Editing Gian Lorenzo Bernini (section)

===Later years and death===
[[File:Bernini-tomb.jpg|alt=Tomb of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore|thumb|Tomb of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]]]]
[[File:Berninigrave.jpg|thumb|The grave of Bernini in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]]

Bernini remained physically and mentally vigorous and active in his profession until just two weeks before his death which came as a result of a stroke. The pontificate of his old friend, [[Clement IX]], was too short (barely two years) to accomplish more than the dramatic refurbishment by Bernini of the [[Ponte Sant'Angelo]], while the artist's elaborate plan, under Clement, for a new apse for the basilica of [[Santa Maria Maggiore]] came to an unpleasant end in the midst of public uproar over its cost and the destruction of ancient mosaics that it entailed. The last two popes of Bernini's life, [[Clement X]] and [[Innocent XI]], were both not especially close or sympathetic to Bernini and not particularly interested in financing works of art and architecture, especially given the disastrous conditions of the papal treasury. The most important commission by Bernini, executed entirely by him in just six months in 1674, under Clement X was the statue of the ''[[Blessed Ludovica Albertoni]]'', another nun-mystic. The work, reminiscent of Bernini's ''Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,'' is located in the chapel dedicated to Ludovica remodelled under Bernini's supervision in the [[Trastevere]] church of [[San Francesco a Ripa]], whose façade was designed by Bernini's disciple, [[Mattia de' Rossi]].<ref>For the Albertoni commission, see F. Mormando, ''Domenico Bernini's Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini'' (University Park: Penn State Univ. Press, 2011), pp. 411–412, nn. 33–35.</ref>

In his last two years, Bernini also carved (supposedly for Queen [[Christina, Queen of Sweden|Christina]]) the bust of the Savior (Basilica of [[San Sebastiano fuori le Mura]], Rome) and supervised the restoration of the historic [[Palazzo della Cancelleria]], a direct commission from Pope Innocent XI. The latter commission is an outstanding confirmation of both Bernini's continuing professional reputation and good health of mind and body even in advanced old age, inasmuch as the pope had chosen him over any number of talented younger architects plentiful in Rome, for this prestigious and most difficult assignment since, as his son Domenico points out, "deterioration of the palace had advanced to such an extent that the threat of its imminent collapse was quite apparent."{{sfn|Mormando|2011|p=227}}

Shortly after the completion of the latter project, Bernini died in his home on 28 November 1680 and was buried, with little public fanfare, in the simple, unadorned Bernini family vault, along with his parents, in the Basilica of [[Santa Maria Maggiore]]. Though an elaborate funerary monument had once been planned (documented by a single extant sketch of {{circa|1670}} by disciple [[Ludovico Gimignani]]), it was never built and Bernini remained with no permanent public acknowledgement of his life and career in Rome until 1898 when, on the anniversary of his birth, a simple plaque and small bust was affixed to the face of his home on the Via della Mercede, proclaiming "Here lived and died Gianlorenzo Bernini, a sovereign of art, before whom reverently bowed popes, princes, and a multitude of peoples."