Baroque Artits

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist. He was born in Naples on December 7, 1598. He died in Rome, the city which he principally worked in, on November 28, 1680. Bernini was mainly and sculptor and architect, but he also painted, designed metalwork, wrote plays. As a kid he worked in his father’s shop, learning the art of sculpting and painting from him. Bernini outshone the other sculptors of his time, even Alessandro Algardi, his rival. Francesco Borromini and Petro da Cortona accompanied Bernini in the emergence of Baroque architecture in Rome. 

What set Bernini aside in the period of Baroque art was his tremendous skill in carving and sculpting, especially the portrait busts. Bernini paid lots of attention to the variety of texture in his statues. When he carved cloth, you could tell if it was shiny or matte. The skin on his statues was very accurate too. Either saggy and wrinkly if he was carving an old person, or fresh and soft if he was carving a younger person. 

Bernini focused mainly on carving statues, and designing architecture. When he did paint, his portraits weren’t as good as some other painters of that time. So he just stuck to sculpting. There aren’t any real defining characteristics or motifs and Bernini is famous for in his artwork. To me, it seems like he blends in with all the other artists of his time, just maybe he was a bit more skilled in sculpting.

Bernini is a Baroque artist because he produced his great works of art during that time 

period. Also, for architecture during that time buildings were built to impress, which Bernini’s palaces and architecture surely did. 

Sculptures created during the baroque time were more advanced. The artists paid more attention to all the different angles of their statues, and lighting was taken into account when they were being created as well. Baroque sculpture included groups of figures bursting with dynamic movement and the energy of human beings. The sculptures often pictured people reaching outwards into surrounding emptiness. Bernini fits into this because he was the main sculptor of that time, and he kind of was the definition of Baroque sculptures. 

Many of Bernini’s works are still standing, like his architecture and statues. Bernini influenced the world of statues greatly, just because he was so talented.

Bernini’s art doesn’t really appeal to me because there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it that sets him apart from other artists, except that he used a lot of skill and technique in his statues he created. I do liked how he incorporated different textures into his statues though. They would be interesting to see in real life. He didn’t paint much, but i thought it was interesting that he worked in the theater a bit.  




Statuette of Saint Agnes

Piazza San Pietro

Bust of Cardinal Richelieu