Bernini Portrait Sculpture Exhibit

This is fantastic! - the Getty Museum in LA is currently exhibiting works of the great Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini:

Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture

The exhibit, the first of its kind in North America, runs through October 26 at the Getty, then moves to the National Gallery in Ottawa from Nov. 28 to Mar. 8.

From the National Gallery website:

Under the influence of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and others in his wake ... the portrait bust once again became an innovative and groundbreaking art form. These sculptors were able to capture a person’s appearance not simply by portraying what is visible but rather by depicting character through a more animated, living, and breathing rendering.

The level of virtuosity displayed by Bernini and others in his sphere in coaxing such a rendering from the intractable medium of stone astonishes scholars as well as the general public. The opportunity to view their works in close proximity will shed light on the remarkable artistic innovations of the period and provide an exceedingly rare glimpse into the inter-relationships and variations of style among these artists. An exhibition on this topic has never been mounted before and it is expected to raise a number of issues such as the trajectory of Bernini’s career, persistent questions of attribution, theories of portraiture, and the critical response to this production. These topics are of interest to both scholars and the general public.