun Teased by Children (1616-1617) - Marble, height 132,1 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1618-1619) - Marble, height 220 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Damned Soul (1619) - Palazzo di Spagna, Rome Blessed Soul (1619) - Palazzo di Spagna, Rome Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) - Marble, height 243 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome St. Peter's Baldachin (1624) - Bronze, partly gilt, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Charity with Four Children (1627-1628) - Terracotta, height 39 cm, Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican David (1623-1624) - Marble, height 170 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Fontana della Barcaccia (1627-1628) - Marble, Piazza di Spagna, Rome Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya (c. 1621) - Marble, life-size, Santa Maria di Monserrato, Rome Neptune and Triton (1620) - Marble, height 182,2 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London The Rape of Proserpina (1621-1622) - Marble, height 295 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Fontana del Tritone (1624-1643) - Travertine, over life-size, Piazza Barberini, Rome Tomb of Pope Urban VIII (1627-1647) - Golden bronze and marble, figures larger than life-size, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Bust of Thomas Baker (1638) - Marble, height 81,6 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London Bust of Costanza Bonarelli (c. 1635) - Marble, height 70 cm, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence Charity with Two Children (1634) - Terracotta, height 41.6 cm, Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City Saint Longinus (1631-1638) - Marble, height 450 cm, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Bust of Scipione Borghese (1632) - Marble, height 78 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Bust of Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1632) - Marble, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Bust of Pope Urban VIII (1632-1633) - Bronze, height 100 cm, Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City Bust of Cardinal Armand de Richelieu (1640-1641) - Marble, Musée du Louvre, Paris Memorial to Maria Raggi (1643) - Gilt bronze and coloured marble, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome Truth (1645-1652) - Marble, height 280 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Ecstasy of St Theresa (1647-1652) - Marble, Cappella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome Loggia of the Founders (1647-1652) Marble, Cappella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome Bust of Urban VIII - Marble, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (1648-1651) - Travertine and marble, Piazza Navona, Rome Daniel and the Lion (1650) - Marble, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome Francesco I d'Este (1650-1651) - Marble, height 107 cm, Galleria Estense, Modena Fountain of the Moor (1653-1654) - Marble, Piazza Navona, Rome Constantine (1654-1670) - Marble, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican City Daniel and the Lion (1655) - Terracotta, height 41.6 cm, Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City Habakkuk and the Angel (1655) - Terracotta, height 52 cm, Museo Sacro, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City Altar Cross (1657-1661) - Gilt bronze corpus on bronze cross, height: corpus 43 cm, cross 185 cm, Treasury of San Pietro, Vatican City Throne of Saint Peter (1657-1666) - Marble, bronze, white and golden stucco, Basilica di San Pietro, Rome Statue of Saint Augustine (1657-1666) - Bronze, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Constantine (1663-1670) - Marble with painted stucco drapery, Scala Regia, Vatican Palace, Rome Standing Angel with Scroll (1667-1668) - Clay, terracotta, height: 29,2 cm, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge Angel with the Crown of Thorns (1667-1669) - Marble, over life-size, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome Angel with the Superscription (1667-1669) - Marble, over life-size, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome Elephant of Minerva (1667-1669) - Marble, Piazza di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome Bust of Gabriele Fonseca (1668-1675) - Marble, over life-size, San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV (1669-1670) - Terracotta, height 76 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome Bust of Louis XIV (1665) - Marble, height 80 cm, Musée National de Versailles, Versailles Herm of St. Stephen, King of Hungary - Bronze, Cathedral Treasury, Zagreb Saint Jerome (1661-1663) - Marble, height 180 cm, Cappella Chigi, Duomo, Siena Tomb of Pope Alexander VII (1671-1678) - Marble and gilded bronze, over life-size, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671-1674) - Marble, Cappella Altieri-Albertoni, San Francesco a Ripa, Rome
Paintings
Bernini's activity as a painter was a sideline which he did mainly in his youth. 1627) - Oil on canvas, 59 x 76 cm, National Gallery, London Portrait of a Boy (c. 1638) - Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome Self-Portrait as a Young Man (c. 1623) - Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome Self-Portrait as a Mature Man (1630-1635) - Oil on canvas, Galleria Borghese, Rome
References in popular culture
Bernini's work on Vatican City's St Peter's Basilica forms a prominent theme in the 2000 novel by Dan Brown, Angels and Demons.
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