Leticia Azcue reveals Bernini's "overwhelming power" and the revolutionary language of Baroque sculpture at the University

"Bernini was the total artist." With this emphatic statement, Leticia Azcue, Head of the Collection of Sculpture since 1700 and Decorative Arts at the Prado Museum, began the first session of lecture series Calvo Serrallerlecture series . Under the degree scroll and Persuasion. The Art of the Baroque," this quotation , organized by the School Philosophy Letters of the University of Navarra in partnership the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, having established itself as a benchmark for the knowledge dissemination in Pamplona.

More than 300 people quotation opening ceremony quotation Gabriel Pérez Barreiro, director of the University of Navarra Museum. Julia Pavón, dean of the School Philosophy Letters; Nuria de Miguel, administrative assistant of the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation; and Iñigo Martínez, Director of Viscofan Spain, business series' business also spoke quotation

Presented by Professor Clara Fernández Ladreda, who highlighted Azcue's career as an academic at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and her research work, the speaker her presentation on the figure of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). As Azcue explained, the artist's talent was not limited to sculpture, but also encompassed architecture, painting, and set design, integrating all the arts into a "total work."

One of the core topic the lecture the analysis of Bernini's technique. The expert explained that, although the artist used the same traditional tools as his contemporaries, he employed them "in a revolutionary way" to achieve an unprecedented expressive language: "His unique ability consisted of two things: evoking emotion and freezing movement." To illustrate the difficulty of official document, the lecturer showed a short video while giving a detailed overview of the process of creating a marble sculpture, from the initial modeling in clay and the use of a metal frame, to the complex system of "point removal" to transfer the measurements to the block of stone. Azcue recalled that work a chisel on Carrara marble was a constant risk: "Each stroke is unique; a mistake at the end of the process can ruin years of work," emphasizing that Bernini achieved pictorial effects in sculpture, playing with light and textures to differentiate the smoothness of skin from the roughness of fabric or the shine of a leaf.

The session covered emblematic works from the artist's youth, such as the heads of Anima Beata and Anima Dannata, in which Bernini, at just 21 years of age, demonstrated an exceptional ability to capture states of mind and emotions. In these works, the artist explored the extremes of human experience: heavenly peace versus the horror of eternal punishment, using his own face as model a mirror to capture the truth of the scream and muscular tension. Milestones such as Saint Sebastian from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection were also discussed, a work that demonstrates his early mastery of Anatomy the instability characteristic of the Baroque in contrast to the balance of the Renaissance; or Apollo and Daphne, where marble is transformed into laurel leaves before the viewer's eyes. Azcue highlighted how Bernini mastered space, designing works to be viewed from multiple angles, enveloping the viewer in the narrative.

A revealing aspect of the session was the accredited specialization Bernini's work as a restorer of classical pieces. Azcue recalled how the artist was able to add contemporary elements to ancient works to give them new life, such as the famous marble mattress he designed for Hermaphroditus, an intervention so integrated with the original that today it is impossible to imagine the piece without his contribution.

Finally, the speaker on the paradox of Bernini's end. After serving seven popes and being considered the "owner of Rome," the artist rests in a simple tomb in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. "Here lies humbly he who was the pride of the arts," reads his epitaph, a phrase that, according to Azcue, sums up the greatness of a man who, despite his power, understood that his true bequest was bequest luxury, but the life he breathed into stone.

The series, sponsorship Viscofan and in partnership the Diario de Navarra Foundation, will continue in the coming weeks with presentations by Xavier Bray, director The Wallace Collection (February 18); Eduardo Prieto González, professor at the Madrid School of Architecture (February 25); and Fernando Marías, Full Professor Art History at the Autonomous University of Madrid (March 4), who will delve into the figures of José de Ribera, Baroque architecture, and Velázquez, respectively.