B is for Bernini
This is a glimpse of a Bernini statue at the Vatican, restored by Mr. Etherknitter's Roman cousins.
They were very sniffy about other art restorers' techniques. We had just been to the Galleria Borghese. Canova's statue of Napoleon's sister, Paolina, had been 'over-restored', according to the cousins. There is a certain amount of surface dirt that can be removed before the 'life of the stone' is affected. If the pores of the marble are visible, and if the surface looks chalky, without luminescence, the stone has been stripped too far.
Bernini lived a very long time for the time - 82 years. He was remarkably productive. On my life list is a trip to Italy to track down every Bernini statue in public exhibit. His work is stunning. It is easy to forget that you are looking at marble when you can see the indentations in the thigh of one statue from the fingers of the second figure (Pluto and Persephone).
Artists do tend to have strong opinions. Looks like they know their stuff.
Posted by: Ruth | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 09:13 AM
That's an incredible picture. I think you should make that trip a reality.
Posted by: Carole | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Amazing. I hope you go soon so you can document all of his works and share them with us.
Posted by: margene | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Great photo!
Posted by: Martha | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Yowza. So far you've been on a totally different plane from the rest of us. (One bound for Italy, I hope.) I can't wait to see what you come up with for C.
Posted by: Lucia | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Trust you to have a B like this one. ;-) See, this is why I love coming here.
Posted by: Beth S. | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 01:20 PM
Beautiful! (And educational, too....)
Posted by: --Deb | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 06:24 PM
What a beautiful, beautiful "B". I so hope that I get to see more of Europe someday.
Posted by: Kim | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 07:59 PM
I found this a very interesting post as I work in a hospital in the orthopaedic department with one of the Bernini decendents. He is a doctor that I work for.
Amazingly small world we live in.
I enjoy you blog. Thank you.
Posted by: Cathi | Wednesday, February 06, 2008 at 06:04 AM
Even though I studied art history in college, I never appreciated the incredibly skill and artistry and talent needed to sculpt marble until much more recently. Love your photo.
Posted by: kmkat | Wednesday, February 06, 2008 at 11:58 PM
If you can make it to LA or Ottawa, you can see lots of his work without going to Italy (not as much fun, perhap?). The bust of Costanza Bonarelli sounds especially interesting...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/arts/design/02bern.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bernini+los+angeles&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Posted by: Angela | Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 12:35 PM
One of the types of art that I most admire is sculpture. I am in awe of those who can free the figure within the stone.
Lovely restoration work.
lovely photo.
fabulous B.
Posted by: Teyani | Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 01:28 AM
Wow, and what an excellent goal!
Posted by: Sylvia | Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 04:35 PM
You could just come to Virginia to see a fabulous Bernini - http://collectiononline.chrysler.org/OBJECT_edit.asp?id=36432&page=1 - and I'd love to show it to you!
Posted by: Delta | Saturday, March 08, 2008 at 06:38 PM