Baroque sculpture bernini
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Costanza Bonarelli, known previously to scholars as Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s bewitching mistress, and beguilingly depicted in his eponymous sculpture (1636–37), is resurrected by Sarah McPhee’s groundbreaking study from being a footnote—albeit a scandalous one—in Bernini’s biography. McPhee succeeds in reconnecting Costanza with her ancestry and repositioning her in the artistic and social milieu of seventeenth-century Rome. This significant contribution to Italian art history, social history, and gender studies offers a portal into the machinations and patronage of art, particularly sculpture, in early modern Rome by way of painstakingly unearthed documents. These documents allow McPhee to parse fact from fiction, and reveal a compelling and complex female protagonist—Costanza Bonarelli (ca. 1614–1662), born Costanza Piccolomini. The Piccolomini was an illustrious Italian noble family from Siena, which also produced two popes: Pius II and Pius III. McPhee’s book plays a crucial role in shifting the conversation from the often male-centric studies of early modern Italian art history
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The Bust of Costanza Bonarelli hides a story of jealousy
A woman with hair still messy from sleep, shirt still unbuttoned from a night of passion, pronounces the first words of the day.
She is Costanza Bonarelli, lover of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and wife of one of the master artist’s students. In 1630s Rome the sculptor was in the prime of his production, and this work is part of the series “speaking likenesses”: he portrays his subjects with lips parted, caught mid-sentence, creating a natural, spontaneous effect. Likewise, he created his Bust of Costanza Bonarelli as part of the series.
A love triangle
Costanza’s story is one of a love triangle and profound jealousy that ends with the woman betraying Gian Lorenzo with his brother, Luigi Bernini, and the artist ordering to disfigure her as punishment. The Bust of Costanza Bonarelli is thus the only one that captures the likeness of a common person, with whom the maestro was so in love that he chose to sculpt in precious Carrara marble.
Tag
Rome1600s
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Bust of Costanza Bonarelli
Sculpture by Gianlorenzo Bernini
The Bust of Costanza Bonarelli is a marble sculpture created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini during the 1630's.[1] The piece is now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy. Considered among the most personal of Bernini's works, the bust is of Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli, the wife of Matteo Bonarelli, who was one of Bernini's disciples and colleagues.
Subject
The subject of the work is Costanza Bonarelli, with whom he fell in love when her husband was working as Bernini's assistant in 1636. During his encounters with Bonarelli, Bernini decided to spend some of his free time stalking Bonarelli. Later, Bernini discovered his brother, Luigi, had also been having an affair with Costanza.[2] With the frustration that Luigi has shown against Bonarelli during the feud, it created tension and led to Bernini assaulting his brother. Bernini then decided to barge into the home of his brother and attempt to assault and murder him; the assault involved one of his servants attacking Lui
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