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Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒan loˈrɛntso berˈniːni]; also Gianlorenzo or Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect.[1] While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was, also and even more prominently, the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture.[2] 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...."[3] In addition, he was a painter (mostly small canvases in oil) and a man of the theater: he wrote, directed and acted in plays (mostly Carnival satires), also he designed stage sets and theatrical machinery, as well as a wide variety of decorative art objects including lamps, tables, mirrors, and even coaches. As architect and city planner, he designed both secular buildings and churches and chapels, as well as massive works combining both architecture and sculpture, especially elaborate public fountains and funerary monuments and a whole series of temporary structures (in stucco and wood) for funerals and festivals.
Bernini possessed the ability to depict dramatic narratives with characters showing intense psychological states, but also to organize large-scale sculptural works that convey a magnificent grandeur.[4] His skill in manipulating marble ensured that he would be considered a worthy successor of Michelangelo, far outshining other sculptors of his generation, including his rivals, François Duquesnoy and Alessandro Algardi. His talent extended beyond the confines of sculpture to a consideration of the setting in which it would be situated; his ability to synthesize sculpture, painting, and architecture into a coherent conceptual and visual whole has been termed by the art historian Irving Lavin the "unity of the visual arts".[5] In addition, a deeply religious man (at least later in life),[6] working in Counter Reformation Rome, Bernini used light both as an important theatrical and metaphorical device in his religious settings, often using hidden light sources that could intensify the focus of religious worship[7] or enhance the dramatic moment of a sculptural narrative.
Bernini was also a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini and the painter and architect Pietro da Cortona. Early in their careers they had all worked at the same time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death, under Bernini. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, and fierce rivalries developed, particularly between Bernini and Borromini.[8][self-published source][9] Despite the arguably greater architectural inventiveness of Borromini and Cortona, Bernini's artistic pre-eminence, particularly during the reigns of popes Urban VIII (1623–44) and Alexander VII (1655–65), meant he was able to secure the most important commissions in the Rome of his day, the various massive embellishment projects of the newly finished St. Peter's Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Maderno's nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Bernini's design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative and successful architectural designs. Within the basilica he is also responsible for the Baldacchino, the decoration of the four piers under the cupola, the Cathedra Petri or Chair of St. Peter in the apse, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the right nave, and the decoration (floor, walls and arches) of the new nave.
During his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the papal nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and in 1621, at the age of only twenty-three, he was knighted by Pope Gregory XV. Following his accession to the papacy, Urban VIII is reported to have said, "It is a great fortune for you, O Cavaliere, to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini made pope, but our fortune is even greater to have Cavalier Bernini alive in our pontificate."[10] Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he once again regained pre-eminent artistic domination and continued to be held in high regard by Clement IX.
Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque. It is only from the late nineteenth century that art historical scholarship, in seeking an understanding of artistic output in the cultural context in which it was produced, has come to recognise Bernini's achievements and restore his artistic reputation. The art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the seventeenth century, "there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini".[11]
Bernini possessed the ability to depict dramatic narratives with characters showing intense psychological states, but also to organize large-scale sculptural works that convey a magnificent grandeur.[4] His skill in manipulating marble ensured that he would be considered a worthy successor of Michelangelo, far outshining other sculptors of his generation, including his rivals, François Duquesnoy and Alessandro Algardi. His talent extended beyond the confines of sculpture to a consideration of the setting in which it would be situated; his ability to synthesize sculpture, painting, and architecture into a coherent conceptual and visual whole has been termed by the art historian Irving Lavin the "unity of the visual arts".[5] In addition, a deeply religious man (at least later in life),[6] working in Counter Reformation Rome, Bernini used light both as an important theatrical and metaphorical device in his religious settings, often using hidden light sources that could intensify the focus of religious worship[7] or enhance the dramatic moment of a sculptural narrative.
