AKA Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

Born: 7-Dec-1598
Birthplace: Naples, Italy
Died: 28-Nov-1680
Location of death: Rome, Italy
Cause of death: unspecified
Remains: Buried, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Sculptor, Architect

Nationality: Italy
Executive summary: Baroque sculptor and architect

Italian artist, was born at Naples. He was more celebrated as an architect and a sculptor than as a painter. At a very early age his great skill in modelling introduced him to court favor at Rome, and he was specially patronized by Maffeo Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban VIII, whose palace he designed. None of his sculptured groups at all come up to the promised excellence of his first effort, the Apollo and Daphne, nor are any of his paintings of particular merit. His busts were in so much request that King Charles I of England, being unable to have a personal interview with Bernini, sent him three portraits by Anthony Van Dyck, from which the artist was enabled to complete his model. His architectural designs, including the great colonnade of St. Peters, brought him perhaps his greatest celebrity. Louis XIV, when he contemplated the restoration of the Louvre, sent for Bernini, but did not adopt his designs. The artist's progress through France was a triumphal procession, and he was most liberally rewarded by the great monarch. He left a fortune of over £100,000.

Father: Pietro Bernini (sculptor)

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