while caravaggio saw himself in the headless goliath, the young gian lorenzo bernini gave his featureso the heroic david. bernini took the immediacy he found in caravaggio's paintings and recreated it in marble with phenomenal and unprecedented virtuosity. the sculptors of the renaissance had often treated the david theme. donatello's david is serenely elegant. michelangelo's is contained... perfect... full of potential. but bernini's david moves... turns aggressively to confront the observer. true to the spirit of the baroque, this david is meant to be experienced. the viewpoint in this case, of course, is that of goliath. it's said that the cardinal maffeo barberini held a mirror to bernini's face so the young prodigy could use his own expression of intense concentration for the david. when the cardinal became pope urban viii, he said to the artist, "it is your good luck to see maffeo barberini pope, "but we are even luckier, "for the cavaliere bernini lives at the time of our pontificate." there is scarcely a corner of rome that was not graced by bernini's touch... from the small wi

the finest of these fountains was designed by sculptor and architect, gian lorenzo bernini.ilt in the piazza navona which stood on foundations of an ancient stadium, a material expression of the idea of eternal rome. the city had survived 100 years of political and religious turmoil, of war and destruction. despite invasions of european monarchs who'd attempted to conquer the city on the pretext of defending it, it had preserved its independence. most important, the catholic church had survived the rise of protestantism and its challenge to rome's authority. it was an extraordinary period of expansion as european colonization and exploration took its influence to the farthest corners of the earth. this roman catholic renewal, which historians call the counter reformation, was given added purpose and vigor by a remarkable group of visionaries. the spanish mystic and philosopher teresa of avila insisted that everyone could experience intense and personal knowledge of god. ignatius loyol founder of the jesuiteaching order, inspired his followers to go to work with spiritual fer