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Bust of the Saviour

Bust of the Saviour, also known as Salvator mundi, is the last sculpture by the Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was made in Rome in 1679, when Bernini was eighty years old, and left in his will to his friend and patron, Queen Christina of Sweden. After passing to the Odescalchi family, its traces were lost in inventories at the end of the century. The work was long considered lost, but since 1972 several attribution proposals have sparked debate. Most critics, with the important exception of Tomaso Montanari, now accept the Bernini original in the bust preserved in the Basilica of San Sebastian Outside the Walls, which had remained hidden from scholarly attention until the early 2000s.

Bust of the Saviour, a white marble bust of a bearded man with long wavy hair and draped robes, gazing upward.
Bust of the Saviour, a marble sculpture by Bernini, shown in a dramatic upward gaze.
December 2006 © · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bust of the Saviour, a white marble bust of Jesus with long hair and a beard, turned slightly to the side.
Bust of the Saviour by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, showing a white marble bust with flowing hair, a beard, and draped shoulders.
February 2015 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bust of the Saviour, a white marble bust of a bearded man with long wavy hair, shown on a tiered pedestal.
The Bust of the Saviour in white marble, mounted on a tiered red and grey marble pedestal.
November 2022 © Kent Wang · CC BY-SA 2.0
Close-up of the marble curls on Bernini\'s Bust of the Saviour.
Detail of the marble curls from Bernini\'s Bust of the Saviour.
October 2019 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Draped marble shoulder detail from Bernini\'s Bust of the Saviour.
Close-up of the drapery on the right shoulder of Bernini\'s Bust of the Saviour.
October 2019 © · CC BY-SA 4.0

Identification

TitleBust of the Saviour
SubjectJesus Christ as the Savior
Alternative titleSalvator mundi
TypeBust
Original titleIl busto del Salvatore

Creator

ArtistGian Lorenzo Bernini
StyleBaroque
Date of creation1679
Artist age at creationabout 80 years old
Status in Bernini's oeuvreBernini's last sculpture made by his own hand
Bernini's assessmentHe called it his "divine image" and his "favorite," and said he devoted all the efforts of his Christian piety and of art itself to it; later he felt it lacked "vitality and tenderness and the other good qualities of his work" because of his advanced age
Contemporary receptionContemporaries considered it an extraordinary work and a worthy testament to the artist's exceptional career
Place of creationRome

Discovery and provenance

Copy commissioned byPierre Cureau de la Chambre, Bernini's friend and aspiring biographer and abbot of Saint-Barthélemy
Later provenance hypothesesA 2001 photo in an exhibition catalog led Francesco Petrucci to identify the bust in the Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura; the sculpture was in the sacristy of the Albani Chapel before 1960, and a 19th-century inventory of the Palazzo Albani mentions a bust of the Savior on a jasper base
Copy fateSaint-Barthélemy was destroyed during the French Revolution, and all trace of the copy was lost
Copy locationPlaced in the church of Saint-Barthélemy after Bernini's death
RediscoveryConsidered lost for a long time and rediscovered in 2001 by Francesco Petrucci
Early documented sightingNicodemus Tessin the Younger saw it in Rome during his stay in 1687-1688, in the palace inhabited by Queen Christina of Sweden
Attribution disputeSince 1972 several attribution proposals have been debated; most critics recognize the preserved bust in the Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura as Bernini's original, while Tomaso Montanari disputes this and favors the Chrysler Museum version in Norfolk, USA
Loss of traceIts traces were lost by the end of the 18th century, after a 1713 inventory of the Palazzo Odescalchi
Later ownershipPassed to Pope Innocent XI and then to the Odescalchi family
BequestLeft by Bernini in his testament to Queen Christina of Sweden, his friend and patron

Physical characteristics

Dimensions103 cm; larger than life-size, described in sources as a "half figure larger than life" and colossal
Right hand positionSlightly raised, as if blessing

Materials

MaterialMarble
Base materialSicilian jasper
Preparatory drawing"Study for the Bust of the Saviour" by Bernini, preserved at the Istituto nazionale per la grafica in Rome, Fondo Corsini

Location and ownership

Current locationBasilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura, Rome
Former locationThe palace of Queen Christina of Sweden in Rome; later the sacristy of the Albani Chapel in the Palazzo Albani; then the sacristy of the family funerary chapel in San Sebastiano fuori le mura before being moved to the adjoining convent
Exhibition historyDisplayed in the departures hall of Terminal 1 at Rome Fiumicino Airport from 12 April to 31 August 2023

Iconography and meaning

DepictionChrist blessing as Salvator Mundi

Significance

Scholarly importanceThe sculpture remained outside scholars' attention until the early 2000s and has been central to debates over Bernini attribution and identification