After going through some of my pictures which would never do these justice, no picture could, it seemed important for me to remember why there was so much beauty in this work. Fortunately I've seen much of it in person. I just felt like sharing.( I did not take these pictures)This type of work amazes me, imagine the strength in his hands and back.

Italian artist who was perhaps the greatest sculptor of the 17th century and an outstanding architect as well. Bernini created the Baroque style of sculpture and developed it to such an extent that other artists are of only minor importance in a discussion of that style.

Early years

Bernini's career began under his father, Pietro Bernini, a Florentine sculptor of some talent who ultimately moved to Rome. The young prodigy worked so diligently that he earned the praise of the painter Annibale Carracci and the patronage of Pope Paul V and soon established himself as a wholly independent sculptor. He was strongly influenced by his close study of the antique Greek and Roman marbles in the Vatican, and he also had an intimate knowledge of High Renaissance painting of the early 16th century. His study of Michelangelo is revealed in the St Sebastian (c. 1617), carved for Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who was later Pope Urban VIII and Bernini's greatest patron.

link [www.wga.hu]








Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Beata Ludovica Albertoni, (1671-1674), Roma - San Francesco a Ripa



Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Ratto di Proserpina, (1621-1622), Roma - Galleria Borghese