Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli
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Costanza Bonarelli (c. 1614 – 3 December 1662), also known as Costanza Bonucelli or Costanza Piccolomini Bonucelli, was an Italian noblewoman, merchant and art dealer, descended from a Sienese noble family. She was the mistress of the sculptor and architect
Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...
, who in the 1630s created a bust of her, now exhibited at the
Bargello The Bargello, also known as the or ("Palace of the People"), is a former public building and police headquarters, later a prison, in Florence, Italy. Mostly built in the 13th century, since 1865 it has housed the , a national art museum. It ...
in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
.


Early life and marriage

Costanza was born around 1614, daughter of Leonardo
Piccolomini The House of Piccolomini (pronounced ) is the name of an Italian noble family, Patricians of Siena, who were prominent from the beginning of the 13th century until the 18th century. The family achieved the recognized titles of Pope of the Catho ...
, a member of a minor branch of an important
Sienese Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
family. The first time she appears in documents is in Rome in 1625, when she was 11 years old and living in what is now Via della Vite with her father and her step-mother Tiberia. Her mother's name is not mentioned in the document or in Costanza's last will, signed around 23 January 1662. In that will she stipulated that all descendants with the last name Piccolomini could inherit her property. On
Assumption Day The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...
, 15 August 1628, Costanza received a
dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
of 45 
scudi The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula from 1551 until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from t ...
(the equivalent of annual rent for a modestly sized house) from the Confraternity of San Rocco, funded by Giambattista Borghese, brother of the late Pope
Paul V Pope Paul V (; ) (17 September 1552 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a mem ...
. In 1630, named as ''la zitella da Viterbo'' ('the spinster of Viterbo'), she was promised a second dowry of 26 scudi and 44 baiocchi from the Gonfalone Confraternity. Costanza then married the sculptor, restorer and art dealer Matteo Bonarelli (or Bonucelli) from
Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...
, on 16 February 1632 in Rome, in his parish of
San Lorenzo in Lucina The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina ( or simply ; ) is a Roman Catholic parish, titular church, and minor basilica in central Rome, Italy. The basilica is located in Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina in the Rione Colonna, about two blocks ...
. On 28 February, the marriage contract was signed between Costanza, her father Leonardo and her husband Matteo. The dowry was fixed at 289 scudi. Costanza was 18 years old and Matteo 28; they settled at the foot of the
Quirinal Hill The Quirinal Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has c ...
in what is now Vicolo Scanderbeg.


Relationship with Bernini

Matteo Bonareli was employed in Bernini's workshop. In 1636 he was paid for three marble
putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and very often winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University ...
for
St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...
; the following year, he assisted Bernini with the mausoleum of Countess Matilde in the basilica. Costanza was approximately 22 when Bernini, a bachelor in his late thirties, began an adulterous affair with her. His ''
Bust of Costanza Bonarelli The ''Bust of Costanza Bonarelli'' is a marble sculpture created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini during the 1630's. The piece is now in the Bargello, Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy. Considered among the most personal of Bernini's works, ...
'' may have been started in 1636; it was finished by October 1637, when Bernini's friend
Fulvio Testi Fulvio Testi (; August 1593 in Ferrara – 28 August 1646 in Modena) was an Italian diplomat and poet who is recognised as one of the main exponents of 17th-century Italian Baroque literature. He worked in the service of the d'Este dukes in Mode ...
described it in a letter as the most beautiful portrait Bernini had ever created. Bernini portrayed Costanza not as a modest, chaste woman but as a passionate lover, with parted lips and wide-open eyes, her chemise falling open in what art historian
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...
has called "the sexiest invitation in the history of European sculpture".Schama, "When stone came to life".Rachel Blackmore
"Slashed with a knife: the tender sculpture that hides a shocking but common crime against women"
''The Guardian'', 28 July 2024.
In summer 1638, Bernini discovered that Costanza was having an affair with his younger brother
Luigi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...
. He attacked Luigi with a
crowbar A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially gooseneck, or pig bar, or in Australia a jemmy, is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flat ...
, breaking two of his ribs, and then with a sword; Luigi saved himself by taking sanctuary in the church of
Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...
. Gian Lorenzo then sent a servant to slash Costanza's face with a razor, a traditional punishment for a woman who had offended a man's honour. Costanza was imprisoned for adultery and fornication in the monastery of Casa Pia, the servant was exiled, as was Luigi Bernini to protect him, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini was fined 3,000 scudi. His mother, Angelica Galante Bernini, wrote to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Pope
Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...
, pleading for help "taming" him. The Pope subsequently pardoned him in view of his impending marriage, but Costanza was not "given back to her husband" until 7 April 1639, after she wrote a pleading letter to the governor of the house.


Art dealer

After returning to her husband, Costanza pursued a successful business as a merchant and art dealer, including during the pontificate of the Sienese Alessandro VII Chigi. Payment orders refer to her as "Signora Costanza", or after her husband's death as "Costanza Piccolomini", and also as "Costanza scultora" ('sculptor'). She exhibited a large collection of artworks on the main floor of her house and in two rooms on the upper floor. One of the most famous was the '' Plague of Ashdod'' by
Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
, commissioned by the Sicilian nobleman Fabrizio Valguarnera in 1630. In 1665, when Bernini was in Paris, he recognised the painting in the palace of the
Duke of Richelieu Duke of Richelieu () was a title of French nobility. It was created on 26 November 1629 for Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (known as Cardinal Richelieu) who, as a Catholic clergyman, had no issue to pass it down to. It instead passed to hi ...
and suggested that it be hung lower for better viewing. Richelieu sold the painting to
King Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monar ...
the same year, and it is now in the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
.


Last years

Matteo Bonarelli died in 1654; in his will, signed in 1649, he designated as his sole heir "Signora Costanza Piccolomini mia dilettissima moglie" ('my most beloved wife'). Costanza subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Olimpia Caterina Piccolomini. She died on 3 December 1662. She was not buried with her husband in the crypt of their parish of
Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi ("Saints Vincent and Anastasius at Trevi (rione of Rome), Trevi") is a Italian Baroque, Baroque church in Rome, the capital of Italy. Built from 1646 to 1650 to the design of architect Martino Longhi the Younger ...
, but in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.Mormando, p. 297.


In media

Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli is the subject of a biography by Sarah McPhee, ''Bernini's Beloved'', published in 2012. A novelised version of her life, ''Costanza'' by Rachel Blackmore, was published in 2024.https://www.dialoguebooks.co.uk/titles/rachel-blackmore/costanza/9780349131092/


Notes


Bibliography

*Sarah McPhee, ''Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini'', New Haven / London: Yale University Press, 2012, . *
Franco Mormando Franco Mormando (born 17 August 1955) is a historian, university professor, and author, focusing on the art, literature, and religious culture of Italy from the late Medieval period to the Baroque. His principal publications have been on fiftee ...
, tr., ''The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini'' by Domenico Bernini, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011, . *
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

"When stone came to life"
''The Guardian'', 16 September 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonarelli, Costanza Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Costanza Costanza is a feminine given name. It may refer to: People Given name *Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla (1460–1541) *Costanza Bonaccorsi (born 1994), Italian canoeist *Costanza Chiaramonte (1377–1423), Neapolitan noble *Costanza Di Ca ...
17th-century Italian nobility 17th-century Italian businesswomen 17th-century Italian businesspeople Italian art dealers Women art dealers Italian art collectors People from Viterbo 1610s births 1662 deaths Burials at Santa Maria Maggiore Italian artists' models Italian merchants 17th-century merchants