Bernini's bronze masterpiece returns to Camerino for first time since 2016 earthquake

For the first time since the 2016 earthquake, Gian Lorenzo Bernini’sUrbano VIII is back on view in Camerino, one of the cities hardest hit by the earthquake in central Italy. Starting June 20, 2020, in the Venanzina-Pennesi building that houses other works from the civic and diocesan museums’ collection that were saved from the earthquake, the public will once again be able to admire one of the masterpieces by the famous Baroque artist that is part of the artistic heritage of the city of Camerino.

The bronze statue depicting Pope Urban VIII is considered one of Bernini’s most significant works from a portrait point of view. It was commissioned in 1643 by the Municipality of Camerino through Angelo Giori, a personality closely linked to the Barberini family, as the institutor of Maffeo Barberini (who later became Urban VIII). The work came from an oval niche in the main hall of the Bongiovanni Municipal Palace and is also considered of inestimable value because of the skill with which the artist depicted the pope’s indomitable soul with a particular introspective investigation.

In 2005-2006 the sculpture was exhibited, to considerable acclaim, in Washington on the occasion of an exhibition dedicated to portraits of pontiffs, which registered one million visitors in six months. In 2010 it was also highly appreciated at the exhibition held in San Severino Marche and curated by Vittorio Sgarbi dedicated to the Baroque in the Marche region.

“This new exhibition,” said Barbara Mastrocola, curator of civic collections and director of the diocesan museum, “marks another important step for the extraordinary and unique pieces of figurative history of the city of Camerino: it is a beautiful gift that the civic and diocesan museums, in a fruitful collaboration, give to the city and to all visitors. In this sense I would also like to thank the relevant Superintendency.”

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Bernini's bronze masterpiece returns to Camerino for first time since 2016 earthquake

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