Gianlorenzo Bernini
(1598-1680)
Kevin J. Benoy
Early Life
• Born to a Neopolitan Mannerist
sculptor, Bernini’s artistic life
began at a young age.
• He was noticed early and
studied under the painter
Annibale Carracci.
• He also drew the attention of an
important patron, Cardinal
Scipione Borghese – nephew of
Pope Paul V, who said of the
artist, “we hope this youth will
become the Michelangelo of
this century.”
Importance
• After moving to Rome, he
spent almost his entire life
there, leaving only for a
brief time to work for Louis
XIV of France.
• He was the pre-eminent
sculptor and architect of the
17th century and one of the
greatest sculptors of all
time.
• His figures are charged
with energy and emotion,
contrasting strongly with
the restraint of Renaissance
Early Work
• Around 1619, the work
Aeneas, Anchises and
Ascanius was completed.
• This portrayal of the
Trojan figures fleeing their
burning city might also be
his father’s work. It
certainly has similar
characteristics in the
tower-like mannerist
composition.
Early Work
• The story is told that a visitor to his
father’s studio asked him whether he
felt a little threatened by his child’s
surpassing him in skill and fame.
• Pietro replied, “it doesn’t bother me,
for as you know, in that case the loser
wins.”
A Great Master
• Bernini became such a
great artist that took
on only major
commissions.
• By mid career he
would do busts only of
kings and popes – who
could not be refused.
French King Louis XIV
A Great Master
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban
VIII) was once part of a group admiring a new
Bernini bust (above left) of Monsignor Pedro
de Foix Montoya—sharp-cheeked, furrowbrowed and thick-mustached—when the
monsignor himself entered the room. Barberini
went up and touched the priest and said, "This
is the portrait of Monsignor Montoya," then
faced the marble bust and declared, "And this
is Monsignor Montoya.”
Arthur Lubow, “Bernini’s Genius, Smithsonian Magazine,(October, 2008).
A Great Master
• By 1621, Bernini
could work marble
like no one before or
after.
• His Rape of Prosopina
reveals an ability to
transform stone
completely.
The Rape of Proserpina
• The scene depicts Proserpina,
a fertility godess, being torn
from her life and dragged by
Pluto into the underworld.
• Eventually ordered to release
her, Jupiter first insisted that
she eat six pomegranate
seeds. Having consumed the
food of the dead, she would
have to return 6 months each
year – thus resulting in the
seasons.
Apollo and Daphne
• Another dramatic moment from
classical mythology is depicted
here.
• Apollo annoyed Eros, the god
of love, and in retaliation, Eros
wounded Apollo with one of
his arrows, causing him to fall
in love with Daphne, a water
nymph.
• He chases her, but at his
moment of triumph, her appeals
to her father to save her results
in her transformation into a
laurel tree.
David
• Unlike the
Renaissance Davids of
Verrochio, Donatello
& Michelangelo,
Bernini’s David is
quintessentially
Baroque.
• Clothed and caught in
motion, the statue
intrudes on the space
in front of it.
David
• It is best seen from
directly in front.
• From here one can see
what is implied – the
presence of Goliath – and
that presence is the viewer
himself.
• One gets a distinct urge to
dodge the missile about to
be released from his sling.
David
• The face of David is
that of the artist
himself.
• It is said that the pope
himself held a mirror
before the artist to
help him capture the
intense expression.
A Testimonial
• Pope Urban VII –
Maffeo Barberini –
famously said to the
artist: “Your luck is
great to see Cardinal
Maffeo Barbarini
Pope, Cavaliere. But
ours is much greater to
have Cavalier Bernini
alive in our
pontificate.”
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
• Mature Bernini often
employed more than
stone in his
compositions.
• His Ecstasy of St.
Theresa is a
multimedia
extravaganza in the
Cornaro Chapel of
Rome’s Sta. Maria
della Vittoria church.
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
• The main drama
unfolds in the statue of
Ste. Theresa of Avilla,
who’s heart is pierced
by an arrow of divine
love.
• Both figures, that of
St. Theresa and of the
angel appear as pliable
as wax or clay.
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
• As the angel
withdraws the dart, her
face reveals a very real
physical ecstasy.
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
• Light is directed down
from a concealed
window and filtered
through gauze before
being directed along
bronze rays.
• Painted clouds swirl
beneath the chapel
ceiling.
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa
• To complete the
theatrical motif,
marble members of
the Cornaro family
peer out of opera
boxes on each side of
the main
configuration.
Architecture
• Much of Bernini’s
sculptural work is
monumental in scale.
• St. Peter’s Cathedral
contains several
pieces, in addition to
parts of the building
itself.
St. Peter’s Cathedral
• The most important
church of Christendom
is dominated by
Bernini’s work –
inside and out.
• The great arms of the
collonade that sweeps
out and around the
“square” are his.
St. Peter’s Cathedral
• …as is the great
baldacchino that draws
attention to the high
alter within.
St. Peter’s Cathedral
• Its fluted and wreathed
columns swirl upward
100 feet – eight stories
high.
• This sculpture is
architectural in scale,
yet the bronze mass
loses its
monumentality in the
great space beneath
Michelangelo’s dome
St. Peter’s Cathedral
• Behind it lies another
great work – St Peter’s
Chair.
• Everything seems in
motion as light
streams from the
stained glass window
along the gilder rays
and swirling clouds
and angels, toward us.
St. Peter’s Cathedral
A copy of the original chair, now
encased in Bernini’s grand reliquary.
• A cathedral is the
“seat”of a bishop.
• St. Peter’s cathedral is
said to contain the
throne of Peter
himself, though in fact
it is a gift from
Charles the Bold to the
then pope in 875 AD.
St. Peter’s Cathedral
Bernini’s Churches
• Bernini designed three
churches: San Tomaso
di Villanova at
Castelgandolfo, Santa
Maria dell'Assunzione
at Ariccia, and Sant'
Andrea al Quirinale in
Rome.
Santa Maria dell'Assunzione at Ariccia
Sant' Andrea al Quirinale
• This church shows
some of the defining
characteristics of
Baroque architecture.
• It justaposes convex
and concave forms –
beneath a dome that is
eliptical, rather than
circular.
Sant' Andrea al Quirinale
• The grand stairs at the
entry spill outward
into the street –
reaching out to those
before it, while the
walls to the left and
right also reach
slightly around, like
truncated versions of
the great colonnade of
St. Peter’s Cathedral.
Sant' Andrea al Quirinale
• The interior is as lavish as
one would expect of
Bernini.
• Great Buildings Online
says that “the quality of
light is evanescent, as it
illuminates the white and
gold stucco work of the
dome and the rich colors
of inlaid marbles of the
walls and floor.”
Fountains
• Not only churches are
decorated by Bernini’s
masterful hand.
• He also designed
fountains for the
Pope’s city.
• The Fountain of the
Four Rivers is just one
of several.
The Great Dramatist
• Bernini and the Baroque
style is all about drama.
• Interestingly, he also
wrote for the stage.
• The man was a magician
who could make stone
appear as wax and
monumental bronze
appear ethereal.
• He may be the greatest
genius of his age.
Finis