Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) is considered one of the most inspiring and

influential sculptors, architects, and draftsmen of the Baroque period. This aesthetic
movement affected all disciplines ranging from painting, sculpture, and architecture to
theater and music. It was a style of magnificence and richness which spread from its origins
in Rome and Paris to the outer reaches of Europe and beyond. The origins of the style can
be traced back to Papal Rome in the early part of the seventeenth century and to the great
triad of Baroque’s pioneers: Bernini, Francesco Borromini, and Pietry da Cortona. Their
works established the principal characteristics of the style. Mainly concerned with
performance, their buildings and works of art became infused with vigor and movement.
The Baroque combined the arts to engage the viewer through all their senses.
Sculpted figures, such as Bernini’s, seemed to be captured mid-action and in an emotional
appeal to the beholder. Rather than being an observer of a static work of art, the beholder
thus became a participant in a dramatic event. Bernini aptly achieved this sense of theater
in many of his pieces, including the Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) (Fig.1). Bernini, as a
young child, dazzled his way to his first Papal support with Pope Paul V, who reportedly
declared, "We hope that this youth will become the Michelangelo of his century"1. Over a
long lifetime, Bernini undertook commissions for eight popes, transforming the look of
seventeenth century Rome as Michelangelo had helped shape Florence and Rome a century
before.
Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers is one of the most important papal-commissioned
works outside the Vatican. He created fountains that were at once functional and aesthetic, and
for the first time in Rome brought magnificent fountains found in urban villas to public squares2.
This particular fountain was his most celebrated one and had the most complex engineering.
Located in Rome's Piazza Navona, it was commissioned by Pope Innocent X of the Pamphili
family. When the pope was commissioning the new fountain, Bernini, uninvited, composed a
model for it. Innocent X was brought into a room that contained the model and he was smitten.

