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Bernini: His Life and His Rome Paperback – November 15, 2011

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Franco Mormando (Author)
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Franco Mormando (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 19 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 456 pages
  • Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; Reprint edition (April 2, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 022605523X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0226055237
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat read for this amateur art lover
By Ian N. on March 28, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
About me: I'm not an artist or an art historian or anything fancy like that: I'm just an avid traveler and Rome is one of my favorite places in the world. OK, my MOST favorite place in the world. Trip after trip, I've noticed certain statues or works of art more than others... certain ones just struck me more or made me stare at them a little bit longer. Or when I get home i realize that I have more pictures of certain things than others. A few trips ago I realized that every sculpture I was drawn to had 1 artist in common: Bernini. And people would say, "Oh, that's a Bernini" -- and the name sounded familiar but I didn't know anything about him. On last year's trip to Italy I made a point of seeking out these Berninis and found myself even more interested in them, so when I returned home I started poking around for a biography. Some things looked too scholarly and highbrow, but the descriptions of this particular book made it sound like it was accessible to the regular person who just wanted to know a little something more: and that was me.

I just finished the book and I'm so happy I read it. I came at this from the standpoint of "I love this man's art so much, and it's so brilliant, that I just want to know more about the person and his life and the events that shaped him." Basically, I wanted to learn where the genius came from.

This book doesn't read like a DaVinci Code: the info itself is a little bit dry, but plugged into a narrative that is basically the story arc of Bernini's life, it has a continuity to it that makes it easy to read (vs being textbook-like). It's a biography and is constructed from many different sources.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Bernini-worthy Masterpiece
By Charles Scribner on November 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I have read every major book [and more minor ones!] written about Bernini, the supreme artist, maestro, and impresario of Baroque Rome; without question, Mormando's has set a new standard for artistic biography and cultural history. It is as engaging, sweeping, all-embracing, and sparkling with captivating details as befits its subject. Bravissimo!
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5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant biography!
By A reader on June 19, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
It's surprising that nobody has made a movie or written a novel about the life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), the greatest artist of the Roman Baroque, but perhaps this enthralling book will inspire someone to try. Bernini's long life had just about every dramatic ingredient imaginable. His blazing artistic genius enabled him to create some of the most memorable monuments of Rome: virtuoso marble statues of saints and mythological figures, the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, the Baldachino under the dome of St. Peter's, and the altar of the Chair of Peter at the far end of that enormous church, to name only the most famous. But there's a lot more to Bernini's life than just his art. He was a controlling and domineering man shrewd enough to be charming and diplomatic in the presence of his social superiors. He was hot-tempered and highly-sexed, and his explosive romantic life alone--which included paying a thug to make a knife attack on his mistress, whom he discovered was having an affair with his brother--would lend itself to a steamy novel or an R-rated film. And it doesn't hurt that Bernini was also extremely handsome.

Most books about Bernini concentrate on his art and pay little attention to the man behind those works, failing to question the pious platitudes, omissions and distortions offered by the artist's earliest biographer: his son Domenico. Not this book! Bernini the man-in-full emerges emerges from Mormando's pages as in no other biography of the artist. Although the author is a scholar who displays an impressive command of original sources, there's not a pedantic sentence to be found. This is a highly readable book for anyone interested in Bernini and, in a wider sense, in Baroque Rome.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsPleasure to read
By Yael Politis on December 22, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this book. You don't have to be a student of art history. Very accessible to all readers.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGood history of a great artist
By Kate Gallagher on June 20, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I love this book. I am getting more than just a bio of the man. The times, the people around him during the period (of course) and a visceral feel for the man.
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4.0 out of 5 starsbernini again?
By Esther W. Goldman on March 10, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
well written book that is also well researched. the author deals with Bernini from his earliest beginnings until his death.
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1.0 out of 5 starsA waste of money!
By webwiz99 on January 27, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Truth to tell, not much is known about Bernini's personal life, motivations and sources of his inspiration. Contemporaries wrote of his talents, but the author says much of it is exaggeration.

For want of information about Bernini, the author tells stories of famous and shady characters of Rome whom Bernini knew or for whom he worked. These stories mostly focus on their supposed scandalous lives. Most of that information has nothing at all to do with Bernini. He is just a nail on which to hang their sordid stories.

The book reads like a tabloid about various people's gossiped-about sexuality, presented grossly. If that interests you, save money and buy a copy of the National Enquirer when you are in the grocery store next. Same kind of quality information.

If you want to learn about something wonderful and interesting, get a book about Bernini's works. They are marvelous. This book is not.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsA Life of Genius, Creation and Conflict

It seems Rome has never been a simple or easy place to live. This life of one of it's greatest geniuses paints that truth very well. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Sirin
3.0 out of 5 starsGood art history

Intriguing story of one of history's greatest artists. But what's with all the distracting an unnecessary parentheses?

Published 8 months ago by Gary S. Appel
5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating!

Fascinating story, fascinating time in history.

Published 9 months ago by Donna C.
5.0 out of 5 starsBernin:An Artist in Marble

I love this book because Bernini is one of the most famous sculptures in the art world. It also brings back memories of seeing some of his works.

Published 10 months ago by historybuff41
2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointingly vague

Very well written and entertaining, but the author takes up only some 3 pages on St Peter's Square's Colonnades, the Baldacchino and the Cathedra Petri while devoting more than a... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Marcella Monico
5.0 out of 5 starsBernini and his Rome

This is a excellent book on Bernini and on Rome - from his point of view - in the 17th century. This is not a book about Bernini's art per se. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Ela
5.0 out of 5 starsinside story

I loved this book because I have studied Bernini's art and knew nothing about him. Fast paced, excellent research. Detailed

Published on April 13, 2014 by honore david
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book! Reliable Information

Franco Mormando deeply researched his topic and writes in an engaging way. This is a reliable academic source. Great for any Baroque fan.

Published on April 9, 2014 by Evan Smiley
4.0 out of 5 starsBernini and the Vatican

This biography provides another fascinating look at how the Vatican influenced art and artists, specifically Pope Urban and Bernini in the Baroque period of history.

Published on April 7, 2014 by Kaysi12
5.0 out of 5 starsArt history

My hobby is art history and it's wonderful to be able to order any book I hear about on Amazon. This book was really interesting and entertaining.

Published on June 28, 2013 by Carole Graves

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