Bernini's Death

Abstract

A remarkable picture of Bernini's death emerges from the biographies by Filippo Baldinucci and the artist's son, Domenico. They mention two works of art in this connection. One is Bernini's Sangue di Cristo composition engraved by Francois Spierre, which can be dated to the year 1670 (Fig. 1). The Crucified Christ is shown with the Virgin, God the Father and a host of angels, suspended above a sea formed by the blood pouring from His wounds. Two texts referring to the blood of Christ are inscribed at the bottom of the print, one from Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, “The blood of Christ, who offered himself without spot to God, will purge our conscience,” the other from St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, “I offer you, eternal Father, the blood of the incarnate word; and if anything is wanting in me I offer it to you, Mary, that you may present it to the eternal Trinity.” The second work is a bust of the Savior, the last sculpture by Bernini's hand. He began it in his eightieth year, in 1679, and willed it to hi...