The canopy above the main altar in St. Peter's Basilica and the colonnade in the square are two of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's most famous works. However, he was also skilled in smaller artwork as well.
This bust of Pope Urban VIII is not one of the artist's most famous works, but it does reflect his talent.
MICHELE DI MONTE
Chief Curator, National Galleries Barberini
These three busts, in some way, also tell the development of the challenge for Gian Lorenzo Bernini in confronting the difficult task of making an effigy of His Holiness.
Pope Urban VIII, born as Maffeo Barberini, was big sponsor of Bernini and his work, commissioning him to create numerous works throughout Rome.
MICHELE DI MONTE
Chief Curator, National Galleries Barberini
He was a great patron of his, and Bernini was his artist of choice. The Pope himself told Bernini that he was made for Rome and Rome was made for Bernini.
The uniqueness of the relationship benefited both parties as Pope Urban was able to share the artist's work and Bernini had the funding and support needed to perform his craft.
It was in the Palazzo Barberini, the home of the Barberini family, that Bernini was able to start getting his work more widely noticed.
MICHELE DI MONTE
Chief Curator, National Galleries Barberini
And this is where he started working. He took over the management of [St. Peter's Basilica] while he was still young, after the death of Maderno in 1629. And, in fact, he immediately became a kind of director of what would be not only the monumental and noble city residence but a kind of its own court royalty, [that is Palazzo Barberini.]
Thanks to the mutually beneficial relationship between the Pope and the artist, Bernini's name has remained famous throughout centuries and Pope Urban VIII's papacy is forever memorialized in bronze.
KG
