It seems almost paradoxical, but one of the greatest masters of Italian art, and the foremost interpreter of that complex and heterogeneous period described perhaps inadequately as the Baroque, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, has never received a complete catalogue raisonné. The only attempt, by Maurizio and Marcello Fagiolo dell’Arco, to systematise Bernini’s vast production dates to 1966, but it has been overtaken by the constant, incessant discoveries of Bernini research. Perhaps this lack is justified by the artist’s immense and multiform activity, which renders cataloguing not only difficult but frightening for anyone who attempts such an arduous undertaking.
Now a first and fundamental step in that direction has been made by Manuela Gobbi and Barbara Jatta in I disegni di Bernini e della sua scuola nella Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Drawings by Bernini and his school in the Vatican Apostolic Library), a formidable publication of almost 400 drawings by Bernini and his school conserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library. The catalogue coincides with the recent publication by Kerber Verlag of another important group of drawings by the artist, the catalogue of the exhibition Bernini: Erfinder des barocken Rom (Bernini: Inventor of Baroque Rome), which was held last year at the Museum der Bildenden Künste of Leipzig. All this offers a wide overview of the master’s graphic work, which reveals the genius of his thought, its surprising invention and imagination, the high quality of his line, and his ability to find simple solutions to complex problems. The two authors of this volume rightly divide the drawings into categories: architectural drawings, figure drawings (including witty caricatures) and studies for religious compositions, among others.
Among the architectural drawings, which are the most numerous, two particularly compelling sketches relate to the baldacchino, the gigantic bronze canopy for the high altar of St Peter’s Basilica. In the first rapid sketch Bernini identifies the solution to the tough problem of crowning the structure; in the second he reveals his theatrical and spectacular artistic vision, transforming the baldacchino into a central point for the faithful and a dramatic frame for the phantasmagorical pulpit that adorns the apse of the basilica. Then there are the drawings that form the first phase of the formal and conceptual elaboration of the Fountain of the Four Rivers, and the studies for the colonnade and façade of St Peter’s.
This is a reference book not only for professionals but of great general interest, thanks to its introductory essays, notably that of Paolo Portoghesi, and the English translation of the text.
• Maria Grazia Bernardini is an art historian and a contributor to our Italian sister newspaper, Il Giornale dell’Arte. She was the director of the National Gallery of Ancient Art at Palazzo Barberini and the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome
I disegni di Bernini e della sua scuola nella Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana
Manuela Gobbi and Barbara Jatta
Editore Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 609pp, €100 (hb); with English translation