Bernini was by far the most important Baroque sculptor and architect of seventeenth-century Europe and one of the key creators of the whole Baroque era. But he worked initially as a painter. There is no doubt that this was only a sideline which he did mainly in his youth and even then almost as a dilettante. Despite this - indeed precisely because of this - his work reveals a sure and brilliant hand, free from any trace of pedantry. He studied in Rome under his own father, Pietro, and soon proved one of the most precocious infant prodigies in the history of art. His work was immediately sought after by the major collectors.

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas c. 1627 Oil on canvas, 59 x 76 cm National Gallery, London	972*762 True Color 109 Kb
	David with the Head of Goliath 1625 Oil on canvas, 75 x 65,5 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome	800*910 True Color 84 Kb
	Portrait of a Boy c. 1638 Oil on canvas Galleria Borghese, Rome	601*811 True Color 80 Kb
	Self-Portrait as a Young Man c. 1623 Oil on canvas Galleria Borghese, Rome	802*1231 True Color 131 Kb
	Self-Portrait as a Mature Man 1630-35 Oil on canvas Galleria Borghese, Rome	694*887 True Color 86 Kb
	Self-Portrait c. 1635 Oil on canvas, 62 x 46 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence	900*1121 True Color 103 Kb
	Pope Urban VIII 1632 Oil on canvas, 67 x 50 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome	803*1093 True Color 108 Kb