art.wikisort.org - Sculpture

The Bust of Costanza Bonarelli is a marble portrait sculpture by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, created in the 1630s.[1] It is now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.[2] Considered among the most personal of Bernini's work, the bust depicts Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli, 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.^{[clarification needed]}[3]

Bust of Costanza Bonarelli
Artist	Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Year	1636–1637 (1636–1637)
Catalogue	35
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Marble
Dimensions	72 cm (28 in)
Location	Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
Coordinates	43°46′13.34″N 11°15′30.06″E
Preceded by	Pasce Oves Meas
Followed by	Busts of Paolo Giordano and Isabella Orsini

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 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.[2]

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.[2]

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:

He has made an intimate monument to secret moments, a sculpted memento of his lover, whose marble reality dissolves, when you chance on her among the stony dead, into breath, life. Bernini's genius for motion is dedicated to making his lover live for ever. Her wild hair and loose clothes speak of energy and passion. He has caught her mid-glance, mid-conversation, perhaps before or after sex.[2]

See also

• List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

References

External links

• Web Gallery of Art
• Media related to Bust of Costanza Bonarelli at Wikimedia Commons

На других языках

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- [en] Bust of Costanza Bonarelli

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[it] Busto di Costanza Bonarelli

Il Busto di Costanza Bonarelli è un'opera dello scultore Gian Lorenzo Bernini, eseguita tra il 1636 e il 1638 circa. Il ritratto è realizzato in marmo (altezza 72 cm) ed è conservato nel Museo nazionale del Bargello a Firenze. Il busto proviene dalla Galleria degli Uffizi, dove era esposto fin dal 1645 nel primo corridoio accanto al busto di Bruto di Michelangelo Buonarroti[1].

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