1 For more information on Bernini’s other works and papal support: Lu Bow, Arthur. “Bernini's
Genius”. Smithsonian. Vol39 no7; pg76-80, 81-3 (Oct 2008).
2 For more information on Bernini’s other fountains and the history of fountains in general:
DeJesus, Nancy. “Fountains as a Synthesis of Sculpture, Water, and Land. Sculpture Review.
Vol56 no2; pg16-23 (Summer 2007).
1
"The only way to resist executing his works is not to see them," he reportedly said3. The pope
wanted the fountain in front of the Church of Sant' Agnese, in unity but not competing with it,
and also wanted it to support an ancient Egyptian obelisk created for the Roman Emperor
Domitian. Bernini rose to these challenges by designing a massive naturalistic rock formation
with hollows, so that viewers can see the church through the sculpture. The obelisk rests on the
formation, creating the illusion of weightlessness. Bernini added a sculpted dove and olive
branch atop the obelisk, an emblem of Innocent X and symbolic of the Holy Trinity.
Surrounding the formation are four marble personifications of rivers from the known
continents at that time: the Danube from Europe (Fig.2), the Rio della Plata from the Americas
(Fig.3), the Nile from Africa (Fig.4), and the Ganges from Asia (Fig.5). Bernini transformed the
marble of the figures into tensed muscles and gave them dramatic, dynamic poses and
expressions. Each is pictured with objects, plants, and animals that identify them with their
continents, including a lion, horse, dragon, palm tree, and cacti. The Nile figure covers his head
because the source of that river was not yet known, whereas the Ganges figure holds an oar
representing that river's navigability. The Rio della Plata figure holds gold coins, showing the
riches of the Americas. The Danube figure reaches toward the Pamphili coat of arms, depicted
with the family insignia of fleur-de-lis and the papal tiara with the crossed keys of Saint Peter.
Upon seeing the completed fountain, the pope was in awe of the sculptures and with the
way the water flowed out from the rock formation like cascades found in nature. The layout of
the buildings at Piazza Navona echoes the shape of Domitian's ancient stadium, upon which the
piazza sits. The Pamphili family built their palace there, as well as at Sant' Agnese, and the
symbolism of the fountain and the magnificent architecture surrounding it announce the triumph
of the church over the four known continents of the world and the glory of the papal family.
In this way, Bernini completed all the requirements for Baroque theater. He combined the
two textures of marble and water, engaging multiple senses, and portrayed the figures in twisting
drama. More importantly, he captured the effect moving water has on the human spirit in his
fountain. The broader context against which this style emerged and developed with such
success was that of a divided Europe of great powers and emerging empires and of a
Roman Catholic church reasserting itself and regaining the power it had lost during the
Reformation. The Baroque style proved to be particularly appropriate to this age of
3Curl, James Steven & Sambrook, John. “Gianlorenze Bernini”. A Dictionary of Architecture.
Oxford Publishing, Ltd., 2000.
2
counter-reformation, as can be seen from the fact that its most significant works were
produced for popes, kings or emperors, such as Bernini's work for St Peter's Basilica in
Rome and for Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles4. Its focus on performance and the creation
of all-encompassing effects could thus be used as the style of choice for absolutist rulers. It
was perfectly suited to transmitting messages of power and control and to manipulating the
reactions of those who experienced it.
Drawing mostly from classical sources, Bernini’s influence over the sculptural, and
visual, arts is perpetual. From the time of his appointment as architect of St Peter’s in 1629,
Bernini exerted tremendous influence and power. For almost half a century he was the
virtual artistic dictator of Rome, a situation that earned him the admiration of most, but
the enmity of others. His figures combine the classical focus on anatomy and the
celebration of the human form with a modern drama of the emotions. Bernini’s
assimilation and transformation of Classical sculpture was but a part, though an essential
one, in a complex creative process in which, as Baldinucci noted, ‘Bernini strove with
everything in him to make resplendent all the conceptual beauty inherent in whatever he
was working on’5.
Due to the rise of the Enlightenment and rational thinking, Bernini’s reputation remained
in near total eclipse for most of the 19th century. However, the growth of art history as an
intellectual discipline gradually freed Bernini and the newly defined Baroque age from the moral
and aesthetic prison of the Neo-classical writers. Although Bernini was not often active in the
decorative arts, he was nonetheless influential on furniture design6. In the 20th century art
historians continued the process of reintegrating Bernini’s art into the context of his time, a re-
evaluation of the Baroque age having created a fuller understanding of the 17th century as a
complex period of competing stylistic trends.

4 For more information on Bernini’s other Baroque papal works, including the Cornaro Chapel:
Norman, Joanna. “Performance Art”. History Today. Vol59 no4; pg6-7 (Ap 2009).
5 Preimeberger, Rudolf & Mezzatesta, Michael P.. “Gianlorenzo Bernini”. Oxford Art Online.
Oxford University Press (2007-2010).
6 For more information on Bernini’s influence on furniture design: Preimeberger, Rudolf &
Mezzatesta, Michael P.. “Gianlorenzo Bernini”. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press
(2007-2010).
3
Fig.1 Fountain of the Four Rivers, Bernini 1651

Fig.2 Fountain of the Four Rivers: Danube, Bernini 1651

Fig.3 Fountain of the Four Rivers: Rio della Plata, Bernini 1651

Fig.4 Fountain of the Four Rivers: Nile, Bernini 1651

Fig.5 Fountain of the Four Rivers: Ganges, Bernini 1651

Bibliography

Curl, James Steven & Sambrook, John. “Gianlorenze Bernini”. A Dictionary of Architecture.
Oxford Publishing, Ltd., 2000.

DeJesus, Nancy. “Fountains as a Synthesis of Sculpture, Water, and Land. Sculpture Review.
Vol56 no2; pg16-23 (Summer 2007).

Lu Bow, Arthur. “Bernini's Genius”. Smithsonian. Vol39 no7; pg76-80, 81-3 (Oct 2008).

Norman, Joanna. “Performance Art”. History Today. Vol59 no4; pg6-7 (Ap 2009).

Preimeberger, Rudolf & Mezzatesta, Michael P.. “Gianlorenzo Bernini”. Oxford Art Online.
Oxford University Press (2007-2010).