Bernini: major baroque artist in Rome

Bernini and His Theatrical Style

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, known as Bernini (Naples, December 7, 1598 – Rome, November 28, 1680), was a prominent sculptor, architect, and painter.
Bernini wrote and produced Baroque comedies, designing sets and special effects (floods, simulated fires), which inspired the theatricality of his sculptures such as The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. His art, quintessentially Baroque, is characterized by the pursuit of movement, the spectacular, and illusionistic effects. He revolutionized the genre of the bust, introducing movement and expressiveness, as seen in the Bust of Scipione Borghese, contrasting with Renaissance rigidity.
Due to the quality and quantity of his output, he is considered the master of Baroque art in Rome, and his works greatly influenced Roman urban planning.

Bernini’s Career in Rome and Beyond

Bernini, self-portrait, 1623

Born in Naples, Bernini was introduced to sculpture from childhood by his Florentine father, Pietro Bernini, in an artistic environment influenced by late Mannerism, before moving to Rome around 1606.
Pietro Bernini worked for Pope Paul V, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini was noticed at a very young age. At 15, Bernini impressed Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Paul V’s nephew, who became his first major patron and commissioned works such as Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1618-1619).
He was employed almost continuously by popes, including Gregory XV, who knighted him, and Urban VIII.
Under Innocent X, Bernini temporarily lost papal favor after the failure of Saint Peter’s bell towers (unstable, they were demolished), but he regained his position with the Fountain of the Four Rivers project in Piazza Navona.
He was later the architect of the colonnade and statues of Saint Peter’s Square and the baldacchino of the basilica.

His career was marked by intense competition with Francesco Borromini, particularly on the Saint Peter’s project, where their Baroque visions diverged, Bernini favoring grandeur and Borromini geometry.
Appointed superintendent of Rome’s water system after his father, Bernini modernized the hydraulic system, integrating his fountains, such as the Fountain of the Tritons and the Fountain of the Bees, into Baroque urban planning.

In 1665, he traveled to France at the invitation of Louis XIV to work on the Louvre (a project that was abandoned) and sculpted a bust of the king, a sign of his international prestige.
He restored ancient sculptures, such as the Sleeping Hermaphrodite (at the Louvre), for which he added a marble mattress, blending classical heritage with Baroque innovation.
In 1679, Bernini sculpted his Salvator Mundi (marble, location uncertain), his final work, an intimate sculpture created for his personal salvation, reflecting his piety in his later years.

Bernini’s Sculptures in Rome

At the Borghese Gallery

• The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun (1615) – Marble.
• Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius (1618-1619) – Marble, 220 cm.
• Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) – Marble, 243 cm.
• David (1623-1624) – Marble, 170 cm.
• The Rape of Persephone (1621-1622) – Marble, 295 cm.
• Bust of Scipione Borghese (1632) – Marble, height 78 cm.
• Bust of Paul V (1621).
• Truth (1645-1652) – Marble, 280 cm.
• Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV (1669-1670) – Terracotta, 76 cm (sketch).

At the Vatican Museums

• Charity with Four Children (1627-1628) – Terracotta, 39 cm.
• Charity with Two Children (1634) – Terracotta, 42 cm.
• Bust of Urban VIII (1632-1633) – Bronze, 100 cm.
• Daniel and the Lion (1655) – Terracotta, 42 cm.
• Habakkuk and the Angel (1655) – Terracotta, 52 cm.
• Angel with the Cross (1668) – Terracotta, model for the Ponte Sant’Angelo.
• Bust of Clement X (1676) – Marble.
• Model for the Triton (ca. 1642-1643).

In Other Museums in Rome

• Bust of Innocent X (ca. 1650) – Marble, Doria Pamphilj Gallery.
• Head of Medusa (ca. 1638-1648), Capitoline Museums.
• Self-Portrait (1623-1625) – Drawing, Capitoline Museums.

