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5. Bernini’s Beautiful Broads and the Galleria Borghese—Rome
You’d think the artist who sculpted the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, the Triton in the Piazza Barberini, and Saint Peter’s flamboyant altar would have been a wild man. But actually Gian Lorenzo Bernini took on his masterpiece work like a monk, sculpting seven hours a day, up until his death at eighty-one. He poured all his passion into his creations—sculptures of figures caught in theatrical moments that absolutely define baroque Rome.
Bernini did have one enticing affair, with Constanza Bonarelli, the wife of one of his assistants. Things heated up when Constanza started to fool around with Bernini’s younger brother. Bernini flew into a violent rage, threatening to throw acid on Constanza’s face and beating up that younger brother, until the Pope stepped in to put a stop to the whole deal. Bernini’s Constanza bust is in the Bargello in Florence. With her lips slightly parted and blouse unbuttoned, it seems as though she was sculpted just as she and Bernini were off to amore-land.
Bernini calmed down after Constanza, married at forty-one, and fathered eleven kids. His daily routine was morning mass at the Gesu, work-work-work, and then back to church where he prayed with the Jesuits.
Unlike Michelangelo’s sculptures (such as the Pieta and David) that have a powerful meditative style, Bernini’s creations seem to be formed in wax. Their robes flow, they laugh, scream, sigh, and pulse with vitality.
On the Ponte Sant’Angelo you’ll be surrounded by the dramatic angels he designed. And in these sculptures, you’ll see how Bernini captures women in climactic moments…literally:
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-1652 (Santa Maria della Vitto-ria, Via XX Settembre 17)
It looks like the Carmelite Spanish nun Bernini placed in a stage-set altar is having quite an “ecstasy” as an angel pierces her with a golden shaft.
Saint Teresa had loads of mystical visions, and wrote that this piercing left her “on fire with the love of God” and “The pain was so great that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain that I could not wish to be rid of it.” Clearly, Bernini’s genius took Teresa’s account and ran with it.
Beata Ludovica Albertoni, 1671-1674 (San Francesco a Ripa, Piazza San Francesco d’Assisi 88)
Here the mystic Ludovica is sprawled out in bed with her head thrown back as she clutches her breast. Some say she’s in her death throes, but since she has her shoes on, others believe Bernini caught her in a private, earth-shattering, “seeing the Divine” pose. It’s best to visit the church in the morning when sunlight streams over Ludovica from the cupola above.
Make reservations to visit the splendid Galleria Borghese, where you’ll find these Bernini masterpieces:
Daphne and Apollo, 1622-1625 (Room III)
The virgin water nymph manages a fantastic escape from Apollo by transforming into a laurel tree before your eyes. Her hair and fingertips become leaves, her feet and ankles the tree trunk.
Pluto and Proserpina, 1621-1622 (Room IV)
A teardrop runs down Proserpina’s face as she smushes her hand into Pluto’s chin, fighting him off with a heaven-help-me look. Pluto scoops her up and gets a firm grab on her thigh. The three-headed barking dog adds to the drama.
This is Bernini’s version of the Greek myth that told how Pluto, God of the Underworld, got wowed by the beautiful Goddess of Vegetation he saw picking flowers in a field, and swooped up to kidnap her.
Other fabulous women in the Borghese are:
Venus Victrix, 1805-1808 (Room I)
Here’s Pauline Bonaparte (Napoleon’s sister), posed regally on a chaise as the nude goddess. Pauline came to Rome as a ravishing twenty-three-year-old widow, won the heart of Prince Borghese, married him, and became mistress of the Villa. Though it caused quite a scandal when Pauline stripped to model for the sculptor Canova, and her husband kept this statue hidden away while he was alive, Pauline’s only comment on the affair was, “The room was well heated.” Famously vain woman that she was, Pauline was also known to have used her servants as footstools and liked to have, in her words, “a large Negro” carry her to her bath.
Sacred and Profane Love, 1805-1808 (Room XX)
Painted by Titian when he was just twenty-five for a Venetian nobleman’s marriage, the Venuses here are named differently than what you’d expect. The Profane Venus is in proper Renaissance dress, drawing a pot of gold to her side, signifying “fleeting earthly happiness.” The Sacred Venus is naked, holding an eternal flame, meaning “eternal happiness in heaven.” She wears only her magic girdle, which gave her the power to attract her many lovers.
Galleria Borghese: 9-7, Thursday evenings 7-9, closed Monday, 06 32810, www.galleriaborghese.it.
TIP: Reservations for the Borghese are a must and you can make them easily by phone or online. This turns out to be a good thing, because you get to browse without crowds.
• Golden Day: Plan a picnic in the Borghese Gardens before or after your visit to the Galleria Borghese. You can gather goodies at an alimentary (deli)—there are good places around the Campo dei Fiori, such as Roscioli (Via dei Chiavari 34)—and stash them in a locker at the museum. Or if you’d rather not picnic, stroll over to the garden’s Pincian Hill, where Casina Valadier, a restored 19th-century villa, welcomes you to the terrace for lunch or caffe, 06 6992 2090, closed Monday.
RECOMMENDED READING
Bernini’s Beloved: A Portrait of Constanza Piccolomini by Sarah McPhee
