Allegorical Figure

1606–1642 · Residence

House of Pietro and Gianlorenzo Bernini (Rome)

1620s

Serious work as a painter

Encouraged by Urban VIII, who wanted him to paint the Loggia of the Blessings in St Peter's, Bernini began to develop his skill as a painter in earnest; according to early biographers he finished at least 150 canvases, mostly in 1620–1630, but only some 35–40 surviving paintings can be confidently attributed to him.

1629

Appointed Architect of St Peter's

On the death of Carlo Maderno, Bernini, with virtually no architectural training, was appointed Architect of St Peter's, to the great protest of older, experienced masters; from then on his work stood at the symbolic heart of Rome.

1629

The death of his father Pietro

After his father's death Bernini moved the family to the long-demolished Santa Marta quarter behind the apse of St Peter's, which gave him easier access to the Vatican Foundry and to his working studio on the Vatican site.

1630

Takes over the construction of Palazzo Barberini

After Carlo Maderno's death Bernini took charge of building the Palazzo Barberini, on which Borromini and Pietro da Cortona also worked; later their rivalry for commissions grew into open enmity, especially between Bernini and Borromini.

1630s

Commissions from rulers beyond Rome

In the 1630s, by then one of the foremost marble portraitists, Bernini began to receive commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena, and Charles I of England and his queen, Henrietta Maria; the bust of Charles I was made in Rome from Van Dyck's triple portrait, while that of the queen was never begun because of the English Civil War.