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David (Bernini)

1620s sculptures1624 worksBernini sculptures in the Borghese CollectionMarble sculptures in ItalyMusical instruments in art
Sculptures by Gian Lorenzo BerniniSculptures depicting DavidSculptures of men in Italy
Bernini's David 02
Bernini's David 02

David is a life-size marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sculpture was one of many commissions to decorate the villa of Bernini's patron Cardinal Scipione Borghese – where it still resides today, as part of the Galleria Borghese. It was completed in the course of seven months from 1623 to 1624. The subject of the work is the biblical David, about to throw the stone that will bring down Goliath, which will allow David to behead him. Compared to earlier works on the same theme (notably the David of Michelangelo), the sculpture broke new ground in its implied movement and its psychological intensity.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article David (Bernini) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

David (Bernini)
Piazzale del Museo Borghese, Rome Pinciano

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N 41.914 ° E 12.492 °
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Piazzale del Museo Borghese

Piazzale del Museo Borghese
Rome, Pinciano
Lazio, Italy
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Bernini's David 02
Bernini's David 02
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Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius

Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius is a sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini created c. 1618-19. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the sculpture depicts a scene from the Aeneid, where the hero Aeneas leads his family from burning Troy.The life-sized group shows three generations of Aeneas' family. The young man is Aeneas, who carries an older man—his father, Anchises—on his shoulder. He gazes down to the side with a strong determination. Aeneas' lineage from the gods—his mother is Aphrodite—is emphasized through the lion skin draped around his body. (A lion skin commonly stands for power, and is often related to Hercules, a descendant of Zeus[2].) Behind Aeneas follows his young son, Ascanius. The statue was made by Bernini when he was twenty years old, although it is often thought that he had help from his father, Pietro Bernini [2]. Through his father, the younger Bernini was gaining renown in the higher circles of Rome; Pietro's famous Mannerist sculptures were commissioned even by the Pope. Through some minor commissions for Pope Paul V, Gianlorenzo began to be recognized as a very promising sculptor. The Pope couldn't believe that one so young could carve such work. Those sculptures, especially the antique ones, eventually caught the attention of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who loved arts, money and male physical beauty, and who was the most powerful man in Rome after the Pope. [6] The sculpture is influenced by earlier works of other artists. Michelangelo's figure of the Risen Christ (in Santa Maria sopra Minerva) is held to have served as an example for the figure of Aeneas. The head of Aeneas appears to reflect Pietro Bernini's John the Baptist (Cappella Barberini in Sant'Andrea della Valle). It is thought that it has also elements derived from Raphael's fresco The Fire in the Borgo (Vatican Museum, Stanze di Borgo) and from Federico Barocci's own painted interpretation of the Flight of Aeneas (Villa Borghese)[2]. Also, the stance of the sculpture echoes another work that his father created, the Saint Matthew with Angel. Aeneas' left foot and Ascanius' right foot are standing forward, whereas in Pietro's sculpture of Saint Matthew the stance is the same, but mirrored[2].

Truth Unveiled by Time (Bernini)
Truth Unveiled by Time (Bernini)

Truth Unveiled by Time is a marble sculpture by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Executed between 1645 and 1652, Bernini intended to show Truth allegorically as a naked young woman being unveiled by a figure of Time above her, but the figure of Time was never executed. Bernini still expressed a wish to add the figure as late as 1665.Bernini's rationale for creating the work was, according to his son Domenico, as a sculptural retort to attacks from opponents criticising his failed project to build two towers onto the front of St. Peter's Basilica. Cracks had appeared in the facade due to the inability of the foundations to support the towers and Bernini's architectural expansion received the blame, although historians are unsure as to the validity of this legend.Bernini began the preparatory work for Truth Unveiled by Time in 1645, during the critical period after the death of his main patron pope Urban VIII, and the figure of Truth was largely complete by 1652. Despite never completing the figure of Time, Bernini left the sculpture in his will in perpetuity to the first-born of the Bernini family; although in fact Bernini tried to sell the work to Cardinal Mazarin of France. It remained in the family (displayed on a tilted stucco block during the 19th century) until 1924, when it was purchased by the Italian government and transferred to its current home on a plinth in room VI of the Galleria Borghese. Its plinth there was originally tilted but it is now on a flat plinth after a recent restoration, leaving Truth more upright as it was originally displayed.