Tag Archives: Janson History of Art

bernini: esoteric rome

After a lumpy and bumpy sojourn in Paris for six months, Bernini had realized that the locus of power had shifted to France; Louis XIV had assumed the mantle of chief patron of the arts as an expression and extension … Continue reading

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bernini: double down failure

Bernini’s trip to France was a double failure. Not only was the sculptor unable to impose his artistic views upon the Frenchand at the same time letting his frustration morph into a contempt and endless cycle of provocation and manifestations … Continue reading

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Bernini:smoothing the bump on the bourbon shnoz

With Bernini perhaps the roots of heaven were made of stone. But Bernini and his short sejour in France at the behest of Louis XIV, was something short of heavenly and the divine…. …Nor could Bernini adjust to the customs … Continue reading

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bernini and the brief french kiss

Bernini spent nearly six months at the French court, but except for a marble bust of the king, which had been commissioned as an afterthought, the trip was a failure. It was a foregone conclusion that an artist who believed … Continue reading

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bernini from sun king to rome

In his fountain design Bernini returned to the Counter Reformation theme of the church triumphant, spreading through four continents , which were represented by personifications of four rivers- the Danube, supporting the papal coat of arms and accompanied by a … Continue reading

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bernini: rockin’ on with the counter reformation

Pope Urban VIII took a fatherly interest in his gifted protege. When Bernini fell ill, the pope visited him twice a day in his palazzo near the Piazza di Spagna and once came with sixteen cardinals, whose collective blessing was … Continue reading

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bernini: it ought to rock him

Bernini: behold the roots of heaven. They are made of stone… In 1623 Cardinal Barberini became Pope Urban VIII and, according to a probably apocryphal anecdote, told Bernini: “it is your great good luck, Cavaliere, to see Maffeo Barberini pope. … Continue reading

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pluto and titanium men

Al this, as his critics have shown, in Pluto and Prosperina, where god is carrying off a terrified maiden, flesh yielding beneath his grasp is quintessential Bernini: highly theatrical sculpture of overstatement. Bernini’s oen grasp towards the heaven whereby the … Continue reading

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Bernini : once more with oomph and feeling

Bernini. Counter Reformation overstatement…A pitiless unromantic view of death was another Counter Reformation theme. Bernini went to the macabre iconography of the Middle Ages and borrowed the death’s head for his tombs. The skeletons holding an hourglass in the tomb … Continue reading

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Bernini and transverberation: a striking through

Bernini kept undisputed control over artistic life in Rome for more than half a century. Behold the roots of heaven. They may be made of stone… …He even managed to put sensuousness at the service of the church. Discerning tourists … Continue reading

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