Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s artistic impact on the city of Rome and the society of art in general is one of the greatest individual artist’s influences in the world. His transformation of Rome and the Vatican still astounds art critics and visitors of these cities to this day. Bernini lived a life dedicated to his art and did not disappoint the several popes and aristocrats who commissioned his work in their churches, palaces, and neighborhoods. His loyalty to the Catholic Church throughout the turmoil surrounding his time is depicted through the motions and expressions of his sculptures and buildings.
Born in Naples on December 7, 1598 Bernini was the son of the respected Florentine sculptor, Pietro Bernini. His father was instrumental in introducing him to the techniques he would later use to revolutionize art forever. His father was also responsible for moving the family to Rome for a better paying job under the Borghese and Barberini families. In his father’s art studio Bernini began to show exemplary skills in working with the marble scraps. At the age of 10 he had completed his first sculpture; an impressive portrayal of The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun which according to the New York Times was so impressive that it “was mistaken for a Roman original for many years.” (Associated Press)The art Bernini found in Rome continued to influence and shape his skills. He took particular interest in the works of Caravaggio he found in the halls of the villa his sculptures would later accompany.
Bernini’s sculptures of gods, goddesses, and biblical figures in the Borghese Gallery captures more than just a mythological or biblical story in marble. They solidify the lust and pain involved in human nature- feelings that typically will only be seen in a moment of uncensored shock. The tears on Proserpina’s face and the wide open mouth of Daphne are a special insight into a human’s raw experience of fright and pain. David’s tightly pursed lips and focused eyes show the determination of a young man fulfilling his duty to his God, his country, and his family. All of Bernini’s marble sculptures “show a new awareness of the relationship between head and body and display an ability to depict fleeting facial expressions with acute realism.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) This type of emotional accuracy was previously only seen in bronze statues. Even more meaningful than even the most detailed painting, these sculptures give the viewer a three dimensional and tangible object to relate their emotions and passions to.
Bernini’s patron at the time of his creation of the Apollo and Daphne, Rape of Proserpina, and the David was Cardinal Scipione. The nephew of the pope, he was given the title of cardinal and used his connections to fuel his collection of ancient and renaissance art. It is said that he had Raphael's Deposition “secretly removed from the Baglioni Chapel in the church of S. Francesco in Perugia and transported to Rome.” (Galleria Borghese) He had the Pope give it to him through a motu proprio (a pope’s personal pardon or grant) to cover up the scandal involving Scipione’s art ambitions. Scipione was fascinated with the art of ancient Rome and Greece and despite his moral flaws he was largely responsible for patronizing the baroque artists to recreate and redefine art. He collected many of the most prestigious artists’ works in his lifetime including Caravaggio, Raphael, and Bernini.
Bernini was a devoutly religious catholic and was loyal to the church in all of his art works. He played a huge role in creating pieces that embodied the Catholic Church’s strength but turmoil through the Counter Reformation. Although he was almost always commissioned by a pope to create his sculptures or design his buildings and fountains, he often depicted the ancient’s pagan gods and goddesses. These works although beautiful could be viewed as being contrary to the catholic influence over his life. However, it is believed that Bernini used the ancient figures not with the intentions of worship and idolatry, but as a reminder of the sinful nature. Looking at his sculptures of Apollo and Daphne and The Rape of Proserpina it is easy to see the atrocities of the human soul. By portraying the gods in such a human form, the corruption speaks in abundance to the condition of our own lusts and impulses.
The bottom of the podium of Apollo and Daphne reads, “Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands.” This Latin inscription requested by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII) provides further justification for the presence of this pagan statue in the house of a Pope’s family. It continues to reinforce the theme that the secular conquests and desires will fade from importance as the kingdom of heaven transcends upon the earth and its inhabitants, a theme that the Catholic Church during Bernini’s time was very keen on promoting.
Bernini’s first and most revolutionary architectural feat was creating the baldachin in St. Peter’s Basilica (1624-1633). Not only was the baldachin he created for the Vatican’s church the largest up to that point in history, the details and ornaments were unlike anything seen in a church before his time as well. The four twisted columns provides more movement and intricacy than ever before seen in a column. With this one project Bernini transformed the artistic standards of his time in both architecture and sculpture. Instead of columns that grew straight into a decorated corinthian, ionic, or doric cap, his columns almost come to life as they twisted and spread into their caps. Instead of clothing that hung dead upon a sculptures body, Bernini showed the world the wind. His sculptures garments blow wildly in this wind and provided a far more imaginative and fantastical experience for the senses.
During the first five years of his construction of the baldachin, Bernini grew in his acquaintance of chief architect of St. Peter’s and the Palazzo Barberini, Carlo Maderno. Their collaboration over those five years proved to be invaluable as Maderno died in 1629 leaving the buildings unfinished. Bernini was then commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to oversee the completion of the building processes using many of the plans Maderno had gone over with him.
