Bernini: His Life and His Rome

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Description

Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright, and scenographer, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) was once the last of the nice universal artistic geniuses of early up to date Italy, placed by both contemporaries and posterity in the similar exalted company as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. And his artistic vision remains palpably present these days, throughout the countless statues, fountains, and buildings that transformed Rome into the Baroque theater that continues to enthrall tourists these days.
It is possibly not surprising that this artist who defined the Baroque will have to have a personal life that itself was once, well, baroque. As Franco Mormando’s dazzling biography reveals, Bernini was once a man driven by many passions, possessed of an explosive temper and a hearty sex drive, and he lived a life as dramatic as any of his creations. Drawing on archival sources, letters, diaries, and—with a suitable skepticism—a hagiographic account written by Bernini’s son (who portrays his father as a paragon of virtue and piety), Mormando leads us through Bernini’s many feuds and love affairs, scandals and sins. He sets Bernini’s raucous life against a vivid backdrop of Baroque Rome, bustling and rich, and peopled by churchmen and bureaucrats, popes and politicians, schemes and secrets.
The result is a seductively readable biography, stuffed with stories and teeming with life—as wild and unforgettable as Bernini’s art. No person who has been bewitched by the Baroque will have to miss it.


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