Editing Gian Lorenzo Bernini (section)

===Paintings, drawings, and work for the theater===
Bernini would have studied painting as a normal part of his artistic training begun in early adolescence under the guidance of his father, Pietro, in addition to some further training in the studio of the Florentine painter, [[Cigoli]]. His earliest activity as a painter was probably no more than a sporadic diversion practised mainly in his youth, until the mid-1620s, that is, the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII (reigned 1623–1644) who ordered Bernini to study painting in greater earnest because the pontiff wanted him to decorate the Benediction Loggia of St. Peter's. The latter commission was never executed most likely because the required large-scale narrative compositions were simply beyond Bernini's ability as a painter. According to his early biographers, Baldinucci and Domenico Bernini, Bernini completed at least 150 canvases, mostly in the decades of the 1620s and 30s, but currently, there are no more than 35–40 surviving paintings that can be confidently attributed to his hand.<ref>The most recent and thorough studies of Bernini's paintings (both containing catalogues raisonnés of all his known canvases, whether extant or lost) are Francesco Petrucci, ''Bernini pittore,'' Rome: Bozzi, 2006; and Tomaso Montanari, ''Bernini pittore'', Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana, 2007.</ref> The extant, securely attributed works are mostly portraits, seen close up and set against an empty background, employing a confident, indeed brilliant, painterly brushstroke (similar to that of his Spanish contemporary Velasquez), free from any trace of pedantry, and a very limited palette of mostly warm, subdued colours with deep chiaroscuro. His work was immediately sought after by major collectors. Most noteworthy among these extant works are several, vividly penetrating self-portraits (all dating to the mid-1620s – early 1630s), especially that in the [[Uffizi]] Gallery, Florence, purchased during Bernini's lifetime by Cardinal [[Leopoldo de' Medici]]. Bernini's ''Apostles Andrew and Thomas'' in London's [[National Gallery]] is the sole canvas by the artist whose attribution, approximate date of execution ({{circa|1625}}) and provenance (the Barberini Collection, Rome) are securely known.<ref>For a concise summary statement about Bernini's training and production as a painter, see Franco Mormando, ed. and trans., ''Domenico Bernini: The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini'' (University Park: Penn State U Press, 2011), pp. 294–296, nn. 4–12; see also p. 128, n. 2 for Mormando's conjecture about the reason for the non-execution of the Benediction Loggia commission (which Domenico Bernini apologetically attributes to a serious illness on his father's part).</ref>

As for Bernini's drawings, about 350 still exist; but this represents a minuscule percentage of the drawings he would have created in his lifetime; these include rapid sketches relating to major sculptural or architectural commissions, presentation drawings given as gifts to his patrons and aristocratic friends, and exquisite, fully finished portraits, such as those of [[Agostino Mascardi]] ([[Ecole des Beaux-Arts]], Paris) and [[Scipione Borghese]] and Sisinio Poli (both in New York's [[Morgan Library]]).<ref>Unfortunately there is currently no complete catalogue raisonné of all of the known Bernini drawings. The most thorough edition of his drawings still remains Heinrich Brauer and Rudolf Wittkower, ''Die Ziechnungen des Gianlorenzo Bernini,'' Berlin: Verlag Heinrich Keller, 1931, reprinted New York: Collectors Edition, 1970. Also very useful is Ann Sutherland Harris, ''Selected Drawings of Gian Lorenzo Bernini,'' New York: Dover, 1977; see also her article, 'Three Proposals for Gian Lorenzo Bernini' in ''Master Drawings,'' vol. 41, no.2 (Summer 2003), pp. 119–127. More recent is the catalogue of the exhibition of Bernini drawings in [[Leipzig]]'s [[Museum der bildenden Künste]] (which boasts one of the largest collections of Bernini drawings in the world): Hans-Werner Schmidt et al., ''Bernini: Erfinder des barocken Rom,'' Bielefeld: Kerber Art, 2014. For the drawings by Bernini and his workshop in the [[Vatican Museums|Vatican collection]], see the comprehensive, detailed, illustrated catalog: Manuela Gobbi, and [[Barbara Jatta]], eds., ''I disegni di Bernini e della sua scuola nella Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Drawings by Bernini and His School at the Vatican Apostolic Library.'' Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2015.</ref>

Another area of artistic endeavour to which Bernini devoted much of his spare time between major commissions and which earned him further popular acclaim was that of the theatre. For many years (especially during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, 1623–44), Bernini created a long series of theatrical productions in which he simultaneously served as scriptwriter, stage director, actor, scenographer, and special-effects technician. These plays were mostly Carnival comedies (held often in his own home) which drew large audiences and much attention and in which the artist satirized contemporary Roman life (especially court life) with his pungent witticisms. At the same time, they also dazzled spectators with daring displays of special effects such as the flooding of the Tiber river or a controlled but very real fiery blaze, as reported by his son Domenico's biography. However, although there is much disparate, scattered documentation showing that all of this theatrical work was not simply a limited or passing diversion for Bernini, the only extant remains of these endeavours are the partial script of one play and a drawing of a sunset (or sunrise) relating to the creation of a special effect on stage.<ref>For Bernini and the theatre, see Franco Mormando ed. and trans., ''Domenico Bernini: The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini'' (University Park: Penn State U Press, 2011), Chap. 7, pp. 132-35 with accompanying notes. The most recent and punctiliously exhaustive account of Bernini's theatrical work, analyzed especially within the larger context of the theatre world of his age, is Elena Tamburini, ''Gian Lorenzo Bernini e il teatro dell'arte'' (Florence: Le Lettere, 2012).</ref>