Pope Urban VIII also commissioned Bernini to explore other art forms including sculpting for tombs and fountains. Thanks to Bernini Rome has some of the most glorious fountains in the world including the Fountain of Triton in Palazzo Barberini and the Fountain of Four Rivers in Piazza Navona. These fountains provide a general enjoyment of art for the citizens of Rome and combine the typical Roman principles of practicality and statism, giving the people a place to drink and draw water from while bringing glory to the city.
Attributed with innovating the Baroque art and architecture, Bernini’s revolutionary ideas of shape and form changed the city of Rome forever. “The distinctive features of baroque statues are a) the use of more than one block of marble, thus allowing a large array of gestures; b) the treatment of drapery, which does not fall in an ordinary way, but is moved by a sort of wind; c) the use of variegated/colored marble or of different marbles; d) a torsion of a very often tall and slim body.”(Pierno) This style of art can be seen in the 10 angels Bernini designed to line the Sant’Angelo Bridge as well as what critics call his finest sculpture, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1645-52) in Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. This statue is the crowning jewel of the baroque period incorporating aspects of the new style in a wholly realistic and astounding manner. In his more advanced artistic skills, he is able to amplify the feeling and emotion Saint Teresa felt at the angel’s piercing of her heart even more so than the sculptures at the Borghese villa. In this sculpture he also introduces to the world the concept of light being used as a medium of conception in the sculpture. Edward Sullivan in his overview of Bernini’s role in the Baroque movement describes this sculpture by saying, “the sun's rays, coming from an unseen source, illuminate the swooning saint and the smiling angel about to pierce her heart with a golden arrow.” This innovative way of expressing a holy glow in sculpture was new and spiritually stirring to the viewers of Bernini’s statues.
Although very gifted in sculpting, painting and architecture, Bernini was not without fault when it came to these arts. The bell towers he started to work on for St. Peter’s in 1637 lasted barely even a decade. To his embarrassment, the church had to have them removed from the roof in 1646 because of the structural damage they were causing. His embarrassment was only temporary as his artistic skills were more than enough to compensate for this mistake.
In his lifetime Bernini undertook over 50 commissions in the city of Rome and the Vatican alone. It is easy to marvel at the dedication he had to these projects to be able to accomplish so much in the short 82 years that he lived, but there are methods and secrets to accomplishing these masterpieces within a lifetime. When an artist or architect is given credit for a large and impressive piece of work, it is often forgotten that he did not complete the whole project without assistance. From the time that he started working in St. Peter’s Basilica, Bernini began organizing for himself teams of painters and sculptors to help put his plans into actuality. His energy for creating was instrumental in using this extra help and spreading his ideas and methods throughout the world. The artists who worked under Bernini learned from his skills and were able to continue the baroque period beyond their teacher’s death. While the designs of the figures and buildings he is given credit for are his, many of them are actually worked by the teams that he had chosen to help. This technique allows for many projects to be in progress on all at once. For example, the construction of the St. Peter’s baldachin took place at the same time of his sculpting of the Borghese statues in 1623. Bernini could easily work on the statues in his workshop on the days he did not have to be giving directions to his workers at the Vatican. While he typically did not focus on one sculpture at a time, their completion could take anywhere from about one year to 10 years or more depending on the complexity of the work and the number of other projects being worked on at the time.
Bernini’s impressive career as an artist has played a key role in determining the direction of art over the past four centuries since his death on November 28, 1680. The baroque style has lead to a more imaginative and fantastical representation of life which has freed artists from depicting a subject in the realistically rigid manner that was previously the only acceptable form of art. Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s reinterpretation of mythological and biblical stories as well as architectural conventions has paved the way for all the art from his time including everything from impressionism to the abstract and contemporary art of today.
Works Cited
Associated Press. "TRAVEL ADVISORY; Borghese Shows Off Brilliance of Bernini." New York Times 26 JUL 1998, Sunday: Sec. 5, pg. 3. Print.
"Borghese Family." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Dec.
2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/74116/Borghese-family>.
"Borghese Gallery and Museum." Galleria.Borghese.it. artematic.it, Web. 4 Dec
2009.
"Carlo Maderno." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 05 Dec.
2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355740/Carlo-Maderno>.
“Gian Lorenzo Bernini." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04
Dec. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/62547/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini>.
"Giuliano Finelli: Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1576-1633) (53.201)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art
History.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/baro/ho_53.201.htm (October 2006)
Mangia, Paola . "History Borghese Gallery." Ticketeria. 2009. Rete
Computerizzata di Biglietteria., Web. 4 Dec 2009.
Piperno, Roberto. "Baroque Sculpture." Rome. Roberto Piperno, Web. 4 Dec
2009.
Randall, Federika. "Bernini at the Borghese." Wall Street Journal (September 15, 1998): Web. 2 Dec 2009.
3Darticle>.
"Scipione Caffarelli." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Dec.
2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/88292/Scipione-Caffarelli>.
Sullivan , Edward J. "Bernini, Gian Lorenzo." History World. January
2007. International World History Project, Web. 7 Dec 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment