Bernini's Biographies

Maarten Delbeke is Assistant Professor of architectural history and theory at the universities of Ghent and Leiden. Formerly the Scott Opler Fellow in Architectural History at Worcester College (Oxford), he is the author of several articles and a forthcoming book on Seicento art and theory.Evonne Levy is Associate Professor of the History of Art at the University of Toronto. She is also the author of Propaganda and the Jesuit Baroque (2004).Steven F. Ostrow is Professor and Chair of Art History at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Art and Spirituality in Counter-Reformation Rome: The Sistine and Pauline Chapels in S. Maria Maggiore (1996) and served as contributing editor for Dosso's Fate: Painting and Court Culture in Renaissance Italy (1998).

• ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceProlegomena to the Interdisciplinary Study of Bernini’s BiographiesMaarten Delbeke, Evonne Levy, and Steven F. Ostrow1At the Margins of the Historiography of Art: The Vite of Bernini Between Autobiography and ApologiaTomaso Montanari2Bernini’s Voice: From Chantelou’s Journal to the ViteSteven F. Ostrow3Plotting Bernini: A Triumph over TimeJohn D. Lyons4Chapter 2 of Domenico Bernini’s Vita of His Father: MimesesEvonne Levy5“Always Like Himself”: Character and Genius in Bernini’s BiographiesRobert Williams6Bernini Portraits, Stolen and Nonstolen, in Chantelou’s Journal and the Bernini ViteRudolf Preimesberger7Gianlorenzo on the Grill: The Birth of the Artist in His “Primo Parto di Divozione”Heiko Damm8Gianlorenzo Bernini’s Bel Composto: The Unification of Life and Work in Biography and HistoriographyMaarten Delbeke9From Mascardi to Pallavicino: The Biographies of Bernini and Seventeenth-Century Roman CultureEraldo Bellini10Costanza Bonarelli: Biography Versus ArchiveSarah McPheeBibliographyList of ContributorsIndex

“Although there is more biographical writing on the incomparable Gian Lorenzo Bernini than on any other early modern artist, including Michelangelo), the investigation of these writings remains surprisingly incomplete. This fascinating and highly original book is therefore a welcome addition to the literature, for it both consolidates our present understanding of these biographies, which can be traced to Bernini himself, and raises important questions about these writings for future consideration. Bernini’s Biographies will therefore be of great interest to scholars of art history, literature, and the social history of art alike.”—Paul Barolsky, University of Virginia