Bust From Two Portraits

In the end, Bernini, proved himself worth of his reputation by producing a

properly magnificent portrait, the awe-inspiring heroic representation of the absolute prince.  In this case, as with the Thomas Baker bust, however, the statue is, in truth more awe-inspiring in its heroic drapery and cascading curly hair .

Again working only from painted portraits (actually , just two profiles, with no frontal view) supplied by Flemish artist Justus Suttermans, Bernini had to do the impossible–achieve a convincing likeness without ever setting eyes on his subject in real life.

Bernini’s apologetic letter of October 20, 1651, to Duke Francesco, sent in accompaniment of his finished portrait, begs the duke’s pardon for the shortcomings of the work, but in the eyes of his patron, no pardon was at all necessary.

Bernini, His Life and His Rome by Franco Mormando p. 179

View Bernini’s visual sculptures that he is famous for. I am amazed by his talent but especially with the fact that he did the sculpture with only the aid of two paintings.  Thomas Baker was apparently was very satisfied with the result of Bernini’s work.

The bust of Thomas Baker is a 1638 marble portrait sculpture with much of the bust undertaken by a pupil of Bernini (no one knows for sure)  It is currently held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, who purchased the bust in 1921 for 1480 English guineas.  Baker (1606–58) was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1657 and connected to the court of Charles I.