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Wittkower, Rudolf
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A sculptor and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the formative master of the Roman baroque. Son of a sculptor, Bernini showed originality and power at an early age. He ceased to treat marble as a block and concentrated on the multiplicity of viewpoints from which a figure could be experienced. The drama and richness of his sculpture in marble, stucco, and stone is extraordinary. Subsequent neoclassicist critics disapproved of him, but his fame has returned.
Bernini was one of baroque Rome's greatest architects. He created the mighty square and colonnades in front of St. Peter's and the baldacchino in the basilica. In addition, he was a painter and writer of note. Of a tempestuous temperament, he was deeply religious. The mystical sensuous Ecstasy of St. Theresa is among his most famous sculptures.
Bernini died in 1680.
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