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Treasures of the Gesu: Bernini and His Age - Ephemera Treasures of the Gesu: Bernini and His Age

2018

Art of the Gesù exhibition rack card

Fairfield University Art Museum

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Recommended Citation Fairfield University Art Museum, "Art of the Gesù exhibition rack card" (2018). Treasures of the Gesu: Bernini and His Age - Ephemera. 17. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/treasures-ephemera/17

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February 2 – May 19, 2018

Bellarmine Hall Galleries The Holy Name Art of the Gesù: Bernini and his Age

Situated in the heart of in the shadow of the ancient Forum, the , designed by the Renaissance architects Jacopo Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, is one of the city’s most glorious architectural monuments. Its resplendent interior is famous for the grand illusionistic vault fresco, the Triumph of the Holy Name of Jesus (IHS), by Giovanni Battista Gaulli (il Baciccio)—a soaring vision of an expansive, light- filled heaven populated by the blessed from which demons tumble forth—and other celebrated works of art. These include the marble bust of Jesuit Cardinal and theologian Roberto Bellarmino by the great sculptor , who had close ties with the Jesuits and the Gesù for much of his life. This landmark exhibition, organized to commemorate Fairfield University’s 75th anniversary, features artistic masterpieces from the Gesù itself never before seen in America: Bernini’s bust of Bellarmino (patron saint of Fairfield University), Gaulli’s painted wood model of the apse, a shimmering gilt bronze altar sculpture by the versatile painter, draftsman and sculptor , the stunning jeweled cartagloria from the altar of St. Ignatius, and the magnificent embroidered chasuble of the church’s great benefactor, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. These treasures will be joined by a rich assemblage of paintings, sculptures, rare books, precious objects, drawings, and prints by Bernini, Domenichino, Gaulli, Ciro Ferri, Carlo Maratti, and , among other artists of the Baroque period, generously lent by numerous American museums and private collections. Together they tell the fascinating and intertwined stories of the church’s early history and splendid interior embellishment; the foundational chapters of the Society of Jesus; the enviable patronage of the powerful Farnese family; and the imperative to formulate a new imagery exalting and promoting the Society’s founders, Ignatius of Loyola and , following their canonization in 1622—a charge that involved some of the most illustrious artists of Baroque Rome. Fairfield University Art Museum fairfield.edu/gesu

front: Giovanni Battista Gaulli, The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, 1676–79 Princeton University Art Museum (Museum Purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund and Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund 2005-34)

above: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, 1623-24, Church of the Gesù, Rome