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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.
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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.”
French King Louis XIV 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.
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, furrow-browed 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.
A copy of the original chair, now encased in Bernini’s grand reliquary. St. Peter’s Cathedral • 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.
Santa Maria dell'Assunzione at Ariccia 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.
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.
