Bernini e i Barberini | Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini
6 March – 30 June 2026
Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini presents Bernini e i Barberini, a major exhibition exploring the extraordinary creative partnership between sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Barberini family, one of the most powerful patrons of seventeenth-century Rome.
When Cardinal Maffeo Barberini was elected Pope Urban VIII in 1623, he immediately placed Bernini at the heart of the transformation of Rome. The commission for the baldachin of St Peter’s Basilica — the monumental bronze canopy over the tomb of the Apostle — became the defining project of both artist and patron, and launched one of the most prolific collaborations in the history of art.
The exhibition traces this relationship through works, drawings, documents, and reconstructions that reveal how the Barberini’s ambitions shaped Bernini’s genius, and how Bernini’s genius, in turn, shaped the face of Rome. From the Apollo and Daphne of the Borghese to the decorative programme of Palazzo Barberini itself, the show offers a panoramic view of the Baroque at its most triumphant.
Bernini e i Barberini is installed within the very rooms that Bernini helped to decorate, allowing visitors to encounter the works in their original architectural context.