(b Naples, 7 Dec 1598; d Rome, 28 Nov 1680). Sculptor, architect, draughtsman and painter, son of (1) Pietro Bernini. He is considered the most outstanding sculptor of the 17th century and a formative influence on the development of the Italian Baroque style. His astonishing abilities as a marble carver were combined with an inventive genius of the highest order. From the mid-1620s the support of successive popes made his the controlling influence on most aspects of artistic production in Rome. Although his independent works of sculpture, both statues and portrait busts, are among the most brilliant manifestations of their kind in Western art, his genius found its highest expression in projects in which he combined sculpture, painting and architecture with scenographic daring and deep religious conviction to express more fervently than any other artist the spiritual vision of the Catholic Counter-Reformation Church.

Part of the Bernini family

• Bernini, Gianlorenzo... (cont.)
  • sculpture... (cont.)
    • Siena, §II: Art life and organization
    • altarpieces
      • Algardi, Alessandro, §1(i)(c): Subject sculpture: mid-1630s to 1644
      • Altarpiece, §2(ii)(c): Forms and development: After c 1600
    • busts
      • Bernini: (2) Gianlorenzo Bernini, §I, 1(v): Sculpture: Work in France, 1665
      • Bust, §III: Renaissance and Baroque
      • Doria, §Roman: branch
      • Warin, Jean
    • ciboria (ii) (structure)
      • Ciborium (ii), §2(ii): Western Europe: Post-medieval
    • crucifixes
      • Crucifix, §3(iii): Sculpted: Baroque and after
      • Escorial, §2(ii): Architecture: Later developments
    • equestrian monuments
      • Equestrian monument, §3: High Renaissance and Baroque
      • France, §IV, 3: Sculpture, c 1600–c 1700
      • Girardon, François, §2: Sacred and commemorative projects
    • fountains
      • Carpegna, Ambrogio
      • Fountain, §IV, 3: Western world: Baroque
      • Mattei: (1) Ciriaco Mattei
      • Monument, public, §4: Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque
      • Petty, Rev. William
      • Tivoli, §3: Villa d’Este
    • monumental
      • Avanzini, Bartolomeo
    • mythological
      • Asprucci, Antonio
      • Bernini: (2) Gianlorenzo Bernini, §I, 1(i): Sculpture, to 1623
      • Mythological painting and sculpture, §4: The Baroque period, c 1595–c 1700
      • Statue, §2(i): After c 1400: Private works of art
      • Statue, §2(ii)(a): After c 1400: Public monuments: Statues for fountains and gardens
    • pedestals
      • Pedestal
    • religious
      • Bernini: (2) Gianlorenzo Bernini, §I, 1(iv): Sculpture, 1655–65
      • Christianity, §III, 3(ii)(a): Iconography: Western Church, 1500 and after: Roman Catholic
      • Erotic art, §I, 2(ii): Western world, c 1500–c 1700
      • Illusionism, §2(i)(b): Large-scale projects, c 1600–c 1700
    • sarcophagi
      • Sarcophagus, §III, 3: Renaissance and after
    • statuettes
      • Statuette, §II, 1(iii): Baroque Italy: 17th century
    • tombs
      • Chigi: (1) Agostino Chigi (i)
      • Tomb, §VI, 3(i): Western world, c 1600–c 1780: Formal and iconographical developments
  • sponsorship
    • Pamphili: (2) Camillo Pamphili
  • stucco
    • Stucco and plasterwork, §III, 10(i)(a): Western world, 1400–1850: Italy
  • workshop
    • Mattei
  • writings
    • Baroque, §4: Two modes of imagination