Bernini (The University of Chicago Press)

Sculptor, architect, painter, playwright, and scenographer, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the last of the universal artistic geniuses of early modern Italy, placed żeby both contemporaries and posterity in the same exalted company as Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

And his artistic vision remains palpably present today, through the countless statues, fountains, and buildings that transformed Rome into the Baroque theater that continues to enthrall tourists. It is perhaps not surprising that this artist who defined the Baroque should have a personal life that itself was, well, baroque.

As Franco Mormando's dazzling biography reveals, Bernini was a man driven aby many passions, possessed of an explosive temper and a hearty sex drive, and he lived a life as dramatic as any of his creations.

Drawing on archival sources, letters, diaries, and - with a suitable skepticism - a hagiographic account written żeby Bernini's son (who portrays his father as a paragon of virtue and piety), Mormando leads us through Bernini's feuds and love affairs, scandals and sins.He sets Bernini's raucous life against a vivid backdrop of Baroque Rome, bustling and wealthy, and peopled żeby churchmen and bureaucrats, popes and politicians, schemes and secrets.

The result is a seductively readable biography, stuffed with stories and teeming with life - as wild and unforgettable as Bernini's art. No one who has been bewitched żeby the Baroque should miss it.