Bernini exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada

This is a little sketch that I did while I was visiting the Bernini exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada earlier this year. I was sketching the marbles, and this one was so rushed that, looking at it now, I see that I didn’t even record the title of this piece. It was getting close to closing time on a Saturday, and the guards were hovering around me in a way that plainly meant it was time for me to go.

At any rate, I think that this little sketch gives an idea of why Bernini’s sculptures are so innovative and so masterful. If I didn’t tell you that this was a drawing of a marble bust, I don’t think you’d guess. That’s because Bernini has captured much of the individual—it’s much more than a likeness. The sculpture conveys a sense of character and there is even the appearance of life in this face. Often, marble sculptures are skillful depictions of a person’s features, but when you’re viewing them, they give no feeling of a living, breathing person. Bernini’s sculptures look as though they are about to speak to you.

Here’s how the gallery’s curators describe Bernini’s style:

“Thanks to his virtuosic skill, Bernini seems to effortlessly capture different textures and surfaces: silk, cotton, lace, and fur are distinguished, and made to seem unique, particular to that piece of clothing itself. A figure’s flesh is not generic, but specific to him or her: smooth, young, old, lined, tired, healthy, or taut. In Bernini’s hands, everything about a sculpture is particular, unique, and individual. It was more difficult to capture character, and even harder to bring marble to life. Bernini’s innovation lay in chosing to show his sitters caught in a moment in time – engaged in an action which would remain forever open and incomplete, and which calls out for our active participation. Sitters speak, or listen; they motion to us, or bless us; they catch our eyes; one turns, apparently startled. Bernini creates little dramas – stories which involve sculpture and viewer, assigning each their role to play.”

There lots of information about Gian Lorenzo Bernini on the net. One good source is the Virtual Uffizi:

http://www.virtualuffizi.com/biography/Gian-Lorenzo-Bernini.htm

You can also read a bio of Bernini here:

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/b/bernini/gianlore/biograph.html