Gian LorenzoBernini was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture. As one scholar has commented, "What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to sculpture: the first pan-European sculptor whose name is instantaneously identifiable with a particular manner and vision, and whose influence was inordinately powerful ..." In addition, he was a painter and a man of the theater: he wrote, directed and acted in plays, for which he designed stage sets and theatrical machinery. He produced designs as well for a wide variety of decorative art objects including lamps, tables, mirrors, and even coaches.
Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius is a sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini created c. 1618-19. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the sculpture depicts a scene from the Aeneid, where the hero Aeneas leads his family from burning Troy.
Fontana del Moro is a fountain located at the southern end of the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It represents a Moor, or African, standing in a conch shell, wrestling with a dolphin, surrounded by four Tritons. It is placed in a basin of rose-colored marble.
Blessed Ludovica Albertoni is a funerary monument by the Italian Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The Trastevere sculpture is located in the specially designed Altieri Chapel in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome, Italy. Bernini started the project in 1671, but his work on two other major works—The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII and the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Peter's Basilica—delayed his work on the funerary monument. Bernini completed the sculpture in 1674; it was installed by 31 August 1674.
Scala Regia is a flight of steps in the Vatican City and is part of the formal entrance to the Vatican. It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Angel with the Crown of Thorns is a statue by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Originally commissioned by Pope Clement IX for the Ponte Sant'Angelo project, the statue was replaced with a copy and the original was moved to Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome, Italy. The statue was started in 1667 and completed in 1669. A terracotta modello for the sculpture is held by the musée du Louvre in Paris.
The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII is a sculptural monument designed and partially executed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It is located in the south transept of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. The piece was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII himself. However, construction of the monument didn't start until 1671 and was completed in 1678, eleven years after the Pope's death. At the age of 81, this would be Bernini's last major sculptural commission before his death in 1680.
Elephant and Obelisk is a statue of an elephant carrying an obelisk, designed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was unveiled in 1667 in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where it stands today.
The Bust of Giovanni Battisti Santoni is a sculptural portrait by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Believed to be one of the artist's earliest works, the bust forms part of a tomb for Santoni, who was majordomo to Pope Sixtus V from 1590 to 1592. The work was executed sometime between 1613 and 1616, although some have dated the work as early as 1609, including Filippo Baldinucci. The work remains in its original setting in the church of Santa Prassede in Rome.
Saint Bibiana is a sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It sits in the high altar of the church of Santa Bibiana in Rome. Bernini received his first payment for the work in 1624, and his final payment in 1626. A seventeenth-century print of the statue exists in the Teylers Museum, Harlem, the Netherlands.
Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen are two sculptures by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini. They sit in the Chigi Chapel of Siena Cathedral. The statues were commissioned as part of the chapel by the then–pope Alexander VII.
The Vision of Constantine is an equestrian sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, located in the Scala Regia by St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Originally commissioned as a free standing work of art within St. Peter's itself, the sculpture was finally unveiled in 1670 as an integral part of the Scala Regia - Bernini's redesigned stairway between St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Palace. Unlike other large works by Bernini, art historians have suggested that this work was almost entirely undertaken by him - no other sculptors have been recorded as receiving payment. Bernini's overall fee was 7,000 Roman scudi.
The Statue of Pope Clement X is one of the final sculptural works executed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It depicts Pope Clement X in the act of benediction, and is housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
Angel with the Superscription is a statue by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Originally commissioned by Pope Clement IX for the Ponte Sant'Angelo project, the statue was replaced with a copy and the original was moved to Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome, Italy. The statue was started in 1667 and completed in 1669.
The Statue of Urban VIII is a large statue from the late 1630s, of the then pope Urban VIII. It was executed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and his workshop. The work was commissioned in 1635 and took five years to complete. The piece sits in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome.
Several sculpted busts of Pope Urban VIII were created by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini, with varying amounts of assistance from other artists in his workshop:
- Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 1623–1624. Marble.
- San Lorenzo in Fonte, 1626. Marble. Assistance by Giuliano Finelli.
- Galleria Nazionale di Arte, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 1637–1638. Marble.
- Galleria Nazionale di Arte, Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Early 1640s. Marble. Largely the work of an assistant.
- Louvre, Paris. 1640. Bronze.
- Cathedral of Spoleto, 1642. Bronze.
- Collection Principe Enrico Barberini. Early 1640s. Porphyry. Adapted from existing antique statue, largely by assistants.
- Private Collection. 1658. Bronze
The Memorial to Carlo Barberini is a large memorial, featuring two allegorical statues and an inscription. It was designed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini upon the death of Carlo in 1630, and subsequently executed by Bernini and his workshop. It is in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome.
The Statue of Carlo Barberini was a large statue of the brother of Pope Urban VIII, Carlo Barberini, erected in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, following his death in 1630. The statue made use of an existing antique statue of Julius Caesar. The Roman authorities then commissioned the two most renowned sculptures of the day, Gianlorenzo Bernini and Alessandro Algardi, to add to the torso; Bernini worked on the head and Algardi on the limbs.
Daniel and the Lion is a sculpture created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini c. 1655–57. Standing in a niche in the Chigi Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, it shows the Prophet Daniel in the lions' den. It forms a part of a larger composition with the sculpture of Habakkuk and the Angel diagonally opposite.
Habakkuk and the Angel is a sculpture created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini c. 1656–61. Standing in a niche in the Chigi Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, it shows the Prophet Habakkuk with the angel of God. It forms a part of a larger composition with the sculpture of Daniel and the Lion diagonally opposite.