Bernini was also a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini and the painter and architect Pietro da Cortona. Early in their careers they had all worked at the same time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death, under Bernini. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, and fierce rivalries developed, particularly between Bernini and Borromini.[8][self-published source][9] Despite the arguably greater architectural inventiveness of Borromini and Cortona, Bernini's artistic pre-eminence, particularly during the reigns of popes Urban VIII (1623–44) and Alexander VII (1655–65), meant he was able to secure the most important commissions in the Rome of his day, the various massive embellishment projects of the newly finished St. Peter's Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Maderno's nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Bernini's design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative and successful architectural designs. Within the basilica he is also responsible for the Baldacchino, the decoration of the four piers under the cupola, the Cathedra Petri or Chair of St. Peter in the apse, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the right nave, and the decoration (floor, walls and arches) of the new nave.
During his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the papal nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and in 1621, at the age of only twenty-three, he was knighted by Pope Gregory XV. Following his accession to the papacy, Urban VIII is reported to have said, "It is a great fortune for you, O Cavaliere, to see Cardinal Maffeo Barberini made pope, but our fortune is even greater to have Cavalier Bernini alive in our pontificate."[10] Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he once again regained pre-eminent artistic domination and continued to be held in high regard by Clement IX.
Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque. It is only from the late nineteenth century that art historical scholarship, in seeking an understanding of artistic output in the cultural context in which it was produced, has come to recognise Bernini's achievements and restore his artistic reputation. The art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the seventeenth century, "there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini".[11]
Gian Lorenzo Bernini - Wikipedia
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Maj Marty Hogan I learn something new every day on the RP site: Good read/share.
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Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that December 7 is the anniversary of the birth of Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernin who was both the leading sculptor of his age and a major figure in the world of architecture.
Rest in peace Gian Lorenzo Bernin.
Background from nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2025.html
"Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Roman, 1598 - 1680
Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo , Bernini, Gianlorenzo
BIOGRAPHY WORKS OF ART RELATED CONTENT
From his early days as a child prodigy until his death in 1680 at the age of 82, Gian Lorenzo Bernini remained unchallenged as the foremost sculptor of his time. His dynamic and exuberant style perfectly embodies the baroque period, of which he has become the symbol. Bernini excelled in every sculptural genre (portraiture, tomb sculpture, religious and mythological representations). He was equally creative in other media, including architecture, painting and drawing. An early practitioner of the art of caricature, he used his quick sketches to poke fun at the Roman papal court. In his all-encompassing virtuosity, Bernini brings to mind another prolific artist who redefined sculpture, Michelangelo.
Born in Naples in 1598, Bernini spent most of his adult life in Rome, a city his numerous architectural projects would eventually transform. In 1606, his father Pietro--himself a talented sculptor--moved the family to the Eternal City, where he secured a number of papal commissions. Rome also provided sculptors with gainful employment restoring antique sculpture, an experience that had an important influence on the young Gian Lorenzo. Trained in his father's studio, Bernini rapidly obtained important commissions of his own. He was in his early twenties when Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Paul V's nephew, commissioned four monumental marble groups for his Roman villa (Aeneus and Anchises 1618-1619, Pluto and Persephone 1621-1622, Apollo and Daphne 1622-1624 and David 1623-1624). The technique and naturalism displayed in these works sealed Bernini's reputation as a master carver who transcended his material and (sometimes with the help of specialist collaborators) turned marble into flesh, foliage, and fur. His fame was compounded by the award of a papal knighthood and his election as principe of the artists' academy in Rome in 1621.
It was, however, Bernini's ties with another papal family, the Barberini, that propelled his career. Cardinal Maffeo Barberini had been a longtime protector of the sculptor. After his election to the papacy as Urban VIII in 1623, Barberini undertook a series of large-scale projects in which Bernini's sculptures played a defining role. One of his first and most important commissions was the Baldacchino (1624-1633), the monumental bronze canopy that marks the site of Peter's tomb in the crossing of Saint Peter's Basilica. Bernini also redesigned the four central piers of the crossing, creating niches for four fourteen-foot-high statues and executing one of them, Saint Longinus (1628-1638).
