Memorial to Alessandro Valtrini

The Memorial to Alessandro Valtrini is a funerary monument designed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1639, and executed by his workshop in the same year. It is situated in the church of the San Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome. It has strong affinities with the Memorial to Ippolito Merenda; both were undertaken by Bernini's workshop and commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini to commend the ecclesiastical work done by Valtrini and Merenda respectively.[1] In aesthetic terms, both broke new ground in figuring Death as a moving skeleton carrying a flowing inscriptions and, in the case of Alessandro Valrtrini monument, a medallion-shaped portrait of Valtrini himself.[2]

Memorial to Alessandro Valtrini
ArtistGian Lorenzo Bernini
Year1639 (1639)
Catalogue43
TypeSculpture
MediumMarble relief
SubjectAlessandro Valtrini
DimensionsLife-size skeleton
LocationSan Lorenzo in Damaso, Rome

Valtrini had been a wealthy donor during his lifetime. Three churches he had supported erected monuments to him, Il Gesù (where his body remained), Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Bernini version in San Lorenzo in Damaso. He died in 1633. Francesco Barberini organised the Bernini commission in the late 1630s.[1]

References
Notes
  1. Bernstock, pp. 210–32.
  2. Wittkower, p. 211.
Bibliography
  • Bernstock, Judith E. (June 1981). "Bernini's Memorials to Ippolito Meranda and Alessandro Valtrini". The Art Bulletin. College Art Association. 63 (2): 210–32. doi:10.1080/00043079.1981.10787873. JSTOR 3050113.
  • Wittkower, Rudolf (1997). Gian Lorenzo Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0801414305.
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