Bernini in Rome, Plus Some Caravaggio
Our initial concept for a time-limited Rome visit was simplistic: seeing as much sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini as possible, mainly by returning to the Galleria Borghese, which we had last visited in 2012. But it also required a visit to the Santa Maria della Vittoria basilica. Based on what we had seen in 2012, Bernini had seemed to be a magician. His ability to work marble was beyond understanding, somehow evoking improbably delicate shapes (tender leaves, branches) from blocks of solid marble. But it wasn’t just his remarkable craftsmanship that made Bernini our lodestar for our 2024 visit to Rome. He also imbued his figures with a real sense of life, humanity, and personality. We wanted to see again how he had given life to figures made of marble.
We had already seen his fine bust of Pope Innocent X (depicted in the prior post) at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj. But the high point was our return to the Galleria Borghese because we knew it contained a trove of Bernini’s most stunning works. We had booked entry long in advance (visitors have a two-hour window) and had even engaged a guide.
Our guide and a headless statute await opening of our two-hour entry window.
The Galleria backside.
The Rape of Proserpina
Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, was abducted by Pluto, ruler of the Underworld. Ceres, her mother, tried to save her but failed. Ultimately Jupiter and Pluto agreed that Proserpina would spend six months a year with Ceres, and six months a year with Pluto. The storyline is itself an over-the-top classical myth (based on the Persephone-Hades Greek myth) that in turn inspired Bernini’s over-the-top Baroque sculpture. The work is famed for the tears on her cheek and the realism of her hair streaming behind her as she’s being abducted and, most remarkably, the deformation of the marble-flesh on her thigh from the pressure of Pluto’s fingers as they grasp her leg. It was carved from Carrara marble in 1621-1622.
David
The Galleria Borghese website describes the sculpture this way:
The image of David included power and nobility and showed heroism in all its glory. Therefore, in the compositions of the fifteenth century, he was established as the winner. Bernini, in his work, showed a slightly different direction: dynamics, mental tension, and movement. His statue captures the episode of the battle itself. Bernini put his creation in line with other famous works. He showed David preparing to attack, gathering all his strength and will. The statue looks at the enemy with intense and hating eyes. The young man is serious: his eyebrows frown, and his lips are bitten. The statue depicts a rebel who lives a hectic life filled with drama. Moreover, Bernini did his work in the early baroque style.
There is a theory Bernini’s own face was the model of David’s. A friend allegedly held a mirror up to Bernini’s face when he carved David’s visage. In any event, David presents a very determined and focused figure, intent on bringing down Goliath at a moment when the outcome was not certain.
Apollo and Daphne
This sculpture famously shows Daphne being transformed into a tree as a way of escaping from Apollo’s unwanted love; it consequently shows Bernini’s mastery in transforming flesh – and marble – into the tree’s foliage and branches. It also captures Daphne's alarm as well as Apollo’s surprise at the transformation and Daphne’s pending escape.
Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
This sculpture, created in 1618-1619, depicts a scene from the Aeneid, in which Aeneas leads his family from burning Troy. Aeneas carries his father, who holds onto the household gods salvaged from their home in Troy.
Truth Unveiled by Time
Bernini executed this sculpture between 1646 and 1652. Although he wanted to show Truth allegorically, as a naked young lady being unveiled by a Time figure above her, he never executed the figure of Time.
One of Bernini’s most intriguing, and controversial, sculptures is the Ecstacy of Saint Theresa, at the Santa Maria della Vittoria basilica. This piece was on our must-see list of Bernini sculptures in Rome. An angel’s spear pierces Saint Theresa’s heart, and her ecstasy is religious. Or maybe not, in the eyes of some scandalized observers when the piece was unveiled and according to analysis of later commentators. In their minds, the passion depicted by Bernini seems to be far too human, and the entire piece risqué and sensual. In any event, the actual sculpture is wonderful, and the setting in the basilica, in the Cornaro Chapel (also designed by Bernini), is remarkably theatrical. No doubt Bernini invested Theresa with ample passion, and perhaps a little Baroque excess, but the work is undeniably marvelous as art.
Bernini was the epitome of Baroque art, and his sculpture was about emotion and passion. At the other end of the scale at a later age in the Borghese was the cool, thoughtful approach of Antonio Canova in the Venus Victrix (1805-1808).
By the way, the Borghese holds a lot of other great art, including paintings by Raphael and Titian. And, most spectacularly, many paintings by Caravaggio, the Dark Lord of great Italian painters.
Here is a quick selection.
The guide with John the Baptist.
Very Sick Bachus, 1593-1594.
David Holding the Head of Goliath.
It is almost impossible to turn away.
Madonna and Child with St. Anne, 1606.
Why it is sometimes hard to photograph something in a Rome gallery:
St. Jerome in His Study, 1605.
Just in case you wondered, the Borghese ceilings are themselves worth the price of admission. Here are three.
Comments
After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.