Course Code: WBR20B20
Start Date: 20/03/2021
Day of the Week:Session: All Day
Length in weeks: 1
Time: 10.00am-3.30pm
Price: £
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a 17th century architect, sculptor and painter of tremendous versatility; indeed, his project was the fusion of the arts. We shall explore a wealth of examples of all three media, often combined together in the buildings of Baroque Rome. The piazza in front of St Peter’s was described by contemporaries as the ‘piazza del teatro di San Pietro’, or ‘teatro dei portici’ or ‘gran teatro’, which refers not just to the physical space enclosed by the colonnade but also to the way it frames the basilica, like theatrical scenery and lighting pointing an audience to the main actors, and to the performances – formal and informal – that took place within the square. The sculpture of the transformation of Daphne sees Bernini depicting a secular myth, whilst much of Bernini’s art and architecture both encapsulate the powerful political and religious messages of his day and help to define them