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Bernini
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Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario is the proud owner of one of the largest Bernini bronzes, thanks to the largesse of respected art collector Murray Frum and the Frum family. |
Measuring nearly 5 feet 6 inches the crucifix dates from 1650 and was a work Gian Lorenzo Bernini created for himself and kept for nearly a quarter century. It is scheduled to be unveiled in June at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
“Corpus was immediately appealing because of the beauty and emotion of the subject,” says Murray Frum, chairman of the Frum Development Group, a member of the AGO Board of Trustees and long-time supporter of the Gallery. “When we learned that it could be traced back to Bernini's own collection and was an object that he made for himself, it was clear we were in the presence of a unique work of art, a masterpiece that would be a highlight of any collection.
“I have long felt that the AGO’s importance was established by the Henry Moore collection and that the Gallery should build on the sculpture portion of its permanent collection,” He adds. “The Bernini Corpus will make all of the sculptures at the AGO even more significant.”
The AGO is delighted, naturally, with the gift. "Thanks to the vision and generosity of the Frum family. Corpus will figure prominently in our re-installation of the Old Masters collection to be unveiled in 2008,” says Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner director, and CEO. “Their extraordinary gift will underscore the international significance of our Old Masters works.” He explains that “Bernini achieved unprecedented naturalism in the representation of the human form in bronze,” says Teitelbaum. “The naturalism of Corpus is in keeping with the concern of Baroque artists to bring the divine vividly within the realm of human experience.”
The provenance of the sculpture is fascinating. Three casts were made of Corpus, a slightly smaller version was commissioned by or for King Philip IV of Spain in the mid-1600s to be placed in the Chapel of the Kings of Spain at the Escorial where it remains today. A second cast, on a much reduced scale, was ordered by Cardinal Antonio Barberini around 1655 and is presumed to have been destroyed during the French Revolution. The AGO bronze was part of Bernini’s personal collection until 1665. During the 19th century little was known about the location of the piece but it resurfaced later in North American private collections in the early 1900s.
Toronto is an incredible city with much to enjoy and thanks to the Frum family there is another reason to make a trip to Ontario's capital and view this magnificent Bernini bronze.