2. BERNINI 1609: Gianlorezno carves a portrait bust that is so impressive that the Pope asks that the boy be brought to him. He asks the boy to sketch a head of St. Paul, and is so awed by the boy’s talent that he decides the child’s education and training are matters of utmost importance. He entrusts the child to a noted patron, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, with the hope that the boy will become “ the Michelangelo of our century.” Pope Paul V by Guido Reni
3. BERNINI 1623: Maffeo Barberini assumes the papacy as Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII by Bernini (for the Pope’s tomb in St. Peter’s)
12. BERNINI: ST. PETER’S Baldacchino Baldacchino: begun in 1624 (when Bernini was 25). Ninety-five foot bronze canopy directly under the dome over the crossing and directly over supposed burial site of St. Peter at the crossing of the basilica
15. BERNINI: ST. PETER’S—Cathedra Petri Cathedra Petri (“Peter’s Chair”): visible upon entering the church and framed by the columns of the Baldacchino.
16. Cathedra Petri: a hollow reliquary— encased by Bernini within is an old wooden chair believed to have been used by St. Peter, making it the first papal throne (in fact, tests of the wood it dates only from the 8 th or 9 th century). BERNINI: ST. PETER’S—Cathedra Petri (1657-66)
19. BERNINI: ST. PETER’S—Piazza St. Peter’s (1656-67) Piazza St. Peter’s: creates a large, open space where 250,000 people can gather to receive the pope’s blessing from either the basilica or the Vatican Palace directly to the north.
20. BERNINI: ST. PETER’S—Constantine in Scala Regia Scala Regia (Royal Staircase) Scala Regia: private entrance used by the pope to go between St. Peter’s and the Vatican. Bernini redesigned the steps so they would be less steep and more regular, and sculpted a statue of Constantine placed in the passage way leading directly into the church.
22. BERNINI: ARCHITECTURE—Projects in Rome (Fountains) Fountain of the Four Rivers (Piazza Navona; 1651): allegories of the four continents/ corners of the earth.
23. BERNINI: PORTRAIT SCULPTURE, SCULPTED BUSTS Francesco d’Este, Duke of Modena 1650s: flowing hair, billowing robe or cloak
Notas del editor
father warned when gian only 8 that he would soon surpass him
around time bernini doing these precocious sculptures, his old protector and tutor, barberini, becomes pope—a great patron, conneusuer, intellectual, will bring about his own kind of renaissance in rome, with bernini now as his point man.
the style that will prosper right up bernini’s alley with his penchant for dramatic, visceral, flamboyant scenes, kind of like a christinaized version of this same style, in arch, sculpture and painting, sometimes called ecstatic baroque
will evolve quickly and by an early age under those guys supervision some of not only his own finest masterpieces, but some of the finest masterpieces anyone has ever produced in stone, ironically many of pagan themes not christian, but guys like borghese big admirers and collectors of ancient art also
will evolve quickly and by an early age under those guys supervision some of not only his own finest masterpieces, but some of the finest masterpieces anyone has ever produced in stone, ironically many of pagan themes not christian, but guys like borghese big admirers and collectors of ancient art also
and the most famous of all—the most ecstatic, perhaps most simply ecstatic statue ever carved. tough, having sex with god, and combo, like installation
even when working on a secular tomb, this sense of intense ecstasy, as if the agonies of the death bed themselves has been turned into an ecstatic glimpse of paradise
infl. on bernini, esp.the pose of teresa
pope encouraged him to study architecture. really changes face of both st. peter’s and rome.
600 foot nave
baladachino sometimes called world’s first baroque monument
baladachino sometimes called world’s first baroque monument
relics no longer encased, now in a chapel and displayed only during lent
baladachino sometimes called world’s first baroque monument
baladachino sometimes called world’s first baroque monument
very late, one of last works—problem, not orig intended for st. peter’s, and when they decided to put it there, gave him a very awkward placement, rightover a door, wound up coming upwith a very novel solution, sculpts around the door to kind of turn it into something that looks like the door of a tomb,, with a skeleton with an hour glass as a momento mori
very late, one of last works—problem, not orig intended for st. peter’s, and when they decided to put it there, gave him a very awkward placement, rightover a door, wound up coming upwith a very novel solution, sculpts around the door to kind of turn it into something that looks like the door of a tomb,, with a skeleton with an hour glass as a momento mori
comes up with an ingenious plan that has become one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world—serves notjust to create a space to congregate. but also enhances façade of church—plan of two enveloping arms.
center piece is this old eg obelisk—so this peter symbolism, although thismay have actually been justa justification to add an element that would not only provide a focal point, but one that was seemed tall and elegant in a piazza which was deliberately broad and squat.
center piece is this old eg obelisk—so this peter symbolism, although thismay have actually been justa justification to add an element that would not only provide a focal point, but one that was seemed tall and elegant in a piazza which was deliberately broad and squat.
on left are some of the originals
this is an innovation in look he comes up with in 1650s, to make it more dramatic, very popular