Bust of Pope Paul V

Getty Museum

Bust of Pope Paul V

Creator

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Italian Artist · 1598–1680

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"Rare man, sublime artificer, born by Divine Disposition and for the glory of Rome to illuminate the century," wrote Maffeo Barberini, Pope Urban VIII, of the great Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Born in 1598 in Naples, Bernini was a child prodigy, receiving his early training in sculpture from his father and completing his first bust at the age of ten. He arrived in Rome at the age of sev

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Object Description · Getty Museum

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was just twenty-three years old when he received one of his first commissions to make a full-sized bust of Pope Paul V, the recently deceased uncle of his most important patron, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. In this two-and-a-half foot marble portrait, Bernini depicts the pope almost bareheaded, his hair styled in the "tonsure of St. Peter," a practice that signified the renunciation of worldly fashion, and dressed in traditional pontifical vestments. The thick cope covering his shoulders is richly decorated with embroidery of the patron saints of Rome, the Apostles Peter (holding his keys and a book) and Paul (holding the sword of his martyrdom and a book). While he is robed in the garments of the papacy, Pope Paul V gazes at the viewer with a natural expression, his face individualized by the slight turn of his head, the delicate contours of his forehead and the tiny wrinkles carved around his eyes. At this time, Bernini is already making the dynamic sculptures for which he will become famous, yet here his subject requires restraint. The artist's subdued dynamism can best be seen in the folds of drapery at the sitter's left shoulder, suggesting his body moves underneath. This bust was kept in the Villa Borghese in Rome until 1893 and then sold. Its whereabouts have been unknown until its rediscovery in late 2014.

Getty Museum’s catalogue record

produced_by.carried_out_by[0].id
https://data.getty.edu/museum/collection/person/8c87e029-2d91-4160-9082-a2f17384f91e
Artist/Maker
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
subject_of[Homepage].id
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103QTR
Date
1621
Medium
Marble
Culture
Italian
Object Type
Sculpture

Taken from LinkedCulture’s stored copy of Getty Museum’s record. A fresh capture of the museum’s own record has not been made for this object yet.

From LinkedCulture

This marble bust sat hidden from the world for over a century before being rediscovered in 2014. Carved by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1621, when he was just twenty-three years old, it captures Pope Paul V with remarkable intimacy, his head turned slightly, tiny wrinkles etched around his eyes, and a cope richly carved with figures of the Apostles Peter and Paul. It matters because it shows Bernini's genius already fully formed, turning cold marble into something unmistakably alive.

Written by LinkedCulture for its video on this object. Machine-generated (claude-sonnet-4-6), not yet reviewed by a person. It is not part of the museum’s record.

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Open this page QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.JshLMRp6cQyvp-hD.RMQlGkWwpDpyWRvrE_J5HEftb8XrJn6pLJpoHPYAFZmu0fLH9os1SXxZ_RoIFnuzo1hxwtkkF2EhNLs7Yq0W3Qrrp3aI5ebFu_dGF-VzdCUiqcI7rjQKnx8UwKzLcIDJ8MDcEPUsFN-CZUzGHx5mr9fvgcg1H1y3jRLjsHkZkT4rLlHCEwLzD90o-aDXJm_Nwg3o-YlFh8fCzG2XdoiN430BQdJP3zB01sBBPzkGpFXsrG-bF_pVlghGIAXhrZgdL8-fVRNOJrAjUNYypVYtw0JI57gshomdPpamppNK9oXyXaaXpAK_UE1T06_ewBTBLGIM_Ugt4ajvBuFQhBjyfc8pTaE9mBVD8w18KJjbDWKjFTUSgcGgPxRG-YM7uXiwVEHNlS0hgrewyFUjSG2USee at Getty Museum QR destination: https://linkedculture.org/q/q1.sJ08F4LefHGzJUB4.hjPQAYTWhjGzkS124IGp_M_-sb4NZrLg9TnNc-nmue1bUwO7yR4l0ZYUJhudp8MqzUMbw0TnaLhD0VIYukO2sYJjYRHenpfNWBGWiPCVl4WDu0N5iPQWfyvRBmCR_tRF8PbdfONhHsF-8RA8z1OgtkAgKMKDgjPSCKf0qIGMR--6mnOjPOPuGO7d0-vGywVfO6_3zoH1GtgqVBxRIbs3umrblUXTwN7Byd_k3q9eu4_M26_gTo8pwKxzl1QtGGHIL3eqMft57uv32BopqYAhNA8_C2IUUWucjj4AKQ8exq28fzmRi9du1IreeVtklHNbC4VQg3rMbXzpUtaq8TDyucStuNfvVIujucbOXDWSc-Y0u5IMh2x6VcgPvL0
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To search objects from different museums together, LinkedCulture reads each museum’s record into a common set of fields. The values below are LinkedCulture’s, under LinkedCulture’s names. They are not Getty Museum’s wording; the museum’s own record is shown above under its own labels.

Object ID
9c09c66f-28a2-4f11-818d-5f67a99ac3da
Object Type
Sculpture
  • Getty Museum field “Object Type” · copied as is
Creator
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
  • Getty Museum field “Artist/Maker” · copied as is
Culture
Italian
  • Getty Museum field “Culture” · copied as is
Medium
Marble
  • Getty Museum field “Medium” · copied as is
Department
Sculpture
  • Getty Museum field “Department” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field · Getty's classification category is stored as department.
Credit Line
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Getty Museum field “Standard Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
  • Getty Museum field “Source Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
Date
1621
  • Getty Museum field “Date” · copied as is
Begin Year
1621
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.begin_of_the_begin” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field
End Year
1621
  • Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.end_of_the_end” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field

The museum’s own record has not been captured for this object yet, so the museum fields shown above are limited to values LinkedCulture stored unchanged.

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Bust of Pope Paul V

Sep 27, 2026 · Short

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