By then, Bernini was at the head of an extensive team of sculptors, stonemasons, bronze casters, draftsmen, and engineers. Named "Architect to Saint Peter's" in 1629 (after Carlo Maderno's death), he continued to remodel the basilica throughout the following decades, most notably erecting the Cathedra Petri (1655-1666), the reliquary housing Peter's throne located above the main altar. His career survived the humiliating demolition, in 1646, of two bell towers he had remodeled for the façade after cracks appeared in one of them. He went on to devise the circular, quadruple colonnade in the piazza outside Saint Peter's (1656-1667) that radically altered the approach to the basilica by framing the façade and creating an open space for ceremonies.
Bernini's architectural designs are conspicuous in their innovative combination of architecture and sculpture, dubbed bel composto (beautiful whole), as well as in their exploitation of natural light and space. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Cornaro Chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (1647-1652). While attention always focuses on The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, its effect would be diminished without the setting of multicolored marble, gilt bronze reliefs, stucco and marble portraits, as well as the concealed source of daylight above the central group. This concern for the setting, as well as a taste for theatricality, is also visible in the lavish fountains for Piazza Barberini (Triton, 1642-1643) and Piazza Navona (The Four Rivers, 1648-1651) and in the ten marble angels he designed to stand against water and sky along the Ponte Sant'Angelo, a bridge across the Tiber to the Vatican (1668-1669; the two angels Bernini carved himself are preserved in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte). Interestingly, Bernini was also active as a set designer, playwright, and director.
Though he continued to receive key papal commissions, Bernini never enjoyed the same relationship with successive popes as he had with Urban VIII and sought patronage elsewhere. In 1665, he was invited by the king of France, Louis XIV, to submit designs for a new façade of the royal palace of the Louvre. Bernini's fame ensured that his six-month sojourn in Paris was a major event, though his architectural designs were ultimately rejected and his equestrian portrait of the king (1669-1677) tepidly received. However, the visit marked a watershed moment in Franco-Italian artistic relations and resulted in two important works: the diary kept by the nobleman Paul Fréart de Chanteloup, which recorded Bernini's observations on art, and a dynamic portrait bust of Louis XIV (1665; Palace of Versailles). The bust exemplifies the naturalism, vivacity, and blend of psychological insight with expressions of worldly status that had made Bernini such a sought-after portraitist in Rome. In it, he set the standard, as he did in all other genres, for centuries to come."
The Power of Art Bernini complete episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJsD8mmWjM8
FYI LTC Orlando Illi CPT Jack Durish CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White Sgt Albert Castro SSgt Boyd Herrst] SSG Ray Adkins SGT Charles H. Hawes SSG Martin Byrne CPT Gabe SnellLTC Greg Henning SGT John MeredithMSgt John McGowanMSgt David M.1SG John MillanTSgt Rodney Bidinger 78081:SFC Randy Purham]CDR (Join to see) MSG Brian Ross
Rest in peace Gian Lorenzo Bernin.
Background from nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2025.html
"Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Roman, 1598 - 1680
Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo , Bernini, Gianlorenzo
BIOGRAPHY WORKS OF ART RELATED CONTENT
From his early days as a child prodigy until his death in 1680 at the age of 82, Gian Lorenzo Bernini remained unchallenged as the foremost sculptor of his time. His dynamic and exuberant style perfectly embodies the baroque period, of which he has become the symbol. Bernini excelled in every sculptural genre (portraiture, tomb sculpture, religious and mythological representations). He was equally creative in other media, including architecture, painting and drawing. An early practitioner of the art of caricature, he used his quick sketches to poke fun at the Roman papal court. In his all-encompassing virtuosity, Bernini brings to mind another prolific artist who redefined sculpture, Michelangelo.
