“the Michelangelo of his century” – Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Holly Barnes
ARC1720 Section 1741
Word Count: 3087
Around the early 1600s, we began to see the beginning on an era that would influence the world of architecture forever. Known by the term Baroque Architecture, this era of art is remembered for its use of dynamism, which is a form of motion. If a piece of art was made around the time when Baroque architecture was popular, you will notice very intricate decorations and complex curves. A man by the name of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, also known as Giovanni Bernini, was very well known for making huge impacts in this form of architecture, especially with his contributions towards the completion of St. Peter’s. Bernini is also known for many other things, including fountains, like the Fountain of the Four Rivers, paintings and sculptures. Besides just architecture, you could find Bernini spending his days painting portraits, sculpting busts, working with plays, and even experimenting with metalwork’s. He was known for being “the Michelangelo of his century.”
Baroque architecture truly took place from about 1600 – 1800s. You can distinguish a piece of art to be a part of the Baroque period primarily due to its richly sculpted surfaces and three-dimensional characteristics. Baroque architecture marked the abandonment of reason and rationality in favor of emotion, movement, drama, and occasionally excess. You can also notice due to the fact that a Baroque surface is treated as a continuous whole, unlike the Renaissance period where everything is divided into neat sections, clear and in order, and more focused on flat surfaces. One of the biggest examples of a form of Baroque architecture are churches and chateaux. When the time of Baroque architecture was just beginning, the biggest contributor and pioneer can be given credit to St. Peter’s Basilica. Within St. Peter’s, Bernini is known best for his contribution of the four-story baldachin that you can see standing above the high altar. The other contribution he is best known for within St. Peter’s would be the curving colonnades that frame St. Peter’s Square. The later years of the Baroque architecture period are marked by the ascent of France. The art within this country tends to be more on the restrained side, known as a Classical-Baroque compromise. Although Bernini didn’t invent the Baroque style, his pieces during this time definitely helped to popularize it, making it one of the quintessential cultural expressions in 17th century Italy.
On December 7, 1598 in Naples, Italy, a child prodigy was born. As a child, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was taught art lessons and trained in the Roman workshop by his father, Pietro Bernini, who was a famous and talented sculptor. At eight years old, his talent was recognized by the Pope. At just 10 years old, Bernini was creating sculptures on his own and successfully completing them, like the angel’s head he sculpted out of marble. In 1608, him and his father moved to Rome in search of new opportunities within the artistic world. Upon arrival, Bernini gained lots of attention for being the child prodigy and artist that he already was. Due to so much talent that he possessed at such a young age, he was enrolled in a master class, in which he was creating a number of busts made from stone; one bust even being of the Pope. He began to truly form this road to fame and stardom so quickly, due to how fast he was able to complete busts accurately and without needing to get any calculations or constructions. By his teens and early 20s, Bernini began gaining commission for some of his major projects, which really help him gain widespread recognition fast. From busts to statues, his attention to detail shined bright within his sculptures. He had a special technique with surface design to him where even the roughest stone could be sculpted into something so smooth and so swift. Between the ages of 20 – 27, Bernini created sculptures of a group of some mythological creatures, including “The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun,” “Aeneas and Anchises", and then "Pluto and Persephone", "Apollo and Daphne" and "David," all three of which Bernini earned a commission for by the cardinal Scipione Borghese. These sculptures were so full of life and realistic life-sized quality that it was almost seen at first glance by the public to be real. The physical characteristics of the mythological creatures within these pieces were so perfectly sculpted that the realness of them was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. His sculpture of “Apollo and Daphne” is specifically famous in that it is a great example of who Bernini truly is as a sculptor. He was able to capture such virtuosity and sense of moment with Daphne’s metamorphosis, her turning into the half human half tree. Her body can be seen as becoming encapsulated with bark, the ends of her hair and fingers forming into the leaves of a tree, and her feet turning into roots. All of his mythical works really encompass the true theatrical nature of this Baroque period. Both elements of drama and accuracy can be combined to create a sense of life within Bernini’s pieces. Being commissioned for his mythical sculptures by the cardinal Scipione Borghese had really encouraged Bernini to pursue his career as an independent sculptor. He had also earned praise from Annibale Carracci, a famous Italian painter, and earned the patronage from both Pope Paul V, and Pope Urban VIII, who ended up being one of his greatest patrons.
