Editing Gian Lorenzo Bernini (section)

=== Embellishment of Rome under Alexander VII ===
Upon his accession to the Chair of St Peter, Pope Alexander VII [[Chigi family|Chigi]] (reigned 1655–1667) began to implement his extremely ambitious plan to transform Rome into a magnificent world capital by means of systematic, bold (and costly) urban planning. In so doing, he brought to fruition the long, slow recreation of the urban glory of Rome—the deliberate campaign for the "''renovatio Romae''"—that had begun in the fifteenth century under the Renaissance popes. Over the course of his pontificate, Alexander commissioned many large-scale architectural changes in the city—indeed, some of the most significant ones in the city's recent history and for years to come—choosing Bernini as his principal collaborator (though other architects, especially [[Pietro da Cortona]], were also involved). Thus did commence another extraordinarily prolific and successful chapter in Bernini's career.

[[File:Bernini, Gianlorenzo - Self-portrait c1675-1680 - Royal Collection - Gould 1982 plate1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Bernini self-portrait, {{circa|1665}}]]

Bernini's major commissions during this period include [[St. Peter's Square]]. In a previously broad, irregular, and completely unstructured space, he created two massive semi-circular colonnades, each row of which was formed of four simple white Doric columns. This resulted in an oval shape that formed an inclusive arena within which any gathering of citizens, pilgrims and visitors could witness the appearance of the pope—either as he appeared on the loggia on the façade of St Peter's or at the traditional window of the neighbouring Palazzo Vaticano, to the right of the square. In addition to being logistically efficient for carriages and crowds, Bernini's design was completely in harmony with the pre-existing buildings and added to the majesty of the basilica. Often likened to two arms reaching out from the church to embrace the waiting crowd, Bernini's creation extended the symbolic greatness of the Vatican area, creating an emotionally thrilling and "exhilarating expanse" that was, architecturally, an "unequivocal success".<ref>Hibbard, p. 156; Mormando, ''Bernini: His Life and His Rome'', 2011, p. 204. The long, broad, straight avenue ([[Via della Conciliazione]]) to the River [[Tiber]] was an early 20th-century addition, when [[Benito Mussolini]] ordered the clearing of housing that led up to Bernini's piazza in order to afford a more commodious access to the Vatican.</ref>

Elsewhere within the Vatican, Bernini created systematic rearrangements and majestic embellishment of either empty or aesthetically undistinguished spaces that exist as he designed them to the present day and have become indelible icons of the splendour of the papal precincts. Within the hitherto unadorned apse of the basilica, the [[Cathedra Petri]], the symbolic throne of St Peter, was rearranged as a monumental gilded bronze extravagance that matched the Baldacchino created earlier in the century. Bernini's complete reconstruction of the [[Scala Regia (Vatican)|Scala Regia]], the stately papal stairway between St. Peters's and the Vatican Palace, was slightly less ostentatious in appearance but still taxed Bernini's creative powers (employing, for example, clever tricks of optical illusion) to create a seemingly uniform, totally functional, but nonetheless regally impressive stairway to connect two irregular buildings within an even more irregular space.{{sfn|Hibbard|1965|pp=163–67}}

Not all works during this era were on such a large scale. Indeed, the commission Bernini received to build the church of [[Sant'Andrea al Quirinale]] for the [[Jesuits]] was relatively modest in physical size (though great in its interior chromatic splendour), which Bernini executed completely free of charge. Sant'Andrea shared with Piazza San Pietro—unlike the complex geometries of his rival [[Francesco Borromini]]—a focus on basic geometric shapes, circles, and ovals to create spiritually intense spaces.{{sfn|Hibbard|1965|pp=144–8}} He also designed the church of [[Santa Maria Assunta, Ariccia|Santa Maria Assunta]] (1662–65) in the town of [[Ariccia]] with its circular outline, rounded dome and three-arched portico, reminiscent of the Pantheon.{{sfn|Hibbard|1965|pp=149–50}} In Santa Maria Assunta, as in his church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castelgandolfo (1658–61), Bernini completely eschewed the rich polychrome marble decoration dramatically seen in Sant'Andrea and the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, in favour of an essentially white, somewhat stark interior, albeit still much adorned with stucco work and painted altarpieces.