Promenade européenne dans Bordeaux 4
12-Bernini’s Angel
St. Bruno’s Church.
The place occupied by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) in the history of European art is itself an almost
unique phenomenon. Gian Lorenzo Bernini worked first
with his father, Pietro Bernini (1562-1629), before becoming the master of
Italian baroque. He moved to Rome in 1605 and became chief architect of St.
Peter’s in 1629, where he served seven successive popes and many cardinals.
St. Bruno’s Church was the
first baroque church built in Bordeaux, in 1611, before St. Paul’s Church and
the Church of Notre Dame. It is the only element remaining of the former Carthusian monastery. It once overlooked a small
Italian-style square surrounded by constructions. It has a unique nave that
contains a retable dating back to 1676 and numerous
masterpieces, including a painting by Philippe de Champaigne
and a sculpted group. The panels that extend on either side are dug from niches
sheltering two white marble statues, one representing the annunciation, the
Virgin Mary, sculpted by Pietro Bernini, and the other the Angel Gabriel,
probably by his son Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Cardinal François de Sourdis stayed for more than a year in Rome, from 1622 to
1623, and commissioned two statues and a bust there. These were sculpted in
Rome between 1620 and 1622, at the request of Cardinal of Sourdis
who was staying in the Italian capital at the time, by the Berninis.
Pietro created the Virgin, and Gian Lorenzo, his son,
the Angel. The sculptures did not join the marble retable
of St. Bruno’s until under the episcopate of his brother, Henri de Sourdis. The bust of the cardinal, by Gian
Lorenzo Bernini, remained in the chapel to the left of the entrance for a
century. Found and restored, having been thrown into a well during the
Revolution, it can now be seen at the Musée
des Beaux-Arts. Many thought it was created by Pietro, the father, but Filippo Baldinucci’s Vita di
Bernini, published in 1682, is quite clear: it is the son, Gian Lorenzo, who sculpted the bust of Cardinal Serdi, sent to France.
Upon entering St. Bruno’s
Church in March 1838, Stendhal, apparently unaware of the identity of the
famous artists, was harsh about Bernini’s Angel,
speaking of “the quite pretty head of the angel of the annunciation,” while
adding “the body is quite pitiful.” He considered the cardinal’s bust, bursting
out of its conical marble cope, “excellent or at least very good,” but
positioned “too high.”… …
… …
… …
G.L. Bernini. Dessin pour l'Ange de la
Chapelle du Saint Sacrement à Saint Pierre, Leipzig, Stadtbibliothek.
G.L. Bernini, Tête de l'ange de l'Extase de
Sainte Thèrèse, Madonna de della Vittoria, Rome.
… …
Return to the short route
via Rue Georges Bonnac
and
continue to Place Gambetta.
© Bertrand Favreau
and Tyché Editions 2014
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