Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect whose work helped shape Baroque Rome. His marble groups combine bodily movement, expressive faces and varied surfaces to make a narrative moment immediately legible. Apollo and Daphne depicts the transformation told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, while David concentrates on the effort of preparing to cast a stone. Both were made for Cardinal Scipione Borghese and reflect Bernini's attention to their intended viewpoints. His portrait busts and religious commissions extend this concern with lifelike presence, often joining sculpture with architecture and light to give a figure particular force within its setting.