Bernini: His Life and His Rome

Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright, and scenographer, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the last of the universal geniuses of early modern Italy, placed by both contemporaries and posterity in the same exalted company as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. And Bernini's artistic vision remains palpably present today through the countless statues, fountains, buildings and other works of his design that transformed Rome into the Baroque theater that continues to enthrall tourists.

Prof. Mormando's just-published Bernini: His Life and His Rome (University of Chicago Press) is the first English-language biography of the artist ever to appear in print and will be the subject of his lecture at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.