Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Hello! My name is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and I was a famous sculptor and artist. I was born in a beautiful city called Naples, Italy, on December 7th, 1598. My father, Pietro, was a sculptor, too, which was very exciting for me. From the time I was a little boy, I loved watching him work in his studio. I would pick up his tools and try to copy him, chipping away at small pieces of stone. When I was still a boy, my family moved to the amazing city of Rome. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the place I was meant to be.

Even when I was a teenager, people could see I had a special talent for art. I learned how to make hard, cold marble look soft, just like real skin. I could even make it look like hair flowing in the wind. A very important man named Cardinal Scipione Borghese saw my work and asked me to make statues for his garden. One of my most famous statues from that time is called Apollo and Daphne. I finished it around the year 1625. It shows a girl turning into a tree, with tiny leaves sprouting right from her fingertips! It looked so real that people couldn't believe it was made from stone.

My work became so well-known that soon, the Pope himself asked me to work on the most important church in Rome, St. Peter's Basilica. It was a huge honor! Inside the church, I designed a giant, twirly bronze canopy that stands over the main altar. It is called the Baldacchino, and I started working on it in 1624. Many years later, beginning in 1656, I designed the giant open space in front of the church, which is called St. Peter's Square. I built two huge, curved rows of columns that look like they are reaching out to give the whole city a big hug. I also designed beautiful fountains for Rome, like the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which I finished in 1651.

I worked hard my whole life. I was not just a sculptor, but also an architect who designed buildings and a painter. After a long and busy life filling the city of Rome with art, I lived to be 81 years old. I passed away in the year 1680. Today, my work is still all over Rome. Millions of people visit every year to see the statues, fountains, and buildings that I created so long ago. I hope my art still makes people feel a sense of wonder and shows them the power of imagination.