Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's influence on the XVIIth century Italian sculpture and architecture can only be compared with that of Michelangelo in the previous century. Unlike Michelangelo and the stereotype of the artist, Gian Lorenzo Bernini had an easy-going attitude, a happy family and many friends. Like Michelangelo he had a long life (1592-1680) and he worked until the very end.
Chapels such as those of the Raimondi and Cornaro families show throughout the imprint of Bernini's master-mind: co-workers were assistants rather than artists in their own right.
Rudolf Wittkower - Art and Architecture in Italy - 1600 - 1750 Penguin Books 1958
Bernini had great managerial skills and for many years he organized the activity of sculptors, painters, goldsmiths, stone-cutters, etc.. He accepted large as well as small orders and he found innovative solutions for his customers with relatively small financial resources.
Until Napoleon forbade the dead to be buried in the churches, one of the most frequent signs of wealth in Rome was to be buried in a private chapel. This section shows three chapels designed by Bernini:
Cappella Raimondi in S. Pietro in Montorio
Cappella Cornaro in S. Maria della Vittoria
Cappella Paluzzi Albertoni in S. Francesco a Ripa (the image used as background for this page shows a detail of this chapel)

Other pages dealing with Baroque sculpture:
Statues in the act of praying
Baroque Angels
Monuments showing the dead in a medallion
Representation of Death in Baroque sculptures
Three busts by Alessandro Algardi
Baroque Monuments to the Popes
Bernini's Exiled Statue
Baroque High Reliefs
Statues Close to Heaven
Embittered Andrew (the statues in the Octagon of S. Pietro)
Playing with Colours
The Last Baroque Tomb
Laughing Masks
A Directory of Baroque Sculpture