In Saint Peter’s Basilica

• Baldacchino of Saint Peter’s Basilica (1624-1633) – Bronze and marble.
• Tomb of Urban VIII (1627-1647) – Gilded bronze and marble.
• Saint Longinus (1631-1638) – Marble, 450 cm.
• Bust of Urban VIII (1640) – Marble.
• Altar Cross (1657-1661) – Gilded bronze, 185 cm.
• Chair of Saint Peter (1657-1666) – Marble, bronze, stucco.
• Saint Augustine (1657-1666) – Bronze.
• Tomb of Alexander VII (1671-1678) – Marble and gilded bronze.
• Monument to Countess Matilda (1633-1637) – Marble.

In Other Roman Churches

• Bust of Giovanni Battista Santoni (ca. 1612) – Marble, Basilica of Santa Prassede.
• Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya (ca. 1621) – Marble, Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli.
• Statue of Saint Bibiana (1626) – Marble, Church of Santa Bibiana.
• Memorial to Maria Raggi (1643) – Gilded bronze and polychrome marbles, Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
• The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-1652) – Marble, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria.
• Loggia of the Founders (1647-1652) – Marble, Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria.
• Noli me tangere (1649) – Marble, Church of Saints Dominic and Sixtus.
• Daniel and the Lion (1650) – Marble, Chigi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo.
• Habakkuk and the Angel (1655-1661) – Marble, Chigi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo.
• Angel with the Crown of Thorns (1667-1669) – Marble, Basilica of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte.
• Angel with the Sudarium (1667-1669) – Marble, Sant’Andrea delle Fratte.
• Bust of Gabriele Fonseca (1668-1675) – Marble, San Lorenzo in Lucina.
• Bust of Francesco Barberini (1623-1626) – Marble, San Lorenzo in Lucina.
• Ecstasy of Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (1671-1674) – Marble, Altieri-Albertoni Chapel, Church of San Francesco a Ripa.
• Funeral Memorial of Ippolito Merenda (1636-1638) – San Giacomo alla Lungara.
• Altar of the Blessed Sacrament (1673-1674) – Marble, Basilica of San Crisogono.
• Salvator Mundi (1679) – Marble, Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura.
• Raimondi Chapel (1640-1646) – San Pietro in Montorio, marble and stucco.

In Roman Palaces

• Damned Soul (1619) – Marble, Palazzo di Spagna, Rome.
• Saved Soul (1619) – Marble, Palazzo di Spagna, Rome.
• Constantine, Scala Regia (1663-1670) – Marble and polychrome stucco, Vatican Palace, Vatican.
• Bust of Costanza Bonarelli (1636-1638) – Marble, created in Rome (now at the Bargello, Florence).

In Roman Squares

• Fontana della Barcaccia (1627-1628) – Marble, Piazza di Spagna.
• Fountain of the Triton (Fontana del Tritone) (1624-1643) – Travertine, Piazza Barberini.
• Fountain of the Bees (1644) – Travertine, Piazza Barberini.
• Fountain of the Four Rivers (1648-1651) – Travertine and marble, Piazza Navona.
• Fountain of the Moor (1653-1654) – Marble, Piazza Navona, Rome.
• Elephant of Minerva (1667-1669) – Marble, Piazza della Minerva.

Bernini’s Architecture in Rome

• Facade of the Church of Santa Bibiana (1624-1626).
• Palazzo Montecitorio (1650-1697).
• Colonnade of Saint Peter’s Square (1656-1667).
• Restoration of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo (1655-1661), including the decoration of the nave and transept and the creation of the Chigi Chapel.
• Church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale (1658-1670).
• Palazzo Chigi (1664-1666).
• Scala Regia at the Vatican (1663-1666), with the equestrian statue of Constantine.
• Palazzo Barberini (1625-1633, partial contribution).
• Palazzo Quirinale (1630s, minor contribution: clock, windows).
• Angels of Ponte Sant’Angelo (1667-1669) – Marble, Ponte Sant’Angelo.
• Palazzo Ludovisi (1650-1653, partial contribution).

Bernini’s Paintings in Rome

• Portrait of a Boy (ca. 1638) – Oil on canvas, Borghese Gallery.
• Self-Portrait as a Young Man (ca. 1623) – Oil on canvas, Borghese Gallery.
• Self-Portrait in Maturity (1630-1635) – Oil on canvas, Borghese Gallery.
• Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas (1627) – Oil on canvas, Corsini Gallery (currently on loan to London).

Bernini’s Trail in Rome: Map