What you don’t always see within Bernini’s art is that he had a huge family growing up. He was one of 12 siblings, and then later on went to have 11 children with his much younger wife, Caterina Tezio. When their marriage was arranged, he was 41 while she was just 22. But, there were some bumps in the road with Bernini’s love life. Before his marriage, he engaged in an affair with a married woman by the name of Costanza Bonarelli, the wife of one of his assistants. He even had Bonarelli pose as one of his models for a sculpture. Unfortunately, that love affair ended abruptly when Bernini found out that his brother Luigi was also having an affair with Bonarelli. When Bernini saw this, all hell broke loose. Bernini chased his brother, beating him with a crow bar before he could get away. Bernini also sent his servant Santa Maria Maggiore to Bonarelli’s home, where she slashed her face with a razor. Because Bernini had so much love from his Pope, he was only charged a measly fine, whereas his servant took the blame, being sent to jail, and Bonarelli was charged for adultery.
Pope Urban VIII was the person who really influenced Bernini and pushed him into the big world of art, encouraging him to do other things besides just sculpture. Urban VIII pushed Bernini to experiment with painting and practicing architecture. His very first architectural piece he completed was the remodel on the Church of Santa Bibiana in Rome. Bernini also was commissioned to build the symbolic structure that is over the tomb of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. After nine years, this resulted in a four-story tall gilt-bronze baldachin above the altar, which gained immense fame. The baldachin on St. Peter’s is a great example of the fusion of sculpture and architecture that first began the Baroque monument. After finishing the baldachin, Bernini began working on the decoration of the four piers in which support the dome of St. Peter’s along with colossal statues, except only one of the latter’s, named St. Longinus, he designed.
In 1629, the chief architect of St. Peter’s church, Carlo Maderno had passed away. With this not so expected death, Bernini then took over all architectural duties of St. Peter’s officially in 1637 even though he technically had never been trained for such a position as official as this one. Not only was he executing the building works himself, but as the commissions began to grow he was relying on the assistance of others to help him complete the church. Something unique was that when Bernini took over, he brought in his own different designs instead of sticking with the original ones. Some things Bernini was in charge of for example, were the flooring in the nave and narthex, for the decoration of the nave piers, designing the elliptical piazza that was outlined by colonnades that serves as the approach to the basilica, for the design of four sculptural groupings for altars and tombs, and of the designing for the crossing and main apse of the church which were on the interior. Inside St. Peter’s you can actually find many masterpieces coming from both the Renaissance and Baroque period. A few of the most famous ones are Michelangelo’s Pieta, the baldachin by Bernini over the main alter, the statue of St. Longinus in the crossing, the tomb of Urban VIII, and last but not least the bronze cathedra of St. Peter in the apse.
St. Peter’s was and still is one of the most important Christian monuments in Rome. You can find the Basilica of St. Peter across the Tiber from the older parts of the city. The idea for the church was originally conjured up by Pope Nicholas V, when he noticed the Old St. Peter’s Basilica’s construction was starting to wear away and collect dust. Construction on the new St. Peter’s began in 1452 by a man by the name of Bernardo Rossellino who was known for being an influential Italian Renaissance architect and sculptor, and being the architect of the famous tomb of Bruni. Construction for St. Peter’s was put on a halt when Pope Nicholas V passed away in 1455. Then in 1470, the project was put in the hands of Giuliano da Sangallo who would take over operation of the project. Finally, on the 18th of April in 1506, Julius II laid the first stone down for the Basilica. After the sack of Rome in 1527, Paul III gave authority and all trust to Antonio da Sangallo to begin once again construction on St Peter’s. Unfortunately, on Sangallo’s death in 1546 Paul III passed the duty on once again to another architect by the name of Michelangelo. At this time in his life Michelangelo was already a matured and aged architect who knew what he was doing. During his lifetime, Michelangelo was able to practically complete the massive dome and the drum that would be for it, but didn’t get much further than that, passing away in 1564. After a few more years and a few more architects, we are finally introduced to Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the late 1630s. He helped officially complete it along with filling the interior with many masterpieces of art, including some of his and some of Michelangelo’s. It wasn’t until 1989 that St. Peter’s was exceeded in being the largest church in Christendom. The new and far bigger one was the basilica in Yamoussoukro. Although Bernini’s role in completion of St. Peter’s might’ve seemed small, it effected many greatly.
Architecture and sculpting weren’t the only two things that Bernini exceeded in. One of his many other talents was painting. He was originally urged to start painting from Pope Urban VIII. In his lifetime he produced over 150 paintings, some portraits, some depicting both biblical and secular stories of the world, and some depicting the world of mythology. Today, pictures of the paintings can be found in various locations, collections and museums, most particularly in Italy.
