Gian Lorenzo Bernini is universally considered one of the largest and most versatile representatives of Italian baroque art. Not only a sculptor, but also an architect, painter, urban planner and set designer, who gained success during his lifetime, and has represented a point of reference for an entire generation of artists. With his works, Bernini ensured himself a privileged place in art books as in the Olympus of the great masters who have left us unparalleled masterpieces.

Bernini was born in Naples in 1598, from the Tuscan sculptor Pietro and Angelica Galante. In his native town Gian Lorenzo had the first contact with sculpture thanks to his father who at that time was working at the Certosa di San Martino on behalf of the Viceroy. In 1606, Pietro Bernini was called by Pope Paul V for the construction of the Pauline Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and here began the apprenticeship of his son Gian Lorenzo, who had the good fortune of getting to know the architect Flaminio Ponzio.