Bernini and other studies in the history of art

Description

"Fatal Fingers" by William Le Queux is a mystery-thriller novel written in the early 20th century. Likely steeped in espionage, crime, and international intrigue, it follows a determined investigator drawn into a web of peril and conspiracy, with the titular “fatal fingers” suggesting a signature clue or killer’s touchpoint. The opening of the provided work is a scholarly art study that champions Gian Lorenzo Bernini and reassesses Baroque art against earlier Renaissance “primitives.” After a preface explaining illustration choices, it launches into a forceful defense of Bernini’s originality, technique, and sincerity, sketching his character and fame, and closely reading his early mythological groups (especially praising Proserpina and Apollo and Daphne) alongside his methods (quick, unified visualizations; abundant sketches and clay models). It argues for the legitimacy of his ecstatic religious sculptures (angels, saints like Theresa, Jerome, Daniel, and Habakkuk), celebrates his fountains and portrait busts (from cardinals to Louis XIV), and highlights his architectural vision, notably St. Peter’s piazza and colonnades infused with symbolic intent. The text then introduces and briefly catalogs a remarkable set of Bernini’s terracotta models, followed by pen-and-ink studies for the Vatican piazza that map an orb-and-cross concept and a cruciform scheme correlating church, colonnades, and city vistas. Overall, this beginning sets a revisionist, eloquent appraisal of Bernini’s breadth—sculpture, design, portraiture, fountains, and urban symbolism. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• Giorgione, 1477 or 1478-1510
• Sculpture
• Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680
• N