Timeline of Works and Events

1598 - Gianlorenzo Bernini is born on December 7th in Naples to sculptor Pietro Bernini
1605 - Pietro moves his family to Rome for work
1610 - Bernini carves his bust of Giovanni Battista Santoni at the age of 11, which attracts the attention of the Pope.
1615 - The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence
             The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun
1619 - Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius
            Damned Soul, Blessed Soul
1621 - Gregory V Ludovisi becomes Pope following the death of Paul V
1622 - Rape of Proserpina
1623 - Maffeo Barberini becomes Pope Urban VIII
            David
1624 - Apollo and Daphne
             Work begins on Baldacchino
1629 - Bernini becomes the official Architect of New St. Peter's at age 30
             Pietro Bernini dies
1632 - Carves the two famous busts of his dying friend, Cardinal Scipione Borghese
1633 - Cardinal Scipione Borghese dies
             Balconies in St. Peter's
1634 - Church, Propaganda Fide, rebuilt by Borromini
1636 - Carves a bust for English King Charles I from a painting by Van Dyke as a gift from the Pope in hopes that Charles would reconnect with the Catholic Church
1637 - Bernini begins construction on the ill-fated southern tower on the facade of St. Peter's
1639 - Bernini leaves his mistress, Costanza Bonarelli, and marries Caterina Tezio at the urging of the Pope
1641 - Third tier of Bernini's tower at St. Peter's taken down and construction halted
             Bernini begins projects for the Fontana di Trevi
1644 - Pope Urban VIII dies and Innocent X Pamphili assumes the papacy, leaving Bernini vulnerable to his enemies and critics
             Work beings on Cornaro Chapel
             Fontana delle Alpi in the Piazza Barberini
1646 - Bernini begins Truth Revealed by Time; his great unfinished work
1648 - Song Paolo Valentino, sculptor, is born
             Pope Innocent X commissions Bernini to built his Four Rivers Fountain, ending years of disgrace from his failure with the belltowers at St. Peter's
1651 - The Four Rivers Fountain is completed
1655 - Pope Alexander VII Chigi follows Innocent X
             Bernini falls ill from September 1655 to April 1656
1656 - Saint Peter's Piazza planned
1658 - Construction on Bernini's plan for the Jesuit church Sant' Andrea al Quirinale begins
1662 - St. Jerome and Mary Magdalen for the Chigi Chapel in Siena
1664 - Decoration for Scala Regia
1665 - Bernini travels to Paris at the request of King Louis XIV to design the Louvre
             Carves a bust of the Sun King, but his plans for the Louvre are ultimately rejected
1666 - Elephant and Obelisk
1667 - Clement IX Rospigliosi assumes papacy
1668 - Bernini designs the vista on the Ponte Sant' Angelo
1670 - PopeClement X Altieri begins reign
             Sant' Andrea Al Quirinal is completed
1671 - The Blessed Lodovica Albertoni
1672 - Work on Tomb for Pope Alexander VII begins
1673 - Bernini's wife dies
1676 - Pope Innocent I Odescalchi follows Clement X
1680 - Gianlorenzo Bernini dies a few days short of his 82nd birthday