Shaping baroque Rome
An exhibition explores the close bond between Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Barberini family
Gian Lorenzo Bernini is often credited with turning Rome into the Baroque masterpiece it is today, but his extraordinary career was closely tied to his relationship with Maffeo Barberini. When Barberini became Pope Urban VIII in 1623, his patronage helped propel Bernini to new prominence, fostering a close artistic, political, and personal dialogue between the two.
This relationship is at the heart of the exhibition Bernini and the Barberinis at Palazzo Barberini, which offers a fresh perspective on the birth of the Baroque. The show also coincides with the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter’s Basilica in 1626, one of the crowning achievements of Roman Baroque art and of Bernini’s career.
Unfolding across six sections, each dedicated to a key aspect of the relationship between Bernini and the Barberini family, the exhibition traces the artist’s career from his early years to full artistic maturity. On display are seminal works such as Saint Sebastian from the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Putto with Dragon from the Getty Museum, alongside exceptional loans including The Four Seasons from the Aldobrandini Collection. And for the first time, the Gallery of Portraits of the Barberini ancestors returns to Palazzo Barberini with marble masterpieces by Bernini, Giuliano Finelli, and Francesco Mochi.
The exhibition also highlights images of Urban VIII and of Bernini as a painter, represented by canvases shown to the public for the first time, alongside drawings, engravings, and models related to the construction of St Peter’s. It concludes by placing Bernini’s works in dialogue with those of other leading artists of the period.
Until June 14. barberinicorsini.org