ABSTRACT
Gianlorenzo Bernini’s approach to clay was as flexible as the material itself. At times he modeled rapidly, as when experimenting with a composition in the format of a bozzetto or a small sketch. At other times he was more attentive to aspects of detail and surface refinement, as when needing to show a design to an important patron, creating a large, highly finished model, or modello. There were also times he fell in between the two types, as when trying to convey an idea to an assistant who might need more information than a pure bozzetto, but could do his job without the exquisite finish of a pure modello. The recent exhibition Bernini: Sculpting in Clay sought to present Bernini as the diverse modeler he was. There were many challenges of attribution. How to reconcile the many styles of modeling that Bernini practiced? Which characteristics do they have in common? Most fundamentally, which criteria were used to judge the attributions of the fifty-two terracottas given entries in the accompanying catalogue?
