Artist and Pope: Papal Bust Reveals Two-way Relationship of Bernini & Urban VIII

Artifacts Connected to Pope Urban VIII in the Papal Artifacts Collection

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This bust of Pope Urban VIII is not one of the artist’s most famous works, but it does reflect his talent.

The artifact is an engraving taken from one of the most influential and beautiful sources on the monuments and antiquities of ancient Rome, The Antiquae Urbis Splendor, (The Splendor of the Ancient City).

The book served as an important reference and source of inspiration for many writers and artists.

Giacomo Lauro, the engraver, was a Roman print maker who was active from 1583 to about 1650. The portrait is hand colored and an excellent impression of the Pope.

The engraving measures 32 X 23.2 cm.

Artifacts connected to Pope Urban VIII have become very desirable because he beautified Rome, was significant in the building of St. Peter’s Basilica and commissioned Bernini as the architect.

Rome Reports Commentary

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

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