| Description : Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598‐1680) was an Italian sculptor,
painter and architect of the Neoclassical Baroque period. He had a decisive influence on the development of Baroque
sculpture and architecture in Rome. He created the high altar ciborium over St Peter's tomb in St Peter's
Basilica in 1624‐1633, the sculpture Rapture of St Theresa in 1645‐1652 and the colonnades in
St Peter's Square in 1656‐1667. The coin shows the marble bust of Constanza Bonarelli (1614‐1662)
created by Bernini around 1637, one of the most beautiful and important works of art of the Baroque period (now in the
National Museum of Bargello in Florence). Constanza was the wife of his assistant Matteo Bonarelli and his mistress.
Because she also began an affair with his brother Luigi Bernini, he beat him up out of jealousy in front of St. Peter's
Basilica and had Constanza attacked in her house by his servant, who cut her face. She was sent to prison for adultery, but
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was only fined ‐ after the intervention of Pope Urban VIII, who arranged for him to marry
Caterina Tezio in 1639. Constanza, like Bernini later, was buried in the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Circular
are the inscriptions "SAN MARINO" and "BERNINI", on the left are the dates "1598" and "2018", on the right the letter "R"
the mint mark of the Italian mint Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome, below the initials "A.M." of the
coin designer Annalisa Masini. |
