Papst Alexander VII. Chigi

1606–1642 · Bopæl

House of Pietro and Gianlorenzo Bernini (Rome)

1639

An arranged marriage at Urban's command

In May 1639 Bernini married the twenty-two-year-old Roman Caterina Tezio in an arranged marriage under orders from Pope Urban. They had eleven children, among them Domenico, who became his father's first biographer; afterwards, according to his early biographers, Bernini turned more sincerely to the practice of his faith.

1644

Urban VIII dies; disgrace under Innocent X

With the accession of Innocent X of the Barberini-hostile Pamphilj family, Bernini's career suffered an unprecedented four-year eclipse, partly because of the bell-tower affair; the pope nonetheless kept him in all his official roles, including Architect of St Peter's, and let him continue Urban VIII's tomb.

1646

The bell towers of St Peter's are demolished

Bernini's opponents, above all Borromini, persuaded Innocent X to order both towers demolished, to Bernini's great humiliation and a substantial fine. Investigations showed that the cracks came from Maderno's defective foundations rather than from Bernini's design.

1648

The commission for the Fountain of the Four Rivers

A few months after completing Urban's tomb, Bernini, through furtive manoeuvring with the complicity of the pope's sister-in-law Donna Olimpia, won the prestigious Pamphilj commission for the Fountain of the Four Rivers on Piazza Navona, which ended his disgrace.

1655

Alexander VII restores Bernini's pre-eminence

After Innocent X's death Alexander VII Chigi became pope with an ambitious plan to turn Rome into a magnificent world capital; Bernini regained his leading role in the decoration of St Peter's and began work on the square in front of it.