The ''Bust of Costanza Bonarelli'' is a marble portrait sculpture by the Italian artist
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...
, created in the 1630s.
[Wittkower, Rudolf. ''Bernini, the Sculptor of the Roman Baroque''. Fourth Edition, 1997, p. 256.] It is now in the
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
The Bargello, also known as the Palazzo del Bargello, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People), was a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy.
Terminology
The word ''bargello'' appears ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Considered among the most personal of Bernini's work, the bust depicts
Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli
Costanza Bonarelli (1614 – 3 December 1662), also known as Costanza Bonucelli or Costanza Piccolomini Bonucelli, was an Italian noblewoman, merchant and art dealer, descended from a Sienese noble family. She is known for being portrayed by t ...
, the wife of Matteo Bonarelli, one of Bernini's pupils and coworkers. Bernini fell passionately in love with her. It is an exceptional sculpture in that it breaks with the tradition of seventeenth century portrait sculpturing and previews the style of the next century.
Subject
The subject of the work is
Costanza Bonarelli, with whom he fell in love when her husband was working as Bernini's assistant in 1636. Later, Bernini discovered his brother had also been having a vigorous affair with Costanza. This created tension and led to Bernini assaulting his brother and ordering a slave to harm Costanza (leading to a deep scar on the side of her face), which led
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...
to intervene. He advised Bernini to get married, which he did, in 1639, to Caterina Tezio. Their marriage lasted 34 years and produced 11 children. Bernini would remain professional and increasingly religious to the last, when another Pope blessed him on his deathbed.
Theme
Bernini's theme in ''Bust of Costanza Bonarelli'' is the vitality of power. Bernini's aesthetic is centred on the power of sex, later epitomized in the ''
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa'' (1647–1652). For Bernini, Costanza is an angel that fills him with ecstasy.
Distinguishing features
The ''Bust of Costanza Bonarelli'' invites such anachronistic descriptions as impressionist, romantic, and rococo. It has been described as being "light as air".
Jonathan Jones wrote:
See also
*
List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
The following is a list of works of sculpture, architecture, and painting by the Italian Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian ...
References
External links
Web Gallery of Art*
{{Authority control
Busts by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
1630s sculptures
Marble sculptures in Italy
Busts in Italy
Sculptures of the Bargello