Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), architect, painter, but above all sculptor, had a career that spanned almost three quarters of a century. He worked under six different popes and was instrumental in the ornamentation of Baroque Rome, from the colonnade of St. Peter to the fountains in piazza Navona and piazza di Spagna, from the many stunning sculptural groups in the churches and palaces of Rome to the dozens of 'speaking portraits', which depict cardinals, popes, kings and intellectuals of his time.