Gian Lorenzo Bernini: Sketches in Clay March 5, 2007

In one of its most important purchases ever, the Fogg, in 1937, acquired twenty-seven terracotta sculptures, fourteen of which can be associated directly with Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples 1598-1680 Rome), the greatest sculptor of the Roman Baroque. A fifteenth was added in 1995. These works are studies for some of Bernini's most important projects and cover nearly the whole of the artist's career. They include saints and allegorical figures, and the extraordinarily vivid angels, seemingly descending directly from a heavenly realm in swirls of flowing drapery. As the guardian of the most important body of his intimate work-in-progress, the Harvard University Art Museums has dedicated a gallery to these sculptures. Most of these sculptures have not been on public exhibition for many years and they return to view following the most comprehensive study of such a body of material ever undertaken.