Rebuilding The Renaissance

In 1627, Pope Urban VIII hired Carlo Maderno to design his new family palace in Rome. When Maderno died two years later, instead of assigning Maderno’s nephew, the visionary architect Francesco Borromini, as architect, the pope gave the job to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This may have been the beginning of the famous rivalry between the two architects.

In 1624, Pope Urban VIII commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to carve a statue of the early Christian saint, virgin, and martyr St. Bibiana. The result is one of Bernini’s most overlooked but by no means less beautiful statues.

Under the direction of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, head architect of St. Peter’s, a group of sculptors closely associated with him produced three spectacular statues for the crossing piers of the church. These statues represent the three other most important relics of the Vatican – the largest piece of the “True Cross,” the Veil of Veronica (Sudarium), and the skull of St. Andrew.

In 1627, Bernini became the head architect of St. Peter’s Basilica. His first project was to oversee the decoration of the great crossing piers of the church. Four different sculptors – including Bernini – each produced a large-scale sculpture of a saint. But it was Bernini’s 4m tall marble statue of “St. Longinus” that stole the show. Its dramatic gesture, expression and drapery theatrically portray the spiritual conversion of the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross after piercing Christ’s side with his lance.

Located directly in front of the high altar of St. Peter’s and below Bernini’s magnificent Baldacchino, Maderno’s “Confessio” is an architectural stage that allows the faithful to revere the remains of St. Peter.  It consists of a beautiful marble balustrade, nearly 100 perpetually burning oil lamps and a double staircase leading down to the chapel of St. Peter’s remains.

Commissioned in 1623 by Pope Urban VIII – whose coat of arms are ubiquitous throughout the monument - Bernini’s Baldacchino was his first large-scale project. Standing over 100ft. tall, the bronze structure marks the central point of the great Basilica of St. Peter over the tomb of the first pope in spectacular fashion.  

Gian Lorenzo Bernini carved his statue of “David” in 1623 in only 7 months, interrupting his work working on the “Apollo and Daphne” to do so.  His “David” shows the young shepherd boy in the act of casting the stone with an assortment of symbols surrounding him. Perhaps the most striking feature of the statue is the concentrated expression on its face which tradition maintains is a self-portrait of Bernini.

In 1622, at the age of 24, Gian Lorenzo Bernini began carving his most spectacular sculpture, the “Apollo and Daphne,” for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The marble statue magically demonstrates the transformation of the nymph Daphne into a laurel tree to escape the advances of the god Apollo.

Located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, Italy, and carved when Bernini was only 23 years old, the spectacular “Pluto and Persephone” depicts the Greek myth which explains the cyclical seasons. Pluto, the god of the underworld, abducts Persephone. Eventually forced to release her, Pluto tricks Persephone in eating magical pomegranate seeds that will force her to spend part of the year with him in the underworld.

Carved when Bernini was only 20 years old for the powerful cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, the “Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius” demonstrated the extraordinary talent of the sculptor to the world.  Mesmerizing special effects transform stone into stretching, malleable flesh, and textures that you can almost feel with your eyes!