Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was the greatest and most influential sculptor of his age. Endlessly inventive and gifted with extraordinary skill, he virtually created the Baroque style. In his religious sculptures he excelled at capturing movement and extreme emotion, uniting figures with their setting to create a single conception of overwhelming intensity that perfectly expressed the fervour of Counter-Reformation Rome. Intensity and drama also characterize his remarkable portraits and his world-famous Roman fountains.

Rudolf Wittkower's classic monograph and catalogue raisonné has been the standard established work on Bernini since 1955. It is now available in an updated and expanded edition. The concise but masterly survey provides an authoritative introduction to Bernini's work, while the full catalogue gives detailed, scholarly and up-to-date information on his complete oeuvre.