 Hello, my name is Annalise Demard and I'm Senior Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts here at the Depple Getty Museum. I specialize in sculpture of the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly in Italy and France. But of course, thanks to the fantastic collection that we have here at the Getty, I happen to work with many different artists of many different centuries. But now we will be focusing on one of her masterpieces, a fantastic bust created by Jean Lorenzo Bernini, whom I guess everyone knows because he was truly the most important sculptor of all the centuries, I would say, and a genius, he's often called like that, you know. He was not only a sculptor, but also a painter, an architect, he was truly a genius. That's the best way to summarize this artist. This bust is truly very particular for many reasons. Well, first we thought it was lost in art history sometimes. Of course, when you deal with works of art from past centuries, these are pieces had to go through many different steps in their life, and sometimes they get lost. This bust that from the time it was created up to the end of the 19th century was in the Borghese collection, but in the 19th century, the Borghese family had financial issues, so they organized some sales. This piece had been, we think, bought by a Viennese collector, but from the moment in which we had that sale in 1893, until two years ago, we didn't know where the bust was, and we knew it only thanks to a photograph in black and white in that catalogue. Just to give you a little bit of the history of the rediscovery of this bust, so it's really a major acquisition that the Getty has done. It's also very particular because it was created by Bernini when he was only 20 to 23 years old, so you can imagine that was quite important for such a young artist to create a portrait of a pope. The pope represented in this bust is Pope Paul V. Borghese. But when Bernini got the commission, the pope was already dead. The commission was made by the Cardinal Nephew, the Cardinal Cipione Borghese, six months after his uncle, the pope, had died. Pope Paul V. died in January 1621, and of the commission for the bust, we know that thanks to archival material in the Vatican, all the Borghese comptability is kept there, and thanks to a payment, we know that it's only in June of 1621 that Bernini was starting his work. And why? Most likely because Cipione Borghese, who had already commissioned many important artworks from Bernini, but not a portrait, may have gotten a little bit envious about the new pope, Gregory XV, Ludovici, who, as soon as he was elected, got his portrait carved by Bernini. So it's a little bit of a mystery for us specialists of Bernini. We don't understand why the Borghese family, so important as patrons for Bernini in his early career, never thought of commissioning a portrait of the pope and also of the Cardinal when the pope was alive. So the portrait of the pope, as I said, six months after the death of the pope, and the Cardinal himself asked Bernini to portray him only 10 years later in 1632. So anyway, but we can't explain why. So you have here precisely the second bust of the pope that Bernini created, the bust of Gregory XV is still to be rediscovered. The composition that Bernini created is actually quite traditional. We have that already in the Renaissance, meaning the way in which he would figure the pope is with this kind of hairstyle, where there is very little hair. It is called the Tonsura di San Pietro. So you would actually cut very a lot your hair and you would keep just little border. So that's the Tonsura di San Pietro of San Pietro. And then the pope is wearing a very heavy coat, the Piviale, which was a kind of mantle that not only the pope would wear, actually also Cardinals or bishops for their important ceremonies. But you can understand that this Piviale, this mantle is of the pope because it is decorated by two figures, Saint Peter, that you can recognize by the keys he's holding in his hands. And then on the other part, Saint Paul, that you can recognize with the sword, and that his martyrdom was beheaded with a sword. And Saint Peter and Saint Paul are the princes of the apostles and the Saint patrons of the city of Rome. So that's also the reason why they would have been represented on the mantle of the pope. And paired together, they're really sort of the symbols of papal authority. Exactly, exactly. And what is truly astonishing in this bust is of course the way in which Bernini was able to get so many different textures on the surface of his marble. So you can see some polished area here. Here instead it looks like, I don't know how to define that, like sponge. But you have to imagine that Morales is trying to recreate in marble something which was in fabric. It would have been perhaps that is imitating velvet, while all these decorative elements would have been embroideries in threads in gold or in silver because these vestments were really truly richly decorated, richly in terms of many motifs, but richly also in terms of the materials used to do the embroideries. And of course underneath you can see that he's trying to recreate another kind of fabric here with all these little details of lace, which is quite also... It seems like a fine linen or muslin shirt. Exactly, what it would have been. While of course on the face you have completely different surfaces, look at how all the differences he's able to achieve in the hair. So long hair here for the little beard, while here