Within all of Bernini’s pieces of art, one thing remains constant. His use of technique and unique style remained constant. The majority of Bernini’s commissions were from religious figures such as the many Popes he worked for. A lot of his pieces were made for religious purposes because of this, but you will also find that some of his pieces also are more on the classical side, or some even being based on mythology, it usually just depended on who he was making that specific piece of art for. Some characteristics that can be found within his work are composition, dramatic intent, texture, naturalism, movement and hallmarks. The composition of his art is very dynamic, almost creating a swirling look to his sculptures. He wanted his pieces to be inviting for the viewer; he wanted them to feel invited and truly be a part of the scene. The dramatic intent of his work was seen very prominent within his mythological pieces. Bernini is known for being able to capture a moment and put it into a piece of art. He loved making things as dramatic as possible, being able to do so by means of exuberant movement, emotive facial expressions, and feats of technical mastery. The texture of his art can be seen through many of the characteristics within his sculptures, such as the sculpture of “Apollo and Daphne,” where Daphne is turning into a tree. Within this sculpture, Bernini pays very much attention to detail, including the meticulously veined leaves, roughness of the tree bark, supple softness of the skin, luxuriously curling locks of hair, and the billowing swirls of fabric. The naturalism of his art is shown through how he is able to bring his sculptures to life. Bernini somehow is able to show emotion and their individual features within his sculptures. The movement of his art is very intricate and catches the eye. From his work on the spiraling columns of the Baldachin, or the flutters of fabric in his portrait busts. He’s known for being able to capture a still moment within a time of franticness and motion. The hallmarks of his art are basically like all that he has accomplished summarized into one characteristic. Through the combination of sculpture, architecture and painting, Bernini created an idea of what artwork could possess and just how it could do so.
Besides just being the main architect on the St. Peter’s church, Bernini is also very famously known for his sculpture called the Fountain of the Four Rivers, also known as The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. This fountain helped launch the Baroque style of art that would take charge during the 17th century. You can find this fountain located in the Piazza Navona in Rome. This fountain was actually a huge source of water to the locals before indoor plumbing was available. Bernini constructed this fountain due to it being commissioned by Pope Innocent X. Initially, the Pope actually didn’t even consider having Bernini on the project because he was hesitant due to the fact of Bernini’s past disaster involving the bell-tower. Eventually the Pope ended up changing his mind, and Bernini was able to complete one of his most famous pieces in history. This fountain was a huge statement that represented the Baroque era of architecture. Full of such theatrical and dramatic details, this fountain was a huge influence for many Italian fountains for centuries to come. Within this fountain, there are Gods carved out of marble in part of a scene with many animals, including a horse, sea monster, serpent, dolphin, crocodile, lion and a dragon. At the very top you can find a dove, which stands for the Holy Spirit, and the motif of the Pope that commissioned this work of art. When the fountain was first unveiled to the public, the people of Rome were not quite satisfied. One reason for this feeling of dissatisfaction from the public was due to them having to pay for the commission of this fountain during their famine of 1646-1648. Some romans even put notes on the construction of the fountain basically saying how they would rather pay for bread and water instead of having to pay for a fountain. Anyone who took part in this was arrested per the Pope.
During his whole career Bernini received many commissions that kept him going. He was one of the most admired and sought-after artists. Although he had lots of admiration from his followers, there were still people out there, like one of his competitors being Francesco Borromini, that neglected his work because they were either jealous or thought he received special treatment from some of the popes in which he earned commissions from. One keen example was when Innocent X replaced Pope Urban VII. Bernini built two bell towers for the façade of St. Peter’s Cathedral, but cracks slowly began to form in them on the year he was married. It wasn’t his fault, but the bell towers were taken down and it almost ruined his reputation for forever. One thing though that Bernini was able to do that his competitors couldn’t seem to was maintaining a good character and keeping good relations with his patrons. Bernini was a main who devoted lots of time to faith as well, attending mass daily and practicing contemporary religious exercises. Some of his humorous characteristics and lighter side peek out in his caricatures of prominent figures, such as Pope Innocent X. Whether you loved Bernini’s work or you hated it, you couldn’t miss it at first glance.
At age 66 Bernini traveled to Paris, France to help lead in the refurbishment of the Louvre. His architectural plans ended up being rejected by King Louis XIV, but in that time he had completed a portrait bust of Louis XIV himself. The bust was a majestic representation of the monarch, wearing a dramatically billowing costume. Unfortunately, in 1680 he passed away due to an unseen serious illness, but was able to leave behind a fortune in his name.
He was an inspiration for many artists to come after him, whether it was within his use of emotion in his art or his use of individualism, many have him to thank for the development of their own styles. Bernini passed away at the age of 81, but had so much to look back on, it was all worth it. He had served eight popes, and even when he died he was still considered to be both a great artist but also an even greater man. He was known for being one of Italy’s last universal geniuses who served during the Baroque period. His death marked Italy’s end to its artistic hegemony in Europe. You can see his style within pieces of art from the generations to come, within specific architects like Mattia de’ Rossi and Carlo Fontana, among others. Architecture, sculpture, and painting. All three key elements that had contributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s fame and fortune, and made him the man we remember him as today.
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