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	Info
	Saint Andrew and Saint Thomas c. 1627 Oil on canvas, 62 x 78 cm National Gallery, London
	David with the Head of Goliath 1625 Oil on canvas, 75 x 65,5 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
	Portrait of a Boy c. 1638 Oil on canvas Galleria Borghese, Rome
	Self-Portrait as a Young Man c. 1623 Oil on canvas, 38 x 30 cm Galleria Borghese, Rome
	Self-Portrait as a Mature Man c. 1635 Oil on canvas, 53 x 43 cm Galleria Borghese, Rome
	Self-Portrait c. 1635 Oil on canvas, 62 x 46 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Pope Urban VIII 1632 Oil on canvas, 67 x 50 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome