Gianlorenzo Bernini was the greatest artist of the seventeenth century. Sculptor, painter, architect, he created the Baroque--defining a style, and a culture, in a decisive era in European history. In this brilliantly conceived book, Robert Petersson offers an intimate encounter with Bernini's major works--from sensous marble statues that burst with life to such monumental works as the piazza of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Petersson looks closely, carefully, and freshly at the making of each masterpiece captures Bernini's world--emotional, exuberant, alive, and engaging.