King of Baroque architecture and sculpture, designer of St Peter's Square
The embodiment of Baroque art, who single-handedly shaped the face of the Rome we see today. Sculptor and architect at once, he pushed the Baroque's movement, drama, and emotion to the extreme. For St Peter's Basilica he designed the pair of huge oval colonnades embracing the piazza like two arms, making the whole square the gesture of 'the Church embracing the world'; the twisting bronze baldachin within is a masterpiece fusing sculpture and architecture. He choreographed architecture as a grand drama marshaling light, space, and sculpture, making stone surge and space flow — if Michelangelo defined Renaissance Rome, Bernini defined Baroque Rome.
The piazza Bernini designed for St Peter's is a pair of huge oval colonnades reaching forward, like the Church opening its arms to embrace the flocking faithful. He said himself these two colonnades are 'maternal arms.' A sculptor conceived a whole piazza as one gigantic sculpture, giving the very space of the city emotion and gesture — the summit of the Baroque fusion of architecture, sculpture, and drama.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.