Italian, 17th century, male. Born 7 December 1598, in Naples; died 28 November 1680, in Rome. Sculptor, architect, playwright. Religious subjects, mythological subjects, portraits. Equestrian statues. The son of the Tuscan sculptor Pietro Bernini, Gianlorenzo Bernini became one of Italy’s greatest architects and sculptors. He spent his early childhood in Naples, then travelled to Rome where he carried out a long and distinguished career, working for a succession of popes and, from 1621, serving as president of the Accademia di San Luca. He is best known for his work at St Peter’s: the design of the piazza’s colonnade, the bronze baldacchino at the crossing, and numerous other sculptures in marble that decorate the basilica’s interior. Bernini also designed several of Rome’s most celebrated fountains and Baroque churches and carved biblical, mythological, and portrait sculptures and funerary monuments for Rome’s wealthiest families. He was one of the most influential architects of 17th-century Rome. His output was so immense that in order to cope with the flood of commissions that came his way, he used numerous sculptors who worked from his designs. These included Stefano Speranza, Andrea Bolgi, Francesco Baratta, Nicolas Sale, Antonio Raggi, Giacomo Fancelli, Ercole Ferrato, Oresto Raggi, Domenico Guidi, Lazzaro Morelli, Duquesnoy, and Giuliano Finelli. Bernini died of a stroke on 28 November 1680 at the age of 92; he is buried in the basilica of S Maria Maggiore in Rome....