Bernini’s Bronzes endeavours to create a full view of the authorship of Bernini’s bronzes, that fully accounts for all of the roles of foundry workers in the production of a bronze. Unlike the sculptor-founders of the Renaissance like Donatello or Cellini who designed and cast their own sculptures, Bernini did not. Documents show that Bernini’s assistants often made the models from which molds were made, though he designed them and approved them. Nor did he ordinarily clean or enhance the waxes, the operation of the hand that is imprinted directly in the bronze. It was, rather, the hand of the foundry worker that we see in marks left on the interior from brushing wax into the mold, that patched and concealed the holes left by armature rods and core pins, that steadily applied textured punches up a sleeve, and patinated the finished surface, leaving somatic traces on the surface. All of these layers of work were done by many other, largely anonymous specialist hands in the foundry, the domain of the founder.
Though many of our objects cannot (at least not yet) be ascribed to specific founders, and many of the foundry workers will remain anonymous, we are developing a layered notion of the authorship of these works: from the choice of alloys, to the layout of the metal joints as well as the sprues and vents, to the solutions for assembly and mounting of each work, to the degree of and type of repairs and finishes on the uppermost surface of the work. We set out to valorize the creativity of the foundry including the many unidentified hands that are alluded to now and then by name in documents. These are not “the boys” of his workshop, as Jennifer Montagu memorably named those who worked closely in Bernini’s shop, but independent Roman founders often with skilled workers of their own. Bernini’s part has been well investigated – where Bernini is concerned, we are mostly interested in his role in a larger system of creative workers. In disrupting the hierarchical relationship of designer and foundry worker, we are, in effect, introducing a second type of connoisseurship.
