# Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Marble, life-size ## Commentary Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya c. 1621 Marble, life-size Santa Maria di Monserrato, Rome In his early career, Bernini often turned to portraiture to supplement his income. The portrait of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya was done from life. When Cardinal Maffeo Barberini famously said that it was more lifelike than Montoya himself, he meant that the sculptor had employed the tilt of the head, the incipient smile, the half-length torso and the motif of the sash hanging over the edge of the cartouche to suggest the whole person beyond the niche. This sense of presence is further enhanced by an astonishing grasp of facial anatomy, coupled with a flair for nuances which encompasses even the bristles of Montoya's moustache. ## Related artworks - [A portrait of a Man]() - [A seated male nude]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius \(detail\)]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius]() - [Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius]() - [Altar Cross]() - [Angel]() - [Angel with the Column]() - [Angel with the Crown of Thorns]() - [Angel with the Superscription]() - [Angels on Ponte Sant'Angelo]() - [Apollo and Daphne \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()