Thread: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the leading Italian Baroque sculptor. Baroque takes its name from unusual shaped pearls. The style involved intense colour, dramatic lighting, spinning movement & swirling composition. Details from Bernini sculptures 
He was born in Naples, the son of a sculptor. In 1606 the family moved to Rome where father & son worked together. Their collaborative works included Faun teased by Putti (c1615), Boy with Dragon (c1616), Bust of the Saviour (1615-6) & Martyrdom of St Lawrence (1617)
Bernini’s precocious talent brought him to the attention of Pope Paul V. From that moment on he became the sculptor of Rome. Neptune & Triton (c1620) & Study the torso. His work involved twisting & dynamic figures full of élan. Sketch for Proserpina (1621-2) - see below
Bernini worked for the Pope’s nephew, Cardinal Borghese & commissions included garden sculpture. He also created busts of the Damned & Blessed Souls (c1619). He had an uncanny ability to make marble seem alive. Portrait (1630) & Angel (c1658)
By 1620 he received the ultimate approval by being invited to create a bust of Pope Paul V (1621). The bust is a handsome example of papal dignity & wisdom. Bernini’s genius was such that he could produce psychological studies as well as grand monumental compositions
Scholars consider that four works he created between 1619-25 were major masterpieces - Aeneas, Anchises & Ascanius (1619), Rape of Proserpina (1621-2), Apollo & Daphne (1622-5) & David (1623-4)
His Apollo & Daphne (1622-5) is one of the greatest masterpieces of the Baroque & stands comparison with Michelangelo & Rodin. A stunningly beautiful work it pivots upwards & gives the illusion of movement. A breathtaking work
With the election of Pope Urban VIII (1623) Bernini’s patronage was assured. His statue of David is one of the most dynamic & determined works on the subject. Here is pure energy! He was consciously & successfully taking on the Davids of Verocchio, Donatello & Michelangelo.
One of his most famous & important works was the Baldacchino for St Peter’s (1623-34). Nothing like it had been seen before. He also sculpted the statue of St Longinus & the tomb for Pope Urban VIII (1644). Already he exhibited a mature genius.
Bernini also created the tomb for Pope Alexander VII which Panofsky described as the pinnacle of European funerary art. The carved cloth is a tour de force. The ‘humble’ praying pope towers above us in majesty.
He was much sought after as a sculptor of busts. Francesco Barberini (c1623), Cardinal Borghese (c1632) & Cardinal Richelieu (1641). The latter was based on a painting by Philippe de Champaigne (c1641) & is a sophisticated & imperious work in the Baroque manner.
In the 1630s his fame stretched elastic across Europe with commissions from France & England, amongst other places. Van Dyck painted a triple portrait of King Charles for him to work from. Van Dyck’s Charles I (1635). The resultant bust was destroyed in a fire.
He also created a bust of his mistress, Costanza Bonarelli (1636-7). When she took up with his brother he had a servant slash her face repeatedly with a razor! The bust is a fascinatingly wild image of his lover.
Bernini’s architecture in the Vatican suffered from cracks for which he was falsely blamed. He created Truth Unveiled by Time (1646-52) as his riposte to that injustice. Of all his works this is the most unsettling - perhaps his outrage & passion unbalanced his vision
Bernini married Caterina Tezio in 1639 - he was twice her age. She gave birth to 11 children. As is often the case with libertines, he got religion in the end. Self-Portraits & Medusa (1640s). A handsome man he was renowned for his emotional excess - both in art & life.
One of his most famous works is his Four Rivers Fountain for the Piazza Navona. Today crowds flock to see this Roman Fountain & its embodiments of the Nile, Danube, Ganges & Río de la Plata. It forms an ensemble with the adjacent church & is enormously satisfying
His supreme masterpiece was St Teresa. This is his most daring & sensual work & is a depiction of the St’s vision. Bernini was revolutionary in this spiritual orgasmic form. It is startling in its modernity of concept. Caravaggio used the same approach in his profane love images.
In 1665 he visited France where he had been invited to work on the Louvre for Louis XIV. He created a bust of the King. Later he made him an equestrian work that Louis hated & destroyed! Angel (1660), Habakkuk (c1656) & Louis (1665)
Rome is enlivened with several fountains created or improved by Bernini. These include the Triton (1642-3), the Fontana delle Api (1644) & La Fontana del Moro (1653). A pleasant time can be had wandering around the Eternal City searching out his work.
One of my favourite works by him is the Elephant & Obelisk (1667). As an idiosyncratic & charming work there are a number of legends associated with it. It also stands outside one of the best artists’ supply shops in Rome.
He was working on commissions until the end (1680). Equestrian Statue of Constantine (1670), Gabriele Fonseca (1668-73), Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671) & Clement X (1676). Few artists have had his genius in conception or ability to turn dead stone into living flesh!
