Lot 109: CIRCLE OF PIETRO BERNINI (1562-1629), ITALIAN, ROME, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

CIRCLE OF PIETRO BERNINI (1562-1629), ITALIAN, ROME, EARLY 17TH CENTURY BUST OF CHRIST white marble 63cm., 24¾in.

The sinuous carving of the hair and hollowed-out eyes of the present bust of Christ relate closely to Pietro Bernini's New Testamentical marbles in the churches of Rome. With its contemplative expression, the present marble is particularly comparable to Bernini's St. John the Baptist in the Sant' Andrea della Valle. Moreover, the drapery falls in the soft, regular folds also employed in the bust of Antonio Coppola in the San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

Besides short periods of training in his native Florence and Rome Pietro Bernini spent his early career carving sculpture for the provincial churches in the environs of Napels. His works there reveal the influence of much earlier sculptors such as Benedetto da Maiano and Antonio Rosselino. Upon his return in Tuscany in 1594 he joined forces with Giovani Caccini and later Michelangelo Naccherino working on major commissions and modernising his style. He arrived in Rome in 1605 or 1606 as an established sculptor immediately attracting the papal commissions that would establish him as one of the foremost sculptors of the 17th century. In Rome Bernini's Mannerist style is characterised by his swift handling of the toothed chisel and deep undercuttings. His pupils included Giovanni Finelli and, most notably, his son Gianlorenzo.

RELATED LITERATURE
H.-U. Kessler, Pietro Bernini (1562-1629), Munich, 2005, figs. 95 and 105