is just very, very short hair on the cheeks. It's quite astonishing. You find yourself appreciating the barber's skill on the beard. Exactly, and of course what is astonishing I think is also the intensity of these gates, which is obtained thanks to the representation of the pupil. You see that he's carving out this detail that creates of course a depression and hence a kind of strong shadow that gives you the impression that actually the pope is looking at you. And of course with all the other parts that he's able to carve as if this was, he's able to recreate the bones on the forehead and then of course look at how here, because the pope was of course a little bit old, look at how the skin here is falling on the eye. So very, very naturalistic. You find yourself wanting to really touch it to make sure that it's still so. Exactly, no, no, quite incredible. And of course you have this kind of very interesting expression. He's kind of looking to someone and we don't know if it's a smile or he's trying to be ironic with this little motion of the mouth. It's truly a part of the expression that is here expressed in this fantastic face. Now the particular treatment of the eyes, I know I associate it with Bernini, is this particular to him at this time period or are some of his contemporaries doing the same? We had other artists also carving details of the different elements of the eyes. But let's say that Bernini does it in such a skillful way that he's really having his marbles looking at us, let's say. And very often there is an expression we are using for Bernini which is speaking likeness. But because you will feel that these portraits will start speaking to you because they are so lively thanks to the expression he would give to the mouths and to the eyes. Well, he seems to have such an attention to light and shadow to just all of the possible ways that light could activate the surface. No, exactly. And you have this example, for instance, in something which is completely decorative. So forget about expression, which is here, the huge brooch closing the two parts of this big cope. Look at all the different elements. You have some shells here. You have a little ribbon here. And here would have been a crystal. So he's trying to recreate these effects in only one color white and one material being marble. You can see, of course, how he was able to create a very strong piercing in the stone. Look at this hole, for instance. And even here, that's a hole. And you can see actually the light coming on the other part on the shell. So it's quite, for sure, he used very thin drills to obtain all these holes. And, of course, the light plays with these holes. And it's how this brooch becomes so impressive in the middle of the composition. And the depth he's able to create, of course, in the head, in the brooch. Look at how anyway, even when Bernini doesn't have depth, he's able to create something that moves into the space. Because if we turn our attention back to the figures of saints, it's what we call very low relief. You see what I mean? It's just very, very thin. And although it's very thin, look at how you get anyway thanks to these two legs. The feeling that this figure is walking. Look at any way. You feel the thickness of his beard here. So that's quite also astonishing that in one single artwork, you get more than one art piece. Because you have actually two masterpieces of art in relief in these two figures of Saint Peter's and Saint Paul. You have one masterpiece of decorative elements with a brooch. And you have, of course, a masterpiece of portraiture in this very compelling face of the pope. And this is not sufficient for Bernini. Even in planning the circle of his bust is very careful. He decides first to carve everything out of one single block of marble. The circle is part of the same block of stone. It's not a different part of stone. And look at, unfortunately, here at the Getty, there is a risk of earthquakes. So these are mounts to secure the artwork on the pedestal, of course. But look at how delicate is the profile of this pedestal with a little bit of a depression here. It's really this kind of detail that is refined in every, every part of this masterpiece. And one last thing I would love to insist on is... So of course, you have to imagine that Bernini is still very young. As I told you, he is following a tradition using this kind of composition with this mantle. In the far future, in his career, he won't use this kind of mantle. Because it's too heavy and you know, you all have in mind the very baroque compositions of Bernini that are created a little bit later. He always wants his bodies to move. Right. And he will use another kind of vestment, which is the mozzetta. But here, he's anyway trying to convey the sense of a body in movement underneath the mantle. And you need to realize that in looking at this area. Look at how there is this kind of wave here. Well, just because just this detail, if you look carefully, gives you a feeling that here, underneath the mantle, there's a shoulder that has moved. Because actually the pope is lightly turning his head on his right. And of course, consequently, the opposite shoulder on the left has moved a little bit and that's created this fantastic undulation of the mantle. So it's how even in a very, let's say, symmetrical composition with this, let's say, thick, heavy mantle that Bernini had to represent in marble is anyway able to give this feeling of movement and of lightness, which is quite astonishing, I think.