''Corpus'' (''The Body'') is a life-size bronze sculpture of the crucified

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

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 ...

. Cast in 1650, Bernini held onto it in his private collection for 25 years.

History

''Corpus'' is considered one of the artist's "long-lost masterpieces". It is believed that Bernini cast three versions of ''Corpus''. One version was destroyed during the French Revolution, one belonged to the official collection of the royal family of Spain, and one that was recorded in the Perugia region of Italy in 1790 before going missing. The ''Corpus'' donated to the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

in Toronto was long believed to have been cast by an unknown French artist. In 2004, following new scholarly studies of the work, ''Corpus'' was attributed to Bernini, who cast the sculpture for his personal collection. After being "lost" for over one hundred years, ''Corpus'' surfaced in Venice in 1908. Later it fell into private hands in the United States, but by that time it was misidentified as a work from the school of Giambologna. At an auction in 1975, it failed to sell for the very low price of $200. It was not until 2002 that it was recognized as a Bernini. And it took until 2005 for the provenance to be definitely and directly linked to Bernini. In January 2007, Toronto real estate developer

Murray Frum Murray Frum (September 3, 1931 – May 28, 2013) was a Canadian real estate developer and philanthropist. Biography Frum was born to a Jewish family on September 3, 1931, the only child of Saul and Rivka Frum, who had emigrated from Poland the y ...

negotiated to buy the sculpture from an art dealer in the United States, and then donated the sculpture to the Art Gallery of Ontario. ''Corpus'' is said to be worth $50 million in the current art market.

References

External links

* {{Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1650 works 1650s sculptures Bronze sculptures in Canada Sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini Statues in Canada Sculptures of men in Canada Statues of Jesus Collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario

History

See also

References

External links