Born in Naples in 1598, Bernini spent most of his adult life in Rome, a city his numerous architectural projects would eventually transform. In 1606, his father Pietro--himself a talented sculptor--moved the family to the Eternal City, where he secured a number of papal commissions. Rome also provided sculptors with gainful employment restoring antique sculpture, an experience that had an important influence on the young Gian Lorenzo. Trained in his father's studio, Bernini rapidly obtained important commissions of his own. He was in his early twenties when Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Paul V's nephew, commissioned four monumental marble groups for his Roman villa (Aeneus and Anchises 1618-1619, Pluto and Persephone 1621-1622, Apollo and Daphne 1622-1624 and David 1623-1624). The technique and naturalism displayed in these works sealed Bernini's reputation as a master carver who transcended his material and (sometimes with the help of specialist collaborators) turned marble into flesh, foliage, and fur. His fame was compounded by the award of a papal knighthood and his election as principe of the artists' academy in Rome in 1621.
It was, however, Bernini's ties with another papal family, the Barberini, that propelled his career. Cardinal Maffeo Barberini had been a longtime protector of the sculptor. After his election to the papacy as Urban VIII in 1623, Barberini undertook a series of large-scale projects in which Bernini's sculptures played a defining role. One of his first and most important commissions was the Baldacchino (1624-1633), the monumental bronze canopy that marks the site of Peter's tomb in the crossing of Saint Peter's Basilica. Bernini also redesigned the four central piers of the crossing, creating niches for four fourteen-foot-high statues and executing one of them, Saint Longinus (1628-1638).
By then, Bernini was at the head of an extensive team of sculptors, stonemasons, bronze casters, draftsmen, and engineers. Named "Architect to Saint Peter's" in 1629 (after Carlo Maderno's death), he continued to remodel the basilica throughout the following decades, most notably erecting the Cathedra Petri (1655-1666), the reliquary housing Peter's throne located above the main altar. His career survived the humiliating demolition, in 1646, of two bell towers he had remodeled for the façade after cracks appeared in one of them. He went on to devise the circular, quadruple colonnade in the piazza outside Saint Peter's (1656-1667) that radically altered the approach to the basilica by framing the façade and creating an open space for ceremonies.
Bernini's architectural designs are conspicuous in their innovative combination of architecture and sculpture, dubbed bel composto (beautiful whole), as well as in their exploitation of natural light and space. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Cornaro Chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (1647-1652). While attention always focuses on The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, its effect would be diminished without the setting of multicolored marble, gilt bronze reliefs, stucco and marble portraits, as well as the concealed source of daylight above the central group. This concern for the setting, as well as a taste for theatricality, is also visible in the lavish fountains for Piazza Barberini (Triton, 1642-1643) and Piazza Navona (The Four Rivers, 1648-1651) and in the ten marble angels he designed to stand against water and sky along the Ponte Sant'Angelo, a bridge across the Tiber to the Vatican (1668-1669; the two angels Bernini carved himself are preserved in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte). Interestingly, Bernini was also active as a set designer, playwright, and director.
Though he continued to receive key papal commissions, Bernini never enjoyed the same relationship with successive popes as he had with Urban VIII and sought patronage elsewhere. In 1665, he was invited by the king of France, Louis XIV, to submit designs for a new façade of the royal palace of the Louvre. Bernini's fame ensured that his six-month sojourn in Paris was a major event, though his architectural designs were ultimately rejected and his equestrian portrait of the king (1669-1677) tepidly received. However, the visit marked a watershed moment in Franco-Italian artistic relations and resulted in two important works: the diary kept by the nobleman Paul Fréart de Chanteloup, which recorded Bernini's observations on art, and a dynamic portrait bust of Louis XIV (1665; Palace of Versailles). The bust exemplifies the naturalism, vivacity, and blend of psychological insight with expressions of worldly status that had made Bernini such a sought-after portraitist in Rome. In it, he set the standard, as he did in all other genres, for centuries to come."
The Power of Art Bernini complete episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJsD8mmWjM8
FYI LTC Orlando Illi CPT Jack Durish CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White Sgt Albert Castro SSgt Boyd Herrst] SSG Ray Adkins SGT Charles H. Hawes SSG Martin Byrne CPT Gabe SnellLTC Greg Henning SGT John MeredithMSgt John McGowanMSgt David M.1SG John MillanTSgt Rodney Bidinger 78081:SFC Randy Purham]CDR (Join to see) MSG Brian Ross
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